For almost five days in early September 1666, London was engulfed in flames. Beginning in a bakery, the fire spread quickly. It ultimately destroyed the heart of the third-largest city in the Western world, reshaping England’s financial, cultural, and political life for years to come. Although fires were common in a period when people relied on them for warmth and light, a unique combination of circumstances allowed this one to race through the city, igniting stores of combustible goods and creating one of the most significant fires in English history.
Tudor and Shakespeare historian Carol Ann Lloyd-Stanger explores the causes, contributing factors, and long-term consequences of the Great Fire. She examines how decisions made by city leaders, changes in weather conditions, and actions taken by the royal family influenced the fire’s spread and eventual containment. She traces the event’s lasting impact, including debates over how the city would be rebuilt and how those decisions shaped London’s future. She also surveys the social, economic, and political effects of the fire in the years that followed.
Lloyd-Stanger, former manager of visitor of education at the Folger Shakespeare Library, is the author of Courting the Virgin Queen and The Tudors by Numbers.
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