5 - ‘Death Hath Ten Thousand Several Doors’ Rare and Unfortunate Events

Summary

What would it pleasure me to have my throat cut

With diamonds? or to be smothered

With cassia? or to be shot to death with pearls?

I know death hath ten thousand several doors

For men to take their exits …

John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1623)

Webster's ill-fated Duchess makes reference to acts of murder in this her last speech, yet she does so with the critical inference that death can end life in a multiplicity of ways. Differentiating between the deliberate and the accidental amongst the myriad of ways in which early modern people lost their lives is often equally complex. This chapter aims to review some of the more recognisable, though in fact very rarely occurring, causes of sudden violent death that were generally understood as ‘accidental’. The circumstances of these incidents ranged widely from truly unforeseen events such as asphyxiation by naturally occurring yet invisible gases to deliberate violence committed with blade or gun. What differentiates the latter deaths from those more likely to be labelled as deliberate homicide is that the violence involved appeared to have been delivered without fatal malice.

A proportion of the deaths recounted in this chapter could have occurred in rural situations as much as in towns; however, the built environment and associated patterns of metropolitan life help to define the majority of these incidents as particularly urban in character. Many of the asphyxiations, scaldings and explosions required the urban landscape to provide not just opportunity but also a significantly amplified fatal impact. Those who died by being ‘bruised’ or crushed met their ends by coming into conflict with the city's goods and installations, but equally with its thronged and unruly multitudes. Again, while social and personal conflict was universal there were aspects of life in the metropolis that encouraged forms of behaviour, or misbehaviour, which on occasion resulted in traumatically violent outcomes. The following incidents and accidents not only demonstrate the variety of hazards that might be encountered in an early modern city but also reflect many of the distinctive characteristics of everyday urban life.