Daily entries from the 17th century London diary
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Matthew Wren, born 1585, successively Bishop of Hereford, Norwich, and Ely. At the commencement of the Rebellion he was sent to the Tower, and remained a prisoner there eighteen years. Died April 24th, 1667.
Matthew Wren was an uncle of Christopher Wren who redesigned St Paul’s after the Great Fire.But even before this catastrophe he was in the forefront of those who desired to restore the cathedral to its former grandeur. For him the Restoration meant the restoration of St Paul’s. He was one of the great survivors of the civil war, the Commonwealth,and the Cromwellian Protectorate. While in prison he shared a cell with Archbishop Laud, a follower of Arminianism who was executed in January 1645 for his beliefs. Laud had set aside 800 pounds in his will for the renovation of the building.It had greatly suffered from Parliamentarian troops who stabled their horses there, and the cathedral plate had been melted down to pay the army. In an outburst of frenzy the stained glass had been shattered, and on a more practical level all the woodwork had been taken for firewood. Obviously his determination to restore St Paul’s was also to keep alive the memory and martyrdom of his dear friend, Laud.