Fascinating read about the King’s Evil by Andrew Taylor
Here is a post on the King’s Evil, that I forgot to post yesterday.
Aries & Noses
We have just entered Aries. Now according to astrology, Aries is associated with health issues of the face. This, according to ‘Skin and Astrology Signs‘ is because of the “level of heat in their bodies”. So Arians tend to have problems such as “flushing, heat rashes, skin eruptions, and rosacea”. They suggest using chilled cucumber for the eyes and forehead, and using beauty products with soothing aloe vera in them.
Charles Kightly, in his Perpetual Almanac enjoins us to ‘Observe the features of the face which are ruled by Aries and seek cures for ills of the nose’.
The first example, Kightly gives is from an 18th Century publication which explains how to understand people by studying their noses:
Nose round with a sharpness at the end signifies one to be wavering of mind; the nose wholly crooked, to be sure unshamefaced and unstable; crooked like an eagle’s beak, to be bold. The nose flat, to be lecherous and hasty in wrath; the nostrils large, to be ireful.’
The Shepherd’s Prognostication 1729
A Fungous Nose & the King’s Evil
The second rather revolting tale is from John Aubrey.
Arise Evans had a fungous Nose and said, it was revealed to him, that the king’s hand would cure him At the first coming of Charles II into St James Park he kissed the king’s hand and rubbed his nose with it: which disturbed the king, but cured him.
People believed that Scrofula, could be cured by touching the Monarch. Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis was, thus, known as the King’s Evil. So, the King or Queen would make herself, very reluctantly, available for his sick public to touch her.
Scofula and the King’s Touch
Sketch of Dr Johnson from a portrait.
Dr Samuel Johnson suffered from Scofula and received the “royal touch” from Queen Anne on 30 March 1712 at St James’s Palace. He was given a ribbon, which he wore around his neck for the rest of his life. But it did not cure the disease, and he had to have an operation.
It took place in the winter, between Michaelmas and Easter, when cold weather provoked the disease. The lucky few who were allowed the Touch, would be touched or stroked by the King or Queen on the face or neck. Then a special gold coin, touched by the Monarch, was put around their neck. Readings from the bible and prayer finished the ceremony. Before Queen Elizabeth, the Touch was said to cure many diseases such as Rheumatism, convulsions, fever and blindness, but after it was reserved for Scrofula.
Who Started touching for the King’s Evil?
It was only the French and the English who believed the King’s touch could cure people. The French claimed it began with Philip 1 in the 11th Century. The English claimed Edward the Confessor as the first. But this was denied by the French who claimed that the French King of England, Henry 1 introduced it to the English. The practice lasted until George 1 who resolutely refused to have anything to do with it.
For more on the King’s Evil have a look at this blogpost. Or read the book pictured at the top of the post.
The day after the Equinox we look at the cardinal points of the compass:
“chief, pivotal,” early 14c., from Latin cardinalis “principal, chief, essential,” (online etymological dictionary).
The Importance of South
On its annual cycle, the Sun is always on the move. At the Equinox the Sun now rises due East, and sets due West. It then rises every day further towards the north and sets further to the South until the Solstice. The Solstices mark the extreme Northerly and Southerly rising and settings. Dawn and Dusk vary accordingly.
So, the only real fixed point in the Sun’s entire journey (as seen from Earth) is Noon. Every day of the year, every day of our lives, the Sun is at the highest point at Noon. And this is the definition of South. But the Sun never strays into the North. So the North is the polar opposite of the South- cold, remote, more mysterious, unknowable almost.
To my mind, it makes, of the Cardinal Points, the South very special. At Stonehenge, there are two exits. The biggest is aligned to the Midsummer Sunrise and Midwinter Sunset axis. But there is a smaller second entrance and this aligned due South. There is also a uniquely small standing stone in the main circle of Sarsens, which is aligned to the South. (Although we don’t know if this stone is original). However, there was some sort of corridor heading South through the mysterious wooden phase which precedent the stone Stonehenge. So, we can be fairly sure South was important at Stonehenge.
Sketch of Stonehenge showing the smallest Sarsen stone to the North of the Southern Entrance
Noon, derives from ‘nona hora’ in Latin and is ‘one of the seven fixed prayer times in traditional Christian denominations.’ (Wikipedia)
The Predominance of the North?
And yet, North, has come to be the principal of the cardinal points. It is shown on virtually all modern maps. It is the direction that people of my generation and hemisphere think of as being ‘up’.
The Google generation sees things differently. There are countless tourist maps on walls or plinths where North is no longer at the top. Up is shown as being the way you are facing. Users have to fight with Google Maps to put North at the top of the map. My children mock me when I say ‘Out of the Tube station, turn up the High street northwards.’ Their view of maps is completely contextual. They do not see any reason to know where the cardinal points are. I point out that the Tube probably has two exits on either side of the road. So, it doesn’t work to say ‘turn left out of the tube’.
There may also be an element of sexual difference, with men more likely to have a cardinal point view while women navigate more by landmarks. ‘Walk past the M&S, turn left to the Park and straight on’. One paper says: ‘during spatial navigation, women typically navigate an environment using a landmark strategy, whereas men typically use an orientation strategy.’
Although I see this decline of the north as being part of the Decline of the West. I also ‘things were better in my day’. But in fact it is simply returning to the way maps were produced in the past. Here is an example below.
Representation of a Roman Map with the top being roughly East.
The Magnetic Poles
Of course, there is another version of the cardinal points: the magnetic cardinal points. The magnetic North wanders over time. It does not necessarily coincide with geographic north. In recent times they are close enough. But in the past there have been huge variations. Occasionally, the earth has had geomagnetic reversals when the North Pole has pointed in different directions, including south. The last one was 780,000 years ago. On average, they take place very roughly every 500,000 years.
The magnetic pole is caused by the molten iron in the earth’s core and mantle, which creates a dipole. Fluctuations in the dynamo flow of the molten iron cause occasional reverses. The science is very complicated and, even now, not entirely understood. Is it a random consequence of flow dynamics? Or do external events, like sinking continents, or meteor strikes cause the reversal?
Since the first use of compasses for navigation in the 11th/12th Centuries, the magnetic pole hasn’t wandered enough to be of concern to navigation. It has wondered a few hundred miles over the last 500 years. Now, it is speeding up, from 9km a year to 52km (since 1970). This Wikipedia page is pretty good at an explanation.
My Job Tracking the Cardinal Points
My first proper job after university was as a technician then research assistant at Oxford University studying these phenomena. I say ‘proper’ because when I left University, I became an itinerant archaeologist. This led me to digs in Switzerland, Northampton, East Anglia and Nottingham. Then, I got the job at the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and the History of Art, at Keble College, Oxford.
I worked for Dr. Mike Barbetti who was an expert on the wanderings of the Magnetic Pole. His interest was firstly in the pure science of the subject. But he was keen to explore the applied uses in Archaeology as well. So, after being appointed as a Research Fellow at Oxford, he set up an epic journey from his native Australia to Oxford. It went via some of the iconic sites of Palaeolithic Archaeology, including Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania. The site of excavations by Mary and Louis Leakey.
To plot the movements of the magnetic north, scientists needed dated samples. Early human sites provided dated sites over a long time span. Also, archaeomagnetism, as the discipline became known, offered the possibility of dating sites. Another application was to determine whether deposits were fired or not. One of the sites Mike sampled was a candidate for the first evidence of fire in human existence.
Cutting up Samples
As I said, Mike’s interest was discovering how the magnetic field of the earth changed over time. And, more importantly, what was the mechanism. He shipped back to Oxford samples of soil cast in Plaster of Paris. My job was to cut the samples up. I cut them up with an electric saw in a shed in the backyard of the Laboratory. Then we measured the direction and intensity of the magnetic field in the samples.
Soil contains particles of iron, and they align randomly. So a sample of soil has a low magnetic intensity and a random direction of magnetic field. But once heated up, the iron particles align to the current direction of the magnetic pole. Its intensity is proportional to the intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field. These measurements provide a method of plotting the changes of the magnetic field over time. And from these data, models can be constructed explaining how the iron in the earth’s core worked as a giant magnet.
Once we had built a reference curve for the movements and intensity of the magnetic pole over time, we hoped to develop another dating method. Other methods such as radio carbon, thermoluminescence, and tree ring dating, were being developed at the Research Laboratory in Oxford.
My part in Digital Heritage Part 1
Having got the results, I took them to the Oxford University Computer Centre. There, I typed them up onto machine-readable cards. Added a copy on cards of our computer programme written in Fortran, and gave them to the Computing Staff. The program and data were run through the Centre’s mainframe computer. (probably an IBM or ICL computer, the size of a house!). 24 hours later, I received a print-out to proofread.
I located mistakes, ran an editing run of punched cards, essentially instructing the computer: ‘on card two replace 2.5 with 2.6, and run the programme again’. I would pick up the results 24 hours later. It seems extraordinarily primitive now, but then it was an enormous saving of time.
And that, patient reader, was my early contribution to Digital Heritage and pure science. Mike published many articles of which I was joint author of three articles, two in the prestigious Science Journal Nature. And it is annoying that my citations in the groves of academia are still dominated by articles I co-wrote in the late 1970s/80s!
Mike’s work was important in the development of the study of the earth’s magnetic field. However, the use of archaeomagnetism has never risen above strictly limited. Occasionally, in specific circumstances, it can be useful. But those circumstances tend to be times when no other methods have worked. Most often, it is used in attempting to date kilns.
These are the papers:
Barbetti. M and K. Flude, ‘Palaeomagnetic Field Strengths from Sediments baked by Lava flows of the Chaine des Puys, France.’ Nature, Vol. 278 No 5700. 1979
Barbetti M., Y. Taborin, B. Schmider and K. Flude ‘Archaeomagnetic Results from Late Pleistocene Hearths at Etoilles and Marsangy, France’. Archaeometry 22. 1980
More on my contribution to Digital Heritage in posts to come.
Video by Heike Herbert of Druids at the Spring Equinox at Tower Hill, London
So, Spring has sprung, not only meteorologically speaking but also astronomically. We are 20 days into the meteorological Spring which started on 1 March (see my post here.) Today, we are starting the astronomical or solar Spring.
The 20th of March is the Spring Equinox, or Vernal Equinox, midway between the Winter Solstice and the Summer Solstice. The sun has been rising further north each day since December 21st. Today it rises due East, and sets due West. The day and night are roughly equal in length (although by no means exactly). At 9.00am today, the Sun was directly overhead at the Equator.
The term vernal comes from the Latin for Spring, and today is the primavera, the first day of Spring. The Anglo-Saxons originally used the word lencthen (Lent) for Spring. But later adopted the idea of the ‘springing’ of the year when the plants bud. In Middle English, the word Spring is also used for sunrise, the waxing of the moon and the rising tides. These are called spring tides. But also for the sprouting of the beard and the first appearance of pubic hair! Happy Spring Time!
Up to the 15th Century, the English also used the French term ‘prime-temps’ in the sense of ‘first times’. This follows the idea that the year is young, while Winter represents old age. As we shall see, on March 25th, there was also a belief that the world was created in Spring at the Equinox. Jesus was also conceived at this point of the annual cycle. (see my post /march-25th-the-beginning-of-the-universe-as-we-know-it-birthday-of-adam-lilith-eve-conception-of-jesus-start-of-the-year)
Zodiacally, if that is a word, Spring is Aries (brave and impulsive); Taurus (sensual and stubborn), and Gemini (dynamic and talented).
Druids at Tower Hill
Druids at the Spring Equinox Tower Hill London, Photo by Heike Herbert
The Druids have a ceremony at Tower Hill every year on the Spring Equinox. When I last attended I remember the druid costumes were often made with nylon sheets, and their footware was mostly tennis shoes. I see from the photos the nylon has at least been replaced with cotton, and the plimsolls with trainers. Not quite sure what that pair of black trainers are doing in the picture!
As my photos are getting long in the teeth, I have used photos by Heike Herbert. She attends most years. The ones above from 2 years ago. She has also been there today. However, she reports that the atmosphere has been affected by a street food market,. This restricted the space for the Druid Circle. The food stalls are there every Thursday, so it only impacts the Druid assembly once every 7 years! I wonder if anything similar happened at Stonehenge?
Tower Hill, Spring Equinox, 2025 and street food, Photo by Heike Herbert
Modern Druids
I say modern druids because there is no convincing evidence that the modern fellowships of Druids can trace their origins back to prehistory. Druidry was reinvented in the 18th Century — for example, the Ancient Order of Druids was formed in 1781. They were set up as societies in the tradition of the Freemasons. They held to belief in the fundamental importance of nature. However, one group, the British Circle of the Universal Bond, claim descent from a group persecuted by the Bishop of Oxford in 1166. Look at their website for more details and for an idea of their beliefs.
Prehistoric Spring Equinox
When did the Equinox first had importance for human society? The answer is, probably, at least as long as we have been reasoning creatures. On January 14th, I draw attention to a recent discovery by an amateur ‘citizen scientist’. He suggested there was evidence in Cave Painting for the use of a Palaeolithic Calendar. Follow this link to see the post.
Stonehenge and the Sun
At Stonehenge, in the old Car Park, they found three huge Pine post-holes in a line. Dating evidence shows they were erected in the Mesolithic period, thousand of years before Stonehenge. They align to the direction of the Mid-Summer Sunrise and Mid-Winter Sunset (NNE/SSW). If, and it’s a big if, you were sighting from Stonehenge itself, which was built some 5000 years in the future.
Imaginary reconstruction of the Carpark Postholes
It is a bit of a stretch using two pieces of evidence so far apart in time. But recent excavations have revealed that there are natural periglacial striations in the soft chalk bedrock at Stonehenge. These lines point to the Solstices. They not only predate Stonehenge but also the three post holes. The striations may well have been visible from the time they were created when the glaciers melted.
Around 12,000 years ago (date from my memory so approximate), the climate changed and the glaciers melted. This left a lot of water rushing around the landscape. At Stonehenge, it gouged out striations in the chalk. By chance, or as ordered by the Gods/Goddesses/Divine Nature, the striations pointed to the Solstice Axis. Richard Jacques excavations in the Stonehenge area revealed that the aurochs came to the Stonehenge area for grazing and water. Aurochs are huge wild cows with enough meat on them to feed 200 people. So, the solar axis is near a place where the Gods/Goddesses/Divine Nature provided super-abundance in the guise of herds of Aurochs.
Foreground shows the periglacial striations aligned on the Solstice. Source Current Archaeology?
Burial Mounds aligned to the Equinox
This is confirmed by the alignment of many megalithic monuments dating from 3,600 BC onwards, including, of course, Stonehenge. Also, all around the UK are long barrows and other burial mounds, many of which are indeed sited/sited E-W to the Equinoxes. Many are fairly approximate. But at Loughcrew, County Meath in Ireland the Vernal Equinox shines right into the burial chamber. The sun’s light shines onto a stone marked by stone carvings. Similar alignments exist at Knowth and Dowth in the Boyne Valley. More about Loughcrew in my post here)
Harmony & the Spring Equinox.
The Equinox also has another role, which is to be the anchor of the cardinal points. The world is orientated to North, South, East, West. The Equinox is a time when there is a harmony, a balance in the universe. Therefore, it is a fortunate, a lucky time, a time to fall in love or undertake notable undertakings. But, in the Christian world marriage traditionally had to wait a little longer, until after the commemoration of the death of the Messiah,
First Written in March 2023, and revised in March 2024, 2025
Peak Cherry Blossom Photos by Natalie Tobert (to see her fantastic sculptures, look here:)
This year, I don’t think it is yet Peak Blossom. But I’m going to keep this post here to remind you of the joy of the Blossom season. You can plan to visit your local Blossom Hot spot!
Peak cherry blossom is sometime between late March and early April. Last year it was around March 19th, this year maybe a week or two away. There are many suggested places, and I enclose a couple of web links with more details. But my friend, Natalie Tobert, posted last year about Japanese people queuing up to photo cherry blossom in Swiss Cottage.
Here is an Instagram video of the blossom in Swiss Cottage, near Hampstead, London.
For the Japanese Cherry Blossom represents both the beauty of life and its brevity. Sakura are honoured by the Samurai, and were on the badges of KamiKazi Pilots in World War 2. The Japanese began their blossom time with Plum Blossom. They can be difficult to tell apart from Cherry but it is much more fragrant. It blossoms earlier.
Cherry trees consist of 430 species in the genus Prunus. Wild Cherry and Bird Cherry are native to the UK. Normal blossom time is April. In mild winters and sheltered places like London they can blossom as soon as February. The flowers are known as Sakura in Japan, and viewing them is ‘Hanami’. Bird Cherry usually flowers in May. Recent blossoming is over 7 days earlier than the average for the previous 1,200 years.
Blosson in Haggerston Park on 9th March 2025, photo by K Flude
Last year on March 19th, I declared it was Peak Blossom! This year, it doesn’t seem to be quite that time yet, which is normally in April. However, walking around my local Park Haggerston Park today, I am revising my opinion a little. Haggerston is whitewashed with amazing blossom. I thought it was Blackthorn, until I read that Blackthorn was the tree from which Sloes are grown.
My ‘Flora Incognita’ tells me that it is Cherry Plum, Prunus cerasifera. This makes sense as in the summer, there were people collecting the small plums that were growing on the trees. The pink variety of cherry are not yet at peak blossom. I will post about peak blossom, later today.
I am using this occasion to write about my local park which I have been saving up for a ‘vacant day’. (see my post of Ovid and Vacant days)
Haggerston Park & Park Henges
Haggerston Park was built on the site of derelict houses, a tile manufacturer and a Gas Works in the post war years. The Gas works was situated by the Regent’s Canal with its own basin for loading supplies. In the 80s the Park was expanded to take in some areas which were residential streets. All that really remains of the Gas works are the perimeter walls, and the outline of the canal basin.
The park is a well-loved local facility with green lawns, trees and flowers. It also has a great new playground for kids; astroturf football pitches; tennis courts, toilets, cafe, City farm, and a wild wooded area. This is dominated by the Cherry Plum, trees and is a haven for squirrels. Rats loved it too, but I haven’t seen one for 18 months or so.
The Gardeners obviously like the hengiform design because the Park has a lot of henges, and circuses. I have named most of them.
Snowdrop Henge
Snowdrop henge Haggerston Park, photo K Flude
Silver Birch Circle
Silver Birch Circle Haggerston Park, Photo Kevin Flude
The beautiful croci are not so clear in this picture, but they are really lovely! (See my post on Croci here). Last year I got a better photo of the croci.
Haggerston Park, 2024 Photo K Flude
Oak Tree Cluster
Oak Tree Cluster, Haggerston Park photo by Kevin Flude
This wonderful Oak tree is surrounded by daffodils and croci.
Oak Tree and flowers, Haggerston Park Photo K Flude
Primula Patch
Primula Patch, Haggerston Park, Photo K Flude
The circle is in the middle of the Basin that connected the Gas Works to the Regent’s Canal. I do hope they are primulas. There is also a lovely circle of Roses.
Gas Works
Haggerston Park before WW2.
The Park covers the area of the Imperial Gas Works shown above. The photos above of the circles of flowers and trees are mostly in the area of the old Retort House (top left of the Gas works). You might also notice the Ice House, near the top left. (for my post on Ice House please look here).
An earlier map shows the basin leading to the Gas Works from the Canal:
1909 map of Haggerston.
Heron in the Pond, Ancient Wisteria
Looking at the maps, it makes it obvious how important the canal was for London’s 19th Century Industry. The whole strip of land on either side was full of factories, warehouses, and basins.
Stained Glass window depicting St Patrick (source of image, lost in the mists of time!)
St. Patrick has a very interesting autobiography (Confession). He was captured by Irish pirates while living in a Romano-British Town. He says his father was a Decurion and a Deacon which suggests elements of Roman political organisation continued. No one knows the dates of St Patrick’s life but these titles suggested an early date perhaps just after the end of Roman rule. Perhaps in the early 400s.
The town he lived in was called Bannavem Taburniae. Many places have been proposed for it. The closest linguistically is Bannaventa in Northamptonshire but this seems a very unlikely place for Irish raiders to land, being about as far away from the sea as it is possible to get in Britain!
Scholars have suggested South Wales and the Scottish borders most commonly. But my favourite suggestion, but about as unlikely as Northampton, is Battersea in London. This suggestion was made in the pages of the London Archaeologist by editor Nicolas Fuentes.
Fuentes was one of a pioneering group of archaeologists when Rescue Archaeology first began a campaign to record the archaeology, being destroyed by massive redevelopment of town centres in the 70s.
He changed his name from the anglicised Nicholas Farrant back to its original Fuentes. He then wrote a magnificent series of papers, in London Archaeologist, which located St. Patrick in Battersea; St Alban’s execution in London and all 12 battles of King Arthur around Greater London.
St Albans Martyrdom in London
All were well argued, but as a set they do raise an eyebrow, being unsupported by any clear evidence. And, as far as I know, without much scholarly support. The one I really like is locating St Alban’s Martyrdom in London rather than in St Albans. It reminds everyone that the first reference to St Alban, which is by Gildas in the 6th Century, places the execution of the Saint firmly in London. It also makes sense of the story that Alban, keen for martyrdom, gets God to part the River so he can go quickly to the execution spot. The bridge it was said was full of people going to see the execution.
In Gildas’s case, the execution is in London, probably at the Amphitheatre, up a hill from the the mighty Thames. So God parted the Thames for Alban. Anglo-Saxon historian, the Venerable Bede places St Alban’s death firmly in St Albans, but the river that God needs to part there- the River Ver, is a piddle. Alban could have crossed it easily, hardly requiring even Wellington boots! Not much of a miracle compared with parting the Thames. The likely site of execution in both cases would have been the Amphitheatre, rather than the side of the hill where the St Albans execution site is located. But Gildas did mention the hill, which makes sense in the case of London and not in St Albans, as it is outside of the Roman City.
To my, unscholarly mind, when we worship people we tend to venerate them, at their birthplace and death place. So to me, it makes sense that St Alban’s main shrine was at Verulamium where he was born (now known as St Albans) and London where he died.
There is some supporting evidence from the hagiography of St Germanus of Auxerre. This tells us that Germanus came to an amphitheatre for a religious debate about 15 years after the end of the Roman occupation of Britain. After the debate he went to a nearby shrine dedicated to St Alban. Unfortunately, the writer of the memoir is not really interested in post-Roman Britain, so does not tell us whether it was in London or St Albans. But there is an early church dedicated to St Alban just by the Roman Amphitheatre in London. For more on St Germanus follow this link to my post.
However, archaeology does not reveal any evidence early enough to support the idea that the Church is that early. Fuentes, argued that London as the Capital was likely to have been the place where capital punishments were carried out, particularly in the case of a Roman Citizen like Alban. I must note that in placing any credibility to Fuentes theory, I am standing largely alone.
Stained glass window of St Patrick and St Germanus
The Twelve London Battles of King Arthur
I’m not so convinced by the 12 Battles of King Arthur, for which there is just never going to be enough evidence to locate. They are more likely to have been spread throughout Britannia.
St Patrick From Battersea?
So, to the point – St Patrick in Battersea? The evidence, as I remember it, was really only the suggestion that Battersea was derived from: Badrices īeg, ‘Badric’s Island’ and later Old English: Patrisey (Wikipedia), So, Patrick’s Island. The word ‘sea’ being used in that sense along the River Thames as in Chelsea, Thorney, Putney derived from ey which is short for eyot (island).
St Patrick lived as a teenage slave for 6 years, then escaped from captivity in Ireland and returned home. Trained as a priest, in perhaps Auxerre (home to St. Germanus who is another crucial witness to post Roman Britain) and returned to Ireland to begin the conversion to Christianity. He is the Patron Saint of Ireland, with St. Brigitte and St. Colomba.
Another candidate for Bannavem Taburniae’ comes from Andrew Breeze FSA. I read about this in Salon IFA, the newsletter of the Society of Antiquaries, and it is also discussed in this History First article. Breeze has revived a theory that the Saint comes from the West Country, and that the ‘Bannavem Taburniae’ is Banwell, near Weston-super-Mare in North Somerset. He suggests that ‘Bannaventa was a Latinisation of a Brittonic name that included banna, for a bend’, crook or peak. Venta is a well known word for an area of local administration or marketplace (for example, Venta Bulgarum, was the name for Winchester in the Roman period.) . He suggests that these ‘elements, as well as the Berniae element of ‘Taburniae’, can be found in the name Banwell, itself a compound name of the Brittonic ‘Banna’ and the Old English wylle, both meaning pool, or in the names of surrounding villages.’ I’m sure Fuentes did something similar for Battersea.
Image credit: Looking south from Winthill, near Banwell, Somerset, Colin S Pearson; Banwell in Somerset, Google Street View
What Banwell has over the London theory is that it is more likely to have been subject to Irish Raiders than London. But, for me, it is just another theory based on placename evidence that might or might not be true. I have read any number of Archaeology books where arguments about placenames are deployed to add some solidity to some theory about King Arthur, or a tale from Geoffrey of Monmouth. I therefore distrust them all. They essentially create circular arguments.
And least we forget, today is also St Gertrude’s Day, patron saint of Cats.
Facebook post, posted by a friend, and about St Gertude patron saint of cats.
Display of Antarctic Explorer’s Kit 1912 (reconstruction) at Gilbert White’s House in Hampshire
Last year, I went to Gilbert White’s House in Selborne. The naturalist’s House also houses the Oates Museum for Lawrence ‘Titus Oates’ and his uncle Frank. Oates was one of the ‘heroes’ I read about as a child. He epitomised what was sold as the British virtues of pluck, self-sacrifice, restraint.
Here is part of the story of Oates self-sacrifice over the days from February 29th to March 16th as told by the commander of the expedition Captain Scott:
Wednesday, February 29th 1912
Lunch. Cold night. Minimum Temp. -37.5°; -30° with north-west wind, force 4, when we got up. Frightfully cold starting; luckily Bowers and Oates in their last new finnesko; keeping my old ones for present. Expected awful march and for first hour got it. Then things improved and we camped after 5 1/2 hours marching close to lunch camp—22 1/2. Next camp is our depot and it is exactly 13 miles. It ought not to take more than 1 1/2 days; we pray for another fine one. The oil will just about spin out in that event, and we arrive 3 clear days’ food in hand. The increase of ration has had an enormously beneficial result. Mountains now looking small. Wind still very light from west—cannot understand this wind.
A finnesko is ‘a boot of tannedreindeer skin with the hair on the outside’.
Monday, March 5th 1912
Lunch. Regret to say going from bad to worse. We got a slant of wind yesterday afternoon, and going on 5 hours we converted our wretched morning run of 3 1/2 miles into something over 9. We went to bed on a cup of cocoa and pemmican solid with the chill off. (R. 47.) The result is telling on all, but mainly on Oates, whose feet are in a wretched condition. One swelled up tremendously last night and he is very lame this morning. We started march on tea and pemmican as last night—we pretend to prefer the pemmican this way. Marched for 5 hours this morning over a slightly better surface covered with high moundy sastrugi. Sledge capsized twice; we pulled on foot, covering about 5 1/2 miles. We are two pony marches and 4 miles about from our depot. Our fuel dreadfully low and the poor Soldier nearly done. It is pathetic enough because we can do nothing for him; more hot food might do a little, but only a little, I fear. We none of us expected these terribly low temperatures, and of the rest of us Wilson is feeling them most; mainly, I fear, from his self-sacrificing devotion in doctoring Oates’ feet. We cannot help each other, each has enough to do to take care of himself. We get cold on the march when the trudging is heavy, and the wind pierces our warm garments. The others, all of them, are unendingly cheerful when in the tent. We mean to see the game through with a proper spirit, but it’s tough work to be pulling harder than we ever pulled in our lives for long hours, and to feel that the progress is so slow. One can only say ‘God help us!’ and plod on our weary way, cold and very miserable, though outwardly cheerful. We talk of all sorts of subjects in the tent, not much of food now, since we decided to take the risk of running a full ration. We simply couldn’t go hungry at this time.
Pemmican is made of tallow, dried meat and dried berries. It is a calorie rich food stuff created by native American groups and used by expedition like Scotts. The name says Wikipedia ‘comes from the Cree word ᐱᒦᐦᑳᓐ (pimîhkân), which and adopted is derived from the word ᐱᒥᕀ (pimî), ‘fat, grease”. Sastrugi is a Russian word which are ripples or craters in the surface of the snow caused by strong winds. They make progressing through the terrain much more difficult.
Scott begins his March 16th entry unsure what the actual date is.
Friday March 16th
Lost track of dates, but think the last correct. Tragedy all along the line. At lunch, the day before yesterday, poor Titus Oates said he couldn’t go on; he proposed we should leave him in his sleeping-bag. That we could not do, and induced him to come on, on the afternoon march. In spite of its awful nature for him he struggled on and we made a few miles. At night he was worse and we knew the end had come.
Should this be found I want these facts recorded. Oates’ last thoughts were of his Mother, but immediately before he took pride in thinking that his regiment would be pleased with the bold way in which he met his death. We can testify to his bravery. He has borne intense suffering for weeks without complaint, and to the very last was able and willing to discuss outside subjects. He did not – would not – give up hope to the very end. He was a brave soul. This was the end. He slept through the night before last, hoping not to wake; but he woke in the morning – yesterday. It was blowing a blizzard. He said, ‘I am just going outside and may be some time.’ He went out into the blizzard and we have not seen him since.
I take this opportunity of saying that we have stuck to our sick companions to the last. In case of Edgar Evans, when absolutely out of food and he lay insensible, the safety of the remainder seemed to demand his abandonment, but Providence mercifully removed him at this critical moment. He died a natural death, and we did not leave him till two hours after his death. We knew that poor Oates was walking to his death, but though we tried to dissuade him, we knew it was the act of a brave man and an English gentleman. We all hope to meet the end with a similar spirit, and assuredly the end is not far.
I can only write at lunch and then only occasionally. The cold is intense, -40º at midday. My companions are unendingly cheerful, but we are all on the verge of serious frostbites, and though we constantly talk of fetching through I don’t think anyone of us believes it in his heart.
We are cold on the march now, and at all times except meals. Yesterday we had to lay up for a blizzard and to-day we move dreadfully slowly. We are at No. 14 pony camp, only two pony marches from One Ton Depot. We leave here our theodolite, a camera, and Oates’ sleeping-bags. Diaries, &c., and geological specimens carried at Wilson’s special request, will be found with us or on our sledge.
From the display at Gilbert White’s House, in Selborne Hampshire
How much Oates story is tarnished by discoveries published in 2002, I will leave you to read here.
SOOTHSAYER: Caesar! CAESAR: Ha! Who calls? CASCA: Bid every noise be still; peace yet again! CAESAR: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music Cry ‘ Caesar!’ Speak. Caesar is turned to hear. SOOTHSAYER: Beware the ides of March. CAESAR: What man is that? BRUTUS: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. CAESAR: Set him before me; let me see his face. CASSIUS: Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. CAESAR: What sayst thou to me now? Speak once again. SOOTHSAYER: Beware the Ides of March. CAESAR: He is a dreamer. Let us leave him. Pass.
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
Julius Caesar and the Ides of March
The Ides of March is the 15th of March. Julius Caesar didn’t take the warning that might have saved his life. You might suggest he got what was coming to first populist. But any study of Roman History will find many precursors in Roman and Greek History. Among populists, I rank Caesar with Napoleon as one of the Dictators who was, personally, an intelligent, reasonable man. They, in some ways, ruled ‘wisely’ but were nonetheless willing to sacrifice millions of people for their own personal ambition.
Today, the world is faced with the populists who are geniuses only in their own minds. I know, we as humans, might think, if only X would drop dead, how much better it would be? Brutus, being an honourable man, took action upon his thought. But, as often is the case, what seemed the ‘right thing’ to do, turned out to be a disaster. The plotters were trying to save the Roman Republic, but their murder destroyed the Republic. So, still those assassinary thoughts, read this article in ‘History Today’ about the impact of Julius Caesar’s murder. Do everything you can but use democratic means to defeat egotists to whom truth means nothing. In my opinion this is the major problem for humanity, it seems we do not know how to stop homicidal maniacs causing war without needing to fight a war to stop them. We do not have a method of peaceful mass rebellion. Perhaps Gandhi came closest but then he was working against a system that was not a dictatorship.
Ides of March
Now, what the heck are or indeed is the Ides of March?
A Roman month was divided into three, first the Kalends, then the Nones and finally the Ides. These three days were the important days of the month. The Kalends is the 1st of the Month. The Nones the 7th of the Month, And the Ides the Fifteenth. It is said to go back to the early days of Rome and a lunar calendar. The Kalends being the first tiny sliver of a crescent moon a couple of days after the New Moon. The Nones the first quarter of the Moon and the Ides was the full moon. To me, as a way of dividing a month it is very lopsided. The cycle of the moon is 29 days not 15. So the tripartite division divides up the first half of the month, and leave the second half undivided.
Debts were supposed to be paid on the Kalends and that is where we get our word calendar from. These public calendars were called Fasti. This is the name of Ovid’s great Almanac Poem, the Fasti, which I often quote from.
This is a very bad photograph of a drawing by Herbert E Duncan Jr of a 1st Century Calendar
How was it used? When talking about a day in the future month you might say I’ll meet you on the 5th day before the Kalends. I’ve never really understood this system, despite a few attempts, until I saw this drawing of a Roman Calendar. You’ll have to read this closely. The first column, on the left, with the letters from D to H then A – H. This is a recurring cycle of 8 market days, running in tandem with Kalends, Nones etc.. This gives an 8 day week.
Now reading across the top line DKMARTNP. So the D is the 4 day of the 8 day ‘market week’. The second column begins with the Letter K for Kalends, then MART for March. So it’s the Kalends of March. Then NP which means this day is a day for public festivals.
Back to the second column. Below the K for Kalends, the days are counted down to the upcoming Nones. So the next one after Kalends is VI, meaning the 6th day before the March Nones. Then V, IIII, III. There is no II because PR means the day before Nones. Below and to the right of the PR are the letters NON which is, as you might hope, is short for Nones.
In the second column below this is the number VIII which means the next day is the 8th day before the Ides of March. The fragment of stone from which this drawing comes does not continue down to the Ides, unfortunately.
Complicated, huh? It gets worse. The third column has a series of letters in it: F C C C NP NON F C C. We already know that the NON is short for Nones, The F means it’s a fastus, a permissible day when legal action can be taken. (the plural of Fastus is Fasti.) The C means Ccomitialis which on fasti days the Roman people could hold assemblies. (see my post for more on the curiae). We have already seen that NP marks days for public festivals. An N would mean days when political and judicial actions were prohibited, although there is not one here. The small unreadable text to the right is information, I believe, about holidays and historic events to be marked in the calendar. This is, in fact, a Roman Stone Almanac.
This confusing system survived Caesar’s major calendrical reforms. He transformed the Roman calendar, which was rotten at the core. He re-aligned with an almost accurate calculation of the time the Sun takes to circle the earth. (or the other way around!) This is known as the Julian Calendar.
But the Kalends, Nones, and Ides he left intact until Constantine the Great got rid of them. They were replaced with the familiar 4 fold division of the month. So, for the first time, you could work 24/7.
The house of General Wade, Bath (photo Kevin Flude, 2007, Pentax)
General Wade Died March 14th 1748
General Wade was one of the generals who saved Britain from the Jacobite threat in the 18th Century. He is one of those people that, as a Course Director for Road Scholar, you have never heard of but soon become an important part of your tour. At first, you use the guidebooks for your information. Then drop their name in the tour sounding authoritative for the next 20 years. But you have no real idea who they are are. General Wade is a typical example. I first heard of him in Bath, as the owner of the rather wonderful early 18th Century town house in Bath, pictured above. The house sits opposite the Georgian entry to the famous Roman Baths. Most Georgian buildings in Bath are Palladian, Classical Revival architecture as influenced by Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). First implemented, in Bath by John Wood, but followed by most 18th/19th and many 20th Century architects.
General Wade (Wikipedia)
General Wade’s House is wonderfully not Palladian. It displays its classical influence by the pilasters between the windows and the swags above. But it doesn’t have the solidity of the Palladian style. It is special because it illustrates a type that has largely disappeared in Bath, and indeed around the country. It was built around 1700 and is a Grade 1 listed.
General Wade & Bath
General Wade, I would tell people, was the MP for Bath (after 1722, retaining the seat for 25 years). He was a field-Marshall in charge of the defences of the area during the Jacobite Revolt of 1715. However, his part in my tour was to introduce the story of one of the three men who made Bath famous in the 18th Century. The first of these men was Ralph Allen, Post Master. At the beginning of the Jacobite Revolt, he opened letters between known rebels. He found out where the armaments were stored, and provided the information to General Wade. Wade became famous by preventing an uprising in the West Country. His daughter married Ralph Allen.
Ralph Allen and his quarry with Bath in the Background (screenshot of lecture slide from my Jane Austen and Bath Virtual Tour)
Ralph Allen
Allen made a small fortune as Post Master by implementing so-called ‘cross posts’. The original postal system sent posts from the regions to London to be sent out to the destination region. Allen realised he could make a lot of money linking regional centres directly and not going via London. Rising in society and in wealth, he reinvested his profits in the purchase of the limestone quarries above Bath.
18th Century Railway for moving Bath Stone, old print and model from Museum display.
Being a great entrepreneur he used a gravity railway (this is in the 18th Century remember!) to bring the stone down cheaply from the quarry. He also invested in a canal scheme to reduce transport costs for his highly prized limestone. It could now be transported and used in the bigger town of Bristol. He thereby made his stone cheaper, and increased potential customers.
Sketch from painting of John Wood
He worked with visionary architect, John Wood, who used his stone to design amazing buildings in the Palladian style. This made Bath stone fashionable. Reducing costs while increasing demand at the same time. The third of the people who made Bath famous was Beau Nash. He was known as the ‘King of Bath’. He made Bath a cultured centre of entertainment. But more about him and his girlfriend on another occasion!
Beau Nash and his mistress Juliana Popjoy
General Wade and the Jacobites
So, I used General Wade to point out a missing era of architecture in Bath. But also as a way into the story of the three men who surfed the wave of Bath’s amazing growth. They, it is said, made it the most fashionable place to visit in Britain.
I next came across the name of General Wade, when I began to take groups along Hadrian’s wall. We were travelling on the military way. Running south of the wall, it was built by General Wade in the 18th Century. It roughly follows the Roman Military Way. Wade built 240 miles of military roads and 30 bridges. A further encounter with Wade, came when a particularly erudite Boat captain told us about the road that runs North alongside Loch Lomond. This was another military road built by Wade. Now, I do not know the names of any other General famous for building military roads. So this man was clearly something special. In Scotland, he essentially put in the military framework that was used to subdue the Highlanders in the Jacobite Wars. I thought I should know more about him. Hence, this post!
General Wade’s Military Road near Melgarve below Corrieyairack Pass (Wikipedia)
General Wade: Military Career
He began his military career in 1690 when he was commissioned into the Earl of Bath’s regiment. This led to a stellar military career, including fighting under the great General Marlborough. Wade was made a Brigadier General in 1708. After his success in keeping the West Country secure he was made Commander in Chief of His Majesty’s Forces, Castles, Forts, and Barracks in North Britain. The term ‘North Britain’ was used following the union of England and Scotland. For a while Scotland was known as North Britain.
He became a Field Marshall in 1743 in the War of the Austrian Succession. In the ’45 (Jacobite Revolt), he based his strategy on concentrating his forces on Newcastle. But Bonnie Prince Charlie, outfoxed him by taking the West Coast route out of Scotland via Carlisle into Lancashire. The Scots got as far south as Derby. Then retreated as the hoped for support from English Jacobites, nor the French invasion, materialised. Wade resigned from his command in 1745 and was replaced by Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. Cumberland was known as the Butcher of Culloden. The 1745 Jacobite Rebellion is known in Scottish Gaelic: as the Bliadhna Theàrlaich, [ˈpliən̪ˠə ˈhjaːrˠl̪ˠɪç], or ‘The Year of Charles’). (to read about Bonny Prince Charlie’s Sword, Stone of Scone read my post here stone-of-destiny-on-display-in-perth
General Wade’s Road and the Sycamore Tree
In 1746 Wade helped plan the East West road by Hadrian’s Wall to prevent in future any invasion of Britain. It allowed troops to travel from one side of Scotland to the other quickly. He died before construction was begun. He can’t therefore be entirely blamed for the destruction of parts of Hadrian’s Wall by the building of the road. (Click here to see my post on piece-of-hadrians-wall-found.
The road is still in use today. It was used by many people to see the famous Sycamore Tree, in Sycamore Gap, before it was brutally chopped down.
‘Daniel Graham, 39, and Adam Carruthers, 32, both from Cumbria, are charged with causing £622,191 worth of criminal damage to the famous Northumberland tree‘. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckg0dyk9mvno. Their trial is in April, and of course, they may be innocent.
The Works and Days is a farmer’s Almanac written for the brother of Hesiod. It has a mixture of seasonal good advice and moralising. He is, one of the first great poets of the western world, and near contemporary with Homer. The poem is an important source for Greek Myths. For example, it tells us that the stories of Prometheus and Pandora are the reasons the Gods cannot give us a simple wholesome life. He also describes the ages of humanity. These are: Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, Heroic Age, and his own modern day – the decadent Iron age. This idea was borrowed by C. J. Thomsen at the National Museum of Denmark in the early 19th Century. He created our modern Three Age System of Stone, Bronze and Iron Age. Our system is perhaps more optimistic with a progressive trend while the Greek system degenerates through successive eras.
Hesiod sees Spring as a time to begin trading by sea. He warns us not to put all our eggs in one vessel as Spring can bring nasty nautical surprises.
‘Spring too grants the chance to sail. When first some leaves are seen On fig-tree-tops, as tiny as the mark A raven leaves, the sea becomes serene For sailing. Though spring bids you to embark, I’ll not praise it – it does not gladden me. It’s hazardous, for you’ll avoid distress With difficulty thus. Imprudently Do men sail at that time – covetousness Is their whole life, the wretches. For the seas To take your life is dire. Listen to me: Don’t place aboard all your commodities – Leave most behind, place a small quantity Aboard. To tax your cart too much and break An axle, losing all, will bring distress. Be moderate, for everyone should take An apt approach. When you’re in readiness, Get married. Thirty years, or very near, Is apt for marriage. Now, past puberty Your bride should go four years: in the fifth year Wed her. That you may teach her modesty Marry a maid. The best would be one who Lives near you, but you must with care look round Lest neighbours make a laughingstock of you. A better choice for men cannot be found Than a good woman,’
In Rome, early March is taken up with much celebrations of the Great God Mars. His favour enabled the Romans to conquer most of the known world. But here is Horace on Spring:
Winter’s grip is loosening at the welcome turn of spring and the West Wind As windlasses haul empty hulls to the sea. Cattle no longer feel contented in their stables nor the farmer by his hearth, And no morning frosts are leaving a white sheen on the fields. Now Cytherean Venus leads the dance under a moon hanging high, And hand in hand nymphs and beauteous Graces, With rhythmic feet, stamp the ground, while busy, glowing Vulcan Tends the massive forges of the Cyclopes. Now ’tis time to wreathe our glistening locks with green myrtle And with flowers borne by the unshackled earth; Now ’tis time to make sacrifice in shadowy groves to Faunus, Whether he demands a lamb or a kid if he prefers
For the Anglo-Saxon their poetry shows Spring as a great release when the ‘fetters of frost’ fall off and allow a welcome return to sailing on the high seas .
The Seafarer
The woods take on blossoms, towns become fair, meadows grow beautiful the world hastens on; all these things urge the eager mind, the spirit to the journey, in one who thinks to travel far on the paths of the sea.….
So now my spirit soars out of the confines of the heart, my mind over the sea flood; it wheels wide over the whale’s home,
Poem from the Exeter Book known as the Seafarer, quoted in Eleanor Parker’s ‘Winters in the World a journey through the Anglo Saxon year’.
