Author: Kevin Flude

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Beware the Ides of March March 15th

shows an image of Brutus stabbing Caesar with 'funny' bubbles: Caesar says 'Brutus, whats that loud pelting noise on the roof' and Brutus replies, about to stab Julius Caesar 'Hail, Caesar'
Beware the Ides of March – With Apologies.Image from Facebook

Beware the Ides of March

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, 44 BC

The Ides of March is the 15th of March. The day Julius Caesar didn’t take the warning that might have saved his life. You might suggest he got what was coming to the first populist Dictator. But any study of Roman History will find many precursors to Caesar in Roman and Greek History. Among populists, I rank Caesar with Napoleon a Dictators who was, personally, an intelligent, rational man. They, in some ways, ruled ‘wisely’ but were nonetheless willing to sacrifice millions of people for their own personal ambition.

Warning from history – Assassination is not the Answer!

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 the 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 (like Hitler) 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. (I mentioned Gandhi in ‘On This Day’ on my post here.

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.

Kalendar

This is a very bad photograph of a drawing by Herbert E Duncan Jr of a 1st Century Calendar
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 in capitals: 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 C comitialis which on fasti days the Roman people could hold assemblies. (see my post for more on the curiae).

Market and Public Days

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 and it survived 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.

Glad you are not Roman?

For more about Constantine’s Weeks look at my post here

For Caesar’s Calendrical reforms look at this post

least the ones I saw.)

On This Day

493 – Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, was slain by Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, while the two kings were feasting together. Odoacer was a mercenary General for the Romans, but seized the Throne from the child Emperor Romulus Augustulus, who ruled for only 10 months. Theodoric took over and ruled an Empire centred on Italy from 496 to 526. Both Kings followed the Arian version of Christianity, although generally did not persecute the Catholic Tradition.

Theodoric was, more powerful than the later Roman Emperors and had good relations with the Roman Senate, which continued in operation. Later in his rule, that relationship broke down. This lead to Theodoric arresting Boethius for treason. While awaiting execution, Boethius wrote ‘On The Consolation of Philosophy’. Often called the last great literary work of the Western Roman Empire. Amongst many translations into English are those by King Alfred the Great, Geoffrey Chaucer and Queen Elizabeth I. Boethius was executed in 523

1493 – Christopher Columbus arrived in Castille, back from the journey that changed the world. He made landfall in the Bahamas on 12th October 1492, ending what became known as the pre-Columbian Age (aka pre-contact era). The voyage began the era of exploration that turned the world into a global entity, but also bringing in its wake horrific genocide of indigenous peoples.

1877 – First Cricket Test Match between England and Australia, held at Melbourne which the Aussies won by 45 runs.

1909 – Selfridge’s opened on Oxford Street

1927 – The first Oxford v Cambridge Women’s Boat Race took place in Oxford on the Isis. The Isis is what posh folk call the River Thames as it flows passed the University Town. In Latin the Thames is called the Tamesis. And a conceit grew up at the University that the River was called the Isis until it was joined by the River Thame at Dorchester, where the conjoined river was called the Tamesis.

The Boat Race was won by Oxford. Strangely, the boats did not row at the same time. On the first leg they were judged by the style of their rowing, and on the second by the speed. The judges could not agree on the style scores, so in the end the decision was given to Oxford on account of being the faster of the two boats.

2024 Revised March 2025, On This Day added 2026

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Mothering Sunday & Simnel Cake

Virgin and Child (Image on a card of unknown origin) to illustrate Mothering Sunday or Mother’s Day

In 2026 Mothering Sunday is on March 15th. In 2027 it will be on March 7th. Strangely, originally not about Mothers! Mothering Sunday is the 4th Sunday in Lent. It is, in fact the day in which we are enjoined to visit our Mother Churches. It, therefore, became a day when people made processions to their Churches.  Servants and workers could go to their home parishes. But not only go to the Mother Church but also to say hello to their mothers. So, it became increasingly about Mothers. It was called Mothering Sunday when I was little and has morphed into the Americanism that is Mother’s Day.

In Church the Reading is often Isaiah 66:10–11

‘Rejoice ye with Jerusalem; and be ye glad for her, all ye that delight in her: exult and sing for joy with her, all ye that in sadness mourn for her; that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations.‘

Jerusalem is personified, here, as the Mother. Further associations with motherhood came from the Gospel for the day which is John 6:1–14, the story of the Feeding of the Five Thousand, which led to associations with the bounty of Mother Earth.

In the medieval period visits to the Mother Church seem to have become fiercely competitive. The Bishop of Lincoln, Robert Grosseteste decreed:

‘In each and every church you should strictly prohibit one parish from fighting with another over whose banners should come first in processions at the time of the annual visitation and veneration of the mother church. […] Those who dishonour their spiritual mother should not at all escape punishment, when those who dishonour their fleshly mothers are, in accordance with God’s law, cursed and punished with death.‘

(Letter 22.7 – Wikipedia)

Simnel Cake

It was also the Sunday in the fasting period of Lent in which the restrictions were relaxed. So a special cake called Simnel Cake was made for the purpose.

I’ll to thee a Simnel bring
‘Gainst thou goest a-Mothering
So that, when she blesseth thee
Half that blessing thou’lt give me.

Herrick Hesperides 1647

Photo: James Petts from London, England – Simnel cake (wikipedia
Easter 2012

The Simnel cake is a fine flour light fruit cake (Latin simila, fine flour), with layers of marzipan in it. It often has 11 balls of marzipan on the top, representing the 11 (not Judas) apostles. The cake is first boiled for two hours and then baked. Now, I know 95% of my American readers hate fruit cake. But believe me when I tell you – change your ways – iI’s delicious. Try this BBC’s recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/easter-simnel-cake

And I’m beginning to see that cake is an emerging theme of this Almanac of the Past.

See my post on Chelsea Buns here; Lardy Cake and Doughnuts here.

Written in March 23, slightly revised in March 24, and 25, Revised 26

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General Wade & Bath March 14th

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 you have never heard of. But once you have he keeps cropping up. In my case, I came across him when I researched my Guided Walk around Bath. I got my information from a guidebook Then drop his name in on the tour for the next 20 years only really knowing his relevance for my walk. But really having little idea who he really was.

General Wade was 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 abused his position as Post Master by opening letters between known rebels. By this means he found out where the armaments were stored, and what the plans were and provided the information to General Wade. Thereby helping Wade prevent the pro-Catholic, pro the Old Pretender, pro Stuart, anti Hanoverian uprising in the West Country.  He rewarded Ralph Allen by letting him marry his daughter.

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. Clever Man! But Wood, made Bath itself fashionable, and one of the most beautiful towns in Europe. So he is the second of the triumvirate who made Bath famous

Beau Nash

The third man was Beau Nash. He earned his informal title as the ‘King of Bath’. He made Bath a cultured centre of entertainment. Nash established a top notch musical ensemble. Set up a programme of Balls, lectures, walks and other cultural improvements. He ensured good manners were the order of the day. So, people could be sure of having a good and safe time in the beautiful town of Bath with its cultural offerings. But I will say more about Nash and his girlfriend on another occasion! Its time we got back to General Wade.

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 the piece-of-hadrians-wall-found.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_roads_of_Scotland. Military Way near Hadrian’s wall, built by Wade not shown.

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. They were found gulty, given 4 years custodial sentences. Graham said the motive was nothing more than ‘drunken stupidity.’ To that we can all agree.

For more on Wade see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wade

First published 2024, revised 2025, 2026

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Hesiod and a Grecian Spring March 13th

Image of web site for Hesiod's works and days, showing pandora's box an illustration by William Blake
Hesiod: Works and Days

HESIOD: WORKS AND DAYS

This post is about the Works and Days which is a farmer’s Almanac written for the brother of Hesiod. But today is also another Friday the Thirteenth so please read my post here to find out about the unlucky days of the year..

Hesiod’s Works and Days 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’s Grecian Spring

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,’

Hesiod Works and Days Translated by Chris Kelk

Roman Spring

In Rome, early March is taken up with celebrations of the Great God Mars. His favour enabled the Romans to conquer most of the known world. But let the poet Horace explain:


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

Horace, Odes 1.4 (found in a pdf @ https://beertverstraete.yolasite.com/resources/Essay%2013.pdf)

The Anglo-Saxon Seafarer in Spring

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’.

Published 2022, The text in this page on Hesiod has been transferred here from March 10th. The information about Nettles has been transferred to the March 10th Post. Republished March 2025, Revised 2026

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St Gregory.  Punster Extraordinary March 12th

St Gregory and the Angles

Gregorius I is known as Saint Gregory the Great. Pope from 3 September 590 to his death on 12th March 604. So 12th March is traditionally his feast day. It was changed to September 3rd, the date of his elevation to Pope because 12th March was often in Lent.

His is the 2nd most popular name for Popes. This is the top 18. I guess St Peter was too hard an act to follow, but then there are only 6 Pauls? I can’t help feeling there should be six Sixtus’s?

  • John (23),
  • Gregory (16),
  • Benedict (16),
  • Clement (14),
  • Leo (13),
  • Innocent (12),
  • Pius (12),
  • Stephen (9),
  • Urban (8),
  • Alexander (7),
  • Adrian (6),
  • Paul (6),
  • Sixtus (5),
  • Martin (5),
  • Nicholas (5),
  • Celestine (5),
  • Anastasius (4),
  • Honorius (4).
  • Source: https://conclaveblog.wordpress.com

St Gregory the Great

St Gregory is the patron saint of musicians, singers, students, and teachers. It is traditionally believed he instituted the form of plainsong known as Gregorian Chant. However, he was also a formidable organiser and reformer. He made changes that helped the Catholic tradition survive Arian and Donatist challenges. To read more about the Arian Heresy look at my post on St. Hilary and the Arians. (St Gregory and the Angles – why do these all sound like 80’s post punk bands?)

In the UK, St Gregory is venerated with St Augustine for bringing Christianity to the largely pagan Anglo-Saxons. The caption to the illustration above tells the story of how he came to send a mission to the pagan Angles in Briton. It includes his two most famous puns, riffing on the similarity of the words Angles/Angels and Aella/Alleluia. But in between these two he also punned on the name of Aella’s kingdom. This was called Deira which later joined with Bernicia to become the Kingdom of Northumbria. St Gregory said he would save them from the wroth of God which is ‘de ira’ in Latin. The ire of God. Deira. No? Not hitting your funny bone?

St Augustine’s Mission

In 597AD St Gregory sent St Augustine to Canterbury. His mission to convert the Germanic peoples of the former Roman Province of Britannia. Canterbury was chosen because its King was the ‘Bretwalda’ of Britain. And he, was married to Bertha, a French Princess who was already a Christian. The enigmatic title of Bretwalda was given to Britain’s most powerful King. At the time, it was Ethelbert of Kent. So, it was a relatively safe haven for St Augustine’s mission. The King was baptised, shortly, after in Canterbury.

Stained glass window showing Baptism of King Ethelbert of Kent by St Augustine watched by Queen Bertha. In St Martins Church, Canterbury
Stained glass window showing the Baptism of King Ethelbert of Kent by St Augustine watched by Queen Bertha. In St Martins Church, Canterbury

Archbishop of London?

The mission came with a plan to recreate the ecclesiastical arrangements set up in the Roman period. From the early 4th Century there were archbishops in the two main capitals at London and York. (We know because they attended the Synod of Arles in 314). After Kent was converted, St Augustine sent St Mellitus to London. London was part of the Kingdom of Essex, ruled by St Ethelbert’s nephew, Sæberht. Mellitus was the first Anglo-Saxon bishop of London and he established St Pauls Cathedral in 604. St Paulinus was sent to convert Northumbria and established a Cathedral in York.

Unfortunately, for the plan, Sæberht died. His sons returned to paganism and Mellitus was kicked out. He returned to Canterbury, where he, eventually, became Archbishop. Ever since we have had an Archbishop of Canterbury and York and never had an Archbishop of London.

Photo of St Martin's Church - where the Church of England began. showing Roman tiles in the wall.
St Martin’s Church, Canterbury – where the Church of England began. Note the Roman tiles in the wall.

St Gregory and England

It is possible to argue (and I do) that St Gregory’s encounter with the Angles is why we are called English, not Saxons, nor Wessexians. Gregory sent Augustine to set up the Church of the Angles, not the Church of the Saxons. Saxon was the normal name used by the Romans for Germanic barbarians. The old Roman province of Brittania was by now divided into 3 Saxon Kingdoms. Essex, Wessex, and Sussex. (East, West, and South Saxons). 3 Anglian Kingdom, Mercia, East Anglia and Northumbria. (Middle, East and North Angles). And Kent, which the Venerable Bede says was a Jutish King of Germans from Jutland. These Kingdoms were often at war., sometimes allied, or subjected.

The Vikings then conquered most of these Kingdoms, except parts of Wessex and Mercia. After the attacks of the Vikings were beaten back, Alfred and his son, daughter and grandson reconquered or ‘liberated’ the ex-Viking areas. Alfred renamed the united kingdoms of Wessex and Mercia, the Kingdom of the Anglo-saxons. Athelstan his son liberated Northumbria and other areas, and in joining it to the Kingdom of the Anglo-Saxons renamed it Angeland or England.

The Church of England had made the term Anglish/English became a unifying term to unite Angles, Saxons and Jutes. Otherwise, the ‘liberated’ Angles and Jutes would have to swallow being part of Greater Wessex, rubbing in their loss of independence. Of course, it was all a bit more complicated, but it gives a summary of the formation of England, which was created by the end of the 10th Century.

St Gregory in Amsterdam

On a visit to Amsterdam and the Rijksmuseum I came across this painting which features Pope Gregory the Great. He is in the left hand part of the Triptych, shown in green kneeling at the altar. It shows Utrecht in the background.

Triptych of the Crucifixion.  Showing the vision of the Crucifixion that St Gregory had while celebrating Mass (left). Crucifixion centre.  St Christopher (right)

What is fascinating is all the paraphernalia of the Crucifixion above Gregory’s head.  You’ll see 30 pieces of silver, dice to decide who gets Jesus’  robes, flails and torture devices, sponge and spear etc. Close up below.

Detail Triptych of the Crucifixion. 

For King Ethelbert’s Feast Day see my post: st-wapburga-and-st-ethelbert-of-kents-day

On This Day

Lazy Day in Anglo-Saxon Times. In the Laws of King Alfred the Great, this day was a day off for freemen.  For more on Days off in the Anglo Saxon Calender see my post on August 15th.

1689 – Catholic King James II landed at Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland, in an attempt to regain the Kingdom from his daughter and son-in-law, William and Mary. James had fled to the continent following riots against his rule. William defeated James II at the Battle of the Boyne. James II returned to France never to return. Mary ruled jointly with her husband until she died of Smallpox, and he ruled alone until he fell off his horse.

1930 – Mahatma Gandhi begins the Salt March, a 200-mile march to protest the British monopoly on salt in India. One of the defining moments in non-violent civil disobedience. Offering the world a possible alternative to violent revolution, or military regime change.

1999 – Former Warsaw Pact countries, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO. Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia joined in March 2004; Croatia and Albania joined on 1 April 2009. Montenegro 2017. North Macedonia. 2020: (Ukraine) can forget about (NATO membership). That’s probably the reason the whole thing (war) started,” said U.S. President Donald Trump on February 26, 2026

First published in 2024, republished in 2025. On This Day added 2026

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Newark & the Penny Loaf Day March 11th

River Trent from Trent Bridge, Newark on Trent by Peter Tarleton WIKIPEDIA -CC BY-SA 2.0
Newark on Trent by Peter Tarleton Wikipedia CC BY-SA 2.0 Newark & the Penny Loaf Day

This post is about Newark & the Penny Loaf, but as it is still Women’s Week, I’d like to share with you a discovery I have just made:

Dorothy Thurtle

Dorothy Thurtle. By https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/b5/be/a6cfe553603c25fd36627e6c24d4.jpgGallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0026656.html, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36012910

By chance, a few days after International Women’s Day, I was reading the Hackney Society’s Newsletter and read about some canon bollards in Shoreditch Park, in the Dorothy Thurtle Memorial Garden. Well, my nearest Bus Stop is Thurtle Street, which always seemed a strange turtle-like name. So, I looked her up!

Turns out she was a pioneer of the Labour Party. Also, daughter of the great George Lansbury. And a redoubtable pioneer of contraception, and abortion rights. Her opinion was that the Labour Party’s commitment to equality between the sexes made no sense unless it supported contraception and legal abortion. She and her husband, Ernest, founded the Workers’ Birth Control Group. Dorothy was general secretary of Shoreditch Trades Council and Labour Party, became a councillor and eventually Mayor of Shoreditch. She was the only supporter of Abortion Law reform on the Birkett Committee, and issued an influential dissenting report. In her report, she ‘argued that because many married women would face pregnancy every one or two years until their menopause, withholding access to fertility advice and birth control was “a form of class discrimination and penalisation”‘ (Wikipedia). World War 2 delayed any reform.

Right on my doorstep! For more read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Thurtle

George Lansbury

George Lansbury making a speech. By LSE Library – Flickr: George Lansbury, c1935, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31131566

Dorothy’s father was originally a Radical Liberal Party member. He then joined the Labour Party and became an MP for Bow and Bromley in 1910. During the struggle for Women’s Suffrage he was imprisoned. He was also imprisoned in the Poplar Rates Revolt of 1921. (He was the first labour Mayor of Poplar). After Ramsay MacDonald joined the National Government, Lansbury replaced MacDonald. He lead the few remaining ‘loyal’ Labour Party members who would not join a Conservative dominated Government. He was elected leader from 1932 to 1935, with Clement Atlee as his deputy. Lansbury was a life long Pacifist and so stood down in 1935, as he was out of step with the need for rearming with the rise of Fascism. Atlee became leader.

Canon Bollards

Smithfield., Canon Bollards Photo K Flude)
Canon Bollards in Cloth Fair (photo K Flude)

Canon Bollards are made of repurposed canons from the British Navy. They are sometimes hard to distinguish from those made from repurposed canon moulds, or bollards that are designed to look like canons.

Newark in the Civil War

I will move the Dorothy Thurtle content to International Women’s Day, by next year. Which leaves us with an abrupt change of subject! On the 11th March 1644, the Parliamentary forces were besieging the Royalist-held Newark-on-Trent. Newark was a strategic centre as it was on the River Trent and on a major road junction.  Here, the Great North Road (A1 from London to the North) and the Fosse Way (from Exeter, via the Cotswolds to Leicester) meet. It was vital for the King, as the roads linked Chester and York to Oxford.  Oxford was the King’s HQ; Chester was the key to Wales and the North West. York controlled access to the North East.

Newark withheld three sieges and only ‘fell’ when King Charles I surrendered. The Castle and other military defences were slighted.

Newark & the Penny Loaf & Hercules Clay,

During the second siege, in 1644, Hercules Clay dreamt that his house was on fire. He ignored the dream at first. Then it repeated, so he took his family out of the house (next door to the Town Hall).

Shortly after, a ‘bombshell’ hit his house, fired by the Parliamentary side.  Because of his miraculous delivery, he left £100 in his will for a distribution of ‘penny loaves’ to the poor of Newark. His Will said:

‘Upon the 11th day of March yearly forever upon which day it pleased God of his infinite mercy wonderfully to preserve me and my wife from a fearful destruction by a terrible blow of a granado in the time of the last siege’

And also he left £100 for a commemorative sermon to be read on the anniversary of the incident. The service is normally held on the closest Sunday to the 11th March. The Church is being refurbished, so instead they had an event in the Town Hall and a procession.

Clay was a Mercer and a Royalist. After his death he was fined for lending £600 for the maintenance of the Royalist Garrison. It was paid by his brother.

At the time Churches had poor or bread boxes into which the women of the Parish would place loaves for the poor.

Auction Web site showing 17th Century Poor Box used for holding loaves for the poor

For more information on Hercules Clay see https://www.clayofderbyshire.co.uk/mayors. And thanks to the Clays for the research.

Penny loaf day see https://calendarcustoms.com/articles/newark-penny-loaf-day/

Newark Penny Loaf Day and Hercules Clay Bombshell Sermon

For my post on the execution of Charles 1 look here https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/january-28th-31st-charles-i-martyrdom-get-back/

On This Day

1702 – Elizabeth Mallet published the first English daily newspaper the Daily Courant, on Fleet Bridge, next to the King’s Arms. She, previously, dominated the publishing of ‘last dying speeches’ of people executed at Tyburn.

The Daily Courant By Edward Mallet from rooms above the White Hart pub in Fleet Street – The Daily Courant, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=880402. Elizabeth Mallet published under a male name.

1941 – Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill – this was a life-line to the UK as it enabled the supply of war materials to flow to Britain who stood alone, in Europe, against fascism. see my post for Roosevelt’s 4 freedoms.

1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev, appointed General Secretary of the USSR

First written in 2024, revised 2025, Thurtle and Lansbury and On This Day added in 2026

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Nettle. Tea, Beer, Pudding & Flagellation March 10th

Nettle – photo by Paul Morley Unsplash

Nettle Tea

The store cupboards are getting denuded of the fruits, nuts, preserves, pickles, salted and dried foods saved from the summer and autumnal abundance. Of course, this is alleviated by the reduced consumption of the Lenten fast.  (I’m continuing my lenten practice of giving up, giving up things for Lent). But nettles are budding. I take a regular cup of nettle tea. Normally, provided by the excellent Cowan’s tea emporium in the Covered Market in Oxford. But I’m running out and not due to visit Oxford for a month or so. So Charles Kightley in his Perpetual Almanac tells me that young stinging nettles are appearing and this is the time to collect own young, juicy nettles.

Here is a video about collecting them.

YouTube Video on making Nettle Tea

Nettle Beer

Or better still, change up the tea for a nettle beer:

Take a gallon measure of freshly gathered young nettles washed well dried and well packed down. Boil them in a gallon of water for at least a quarter of an hour. Then strain them, press them and put the juice in an earthenware pot with a pound of brown sugar and the juice and grated skin of a lemon. Stir well, and before it grows cool put in an ounce of yeast dissolved in some of the liquid. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for four or five days and strain again and bottle it, stopping the bottles well.  It’ll be ready after a week, but better if left longer.

Nettle Beer was brewed for old people against ‘gouty and rheumatic pains’.

Nettle: Detecting Virgins

A more sinister use is provided by William Coles who gives a method of detecting virginity.

‘Nettle tops are usually boiled in pottage in the Springtime, to consume the Phlegmatic superfluities in the body of man, that the coldness and moistness of the winter have left behind. And it is said that if the juice of the roots of nettles be mixed with ale and beer, and given to one that suspected to have lost her maidenhood, if it remain with her, she is a maid, But if she’s spews forth, she is not.‘

William Cole’s Adam in Eden 1657.

Flagellation with Nettles?

William Camden reported that Roman soldiers used nettles to heat up their legs in the cold of a British winter. (from Mrs Greaves’ ‘A Modern Herbal). Perhaps, I should have sent that idea to PM Keir Starmer? He might have suggested the method to Senior Citizens to alleviate the loss of their Winter Fuel Allowance? (which he has now restored). Flogging with nettles was a cure for rheumatism and the loss of muscle power in the early modern period. Nettles were also added to horse feed to make their coats shine. It was used as a hair tonic for humans. 

Nettle Fabrics

The 18th century poet Thomas Campbell is quoted on the virtues of nettles:

“I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth. The young and tender nettle is an excellent potherb. The stalks of the old nettle are as good as flax for making cloth. I have heard my mother say that she thought nettle cloth more durable than any other linen.”

In 2012, a Danish Bronze Age Burial was found to be dressed in a shroud made of Nettle. Strangely, the nettle was not local, perhaps being made in Austria where other objects in the rich burial came from. However, the person was thought to be Scandinavian. For more have a look at this article on www.nbcnews.com.

In the Irong Age, also in Denmark, Huldremose Woman was found buried in a bog. She had a severed arm and was buried in elaborate sheep and goat skin clothes, but underneath:

‘she wore a white inner garment made from plant fibres that reached from the shoulders to below the knees. The type of plant fiber is unclear but other evidence from the time period suggests that it could have been made of nettle.’

To find out more: the-woman-from-huldremose/the-huldremose-woman-clothes/

World War 1 use of Nettle cloth

Greaves tells us that the German and Austrians had a shortage of cotton during the blockade of World War 1. They turned to nettles to replace cotton production believing it to be the only effective substitute.  It was also substituted for sugar, starch, protein, paper and ethyl alcohol. 

YouTube Video on making fabric from nettles

Nettle Pudding

Pepys ate Nettle Pudding in February 1661 and pronounced it ‘very good’.  Here is more on Nettles in history AND a recipe for Nettle Pudding! I can see I’m going to have to get out there and carefully pick myself some nettles! ( For Folklore of Nettles look here).

Nettles Photo by Les Argonautes on Unsplash

Remember, none of the above is necessarily good advice as far as medicine is concerned. For smoking herbs see my post coltsfoot-smoking-cholera

March Weather

In the early modern almanacs there is much weather and horticultural advice to be had (Weather Lore. Richard Inwards).

‘March damp and warm
Will do farmer much  harm‘

or

‘In March much snow
to plants and trees much woe‘

On This Day

March 10th is St Kessog Day. He is associated with Luss on Loch Lomond, and was Robert the Bruce’s rallying cry. St Kessog and Scotland!

241 BC – The Battle of the Aegates in which the Carthaginian fleet is sunk, and the First Punic War ends. Carthage was destroyed in the Third Punic War in 146BC. Rebuilt as a Roman City 100 years later.

1629 – Parliament is dissolved by Charles I. This was followed by a Royal dictatorship which lasted 11 years, and then led to Civil War.

1906 – Bakerloo Line Opened. The name originated from the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway. It goes from Harrow &Wealdstone in the NW to Elephant & Castle in the South East, via the Central London section which goes from Bakers Street to Waterloo, Sherlock Holmes didn’t use the Tube very much (see this post here for those times he did). There is a proposed extension from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham.

1969 – James Earl Ray sentenced to 99 years in jail for murdering Martin Luther King. While Ray was a segrationalist and a supporter of George Wallace, he maintained he was set up as the scapegoat. He died in prison in 1998.

Written 2024, revised 2025, the content on Hesiod and a Grecian Spring moved to: march-13th-hesiod-and-a-grecian-spring/. On this Day added 2026.

My trip (in March 2022) to the British Museum with my 20 month year old Grandson is posted here:

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The Affair of the Sausage March 9th 1522

Portrait of Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531) attendee of the Affair of the Sausage. By Hans Asper – Winterthur Kunstmuseum, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=553075 Public Domain

Om March 9th 1522, Huldrych Zwingla, amongst others, was invited to a Sausage Supper at the house of printer, Christoph Froschaue. The printer published 700 works including those by Erasmus, Luther and Zwingla. Zwingla led the Reformation in Switzerland, and the Affair of the Sausage, took place in Zurich. In 1519 Zwingla was appointed as the People’s Priest at the Grossmünster in Zurich. Inspired by humanism and the example of Erasmus he believed true belief could only come through studying the scriptures. Sola scriptura is how Luther put it. ‘Verbum Dei lux est quae omnia clarificat’ – The Word of God is the light that brightens everything. So said German Protestant Johannes Oecolampadius.

Erasmus made a new translation of the Bible into Greek using modern scholarship to make it as accurate as possible. Erasmus believed that reform of the Church was necessary as some of the theology was based either on corrupt translations, had no backing in scripture. or was subject to different interpretations. But, he believed that reform should be from within the Catholic Church. And they should be based on morality, education, and the recovery of the pure text of Scripture. Zwingli, Luther and other Protestants agreed. However, ultimately, they were not prepared to stay within a Church which used its power to thwart scripture-based reforms.

Sausages & Scripture Supper?

Zwingla took one of his target examples, from Catholic traditions of fasting, for which he found no backing for the specific dietary prohibitions in the Bible. He preached against these practices, which particularly impacted the poor. The Affair of the Sausage, was a meeting where critics ate sausages during the Catholic fast of Lent. Meat was forbidden by the Church during Lent. The Sausages were eaten with Swiss Fasnachtskiechli which are fritters. And here is a recipe!

Twelve people attended. The Supper caused an uproar and Froschaue was arrested. Zwingla wrote a Sermon on the subject called ‘Regarding the Choice and Freedom of Foods’ which Froschaue published. If, Zwingla argued, it is such a sin to eat eggs on Fast days, why did it take the Church 14 centuries to outlaw the practice?

Two years later, attendee Hottinger, a boot maker, was beheaded in Baden for challenging the Mass. It is inspiring, although baffling, how so many ordinary people were prepared to die rather than admit something they believed false. For the martyrdom of one such Londoner see my post on Thomas Tomkins here.

Secret Marriage

Zwingla’s next campaign was to oppose the ban on priests marrying. He could show that Bible does not ban Priests from marriage, although there are many verses praising celibacy. Zwingla had already secretly married. Thomas Cranmer, in England, similarly jumped the starting gun by marrying before Protestant regimes made it legal for priests. Thanks to History to Today for alerting me to this sausage-based heritage item, and to Wikipedia for additional details.

For a complete chance of subject read a former March 9th post of mineheritage-with-my-grandson-2-british-library-museum/

First Published on March 9th, 2026

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International Women’s Day March 8th

The Soviet Union 1949 CPA 1368 stamp (International Women’s Day, March 8. (Wikipedia)

Today, is International Women’s Day. It began, as an idea within Socialist organisations in 1909/1910. Following the February Revolution in Russia and women gaining the vote, March 8th was chosen as the day to celebrate. The wider feminist movement adopted it in the 1960s followed by the UN in 1977. Since when, it has been a day to celebrate women’s achievements and campaigns worldwide.

Harper’s Road burial

The Harper Road Burial Southwark a photo of a skeleton in a museum case with grave goods.
The Harper Road Burial Southwark (museum of London web site)

Another important historic female was found in an excavations at the Harper’s Road. . I was reminded about it by reading Dominic Perring’s new book ‘London in the Roman World.’ He uses it to establish that Southwark was a place where people lived both before and after the Roman Conquest in 43AD. The burial was found in the 1970s’ and dated to 50 – 70 AD (Roman Invasion of Britain was in 43 AD). Recent scientific analysis has shown that the burial was of a woman (21 – 38 years of age). She had brown eyes and black hair and was brought up in Britain. Her grave goods indicate she was wealthy. She had both imported Roman pottery but also typically British Iron Age objects. The combination shows some adaption between her native culture and the new Roman ways.

Her British objects included a bronze necklace (a torc possibly of Catevalaunian or Trinovantian origin) and a mirror. Dr Rebecca Redfern & Michael Marshall on the Museum of London’s website make a case for her being a:

‘Powerful women in late Iron Age London’.

Mirrors of Power?

They make a case for the mirror being

‘used by women for divination and magic, and were a source of knowledge that only women could command. Being able to use and read the mirror meant that the woman was highly regarded by her community.’

To read about her story follow this link:

Iron age burials are often found either with a sword or a mirror and the thinking is that the mirror reflects an equivalent status to a sword. I think we can say that the finds do reflect someone of standing, but as to the use of the mirror that must be speculation. Divination using a mirror is called ‘scrying’ and the British Museum has John Dee’s scrying apparatus from the 16th Century. You can buy scrying mirrors on etsy. https://www.etsy.com/uk/market/scrying_mirror. But to make a case that Mirrors were not just utilitarian and prestige objects but also in use for supernatural/religious purposes is surely just speculation?

Melanie Giles & Jody Joy in ‘Mirrors in the British Iron Age: performance, revelation and power published in 2007 (and available to read here) concludes:

‘Iron Age mirrors, whether made of iron or bronze were beautiful,  powerful, and potentially terrifying or dangerous objects. They were used in the  preparation and presentation of the body and prestigious displays, but may also have been associated with powers of augury and insight into the past, or access to ancestral or spiritual worlds.’

Women in the Age of Iron

The evidence we have for iron communities is for a powerful role for women in contrast to the Romans. The Romans dismissed women when they wrote that Boudicca was ‘uncommonly intelligent for a women’. In fact, she nearly forced the Romans to abandon their conquest of Britain. We also know that Queen Cartimandua of the Brigantes had executive power in the North of Britain. The Britons also worshipped the three Mother Goddesses, which focussed on the value of woman as maidens, mothers, and grand-mothers.

For more about Roman Southwark read my post of Roman Mosaic is biggest found in London for 50 years.

A book to order for International Women’s Day is ‘Patriarchs’ in which Angela Saini investigates when the Patriarchy took over. I heard her talk about it and it seems an excellent introduction.

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/mar/08/the-patriarchs-by-angela-saini-review-the-roots-of-male-domination

On This Day

1702 – Queen Anne ascends the throne on the occasion of her brother-in-law William III falling off his horse and dying.

First Published in 2023, and revised in 2025, Dorothy Thurtle added March 11th 2026

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St Perpetua and Felicitas and Companions March 7th

St Perpetua Mosaic, Croatia

Many martyrdom stories seem made up, often too extreme to take seriously.  But Vivia Perpetua of Carthage told her own story in her own words. It has a ring of authenticity.  In 203AD, the educated, noble 22 year old, against her father’s advice, decided to become a Christian.  He beat her up and she was glad that her arrest as a Christian, kept her safe from him.  She was arrested with her small group of converts and teacher: two slaves, Felicity and Revocatus, Saturninus and Secundulus. Their instructor, Saturus chose to share death with his flock. Perpetua was a mother and Felicitas pregnant.

Prison conditions were atrocious, crowded and stifling hot, particularly for the women.  Perpetua was separated from her breastfeeding baby. Her father came to beg his daughter to recant, but she refused.  They were, however, treated better as they bribed the jailors who allowed her to have her baby with her and moved them to better cells.

For the martyrdom, she persuaded the jailors to allow the condemned to be cleaned up and dressed in their own clothes. Her argument was that this was better for the honour of the Emperor Severus, whose birthday the Games celebrated.  Perpetua acted with immense dignity during the proceedings of the Games in the Amphitheatre. She also encouraged the crowd to adopt Christianity. 

When they were taken out to face the wild animals, she told her fellows to stand calmly.  The men had to face bears, leopards, and wild boars, while the women were stripped to face a rabid heifer.  The crowd reacted against their treatment. So, they were allowed to be dressed and to meet their ends at the hand of the gladiators’ swords.

Perpetua and Felicity (the enslaved woman) are the patron saints of mothers and  expectant mothers.  Presumably because of the heifer in the story, they are also the patron saints of ranchers and butchers!  Their feast day is celebrated on March 7.

https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=48.

To read about Gladiators in York Click here.

On this Day

321 AD – Roman Emperor Constantine I decrees that Sunday (the dies Solis Invicti) is the day of rest in the Empire. For more on the naming of days of the week, see my blog post here.

1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte captures Jaffa in Palestine. His troops slaughter more than 2,000 Albanian captives.

1969 – Victoria Line opened by Queen Elizabeth II

First published in 2024, revised 2025, 2026