The original Book of Days 1878 title pageThe 2004 Chambers Book of Days
As you may have noticed, I am beginning to add a section called ‘On this Day’ which highlights some notable events that have happened on this day in history. I am doing this particularly when I am republishing a previously published post. Normally, the post is at least proofread better, but I try, if I have time, to improve it and sometimes expand it. Otherwise, I am trying to add the new ‘On this Day’ section. So if you find you have read the post before, just scroll down to the new content at the bottom.
My main source for the ‘On this Day’ section is Chambers’ ‘Book of Days A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities’in connection with the Calendar’. The original was published, in 1864, by Robert Chambers one of the original founders of Chambers Publishing. The new one takes is inspiration from the original. I found out about it from Sir Roy Strong and Julia Trevelyan Oman’s ‘The English Year, which is itself a personal selection from the Chambers Book of Days. Sir Roy was my boss when I was an Assistant Keeper at the V&A.
November 22nd is the dawning of Sagittarius.
According to the Kalendar of Shepherds 1604, women born on this day should marry at age 13, shall have many sons and live to 72 years old. Men born on November 22nd will be merciful, far-travelled, prosperous after early dangers and live to 72 years and 8 months.
Martinmas Old Style and Pack-Rag Day
Three men for hire (wikipedia)
Martinmas was the Festival of Winter’s Beginning and is celebrated on November 11. It was one of the most famous medieval festivals. In 1752, the calendar was transformed when Britain transferred from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar, 11 days were lost from the Calendar, so the original date of the festival would be what we know as November 22nd. So this is Martinmas Old Style.
In the East Riding of Yorkshire, hiring fairs were held around this time. It was also called Pack-Rag Day as servants carried their clothes to their new place of work.
A hiring fair is how Gabriel Oak is hired by Batheseba Everdene in ‘Far From the Madding Crowd’ by Thomas Hardy. They were often also held at Michaelmas, and in Warwickshire are called Mops. See my post on the Mop here.
On this Day we have two joyous events, and one terrible tragedy
1963 President Kennedy and Governor John Connally were shot while part of a motorcade in Dallas.
1968 The Beatles White Album was released
1990 British Prime Minister Mrs Thatcher resigned.
Originally published as two separated posts on 22nd November 2022, republished on 22nd November 2023, merged 2024, and expanded.
St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, Musician’s Chapel, St Cecilia window. 17 August 2022, Andy Scott
November 17th is St Cecilia’s Day She is the patron saint of musicians and was martyred in Rome in the Second or Third Century AD. The story goes that she was married to a non-believer, and during her marriage ceremony she sang to God in her heart (hence her affiliation with musicians). She then told her husband, that she was a professed Virgin, and that if he violated her, he would be punished by God. Ceclia told him she was being protected by an Angel of the Lord who was watching over her. Valerian, her husband, asked to see the Angel. ‘Go to the Third Milestone along the Appian Way’ he was told where he would be baptised by Pope Urban 1. Only then would he see the Angel. He followed her advice, was converted and he and his wife were, later on, martyred.
The Church in Rome, Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, is said to be built on the site of her house, and has 5th Century origins. My friend, Derek Gadd, recently visited and let me use these photographs:
St Cecilia in London
There is a window dedicated to her in the Holy Sepulchre Church-without-Newgate, In London, opposite the site of the infamous Newgate Prison. Henry Wood, one of our most famous conductors and the founder of the Promenade Concerts, played organ here when he was 14. In 1944, his ashes were placed beneath the window dedicated to St Cecilia and, later, the Church became the National Musician’s Church.
This window is dedicated to the memory of Sir Henry Wood, C.H., Founder and for fifty years Conductor of THE PROMENADE CONCERTS 1895-1944. He opened the door to a new world Of sense and feeling to millions of his fellows. He gave life to Music and he brought Music to the People. His ashes rest beneath.
The Concerts are now called the BBC Proms and continue an 18th and 19th Century tradition of, originally, outdoor concerts, and then indoor promenade concerts. At the end of the 19th Century, the inexpensive Promenade Concerts were put on to help broaden the interest in classical music. Henry Wood was the sole conductor.
Czech conductor Jiří Bělohlávek described the Proms as “the world’s largest and most democratic musical festival”.
The Eight-week Festival is held at the Royal Albert Hall. It moved here during World War 2 after the original venue, the Queen’s Hall, was destroyed in the Blitz in May 1941.
First Published on November 17th 2023 and revised in November 2024
Soon, after the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot, Parliament legislated for an annual commemoration of the Catholic Plot. The date was chosen as it was the anniversary of finding Guy Fawkes with a lantern next to piles of barrels of Gunpowder on the occasion of the State Opening of Parliament, 5th November 1605.
Guy Fawkes Lantern at the Ashmolean Museum
The Ashmolean Lantern was given by Robert Heywood in 1641, and he got it from his brother, Peter, who was a Westminster Magistrate who was among the party who arrested Guy Fawkes in the cellar. Peter Heywood, took the lantern from Guy Fawkes to stop him setting fire to the pile of gunpowder barrels. Or at least that is the story Robert Heywood told.
A commemoration of fireworks and bonfires was clearly appropriate given that it has been estimated that the amount of gunpowder in the barrles would have killed the king, the Royal Family, the House of Lords and the House of Commons and devastated a huge area around Westminster. But some suggest that the nature of the commemoration draws some elements from Halloween – use of bonfires and dressing up. Halloween was frowned upon by puritans, but they supported Guy Fawkes Day as it was anti-catholic.
Banner in Lewes
The anti-catholic nature of the celebration is a fact, but it really isn’t something we think about today. There is little anti-Catholic prejudice in Britain (except in certain places). Irish friends are amazed we still celebrate it, but for the vast majority of people in Britain it is really just Fireworks night, nothing to do with anti-catholic sentiment.
Traces of the original anti-catholic nature of it do continue in places like Lewes, which is one of the most traditional Fireworks Nights. This consists of clubs who organise a parade through the town, and then the burning of an effigy of the Pope and, more recently, other unpopular figures on the contemporary scene. Click here for more on Lewes.
Procession in Lewes
Ottery St Mary continues the tradition of using Tar Barrels. These are wooden barrels in which tar and tinder are set on fire. The Barrels are either rolled through the Town, or down a hill, or, as in Ottery, carried on the shoulders of volunteers (see video below). This has a pedigree which goes back before 1605 as there are references to tar barrels and displays in Protestant processions to celebrate the accession to the throne of Edward VI and Elizabeth 1
King James 1 took credit for discovering the plot as he is said to have deciphered the warning given in a letter, written to William Parker, 13th Baron Morley, 4th Baron Monteagle at his house in Hoxton, London (commemorated by a plaque in Hoxton Street near where I live) which warned against turning up at Parliament but was not explicit as to the nature of the threat.
Letter Lord Monteagle passed on to King James 1
My lord, out of the love I beare to some of youere frends, I have a care of youre preservacion, therefore I would aduyse you as you tender your life to devise some excuse to shift youer attendance at this parliament, for God and man hath concurred to punishe the wickedness of this tyme, and thinke not slightly of this advertisement, but retire yourself into your country, where you may expect the event in safety, for though there be no apparance of anni stir, yet I saye they shall receive a terrible blow this parliament and yet they shall not seie who hurts them this cowncel is not to be contemned because it may do yowe good and can do yowe no harme for the dangere is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter and i hope God will give yowe the grace to mak good use of it to whose holy proteccion i comend yowe.
James realised this sentence: ‘they shall receive a terrible blow this parliament and yet they shall not seie who hurts them‘ implied an explosion. His father, Lord Darnley, was killed in a Gunpowder Plot in Edinburgh, so perhaps he was particularly attuned to the threat. On the other hand, there is a possibility that the King’s Secret Service were aware of the plot and arranged matters, so the King could receive the credit for its discovery.
The Fifth of November
Remember, remember! The fifth of November, The Gunpowder treason and plot; I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder treason Should ever be forgot! Guy Fawkes and his companions Did the scheme contrive, To blow the King and Parliament All up alive. Threescore barrels, laid below, To prove old England’s overthrow. But, by God’s providence, him they catch, With a dark lantern, lighting a match! A stick and a stake For King James’s sake! If you won’t give me one, I’ll take two, The better for me, And the worse for you. A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope, A penn’orth of cheese to choke him, A pint of beer to wash it down, And a jolly good fire to burn him. Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! make the bells ring! Holloa, boys! holloa boys! God save the King! Hip, hip, hooor-r-r-ray!
I haven’t seen children asking for ‘a penny for the Guy’ for a while. But it was part of my childhood. We would create a ‘Guy’ out of old clothes and take it into the streets to raise money. The Guy is named after Guy Fawkes, who was discovered on 5th November 1605 in a cellar under Parliament by a pile of barrels of gunpowder. He had a slow match and the plan was to blow up the King and Parliament, on the occasion of the Opening of Parliament on the 5th of November. Once the plot had been broken and the plotters hanged, drawn and quartered, the King ordered that November 5th should be commemorated throughout the Country. Bonfires were a part of the seasonal celebrations at the time, used at Halloween, but this aspect was transferred to November 5th and continues as a major British event every year.
The money we raised, we spent exclusively on ‘bangers’ loud explosive fireworks not pretty fountains, Roman candles nor rockets. The bangers just made a horrendously loud bang. One stunt we experimented with was to cycle through the streets and to put a lit banger into the handle bars, which would act as a rocket launcher! Don’t try this at home.
Meanwhile, we would collect wood for the village bonfire:
A stick and a stake For King George’s sake Will you please to give us a faggot If you won’t give us one, we’ll steal you two The better for we and the worse for you.
Horned man (with Ram’s Horn) at Stratford on Avon Holy Trinity Church) Photo: K Flude. Carving of a dolphin to the left (symbol of Christ) a goat to the right (symbol of the damned – as Christ divides the sheep from the goats who are going to hell)
November 4th is dedicated to hunting gods such as Herne, the Horned God, Cernunnos and Pan.
Herne the Hunter first appears in Shakespeare:
There is an old tale goes, that Herne the Hunter (sometime a keeper here in Windsor Forest) Doth all the winter-time, at still midnight Walk round about an oak, with great ragg’d horns; And there he blasts the tree, and takes the cattle, And makes milch-kine yield blood, and shakes a chain In a most hideous and dreadful manner. You have heard of such a spirit, and well you know The superstitious idle-headed eld Receiv’d, and did deliver to our age This tale of Herne the Hunter for a truth.
William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 4, scene 4
But he is linked to the Forest God, the Horned One, the Green Man and the Celtic God Cernunnos. This name Cernunnos comes from karnon which means “horn” or “antler”, and may be the source of the name ‘Cerne’. (note that the Cerne Abbas Giant has just been redated from the Celtic to the Anglo-Saxon period.) Cerney and Cirencester in Gloucestershire might have similar origins for their names.
I have recently seen a brilliant staging of the Merry Wives of Windsor at the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford. I saw it three times and think it one of the best Shakespeare productions I have seen. The lead actor, John Hodgkinson, with whom I used to play cricket, was a fantastic Falstaff.
Felicity Cloake The Guardian
Ginger cake is the traditional accompaniment to a cold night watching the Fireworks. There is a good recipe in Markham’s The English Housewife of 1683. But I’m suggesting you use this recipe from the Guardian for Parkin Cake. Traditional in Yorkshire.
First published 4th November 2021, republished 4th November 2024
Before we get to the Martyrs, here is the link to Thursday’s Halloween Virtual Tour. The email sent to subscribers seems not to have included the Eventbrite link. So if you are interested in joining me for my Halloween zoom, please click here to book.
Today, is the feast day of the 158 English Martyrs from the English School at Douai who were killed by the English state between 1577 and 1680. Catholics who chose exile upon the death of the Catholic Queen Mary I, and the accession of the Protestant Queen Elizabeth I gathered in Douai where an English School was set up which was in essence a Catholic Oxford College in Exile. Its mission became to train priests to re-enter England and minister to the many Catholics who wanted to continue to practice their faith despite offical intoleration.
Catholic worshippers were fined if they did not attend Church of England services in their local churches, while Catholic Priests re-entering England could be charged with High Treason and, if found guilty, hanged, drawn and quartered, often at Tyburn (at the west end of Oxford Street in London).
In the short reign of Mary I, nicknamed ‘Bloody Mary’ over 250 protestants were burned at the stake for heresy. In the long reign of her sister, Elizabeth I, over 300 Catholics were executed for Treason by being Hanged, Drawn and Quartered. Elizabeth is known as ‘Good Queen Bess’. There is no value in balancing evil, but pro-rata Mary’s reign was much more bloody. Elizabeth would probably also suggest that she did not execute Catholics because of their belief, but because the policy of the Catholic Church was to destroy Elizabeth’s regime, and the Priests were not executed for heresy but for treason. However, this is a fine distinction to be made, in such horrendous blood-letting.
The number of martyrdoms from one institution shows incredible bravery in the fact of intolerance, and the Douai Martyrs were a remarkable group of people. Most have been beatified by the church, some have been made ‘venerable’, twenty have been canonised. A few remain simply as ‘martyrs’
In London in Ely Place is St Etheldreda’s Church, which has memorials to Catholic Martyrs, and no mention of Protestant Martyrs. A few hundred yards away in Smithfield is a plaque to the Protestant Martyrs under Queen Mary and no mention of the Catholic Martyrs. Personally, I think it is about time the two traditions made it clear that both groups of martyrs are worthy of equal distinction, and the authorities who allowed such toxic intolerance to triumph deserve our contempt.
Two examples of martyrs in Smithfield:
John Forest a Francisan Monk was burnt at the stake at Smithfield and commemorated in St Etheldreda’s Church. He was Catherine of Aragon’s Confessor, and refused to accept King Henry VIII as head of the Church of England.
John Rogers was a scholar and worked to continue William Tyndale’s work in translating the bible into English, He was the Vicar of the Holy Sepulchre Church, which is halfway between Smithfield and St Etheldreda. He was the first person to be burned during Queen Mary I’s reign, and mentioned on the memorial in Smithfield.
I will add more images when I return to my desk and apologise for a Protestant Martyr heading up a feature on Catholic Martyrs! And thanks to my friend Derek, who suggested I cover this topic. His children went to a school in London named after the 158 English Martyrs,
For a longer look at the Protestant Martyrs at Smithfield have a look at my post which deals with the martyrdom of Thomas Thompkins a simple honest man burnt at the stake.
St Artemios is the patron saint of male genital disorders, more specifically, hernias and ruptures. His Saint’s Day is October 20th St. Artemios was Governor of Egypt during the reign of Julian the Apostate (331 – 26 June 363). Julian was a philosopher. nephew to Constantine the Great, who tried to turn the tide and return to traditional Roman religious practices. Artemios was called to a military meeting with Julian where he witnessed and objected to abuse of Christians. He was tortured with red hot irons, and miraculously cured. Then he was taken to the Amphitheatre where there was a big stone broken in half, and was put on half stone and the other half was raised above him and released crushing Artemios. He was presumed dead, and left for a day. But he was still alive, broken boned, disembowelled, eyeless and remained unwilling to renounce his religion and Julian ordered his beheading.
A noble woman took his body to Constantinople where his shrine soon started attracting miracles. In the 7th Century an anonymous author compiled a record of the miracles. St Artemios had become known for healing hernias and genital disorders ‘mostly in men.’ I’m not sure entirely why. Perhaps because of the red-hot pokers? The disembowelling? Maybe the stone that crushed was round?
I first came across the Saint when my mother-in-law bought me a wonderful book called ‘A Medieval Miscellany selected by Judith Herrin and with an introduction by the great Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (see Jan 27th Post to read about Montaillou and Ladurie). It had a colourful spread called ‘The Miracle of the Testicles’ which was the story told by Stephen, a 7th Century deacon of St. Sophia in Constantinople who ‘suffered a rupture, whether from shouting acclamations or from a heavy weight, I cannot say.’
To cut a long story short, Stephen was very embarrassed by his condition and eventually tried many cures and finally undertook surgery, which was successful but very soon the condition reoccurred which left him to despair.
Scrotal Hernia Operation, italy
So he planned to visit the shrine of the great healer of testicles, but was too embarrassed to stand in the Church ashamed to be seen by friends. But passing by one day he nipped into the Tomb, descended to where the relics were and ‘cast’ some of the Saint’s holy oil on his testicles. He then found, much to his surprise, that the doors to the Coffin itself were open. Seeing this as a divine intervention he jumped onto the coffin, straddled it face down, so that the corner of the tomb was rubbing his testicles and prayed:
‘And with tears, I spoke again to the martyr: “St.Artemios, by God, Who has given you the gift of cures, no doctor on Earth will ever touch me again. So if you please, cure me. But if not, to your everlasting shame I will live thus without cure.‘
He was not cured immediately. Later he went to the Hot Baths and bathed, and on leaving the baths, thanks be to St Artemios, he was completely cured.
I have transcribed the translation of Stephen’s writings and place it here below as it has many fascinating aspects and remember it is a 7th Century account. But what an extraordinary tale: that it seems reasonable to steal into a tomb, take the holy oil, rub your genitals all over the shrine, and then tell the Saint that it will be to his everlasting shame if he does not make the cure!
For more on the Hospital of Sampson click here. Livanon is one of the Roman Baths in Constantinople and it is interesting that the cure follows bathing in them. The Oxeia is a neighbourhood in Constantinople connected with St Antemios. A cautery is a method to remove or close off a part of the body. It can be hot, cold or chemical.
At long last I disclosed the misfortune to my parents, and after many treatments, (how many!) had been performed on me. Finally, after taking counsel with them, I entrusted myself for surgery to the surgeons in the hospital Sampson, and I reclined in the hospital room near to the entrance to the area devoted to eyes.
After I had been treated all over for three days at night with cold cauteries, surgery was performed on the fourth day. I will omit to what horrible things I experienced while on my back.
To sum up everything, I state that I actually despaired of life itself at the hands of the physicians. After God, entreated by the tears of my parents, restored my life to me, and after the scar from the incision and the cautery had healed, and just as I was believing that I was healthy, a short time later, the same condition recurred and so I reverted to my former state…
I had a plan to approach the holy martyr, as I had heard of his many great miracles. Still, I was unwilling to wait in the venerable church feeling ashamed before friends and acquaintances to be seen by them in such condition. But I frequently used to pass by (for at that time, I was staying in the Oxeia). And so I descended to the holy tomb of his precious relics, and I cast some of his holy blessing, I. e. oil on my testicles, hoping to procure a cure in this manner. And frequently, I entreated him to deliver me from the troublesome condition…
After descending to the holy tomb, I found the doors in front open and I was astounded that they were opened at such an hour. This was the doing of the martyr, in his desire to pity me, Stretching out facedown on the holy coffin, I straddled it, and thus contrived to rub the corner of the same Holy tomb on the spot where I was ailing. And with tears, I spoke again to the martyr: “St.Artemios, by God, Who has given you the gift of cures, no doctor on earth will ever touch me again. So if you please, cure me. But if not, to your everlasting shame I will live thus without cure.’ And after some days I went to the bath in the court of Anthemios, the one called Livanon to bathe by myself at dawn in order not to be seen by anyone . And entering the hot chamber, I noticed that I still had the injury. But upon exiting, I had no injury, and recognising the act of kindness on the part of God and the martyr which is befallen me… in thanksgiving… I do now glorify them proclaiming their deeds of greatness throughout my whole life.
From Medieval Miscellany selected by Judith Herrin Pg 54 the Miracle of the Testicles
Originally, published on February 13th 2023 Revised, and republished October 20th 2024
On the 23rd of February 2023 I opened this post with the following:
I hope you will forgive me for raising this subject early because of personal circumstances.
Yesterday, I did a Chaucer’s London Virtual Tour – one I first prepared during the dark days of Covid. As I was revising the presentation, I was surprised to discover that I had illustrated a piece on medieval health care (St Thomas Hospital, Chaucer’s Physician) with images of medieval hernia operations. Surprised, because I am currently recovering from an inguinal hernia operation and suffering a little so that the image (above) which, coincidently, popped up in facebook made me laugh. Obviously, I was meant to write about testicles today.
Today is the anniversary of the most fateful battle in British History. The victory by William the Bastard led to over 300 years or so of control of England by a French aristocratic elite.
William the Conqueror sitting on his throne with his pudding basin haircut and shaven face
French replaced English as the language of the ruling elite which, over the long term changed the English language to a powerful, nuanced hybrid language.
Arguably, it also established a class system in which the ruling class was separated from the ruled by language, education, culture and wealth. And which has reverberations down to the present time.
It pivoted England from a North Sea power to a European state. And it may have contributed to England becoming a less community based society.
To put it briefly, if England had remained focussed on the North Sea region would we now have a society more like the Scandinavian Countries – more willing to spend money on the public realm, a more equal and a happier society? less willing to educate their children in elite Fee paying schools separate from the people of the country?
Personally, I’m quite angry with King Harold II. He should have won the Battle of Hastings, or at the very least made sure that defeat at that battle did not mean conquest by the Normans.
The battle should have been won by Harold and the English. Had Harold not have rushed to confront William, following the astounding victory of Harold’s army over Harold Hadarada at Stamford Bridge, in Yorkshire. This would have allowed his troops to recover and give time for fresh tropps to join him.
The 1066 claimants to the Throne of England
While waiting, Harold could have arranged the harrying of William’s army, attacking their supply lines, increasing their anxiety, and sapping their resolution. When Harold had reached maximum strength, then would be the time to take on the weakened Norman Army.
But also, he should have had a succession plan. What would happen if he lost the battle? Who was to succeed him? As it was, he took his two brothers with him to the Battle where all three of them died, leaving no clear adult heir to the throne. The English soon surrendered to William after the Battle of Hastings, precisely because there was no clear successor unless that person was William himself.
Given the catastrophe for the English ruling class that William inaugurated, it’s difficult to understand why the English magnates decided to accept William as King. But let’s have a shot at looking at it from their point of view, they remembered that the reign of King Cnut, a Dane, created a successful fusion of English and Danish culture that was more stable than that of the weak English King Edward the Confessor. So, recent history taught: better a strong foreign King than a weak English King.
They were not to know that William would ensure that virtually all English nobles, church leaders, language and culture, would be swept aside and replaced by Norman and French alternatives. England would never be the same.
As to the Battle itself, there is no definitive account of what happened. We don’t know the composition of the armies nor their number. Estimates vary from 7,000 to over 20,000. But it was a ferocious battle which lasted all day and was often in the balance.
Harold fought the battle early, probably for 2 main reasons. Firstly, he had won the Battle of Stamford Bridge with the same tactics of fighting immediately after a long march, surprising the enemy and winning an overwhelming victory. Secondly, William had landed on Harold’s own land and Harold would not have easily borne a foreign power devastating his own people.
Normans burning English houses. Reading Museum copy of the Bayeaux Tapestry Photo Kevin Flude
So, he matched as quickly as he could from London to Senlac near Hastings, where Battle Abbey would be later sited. He chose the top of a ridge, with a stream or ditch in front of it. William accepted battle and fighting began early in the day. Troops were still arriving to reinforce Harold. All he needed to do was hold his ground till dark and reinforcements would probably have made William’s position untenable.
Harold would have established his shield wall, although there are suggestions this was done while the Normans attached.
Mounted Normans confront the Saxon Shield Wall. Reading Museum copy of the Bayeaux Tapestry Photo Kevin Flude
Harold seems to have held the ground until late afternoon. There are suggestions that his army was weakened by their rash pursuit of the retreating Normans down the hill. The Normans thought William was killed but he showed his face to reassure his troops, rallied his troops and turned on the English who without the protection of their shield wall and the high ground were badly mauled. The Normans renewed their attack.
At some point Harold’s brothers were killed, followed by Harold himself, possibly after being injured in the face by an arrow, but that is not proven.
Is it Harold? Is this an Arrow in his eye? Is this what killed him? Reading Museum copy of the Bayeaux TapestryIs this the fatal blow that, delivered by a Norman horseman, killed Harold? Reading Museum copy of the Bayeaux Tapestry
As darkness fell the English retreated, pursued by the Normans. The English fled back to London. The Normans attached London Bridge, but Londoners stoutly defended the Bridge led by the Portreeve Ansgar. The Portreeve was the Kings official in London similar to a Shire Reeve. He also had the Danish title of ‘Staller’. He is thought to have been wounded at the battle of Hastings. The next day the Witangemote met in London and elected Edgar the Atheling as King.
The Normans retreated and proceeded to harry the South, trying to find a crossing point over the Thames.
To be continued.
Charlie Watts owned a 19th Century reproduction of the Bayeaux Tapestry and this has just been sold. It was photographed by a V&A photographer. (strictly the photography of the museum which is now known as the V&A.) To see more follow the link below.
This year the Stratford Mop fair was on the 11th and 12th October, and I was there to see it!As I reposted a long post about the Mop a couple of days ago, I thought I should report back. To recap, the Mop began as a Michaelmas (Old Style) Hiring Fair, and has continued in Stratford ever since. But the modern incarnation is no longer a Hiring Fair and no shepherds were to be seen.
2024 Stratford on Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude
The centre of the Town was crowded with a cacophony of shooting galleries, games to win soft toys, stalls selling toffee apples, candy floss, burgers, and all things bad for you. And interspersed with the stalls were all sorts of rides, carousels and all the raucous fun of the fair. They leave Henley Street and Shakespeare’s Birthplace free of it which is probably a good idea. Nothing at all sophisticated, or literary or dramatic, or folkloric. Just a good old-fashioned fun fair in the middle of the town.
Stratford-upon-Avon Mop Festival (2023 sign)
You might have noticed I have labelled the photographs differently, one Stratford-upon-Avon, the other Stratford-on-Avon. Most prefer the ‘upon’ but I thought this wrong as the Council building in Church Street uses the simpler ‘on’, which I instinctively prefer. Having looked it up, I see that the answer is both are correct, but Stratford-upon-Avon is used for the Town, and Stratford-on-Avon for the Town and area around the town. Now you know!
Now, I cannot find any reference in Shakespeare to a funfair, nor to a Mop, except for the thing you mop the floor with. But he does mention St Bartholemew’s Fair obliquely, and certainly knew his friend, Ben Jonson’s Play ‘St Bartholemew’s Fair’. It is a great play based in London, at the annual fair in Smithfield. One of the great Wool fairs of England, helped every year on St Bartholemew’s Day August 24th, and lasting sometimes weeks long. The play depicts all the fun and crime that went on at the Fair. Horse-sellers cheating customers by making a dull horse seem frisky, the Beer Tent frothing up beer to give short measure, taking away your goblet before it is emptied, Nightingale as singer of songs, pointing out to an accomplice where his generous donors kept their purses, so they could filch, and also the puppet shows that were performed.
I will have to write this up properly, next St Bart’s Day!
St. Michael weighing souls during the Last Judgement, Antiphonale Cisterciense (15th century), Abbey Bibliotheca, Rein Abbey, Austria (Wikimedia by Dnalor_01 license (CC-BY-SA 3.0))
It is the day that the Devil fell out of heaven and landed in a Blackberry Bush, and you are, therefore, not supposed to eat them after October 11th. St Michael’s Day is celebrated on September 29th but before September 1752, it was celebrated on what is now October 11th, Old Style. This means before the introduction in the UK of the Gregorian Calendar.
Saint Michael is the chief of the archangels. Saint Gabriel was celebrated on the eve of the Annunciation on 24 March. St Raphael on the 24th October, But more recently the Churches celebrate all the Archangels at Michaelmas, which is often now called the celebration of St Michael and All Angels.
Apart from its religious significance, St Michael’s Mass was an important date on the civic calendar. Terms began, rent fell due, and work contracts ran out. It was the end of the ploughman’s year, and the day when Hiring Festivals or Mop Festivals took place. Look at my post on the Stratford Mop festival
So in Oxford, the autumn term is called Michaelmas. The Spring Term Hilary on St Hilary’s Festival of January 14th, and the third term is called Trinity, which takes place on Trinity Sundaythe first Sunday after Pentecost. The law courts also have a Michaelmas term.
It is one of the Quarter Day’s of the year, close to the Solstices and the Equinox into which the medieval and early modern world was divided:
It is probably too late to tell you this year, but it is said that “if you eat goose on Michaelmas Day you will never lack money all year” or as they said in Yorkshire ‘He’at eateth goose on Michaelmas won’t find his pockets short of brass.’ Jane Austen wrote to Cassandra on Michelmas 1813L ‘I dined upon goose today, which I hope with secure a good sale of my second edition.’ Pride and Prejudice was published in 1813.
St Michael is one of seven (or four, depending on traditions) angels. He was protector of the Israel. He has four main roles in heaven. He is the leader of the heavenly host in its defeat of Satan. He is the Angel of Death, the Weigher of Souls, and the Guardian of the Church.
This year the Stratford mop festival was on the 11th and 12th October. I was in Stratford for it, and the centre of the Town is crowded with a cacophany of shooting galleries, stalls selling toffee apples, candy floss, burgers and all things bad for you. And a fun fair. Quite raucous, but they leave Henley Street free of it which is probably a good idea. Nothing at all sophisticated, or literary or dramatic, or folkloric. Just a good old-fashioned fun fair in the middle of the town. Below I tell the story of my discovery of the Mop.
2024 Statford-upon-Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude2024 Stratford on Avon Mop. Photo Kevin Flude
Last year, at this time, I was on my way to Stratford-upon-Avon Railway station, I saw the sign above sign, but had no idea what on earth a Mop was.
So I put it to the back of my mind as I took the train to Henley-in-Arden. My interest in the town began because Shakespeare was born in Henley St in Stratford, and his mother was called Mary of Arden. So, naturally, I wanted to find out about Henley-in-Arden. To turn curiosity to action, it took our Tour Coach Driver telling me he lived there and that it was a pretty but small town.
I had a free afternoon from my duties as Course Director on the ‘Best of England’ Road Scholar trip, so I got on the very slow train to Henley-in-Arden. One of the first stops was Wilmcote, where Mary Arden’s House is. I visited two years ago, when I was astonished to find it was a different building to the one I had visited in the 1990s.
In 2000, they discovered they had been showing the wrong building to visitors for years! Mary Arden’s House was, in fact, her neighbour Adam Palmer’s. And her house was Glebe Farm. On that visit, I walked from Stratford on Avon to Anne Hathaway’s Cottage then to Mary Arden’s House and back to Stratford along the Stratford Canal – a lovely walk if you are ever in the area.
The train route to Henley is through what remains of the ancient forest of Arden. The forest features in, or inspired, the woody Arcadian idylls which feature in several of Shakespeare’s plays, particularly the Comedies. ‘As You Like It’, for example, is explicitly set in the Forest of Arden, as this quotation from AYL I.i.107 makes clear:
Oliver: Where will the old Duke live?
CHARLES: They say he is already in the Forest of Arden, and a many merry men with him; and there they live like the old Robin Hood of England: they say many young gentlemen flock to him every day, and fleet the time carelessly as they did in the golden world.
Henley-in-Arden turns out to be a quintessentially English little town full of beautiful timber framed buildings and a perfect Guildhall.
Guildhall, Henley-in-Arden
Further down the road is a lovely Heritage Centre full of old-fashioned and DIY Information panels. And that is not a criticism, it provided a very enjoyable visit full of interesting stuff and which gave me a couple of snippets of information I have not seen anywhere else.
So, to get back to the signpost for the Mop, I was delighted to find a panel dedicated to the Henley Mop. A mop turns out to be a hiring fair. Think of Gabriel Oak in Hardy’s ‘Far from the Madding Crowd’. His attempt to become an independent farmer destroyed when his sheepdog runs amok and sends his sheep over a cliff to their doom. So he takes his shepherd’s crock to the hiring fair or Mop as they are known in the Midlands. There, potential employers can size up possible employees and strike mutually agreed terms and conditions. And Gabriel becomes the shepherd for the delightful and wilful Bathsheba Everdene.
So, a shepherd would take his staff, or a loop of wool; a cleaner her mop (hence the name of the fair), a waggoner a piece of whipcord, a shearer their shears etc. Similarly, in the Woodlanders (by Thomas Hardy) the cider-maker, Giles Winterborne, brings an apple tree in a tub to Sherborne, to advertise his wares.
The retainers thus employed would be given an advance and would be engaged, normally, for the year. So there was quite a widespread moving around of working people to new jobs and often new housing. Not quite how we imagine the past?
The perceptive among you will have noted the bottom of the sign in Stratford which advertised the ‘Runaway Mop’. This was held later in the year, so that employers could replace those who ran away from their contracts, and where those who ran away could find a better, kinder or more generous boss.
Henley Mop – panel from the heritage centre
Also of interest to me was the panel about Court Leets and Barons. These were the ancient courts which dealt with, respectively, crime and disorder, and property and neighbourhood disputes. Henley still has its ancient manorial systems in use, at least ceremonially. The Centre shows a video of a cigar-smoking Stetson-wearing large rich American arriving at the Guildhall to take over duties as lord of the manor after purchasing the title.
There was another panel of great interest to me as it told the history of Johnson’s Coach Company which was taking my group around England. And it was a delight to discover that it has a history that can be traced back to 1909 in Henley. I conveyed this information to our group on the following day as we toured the Cotswolds. Curtis, our driver, was able to update the panel and told us that the family were still involved with the firm, which is still operating from the area. He said the two brothers who run the company come in every working day and do everything they require of their drivers to do; i.e. they drive coaches, clean coaches, sweep the floors and generally treat their staff like part of a big family. I should have asked him whether he got his job at the Mop, while holding a steering wheel in his hands!
Johnson’s Coach Company -Panel from Henley Heritage Centre
