Category: Folklore

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St Catherine, Torture Victim & Patroness of the Catherine Wheel, November 25th

Icon of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, with scenes from her martyrdom (Wikipedia)

In the pantheon of horror that is the Saints’ martyrs’ calendar, St Catherine of Alexandria is very appropriate for, today, the UN’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.

Catherine was high-born, beautiful and learned. She disputed with pagan learned men against the worship of idols. She wiped the floor with them, and Emperor Maxentius had 50 of the learned men burnt alive for their failure to answer adequately.

Catherine was imprisoned, where many people came to visit her and were converted to Christianity. The most illustrious visitor was the Emperor’s wife, Valeria Maximilla who was, herself, martyred. Then, the Emperor offered to marry Catherine, but she refused to abandon her faith. So he had her tortured. In prison, she was fed by the holy dove and had visions of Christ.

Her gaolers then tried to break her on a wheel, although the wheel broke, killing spectators with the splinters, she stood steadfast. Two hundred soldiers were converted to the faith on the spot. They were then beheaded, followed by Catherine herself. Milk, not blood, flowed from her severed veins.

The persecution in the early 4th Century was real, but it wasn’t driven by Maxentius, who came to power promising religious tolerance. But, following the accession of Constantine the Great, Maxentius’s reputation was blackened. There is no contemporary evidence for the events of Catherine’s life. There is a modern theory that her tale was conflated with the remarkable story of Hypatia of Alexandria (d. 415), a pagan and a real learned woman; The first female Mathematician we know any facts about. She was murdered by a rampaging mob of xenophobic Christians.

Catherine is remembered by the firework: the Catherine Wheel and is, of course, the patron of Philosophers, Theologians, and Royal women; young women, students, spinsters, and anyone who lives by working with a wheel: carters, potters, wheelwrights, spinners, millers. And, I imagine, Formula 1 drivers.

St Catherine in London

St Catherine Coleman
(Wikipedia: Robert William Billings and John Le Keux: The Churches of London by George Godwin (1839))

There are several Churches in London dedicated to St Catherine or St Katherine, dedicated to St Catherine of Alexandria. The one in Coleman Street, rebuilt by Christopher Wren and his team, was demolished in the 1920s. There was a Chapel to St Catherine at Westminster Abbey (c1160), the ruins of which are visible in St Catherine’s Garden. I am sure that St Katherine’s Dock and St Katherine’s Cree Church are also so dedicated, but cannot as yet find a dedication for either. Katherine of Aragorn was patron of the Royal Foundation of St Katherines’ which gives its name to the Dock.

Ruins of Chapel of St Catherine, Westminster Abbey

There are customs that have attached themselves to St Catherine including the baking and eating of Catten Cakes. These are really a biscuit (or cookie) made of dough, and cinnamon and dried fruit. Carraway seeds are also suggested. Here is a recipe.

It’s considered a good day for rituals and prayers to summon a husband. Katherine of Aragorn was also commemorated on this day. Lace makers would play ‘jump the candlestick’. If they put the candle out they had bad luck. Katherine of Aragorn is said to have introduced lace making to England.

Finally, for my thoughts why female saints martydrom stories are so violent, extreme and often downright bizarre. Have a look at my post on St Margaret. She is the Saint who suffered probably the most torture in her convoluted route to Martyrdom.

My post which includes a link to an article about medieval attitudes to these terrifying stories of martyrdom, illustrated by a reredos on display at the V&A, in Kensington, London here.

Gladiators Exhibition Touring Britain

Exhibition post of the British Museum Exhibition ‘Gladiators of Britain’

I was just reading an article about the British Museum touring exhibition: ‘Gladiators of Britain’ exhibition. And so updated my August 12th post on St Lawrence who is remembered in a Church in London on the site of the Roman Amphitheatre. But the Exhibition will be closed by August, so here is what I wrote, in time to go to see the Exhibition.

The exhibition is currently at the Grosvenor Museum in Chester – until 25th January 2026.It then moves to Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery, Carlisle from 7th February to 19th April 2026. Recent research has shown that a young man buried in what seems to be a Gladiators Cemetary near Michelgate in York has lion’s teeth marks on his pelvis. When talking about Gladiators I was always reticent about whether animals as exotic as Lions would have been used in the distance province of Britannia. Now we know they were. The Exhibition has a marble relief from Ephesus showing a venetor (beast fighter), taking on a lion. We also know one Roman legionary in Britain had the title of Bear Keeper.

Displayed on the poster above is the Colchester vase which shows an actual gladiatorial combat. The gladiators are named as Secundus, Marius, Memnon, and Valentinus. Secundus and Marius are fighting a bear, while Memmon is fighting Valentinus. Memmon is a secutor and Valentinus, a retiarius. The secutor is the chaser and lightly armed with a heavy shield and short sword. The retiarius has a net and trident. Memmon is described as a 9th time victor, and Valentinus, a legionary of the Legio XXX Ulpia Victrix raises his finger to acknowledge defeat.

Although death and life threatening injuries were often the result, the competition was also not, necessarily, a fight to the death, it was a fight until one or other was defeated. So they could be ended by surrender. Gladiators tombstones, often announce the number of fights a gladiator was involved in such as fighting 25 fights of which he was victorious in 22. The chairman of the show would be given the duty of deciding whether the defeated deserved to be spared, or hit over the head with a big hammer, or decapitated. The Gladiatorial cemetery in Driffield Terrace, York has a high proportion of decapitated corpses. The normal ratio of normal burials is 5% or less of decapitated skulls. Of the 80 burials in Driffield Street 46 were decapitated. Many of the young men in the cemetery have healed wounds. One had leg irons one which showed evidence of being put on while still red hot from the blacksmiths forge. For more on the Cemetery follow this link.

On this Day

1471 – the Thames froze over strongly enough to hold a Frost Fair upon it.

‘In the year 1434 a great frost began on the 24th of November, and held till the 10th of February, following ; whereby the River Thames was so strongly frozen, that all sorts of merchandizes and provisions brought into the mouth of the said river were unladen, and brought by land to the city.’

1715 – the Thames froze again 281 years later

‘The Thames seems now a solid rock of ice; and booths for sale of brandy, wine, ale, and other exhilarating liquors, have been for some time fixed thereon; but now it is in a manner like a town; thousands of people cross it, and with wonder view the mountainous heaps of water that now lie congealed into ice. On Thursday, a great cook’s-shop was erected, and gentlemen went as frequently to dine there as at any ordinary. Over against Westminster, Whitehall, and Whitefriars, printing presses are kept on the ice.‘ (description of 14th January 1716 of the remaining ice by Dawkes’ News Letter.

Both quotes are from a list of times the Thames froze you can see here: https://thames.me.uk/s00051.htm. I have no idea where the evidence comes from for the Roman and Saxon era freezing, but the author says the source of it is:

‘The earliest chronology is given by Charles Mackay in “The Thames and its Tributaries”, 1840. He omits to mention how he knows!‘

1952 Agatha Christie’s the ‘Mousetrap’ opened in London, so it has now been continuously running for 73 years if my maths are correct.

First published on 25th November 2022. Revised and republished 25th November 23, 24, 25

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St Clements Day, the Blacksmith’s Holiday, the Early Church, Lydia and Wickham November 23rd

Clemens I, the Pope of Rome. Mosaic from St. Sophia of Kyiv, 11th c. In places of loss (lower part of the composition) — oil painting of the 18th c. (Wikipedia) for St Clements Day

St Clement was a very early Bishop of Rome, shortly after St Peter. Although thought to be a historical and therefore a very important peron in the history of Christianity, his mode of martyrdom is a matter of legend. He is supposed to have been tied to an anchor and thrown in the Black Sea in around AD 99. He is, therefore, particularly venerated by Blacksmiths and Sailors. Some believe he is earlier than AD99 and place his letter as early as AD60.

St Clements and the Early Church

A letter of St Clements survives and is addressed to the Christians of Corinth. This letter is of fundamental importance, as it appears to have been written when the martyrdoms of St Peter and St Paul were relatively recent memories. The letter is also important as a counterargument to the Protestant view that there is no evidence that Peter was ‘Pope’. In this letter, St Clement is giving advice to the Church of Corinth as a Pope would. This can be used as early proof of Papal supervision of the early Church.

The letter is therefore worth reading, and you can read a version of it here. . I have chosen two extracts from a long letter. The first illustrates how close to the deaths of Peter and Paul it was. The second extract gives a great insight into an early Christian World view. I think there is also very little here that a Pagan would object to? The main message of the letter is to follow the example of Jesus and adopt humility.

Chapter 5. No Less Evils Have Arisen from the Same Source in the Most Recent Times. The Martyrdom of Peter and Paul.

But not to dwell upon ancient examples, let us come to the most recent spiritual heroes. Let us take the noble examples furnished in our own generation. Through envy and jealousy the greatest and most righteous pillars [of the church] have been persecuted and put to death. Let us set before our eyes the illustrious apostles. Peter, through unrighteous envy, endured not one or two, but numerous labours; and when he had at length suffered martyrdom, departed to the place of glory due to him. Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world, and come to the extreme limit of the west, and suffered martyrdom under the prefects. Thus was he removed from the world, and went into the holy place, having proved himself a striking example of patience.

Chapter 20. The Peace and Harmony of the Universe.

The heavens, revolving under His government, are subject to Him in peace. Day and night run the course appointed by Him, in no wise hindering each other. The sun and moon, with the companies of the stars, roll on in harmony according to His command, within their prescribed limits, and without any deviation. The fruitful earth, according to His will, brings forth food in abundance, at the proper seasons, for man and beast and all the living beings upon it, never hesitating, nor changing any of the ordinances which He has fixed. The unsearchable places of abysses, and the indescribable arrangements of the lower world, are restrained by the same laws. The vast unmeasurable sea, gathered together by His working into various basins, never passes beyond the bounds placed around it, but does as He has commanded. For He said, Thus far shall you come, and your waves shall be broken within you. Job 38:11 The ocean, impassable to man and the worlds beyond it, are regulated by the same enactments of the Lord. The seasons of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, peacefully give place to one another. The winds in their several quarters fulfil, at the proper time, their service without hindrance. The ever-flowing fountains, formed both for enjoyment and health, furnish without fail their breasts for the life of men. The very smallest of living beings meet together in peace and concord. All these the great Creator and Lord of all has appointed to exist in peace and harmony; while He does good to all, but most abundantly to us who have fled for refuge to His compassions through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom be glory and majesty for ever and ever. Amen.

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1010.htm (Translated by John Keith. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 9. Edited by Allan Menzies. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight. )

Towards the bottom of this post you will find out more about St Clements place in Christian History, but first, lets find out his associations with London.

London & St Clements

Trinity House. Designed by Samuel Wyatt (1737-1807) Engraving 1834

The maritime connection may explain the three St Clements connections in London. Trinity House On Tower Hill has been working to keep shipping safe since being founded in Deptford in the 16th Century as:

‘The Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Guild Fraternity or Brotherhood of the most glorious and undivided Trinity and of St Clement in the Parish of Deptford Strond in the County of Kent.

They look after light ships, lighthouses, navigation buoys and licence Deep Sea Pilots. The HQ moved to Tower Hill in 1796.

St Clements Danes (left) St Clements Eastcheap (right) from Agas Map (1561)

London has two churches dedicated to St Clements. Both are by early London waterfronts and rebuilt by Christopher Wren and his team.

St Clement’s Eastcheap is on the terrace above the Roman port of London, near London Bridge (which leads to Wikipedia speculation that it might have been an early Roman foundation). And St Clements Danes is where the Strand meets Fleet Street on the terrace above the Lundenwic Saxon waterfront.

Lydia and Wickham get married

St Clements is where Lydia and Wickham finally get married in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. But which of the two St Clements? Wickham had lodgings in the East Cheap area. The Gardiners, Lydia’sUncle and Aunt were the only people at the wedding except Darcy. They lived in nearby Gracechurch Street. But perhaps St Clements Dane was more fashionable and might be more the raffish Mr Wickham’s cup of tea? (Jane Austen bought her family’s tea from Twinings, just off Fleet Street, where you can still buy it today )

Slide from my ‘Jane Austen’s 1809 Virtual Tour of London’

Oranges & Lemons

St Clements appears in the nursery rhyme/game Oranges and Lemons and both churches claim it refers to them, but as both are by the waterfront, either will do.

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement’s.

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin’s.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells at Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells at Shoreditch.

When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Says the great bell at Bow.

Here comes a candle to light you to bed,
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
  Chip chop chip chop the last man is dead

I remember playing this as a child. Two children form an arch with their hands. The other children go through the arch reciting the rhyme until the chopper comes down when the hands forming the arch traps one of the children. The trapped child then whispers which side they want to be join, and they leave the procession to stand behind one or other of the arch-makers. I seem to remember we ended it off by having a tug of war between the two teams.

Alternatively, the trapped/chopped children make an additional arch and the remaining kids have to rush through a large space, fearing the chop.

On this day:

1963 the first episode of Dr Who was broadcast on the BBC, starring William Hartnell and his assistants played by William Russell;Jacqueline Hill; and Carole Ann Ford. The ‘An Unearthly Child’ episode may be responsible for me becoming an archaeologist. It begins in London and the Tardis is transported 100,000 years into the past where stone-age humans are fighting over lost fire-lighting skills. I don’t remember hiding behind a sofa but I do remember being gripped by it. This is now 62 years of Doctor Who.

Originally published Nov 23rd, 2022. Revised & Rewritten on Nov 23rd 2023, 2024 and 2025

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Sagittarius, Martinmas Old Style and Pack-Rag Day November 22nd

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. Can’t help feeling that prophecy this precise is heading for a fall. (see my post sliding-ducks-and-the-equivocation-of-prophecy/).

Martinmas Old Style and Pack-Rag Day

Pack-Rag Day, hiring of farm workers

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

The original Book of Days 1878 title page
Chambers Book of Days
The 2004 Chambers Book of Days

As you may have noticed, I have been adding a section called ‘On this Day’ which highlights some notable events that have happened on this day in history. In my quest to create an almanac of the past with a reasonable post for every day, my loyal subscribers will be getting a post they read last year. So, I am trying to add extra content to make it worthwhile. Hence, this ‘new’ section (one year old today).

So, I will either republish a previously published post. It should be better proofread (although I’m perfectly capable of adding extra embarrassing typos). The content should be improved or expanded. Or with an added ‘On this Day’ section. Therefore, if you find you have read the post before, just scroll down to the new content at the bottom.

One of my sources 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.

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 2025

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November ‘the month of immolations’

Kalendar of Shepherds November

This post slipped through the editorial net.  So, I need to get it out there before November is a cold memory.

November is the 9th Month of the Roman Calendar. Novem coming from the Latin for nine. But the Romans added two months to the calendar during the time of the Dictator, Julius Caesar (for his reforms click here). So 9th month is now the 11th.

In Welsh it is ‘Tachwedd’ which means the month of slaughtering. Blōtmōnaþ (Blotmonath) in Anglo -Saxon – the month of blood. These reference the fact that this was the month when the surplus animals were slaughtered or as the historian, Venerable Bede has it, ‘the month of immolations’. In Irish the month of November is called sawhain. It is also the name of the festival marking the beginning of winter which starts at dusk on 31st October. We call it Halloween, the celts Sawhain or words similar. (see my post on Halloween).

The image, at the top of the page, from the Kalendar of Shepherds shows some aspects of November – star signs Scorpio and Sagittarius; Pigs are fattening up on the acorns in the forest and then being slaughtered, smoked or dried to preserve them through the hard winter. The text of the Kalendar (read it below) gives a good summary of what early modern life in November was like. In summary, the day when the ‘poore die through want of Charitie’.

Kalendar of Sherherds – November

For more details on the Kalendar of Shepherds see my post here.

Time to see the Pleiades

They can be seen from Autumn to Spring, but they are visible all night in the Northern Hemisphere in November and December.

Nebra Sun disc from Stonehenge Exhibition British Museum
Nebra Sun disc from Stonehenge Exhibition British Museum. The Pleiades is thought to be represented by the 7 stars in the cluster above and between the Sun and the Cresent Moon, on this bronze age copper and gold disc

First published in 2024, revised in 2025

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Feast of St Edmund of East Anglia November 20th

The Martyrdom of St Edmund.

He was killed with an arrow by Vikings from the Great Heathen Army in 869. He was trying to convert them to Christianity, and they were trying to do the opposite. So, fed up, they tied him to a tree, shot him full of arrows and then beheaded him.

Based on Stenton ‘Anglo-Saxon England’ chapter 8 and Hill ‘ An Atlas of Anglo-Saxon England’ pp. 40-41By Hel-hama – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20042870

Afterwards, the English set up a search party to find their King. As they passed nearby, his head shouted ‘Here! Here! Here!’ So they were able to retrieve his head. His remains were eventually taken to Bury which was renamed Bury St Edmunds. It became one of the most famous places of pilgrimage in England.

As a Royal martyr he was, with St Edward the Confessor, the saint of the monarchy. Being Kings themselves, they could explain to St Peter how difficult it was to be a King. Kings, they would explain, have to undertake actions which might be strictly against the Ten Commandments. King Edmund and King Edward could thus speed the King through to heaven from purgatory.

To hear about life after a beheading please read my post on St Winifred and her head.

St Edmund, King & Martyr Church

St Edmund Lombard Street (church at bottom left) Agas Map 16th Century

The City of London has a church dedicated to St Edmund, King, and Martyr. It is in Lombard Street, coincidentally, right above the South West corner of the Roman Forum. St Peter’s (29) top right corner is above the NE corner of the Forum, and St Michael’s which I think is no 27, above the North West corner. It is entirely possible their positioning original owed something to the masonry of the original Roman building. (click here to read my post about St Lucius and St Peter’s Church.)

St Edmunds is first mentioned in 1292, and rebuilt by Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London. It was hit by bombs dropped from a German Gotha bombing on On 7 July 1917. It was also damaged in World War 2.

November 20th the day to Grow Garlic

Set garlic and beans, at St Edmund the King
The moon in the wane, therefore hangeth a thing.

Quoted in Perpetual Almanac of Folklore Charles Kightly

Garlic is either a wondrous ‘healall’ for the rustics as Galen said. Or a foul herb detested by right-thinking people, (such as Horace and Shakespeare; ‘The breath of Garlic-eaters’ Coriolanus). In 1916, the British Government called for as much Garlic as could be produced at a good price for use as antiseptic for wounds. (Mrs Grieve’ A Modern Herbal’).

Garlic ….. mingled with soft cheese ‘stauncheth’ the falling down of humours called catarrh and so is good against hoarseness’.

William Turner Herbal 1568

On this Day

1917 Tanks were used effectively for the first time in warfare at the Battle of Cambrai. For more on Cambrai read my post here🙂

1947 Princess Elizabeth married her distant cousin Philip Mountbatten (He was created the Duke of Edinburgh on the evening before the wedding) Philip was renowned for his gaffes: ‘Do you still throw spears at each other?‘ he said to native Australians. And of himself he said: As so often happens, I discovered that it would have been better to keep my mouth shut.’ For more of Philip’s gaffes please look at The BBC’s page here.

1945 The Nuremberg Trials began. (Fascinating new film called Nuremberg currently showing! I ‘can recommend it. And it has clear lessons for future generations in how to deal with totalitarian evil).

2024 the Cambridge Dictionary announced that ‘manifest’ was the word of the year. The reason is that the word has been used in a very different way, and acquired a whole new definition and receiving many more mentions on the internet.

The new definition of the word is:

“To manifest” in the sense of “to imagine achieving something you want, in the belief doing so will make it more likely to happen”.

As in:

I’m manifesting my belief that this blog will go viral next year with the help of all my loyal readers who will recommend it to all their friends and, particularly, their acquaintances, and social media contacts!

For more information on the word of the year, have a look at this page on the BBC.

2025 This year the Cambridge Dictionary word of the year is ‘Parasocial’. They define it as:

‘involving or relating to a connection that someone feels between themselves and a famous person they do not know, a character in a book, film, TV series, etc, or an artificial intelligence’.

First Published Nov 20th 2022. Republished Nov 20th 2023, 2024,2025

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Night Fowling November 19th

Gervase Markham Hungers Prevention: or, the Whole Art of Fowling by Water and Land. (Printed, London: for Francis Grove, 1655).

This was the period of the year for ‘Night-fowling’. Gervase Markham wrote a whole book about it in the 17th Century. It was called Hungers Prevention: or, the Whole Art of Fowling by Water and Land. (Printed London: for Francis Grove, 1655).

In it, he tells the reader to go to ‘a stubble field in November when the air is mild and the moon not shining. There take a dolorous low bell, and net. Spread the net over the stubble where there may be fowl, ring the bell, light fires of dry straw, and the fowl will fly and become entangled in the net.‘

Title illustration from Gervase Markham Hungers Prevention: or, the Whole Art of Fowling by Water and Land. (Printed London: for Francis Grove, 1655).

In Britain today, the Wild fowling season is from 1 September – to 20th February and largely takes place on the marshes and foreshore.

Duck, Geese, waders and other birds are the quarry. Species involved include:
Gadwall goose, Canada goose, Common snipe, Coot, Goldeneye duck, Greylag goose, Golden plover, Moorhen, Mallard, Pink-footed goose, Jack snipe, Pintail, European Woodcock, white-fronted goose, Pochard, Scaup1, Shoveler, Teal, Tufted duck, Wigeon

(from https://basc.org.uk/wildfowling/advice/wildfowling-code-of-practice/)

For more Gervase Markham books see my post here:

On this Day

On this day, in 1660, Charles I was born.

In 1863. President Abraham Lincoln gave the Gettysburg Address.

World Toilet Day

Today is the United Nations’s World Toilet Day. It is ‘Sustainable Development Goal 6 Safe toilets for all by 2030’. It is astonishing that we, as a species, have:

‘3.5 billion people (who) still live without safely managed sanitation, including 419 million who practise open defecation.’

That is a third of the world’s population if my figures are correct. It also impacts particularly badly on women in those areas where decent hygiene cannot be guaranteed.

These are the ‘Key messages you should know on World Toilet Day’

  1. Toilets are a place for peace. This essential space, at the centre of our lives, should be safe and secure. But for billions of people, sanitation is under threat from conflict, climate change, disasters and neglect.
  2. Toilets are a place for protection. By creating a barrier between us and our waste, sanitation services are essential for public and environmental health. But when toilet systems are inadequate, damaged or broken, pollution spreads and deadly diseases get unleashed.
  3. Toilets are a place for progress. Sanitation is a human right. It protects everyone’s dignity, and especially transforms the lives of women and girls. More investment and better governance of sanitation are critical for a fairer, more peaceful world.

First published Nov 19th 2022. Republished Nov 19th 2023, 2024, 2025

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Time to make Sausages November 18th

Hackney City Farm. Photo K Flude

Following Martinmas, farmers used to slaughter a good many of their animals because of the difficulty of feeding them during the winter. So this was the time to make sausages from all that meat and guts. Follow this link for a Tudor Sausage recipe.

Pigs were a very productive part of the Medieval and Early modern farmers’ economy. Almost as much pork was eaten as lamb. The upper classes, of course, preferred beef. But even the lowliest family would keep a pig. They would be pastured in forests, commons and fallow fields around the village, foraging for themselves on whatever they could get. In Autumn, they would be taken to specially grown copses of pollarded oak groves. The farmers pollarded the trees to keep them short and bushy. They could use the wood they pruned for wood working projects, or for firewood. When the acorn season came, they would hit the low branches with cudgels to release a lovely torrent of acorns on the floor for the pigs to feast themselves upon. So they grew fat for Martinmas when they were slaughtered.

Another benefit for a community of peasants living on the margin was that the sow might have 6 – 14 piglets. When the time came to slaughter the pig, the small holder could swap piglets with others, and share the bounty of the slaughtered animal. This would be reciprocated, and help made good food available more of the time.

Window of Edinburgh Royal Mile Cafe. Photo KFlude

For more on the benefits of pigs to agroecolog, have a read of this fascinating site: forests-of-pork-the-agroecology-of.

Random Sausage Fact

A silhouette of a Zeppelin caught in searchlights over the City of London. Zeppelins

Sausages were severely rationed in Germany in World War 1 because they used nearly 200,000 cattle guts to make gasbags for each of the Zeppelins that bombed London. This made them very difficult to shoot down as the gas was held in so many separate bags.

To read my Zeppelin post look here:

On this Day

1477 – Caxton Prints 1st Book in England. Westminster

https://information-britain.co.uk/linkunit.htm

‘The Dictes or Sayingis of the Philosophres’, dated 18th November 1477. was from the French by Anthony Woodville, the 2nd Earl River brother-in-law of King Edward IV,

However, some people say the first book he published in Englandwas an edition of Chaucer‘s The Canterbury Tales. See https://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/library-and-archives/exhibitions/caxtons-first-edition-of-canterbury-tales for more/

First published November 2024, revised 2025

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Anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth I and the end of burning of heretics November 17th

Black and white drawing of Queen Elizabeth I with a copy of her signature below it
Queen Elizabeth

The anniversary was celebrated in London with bonfires and bell-ringing. Lighted fire-barrels were rolled along Cheapside. It was, in a way, the precursor to Guy Fawkes Day (1605 onwards). Protestants celebrated it with such joy as it was the end of the reign of Elizabeth’s sister, Queen Mary I. ‘Bloody’ Mary, as she was named by Protestants, was the daughter of Katherine of Aragon. Her Government had 287 Protestants burnt at the stake, mostly relatively ordinary people: clergy, apprentices, artisans, and agricultural workers.  60 were women; 67 were Londoners: the majority were of the younger generation, and most from the South East of England.

The executions were overwhelmingly unpopular, ghastly exhibitions of brutality. In 1555 the weather was unusually wet, so the burnings were an even slower form of torture.  The savagery was blamed by the Protestants on the Old Religion and particular the Spaniards who came over with Mary’s Spanish husband.  Ironically, Philip, in fact, urged caution. When Mary refused to be as lenient to religious dissidents as she was to political ones, he suggested the executions should, at least, be in private. She refused, as the immortal souls of the population were put at risk by Protestant dogma. So the public nature of the deaths was a justifiable deterrent.

When, three years later, in 1558, in the early hours of the 17th November (6am) Queen Mary died, London rejoiced. An old regime, a foreign regime, a Catholic regime was swept away by a young Queen (Elizabeth was 25), with a young Court sworn to protect the new Protestant religion. (For my post on the nicknames for her courtiers look here.)

More on the accession of Elizabeth I at ‘History Today, here.

Soon, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs outsold all other books printed except the Bible, and enthusiasm for religious reform morphed into anti-Catholic intolerance.

The Author’s copy of Foxe’s Book of Martyrs

One of the martyrs in the book is Thomas Tomkins, a weaver and a Londoner from Shoreditch, a few hundred yards from where I live.

Tomkins was a humble but godly man who was kept imprisoned by Bishop Bonner, the Bishop of London, at his Palace at Fulham. Here he was beaten. The Bishop personally beat him around the face and ripped off part of his beard. The beatings continued for six months. Finally, exasperated at his failure to persuade the weaver of his error, Bonner burnt Tomkins hand with a lighted taper until ‘the veins shrunk and the sinews burst’. I assume Bonner would defend his action by saying he wanted to give the weaver Tomkins a foretaste not only of the burning he faced but of the very fires of Hell.

But nothing would avail; Tomkins, the simple man that he was, would not accept that bread was made into flesh.  (Transubstantiation). He would not say that which he did not believe. So he met his end at Smithfield by fire with his bandaged hand in the reign of Queen Mary on 16th March 1555.

Thomas Bilney martyred in Smithfield. Black and white engraving
Thomas Bilney martyred in Smithfield.

First Published 17th November 2023, revised 2024,2025

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Feast Day of St Margaret of Scotland November 16th

St Margaret (15th Century Prayer Book)

St Margaret should be better known in England because of her important rule in the bloodline of the English Monarchy. Her story is also of interest as it intertwines with the events of 1066 and of Macbeth.

She was the granddaughter of King Edmund Ironside. He was the last English King before the Danish Kings took over. He died after a peace treaty dividing England into an English and a Danish half.

This is what a draft of the text for my book on the Kings of Britain says about him:

Margaret’s Grandfather – King Edmund II 1016

Edmund was born in around 988AD and nicknamed Ironside. He was a formidable warrior who spent his short life fighting the Danes. In 1016, he was crowned in St Pauls Cathedral. Although he was defeated in battle by King Canute, the son of King Swein of Denmark, Edmund’s prowess won him a peace treaty in which England was divided between the two Kings. Unfortunately, Edmund died unexpectedly and Canute inherited the Kingdom. Edmund was buried in Glastonbury Abbey.

To buy ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died – the history of the Kings of Britain in Bite-size Chunks’. click here.

Edmund’s wife Edith and her 2 children were exiled to Sweden and then, somehow, got to Hungary. Edmund’s eldest son was called Edward the Exile and was married to Agatha. Margaret was their third child. In 1056 Edward the Confessor invited the family back to England and soon made Margaret’s father the heir to the throne. Unfortunately, he died in 1057. He was buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.

Margaret’s Brother – Edgar the Atheling

The rest, as they say, is history. Edward the Exile’s son, Edgar the Atheling was only 6 or 7 and the throne was disputed between William of Normandy, Harald Hadarada of Norway, and Harold Godwinson.

In short, Margaret’s brother Edgar the Atheling was briefly chosen as King after the death of Harold. He was then forced to cede the throne to William the Conqueror. William was crowned King in December 1066.

Margaret’s brother Edgar the Atheling had an extraordinary life, living into his 70s. He continued to fight against the Norman rule of England, mostly from Scotland. Eventually, he reconciled with the Norman dynasty but was involved in any number of disputes, rebellions and dynastic fights.

Margaret’s Husband

Margaret was forced to flee and went to Scotland. In 1070, Margaret married the Scottish King Malcolm III ( Mael Column Mac Donnchada). Malcolm was the son of King Duncan (murdered by Macbeth – see my book Divorced, Beheaded, Died for a short biography!). In 1040, Malcolm fled to England, but returned with English help to defeat Macbeth at Dunsinane. (see my post on Macbeth and Equivocation of Phrophecy). After his first wife’s death he married the deeply pious Margaret. Their court was very influenced by Saxon and Norman ways. She helped aligned the Church more closely with the rest of Christendom, and brought up her children piously.

St Margaret’s Chapel at Edinburgh Castle. Built by her son King David. (Photos by the author)

Margaret’s Son – David

The Royal couple had 6 sons and two daughters. Her son David became one of the most influential Kings of Scotland. He introduced Norman ideas of feudalism, and created Boroughs to strengthen the Scottish economy. He also encouraged ‘modern’ forms of monasticism, encouraging the Cistercians to come to Scotland. By these means, he hoped to turn Scotland a Feudal society with a thriving market economy based on towns and monasteries.

Margaret – the Moderniser?

So, in many ways, Margaret had an influential role in ‘modernising’ the Scottish Monarchy from its Gaelic clan-based structure to a more European style that was ruled from the Lowlands and spoke the Scots version of English, rather than the Gaelic version of the Celtic branch of languages.

She died on 16th November 1093 AD and is ‘particularly noted’ for concern for orphans and poor people. There is an annual procession to her altar, followed by Evensong at Durham Cathedral on the following day. She was buried at Dunfermline following the violent death of her husband. The Abbey has recently celebrated the 950th anniversary of Queen Margaret consecrating the site.

Margaret’s Daughter

Margaret’s daughter, Matilda, married the son of William the Conqueror, King Henry I. This marriage was important for the Normans because it added a strong dose of English Royal blood to the French Norman Royal line. Their daughter was the formidable Empress Matilda, designated heir to the throne of England and founder of the Plantagenet line of English Kings. She was an uncrowned monarch of England and mother of Henry II. She was never crowned because of the disruption caused by the usurpation of the throne by King Stephen.

To read my posts on the events of 1066:

You can read what happened, in my detail, in my posts on the three battles that decided England’s fate in 1066.

Battle-of-fulford-september-20th-1066/
Battle-of-stamford-bridge-september-25th-1066/
William-the-bastard-invades-england-september-28th-1066/
Battle-of-hastings-october-14th-1066/

Also around this time in November

Foul privies are now to be cleansed and fide,
let night be appointed such baggage to hide:
Which buried in garden,in trenches alowe,
shall make very many things better to growe.

The chimney all sootie should now be made cleene,
for feare of mischances, too oftentimes seene:
Old chimney and sootie, if fier once take,
by burning and breaking, soone mischeefe will make.

Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. 1573 by Thomas Tusser

Full copy of 1580 edition available online.

First Published on November 19th 2021. Revised on Nov 15th, 2023, 2024, 2025

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Exercise to keep you warm and fit for the ordeal of winter – November 15th

Medieval drawing of an archer
Medieval drawing of an archer. Good resistance exercise to get the muscle/fat ratio on the healthy side?

‘Leaping is an exercise very commendable and healthful for the body.’

The Compleat Gentleman 1634

Thomas Fuller in his book published in 1642 says:

Running, Leaping, and Dancing, the descants on the plain song of walking, are all excellent exercises. And yet those are the best recreations which besides refreshing enable, at least dispose, men to some other good ends. Bowling teaches mens hands and eyes Mathematicks, and the rules of Proportion: Swimming hath sav’d many a mans life, when himself hath been both the wares, and the ship: Tilting and Fencing is warre without anger; and manly sports are the Grammer of Military performance. But above all Shooting is a noble recreation…..

‘The Holy State’ by Thomas Fuller B.D. and Prebendarie of Sarum

Published St Pauls Churchyard 1642

The Holy State is a fascinating book – it provides instruction on how to be the Good Wife; the Good Advocate; the Good King; Bishop etc. etc.; has general rules of behaviour; some case studies of good lives to emulate and discussion of profane states not to emulate.

It can be read online here:

On This Day

15th of November 1712 A Famous Duel between Lord Mohun and the Duke of Hamilton

‘In short, they fought at seven this morning. The dog Mohun was killed on the spot; and while the Duke was over him, Mohun shortening his sword, stabbed him in at the shoulder to the heart. The Duke was helped towards the Cake House by the Ring in Hyde Park (where they fought) and died on the grass, before he could reach the house; and was brought home in his coach by eight, while the poor Duchess was asleep.‘

Jonathan Swift ‘The Journal to Stella’ 1712

Lord Mohun seemed to be the villian, not only making the initial affront, but also issuing the challenge and stabbing his rival in such an underhand way! After the Duel there was fighting between the servants of the men, and the seconds had to flee to avoid arrest. Duels were illegal but remained a part of upperclass society into the 19th Century. Pehaps, Thomas Fuller’s advocacy of fencing as a good keep fit exercise is not such a great idea!

Text taken from ‘A London Year’ Compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison

To read my post on Jonathan Swift and Chelsea Buns see my post here.

First published November 2023, republished 2025