Category: Art history

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Greater Cycles & the Ages of Man December 19th

Capella Palatina Palermo 12th Century Mosaics God is shown creating the firmament. ‘And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters’

We are coming up to the key days in the year. And so will be looking at calendars and counting days. But what about ages, epochs and aeons?

‘Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition’ reports that there are seven ages of the world:

This is how they calculate it: the life of a yew tree is 729 years, and there are seven ages from the creation of the world until its doom. So the world will last 5103 years.

‘Practical Magic’ divides ages up as follows:

A wattle has a life of 3 years (1*3)
Three wattles are the life of a hound – 9 years (3*3)
Three hounds are the life of a steed – 27 years (9*3)
Three steeds are the life of a man – 81 years (27*3)
Three men are the life of an eagle – 243 years (81*3)
Three Eagles are the life of a yew. – 729 years (243*3)

How Old is a Yew Tree/Eagle

A comment by a reader has prompted me to write the following about the ages given above:

‘Practical magic’ says the poem is ‘Ancient’. So it’s folklore and not science, and the ages are opinion not scientific fact.

As I understand it Yew trees live a long time but not quite as long as many people think. I base this on the Yew Tree at Steventon, Hampshire where Jane Austen was born. The tree has/had a plague on it saying it was 1200 years old. I used to visit it regularly. On one visit, I was told that an expert opinion suggested it was more like 700 years old. (ifmy memory serves). I do not have the details, but my source would have been one of the people associated with the Church.

The Woodland Trust (says Yew Trees get old at 900 years. They cite a few which are ‘said to be’ over 2000 years old. But are they? The scientific sites I have looked at suggest that Yew Trees should be described as ‘ancient’ from 400 not 900 years. There are problems with dendrochronology dating of yew trees, and so most methods depend upon an estimation from the width of the tree trunk. But that, itself, depends upon how much you believe in the claims of the ancient trees. So, I think it’s best to take the extreme cases with a very large pitch of salt. So 729 years is probably not so far off the mark for a Yew tree.

As to Eagles, this website on eagles says they can live to 30ish in the wild and 68 years in captivity. So the claim for 243 years is way off the mark! Wattles what are they? I have searched, but not found any reference. My guess is a short-lived bird.

The End Was Nigh

Archbishop Usher of Armagh (1581 – 1656) calculated that the world was created in 4004 BC. He counted the begettings in the Bible. If we accept his date, and apply the seven yew tree ages rule (5,103), then the world should have ended in AD 1099 (give or take a year). But it didn’t end then, did it? We are in the 9th Age and counting.

It doesn’t make sense to me to have a factor of 3 for the smaller divisions, and then to switch to a factor of seven. Surely, far more logical is to have a factor of 3*3 years. So, if there were nine ages of the world, then it would survive for 6561 years, which will end in approx. 535 years time (cAD2557). This calculation has the massive advantage of not yet being proved wrong! (Please note, cult owners, I have copyright on this date).

It’s notable that when a Cult declares the imminent end of the world, and they trudge up to the top of a high eminence to observe it (normally by Hampstead Pond in London). They seem quite happy to trudge back down again. Soon they are up and running again with the same enthusiasm for the next ‘end of the world’ date.

Of course, the world was created around 4.54 ± 0.05 billion years ago according to Wikipedia. According to the Doomsday Clock the world will end at 12 O’clock and we are 89 seconds away from it. This is based on a catastrophic end for our civilisation. If we avoid this then other scientists have suggested mammals will be wiped out in approximately 250 million years.

Abrahamic Ages

The Jewish tradition was for six or seven ages of 1000 years. The seventh didn’t really count because it was the age of the messiah when there was a 1000-year sort of super sabbath. Or another idea is that it was an age that ran parallel with the other six. So the world was to be 6000 years long.

With the coming of Christianity, dating the Creation, and (therefore the Day of Judgement) became more important. The Romans dated from the foundation of Rome, and the Greeks from the First Olympiad. But beyond that they had a whole mythology and creation myths about an Age of Gold. Followed by a Bronze Age (Troy and all that) followed by their very own base Iron age. You can read about this in my post about Hesiod.

The Anno Munda

An early Christian attempt to tell the age of creation was the Anno Munda‘s arrangement of the Year. This is pretty complicated and is based on a Talmudic tradition. A late Roman version uses ‘the Diocletian Years’, which is when the persecution of Christians began. It held that the world was created 5500 years before the Birth of Christ. So we are 5500BC plus 2025 years since the date of the creation. And it was supposed to have ended in 500AD. 6000 years after the Creation. so we have outlived Creation by 1525 years.

St Augustine of Hippo took the tradition of six ages and brought it into the Christian canon. These are the six ages:

  • The First Age “is from the beginning of the human race. That is, from Adam, who was the first man that was made. Down to Noah, who constructed the ark at the time of the flood“, i.e. the Antediluvian period.
  • The Second Age “extends from that period on to Abraham, who was called the father indeed of all nations”.
  • The Third Age “extends from Abraham on to David the king”.
  • The Fourth Age is “from David on to that captivity whereby the people of God passed over into Babylonia”.
  • The Fifth Age is “from that transmigration down to the advent of our Lord Jesus Christ“
  • The Sixth Age: “With His [Jesus Christ’s] coming, the sixth age has entered on its process.”

Wikipedia.

As each age is 1000 years, then you can see why so many people were worried as 1000 AD approached.

The Seven Ages of Man

The Age of Man can also relate to the average age of a human lifespan. Of course, six is not such a magical number as seven, and so Shakespeare ran with the idea in the Seven Ages of Man spoken by Jacques in ‘As you like it’. If there are seven ages of human life, and we have a span of six score and ten, then each age is ten years.

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then, the whining school-boy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth.

And then, the justice,
In fair round belly, with a good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.


(Jacques, Act 2, Scene 7)

Seven Ages of Man Statue 22-foot high cast aluminium Sculpture by Richard Kindersley, located on Queen Victoria Street, Blackfriars, near the Blackfriars. St Andrew’s by the Wardrobe in the background. Photos k. Flude

The Kalendar of Shepherds

Now, the Kalendar of Shepherds has a similar idea, but it calculates it differently. The Kalendar, based on a 15th Century French original, says there are 12 ages of man, corresponding with the 12 months of the year. Each age is 6 years long, and so our likely lifespan is 72.

Kalendar of Shepherds

Each month is allocated to one of the ages, and has an insight into human life for that span. In January, the first 6 years of a human life are mapped out. If you read above you will see we have no ‘wit, strength or cunning. Nor ‘may do nothing that profiteth’ in those first years. A little harsh, and as a fond grandfather, it, I refute it. In December, the last 6 years are prefigured.

Our alloted span, says Practical Magic is 81 years, Kalendar of Shepherds say 72, and Shakespeare offers us 70.

The Office of National Statistics says:

‘In 2022 to 2024:

  • Life expectancy at birth in the UK was 83.0 years for females and 79.1 years for males. This is an increase of 18 weeks from 82.7 years for females and 21 weeks from 78.7 years for males since 2019 to 2021.‘

Capella Palatina, Sicily

By the way, the Capella Palatina, illustrated at the top of this post, is a marvel of gold mosaics. It is absolutely stunning. It makes a trip to Palermo a must.

On This Day

1843 – Charles Dickens published ‘A Christmas Carol’

First Published on December 18th 2022, revised and republished in December 2023, 2024,2025

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St Lucy: Festival of Light December 13th

St Lucy, by Francesco del Cossa (c. 1430 – c. 1477) (Wikipedia User:Postdlf)

I reposted my two posts on St Lucy, and the follow-up email on eye-care, on the appropriate days. But the email to subscribers was not sent. So here it is again. The name Lucy is from the same Latin origin (Lucidus) as lucent, lux, and lucid. It means to be bright, to shine or be clear. It is similar to the Ancient Greek λευκός (leukós, “white, blank, light, bright, clear”. Luke has the same origins (bright one, bringer of light and light of the sacred flame) and is very appropriate for the most literate of the evangelists.

St Lucy of Syracuse

St Lucy is from Syracuse in Sicily. She was a victim of the Diocletian Persecution of Christians in the early 4th Century. She is an authentic early martyr. But details of her story cannot be relied upon as true. She was a virgin, denounced as a Christian by her rejected suitor. Then, miraculously saved from serving in a brothel.; destruction by fire, but did not escape having her eyes gouged out. Finally, her throat was cut with a sword.

Her connection to light (and the eye gouging) makes her the protectress against eye disease. So she is depicted holding two eyes as you can see in the picture at the top of the page. Other symbols include a palm branch which represents martyrdom and victory over evil. Other symbols are lamp, dagger, sword or two oxen.

She appears in Dante’s Divine Comedy, as the messenger to Beatrice whose job is to get Virgil to help Dante explore Heaven, Hell and Heaven.

St. Aldhelm (died in 709) puts St Lucy in the list of the main venerated saints of the early English Church, confirmed by the Venerable Bede (died in 735). Her festival was an important celebration one in England. It was views ‘as a holy day of the second rank in which no work but tillage or the like was allowed’.

Dimming of the Light

This year is a glorious sunny St Lucy’s Day.  But, the afternoons soon dim. So, at this time of the year, we are in need of a festival with bright lights to cheer us up! And St Lucy’s Day is the beginning of the winter festival that culminates with the Solstice, where the old sun dies, and the new one is born. December the 13th was the Solstice until Pope Gregory reformed the Calendar in the 16th Century, as nine days were lopped off the year of transition.

Sankta Lucia in Sweden

The festival of Sankta Lucia is particularly popular in Sweden, where December 13th is thought to be the darkest night. In recent years, the Swedish community in the UK has had a service to Lucia in St Pauls. But the last couple of years has been in Westminster Cathedral.  This year on the 5th December.  And a Santa Lucia Carol Concert on 12 December at St Paul’s. But every year it has either been and gone or  sold out by the time I get around to thinking of going!

St Stephens Church by Christopher Wren (Photo K Flude) a rare view during building work.

I found out about Sankta Lucia from a Swedish choir who hired me to do a tour of the City of London some years ago. We went into Christopher Wren’s marvellous St Stephen’s Church.  Under the magnificent Dome, the choir fancied the acoustics and spontaneously sang. I recorded a snatch of it, which you can hear below

Swedish Choir singing in St Stephen’s London
St Stephens Church in the middle foreground of the photo. (Photo K Flude)

You can watch the Sankta Lucia service in Westminster Cathedral below:

The Importance of Light

Recent medical research has shown the importance of light, not only to our mental health but to our sleep health.  Work places need to have a decent light level with ‘blue light’ as a component of the lighting. It is also an excellent idea to help your circadian rhymes by going for a morning walk, or morning sun bathing, even on cloudy days. This will help you sleep better. And so St Lucy remains relevant as an inspiration

To see my post on Roman and Medieval eye care and St Lucy click this link.

First Posted on December 13th, 2022, updated on December 13th 2023, 2024 and 2025.

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Ashmolean Advent Calendar, William Burges & the Singing Pierides December 12th

The Great Bookcase by William Burges Ashmolean Museum (Photo K. Flude)

The Ashmolean posts, every year, an online Advent Calendar with gorgeous items behind each ‘flap’. The choice seems to be, mostly, a random selection. But their collection is so wonderful, they are all interesting.

The Great Bookcase by William Burges & the Singing Pierides

In 2022 The Ashmolean featured the Great Bookcase by William Burges. Burges is one of the great Gothic Revival architects and a designer in the Arts & Crafts Movement with an affinity for Pre-Raphaelite painters. He asked 14 of them to paint panels on his bookcase. The decorative scheme was to represent the Pagan and Christian Arts (Museum label).At the bottom of the Wardrobe are the Singing Pierides painted by Henry Stacy Marks. The Pierides were a sort of classical Greek Von Trapp singers, 9 daughters who foolishly challenged the Muses to a singing competition. Of course, the Goddesses of the Arts — the Muses won., As punishment for their vanity, they turned the Pierides into songbirds. Let this be a warning to all those who overrate their own talents!

‘Whenever the daughters of Pierus began to sing, all creation went dark and no one would give an ear to their choral performance. But when the Muses sang, heaven, the stars, the sea and rivers stood still, while Mount Helicon, beguiled by the pleasure of it all, swelled skywards tilI, by the will of Poseidon, Pegasus checked it by striking the summit with his hoof.

Since these mortals had taken upon themselves to strive with goddesses, the Muses changed them into nine birds. To this day people refer to them as the grebe, the wryneck, the ortolan, the jay, the greenfinch, the goldfinch, the duck, the woodpecker and the dracontis pigeon.’

Antoninus Liberalis‘ Metamorphoses (wikipedia)

Burges & the International Exhibition of 1862

Engraving of the International exhibition of 1862, Cromwell Road
Print of the International Exhibition of 1862, South Kensington

The bookcase by William Burges was originally displayed as the centre point of the ‘Medieval Court’ of the 1862 International Exhibition, South Kensington, London. The Exhibition was almost as successful as the more famous Great Exhibition of 1851. Both got about 6m visitors. The 1862 Exhibition was just south of the site of the 1851 (on the south side of Hyde Park) and in what were then the Royal Horticultural Society’s gardens (now the Science, Natural History Museum, Imperial College etc.)

Raphael

This year, they posted a Raphael drawing of an angle. I show a screen shot below. But to have a real look click here.

The Nuragi

Last year it was a nuragi bronze age stature of a shepherd, a screen shot of which I show below. 2023 December 12th’s choice was a netsuke.

Nuragi statue of a Shepberd

I discovered the Nuragi on a University Field trip, with my students, to the Capital of Sardinia, Cagliari. The Nuragic culture is not well known. However they have amazing Bronze sculptures which give the viewer a really vivid view of their lives and fashions in the Bronze Age. They lived in round towers called nuraghe, which are a little like the Brochs of Scotland. They were around during the time of the Mycenaean Culture in Greece. But their origins and indeed their history are argued about. They may be part of the ‘Sea People’ who brought the end to the Bronze Age cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean, or they may not.

Here, in Britain, the Bronze Age is dominated by discussions of henges, barrows, metal axes and swords. But with very little sense of what life was like to live in those days. However, go to the Cagliari Museum, look at these wonderful statues, and it becomes possible to picture the people. Particularly with a copy of ‘Il Popolo di Bronzo’ by Angela Demontis to hand. It is a catalogue of Nuragi statures with interpretative drawings. It really brings the people to life depicted in the statues. They are mostly warriors, but also there are ‘normal trades’ such as shepherds and bakers which are depicted as well.

Here is my slight adaption of one of the drawings. It is of a shepherd similar to the one photo’d above.

A sketch drawing of a Nuragi sculpture derived from ‘Il Popolo di bronzo’ by Angela Demontis

What you can see is some detail of the clothes and the knife belt around the torso. Not to mention the sheep around his neck! The drawing brings a living person from the Bronze Age before you, not just a lump of bronze. Wikipedia has a long article on the nuragic culture. You can see a wonderful collection of nuragi bronzes and their homes on this website.here.

Originally written for December 12, 2022, revised and republished December 2023, and the Nuragi added in 2024 and Raphael added in 2025

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‘There’s Rosemary, that’s for Remembrance’ December 7th

Flowering Rosemary
Flowering Rosemary in the author’s garden

According to the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly, this is the time when Robins are much to be seen singing their winter song, and when it is time to protect plants, particularly Rosemary, against winter frosts.

In December, rosemary flowers with a delicate blue flower. Rosemary was one of the most important plants, metaphorically and medically. Mrs Grieve, in her ‘Modern Herbal’ says it is used in medicine for illnesses of the brain and was thought to strengthen the memory. And as rosemary helps the memory, they are symbolically/metaphorically associated with friendship, love, worship and mourning. A branch of Rosemary was given as a gift to wedding guests, so they would remember the love shown at the ceremony. It was also entwined in the Bride’s wreath.

Shakespeare uses Rosemary in his plant lore in Hamlet.

OPHELIA: There’s rosemary, that’s for remembrance.
Pray you, love, remember. And there is pansies, that’s
for thoughts.

LAERTES: A document in madness:
thoughts and remembrance fitted.

OPHELIA: There’s fennel for you, and columbines.
There’s rue for you, and here’s some for me.
We may call it herb of grace o’ Sundays.
O, you must wear your rue with a difference.

There’s a daisy. I would give you some violets,
but they withered all when my father died. They
say ‘a made a good end.

(sings) For bonny sweet Robin is all my joy.

Ham IV.v.176

Rue is the herb of grace and has the sense of ‘regret’. Pansies are also for remembrance, and their heart shaped flowers are for love and affection. Fennel represents infidelity and Columbines insincerity or flattery. Daisies are for innocence. Violets are associated with death, particularly of the young. As to how Orphelia means them all to be understood is not entirely clear, particularly Fennel and Columbine. Some think they are directed towards Claudius and/or Gertrude.

https://study.com/learn/lesson/flower-symbolism-hamlet-william-shakespeare-overview-examples.html

Being evergreen, Rosemary was associated with religion and everlasting life. It was called the rose of the Virgin Mary. Lying on a bed of rosemary, the Virgin’s cloak was said to have been dyed blue.  Indeed, Mary is mostly depicted in a blue cloak in Renaissance paintings.

And so Rosemary is especially important for Christmas. At Christmas, it was used to bedeck the house and used at funerals to remember the dead.

The Virgin Mary Googled.

Its strong aroma means it was used as an incense and also used in magic spells

Thomas More let rosemary ‘runne all over my garden walls’ because bees love it and as sacred to remembrance, therefore to friendship.

Rosemary flowering in december
Rosemary flowering in December

I mostly use Rosemary for the very rare occasions when I cook lamb, but it is much more versatile than that, or so the SpruceEats website tells me:

‘Rosemary is used as a seasoning in various dishes, such as soups, casseroles, salads, and stews. Use rosemary with chicken and other poultry, game, lamb, pork, steaks, and fish, especially oily fish. It also goes well with grains, mushrooms, onions, peas, potatoes, and spinach. ‘

https://www.thespruceeats.com/all-about-rosemary-3050513

On this Day

1917- End of the Battle of Cambrai in which Tanks were first used. The tanks had initial success when over 400 hundred of them were used by the British on the first day of the battle. Because the British Army did not precede the attack with the usual artillery barrage, the attack was a complete surprise and the British penetrated deep into the German Lines. But the army had too few troops to exploit the breakthrough and by early December the Germans had mostly recaptured the territory the tanks had won. So the battle was indecisive, but successfully showed the role of the tank in future battles. Casualties amounted to about 45,000 on each side.

1941 – Pearl Harbour bombed. The Japanese attack killed more than 2,300 U.S. military personnel were killed. Another 1,100 at least were wounded, and eight battleships were damaged or destroyed.

On December 8th, Congress approved Roosevelt’s request for a declaration of war on Japan. In the Senate, the vote was 82 – 0 and 388–1 in the House.

On 11 December 1941. Germany declared war on the US, in line with the Tripartite Pact between the two countries and Italy. Later that same day, the US declared war on Germany, with no dissenters from the vote.

First published Dec 7th 2023, revised 2024, 2025

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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 Cecilia’s Day, Henry Wood and the BBC Proms November 17th

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. 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. So, if he violated her, he would be punished by God. Cecilia 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:

Santa Cecilia in Trastevere Photo by Derek Gadd
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere Photo by Derek Gadd

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.

Wikipedia reports :

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.

On This Day

1278 Edward 1 had over 600 Jews imprisoned in the Tower of London for coining, clipping and other counterfeiting. Of these, 269 Jews, along with 29 Christians, were executed. They were hanged at the Guildhall in the City of London. By 1290, the King had squeezed all the money he could from the Jews, and they were expelled, not to be let back into the Kingdom until the reign of Oliver Cromwell in the 17th Century. This ended a long period of savage state run antisemitism. Click here for further information.

First Published on November 17th 2023 and revised in November 2024, 2025.

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All Souls Day – November 2nd

Picture of window sill with skulls, Chrysanthemums and pictures of remembrance
El Dia de los Muertos – All Souls Day, in Haggerston, London. Photo K Flude.

Today is the Mexican Day of the Dead. In fact, the second day of El Dia de Muertos. Here is a video from Mexico, which you will enjoy for its Latin song and images of the Day of the Dead in Mexico. (It’s on Facebook, so may not work unless you have a login). And here is a YouTube explanation of celebrations in Mexico.

Today is the day to celebrate all those loved ones who have passed away. To keep them in mind, to remind you that you still care about them. It is the third day of the season of Allhallowstide, following All Hallows Evening (Halloween), and All Saint’s Day.

Beata, who comes from Poland, tells me that, November the 1st is the day when relatives visit the cemeteries of the dead. Loved ones bringing chrysanthemums to decorate the graves. It’s a happy day for the dead because they are being remembered and visited. Today, November 2nd, is a more sombre day – a day to stay at home and think of the loved ones. Perhaps looking through albums of photographs?

Souling

In England, it was the time of year in which ‘Souling’ used to take place. Households made soul-cakes. Children or people in need of food come to visit and are given soul cakes in exchange for praying for the dead.

Soul, soul, for a souling cake.
I pray good Missus for a souling cake.
Apple or pear, plum or cherry.
Anything good to make us merry.

Traditional rhyme from Shropshire and Cheshire

Moving on from Purgatory

This is based upon the idea of Purgatory, and the belief that intervention on Earth can influence the amount of time an ancestor spends in purgatory for their sins. John Aubrey (1626 – 1697), antiquarian, collector of folklore and writer, mentions a custom in Hereford which shows a variant of the idea.

John Aubrey (Wikipedia)

In the County of Hereford was an old Custom at Funerals, to hire poor people, who were to take upon them all the Sins of the part deceased. One of them I remember (he was a long, lean, lamentable poor rascal). The manner was that when a Corpse was brought out of the house and laid on the Bier; a Loaf of bread was brought out and delivered to the Sin-eater over the corps, as also a Mazer-bowl full of beer, which he was to drink up, and sixpence in money, in consideration whereof he took upon him all the Sins of the Defunct, and freed him (or her) from Walking after they were dead.

John Aubrey, Remains of Gentilism 1688

This belief in the power of action in the Here and Now to lubricate passage through Purgatory to the Ever After was a major part of fund-raising for Catholic Institutions before the Reformation. For example, in the records of St Thomas Hospital, Southwark, a wealthy widow called Alice (de Bregerake – if I remember the spelling correctly) left her wealth to the hospital in return for an annual Rose rent; lifetime accommodation in the Hospital in Southwark, and for the monks and nuns to pray for her soul and the souls of her ancestors.

Purgatory was not a settled thing in Catholic Theology before the 12th Century or so. However, the idea that prayers for the dead could be useful dates back before the Roman period. Catholics took 2 Maccabees as their biblical authority for Purgatory. But Luther demoted Maccabees to “apocrypha“. And today the Anglicans view it as ‘useful’ but not to be used for ‘doctrine.’

Ludovico Carracci: English: An Angel Frees the Souls of Purgatory (Wikipedia)
Ludovico Carracci: English: An Angel Frees the Souls of Purgatory 1610 (Wikipedia)

All Souls, London

One of London’s most beautiful churches is dedicated to All Souls. It is All Souls, Langham Place. It is just near the BBC HQ and on a wonderful site, as it is on a bend in Regent’s Street. This shows it to great advantage. The architect was John Nash (1824) as part of his transformation of the West End with his boulevard from Regent’s Park south to Westminster. As he could not get all the property owners on the alignment of the road to sell him the land, he disguised this enforced bend with a magnificent Church.

All Souls Langham Place By David Castor (dcastor) – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6516081
Regent’s Street looking north to All Souls (photo K Flude)

See my posts on Halloween and, and All Hallows Day here

Revised 2nd November 2025, 2024, 2023 and first published 2nd Nov 2021

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All Hallows Day – November 1st

chrysanthemums
Chrysanthemums Flowers for the Dead (the author’s back garden)

How the Celtic festival that marked the beginning of Winter became All Hallows is not clear. Some say the Church set up its own festival independent of the Northern European traditions. But it is as likely that the Church adopted existing pagan festivals, and gave them a Christian spin.

Samhain, on October 31st, was, for Celtic religions, not only the beginning of Winter but also the beginning of the Year. As I noted on my Halloween post the Festivities began in the evening before the day because Celtic and Germanic traditions began their day at Dusk. So Halloween is not, in fact, the evening before, it is the start of the day of the festival.

Facebook Image giving the words for Samhain in Celtic languages

The Church adopted the Roman tradition of the day beginning not at Dusk but at Midnight. So the festival of All Hallows is on November 1st not October 31st. But the Church mimicked the old ways of doing things by celebrating the evening before as the Vigil of All Hallows’ Day. This was called All Hallows Evening or Halloween.

All Hallows by the Tower, London

Engraving of All Hallows Barking

In London, there is a Church called All Hallows, on Tower Hill. It is associated with Barking Abbey, founded in the 9th Century. Therefore, it is known as All Hallows Barking or All Hallows by the Tower. The Church has a prominent position on Tower Hill, which would have been visible from boats coming up the Thames. Also in the Church is the earliest Post-Roman arch in a Church in the City of London. This is made of reused Roman bricks. Moreover, in the crypt are Roman tessellated floors.

Letter from Pope Gregory to St Augustine

Now, I don’t want to be shot down in flames because there is no evidence that there was a Roman Temple here. Nor indeed a Roman or immediately Post-Roman Church. But it is one of the earliest Churches in the City of London. There must have been Christian Churches in Roman London, and this would be on my list of candidates. It is simply that the attribution to All Hallows provides a possible link to Celtic festivals. So speculation rather than anything else. The letter above, gives a context for the conversion of a pagan Temple to a Christian Place of Worship.

An Uncanny Day to Hallowed Day

For the Celts, Samhain was an uncanny day when all the sprites and spirits are alive and in the world. The Church took that, and span in on its head. So it became a ‘hallowed’ holy day when all Saints are celebrated and alive to us. Celebrated on October 31st and November 1st.

A celebration of All Saints was originally in May in the Church but was changed to the 1st November in the 7th Century by Pope Boniface. Later it was swapped back to May. But fixed again on the 1st November in the 9th Century. It is followed on the 2nd by All Souls’ Day. (see my post on All Souls Day here.

So on the 1st November, those celebrating the pagan festival would be in full swing after a hard night of celebration. The embers of the Fire would be still burning, stones left around the fire would be inspected for the prophecy they told of the future. Each person had a stone, and if it was still intact it was good luck, if it had disappeared the future was not good.

La Toussaint et Dia de Todo Los Santos

In France, All Hallows or All Saints is called La Toussaint, and flowers such as Chrysanthemums, which blossom in late October, were put on the graves. In Spain, it is Dia de Todo Los Santos and is a national holiday upon which people put flowers on the graves of the dead.

In Mexico, Dia de los Muertos celebrates Holy Innocents on the 1st. People create altars to the lost ones, with their favourite flowers, toys, food stuffs,, photographs. People argue about the pre-colombian aspects of the festival as there are similarities to European All Saints Days celebrations. But Quecholli, was a celebration of the dead that honoured Mixcóatl – the god of war. It was celebrated between October 20th and November 8th.

A correspondent in Mexico has sent back these pictures of the festivities in Mexico.

Day of the Dead in Mexico. Photos by S. Morice

The female figure to the left is La Catrina. This image was popularised by an early 20th Century design by José Guadalupe Posada and developed in a mural by Diego Rivera. For more details click here.

A Day Off for the English

In the Laws of King Alfred the Great, this day was a day off for freemen. See my post on Days off in the Anglo Saxon Calender on August 15th.

First published in 2022, revised in 2023, 2024, 2025

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Van Gogh & the London Suburbs October 8th 1876

From https://agtyler.medium.com/part-i-van-gogh-in-london-9a26ff5427dd’s website describing Van Gogh’s experiences while living in London.

It’s not so well known that Van Gogh spent some time in London. Vincent spent three years in London, working as an Art Dealer in Covent Garden. He lived in Brixton, then the Oval. He was very impressed with London; its technology and culture. London was:

‘ a city lit by streetlights, a city powered by electricity and a city that relied on industrial power. It was impressive in all its accomplishments.’

To find out more about his experience in London look at this Tate website. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/vincent-van-gogh-1182/seven-things-know-about-van-goghs-time-britain. The above quotation came from the site. For more details of Vincent’s time in London read Medium.

Van Gogh’s Newgate Prison Painting

This is where I got the image of Van Gogh’s painting of Newgate Prison above. Apart from sketches, this seems to be his only London painting. But Van Gogh did this painting well after his visit to London,. He copied Gustave Doré‘s engraving which you will see below. Further research tells me that he did this painting while in Saint-Paul Asylum. He was detained inside so could not continue his practice of painting outdoors, so copied from illustrations. He used a Héliodore Pisan copy of Doré‘s engraving. Van Gogh died a few months later, and this was one of the pictures that were displayed around his Coffin.

Vincent in Brixton

There is a play from 2002 called ‘Vincent in Brixton’, by Nicholas Wright, which I saw and very much enjoyed. It is scheduled to be performed in 2026 (14 March 2026 to 18 April 2026) at the Orange Tree, Richmond.

Letters to Theo

Vincent often wrote to his brother, Theo, about his experiences in London. This is a quotation I first found in ‘A London Year’ compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison. It provides a beautiful description of the London suburbs. This is a book well worth a place on a lover of London’s History’s bedside table.

Letter to Theo, October 8th 1876

In the City I also went to see Mr Gladwell and to St Paul’s. And from the City to the other end of London, there I visited a boy who had left Mr Stokes’s school because of illness, and I found him completely recovered, outside in the street. Then on to the place where I had to collect the money for Mr Jones. The suburbs of London have a peculiar beauty; between the small houses and gardens there are open places covered with grass and usually with a church or school or poorhouse between the trees and shrubbery in the middle, and it can be so beautiful there when the sun goes down red in the light evening mist. It was like that yesterday evening, and later I did so wish that you had seen the streets of London when it began to grow dark and the street-lamps were lit and everyone was going home, it was obvious from everything that it was Saturday evening, and in all that hustle and bustle there was peace, one felt, as it were, the need for and joy at the approach of Sunday. Oh those Sundays and how much is done and striven for on those Sundays, it’s such a relief to those poor neighbourhoods and busy streets. It was dark in the City, but it was a lovely walk past all those churches along the way. Close to the Strand I found an omnibus that brought me a long way, it was already rather late. I rode past Mr Jones’s little church and saw another in the distance where light was still burning so late. I headed for it and found it to be a very beautiful little Roman Catholic church in which a couple of women were praying. Then I came to that dark park I already wrote to you about, and from there I saw in the distance the lights of Isleworth and the church with the ivy and the cemetery with the weeping willows on the banks of the Thames.  

To see this letter and his letters to Theo, follow look at this link.

Gustave Doré and Pisan’s Newgate Excercise Yard 1872, from which Van Gogh clearly derived the image for his painting at the top of the page.

To see some of his London sketches please look at this web site.

Image of Van Gogh’s House web site.showing Austin Friars, Church, City of London

First Published October 8th, 2025

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St Giles Day and Cripplegate September 1st

Public domainThe Master of St Giles, National Gallery. ‘St Giles and the Hind’
This work is in the public domain in its country of origin and other countries and areas where the copyright term is the author’s life plus 100 years or fewer.

St Giles

Today, is St Giles’ Feast Day. His story is mostly unknown, but his legend holds that he was a hermit who had a pet Hind in the Arles District of France sometime after the fall of the Roman Empire. The hounds of King Wamba (a Visigothic King) were chasing the deer, and shot an arrow into the undergrowth. The King and his men followed to discover Giles wounded by the arrow, protecting the hind, who he held in his arms. The hounds were miraculously stayed motionless as they leaped towards the hind. Wamba, which apparently means ‘Big paunch’ in Gothic, also had a Roman name: Flavius. Giles was injured in the leg, although the image above shows the arrow hit his hand. Wamba set him up as an Abbot of a Benedictine Monastery.

St Giles is, therefore, the patron saint of disabled people. He is also also invoked for childhood fears, convulsions and depression. He was very popular in medieval Britain, with over 150 churches dedicated to him, including four in London. Perhaps the two most famous are St Giles Without Cripplegate in London and St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

St Giles Cripplegate, photographed by the Author at night from the Barbican Centre.

St Giles Cripplegate

St Giles was built in the 11th Century, rebuilt in the 14th Century and again in 1545-50 after nearly being destroyed by fire. It survived the Great Fire of London, being just beyond the extent of the Fire. But it was badly damaged in the Blitz, although the Tower and the outer walls survived.

Oliver Cromwell married Elizabeth Bourchier here. John Foxe of the Book of Martyrs, John Speed, the Cartographer, Martin Frobisher, the explorer and John Milton, the Poet were buried here.

Shenanigans with Milton’s Coffin

Milton’s coffin was opened in 1793 and he was said to have looked as if he had just been buried. One of those present, then, had a go at pulling Milton’s teeth out. A bystander helped by hitting his jaw with a stone. The few teeth Milton had left in his head were divided between the men, who also took a rib bone and locks of his hair. The Caretaker then opened the coffin for anyone who wanted to see the corpse!

From the London City Wall Trail.

Cripplegate

St Giles is without Cripplegate. It is one of the Gates in the City Wall (originally the North Gate of the Roman Fort). It may be named because St Giles made it agood place to gather for those trying to beg alms for their disabilities. An alternative explanation it from the Anglo Saxon crepel, which is an underground tunnel which is said to have run from the Gate’s Barbican to the Gate. Or perhaps because of the cure of cripples when Edmund the Martyr’s remains passed through the Gate in 1010.

The Corner Tower of the London City Wall, the Barbican in the background, and the tower of St Giles’ Church behind the Tower. Photo by the author

First Published in September 2024, and revised in 2025.

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