This year, February 17th is Shrove Tuesday, the end of the Carnival. Etymology-on line says the origins of the term Carnival are:
1540s, “time of merrymaking before Lent,” from French carnaval, from Italian carnevale “Shrove Tuesday,” from older Italian forms such as Milanese *carnelevale, Old Pisan carnelevare “to remove meat,” literally “raising flesh,” from Latin caro “flesh” (originally “a piece of flesh,” from PIE root *sker- (1) “to cut”) + levare “lighten, raise, remove” (from PIE root *legwh- “not heavy, having little weight”).
Folk etymology has it from Medieval Latin carne vale ” ‘flesh, farewell!’ ” Attested from 1590s in the figurative sense of “feasting or revelry in general.” The meaning “a circus or amusement fair” is attested by 1926 in American English.Related entries & more
Pancake Day is another name for Shrove Tuesday. It is the day we eat up all our surplus food. Then on Ash Wednesday we must begin our lenten fast and turn our mind to repentance. Pancake Day, in the UK, is celebrated with a simple pancake with lemon and sugar. Here is a recipe from the BBC. On the other hand, Shrove Tuesday can be a day of excess before the 40 days of restraint. Shrovetide was normally three days from the Sunday before Lent to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. (Here is my post on Ash Wednesday).
Mardi Gras
In France, it’s called Mardi Gras which means Fatty Tuesday, in Italy Martedi Grasso. In New Orleans it stretches from Twelfth Night to Shrove Tuesday. But as we saw, in my post on Fat or Lardy Thursday‘ the Carnival period was more normally a week. In most other places it is one to three days. In Anglo-Saxon times there was ‘Cheese Week’, ‘Butter Week’, ‘Cheesefare Sunday’ and ‘Collop Monday’, preceding Ash Wednesday.
Shrove Tuesday the Day to be Shriven
Shrove Tuesday is the day we should be ‘shriven’ which means to make confession. The Church has been leading up to Easter since Advent – before Christmas. (See more on Advent Sunday here). Easter is the date of the conception and, also, the date of the execution and apotheosis of Jesus Christ. So the pious should confess their sins, then undertake their lenten fast before entering the Holy Week purged and sin-free.
In the Anglo-Saxon Church, there was a custom called ‘locking the Alleluia.’ The Church stopped using the word Alleluia from 70 days before Easter. Alleluia represented the return from exile in Babylon. So, with the approach of the death of Christ it was not felt appropriate to be celebratory.
The sombre nature of this block of time was highlighted by Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955 – c. 1010).
Now a pure and holy time draws near, in which we should atone for our neglect. Every Christian, therefore, should come to his confession and confess his hidden sins, and make amends according to the guidance of his teachers; and let everyone encourage each other to do good by good example.
Ælfric, Catholic Homilies Text Ed. Peter Clemoes quoted in ‘Winters in the World’ Eleanor Parker
Time for Football!
Shrove Tuesday was the traditional time for football games, in the days before football had any rules to speak of. It was a wild game. Teams tried to get a bladder from one end of town to the other, or one side of a field to the other. In Chester, the Shrove Tuesday football game was held on the Roodee island. It was so rowdy that the Mayor created the Chester Races specifically to provide a more sedate alterative to the violence of the ‘beautiful game.’
Here is a youtube video of Shrovetide Football at Royal Asbourne in Derbyshire. You will notice it seems chaotic but if you look at the participants directed the action you can see how involved they are in it.
Royal Asbourne Shrove Tueday Football
In London, Henry Fitzstephen wrote about Shrove Tuesday Games in London in the late 12th Century:
‘Every year also at Shrove Tuesday, that we may begin with children’s sport, seeing we all have been children, the school boys do bring cocks of the game to their master, and all the forenoon they delight themselves in cockfighting. After dinner all the youths go into the fields to play at the ball. The scholars of every school have their ball, or baston in their hands. The ancient and wealthy men of the City come forth on horseback to see the sport of the young men and to take part of the pleasure in beholding their agility.’
Fitzstephen was the first biographer of Thomas Becket.
Pancake Race
The City of London has an annual pancake race at the Guildhall Yard. It is an inter-livery company competition. The Livery Companies also known as medieval Guilds, have to run across the Guildhall while holding a frying pan and pancake. There is a zone marked out where they have to toss the pancake. Here is a youtube video of the 2023 race.
Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race
First published on February 21st, 2023 republished on February 13th 2024, and March 4th 2025, February 17th 2026
Fornacalia was a corn festival that took place around February 7th to the 17th. Romans were assigned individual days to celebrate (see below) but the last day, today, was reserved for those fools who did not know their proper day.
Pliny the Elder says it was King Numa Pompilius (753-673 BC), who established Fornacalia, The Feast of Ovens. Fornacalia celebrated Fornax who was the Goddess of the Oven – specifically the grain oven for drying grain. The word for oven is also Fornax, from which we probably derive our word furnace.
Organising the Fornaclia and the Curio Maximus
The Festivals in Rome were organised by the Curio Maximus who was a priest who supervised the curiae. In Rome the citizens were arranged, originally, into the 3 ancient tribes of Rome (founded in the 8th Century BC). The Tribes were supposed to represent the ancient ethnic groups. These were the Ramnes the Latin population, the Tities the Sabines, and the Luceres the Etruscans. The tribes were then divided into 10 curiae each. So there were 30 curiae.
Each Roman was supposed to be assigned to one of the curiae, which had a religious, social and voting function. The name may come from ‘co-viria – a gathering of men’. The members of the curiae were known as curiales. Each curiae had their own priest, or curio, and assistant priest ‘flamen curialis‘. And they organised the religious ceremonies of the curiae. They met in a meeting place called the curia.
So the Curio Maximus would declare when a festival was to be held, and get the curiae to organise the celebrations at the curia. I hope you are still with me! They would choose a date, for example for the Fornacalia, between about the 7th Feb and the 17th of February. And the citizens would go to their curia where there would be a ceremonial roasting of the grain, and baking into bread which would be in honour of the Goddess Fornax.
Ovid & the Feast of Fools
Ovid, who wrote his almanac poem on the Roman festivals (Fasti), reveals many of these details. This is what he says:
Learn too why this day is called the Feast of Fools. The reason for it is trivial but fitting. The earth of old was farmed by ignorant men: Fierce wars weakened their powerful bodies. There was more glory in the sword than the plough: And the neglected farm brought its owner little return. Yet the ancients sowed corn, corn they reaped, Offering the first fruits of the corn harvest to Ceres. Taught by practice they parched it in the flames, And incurred many losses through their own mistakes. Sometimes they’d sweep up burnt ash and not corn, Sometimes the flames took their huts themselves: The oven was made a goddess, Fornax: the farmers Pleased with her, prayed she’d regulate the grain’s heat. Now the Curio Maximus, in a set form of words, declares The shifting date of the Fornacalia, the Feast of Ovens: And round the Forum hang many tablets, On which every ward displays its particular sign. Foolish people don’t know which is their ward, So they hold the feast on the last possible day.
Book II: February 17 From: Fasti, Book 2. Translated by A.S Kline and available here
I am led to believe that the Roman word for the person who looked after a furnace was the fornicator. And as heat was a ’cause’ of lust, fornicators well, they fornicated.
However, others derive the word from the word Fornix, which is an arch. And arches, it was said, was where the Brothels were, hence fornicator. Not sure that I’m going with the idea that Brothels were always under arches. Below is what the online etymology dictionary’s definition which might help you make up your mind:
from Late Latin fornicationem (nominative fornicatio), noun of action from past-participle stem of fornicari “to fornicate,” from Latin fornix (genitive fornicis) “brothel” (Juvenal, Horace), originally “arch, vaulted chamber, a vaulted opening, a covered way,” probably an extension, based on appearance, from a source akin to fornus “brick oven of arched or domed shape” (from PIE root *gwher- “to heat, warm”). Strictly, “voluntary sex between an unmarried man and an unmarried woman;” extended in the Bible to adultery. The sense extension in Latin is perhaps because Roman prostitutes commonly solicited from under the arches of certain buildings.
As you can see, it’s a big old mix-up of arches, brothels, brick ovens, all quite unconvincing, so I’m sticking with my over-heated stoker theory. To find out more about Ovid and his Almanac look at my post here.
The Annona
Rome had a population of one million people, and keeping them fed was a difficult task. So the celebration of Fornacalia was an important feast designed to protect Rome’s all important grain supply. The Imperial Government took on the responsibility of providing the grain in a system called the Annona. and provided the Citizens with free bread. The Italian Annona brought much of its grain from Egypt.
Londinium & the Annona
Dominic Perring in his recent book on Roman London (Londinium in the Roman Empire) speculates that the fluctuating fortunes of London was dependent upon the routing of a northern Annona through Londinium. When the Emperor was engaged with the North Western Empire London thrived, when he wasn’t interested it declined.
On This Day
1634 – Puritan author William Prynne was sentenced in the Star Chamber for publishing “Histrio-masti”, criticising the theatre (and criticising Bishops). This was one of various trials he faced in the Star Chamber. The Star Chamber was not a normal court, with a Jury but was the instrument of repression by Charles I’s autocratic regime. Prynne had already been imprisoned in the Tower of London for a year. On the 17th February he was sentenced to: imprisonment for life; £5,000 fine; expelled from Lincoln’s Inn (i.e. deprived of the right to practice law); deprived of his Oxford degree; to have his ears cut off; to be pilloried at Westminster and Cheapside in the City of London. Oh and branded on the Cheek with S.L (Seditious Libeller).
1864 – The CSS H. L. Hunley, a Confederate vessel, is the first submarine to sink a warship, the USS Housatonic.
First published February 2023. Revised and republished 17th February 2024, 2025, On This Day added 2026
For this was St. Valentine’s Day When every bird came there to chose their mate. Of every type, that men think may And that so huge a noise did they make That earth and sea and tree and every lake So full was, that hardly was there space For to stand so full was the place.
St Valentine’s Patronage
This is the first reference to St Valentine’s as a romantic day. And some people charge Chaucer with making the whole thing up! St Valentine, is supposed to have been martyred in the 3rd Century (290AD) on the Via Flaminia on February 14. He refused to stop marrying people in the Christian rites. Therefore, he is the patron Saint of lovers. Valentine is also the patron Saint of epileptics, fainting and beekeepers. According to legend, he taught a young blind girl how to look after Bees, and, sometime later, her eyesight was restored. He also is said to have treated a young man of epilepsy. Epilepsy was sometimes called the Falling Sickness, and so he is also the Saint of Fainting.
But until Chaucer, there was no particular link with romance. In fact, there are at least three Saint Valentines who were martyred in the Roman period. Their relics are scattered around Europe (have a look at this National Geographic article for the full S.P.). These include bones in Glasgow and his heart in Dublin. There are in total 11 Saints called Valentine in the list of Catholic Saints.
Another theory is that St Valentine has taken over the aspect of the God Cupid, as a Christian attempt to create a holy festival to replace the Lupercalia. See my post on the Lupercalia here.
St Valentine’s Day and Birds
Chaucer’s poem suggests one possible route to the link with romance. Early February is about the time when birds pair off. If they want to have their chicks at the optimal time, then they need to get going before spring has really sprung.
When I think of love, I don’t think of birds. Maybe, this is because I live by a Canal. Outside my garden, I frequently see and hear a Coot chasing his pair across the water before violently mounting her. But then they are fiercely monogamous and defend their nest, fearlessly, against much bigger birds. And swans glide by in beautiful family groups. But Magpies are my favourite lovebird because you see one, and then look around, and you very often see the partner. I have adopted an old tradition that you are supposed to say:
‘Hello, Mr Magpie! Where’s Mrs Magpie?’
And look for the mate. It is good luck if you see her and bad luck if you don’t. (Please feel free to assign your own favourite gender!)
‘One for Sorrow’ is a well-known nursery rhyme found in many variations, and is an example of ‘ornithomancy superstition’ whereby the number of Magpies you see determines some aspect of your future. Magpies normally mate for life, and are not gregarious during the nesting season, but thereafter, they ‘join together in large wintering flocks of more than 20 or so birds.‘. So, perhaps we need at least another seven lines for the rhyme? So, far I have never seen a flock of them. If you have a photo of a flock, please send it to me!
One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret, Never to be told. Eight for a wish, Nine for a kiss, Ten a surprise you should be careful not to miss, Eleven for health, Twelve for wealth, Thirteen beware it’s the devil himself.
As to the likelihood of seeing thirteen magpies together – well I have seen them often in pairs, occasionally in threes and often alone.
Here is another, more dangerous version of the rhyme (you are more likely to see the Devil)
One for sorrow, Two for mirth Three for a funeral, Four for birth Five for heaven Six for hell Seven for the devil, his own self
For details of the history of versions of this poem, click here:
Bad Birds
Magpies don’t have a good reputation, traditionally being regarded as thieves and scavengers with untidy nests and eating habits. They are supposed to be attracted to shiny things, but Exeter University did some research which found that they have the normal Corvid’s curiosity for objects. But they are as happy to snatch a dull object as a shiny one. So, we can see they are very intelligent as well as faithful lovers. For me, a good-omened bird (as long as I see the two of them).
44BC – Julius Caesar was appointed dictator in perpetuum. Or perpetual dictator of the Roman Republic. Coins were issued with the phrase DICT PERPETVO.
1400 -Richard II died shortly after Epiphany Rising, a failed plot to restore him to the throne. Some think he was starved to death in captivity in Pontefract Castle. Or he starved himself. His body was taken to London and put on display in St Paul’s Cathedral on 17 February. His remains were taken to one of his favourite palaces at King’s Langley Priory on 6 March. Henry V had his remains ‘translated’ to Westminster Abbey. King’s Langley was a Royal Palace lived in by Eleanor of Aquitaine and Edward II, as well as Richard II. It is near Slough.
‘The accepted tale of the king’s death is that in despair and grief at the death of his friends, King Richard refused to eat or drink, although a few say he was purposely starved to ensure he died as if from a natural death. Another rumour is that when an esquire mentioned the words ‘King Henry’ while he was eating dinner, Richard struck him with the knife he was using. Guards charged in and the king, pushing the table away, took a bill out of one man’s hand and managed to slay four of them but one leapt onto the chair he had vacated and felled him with a stroke of his poleaxe.’
1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone
1895 – The Importance of Being Earnest, first produced at the St James’s Theatre, London
1918 – Russia finally adopts the Gregorian calendar. see my post here.
First Published in February 2023, revised and updated in February 2024, 2025 On This Day added 2026
The Greeat Freeze. ‘Skating on the Serpentine’ by Lucien Davis Antique wood-engraved print. Illustrated London News double page from 2 March 1895 (print owned by K Flude)
The Great Freeze
London, February 12, (1895). There is no abatement of the abnormally cold weather which has prevailed in northern Europe for the last week. The Upper Thames is frozen over, and huge blocks of ice breaking away from the mass are floating down the river, causing much damage to the smaller shipping craft. Water traffic is consequently at a complete standstill.
Many cases of death from cold and exposure are reported, the privation and distress in the East End of the city being particularly severe. The cold is so intense that birds are found frozen to death on the branches of the trees, and thousands are perishing. The severe weather has also directly caused considerable mortality, a number of deaths from exposure having been reported among postmen, omnibus drivers, cabmen, and labourers.
Winter of 1895 Limehouse to left, Tower of London to right. Images from Isle of Dogs blog.
The year 1895 was the culmination of a decade of particularly cold winters (and for some the end of the so-called Little Ice Age). On the 11th February, the coldest day in British History was recorded at Braemar at −27.2 °C. February 1895 was the second coldest on record, with the lowest minimum temperatures on record. Shipping in the biggest port in the world was stopped. Therefore, many workers were laid off, and had to resort to what were then called ‘soup kitchens’ and now ‘food banks’. Winter death rates were said to be doubled, with people dying in the street and in unheated homes.
Record minima were set for these dates in February 1895:
7th: −21.7 °C or −7.1 °F
8th: −25.0 °C or −13.0 °F
9th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
10th: −25.6 °C or −14.1 °F
11th: −27.2 °C or −17.0 °F
12th: −20.6 °C or −5.1 °F
13th: −21.9 °C or −7.4 °F
14th: −21.7 °C or −7.1 °F
16th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
17th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
18th: −23.9 °C or −11.0 °F
19th: −22.2 °C or −8.0 °F
Source Wikipedia.
On the flip side people resorted to ponds around London particularly the Serpentine which had 6 inches of ice and 50,000 skaters, with speed skating competitions.
1554 – Lady Jane Grey was executed after a trial at the Guildhall. Her husband was executed on the same day. Her adoption as heir to the throne was ordered by her cousin Edward VI. His minister, John Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, (and Jane’s Father-in-Law) arranged for the Privy Council to accept Jane as the next monarch. They were trying to prevent Henry VIII’s Catholic daughter, Mary taking the throne. Jane was Queen for 9 Days. The Privy Council swapped sides as support for Jane collapsed. Jane was the Great-granddaughter of Henry VII and cousins to Mary, Elizabeth and Edward VI.
1993 – The South African Government agrees with the African National Congress to form an elected interim government comprised of both black and white members.
Published February 12th 2024, and republished 2025, 2026
Daffodils & Narcissus. In 2023, I saw my first Daffodil in Hackney in a Council Estate on 12 January. My first daffodil in 2024 was outside my first floor window in early February. On February 11th, 2025, I saw the shoots of Daffodils in my garden but nothing blooming. However, there were daffodils on another Council Estate. In 2026, my first daffodil came out in early January. And the Estates and Parks around have been showing daffodils since late January. They bring such joy and hope for the return of the Sun.
12 Jan 2023. Hackney, London, the first Daffodil.
Narcissus the Flower
Their formal name is Narcissus. The Roman natural historian, Pliny tells us that the plant was:
‘named Narcissus from narkē not from the fabulous boy.’
Narkē is the Greek word from which we derive the word narcotic. It is a reference to the narcotic properties of the narcissus. An extract of the bulb applied to open wounds produced numbness of the whole nervous system and paralysis of the heart. The flowers are also slightly poisonous. So, they were used as an emetic. They brought on vomiting when it was felt necessary that the stomach be emptied. It was used to treat hysteria and epilepsy. They treated children with bronchial catarrh or epidemic dysentery. Among Arabian doctors, it was used to cure baldness and as an aphrodisiac. (Source: A Modern Herbal by Mrs M Grieve.) Please remember these are not recommendations for use medicinally, but are historic uses and may be dangerous.
The Fabulous Boy
The fabulous boy, mentioned by Pliny, was Narcissus. He, according to the Roman Poet Ovid, met the nymph Echo, and she fell in love with the beautiful boy. He spurned her, and she faded until all that remained of her was her voice – the echo we hear.
Nemesis, the Goddess of Revenge (the one with the fiery sword) decided on revenge upon the handsome boy. She lured the thirsty youth to a fountain, where, in the pool around the fountain, he saw an image of a breathtakingly handsome boy. He fell instantly in love with such beauty. But it was an image of himself. Realising he would never meet anyone as fabulous as himself, he faded from life. He eventually metamorphised into a white and yellow flower, which was named after him.
Nemesis, with her fiery sword, from the painting on the Staircase at Hampton Court by Antonio Verrio, Photo K Flude
Daffodils & Shakespeare
Daffodils are mentioned in a list of Spring Flowers by Shakespeare in the pastoral play The Winter’s Tale:
(Please note that as you read Shakespeare’s words below that Prosperpina is the wife of Pluto, the God of the Underworld, Dis, is another name for him, Cytherea is the Goddess of Beauty and Love. Phoebus is the Sun God. And the Spring Flowers are Daffodils, violets, primroses, oxlips (primula), Crown Imperial (Fritillaria imperialis), Lilies, flower-De-luce (Iris)
Perdita to Camillo
Out, alas! You’d be so lean that blasts of January Would blow you through and through. (To Florizel) I would I had some flowers o’th’ spring, that might Become your time of day – (to the Shepherdesses) That wear upon your virgin branches yet Your maidenheads growing. O Proserpina, For the flowers now that, frighted, thou let’st fall From Dis’s waggon! Daffodils, That come before the swallow dares, and take The winds of March with beauty; violets, dim, But sweeter than the lids of Juno’s eyes Or Cytherea’s breath; pale primroses, That die unmarried ere they can behold Bright Phoebus in his strength – a malady Most incident to maids; bold oxlips and The crown imperial; lilies of all kinds, The flower-de-luce being one: O, these I lack To make you garlands of, and my sweet friend To strew him o’er and o’er!
WT IV.iv.110.2
The reference to Daffodils suggests that for Shakespeare they are around to withstand the March Winds before the Swallows arrive in April. With selective breeding, early flowering species have been developed. Now February and even January are within the scope of the glorious bulb. (here is a post on winter flowering varieties). For my post on Shakespeare & Winter see here.
Once a noisy Nymph, (who never held her tongue when others spoke, who never spoke till others had begun) mocking Echo, spied him as he drove, in his delusive nets, some timid stags.—For Echo was a Nymph, in olden time,—and, more than vapid sound,—possessed a form: and she was then deprived the use of speech, except to babble and repeat the words, once spoken, over and over. Juno confused her silly tongue, because she often held that glorious goddess with her endless tales, till many a hapless Nymph, from Jove’s embrace, had made escape adown a mountain.
But for this, the goddess might have caught them. Thus the glorious Juno, when she knew her guile; “Your tongue, so freely wagged at my expense, shall be of little use; your endless voice, much shorter than your tongue.” At once the Nymph was stricken as the goddess had decreed;—and, ever since, she only mocks the sounds of others’ voices, or, perchance, returns their final words.
One day, when she observed Narcissus wandering in the pathless woods, she loved him and she followed him, with soft and stealthy tread.—The more she followed him the hotter did she burn, as when the flame flares upward from the sulphur on the torch. Oh, how she longed to make her passion known! To plead in soft entreaty! to implore his love! But now, till others have begun, a mute of Nature she must be. She cannot choose but wait the moment when his voice may give to her an answer. Presently the youth, by chance divided from his trusted friends, cries loudly, “Who is here?” and Echo, “Here!” Replies. Amazed, he casts his eyes around, and calls with louder voice, “Come here!” “Come here!” She calls the youth who calls.—He turns to see who calls him and, beholding naught exclaims, “Avoid me not!” “Avoid me not!” returns. He tries again, again, and is deceived by this alternate voice, and calls aloud; “Oh let us come together!” Echo cries, “Oh let us come together!” Never sound seemed sweeter to the Nymph, and from the woods she hastens in accordance with her words, and strives to wind her arms around his neck.
He flies from her and as he leaves her says, “Take off your hands! you shall not fold your arms around me. Better death than such a one should ever caress me!” Naught she answers save, “Caress me!” Thus rejected she lies hid in the deep woods, hiding her blushing face with the green leaves; and ever after lives concealed in lonely caverns in the hills. But her great love increases with neglect; her miserable body wastes away, wakeful with sorrows; leanness shrivels up her skin, and all her lovely features melt, as if dissolved upon the wafting winds—nothing remains except her bones and voice—her voice continues, in the wilderness; her bones have turned to stone. She lies concealed in the wild woods, nor is she ever seen on lonely mountain range; for, though we hear her calling in the hills, ’tis but a voice, a voice that lives, that lives among the hills.
Thus he deceived the Nymph and many more, sprung from the mountains or the sparkling waves; and thus he slighted many an amorous youth.—and therefore, some one whom he once despised, lifting his hands to Heaven, implored the Gods, “If he should love deny him what he loves!” and as the prayer was uttered it was heard by Nemesis, who granted her assent.
There was a fountain silver-clear and bright, which neither shepherds nor the wild she-goats, that range the hills, nor any cattle’s mouth had touched—its waters were unsullied—birds disturbed it not; nor animals, nor boughs that fall so often from the trees. Around sweet grasses nourished by the stream grew; trees that shaded from the sun let balmy airs temper its waters. Here Narcissus, tired of hunting and the heated noon, lay down, attracted by the peaceful solitudes and by the glassy spring.
There as he stooped to quench his thirst another thirst increased. While he is drinking he beholds himself reflected in the mirrored pool—and loves; loves an imagined body which contains no substance, for he deems the mirrored shade a thing of life to love. He cannot move, for so he marvels at himself, and lies with countenance unchanged, as if indeed a statue carved of Parian marble. Long, supine upon the bank, his gaze is fixed on his own eyes, twin stars; his fingers shaped as Bacchus might desire, his flowing hair as glorious as Apollo’s, and his cheeks youthful and smooth; his ivory neck, his mouth dreaming in sweetness, his complexion fair and blushing as the rose in snow-drift white. All that is lovely in himself he loves, and in his witless way he wants himself:—he who approves is equally approved; he seeks, is sought, he burns and he is burnt.
And how he kisses the deceitful fount; and how he thrusts his arms to catch the neck that’s pictured in the middle of the stream! Yet never may he wreathe his arms around that image of himself. He knows not what he there beholds, but what he sees inflames his longing, and the error that deceives allures his eyes. But why, O foolish boy, so vainly catching at this flitting form? The cheat that you are seeking has no place. Avert your gaze and you will lose your love, for this that holds your eyes is nothing save the image of yourself reflected back to you. It comes and waits with you; it has no life; it will depart if you will only go.
Nor food nor rest can draw him thence—outstretched upon the overshadowed green, his eyes fixed on the mirrored image never may know their longings satisfied, and by their sight he is himself undone. Raising himself a moment, he extends his arms around, and, beckoning to the murmuring forest; “Oh, ye aisled wood was ever man in love more fatally than I? Your silent paths have sheltered many a one whose love was told, and ye have heard their voices. Ages vast have rolled away since your forgotten birth, but who is he through all those weary years that ever pined away as I?
Alas, this fatal image wins my love, as I behold it. But I cannot press my arms around the form I see, the form that gives me joy. What strange mistake has intervened betwixt us and our love? It grieves me more that neither lands nor seas nor mountains, no, nor walls with closed gates deny our loves, but only a little water keeps us far asunder. Surely he desires my love and my embraces, for as oft I strive to kiss him, bending to the limpid stream my lips, so often does he hold his face fondly to me, and vainly struggles up. It seems that I could touch him. ‘Tis a strange delusion that is keeping us apart. Whoever thou art, Come up! Deceive me not! Oh, whither when I fain pursue art thou? Ah, surely I am young and fair, the Nymphs have loved me; and when I behold thy smiles I cannot tell thee what sweet hopes arise. When I extend my loving arms to thee thine also are extended me—thy smiles return my own.
When I was weeping, I have seen thy tears, and every sign I make thou cost return; and often thy sweet lips have seemed to move, that, peradventure words, which I have never heard, thou hast returned. No more my shade deceives me, I perceive ‘Tis I in thee—I love myself—the flame arises in my breast and burns my heart—what shall I do? Shall I at once implore? Or should I linger till my love is sought? What is it I implore? The thing that I desire is mine—abundance makes me poor. Oh, I am tortured by a strange desire unknown to me before, for I would fain put off this mortal form; which only means I wish the object of my love away. Grief saps my strength, the sands of life are run, and in my early youth am I cut off; but death is not my bane—it ends my woe.—I would not death for this that is my love, as two united in a single soul would die as one.”
He spoke; and crazed with love, returned to view the same face in the pool; and as he grieved his tears disturbed the stream, and ripples on the surface, glassy clear, defaced his mirrored form. And thus the youth, when he beheld that lovely shadow go; “Ah whither cost thou fly? Oh, I entreat thee leave me not. Alas, thou cruel boy thus to forsake thy lover. Stay with me that I may see thy lovely form, for though I may not touch thee I shall feed my eyes and soothe my wretched pains.” And while he spoke he rent his garment from the upper edge, and beating on his naked breast, all white as marble, every stroke produced a tint as lovely as the apple streaked with red, or as the glowing grape when purple bloom touches the ripening clusters.
When as glass again the rippling waters smoothed, and when such beauty in the stream the youth observed, no more could he endure. As in the flame the yellow wax, or as the hoar-frost melts in early morning ‘neath the genial sun; so did he pine away, by love consumed, and slowly wasted by a hidden flame. No vermeil bloom now mingled in the white of his complexion fair; no strength has he, no vigor, nor the comeliness that wrought for love so long: alas, that handsome form by Echo fondly loved may please no more.
But when she saw him in his hapless plight, though angry at his scorn, she only grieved. As often as the love-lore boy complained, “Alas!” “Alas!” her echoing voice returned; and as he struck his hands against his arms, she ever answered with her echoing sounds. And as he gazed upon the mirrored pool he said at last, “Ah, youth beloved in vain!” “In vain, in vain!” the spot returned his words; and when he breathed a sad “farewell!” “Farewell!” sighed Echo too. He laid his wearied head, and rested on the verdant grass; and those bright eyes, which had so loved to gaze, entranced, on their own master’s beauty, sad Night closed. And now although among the nether shades his sad sprite roams, he ever loves to gaze on his reflection in the Stygian wave. His Naiad sisters mourned, and having clipped their shining tresses laid them on his corpse: and all the Dryads mourned: and Echo made lament anew. And these would have upraised his funeral pyre, and waved the flaming torch, and made his bier; but as they turned their eyes where he had been, alas he was not there! And in his body’s place a sweet flower grew, golden and white, the white around the gold.
Elbridge signed a bill which created a voting district packed with voters for the Democratric-Republican Party. It was said to be shaped like a salamander, and so by joining his name to the last part of salamander the name gerrymandering was created. Gerry was Vice-President under Madison. Please, could someone tell me how gerrymandering is at all compatible with Democracy and the Constitution of the United States? And why it is tolerated in so brazen a fashion?
1826 – University College London was founded.
It was originally called London University. Until this time, England only had Oxford and Cambridge as Universities. In order to attend or teach, the candidates had to belong to the Church of England. ‘No Catholics, No Jews, no Hindus’. But UCL was created to be open to all faiths. This alarmed conservatives so much that they founded King’s College in London as a counterweight. This created a collegiate University of London, which now has 17 constituent colleges. Imperial College left the federation to become a separate University in 2007. It now brands itself as ‘A world-leading university. 2nd in the world, 1st in the UK and Europe’. Here is a promo for the 200th Anniversary of UCL. I’m proud to have been an honorary lecturer for a few years.
1945 – Yalta Conference agrees to set up the United Nations to help prevent future World Wars.
1975 – Mrs Thatcher defeats Ted Heath to become leader of the Conservative Party.
First published in February 2023, revise and republished in February 2024, 2025, 2026
Saint Apollonia. Woodcut. Saint of Toothache Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. She is shown with forceps, extracted tooth and the martyr’s palm.
The 9th of February is the Feast of St Apollonia. She was martyred at Alexandria in 249 AD during the persecution of Emperor Decius. (see also my post on St Agatha) She was attacked during an anti-Christian riot and struck around the face knocking her teeth out. Then, she was taken to a bonfire and told they would throw her in if she did not renounce her faith. So, without waiting, she spoke a prayer and walked into the fire. This information is recorded in a near-contemporary letter from St Dionysius of Alexandria. This is rare well documented martyrdom. Because her teeth were knocked out she is, therefore, Saint of Toothache.
Suicide or Martyrdom?
St Augustine of Hippo touches on this spat of martyrs, often young women, killing themselves rather than losing their virginity, or like St Apollonia embracing death in the face of violent persecution. His answer is that like Samson, they are commanded by God to take their own lives, which is ok. Elsewhere, he condemns suicide as it is against the commandment ‘Thou shalt not kill’. He explains that God did not add ‘thy neighbour’ to it so it also forbids killing oneself. By contrast, it was added to ‘Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour’. The rest of St Augustine’s argument comes from Plato’s Phaedo. The introduction to the book on the Project Gutenberg web site sums up the arguments:
According to one explanation, because man is a prisoner, who must not open the door of his prison and run away—this is the truth in a ‘mystery.’ Or (2) rather, because he is not his own property, but a possession of the gods, and has no right to make away with that which does not belong to him.
The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phaedo, by Plato translated by Benjamin Jowett
Cloves for Toothache
I can remember my Grandmother prescribing cloves for me when I had toothache. And this was, and is, a common remedy. In my case, we would keep a clove or two in the mouth close to the site of the pain. According to Natural Ways to Sooth an Toothache cloves contain
‘Eugenol, a natural form of anaesthetic and antiseptic that helps get rid of germs. Eugenol is still used in dental materials today’
Dr John Hall, Shakespeare’s son-in-law, tended to use a pill to soothe sore gums. He also used an oil from a wood called ‘Ol. Lig. Heraclei’ which may be oil from the Bay Tree. (‘John Hall and his Patients’ by Joan Lane). Most of his tooth cases seem to be sore gums. This suggests to me Dr John Hall did not generally do dental work.
Death by Toothache
To get a tooth drawn you could go to a Barber Surgeon, a Blacksmiths or specialist Tooth Drawer. It would be terrifyingly painful. Probably only done when the pain was unbearable. Just think what a premium you would pay for a really competent drawer? The drawers would not have any formal training, but the skills would be passed on by the drawer to his apprentice or assistant. ‘Teeth’ was a common cause of death – most likely from infection or an abscess.
List of causes of death, London during the plague of 1665. Teeth killed 11 people
Magic and Toothache
John Aubrey, an erudite and educated 17th Century writer, reports on the use of Magick for tooth care. When he relates these unlikely cures he often provides information that the person who told him the story is worthy of belief. So he seems to give some credence to the efficacy of these magical ‘cures’. But, judge for yourself; this is what he wrote:
To Cure the Tooth-ach.
Take a new Nail, and make the Gum bleed with it, and then drive it into an Oak. This did Cure William Neal, Sir William Neal’s Son, a very stout Gentleman, when he was almost Mad with the Pain, and had a mind to have Pistoll’d himself.
To Cure the Tooth-ach, out of Mr. Ashmole’s Manuscript Writ with his own Hand.
Mars, hur, abursa, aburse. Iesu Christ for Marys sake, Take away this Tooth-ach.
Write the words, Three times; and as you say the Words, let the Party burn one Paper, then another, and then the last.
He says, he saw it experimented, and the Party immediately Cured
May, Williams and Bishop at the Old Bailey accused of murder in pursuit of bodysnatching
Teeth and the Body-Snatchers
In 1832, in London Bishop, Williams, and May were accused of body snatching. After killing the Italian Boy (wonderful book by Sarah Wise ‘The Italian Boy‘) they jemmied out his teeth. Then, took the teeth to a South London Dentist. with whom they bargained for a good price. (They used the term ‘cheapened’ – I cheap, you cheap, we are cheapening: meaning to barter). The dentist wanted to use the dead boy’s teeth for false teeth for his patients. If memory serves, he paid £1 for them.
The teeth were used as evidence in the trial of the murderers. When the trial was over and the accused punished, the dentist asked for the teeth back! Two of the murderers were hanged but the third freed for turning King’s Evidence. Thereafter, the teeth were released back to the Dentist. He promptly put them in the window of his surgery as an advert for his professional skills!
Earlier, one of the Borough Boys Resurrectionist gang (based in Southwark, London) toured the battlefields of the Peninsular Wars collecting teeth. He made a substantial sum selling them to dentists as false teeth. They became known as Waterloo Teeth.
When I first wrote this in I added ‘How things have changed!’ But in recent years there have been reports of people undertaking their own dental work, if they cannot get access to an NHS dentist. Effectively, it seems that the Conservative Government was allowing dentistry to slip out of the NHS just like it did with eye health. For a study in what has happened to Dentistry in the UK in recent years, please look at this report here.
On This Day
1907 – the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS or Suffragists) organised the so-called the Mud March. This was the ‘first large procession’ in support of votes for women. It was called the Mud March because of the downpour of rain on the day.
1916 – Conscription started in World War 1 with the call-up of unmarried men aged between 18 – 41.
1933 – The Oxford Union passed the resolution ‘the House will in no circumstances fight for King and Country.’
Bird of the Month The Blackbird. The common Blackbird is a true Thrush. The male is black with a yellow beak and the female is dark brown with a yellow beak. The Blackbird begins to sing as early as January, and is one of the birds who sing first early in the morning. British Blackbirds do not migrate, but Northern European Blackbirds often migrate to the UK in the winter for warmer weather. Viruses have put the species under some threat and they need help to get through the winter. ArkWildlife suggests this is what you should feed blackbirds:
‘Mealworms A top choice, mimicking their natural insect diet.
Is an 18th Century nursery rhyme which refers to the medieval habit of baking a pie crust, and putting it over a bowlful of live birds. When it was opened all the birds, well sing the song to remind yourself what they do?
Sing a song of sixpence A pocket full of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie When the pie was opened The birds began to sing Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before the king?
The king was in his counting house Counting out his money The queen was in the parlor Eating bread and honey The maid was in the garden Hanging out the clothes When down came a blackbird And pecked off her nose
Sing a song of sixpence A pocket full of rye Four and twenty blackbirds Baked in a pie When the pie was opened The birds began to sing Wasn’t that a dainty dish To set before the king?
A stinging Cure for Lust
Another story told of the Blackbird is a similar tale I have told before about holymen and temptation. So St Benedict was pecked on the cheek by a Blackbird. Next day he finds himself assailed with lust. It was the Devil disguised as the Blackbird he decides that infected the Monk. Then Benedict did what a number of saints did in similar circumstances. He threw himself, naked, in a patch of nettles and brambles and rolled around, until his body was sore afflicted. But he had overcome his lust.
Then St Kevin held out his hand and a blackbird laid her eggs in it. So he stayed still for the two weeks it took the fledglings to hatch! (for more on St Kevin see my post here)
Icy Sedgwick has an excellent website on the folklore of Birds, containing a nice podcast, which for those who love a north-east accent will enjoy.
The Goddess Book of Days’ has the 7th as the Day of Selene and other Moon Goddesses. Of course the Full Moon is the proper time to celebrate her.
Selene is one of the most beguiling of Goddesses as she is the epitome of the Moon (Romans knew her as Luna). She, who gives that silvery, ethereal light to dark days. And appears and disappears to a routine few of us really understand. Selen is therefore beautiful, beguiling, unknowable. The Goddess of Intuition. The bringer of tides and the monthly periods. A Goddess of power as well as fertility, pregnancy and so love, and mothers, and babies.
Selene and the Parthenon
To my mind, far more powerful than Aphrodite, Selene seems much more independent. On the Parthenon Marbles at the British Museum she is shown with her brother Helios, the Sun God; with Hercules – the epitome of male strength. Demeter and Persephone, representing the earth and underworld (or life and death). Athene and her father, Zeus; Iris, the messenger Goddess. Hestia, the Goddess of the home, and Dione with her daughter ,Aphrodite, representing love. At one end, Helios brings up the sun with his Chariot and Horse. While at the other, Selene’s horse sinks exhausted in Oceanus after a glorious night of moon shine. It’s a wonderful arrangement, which suggests the scheme was to show a balanced cosmos between female and male forces, framed by the Sun and the Moon.
Cartoon of Elgin Marble, showing Selene’s Horse at the right hand end
I did a longer piece on this pediment of the Parthenon Marbles here
Selene – Moon Goddess by Mike Petrucci -unsplash
I have used several of Natalie Tobert’s photos in my post which I pluck from Natalie’s face facebook feed which is a veritable visual feast. She worked, as an archaeologist, at the Museum of London at the same time as me. She is an excellent potter, photographer and artist. Natalie was a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and a member of Society of Designer Craftsmen. You can see more of her pictures here.
First published in 2022, and revised February 2024, 2026
Saint Agatha, detail from a painting of Francisco de Zurbarán – she is carrying her severed breasts
She is a Sicilian Saint, who refused to sleep with a powerful Roman (Quintianus) in the third Century. St Agatha was imprisoned, tortured, had her breasts pincered off, and still refused to sleep with him and died in prison. She is remembered in Sicily by cakes shaped as breasts eaten on her feast day (I kid you not).
Minne di Sant’Agata, Sicilian (Wikipedia)
St Agatha Patronage
Her patronage springs from the usual mixture of deep and simplistic identifications. So she is ‘the patron saint of rape victims, breast cancer patients, martyrs, wet nurses, bell-founders, and bakers.’ As she is from Sicily ‘she is invoked against eruptions of Mount Etna.’ And therefore also against fire and earthquakes.’ (Wikipedia).
Bell Founders and Bakers? So, the bakers and bell founders, it is suggested, may have mistaken the trays of breasts as bells or loaves? Unlikely in my opinion, as Google image search shows they look clearly like breasts. They are cakes, of course, so that can help explain the Bakers, but the Bell Founders?
She was martyred, at the age of 20 (231-251AD), in the last year of the reign of Emperor Decius (Emperor 249 to June 251 AD). Thus, she is an early martyr whose cult was established in antiquity. But many of the details of her life and death are, as usual, apocryphal and from later traditions.
Results of a search for images of St Agatha in Google
St Agatha’s Church, Kingston on Thames
St Agatha and Etna
Detail of a Portrait of St Agatha by Cariana (Paintedin 1516-17). In the backgrouns is Catania
A year after her death, Mount Etna erupted. According to the story, the Christians of her home town of Catania lifted the Martyr’s veil towards the flowing lava. And the City was saved as the lava flow stopped. Hence, she protects against eruptions and by extension, earthquakes, and fire. This part of the story I got from my friend Derek who sent me the link to a piece written by Father Patrick van der Vorst. This also has the full image of the detail of painting by Cariani I show here.
2 BC – Caesar Augustus is granted the title Father of the Country (pater patriae) by the Roman Senate. Ovid celebrated this day in his alamanac poet Fasti. He seems to be praising Augustus mentioning him with the divine Julius Caesar, and Romulus and Reamus, founders of Rome.
Book II: February 5: Nones
Now I wish for a thousand tongues, and that spirit Of yours, Homer, you who celebrated Achilles, While I sing the sacred Nones in alternating verse. This is the greatest honour granted to the calendar. My wit deserts me: the burden ís beyond my strength, This special day above all I am to sing. Why did I wish, foolishly, to lay so great a task On elegiac verse? This was a theme for the heroic stanza. Sacred Father of the Country, this title has been conferred On you, by the senate, the people, and by us, the knights. Events had already granted it. Tardily you received Your true title, you’d long been Father of the World. You have on earth the name that Jupiter owns to In high heaven: you are father of men, he of gods. Romulus, give way: Caesar by his care makes your walls Mighty: you made such as Remus could leap across. Tatius, and the little towns of Cures and Caenina, Knew you: under this Leader all the sun sees is Roman.
But suddenly the verse turns dark, and the references to Augustus are now slights and accusations. He continues:
You owned a little patch of conquered land: Caesar possesses all beneath Jupiter’s heavens. You raped married women: under Caesar they are ordered To be chaste: you permitted the guilty your grove: he forbids them. Force was acceptable to you: under Caesar the laws flourish. You had the title Master: he bears the name of Prince. Remus accused you, while he pardons his enemies. Your father deified you: he deified his father. Already Aquarius shows himself to the waist, And pours the gods flowing nectar mixed with water, And you who shrink from the north wind, be pleased, A softer breeze is blowing from the West.
Ovid only finished the first 5 chapters of his calendar poem. He was exiled from Rome by Augustus, we don’t know why. But perhaps this is why he was exiled, because he was willing to defame the Godly Tyrant, Augustus, who had destroyed the Roman Republic. Dictators demand flattery, not criticism. Ovid paid the price. For more on Ovid’s exile please read my post on his abandonment of the Fasti here.
1811 – The Prince of Wales appointed Prince Regent during his dad’s, George III, mental incapacity
1924 – The famous pips, the time signal, first broadcasted by the BBC from Greenwich
1944 – War time diarist, Joan Wyndham receives letter from Norwegian lover Hans Gundersen. It confirms he is still alive and that she loves him. Follow the link to read his drunken letter and Joan’s reaction.
1953 – Last foodstuffs taken off Rationing in the UK. From this day forward, people could eat as many sweets and as much chocolate as they wanted. In the War they were limited to 2oz per person, and post war 6oz per person per week.
1990 – the last pips broadcasted from Greenwich by the BBC, henceforth the BBC generated their own pips.
First published in 2024, and republished in 2025, Ovid section added 2026
John Constable. National Gallery of Art seascape with two sailboats. public domain
‘I am this morning, admitted a student at the Royal Academy; the figure which I drew for admittance was the torso. I‘m now comfortably settled in Cecil Street, Strand number 23. I shall begin painting as soon as I have the loan of a sweet little picture by Jacob Ruysdael to copy. Since I have been in town, I have seen some remarkably fine ones by him. …
Smith’s friend, Clanch has left off painting, at least for the present. His whole time and thoughts are occupied in exhibiting an old, rusty, fusty head with a spike in it, which he declares to be the real embalmed head of Oliver Cromwell. Where he got it, I know not.; ’tis to be seen in Bond Street at half a crown admittance.’
John Constable. Letter to John Dunthorne, 1799. From ‘A London Year. 365 Days of City Life in Diaries, Journals and Letters’ compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison.
John Constable in London
Constable would have had a short walk to the Royal Academy (in Piccadilly) from the Strand. As a painter, he subsequently spent his summers painting in Suffolk and his winters in London. When his wife became ill with Tuberculosis, they moved to Brighton. But he continued to return to London. Constable lived in a cottage in Hampstead, and is buried in the family tomb at the bottom of the graveyard of St John-at-Hampstead Church in Hampstead.
Royal Academy Photo KFlude
I don’t know what the Torso referred to was, but there was (and still is) a fine collection of plaster casts. The students used these for models.
A fine figure of the older man? Photo by K Flude of Zeus in the basement of the Royal AcademyPrint on display at the Royal Academy of students drawing the sculptures in the Collection. Photographed by K Flude.
Cromwell’s Head
As to the head, it is a fascinating tale, which I partly tell on my Martyrdom of Charles I post. here: But here is more details, relevant to the Constable quote. At the Restoration of Charles II Cromwell’s body was dug up. Then the head was stuck on a pole on top of Westminster Hall. It blew off probably in 1684. The head was on display at a museum, but then no one knows where it was until, in 1799 the Hughes brothers, bought ‘it’ for £230. It was exhibited in Bond Street. Entrance fee was 2 Shillings and 6p. Constable’s acquaintance Clanch who I think is actually John Cranch was the publicist for the event.
The display was not a success because the provenance was not clear. All Cranch could say was Cromwell’s head was the “the only instance of a head cut off and spiked that had before been embalmed; which is precisely the case with respect to the head in question”. But then Henry Ireton’s was also treated thus, and maybe others. A head is now in Cambridge, Sidney Sussex College, which Cromwell attended.
The Wikipedia page on Cromwell’s Head, here., has a very full description of its travels.
Weather Outlook
Feb fill the dyke Either black or white But if with white, ’tis the better to like
If February gives much snow A fine summer, it doth foreshow.
If in February there fall no rain. ‘Tis neither good for hay nor grain.
From The Perpetual Almanack of Folklore by Charles Kightly
On This Day
211 – Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies at Eboracum (modern York, England). Leaving two sons, Caracalla and Geta, to dispute the succession. For several years York was the HQ for the Roman Emperor.
1555 – John Rogers, Vicar of the Holy Sepulchre Church in London and translator of the Bible, burned at the stake in Smithfield. The first of over 200 English Protestant martyrs condemned in the reign of Mary I. For more about Smithfield burnings see my post here.
1789 – George Washington unanimously elected as the first President of the United States. A great leader, who freed his slaves after his and his wife’s deaths, but who also evaded the rules against selling slaves. To consider the wrongs and rights of the issue look here.
1838 – ‘I walked with my daughter Charlotte across the Serpentine, much to my child’s delight, although I own I did not like to hear the ice cracking under the weight of thousands’.
19th Century illustration of St Blaise’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey
The Blessing of St Blaise helps protect the throat. The way it is works is that blessed candles are made into a cross. These are then touched against the throat of the afflicted one. Why? Because a story was told that Blaise, on his way to martyrdom, cured a boy who had a fish bone stuck in his throat. So, he is the patron Saint of Sores Throats.
Blaise is thought to have been an Armenian Bishop of Sebaste, martyred (316AD) in the persecution of the Emperor Licinius.
Sage Advice for Sore Throats:
Salvia officinalis. Lamiaceae By Kurt Stüber [1] – caliban.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/mavica/index.html part of www.biolib.de, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8109
In the spirit of St Blaise, here is advice for care of your throats.
Sage Tea is said to be excellent for many things, including dental hygiene and alleviating sore throats. The Kalendar of Shepherds tells us how to treat our throats:
Good for the throat honey, sugar, butter with a little salt, liquorice, to sup soft eggs, hyssop, a mean manner of eating and drinking and sugar candy. Evil for the throat: mustard, much lying on the breast, pepper, anger, things roasted, lechery, much working, too much rest, much drink, smoke of incense, old cheese and all sour things are naughty for the throat.
The Kalendar of Shepherds 1604
The Martyrdom of St Blaise
Internet Archive book illustrations collection on Flickr. (from wovember see below)
So far, an uplifting, healing story. However, the Medieval Church’s propensity for the gruesome and its peculiar need to allocate a unique method of martyrdom to each early saint leads us to Blaise being pulled apart by wool-combers irons. Then he was beheaded.
Hence, he is also the patron saint of wool-combers, and by extension, sheep. Wikipedia tells me that ‘Combing: was a regular form of torture.
Combing, sometimes known as carding (despite carding being a completely different process) is a sometimes-fatal form of torture in which iron combs designed to prepare wool and other fibres for woollen spinning are used to scrape, tear, and flay the victim’s flesh.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combing_(torture)
Gory Martyrdoms Explained?
I am horrified by the goriness of these martyrdoms, and it needs some explanation. If we believe in Richard Dawkins idea of the meme we can find an explanation. Allocating a different and gory death to each and every saint has advantages for the survival of the cult. It brings a uniqueness to the story of the Saint. Particular details of death suggests authenticity. The extreme death creates an example of stoicism in the face of challenge to faith, and provokes empathy and piety. There is, also, we have to accept, a very human attraction in the bloodthirstiness of stories.
But, there is, I suspect, a financial interest too. In order for these cults to survive, they need adherents, acolytes, worshippers, donors, patrons. They require income streams that can help support the expensive clergy and the fabric of the Church or chapel. One source of income is from the wealthy, but in the medieval town, urban wealth was held within the booming guild structure. If the martyred Saint, could attract a particular Guild then (the sponsoring Priests, or Church) were quids in.
Wool was the mainstay of the economy in the medieval period. A martyr like St Blaise would prosper wherever there were people working with wool, cloth or sheep. So, is it too cynical to suggest someone with an eye for the main chance added the detail of the wool combing death to attract donations from rich wool merchants? As a successful meme, it spread throughout Europe.
Also, there were any number of endemic diseases and occupational hazards for which there was no clear cure. So if the Saint can become the Saint of common, preferably chronic, illnesses, he/she can attract all those who suffer from that or similar diseases.
Of course, it may not always be a cynical drive for more income. In exchange, the Church offered the sufferer comfort in the face of suffering. This quality is not only of great use on its own, but it would have maximised the placebo effect. The effect has been scientifically measured. And would often be more effective a cure as than the available, often bizarre, medieval remedies.
Blaise’s hagiography suggests he was a physician. The cult was able to grow into being not only the Saint for Sore Throats and Sheep but one of the go-to saints for diseases in both humans and animals.
His cult came to Britain when King Richard I was ship wrecked on Crusade. Richard was helped by Bishop Bernard of Ragusa where Richard was washed up. When the Bishop was deposed he sought sanctuary in Britain and was made Bishop of Carlisle where he promoted the cult of Blaise. Several churches in the UK founded churches named for him.
St Blazey in Cornwall is named after his Church and celebrates him by a procession of a ram and a wicker effigy of the Saint. Milton, in Berkshire, dedicated its Church to St Blaise, probably because the village’s wealth depended on sheep. The village held a feast on the third Sunday after Trinity, and the day after held the Tadpole Revels at Milton Hall. Tadpole is thought to be a corruption from the word ‘Tod’ which means cleaned wool.
Blaise in London
Westminster Abbey has a chapel dedicated to Blaise (see image at top of page). In the Bishop’s Palace at Bromley is St Blaise’s Well. It is thought to have begun as a spring when the Palace ‘was granted to Bishop Eardwulf by King Ethelbert II of Kent around 750 AD.’ A well near the spring became a place of pilgrimage and an Oratory to St Blaise was set up. In the 18th Century, the chalybeate waters of the well were considered to be useful for health. It still exists today.
On February 3rd, St Etheldreda’s Church in London holds the Blessing of the Throats ceremony. It was a Catholic Church in the medieval period, then, in Reformation was used for various purposes until returned to the Catholic Church in 1876. It has memorials for Catholic Martyrs killed in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I
One of London’s oldest guilds is the Worshipful Company of Woolmen, first mentioned in 1180, when fined, for operating without a license, by Richard 1’s dad, Henry II.
1870 – The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified. It prohibits the federal government or any state from denying or abridging a citizen’s right to vote “on account of race, colour, or previous condition of servitude”. What I don’t understand is how this is compatible with all the many ‘abridgements’ of a citizen’s right to vote which seem to flourish. In particular, Gerrymandering. Isn’t it effectively an abridgement of the right to vote, if the electoral districts are so artificially engineered as to make that vote meaningless? Maybe it’s ok if the abridgement is not about race, colour etc.? (OK as in ‘get away with subverting democracy’.
1917 – World War I: The USA enters the War (unrestricted submarine warfare being one of the causes)
1933 – The policy of Lebensraum announced by Adolf Hitler. This might be explained as one powerful country saying it is entitled to take over less powerful countries because they can?
