Category: Medieval

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Sandals at the Last Supper and Vortigern April 2nd

Copy of the Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinca at the Collection Gallery, Royal Academy, UK
(Copy made 1515-1520, and was in the Carthusian Monsatery at Pavia in the 17th Century before being brought to the RA in the 19th Century) Photo K flude

April 2nd, 2026 is the day before Good Friday. It was on the Wednesday or the Thursday that the Last Supper took place. So I have relocated my ‘Sandals of the Saints’ post to here.

Whilst visiting Flaming June at the Royal Academy, it was nice to have another look at the RA’s copy of the Last Supper. What strikes me most is their sandals (and the beautifully pressed table cloth).

Detail of the RA Sandals in the copy of the Last Supper Photo Kflude

Details that bring the past to life. The shoes would surely sell today, while the table cloth really destroys the common idea that the past was dirty and smelly. It wasn’t. People took pride in their appearance and surroundings. Just look at the ironing!

Here, by way of contrast, is a medieval shoe from the 14th Century from the Museum of London. And this is a link to the Museum of London’s collections of medieval shoes, most have been collected from excavations, and it is one of the best collections.

On This Day

Today is St. Urban of Langres Day.

He is the patron of Langres; Dijon; vine-growers, vine-dressers, gardeners, vintners, and coopers. And invoked against blight, frost, storms, alcoholism, and faintness. (www.catholic.org/saints/) But is also called upon to make maid’s hair long and golden.

On the feast of St Urban, (forsooth) maids hang up some of their hair before the image of St Urban, because they would have the rest of their hair grow long and golden.

Reginald Scott, the Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584. (Thanks to the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly.) For more on Reginald Scott and Witches see my post.

1744 – First Golf Tournament. No, not at St Andrews but at Leith Links, Edinburgh.

Bill for the 1796 play Vortigern and Rowena Public Domain Wikipedia

1796 – A great cast at the Drury Lane Theatre, owned and managed by Sheridan, put on a newly discovered play by William Shakespeare. The cast included Kemble, Barrymore, and Mrs Jordan, who was the mistress of Prince William (aka William III). Rumours swirled around about the authenticity of the play. Shakespeare was interested in Britain’s legendary history, having written Cymberline and King Lear. But critics thought it was too simple to be genuine. Eventually, William Henry Ireland admitted he was the author.

‘A London Year’ by Travis Elborough and Nick Rennison has a great quote from a visit to the play. It took place on April 2nd 1796 and is recorded in Joseph Farington’s diary. Compare this description to your last polite experience at the Theatre.

Shakespeare’s forgery staged

‘Island’s play of Vortigern, I went to. Prologue, spoken in 35 minutes past six, play over at 10. A strong party was evidently made to support it, which clapped without opposition frequently through near three acts. When some ridiculous passages caused a laugh, which infected the house during the remainder of the performance, mixed with groans. Kemble requested the audience to hear the play out about the end of the fourth act, and prevailed. The epilogue was spoken by Mrs. Jordan, who skipped over some lines which claimed the play as Shakespeare’s

Barrymore attempted to give the play out for Monday next, but was hooted off the stage. Kemble then came on. And after some time, was permitted to say that ‘School for Scandal’ would be given, which the house approved by clapping.

Sturt of Dorsetshire was a Stage Box drunk and exposed himself indecently to support the play. And when one of the stage attendants attempted to take up the green cloth, Sturt seized him roughly by the head. He was slightly pelted with oranges. Ireland, his wife, a son and a daughter and two others were in the centre box at the head of the Pitt. Ireland occasionally clapped. But towards the end of the fourth act, he came into the front row and for a little time, leaned his head on his arm. And then went out of the box and behind the scenes. The Playhouse contained an audience that amounted to £800 pounds.’

April 2nd 1796 from Joseph Farington’s Diary, (I have changed some of the punctuation.)

Who Was Vortigern?

Vortigern’s history is shrouded in Myth. But he was chosen as leader of Britannia after the Romans withdrew in the early 5th Century AD. His name means Great Leader in Brittonic. He is one of the few leaders we know to be a real person in what used to be called the Dark Ages. We accept him as real, as he appears in the near contemporary source by the Monk Gildas.

However, very little is known of him except legends. He was associated with Merlin. Legend accuses him of betraying the British for the lust for Rowena. She was the daughter of the Saxon Leader Hengist. Whatever the truth of this, Vortigern continued the late Roman policy of hiring Germanic mercenaries. They defend Britannia against Picts, Irish, Scotti,and, of course the Saxons. The legends say that Hengist and Horsa were hired with their three ‘keels’ of Saxon mercenaries. In payment for services rendered, or for lust, Vortigern surrendered the sovereignty of Kent to the Saxons. Thus began the so-called ‘Adventus Saxonum’, and the destruction of the power of the Britons.

Kent and the Survival of pre-Saxon names

Medieval portrait of Vortigern

How much of this is ‘true’ we have no idea. But the name of Kent survives from the prehistoric, into the Roman, unlike most tribal names. And unlike most tribal names survives to the modern day. Who now has heard of the Trinovantes, the Catuvellauni, Regneses or the Atrebates. The pre-Roman tribe were called the Cantii, or the Cantiaci. Caesar says they had 4 Kings, and the Cante part of Canterbury comes from their name. Why did the name survive? Probably because it was the first Roman Civitas to be taken over by the Saxons. Most likely still largely a working political unit. So it kept its name. The other Roman political units mostly lost their names in the anarchy of this period. The political boundaries from the Prehistoric period survived through the Roman period. But the names at least do not survive the fall of Rome.

For more legends of this period look at my post

First Published, 2nd April 2025, Last Supper and Vortigern brought together and titled renamed 2nd April 2026

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Maundy Thursday

Maundy Money Pouches. and cover of the Order of Service for Royal Maundy service 1974 Photo Wehwalt
Maundy Thursday Money Pouches. and cover of the Order of Service for Royal Maundy service 1974 Photo Wehwalt

Maundy Thursday Meaning

Maundy Thursday is on April 2nd in 2026. This is the last day of Lent, and the day before the Passion. It’s also called Holy Thursday when Christians remember the Washing of the Feet, and the Last Supper. . Maundy is thought to be from the:

‘Latin word mandatum, or commandment, reflecting Jesus’ words “I give you a new commandment.’ (Wikipedia).

I much prefer the derivation of Maundy Thursday from the English Kings giving alms to poor people.

‘English name “Maundy Thursday” arose from “maundsor baskets” or “maundy purses” of alms which the king of England distributed to certain poor at Whitehall before attending Mass on that day. Thus, “maund” is connected to the Latin mendicare, and French mendier, to beg.‘

Royal Maundy Thursday Wikipedia

The monarch gives out money in special red and white pouches to old people. In modern times, the money is specially minted for the occasion. It is now more symbolic than a practical gesture. But It dates back to the 13th Century, when the money was a vital lifeline for its recipients.

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip Wakefield Cathedral after the 2005 Royal Maundy Ceremony. Photo Runner1928
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip after the 2005 Royal Maundy Ceremony at Wakefield Cathedral. Photo Runner1928

In 1572 Queen Elizabeth 1 washed one foot of a group of poor women, then wiped, crossed and kissed them. In fact, the Queen was ‘protected ‘ as the women first had their feet washed by the laundress, then the sub-almoner, then the almoner. Only finally by the Queen. (The Perpetual Almanac of Folklore by Charles Kightley’)

When was The Last Supper?

One scholar, Prof Humphreys author of ‘The Mystery Of The Last Supper’, (2011) has reconciled differences between John and the other evangelists. He believes two calendars were in use, one from before the exile and the other using a Babylonian Calendar. This confusion means that there is too much going on between the Last Supper and the Crucifixion. He suggests that the solution is that Last Supper was on the Wednesday not the Thursday. He also calculates a date for the Last Supper as:

Wednesday, 1 April AD33.

Maundy Thursday at Chester Cathedral

Last year, I was in Chester Cathedral on Maundy Thursday where the Diocesan Eucharist was held. The Cathedral was awash with Clergy, (I counted at least 4 Bishops) and most of the priests in the area.

First published 2023, republished 2025. 2026

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April Fools Day April 1st

The Famous Spaghetti Tree April Fool’s Joke (from facebook)

First Reference to April Fools Day

The first unambiguous British reference to April Fools Day is by diarist John Aubrey’s “Fooles holy day” in 1686 – although he might have been referring to Germany.

‘We observe it on ye first of April… And so it is kept in Germany everywhere.’ For more details read hoaxes.org.

Chaucer and April Fools Day

But there is a possible earlier reference in Chaucer in the Nun’s Priest’s Tale.   This I find quite compelling but most Chaucer scholars don’t. This is the text:

When that the monthe in which the world bigan
That highte March, whan God first maked man,
Was complet, and passed were also
Syn March bigan thritty dayes and two

So, if you have been keeping up with me, you will know that the first lines are referring to March 25th. This was the day Adam and Eve were created. The day when the Church started the New Year and the year number moved one on. This was a major Church festival, usually followed by a week of holiness. The Roman New Year, January 1st, ended with a light-hearted festival called Saturnalia, and it is suggested that April 1st was, similarly, a day of release after the festival of the official Church ceremony of the New Year.

Chaucer’s last line says ‘Since March began thirty-two days have passed.’ A foolish person would not realise this is a reference to April 1st. Hence, this suggests a Fool’s Day already existed. Some scholars think that Chaucer was referring to May 2nd, counting the 32 days not from the beginning of March but from the end of March. I think they look at the second and third lines which read ‘That high March…. was complete’ and so add the 32 days to the end of March. Foolish in my opinion and not reading what actually Chaucer wrote which is ‘Since March began….’

Hunting the Gowk

Generally, in Britain, we play a prank and say ‘April Fool’ with great delight. But we are not allowed to continue beyond midday. The Scots used to call it ‘Hunting the Gowk’ and the main prank was to give someone a letter to deliver, and the person who opened the letter would read:

“Dinna laugh, dinna smile. Hunt the gowk another mile” and send the fool onto another leg of his or her’s fool’s errand. In Ireland the letter would read ‘send the fool further’.

April Fools Day and Spaghetti Growing on Trees

I nearly always forget to honour April Fool’s Day (or April Fish Day as the French call it). But in Britain, somewhere in our newspaper or TV station there is an April Fools Joke slipped in. The most remembered is the BBC piece showing film of Italian Farmers picking spaghetti from trees.

2026 – Introduction of Coffee to England 200 years earlier than previously thought!

I have had a quick look at the Guardian for their 2026 April Fools Day Story and I think it is this one:

Guardian April Fools Joke for 2026

The clues are the expert is called Macky Arto. The find was in Ness, allowing them to say ‘Ness Cafe’, and ‘Ness-presso’, and the use of a pun ‘It would have costa for a coffee.’ The final confirmation is this sentence: ‘Back in the reigns of Henry V and VI, these were flat white fields …. and a village called Brew.’ Allowing the journalist to make up an origin for the expression ‘Fancy a Brew?’ it goes on to say.

2025 – Coffee Cups as Haut Courture?

Guardian April Fools Day Joke article or the world gone mad?

£4,440 for a Coffee cup shaped handbag?

2024 Meghan Markle

In 2024, Meghan Markle was the butt for the second year running. (from the Guardian’s quiz on April Fool’s jokes):

‘Meghan Markle was criticised after it was revealed that when you put her lifestyle brand name – American Riviera Orchard – into the What3words location service, it points to a statue of Oliver Cromwell, who famously had a King Charles executed‘

2023 – “Megxit: Call of Duke-y”

In 2023, Harry and Megan proved irresistible and the Guardian reported that:

‘The Sun published a piece announcing the launch of Prince Harry and Meghan’s new video game “Megxit: Call of Duke-y” in which the royal couple try to reach California while dodging obstacles, including rival royals and the media, along the way.‘

This post is about April Fools Day. But it is also the anniversary of the formation of the RAF.

On This Day

1854 – Hard Times by Charles Dickens Serialised in Household Words. A recent study of Victorian Grave yards in Yorkshire highlights the grim reality for young children. For the article see: https://core.ac.uk/reader/220156990

1918 – Near the end of World War 1 the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service were merged to create the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was the world’s biggest air force, and went on to secure Britain from invasion by Hitler.

Croydon RFC/RAF base for anti-Zeppelin Raids in WW1 and one of the world’s first international airports.

RAF Rigger, Benjamin Flude

My Grandfather was in the RAF as a fitter. My father tells some of his story in his autobiography ‘A Boy from Haggerston’:

Benjamin Flude in RFC Uniform. My father, Ben Flude remembers a small model biplane hanging from the portrait.

‘I was 9 months old when he died, and he was just 28 years old. Everyone seemed to like him, and as a child, he was always my hero. In my imagination, I promoted him to being a brilliant and brave Ace RAF Pilot. But he was, in fact, a mechanic rather than a pilot in World War I. Following the war, he worked with Imperial Airways in Purley, Croydon. I don’t know the exact details and so have to piece the story together from the little information I have at my disposal.

My friend, Roy, tells me that the badge on his uniform in the oval picture is of the Royal Flying Corp. (RFC). But they were disbanded in 1916/17, and replaced by the RAF thereafter. As my dad was born in 1900, he must have joined up to fight in the war while underage at 16 or 17 as a volunteer. ‘

How a London lad became a Rigger for the RFC we don’t know, but the Fludes at that time were all employed as umbrella or walking stick makers in the East End of London. I think it is a case of transferable skills. WWI aeroplanes were made of wood, metal wire and fabric, which is precisely what an umbrella is made of.

RAF/RFC mecanics c 1917 . My grandfather is the handsome man standing tall in the back row extreme right

RAF Mechanic Ben Flude

My father went on to serve in the RAF during his national service: He writes:

Ben Flude RAF Metfield. (dad is lying down at the bottom right. he is now 98)

‘Early in 1946 I received my call-up papers for the RAF. I was to report to the Recruitment Centre at Padgate in Lancashire. This is where I received my uniform after a medical examination, and then there were a number of intelligence/aptitude tests when they decided what trade I would join. I tried to get Air Crew and while there were no vacancies, I did have a wide group of trade offers open to me. The group that I was interested in was aircraft maintenance and repair, following in my Dad’s footsteps.’

‘However, before I could start, I had to do my basic training. This was designed to get you fit, and we did plenty of square-bashing or parade drills. For this, they sent me to Metfield in Suffolk, which had only very recently been made available to the RAF by the American Army Air Force. In fact, it was so recent a hand-over that whilst on picket duty, a coach rolled up packed with girls who were so disappointed by the lack of Americans that they got straight back on and returned to Ipswich! The motto of ‘overpaid, oversexed, over here’ certainly applied to these Americans in Suffolk.’

‘We found out that Metfield had been a US Army Air Force Base, where two squadrons of Flying Fortresses operated from. In all the Nissen Huts, those with the semicircular roofs, the ceilings were completely covered with pin-up pictures. My bed was just feet away from the huge Crocodile Stove, round which every evening we all clustered – as it was warm.‘

Interior of Nissan Hut 1944, Lasham

Dad specialised in the recovery of instruments from crashed planes, and was complimented by Air Chief Marshal Hugh Caswall Tremenheere Dowding, 1st Baron Dowding, GCB, GCVO, CMG on his ability to fix an instrument he had never seen before.

My father’s autobiography, which I edited, is available on Feedaread. https://www.feedaread.com/books/A-Boy-from-Haggerston-9781835970515.aspx at £4.18. Also, available on other online book retailers. (ask me and I will send you a signatured bookplate!)

First published March 25th 4004 BC and republished yearly on every April Fool’s Day. The section on the meaning of April moved to my post on April 2025. On This Day added in 2026

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Yew Sunday Palm Sunday

Palm Sunday (Yew Sunda) by Giotto. Entry into Jerusalem from the Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padova (sent to me by Lucia Granatella)

Yew Sunday (Domhnach an Iúir in Irish) is the medieval name for Palm Sunday. This is the day that Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph on a donkey, with palm leaves being laid in front of him. It has always been very curious to me, this triumph preceded such heavy and heartbreaking tragedy. It is the Sunday before the Betrayal, which leads to the Crucifixion on Good Friday and the Resurrection on Sunday. A busy week for the Church.

I got a little insight into the powers of the procession when on a Field trip to Nice with Students from Central Saint Martins College. We set the Students the task of creating an ‘art intervention’. They came up with the idea of a Procession to the Mayor. It was extraordinary how deploying a few placards, saucepans as drums, and some chanting could create an instant event,. It made people smile and join in, even if clueless about the cause!!

Palms

Palm Sunday can be celebrated by making crosses out of palms, or with processions bearing palm branches or eating special cakes. There is always room in any ritual for cake). But in the North, where do you get your Palms from? So, it was often substituted by Box, or Olive or Willow and particularly, in Britain and Ireland, by Yew. Yew is evergreen and is so long-lived as to be a symbol of everlasting life. (I wrote more about the Yew here). See also my post on Ash Wednesday.

Giotto Bondone

Giotto was a Florentine painter of the 14th Century of whom Giorgio Vasari, in his essential guide to the artists of the Renaissance, ‘The Lives of the Artists‘ said of the 10 year old:

One day Cimabue, going on business from Florence to Vespignano, found Giotto, while his sheep were feeding, drawing a sheep from nature upon a smooth and solid rock with a pointed stone, having never learnt from any one but nature. Cimabue, marvelling at him, stopped and asked him if he would go and be with him. And the boy answered that if his father were content he would gladly go. Then Cimabue asked Bondone for him, and he gave him up to him, and was content that he should take him to Florence.

There in a little time, by the aid of nature and the teaching of Cimabue, the boy not only equalled his master, but freed himself from the rude manner of the Greeks, and brought back to life the true art of painting, introducing the drawing from nature of living persons, which had not been practised for two hundred years; or at least if some had tried it, they had not succeeded very happily.

Written in 1550.

Giotto & The Development of Perspective

If you look at the painting, above. you will see, even the faces of the people are rounded and, and at least somewhat, individual. The crowd scene, particularly, to the right, has some depth. The people further away seem to recede from the viewer. This contrasts with the Byzantine style of paintings, where figures either float or seem to stand on or support themselves on each other’s shoulders. The Gate into Jerusalem has been rendered by an arist who has seen something that he believes has the key to realistic scenes. One day it will be rediscovered, and named single-point perspective.

Yes, Giotto doesn’t know the secret but he is working to find out what the trick is. The people in the trees are also in the distance. These are the giant strides that Vasari is referring to in the quotation above. Realistic people, in spaces with depth. The donkey is quite sweet too! Cimabue, Giotto’s Master was particularly good at painting Crucifix scenes.

For more on early attempts at creating perspective, see my post on Duccio and the Annunciation here.

Digital tour of the Cappella degli Scrovegni

The Cappella degli Scrovegni in Padova is a World Heritage Site decorated by Giotto and his team. They covered all the walls and ceiling with frescos. Depicting the Life of Jesus, the Life of Mary, and the Last Judgement.

Giotto, The Last Judgement. Cappella degli Scrovegni, In Padova. Wikipedia

Here is a real Digital Heritage treat – a 360 Degree tour of the Chapel! Follow the link below. If it seems to be taking a long time to load press the information button. Once pressed will allow the panorama to load immediately.

https://www.haltadefinizione.com/en/image-bank/giotto-di-bondone-scrovegni-chapel-360-view/

First Published in 2024, revised in 2025, 2026

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The Beginning of the Universe as We Know It; Birthdays of Adam, Lilith, & Eve; Conception of Jesus, Start of the Year March 25th

Lilith is shown coming her hair and looking in a mirror Study for Lady Lilith, by Rossetti. 1866, in red chalk. Now in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Wikipedia
Study for Lady Lilith, by Rossetti. 1866, in red chalk. Now in the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (Wikipedia) Lilith born at The Beginning of the Universe

This is now my most popular post. March 25th is the Annunciation—the day that the Archangel Gabriel tells Mary she is pregnant. (to see some very fine paintings of this meeting, look at my other March 25th post march-25th-feast-of-the-annunciation/). When I first wrote this post I was discovering how it all fitted together as I wrote.  So I’m leaving it the way it was, proof reading and clarifying if necessary, but keeping the thrill of the discovery of the the significance of March 25th as the day that saw the Beginning of the Universe.

March 25th is also the anniversary of the birth of Adam and Eve (and Lilith); the death of Jesus Christ; the anniversary of the Immolation of Isaac; the Parting of the Red Sea; the Fall of Lucifer; and, (until 1752 in the UK) the beginning of the Year. 

Of course, it isn’t. Or to put it another way, no one can, or ever could, prove any of these dates except 1752. So what they speak to is the way the Church saw the world as logically structured by God. Christian thinking about the year, the world, the universe, creation, developed over many years and took influences from many cultures. It is also very complicated to work out the sequence, so I’m going to summarise what I know (or at least what I think I know).

Happy Birthday, Dear Jesus.

Christians chose Christmas Day as the Birthday of Jesus, probably partly because it was a prominent birthday already shared with several Gods.  Particularly, Attis, Mithras,  Saturn and the Unconquered Sun. It was approximately at Solstice, the beginning of the Solar Year, and close to one of the main festivals of the Roman World, the Saturnalia. So it made it easier for new converts who could retain elements of their festivals after conversion.

December 25th might have been selected by the pagan religions because it is the time when the Sun begins to rise further north each day.  The days stop shortening and start lengthening, light increases with the promise of warmer weather and budding plants. It was considered a rebirth of the Sun.

Solstice Anniversaries

So, Jesus was born on/or around the Solstice, so he must have been conceived approx. 9 months earlier.  This is approximately at the Spring Equinox.

Ah, you are thinking!  But today isn’t the equinox. It’s a few days after the equinox. Surely, God doesn’t do approximately?

I have always thought that the 4 or 5 days difference between the Solstice, the Equinox and the Christian festivals was down to the fact that the Calendars were not well coordinated with the actual movements of the Sun (because the Sun does not circle the earth in 365 days, or in 365 and a quarter days, but 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes. Unless corrected for this means dates slip from their proper place in the Solar Year. It also makes lunar Calendars difficult to align with the Sun cycles, and vice versa.

But when I first wrote this a sudden revelation dawned upon me which will be revealed in the next few paragraphs.

So, God sends his Son to save the human race. God is a logical being, so she would send her Son at an appropriate time? If Jesus is born at or near the Solstice, which is an appropriate time for the Son of the Creator, then conception 9 months earlier, March 25th, is near the Equinox.  This is the beginning of Spring. For many people, Spring is a new beginning, for example, the Anglo-Saxons saw Winter as the death of the year, and Spring as the young Year. It all makes sense.

The Creation

So to the Creation. God, having a free choice, would have created the world at the beginning of Spring. In fact, if you think about it, God creates everything necessary for life at the creation in 6 days. As soon as it has all been created and put together, it is bound to immediately spring into new life. The first season must, therefore, be Spring? Right? So March 25th?

This gives a nice symmetry with Jesus’s Life. Conceived on March 25th, born December 25th, and died 30–40 years later, according to the Church, at Easter, on March 25th. (the only other famous person I know, born and died on the same day is William Shakespeare).

Easter

Easter, when Jesus is martyred, isn’t March 25th I hear you saying. But remember, Easter is a lunar festival, so its date varies each year. In fact the next time is 2035. Births and deaths, on the other hand, are fixed to the Solar Calendar. Therefore, the Church chooses March 25th as the most appropriate day to pin the death of Jesus, on the anniversary of his conception and the anniversary of the creation of the Earth. I am guessing that this is also the preferred date for the Day of Judgement.

It is also the Birthday of Adam, and his first wife Lilith (or so some say), and Eve. More about Lilith below. I hope this is all making sense?

Why was Adam born on March 25th?

I had thought this date was just one of the parallels that the Church liked, Jesus and Adam born on the same day. But, I have just worked out why Adam is born on March 25th, and why these dates are not the Equinox, March 20th/21 but March 25th, which has been bugging me.

Let’s go back to the beginning of Creation as described in Genesis. It has the following sequence of Seven Days, beginning with the Equinox March 20th. I have added dates to the 6/7 day sequence of Creation:

  • Day 1: Light – March 20th
  • Day 2: Atmosphere / Firmament – March 21st
  • Day 3: Dry ground & plants – March 22nd
  • Day 4: Sun, moon & stars – March 23rd
  • Day 5: Birds & sea creatures – March 24th
  • Day 6: Land animals & Adam, Lilith and Eve – March 25th
  • Day 7: The Sabbath of rest – March 26th
  • For more information www.bibleinfo.com

So there you have it! Adam, Eve (and Lilith) were created on Day 6 with the Land Animals – March 25th. Jesus conceived, also on this date, and so 9 months later is born on December 25th. It all makes sense, and aligns the Jesus’s Life, the Christian year fully with the Solar Year and the Creation!

And that, dear Reader, is the very first time anyone has been able to explain to me why Christmas is not at the Solstice, and why the Annunciation was not at the Equinox. Maybe you all know this, but it is very exciting to work this out for myself. And believe me, I have done a lot of reading about calendars and not spotted an explanation.

When was the Creation?

The Anno Munda‘s is a Jewish Calendar which begins counting from a year before the Creation – the Year of Emptiness. This was 5500 years plus 2026 years ago so 7526 Before the Present. And it was supposed to have ended in 600AD, 6000 years after the Creation. So, they got that wrong.

Dionysius Exiguus replaced the Anno Mundo year with the AD/BC system in the 6th Century AD). This became popular when the Venerable Bede used it in his writings in the 8th Century.

Beginnings of the year

The Celts chose October 31st, Julius Caesar chose January 1st, other cultures have other dates, and the Spring Equinox is another choice sometimes made. The Church and Dionysius Exiguus choose March 25th, although secular society also recognised the claims of January 1st. Britain kept to March 25th until 1752 when we adopted the Gregorian Calendar. But people like Samuel Pepys celebrated New Year’s Eve on 31st December. So January 1st was the secular New Year, but the Christian year number did not change until March 25th. So King Charles I thought his head was being cut off on January 30th 1648; while history books will tell you it was cut off on January 30th 1649. Same day, same head, different reckonings.

January 1st, the New Moon and New Year

December 31st/January 1st is essentially a Solstice New Year Festival. And I have, previously, used the difficulty of keeping calendars as to why these days has slipped out of alignment with the Solstice. But, today I realised that it is as likely that the reason is the Solar/Lunar nature of our time keeping. The year, and its festivals, is largely arranged around the Solar Cycle. But our weekly and monthly cycles are orginally derived from the Moon.

The first of a month, was called the Kalends by the Romans, the Nones the half moon, and the Ides signified the New Moon. The kalends of January is then, originally, the First New Moon after the Winter Solstice. So, January 1st is not a slightly misdated Solstice Festival it is a Festival celebrating the first New Moon of the New Year! Sorry, to seem excited but this is the first time I have realised this.

Over time societies give up trying to sync the lunar and solar calendars. Roman and Christian cultures gave up and fixed the moon months, completely abandoning any attempt to keep the months to the actual lunar cycle. This is our current system, in which only Easter and festivals that depend on Easter remain  true to the movements of the moon festival, much to our perennial confusion.

Maybe you all know this, but it’s put many things into perspective for me!

Lilith

The April 2023 Issue of ‘History Today’ had a short piece called ‘The Liberation of Lilith’ which suggests that the story of Lilith, a figure from Jewish Folklore, is first attested in a Medieval satirical text called ‘The Alphabet of Ben Sira’. The story goes that Lilith is created from the same clay as Adam. Adam then demands she lies below him during sex. She refuses, saying that they are both made from the same stuff and, therefore, equal. Adam refuses to accept this, and so Lilith leaves the Garden of Eden. So the story goes.

The story of Lilith, Sarah Clegg suggests, is one of a series of similar stories found around Europe and Asia. And Clegg assumes that it is gradually modified to make Lilith a demon who will kill babies unless the names of three angels are spoken out loud.

The story survived as a charm to keep babies safe, and perhaps to remind people of equality among the sexes. But this causes problems for, OK, let’s call them out, the Patriarchy. Lilith cannot be equal to Adam so she is made into a monster, not made from the same clay as Adam but from the scum and waste left over from Adam’s creation. I imagine the story then went on to propose that God creates Eve from Adam’s rib, and so she is created from Adam, and is, therefore, not equal, but subservient to him, although not as bad as Lilith. Lilith is now a significant figure in feminist folklore circles.

I wrote about more about eras and ages in my post which you can see her: Greater Cycles and the Six or Seven Ages

Lilith by Rossetti

Attached to the watercolour of Lilith by Rossetti (at the top of the page), was a label with a verse from Goethe‘s Faust as translated by Shelley. (Wikipedia)

“Beware of her fair hair, for she excells
All women in the magic of her locks,
And when she twines them round a young man’s neck
she will not ever set him free again.”

The model is Fanny Cornforth, Rossetti’s mistress. He painted another version a few years later, but the model in that is Alexa Wilding. His models are arguably more interesting than the man himself and include: Elizabeth Siddall, Jane Morris and Fanny Cornforth. Christina Rossetti, his poet sister, modelled for Rossetti’s painting, Ecce Ancilla Domini which you can see here.

For more on the Annunciation, look at my other March 25th post here.

I think I might have enough material to begin my own Cult.

First Written 25th March 2024, revised 2025, 2026

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March 25th Feast of the Annunciation

Duccio's painting of the Archangel Gabriel bringing the news to Mary that she is to be the Mother of the Son of God.
Duccio’s The Annunciation. Egg Tempera on Wood c 1307-11

The Annunciation by Duccio

Today, is the anniversary of the conception of Jesus Christ, called the Annunciation. I told some of this story yesterday which was St Gabriel’s Day. So, sorry for any repetition but I think the extra detail makes it worthwhile! There is a third post in my Annuciation series where I go into the wider implications of the date March 25th, and how it has a fundamental place in Christian Theology.

The picture above is by Duccio, from Sienna in Italy. It shows the Archangel Gabriel bringing Mary the news that she is to give birth to the Son of God. It is in the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery. This was the second painting on the National Gallery tour I used to give. The Tour told the story of the development of perspective. I had been reading a book on the subject by David Hockney.

The painting shows that Duccio does not understand single-point perspective. But then, no one could do perspective at that time in Europe. This skill was lost following the Roman Period. But at the beginning of the 14th Century, painters like Duccio from Sienna, and Giotto from Florence, were groping towards more realistic representation.

You might say they wanted a more human depiction, in which events are shown in spaces that are trying to look real. Filled with more realistic looking people and beginning to show on their faces real emotions. Previously, the Byzantine style produced iconic, storytelling images, that were somewhat cartoon-like rather than realistic. Here, is a detail from one such. 

The Annunciation, St Catherine's Monastery, 12th Century. showing the archangel gabriel telling Mary about the conception of jesus
The Annunciation, St Catherine’s Monastery, 12th Century.

The encounter takes place in a space that is not very real. But it does tell the story effectively.

Moving towards Perspective

Now, look at the Duccio, he uses the arcading at the top of the painting to give an impression of this being an encounter in a real space. The Archangel Gabriel is moving through that space decisively. This is not just a picture with a story, it shows Duccio’s interest in capturing a fleeting but incredibly emotional moment. It happens to be the most important moment in the history of the world (from a Christian view point), the moment that the son of God is conceived as a human.

Gabriel is striding purposefully towards Mary, who has come out of her house to see him. He saying ‘Hey, you are going to give birth to the Son of God.’

She looks overwhelmed, (as you would) holding her arm protectively towards her. ‘What me?’ she might be saying. But she is also pointing at the Bible where this moment in time is predicted by Isaiah. Their faces are quite realistic, Mary is clearly emotional.

Also, if you look at Gabriel’s feet he is quite well grounded unlike many other medieval paintings, where people often seem to be floating above the ground. Mary, too is firmly, anchored, although you cannot see her feet.

It is by no means ‘perfect’ because they don’t yet know the rules of perspective.  Neither have they discovered they could use lenses to create ‘photorealistic’ portraits. But they are searching for methods that can bring spaces and people towards realistic life. It mirrors a humanistic trend to see Mary not as a sort of Goddess, but as a real mother. A key point in the Renaissance. (For more on perspective, see my post on Giotto and Palm Sunday. )

The Moment of Conception

Above the arcading can be seen a small sphere of blue sky from which emanates several ‘rays’ and a tiny Holy Dove. As I told the story, yesterday, the rays are coming from Heaven to her womb which is hinted at by the red of her dress. The National Gallery commentary, which you can read here, suggests ‘The conception takes place at the moment she hears the words, which is why a tiny white dove, representing the Holy Ghost, flies towards her ear‘.

This made me stop and think – the tiny dove is heading to her ear is it? Really? Why? Gabriel is the messenger saying the words, the words head to the ear. The Holy Dove is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, part of the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Its role, in the painting, is to show that God is the Father. So why, would the Holy Spirit enter by the ear?

I have been using a ruler to try to see if the National Gallery are right! It’s difficult to be sure with a reproduction. but my ruler says the rays from Heaven are neither heading to the ear nor directly to the womb but in the general direction of her body. If they are right that the rays from heaven are heading for her ear, then is this rather the moment she is being told she will conceive rather than the moment of conception?

The Conception in St Luke

Veronese ‘The Annunciation’

But the National Gallery text accepts that it is the moment of conception that is shown. So, I’ve looked at Luke 1:26-38:

‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.‘

On first reading he is telling her she will conceive, but reading it more carefully he is saying ‘now, you will conceive’. So Duccio is paying very careful attention to the Gospel. By the time Gabriel finishes his sentence, she will have been impregnated by the Holy Dove. Looking at other paintings of the Annunciation the rays from heaven head generally towards the virgin, sometimes to her head, nothing suggesting the ear. In the St Catherine’s Monastery’s Annunciation, above, the ray is going to Mary’s back. Veronese’s ‘The Annunciation’ is similarly going towards Mary’s Back, shoulder, or breast. The Annunciation by the Master of the Judgement of Paris which I showed yesterday has the ray heading to Mary’s lap.

Rossetti’s Annunciation

The Annunciation by Rossetti originally known as Ecce Ancilla Domini! 1849 - 1850
The Annunciation by Rossetti originally known as Ecce Ancilla Domini! 1849 – 1850

I’ve included a 19th Century Rossetti painting because it is so beautiful. It shows a lilly representing purity, instead of the rays, pointing to Mary’s womb. The use of white throughout also represents Mary’s ‘purity’. While the Blue is the traditional colour for Mary. The use of the primary colours red and blue with the predominant White, gives a vivid clarity to the picture. At the time, showing the Virgin as a red-head was quite controversial.

By the way, look at the feet in the Rossetti’s painting. This is an early Rossetti painting, who was a poet and I’m not sure he yet had the skills to ground feet. But he takes advantage of it in this case and confirms Gabriel’s supernatural status by giving Gabriel fiery feet but no wings. Subsequently, Rossetti concentrated on paintings of women from the waist up. Since, first writing this, I have visited an exhibition of Rossetti’s drawings, and they show a very capable draughtsman.

For more on March 25th and the Universe and everything, see my post here (which will be revised later today).

On This Day

If Easter fell on March 25th it was thought to be bad news, particularly if on Good Friday. As the world was created, according to Christians, round about March 25th, God being a logical being, would end it on its anniversary. And all those people who went to the top of the hill, to see out the Day of Judgement, had to trudge down again, murmuring ‘Maybe next time.’ Hampstead Heath was a popular place for Apocalyptaphiles to go in London, the Green next to White Stone Pond, to be precise.

1306 – Robert the Bruce crowned King of Scotland.

1807 – The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act became law.

1843 – the first Tunnel built under a River was opened at Rotherhithe designed by Marc Isambard Brunel, and helped by his son Isambard Kingdom Brunel. I managed the Brunel Engine House for a few years, which was the steam engine house to pump out the water from the tunnel. In fact, a Babylonian (?) Queen built the first tunnel under a River, but what she did was divert the river, build the tunnel, redirect the River back to its original course. So strictly, the Brunels built the first tunnel constructed under a River while the River was still flowing above. I find that most firsts are much more complicated that you think!

1949 – Hamlet became the first British Film to win the Oscar for Best Film. Lawrence Olivier also won the Best Actor Oscar and he was the Director of the Film too. Olivier was the first person to achieve this double feat, and the only one until 1998, when Roberto Benigni won both Oscars in Life Is Beautiful.

Source: Chambers Book of Days

First published 2024, revised 2025, Revised and On This Day added 2026

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Aries, the Nose and the King’s Evil March 22nd

Fascinating read about the King’s Evil by Andrew Taylor

Aries & Noses

aries star sign

We have just entered Aries. Now according to astrology, Aries is associated with health issues of the face. This, according to ‘Skin and Astrology Signs‘ is because of the “level of heat in their bodies”. So Arians tend to have problems such as “flushing, heat rashes, skin eruptions, and rosacea”. They suggest using chilled cucumber for the eyes and forehead, and using beauty products with soothing aloe vera in them. ‘Touching’ by the King could also cure certain nose conditions, particularly if caused by ‘The King’s Evil’.

Charles Kightly, in his Perpetual Almanac enjoins us to ‘Observe the features of the face which are ruled by Aries and seek cures for ills of the nose’.

The first example, Kightly gives, is from The Shepherd’s Prognostication of 1729 which explains how to understand people by studying their noses:

Nose round with a sharpness at the end signifies one to be wavering of mind; the nose wholly crooked, to be sure unshamefaced and unstable; crooked like an eagle’s beak, to be bold. The nose flat, to be lecherous and hasty in wrath; the nostrils large, to be ireful.’

A Fungous Nose & the King’s Evil

The second rather revolting tale is from John Aubrey.

Arise Evans had a fungous Nose and said, it was revealed to him, that the King’s hand would cure him. At the first coming of Charles II into St James Park he kissed the king’s hand and rubbed his nose with it: which disturbed the king, but cured him.

John Aubrey Miscellanies 1695. (for more miscellany from Aubrey read my post here.

Etiquette and Handkerchiefs

Now, on the subject of revolting nose conditions, I have just been reading a review of a book ‘Civility and the Theatre in Early Modern England’. The author, Indira Ghose, is studying early self-help books of manners and conduct, and how they influence or appear in contemporary plays. One such manual by Giovanni Della Casa has the following advice:

‘when thou hast blowne thy nose, use not to open thy handkerchief, to glare uppon thy snot, as if thou hadst pearles and Rubies fallen from thy braynes’.

Galateo: The Rules of Polite Behaviour published in Venice in 1558. It was translated into French (1562), English (1576), Latin (1580), Spanish (1585), and German (1587), (Wikipedia). Galateo translates as etiquette.

There is no need to thank me for passing on such good advice! I bet “Miss Manners” Judith Martin didn’t pass this particular gem on, but Wikipedia claims that modern books of manners are influenced by Galateo.

Scofula and the King’s Touch

Sketch of Dr Johnson from a portrait.
Sketch of Dr Johnson from a portrait.

People believed that Scrofula, could be cured by touching the Monarch. Tuberculous cervical lymphadenitis was, thus, known as the King’s Evil. So, the King or Queen would make herself, very reluctantly, available for his sick public to touch her. Dr Samuel Johnson suffered from Scofula and received the “royal touch” from Queen Anne on 30 March 1712 at St James’s Palace. He was given a ribbon, which he wore around his neck for the rest of his life (with a coin strung on it, I think see below). But it did not cure the disease, and he had to have an operation.

The Touching took place in the winter, between Michaelmas and Easter, when cold weather provoked the disease. The lucky few, who were allowed the Touch, would be touched or stroked by the King or Queen on the face or neck. Then a special gold coin, touched by the Monarch, was put around their neck. Readings from the bible and prayer finished the ceremony. Before Queen Elizabeth I, the Touch was said to cure many diseases such as Rheumatism, convulsions, fever and blindness, but after it was reserved for Scrofula.

Who Started touching for the King’s Evil?

It was only the French and the English who believed the King’s touch could cure people. The French claimed it began with Philip 1 in the 11th Century. The English claimed Edward the Confessor as the first. But this was denied by the French who claimed that the French King of England, Henry 1 introduced it to the English. The practice lasted until George 1 who resolutely refused to have anything to do with it.

For more on the King’s Evil have a look at this blogpost. Or read the book pictured at the top of the post.

On This Day

1312 – The Knights Templars are abolished by Pope Clement. King Philip of France had a massive debt owed to the Templars, following his war with England. He chose to avoid payment by accusing the Templars of impious acts, and homosexuality. Evidence was collected by torture and thus unreliable.

1622 – Jamestown massacre: 347 English settlers killed by Powhatan People of Tsenacommacah. This is estimated as a third of the colony’s population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War. Powhatan (Chief Wahunsunacawh) was the father of Pocahontas (aka Amonute, or Matoaka and Rebecca Rolfe). But it was Powhatan’s son, Opechancanough, who was in charge during the massacre. They were of the Algonquian peoples.

1888 – The English Football League was founded at Anderton’s Hotel, Fleet Street. Representatives from Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Preston North End and West Bromwich Albion met. They discussed other teams that might join. Another meeting was called at the Royal Hotel in Manchester on 17 April 1888 to establish the league. The 12 founding members were: Accrington, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Bolton Wanderers, Burnley, Derby County, Everton, Notts County, Preston, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers. None from London. In season 1894–95 Woolwich Arsenal joined the 2nd Division of the Football League as the first London Team. For more information see: the-football-league-conceived-in-fleet-street-born-in-manchester/

First published in 2024, revised in 2025, Etiquette and On This Day added 2026

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Mothering Sunday & Simnel Cake

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Letter 22.7 – Wikipedia)

Simnel Cake

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

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

Herrick Hesperides 1647

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

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

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

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

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

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Spring & the Month of New Life March 1st

March from the Kalendar of Shepherds – French 15th Century

Spring & March

This is the beginning of Spring, meteorologically speaking. There is nothing magical about this day that makes it in any sense actually the start of Spring. It is a convenience determined by meteorologists. They divide the year up into 4 blocks of three months based on average temperature, and the convenience of keeping statistics to months. It could be that spring starts on 2nd March. 14th February.  Or the 1st of February as the Celts favoured.

The Venerable Bede in his ‘The Reckoning of Time’, written in 725 AD, quotes more diversity of dates:

However, different people place the beginnings of the seasons at
different times. Bishop Isidore the Spaniard said …, spring [starts] on the 8th kalends of
March [22 February],…

But the Greeks and Romans, whose authority on these matters, rather than that of the
Spaniards, it is generally preferable to follow, deem that spring [begins] on the 7th ides of February [7 February],…

Noting that summer and winter begin with
the evening or morning rising and setting of the Pleiades, they place the
commencement of spring and autumn when the Pleiades rise and set
around the middle of the night.

There is nothing that says we have to have 4 seasons. Egypt had three seasons, the tropics have two. Celts divided the year into 8. Plants have been blooming, sprouting and budding since January, and some will wait until later in the year. Lambs have been born since January. But scientists and society find it easiest to keep statistics on a monthly basis so March 1st it is.

Astronomically, the seasons are more rationally divided by the movement of the Sun. So Spring begins on the spring or vernal equinox, 20th or 21st of March. For my Spring Equinox post go here.

Anglo-Saxon March

In Anglo-Saxon ‘Hrethamonath’ is the month of the Goddess Hretha. Bede gives no further information on who she was and nothing else is known about her. Her name is Latinised to Rheda. J R. R. Tolkein used the Anglo-Saxon calendar as the calendar for the Shire where the third month is called Rethe.

For the Anglo-Saxon, spring was looked forward to with great joy after the bleakness of winter. Christian Anglo-Saxons also saw this as the pivotal month in the year. It was in March that the world was created, and the Messiah conceived, revealed, executed, and ascended to heaven. See my post:

The Beginning of the Universe as We Know It; Birthdays of Adam, Lilith, & Eve; Conception of Jesus, Start of the Year March 25th

In Welsh the month is called Mawrth, (derived it is thought from the Latin Martius). Gaelic Mart or Earrach Geamraidth – which means the ‘winter spring’.

Medieval/Early Modern March

The illustration (above), from the Kalendar of Shepherds, shows that in Pisces and early Ares preparation was still the main order of the farming day, clearing out the moats, and preparing the fruit trees. Lambing is also increasing in number. And the early modern text below from the Kalendar gives a fine description of the joys of spring.

Kalendary of Shepherds- Description of March.
March in the Kalendar of Shepherds.

For more details of the Kalendar of Shepherds look at my post on December.

Roman March

March the 1st was the beginning of the Roman year in Rome’s early days. The Month was named after Mars, the God of War, as Mars was the patron God of the Rome. March was also the beginning of the campaign season, and the army was prepared, and ceremonies held to Mars. The Salii, twelve youths dressed in archaic fighting costumes led a procession singing the Carmen Saliare. March 1 was also the Matronalia a festival celebrating childbirth motherhood. Dedicated to the Mother Juno Lucina,

Ovid & March & Kalends, Nones & Ides

Ovid says the year started on the Kalends of March. Here is what Britannica says about their strange system of dividing months:

‘In a 31-day month such as March, the Kalends was day 1, with days 2–6 being counted as simply “before the Nones.” The Nones fell on day 7, with days 8–14 “before the Ides” and the 15th as the Ides. After this the days were counted as “before the Kalends” of the next month’.

More about this if you read my post on the Ides of March and Julius Caesar.

At the beginning of his book, Fasti, Ovid provides the story of Rome’s foundation. Mars took Silvia the Vestal while she slept. She later gave birth to Romulus and Remus. He also gives details of how Rome was organised. In the piece of the long text I have chosen below he discusses Romulus’ arrangement of the year. It is a year that began on the 1st March, and had only 10 months. 10 is the number of digits we have and the length of pregnancy (so Ovid says).

Ovid wrote in his almanac poem the Fasti:

So, untaught and lacking in science, each five-year lustre
That they calculated was short by two whole months.
A year was when the moon returned to full for the tenth
time:
And that was a number that was held in high honour:
Because it’s the number of fingers we usually count with,
Or because a woman produces in ten months,
Or because the numerals ascend from one to ten,
And from that point we begin a fresh interval.

So Romulus divided the hundred Senators into ten groups,
And instituted ten companies of men with spears,
And as many front-rank and javelin men,
And also those who officially merited horses.
He even divided the tribes the same way, the Titienses,
The Ramnes, as they are called, and the Luceres.
And so he reserved the same number for his year,

It ís the time for which the sad widow mourns her man.
If you doubt that the Kalends of March began the year,
You can refer to the following evidence.
The priest’s laurel branch that remained all year,
Was removed then, and fresh leaves honoured.
Then the king’s door is green with Phoebus’ bough,
Set there, and at your doors too, ancient wards.
And the withered laurel is taken from the Trojan hearth,
So Vesta may be brightly dressed with new leaves.
Also, it’s said, a new fire is lit at her secret shrine,
And the rekindled flame acquires new strength.
And to me it’s no less a sign that past years began so,
That in this month worship of Anna Perenna begins.
Then too it’s recorded public offices commenced,
Until the time of your wars, faithless Carthaginian.

Lastly Quintilis is the fifth (TXLQWXV) month from March,
And begins those that take their names from numerals.
Numa Pompilius, led to Rome from the lands of olives,
Was the first to realise the year lacked two months,
Learning it from Pythagoras of Samos, who believed
We could be reborn, or was taught it by his own Egeria.
But the calendar was still erratic down to the time
When Caesar took it, and many other things, in hand.
That god, the founder of a mighty house, did not
Regard the matter as beneath his attention,
And wished to have prescience of those heavens
Promised him, not be an unknown god entering a strange
house.

He is said to have drawn up an exact table
Of the periods in which the sun returns to its previous
signs.
He added sixty-five days to three hundred,
And then added a fifth part of a whole day.
That’s the measure of the year: one day
The sum of the five part-days is added to each lustre.

Translated by A. S. Kline online here:

For much more about the Roman Year (and leap years) look at my post here.

On This Day

St David’s Day – It is also the Feast of St David, (or Dewi) the patron saint of Wales, who lived in the sixth century AD. Little that is known about him is contemporary but he was an abbot-bishop. His hagiography was written in the 11th Century and not very trustworthy, but the aim was to show the independence of the Welsh Church from Canterbury. His association with the leek is unexplained.

293 – Inauguration of the Tetrarchy

Diocletian reorganises the Roman Empire to be a Tetrarchy with himself and Maximian the Augusti, one in the East the other in the West. Below them were Constantius Chlorus and Galerius the Caesars.

Coppermine Photo Gallery - Coppermine Photo Gallery; Bishop, Aubrey. Imperial Imagery of the Tetrarchy. Rhodes College. Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Historic map of Roman Empire during the first tetrarchy
Coppermine Photo Gallery – Coppermine Photo Gallery; Bishop, Aubrey. Imperial Imagery of the Tetrarchy. Rhodes College. Archived from the original on 15 September 2024. Historic map of Roman Empire during the first tetrarchy CC BY-SA 3.0

Below them were Prefectures run by Prefects, who controlled officials called the Vicarious. Britannia, was a Diocese ruled by the Vicarious in London. The Diocese was divided into 4 Provinces,. In charge of those were the Governors, who were now civilians rather than military figures.

Later dioceses of the Roman Empire, around 400 AD By Mandrak – Own work, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6088363

The reorganisation was designed to provide a peaceful career path for ambitious men, but in that it failed.

1562 – Massacre in Wassy France, when sixty-three Huguenots were killed and the French Wars of Religion began. Many Huguenots came to Britain, and many settled in Spitalfields, London. My family believe we are Huguenots from the East End.

1628 – Charles I decrees that the ship tax should be extended to every county. This was not put to a Parliament, and illegal impositions like this eventually lead to the English Civil War in 1642. (see my post on the beginning of the Civil War here:

First Published in 2024, and revised in 2025


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Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Crocus and Saffron February 19th

Photo Mohammad Amiri from unsplash. Notice the crimson stigma and styles, called threads, Crocus is one of the characters in Ovid’s Metamorphoses

The story of Crocus and Smilax is in Ovid’s Metamorphoses. The book tells the  story of myths which involve the metamorphosis of a person to a flower, or to a constellation, or to an echo or some supernatural change in being. This poem is one of the most famous in the world, written in about 6 AD. It influenced Dante, Bocaccio, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Keats, Bernard Shaw, and me.  Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes have translated modern versions of some of the tales.

The mechanicals in ‘The Midsummers Night Dream’ perform Ovid’s story of Pyramus and Thisbe, Titian painted Diana and Actaeon. Shaw wrote about Pygmalion, and we all know the story of Arachne. She claimed to be better than Athene at weaving. And then was turned into a spider.

The poem is about love, beauty, change, arrogance and is largely an Arcadian/rural poem. This is a contrast to Ovid’s ‘Art of Love’ which I use for illustrations of life in a Roman town. The stories are all about metamorphoses, mostly changes happening because of love. But it is also an epic as it tells the classical story of the universe from creation to Julius Caesar.

Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Crocus

‘Crocus and his beloved Smilax were changed into tiny flowers.’ Ovid tell us, but chooses to give us no more details. So we have to look elsewhere. There are various versions. In the first, Crocus is a handsome mortal youth, beloved of the God Hermes (Mercury). They are playing with a discus which hits Crocus on the head and kills him. Hermes, distraught, turns the youth into a beautiful flower. Three drops of his blood form the stigma of the flower.  In another version, Crocus and the nymph Smilax, fall in love. And are rewarded by immortality as a flower. One tale has Smilax turned into the Bindweed. 

Morning Glory or Field Bindweed photo Leslie Saunders unsplash

Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Bindweed

It turns out that Smilax means ‘bindweed’ in Latin. Bindweed is from the Convolvulus family, and I have grown one very successfully in a pot for many years. But they have long roots. According to the RHS ‘Bindweed‘ refers to two similar trumpet-flowered weeds. Both of which twine around other plant stems, smothering them in the process. They are difficult to remove. This, could suggest that Smilax is either punished for spurning Crocus, or that she smothered him with love. Medically, Mrs Grieve’s Modern Herbal says all the bindweeds have strong purgative virtues, perhaps another insight into Smilax’s psychology?

The Metamorphosis of Data and the correct use of the plural

Apparently, in the UK some say crocuses and others use the correct Latin plural, croci. On an earlier version of this post I used the incorrect plural crocii.

On the subject of Roman plurals, the Financial Times editorial department made an earth-shattering decision, a couple of years ago. They updated their style guide to make the plural word data (datum is the singular form) metamorphise into the singular form.

So it is now wrong to say ‘data are’ but right to say ‘data is’. For example, it was correct to say:  ‘the data are showing us that 63% of British speakers use crocuses as the plural’ but now, it is better to write ‘the data is showing us that 37% of British people prefer the correct Latin form of croci’.

Violets and Crocuses

Violets and crocuses are coming out. They often come out for St Valentine’s Day, and so obviously associated with Love. White croci usually represented truth, innocence, and purity. The purple variety imply success, pride and dignity. The yellow type is joy.’ according to www.icysedgwick.com/, which gives a fairly comprehensive look at the Crocus.

Crocus & Saffron

The autumn-flowering perennial plant Crocus sativus, is the one whose stigma gives us saffron. Roman civilisation spread the plants around Europe.   They used it for medicine, as a dye, and a perfume. It was much sought after as a protection against the plague, and extensively grown in the UK.  Saffron Walden was a particularly important production area in the 16th and 17th Centuries.

Saffron in London

Snowdrop, Crocus, Violet and Silver Birch circle in Haggerston Park. (Photo Kevin Flude, 2022)

The Bishop of Ely grew Saffrom in his beautiful Gardens just outside of the City of London. The area remembered by the London street name: Saffron Hill.  It is home to the fictional Scrooge. This area became the London home of Christopher Hatton, the favourite of Queen Elizabeth 1. His garden was on the west bank of the River Fleet, in London EC1, in the area now known as Hatton Garden. (For more on Christopher Hatton see my post on nicknames Queen Elizabeth I gave to her favourites).

I found out more about Saffron from listening to BBC Radio 4’s Gardener’s Question time and James Wong.

Croydon (on the outskirts of London) means Crocus Valley. A place where Saffron was grown. The Saffron crops in Britain failed eventually because of the cost of harvesting, and it became cheaper to import it. So, we now import it from Spain, Iran, and India amongst other places. But it is being reintroduced in Norfolk, Suffolk, Kent, and Sussex. These are – the hot and dry counties. The plant enjoys a South-facing aspect. But it needs protection from squirrels and sparrows who love it. To grow it, look at this post from the Garden Doctor.

Saffron Photo by Vera De on Unsplash

Violets

Viola odorata CC BY-SA 2.5 Wikipedia

The Celts used Violets as cosmetics; the Athenians to moderate anger; the Iranians for insomnia, and are loved by all because of their beauty and fragrance. They have been symbols of death for the young, and used as garlands, nosegays posies, which Gerard says are ‘delightful’.

For more on Ovid, use the search facility (click on menu) or read my post here.

On This Day

197 – The Battle of Lugdunum sees the victory of Septimius Severus over Clodius Albinus reputedly the bloodiest battle between Roman armies. The previous emperor Pertinax died in 193 during the Year of the Five Emperors. Three main contenders emerged Severus who was African, Niger was from Central Italy, Albinus was the Governor of Britain.

1800 – Napoleon proclaims himself First Consul making him the dictator of France.

1846 – The Republic of Texas officially transfers power to the State of Texas government and becomes part of the United States.

1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.

1945 – Battle of Iwo Jima began with the landing of 30,000 US troops.

First written 2023, revised 2024, 2025 and 2026