Category: Medieval

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News from the Almanac of the Past January 22nd

News from the Almanac showing readership/viewership of the site.

I have been waiting for a day when I haven’ t got a post to publish. Why? To update readers about the Almanac of the Past. And with a bit of manoeuvring today is the day.

What is the News from the Almanac of the Past?

The plan is to have a post for each day. I am virtually there for November to March, but a way away for the warmer months.

In the winter months, I have been revising, improving, developing and adding content to previously published pages. For those of you who have been here a while, you will have been receiving posts you have seen before. Next year, you might be seeing some for the third time. I’m not sure what to do about this except improve posts and add content. But I am considering stopping automatically posting repeated posts to subscribers. Maybe from next November? Feed back would be good – please email me at kpflude at chr . org . uk (I’ve slightly scrambled the email to stop the robots).

What is the planned content for the Almanac of the Past?

The nature of an almanac is to be a pot-pourri. They are about seasons, time, folklore, history, important events, and anniversaries. I also like to cover history, famous people and discoveries. Gods, Goddesses, Saints, sinners, and archaeology. What I want it to be is something that makes us more mindful about the passing of the year. How seasons and time change the way people see their world. My focus is mostly on the UK, but also on Rome and Greece. With occasional excursions to other places. I am trying to find more content that is London-based, but not to the exclusion of everything else. I also have an ambition to add more important news of discoveries that change our view of the past. If I get the formula right, I will attempt to get a publication from it, otherwise it will remain online.

Developments for the Almanac

It takes quite a lot of time for me to keep it up. You will see, from the graph above, that the readership is yearly making progress. Particularly, last year. But then it’s a steady progress from a small base, rather than Kardashian viral.

This is, at least, partially because I would rather not spend my time marketing. I want to be writing. But, I have decided I need to spend a little more time marketing the site. When I ran the Old Operating Theatre Museum, I had the skills to get our web site to first place on google searches. But this was in the pioneering days of the World Wide Web. Now, it’s more difficult, but I am taking a ‘Search Engine Optimisation’ (SEO) course. I have also loaded some ‘plugins’ to WordPress which help with SEO. I thought you might be interested in some of the consequences.

The plugins ‘parse’ the site and give recommendations for improvements. This should, get the site further up the Google landing page. I have no doubt that it involves or will involve AI. The ‘Yoast’ plugin I am using as I type this, tells me words like ‘however’ are a ‘complex’ word and so they down grade my ‘readability’ quotient. It also tells me that that last sentence was too long. So, it wants simple sentences, and words that join sentences together. And not too many sentences in a paragraph and a proper scattering of headings.

It also assesses the SEOness of the text. So I have to tell it what the main subject of the page is. And it wants that word or phrase in:

the title:
the first paragraph
the image
the meta description tag
and scattered, but not too densely (because Google will punish the site for playing the algorithm) through the text.

Hence, you will see the phrase ‘News from the Almanac’ scattered more than I would normally like through this text. Of course, I know no one really will be searching for ‘News from the Almanac. So I should change the SEO phrase just to Almanac. But, then I’m not really interested in attracting non-readers to this page. I see this as between me and my email subscribers!

After writing that paragraph I realised that I would want people to land up here if they typed in ‘Almanac of the Past’. So you will see, I’ve editing the text scattering that phrase here and thereabouts.

In effect, I am being trained by a slightly stupid tutor who has no particular understanding of the needs of a writer of history! And you can’t answer back, you just get downgraded!

And it seems to be working as my numbers are getting better more quickly.

Any problems for the Almanac of the Past?

Obviously, my terrible proofreading is a concern! Maybe that’s one-way republishing helps. A year later, it’s easier to see the typos, the ugly writing, and issues with the content.

But there is another issue with the emails, which I have been trying to solve for about 6 months. The links in the emailed posts don’t work. But they do work if you visit the almanac on the web. This is nuts as I always use the full URL. For example: https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/december-29th-st-thomas-wassailing/.

So, this is very much a technical issue, one might say a bug in the system. I think it stems from the fact that my blog was stored not in https:/public_html/ but in https://public_html/anddidthosefeet. This seemed a logical choice at the time, as the blog shared space with other things. I haven’t managed to convince the tech guys at either the internet provider or WordPress that this is a bug. So, the alternative is to move the blog. But I am reluctant to do this in case it completely messes everything up.

Change the content of the newsletter, you might think. But I can find nothing that allows me to alter or add anything to the email version of the post. As I write this, I think I will temporarily add a line at the bottom of the post which says:

if the links are not working, copy and paste this URL https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/whateverkevinsalmanacpageiscalled

to your browser. This, will get you to the Almanac of the Past on the web where all the links will work.

And this will allow you to easily copy or link to the webpage and send the Almanac of the Past to your friends and followers. (I’m hoping you are Taylor Swift). You willalso be able to comment easily and maybe even like the post?

Another advantage of visiting the web version is that you get a better version to read. This is because I often find howling typos when I read the emailed post. I correct them, with a red embarrassed face.

If you are reading this on the web, then all the above must have been very annoying to read! Maybe I will move it down to the bottom of the post! (which I did).

Trying new things on the Blog

Do you want to make a comment?

Please leave me a comment – its great to hear what you think.

First Written and Published on 22nd January 2025

Mulled WIne and Blue Monday Posts

In order to clear January 22nd I moved the previous January 22nd post to December 10th. As its all about Mulled Wine, Glugg, and Gluwein., its better at the beginning of the Christmas Season than in late January.

To see it click here: or cut and past this url https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/january-22-22-time-to-mull-it-over/

I also didn't tell you Monday was Blue Monday because I had already sent you one post on the 20th. So this is the Blue Monday Post. https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/january-13th-18th-blue-monday-wolf-moon-start-of-lambing-and-twelfth-night-old-style/

Blue Monday January 20th

If the links are not working on the email version of this post then:

copy and paste this URL https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/news-from-the-almanac-of-the-past-january-22nd/

To your browser. This, will get you to the Almanac of the Past on the web where all the links will work. (I hope).

First Written and Published on 22nd January 2025

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The Eve of St Agnes & Keats January 20th

Porphyro looking at the sleeping Madeline by Edward Henry Wehnert (1813-68) Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/wehnert/8.htm
Scene from the Eve of St Agnes & Keats poem. Porphyro looking at the sleeping Madeline by Edward Henry Wehnert (1813-68)
Scanned image and text by Simon Cooke https://victorianweb.org/art/illustration/wehnert/8.html

January 20th is the Eve of St Agnes & Keats wrote a poem on the subject. The poem is one of his most important and was written in 1819 and published in 1820. Folklore held that a maid would dream of her future lover on St Agnes Eve if she took certain precautions. In particular, they had to go to bed without supper, and transfers pins from a pincusion to their sleeve while reciting the Lord’s Prayer. John Keats used this tradition in his epic poem.

St Agnes was a martyr who, at 13 years old, refused to marry a pagan. She was martyred by being stabbed in the throat. Agnes is well attested and on a list of martyrs dating to AD345. She is the patroness of young women and of chastity. Her feast day is January 21st. I wrote about St Agnes and the Fraternity of St Anne and St Agnes on Distaff Sunday.

The Eve of St Agnes & Keats

The poem begins with a great description of winter.

The Eve of St. Agnes

By John Keats

St. Agnes’ Eve—Ah, bitter chill it was!
       The owl, for all his feathers, was a-cold;
       The hare limp’d trembling through the frozen grass,
       And silent was the flock in woolly fold:
       Numb were the Beadsman’s fingers, while he told
       His rosary, and while his frosted breath,
       Like pious incense from a censer old,
       Seem’d taking flight for heaven, without a death,
Past the sweet Virgin’s picture, while his prayer he saith.

Keats sets up the drama with a poetic description of the folklore:

They told her how, upon St. Agnes’ Eve,
       Young virgins might have visions of delight,
       And soft adorings from their loves receive
       Upon the honey’d middle of the night,
       If ceremonies due they did aright;
       As, supperless to bed they must retire,
       And couch supine their beauties, lily white;
       Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require
Of Heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire.

https://www.poetryfoundation.org

In the poem, the maid Madelaine goes to sleep to dream of her love Porphyro. He risks everything to visit the young girl, and watches her while she sleeps. She dreams of him. Waking up and seeing him, Madelaine lets him into her bed thinking she is still dreaming.

She realises her mistake and tells him she cannot blame him for taking advantage as she loves him so much. But if he leaves her, she will be like “A dove forlorn and lost / With sick unpruned wing”.

The two lovers escape and run away together.

Keats

Keats was born in a livery inn in Moorgate. He lived in Cheapside, later in Hampstead, and was published in Welbeck Street in the West End. He trained as a surgeon at Guys Hospital, Southwark. But he never practised, although he did consider a post as a Ship’s Surgeon.

One wet, cold February he went home to Hampstead on the roof of a stage coach.  But. he had forgotten his coat, so he got soaked and chilled to the bone.  That night, he coughed up blood. His medical and family experience led him to believe it was a fatal sign of consumption. He had lived in a small house with his brother and mother, who both died of TB. Keats had helped nurse them. 

Later on, however, he consulted a doctor. He was told his illness was psychosomatic. And his thwarted love for his next door neighbour, Fanny Brawne, was contributing to his illness.

He was advised to go to a warmer climate.  So, he embarked at Tower Pier by the Tower of London. He transferred to a small sailing ship at Gravesend called the Maria Crowther. On the ship to Italy, he shared a cabin with another consumptive.  The two consumptives, had opposite ideas as to whether the portholes needed to be open or closed for their health. Letters he wrote makes it clear he was desperate to stop himself thinking about Fanny Brawne. He got to Rome where he died, achieving, he felt, nothing worthwhile in his life.  His memorial stone proclaimed:

“Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.”

On This Day

Today is also St Sebastian’s Feast Day. He has become a gay icon, and was celebrated in a latin language film by Derek Jarman from 1976. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebastiane)

StSebastian by Marco Zoppo, Courtauld Gallery photo K Flude

First written in January 23, republished on January 20th 2024, 2025

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January & Rabbiting January 19th

January from Nicholas Breton’s ‘Fantasticks 1626 from the Kalendar of Shepherds (digitised by Internet Archive)

The Kalendar of Shepherds was printed in 1493 in Paris and provided ‘Devices for the 12 Months.’ I use a modern (1908) reconstruction of it using wood cuts from the original French and adding various text from English 16th and 17th Century sources. The text of the month (as shown above) is provided from a 17th Century source. It gives an interesting view of the countryside in January. To see the full Kalendar, look here:

Nicholas Breton, the writer of the text above, concludes that January:

‘is a time of little comfort, the rich man’s charge, and the poore man’s misery.’

The rich man is burdened by having to help out all the poor people who depending upon him to get through the shortages of winter. The image for January shows that January is best spent indoors by a roaring fire, eating pies.

January from the Kalendar of Shepherds 15th Century French

The Kalendar introduces a ‘conceit’ which is that the year mirrors our lives, and we can forecast what will happen in our lives by looking at the months.

Kalendar of Shepherds January text
Kalendar of Shepherds, January text

So our lives, which are of 72 years, can be divided into 12 ages of man, each of 6 years. So, January represents the first 6 years of a person’s life. And as you can see, that during these first 6 years, the child is ‘without witte, strength, or cunning, and may do nothing that profiteth‘. As the year changes every month, so, ‘a man change himself twelve times in his life’. At three times 6 (18 or March) a child becomes a man, and 6 times 6 (36 or June) man is at his best and highest. And at 12 times 6 (72 or December) man is at the end of his allotted span.

Shakespeare numbered the Ages of Man as seven, in the great speech of Jacques in ‘As You Like it’ I dealt with this and other Ages of the World in my post:

Greater Cycles & the Ages of Man December 19th

January & Rabbits

Bereton tells us that, in January, the ‘coney is so ferreted that she cannot keep in her borough’. To put that is modern speech, ‘the rabbit is so hunted with the aid of ferrets that she cannot keep in her burrow’. The London Illustrated Almanac of 1873 chose the Rabbit as its wild animal of the month.

London Illustrated Almanac of 1873
January from London Illustrated Almanac of 1873

To have luck for a month, you are supposed to say ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’. No less a person than FD Roosevelt used to say this. No one knows why. Rabbit’s feet are lucky too. I remember some of my friends had them in our Surrey village in the early 60s. Some of Dad’s nieghbours kept ferrets, and I remember dead Rabbits hanging from walls. The history.com website gives an idea, possibly exaggerated view, of the merits of the feet which depended upon how they were collected:

“A 1908 British account reports rabbits’ feet imported from America being advertised as ‘the left hind foot of a rabbit killed in a country churchyard at midnight, during the dark of the moon, on Friday the 13th of the month, by a cross-eyed, left-handed, red-headed bow-legged Negro riding a white horse,’

https://www.history.com/news/

As to why, no one really knows. But Pliny the Elder in 71AD reported that cutting off the foot of a live hare could cure gout. There are European traditions of rabbit and other animal’s feet amulets curing all sorts of ailments. There are associations with witches, who could shape-shift into a rabbit. So a rabbit’s foot would be witchy and therefore powerful. In March, I reported on the Hare, and their, similar, associations with witches:

As Mad as a March Hare March 28th

Rabbit, Rabbit

For lovers of Music, Chas and Dave’s hit song ‘Rabbit’ has a chorus of ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’.According to the Cockney’s singers (they do love a Knee’s Up) it comes from the Cockney Rhyming Slang expression: Rabbit and Pork. This means ‘Talk’ because it rhymes with ‘Talk’. To hear the song, its gestation and Royal connections, click here.

Now, I must stop rabbiting on. Time to get things done.

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

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Ice age Lunar Calendar in the Palaeolithic (20,000 years ago) 14th January

The Moon over 28 days, sketch from photo.

This page is about the discovery of evidence for an Ice age Lunar Calendar. The alignment of Neolithic and Bronze Age monuments shows that there was a calendar of the year in use. At Stonehenge, there are suggestions that the alignments to Midsummer and Midwinter Solstices stretch further back into the Mesolithic period. (For more about Stonehenge see my post)

But in 2023, evidence of a Palaeolithic Calendar was discovered by an ‘amateur’. Furniture maker Ben Bacon studied markings in cave paintings at Lascaux, Altamira and other caves.

Sketch of 23,000 year old cave painting, below the head of the animal are dots which arethought to be lunar months of the mating season
Sketch of 23,000 year old cave painting, below the head of the animal are 4 dots which are thought to be lunar months of the mating season

He collaborated with Professors at UCL and Durham. They interpreted markings showing the use of an Ice age Lunar Calendar to mark the mating season of particular animals. A Y shaped mark he interpreted as meaning ‘giving birth’. The number of dots or dashes drawn by or in the outline of the creature coincided with their mating season. They determined this by studying the mating season of modern animals.

For further details, follow this link to the BBC report.

On this Day!

1437 – Workmen discovered a giant Mallard which inaugurated ‘Mallard Day’ at All Souls, College, Oxford. It must have been remarkably big as they celebrated with an annual torchlit duck hunt on the nearby River Thames. It has been relegated to a once-a-century event. Now they only sing the song:

Griffin, Bustard, Turkey, Capon,
Let other hungry mortals gape on,
And on the bones their stomach fall hard,
But let All Souls men have their Mallard.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
It was a whopping, whopping mallard.

Therefore, let us sing and dance a galliard,
To the remembrance of the mallard.
And as the mallard dives in pool,
Let us dabble, dive and duck in bowl.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
Oh! by the blood of King Edward.
It was a whopping, whopping mallard

Chambers. Book of Days, 1864

1896 – First public screening of a motion picture was given in London at the Royal Photographic Society. Or was it – look here for more information.

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Plough Monday January 13th

Medieval scene showing a man plouging with the plough pulled by a bullock from Les_Très_Riches_Heures_du_duc_de_Berry
Detail from LesTrès Riches Heures du Duc de Berry

Two posts today because it is also Plough Monday., the date to go back to work.

Bob Cratchet was back to work by Boxing Day. Some of us are back to work on 27th or 28th December. But increasing numbers holiday until the first weekend in January. It’s beginning to look medieval. Medieval society had even longer off. Distaff day was the day that women traditionally went back to work and Plough Monday was the men’s turn. Plough Monday was not just a normal day of work though. Particularly in the North, it was celebrated with a procession of ‘plough boys’. They used a decorated plough and team, known as ‘Fool Plough’. Mumming, sword dancing and foolery propelled people back to work.

Here is a lovely recipe for a ‘Norfolk Plough Pudding‘ brought to my attention by Sue Walker. The author is Karen Burn Jones who talks about her Grandmother’s plough pudding recipe. This is a great winter warmer being made of sausage meat and bacon. Norfolk also had traditions for Plough Monday. It was the day when the plough was blessed and the plough boys (Plough Jacks, Plough Bullocks or Plough Stots) performed “Molly Dances” . They did this partly to make up their income they had lost when the ground was too icy to plough.

The Christmas/Mid Winter break went on for some until Candlemas in early February. In Jane Austen’s day the school boys had a 6 week holiday at Christmas. This much distressed Mary Musgrove in ‘Persuasion’, Chapter 18. She complains bitterly of children being left with her during the long winter holiday. But as the letter was written on 1st February, I will leave the joy of that great FOMO letter until then.

The Wolf Moon and Mars

Not only is this Plough Monday but it is the first full moon of the year. At 5,27pm on January 13th the Wolf Moon rises and just below it to the left, at 7.30 UTC you will see the Red Planet Mars.

Wolf Moon is a nickname and a recent introduction to mainstream culture. It was borrowed from Native Americans as wolves howl at the moon at this time of the year. So can the wonder of the moon counter the reality of wintery bleakness following the joys of Christmas and the hopes of the New Year?

Full moon Socialising

In Jane Austen’s time, winter socialising depended upon the moon. Generally, people would schedule balls and dinner parties on nights when the moon was bright. This would make the journey, on days before street lighting, safer. This is one reason why Almanacs were so ubiquitous, as they listed the rising and setting of the Moon.

page from Old Moore's Almanac
Page from 2022’s Old Moore’s Almanac showing the ‘Moon in London’

First Published 2023, revised 2024 and Wolf Moon added in 2025

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St Hilary & the Arians. The Coldest Day of the Year? January 13th

Hackney Marshes, Jan 2022, Chris Sansom

St Hilary’s Day is traditionally the coldest day in the year. Of course, the coldest day is normally in January, or February. But sometimes it is in December and occasionally in November, or March.

In 2024 the coldest day, was at Dalwhinnie, 17th January at -14.0C. In 2023, it was -16.0C, recorded at Altnaharra on the 9th of March. The coldest day so far in 2025 was -18.9C Altnaharra 11 January. Both places are in the Scottish Highlands.

At the bottom of the post are the coldest days in the UK since 2000.

St Hilary & the Arians

St Hilary (born 315) was the Bishop of Poitiers in France, where he died around 367 AD. He was a vigorous opponent of the Arian Heresy, which swept through the Catholic world in the late Roman period. Catholic doctrine was that God – the Father, Son and Holy Ghost was a Trinity. Arius took the view that: “If the Father begat the Son, then he who was begotten had a beginning in existence, and from this it follows there was a time when the Son was not.” Seems like solid logic, doesn’t it? But this means that for Arians, Jesus was not equal with God. Another question at the time was, ‘Was Jesus divine?’

Eventually, the ecumenical First Council of Nicaea of 325, declared Arianism to be a heresy. This was during the reign of Constantine the Great. Arianism was strong in the Eastern Empire and was accepted by Constantine’s son. It continued as a major influence, especially among the Goths and Vandals who were an increasingly important force in the Late Roman Empire.

The Church takes the position that there is one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons (wikipedia). It’s sobering to think how many people were martyred over these arcane attempts to maintain a coherent monotheism despite this difficult idea of three entities being one God. For more heresy please look at my post on the Pelagian Heresy and St Germanus.

Hilary Term

St Hilary was a scholar and is one of those rare early Saints not to be horrifically martyred. We remember him in the UK with the dedication of a few Churches, particularly in Wales. He has also given his name to one of the terms of the academic year. At least for Oxford. There, Hilary Term is their name for the ‘spring term’ and this year Hilary began on the 7th January.

Oxford shares the nomenclature of Michaelmas, Hilary and Trinity. Cambridge and London School of Economics share Michaelmas but call the next term ‘Lent term’ and then ‘Summer Term’. Most other universities split the academic year into three terms (autumn, spring and summer) across two academic semesters. 

For most of us ‘terms’ are a thing of our youth. For the rest of our lives we participate in the hard slog of ‘real life’. Real life is not split into terms. It is work, work, work, separated by a few short breaks. But not for the High Court and the Court of Appeal. No! They have stuck to the idea of the term. The legal establishment also uses ‘Hilary.’ This year the legal year is:

Hilary: Monday 13 January to Wednesday 16 April
Easter: Tuesday 29 April to Friday 23 May
Trinity: Tuesday 3 June to Thursday 31 July
Michaelmas: Wednesday 1 October to Friday 19 December

Too much like hard work, for the lords of Justice! Although to do them credit they have four terms.

As I travel around Britain I find a lot of historic ‘Stately Homes’ which were bought by eminent Judges or lawyers. The legal establishment is based at the four Inns of Court: Lincoln’s Inn, Grey’s Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. These were founded in London in the medieval period. They provided homes and well as offices (chambers) for the lawyers. The lawyers stayed in them during the legal terms. About 30 weeks out of the 52 available in the year. Then they would go off to their country estates to recuperate and enjoy the fruits of their privileged position.

Coldest days in the UK

(according to https://www.trevorharley.com/coldest-days-of-each-year-from-1875.html and in centigrade.)

2000 -15.0 Dalmally (Argyll) 30 December

2001 -21.7 Kinbrace (Sutherland) 3 March

2002 -16.1 Grantown 2 January

2003 -18.3 Aviemore 7 January

2004 -15.2 Kinbrace (Sutherland) 19 December

2005 -13.2 Ravensworth (North Yorks.) 29 December

2006 -16.4 Altnaharra 2 March

2007 -13.0 Aboyne 22 December

2008 -12.9 Aviemore 30 December

2009 -18.4 Aviemore 9 February, Braemar 29 December

2010 -22.3 Altnaharra 8 January

2011 -13.0 Althnaharra 8 January

2012 -18.3 Chesham (Bucks.) 11 February

2013 -13.4 Marham (near Norwich, Norfolk) 16 January

2014 -9.0 Cromdale (Morayshire) 27 December

2015 -12.5 Tulloch Bridge, Glascarnoch 19 January

2016 -14.1 Braemar 14 February

2017 -13.0 Shawbury (Shropshire) 12 December

2018 -14.2 Faversham (Kent) 28 February

2019 -15.4 Braemar 1 February

2020 -10.2 Braemar 13 February and Dalwhinnie (30 December)

2021 -23.0 Braemar 11 February

2022 -17.3 Braemar 13 December

If you look at the long list you will see that Braemar and Althnaharra, both in the Scottish Highlands are the most common places to host the coldest day in the UK.

First Published Jan 13th 2024, revised 2025

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St Distaff’s Day & the Triple Goddesses, January 7th

Spinning
Spinning—showing the distaff in the left hand and the spindle or rock in the right hand

I’m not sure what the Three Kings were doing on the day after Epiphany. But, the shepherds, if they were like medieval English farmworkers, would still be on holiday. They went back to work, traditionally, next Monday, which is Plough Monday. By contrast, the women, according to folk customs, went back to work St. Distaff’s Day, the day after Epiphany. In an ideal world, St Distaff’s Day is the Sunday after Epiphany (January 6th), and Plough Monday is the next day. Of course, it doesn’t always work out that way. I am not sure the woman going back to work on the 7th January, would be happy with the men lounging about until Plough Monday,. This year on the 13th January.

A distaff is ‘a stick or spindle on to which wool or flax is wound for spinning’. Because of its importance in the medieval and early modern economy, it became a synecdoche for women. St Distaff is a ‘canonisation’ of this use of the word. So, a day to celebrate working women.

We know that medieval and early modern women were a vital part of the work force, despite the demands of childcare. Many women took on apprenticeships, even more continued their husband’s work after he died. Some professions like silk became a female speciality. Plus, London was full of female servants and nurses. Many women had several jobs. The exhibition at the British Library on Medieval Women. In Their Own Words, indicated that most of the sex workers had two or more other jobs. In the house, the wife was the mistress of a formidable range of technologies. Baking, Brewing, Cooking, Laundry, Gardening, Dairy, Medicine (including distillation), horticulture, spinning, sewing and embroidery. Even, aristocratic women did embroidery of the finest quality, and it often made an important financial contribution to the household.

St Distaff’s Day and Plough Monday

Robert Herrick (1591–1674), born in Cheapside, London, a Goldsmith, priest, Royalist and Poet wrote in ‘Hesperides’.

Partly work and partly play
You must on St. Distaff’s Day:
From the plough, soon free your team;
Then come home and fother them;
If the maids a-spinning go,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.
Bring in pails of water then,
Let the maids bewash the men.
Give St. Distaff all the right;
Then bid Christmas sport good night,
And next morrow every one
To his own vocation.

Here he links the plough team with St Distaff’s Day. This implies that the ploughs would be out on the next day. So as St Distaff’s Day is not always on a Sunday, perhaps Plough Monday is not always on a Monday? He certainly suggests everyone goes back to work on the day after St Distaff’s Day.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is Screenshot-2022-01-07-18.53.35.png

Saints & Goddesses of the Distaff Side

In London, the Fraternity of St Anne and St Agnes met at the Church dedicated to the saints. It is by a corner of the Roman Wall on the junction of Gresham Street and Noble Street. St Agnes is the patron saint of young girls, abused women and Girl Scouts. St Anne is the mother of the mother of the Son of God. So, she represents the three generations of women: maidens, mothers, and grandmothers.

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is romanmoreb0029.jpg
The Three Mother Goddesses (and someone else) “Limestone relief depicting four female figures sitting on a bench holding bread and fruit, a suckling baby, a dog and a basket of fruit’ the Museum of London

This trinity of women were worshipped by the Celts. Archaeologists discovered the sculpture above while investigating the Roman Wall a few hundred yards away at Blackfriars. Scholars believe it depicts the Celtic Three Mother Goddesses. The fourth person is a mystery, maybe the patron of a nearby temple. The relief sculpture was removed perhaps from a temple, or the temple was trashed at some point. Then the sculpture was used as rubble and became part of the defences of London.

The idea of triple goddesses is a common one. In Folklore and History they have been referred to as Maiden, Mother, and Crone, or even Maiden, Mother and Hag. They come in Roman, Greek, Celtic, Irish, and Germanic forms. Their names include the Norns, the Three Fates, the Weird Sisters, the Mórrígan and many more. The Three Fates, the Goddess Book of Days says, were celebrated during the Gamelia. This is the Greco/Roman January Festival to the marriage of Zeus and Juno. The Festival also gives its name to the Athenian month of January.

The use of the terms Hag and Crone for the third Goddess is rare now, but was common. It does a great disservice to the importance of the Grandmother figure. (Although the original meaning of the words were less pejorative. For example, Hag may have meant diviner, soothsayer.) The three phases of womanhood are equally as important to the continuation of the species. They provide love, support, and experience through the generations. Compare these three generations of supportive deities with Ouranos (Uranus), Cronus (Saturn) and Zeus (Jupiter). Saturn castrated and deposed his father, Uranus. Later, he tried to eat his son, Jupiter. But then, Jupiter is nobody’s idea of an ideal father. As one example, he eats his lover, Metis, to avoid her giving birth. (See my post on the birth of Athena.)

Recent work on human evolution has suggested that the role of the Grandmother is crucial to our species’ ability to live beyond the age of fertility. Because, in evolutionary terms, once an individual cannot procreate, their usefulness for the survival of the genes is finished. So what’s the point of putting resources into grandma’s survival? The theory is the Grandmother has such an impact on the survival of the next generation, that longevity. for the female, beyond fertility makes evolutionary sense.

Have a look at this site for more information.

Natural History Museum, Oxford, K Flude photo.

There was a theory widely held that the original Deities, dating before the spread of farming, were mother goddesses. The idea is that the hunter-gather goddesses (perhaps like the Venus of Willendorf) were overthrown by the coming of farmers. These patriarchal societies worshipped the male gods, which destroyed the ancient Matriarchy. Jane Ellen Harrison proposed an ancient matriarchal civilization. Robert Graves wrote some interesting, but no longer thought to be very scientific studies, on the idea. Neopaganism has taken these ideas forward.

More information on St Agnes in this post below:

St Agnes Eve January 20th

One This Day

1845. Today is the anniversary of the breaking of the fabulous Portland Vase by a drunken visitor to the British Museum. It looks immaculate despite being smashed into myriad pieces, a wonder of the conservator’s art. To see the vase and read its story, go to the BM web site here:

wedgwood catalogue of its copy of the portland vase

In the orthodox church, дед Мороз  (Ded Moroz= father of frost), accompanied by Cнегурочка (Snieguroshka= fairy of the snow) brings gifts on New year’s eve, (which is on January 7th). He travels with a horse drawn troika.

Today’s Interesting link

Medieval Sin and the Pointy Shoe — for details, read the BBC’s interesting article.

First Published in 2022, and revised in January 2024 and 2025

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Next Guided Walks

Here are listed the public guided walks and tours I have currently got in my diary. I will be adding others all the time.

Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.30pm Friday 18th April 25 To book
Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sun 27th Apr 25 To book
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 3:00pm Sun 27th Apr 25 To book
Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London 11.30am Sun 25th May 25 To book
The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 3pm Sun May 25 To book
The Rebirth Of Saxon London Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sat 11th June 2025
The Peasants Revolt Anniversary Guided Walk 6.30pm Wed 11th June 25 To book
The Archaeology of London Walk 6.30pm Fri 11th July 2025 To Book
Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am 13th July 2025 To Book
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 3pm Sunday 13th July 25 To book
Charles I and the Civil War. Martyrdom Anniversary Walk Jan 30th 2026 To book
For a complete list of my guided walks for London Walks in 2025 look here

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Archive of Guided Walks/Events for 2025

Every year I keep a list of my guided walks, and tours on my blog the ‘Almanac of the Past’. Here are the walks I have so far done in 2025.

Here is my ‘Almost Complete List of Guided Walks, Study Tours, Lectures’

Ring in the New Year Virtual Guided Walk

Old New Year Card

Monday 1st January 2025 7.00 pm
On this Virtual Walk we look at how London has celebrated the New Year over the past 2000 years.

The New Year has been a time of review, renewal, and anticipation of the future from time immemorial. The Ancient Britons saw the Solstice as a symbol of a promise of renewal as the Sun was reborn. As the weather turns to bleak mid winter, a festival or reflection and renewal cheers everyone up. This idea of renewal was followed by the Romans, and presided over by a two headed God called Janus who looked both backwards and forwards. Dickens Christmas Carol was based on redemption and his second great Christmas Book ‘The Chimes’ on the renewal that the New Year encouraged.

We look at London’s past to see where and how the New Year was celebrated. We also explore the different New Years we use and their associated Calendars – the Pagan year, the Christian year, the Roman year, the Jewish year, the Financial year, the Academic year and we reveal how these began. We look at folk traditions, Medieval Christmas Festivals, Boy Bishops, Distaff Sunday and Plough Monday, and other Winter Festival and New Year London traditions and folklore.

At the end, we use ancient methods to divine what is in store for us in 2023.

The virtual walk finds interesting and historic places in the City of London to link to our stories of Past New Year’s Days. We begin, virtually, at the Barbican Underground and continue to the Museum of London, the Roman Fort; Noble Street, Goldsmiths Hall, Foster Lane, St Pauls, Doctors Commons, St. Nicholas Colechurch and on towards the River Thames.

The Civil War, Restoration and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour

The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print
The Great Fire of London looking towards StPauls Cathedral from an old print


7:30pm Fri 30th January 2025


January 30th is the Anniversary of the execution of Charles I and to commemorate it we explore the events and the aftermath of the Civil War in London.

Along with the Norman Conquest of 1066 and winning the World Cup in 1966 the Great Fire in 1666 are the only dates the British can remember!

And we remember the Great Fire because it destroyed one of the great medieval Cities in an epic conflagration that shocked the world.

But it wasn’t just the Great Fire that made the 17th Century an epic period in English History. There was a Civil War, beheading of the King, a Republic, a peaceful Restoration of the Monarch, the last great plague outbreak in the UK, the Glorious Revolution and the Great Wind.

The Virtual Walk puts the Great Fire in the context of the time – Civil War, anti-catholicism, plague, and the commercial development of London.
The walk brings to life 17th Century London. It starts with the events that lead up to the Civil War concentrating on Westminster and ends with a vivid recreation of the drama of the Fire as experienced by eye-witnesses. Route includes: Westminster, Fish Street Hill, Pudding Lane, Monument, Royal Exchange, Guildhall, Cheapside, St Pauls, Amen Corner, Newgate Street, Smithfield.


Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk

11.30 am Sun 9th Feb 2025 Monument Underground Station

Roman Riverside Wall being built
London Roman Riverside Wall o



This is a walking tour features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.

This is a walking tour that features the amazing archaeological discoveries of Roman London, and looks at life in the provincial Roman capital of Londinium.

Our Guides will be Publius Ovidius Naso and Marcus Valerius Martialis who will be helped by Kevin Flude, former Museum of London Archaeologist, Museum Curator and Lecturer.

We disembark at the Roman Waterfront by the Roman Bridge, and then explore the lives of the citizens as we walk up to the site of the Roman Town Hall, and discuss Roman politics. We proceed through the streets of Roman London, with its vivid and cosmopolitan street life via the Temple of Mithras to finish with Bread and Circus at the Roman Amphitheatre.

Zinger Read: Talk about a high-quality one-two punch. This walk investigates the groundbreaking archaeological discoveries of Roman London. And then it reconstructs life in a provincial Roman capital using archaeological and literary sources. Discoveries – insights – like flashes of lightning in a cloud. We begin at the site of the Roman bridge. We might be decent young Roman citizens in togas, having this and that bit of
explained to us as we make our way towards the Roman Town Hall. From there we head to the site of the excavation called ‘the Pompeii of the North.’ Followed by the Temple of Mithras. We finish with a walk along the Roman High Street in order to end at the site of the Roman Amphitheatre. So, yes, welcome to London as it was 2,000, 1,900, 1,800, 1,700 and 1,600 years ago. And, yes, the walk’s guided by a real expert, the distinguished emeritus Museum of London archaeologist Kevin Flude. That means you’ll see things other people don’t get to see, delve into London via fissures that aren’t visible, let alone accessible, to non-specialists.

REVIEWS
“Kevin, I just wanted to drop you a quick email to thank you ever so much for your archaeological tours of London! I am so thrilled to have stumbled upon your tours! I look forward to them more than you can imagine! They’re the best 2 hours of my week! 🙂 Best, Sue

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Guided Walk

Georgian female engraving

2.30 pm Sunday 9th Feb 2025

Green Park underground station, Green Park exit, by the fountain To book

Also
9 February 2025Sunday2.30 pm4.30 pm
8 March 2025Saturday2.30 pm4.30 pm
6 April 2025Sunday11.30 am1.30 pm

2025 is the 250th Anniversary of Jane Austen’s Birth in Steventon, Hampshire. We celebrate her fictional and real life visits to Mayfair, the centre of the London section of Sense & Sensibility and where Jane came to visit her brother

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a Jane Austen devotee in possession of the good fortune of a couple of free hours today must be in want of this walk.”

People associate Jane Austen and her characters with a rural setting. But London is central to both Jane Austen’s real life and her literary life. So, this tour will explore Jane’s connections with London and give the background to Sense and Sensibility, a good part of which is based in this very area. We begin with the place Jane’s coach would arrive from Hampshire, and then walk the streets haunted by Willougby; past shops visited by the Palmers, the Ferrars; visit the location of Jane Austen’s brother’s bank and see the publisher of Jane’s Books. The area around Old Bond Street was the home of the Regency elite and many buildings and a surprising number of the shops remain as they were in Jane Austen’s day.


Jane Austen’s ‘A Picture of London’ in 1809 Virtual Walk

sam_syntax-cries-of-london-1820s_gentle-author_03-hot-plum-pudding-seller


7.30 27th January 2025

With the help of a contemporary Guide Book, Jane Austen’s letters, and works we explore London in 1809.

‘The Picture of London for 1809 Being a CORRECT GUIDE to all the Curiosities, Amusements, Exhibitions, Public Establishments, and Remarkable Objects in and near London.’

This Guide Book to London might have been on Henry Austen’s shelf when his sister, Jane, came to visit him in London. But it enables us to tour the London that Jane Austen knew in some detail. We will look at the Curiosities as well as the shopping, residential, theatres areas as well as the Port, the Parks and the Palaces.

The guided walk is a thank you to Alix Gronau, who, having been to one of my lectures in 1994, wanted the book to come to me. I have had the book restored and am using it to explore London in 1809.

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30 pm Sunday 9th February 25 To book


A Virtual Tour of Jane Austen’s Bath

Poster for the most socereign restorative Bath Water

7.30pm 10th February 2025


Tudor London – The City of Wolf Hall 11.30am Sat 22nd Feb 25


Myths, Legends, Archaeology and the Origins of London

Druids at All Hallows, by the Tower
Druids at All Hallows, by the Tower

2.30pm Sat 22nd February 2025 Tower Hill Underground

The walk tells the stories of our changing ideas about the origins of London during the Prehistoric, Roman and Saxon periods.

The walk is led by Kevin Flude, a former archaeologist at the Museum of London, who has an interest both in myths, legends and London’s Archaeology.

The walk will tell the story of the legendary origins of London which record that it was founded in the Bronze Age by an exiled Trojan and was called New Troy, which became corrupted to Trinovantum. This name was recorded in the words of Julius Caesar; and, then, according to Legend, the town was renamed after King Ludd and called Lud’s Dun. Antiquarians and Archaeologists have taken centuries to demolish this idea, and became convinced London was founded by the Romans. Recently, dramatic evidence of a Bronze Age presence in London was found.

When the Roman system broke down in 410 AD, historical records were almost non-existent, until the Venerable Bede recorded the building of St Pauls Cathedral in 604 AD. The two hundred year gap, has another rich selection of legends. which the paucity of archaeological remains struggles to debunk.

The walk will explore these stories and compare the myths and legends with Archaeological discoveries.

The route starts at Tower Hill, then down to the River at Billingsgate, London Bridge, and into the centre of Roman London.

Roman London – Literary & Archaeology Walk 11.30am Sat Mar 8th 25
Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 2.30pm Sat 8th Mar 25

The Decline And Fall Of Roman London Walk 11.30 Sat 22nd March 2025
London. 1066 and All That Walk Sat 2.30pm 22nd March 2025

Jane Austen’s London Anniversary Walk 11.30am Sun 6th Apr 25


Chaucer’s Medieval London Guided Walk 2:30pm Sun 6th Apr 25


George Inn,Southwark
George Inn,Southwark


A Walk around Medieval London following in the footsteps of its resident medieval poet – Geoffrey Chaucer

One of the spectators at the Peasants Revolt was Geoffrey Chaucer, born in the Vintry area of London, who rose to be a diplomat, a Courtier and London’s Customs Officer. He lived with his wife in the Chamber above the Gate in the City Wall at Aldgate. His poetry shows a rugged, joyous medieval England including many scenes reflecting life in London. His stories document the ending of the feudal system, growing dissatisfaction with the corruption in the Church, and shows the robust independence with which the English led their lives.

His work helped change the fashion from poetry in French or Latin to acceptance of the English language as suitable literary language. This was helped by the growth of literacy in London as its Merchants and Guildsmen became increasingly successful. In 1422, for example, the Brewers decided to keep their records in English ‘as there are many of our craft who have the knowledge of reading and writing in the English idiom.’

Chaucer and other poets such as Langland give a vivid portrait of Medieval London which was dynamic, successful but also torn by crisis such as the Lollard challenge to Catholic hegemony, and the Peasants who revolted against oppression as the ruling classes struggled to resist the increased independence of the working people following the Black Death.

A walk which explores London in the Middle Ages, We begin at Aldgate, and follow Chaucer from his home to his place of work at the Customs House, and then to St Thomas Chapel on London Bridge, and across the River to where the Canterbury Tales start – at the Tabard Inn.

This is a London Walks event by Kevin Flude


Here are previous archive of guided walks and events

Archive of Events/Walks 2024
Archive of events/Walks 2023
Archive of Events/Walks 2022
Archive of Recent Walks (2021)
Archive of Resent Walks (2019-2020)

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The Lord of Misrule & London, December 30th

black and white illustration of John Stow memorial in St Andrew's Church
John Stow memorial in St Andrew’s Church

On the sixth day of Christmas

My true love sent to me
6 Geese a Laying;
5 Golden Rings;
4 Calling Birds; 3 French Hens; 2 Turtle Doves
and a Partridge in a Pear Tree

The Lord of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops

The Roman festival of Saturnalia, held between 17th and 23rd of December, included reversing rules so that slaves, ruled and masters served. In the medieval period, the disorder of Christmas was continued with the election of Lords of Misrule, Masters of the Revels, and Boy Bishops.

John Stow’s, Survey of London

He was London’s first great historian, wrote of the Lord of Misrule in London. In this section, Stow begins the role of the Lords of Misrule at Halloween and continues it until Candlemas, in erly February. See my post here for more details on Candlemas. This is what Stow says:

Now for sports and pastimes yearly used.

First, in the feast of Christmas, there was in the king’s house, wheresoever he was lodged, a lord of misrule, or master of merry disports, and the like had ye in the house of every nobleman of honour or good worship, were he spiritual or temporal. Amongst the which the mayor of London, and either of the sheriffs, had their several lords of misrule, ever contending, without quarrel or offence, who should make the rarest pastimes to delight the beholders.

These lords beginning their rule on Alhollon eve, continued the same till the morrow after the Feast of the Purification, commonly called Candlemas day. In all which space there were fine and subtle disguisings, masks, and mummeries, with playing at cards for counters, nails, and points, in every house, more for pastime than for gain.

Against the feast of Christmas every man’s house, as also the parish churches, were decked with holm, ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished; (…) , at the Leaden hall in Cornhill, a standard of tree being set up in midst of the pavement, fast in the ground, nailed full of holm and ivy, for disport of Christmas to the people…

John Stow, author of the ‘Survey of London‘ first published in 1598. Available at the wonderful Project Gutenberg: ‘https://www.gutenberg.org/files/42959/42959-h/42959-h.htm’

Cover page of The Survey of London by John Stow from Project Gutenberg

Holm is an evergreen oak called Quercus ilex. John Stow talks about the Tree in Leadenhall Street being destroyed in the great wind of 1444 which you can read about here. You might also like to see the following posts, which include information about John Stow and London’s customs, and churches.

Childermas, Santa Nicklaus & Boy Bishops December 6th

Festival of St John the Baptist June 24th

St Andrew’s Day November 30th

First Published on December 30th 2023 and revised in 2024