Category: 19th Century

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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)

This is my second 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/

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 the last one. 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).

Christians chose Christmas Day as the Birthdate of Jesus probably because it was a prominent birthday already shared with several Gods.  Particularly, Mithras and Saturn. 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 chosen 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.

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.  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 which makes lunar Calendars hard to align with the Sun).

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 the Child 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.

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. So 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, on March 25th. (the only other famous person I know born and died on the same day is William Shakespeare).

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. 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 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 but March 25th, which has been bugging me.

Let’s go back to the Beginning of Creation.

The Creation, as described in Genesis, 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, Lilith, and Eve 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 Christian year fully with the Solar Year.

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?

According to the Anno Munda‘s arrangement of the Year, the world was created 5500 years plus 2023 years ago so 7523 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).

Beginnings of the year

I was thinking about the beginning 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 New Year, but the 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, different reckonings.

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 derived from the Moon.

January 1st is the Kalends of January as the Romans would have called it. This day the First New Moon after the Winter Solstice. So, January 1st is a slightly misdated Solstice Festival it is a Festival celebrating the first New Moon of the New Year!

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 remains a true to the moon festival, much to our perennial confusion.

Maybe you all know this, but I’ve learnt a lot in writing these two posts.

Lilith

The April 2023 Issue of ‘History Today’ has 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 using 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 survives 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 becomes 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. 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

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

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Blossom and Haggerston Park March 18th

Blosson in Haggerston Park on 9th March 2025, photo by kevin flude
Blosson in Haggerston Park on 9th March 2025, photo by K Flude

Last year on March 19th, I declared it was Peak Blossom! This year, it doesn’t seem to be quite that time yet, which is normally in April. However, walking around my local Park Haggerston Park today, I am revising my opinion a little. Haggerston is whitewashed with amazing blossom. I thought it was Blackthorn, until I read that Blackthorn was the tree from which Sloes are grown.

My ‘Flora Incognita’ tells me that it is Cherry Plum, Prunus cerasifera. This makes sense as in the summer, there were people collecting the small plums that were growing on the trees. The pink variety of cherry are not yet at peak blossom. I will post about peak blossom, later today.

I am using this occasion to write about my local park which I have been saving up for a ‘vacant day’. (see my post of Ovid and Vacant days)

Haggerston Park & Park Henges

Haggerston Park was built on the site of derelict houses, a tile manufacturer and a Gas Works in the post war years. The Gas works was situated by the Regent’s Canal with its own basin for loading supplies. In the 80s the Park was expanded to take in some areas which were residential streets. All that really remains of the Gas works are the perimeter walls, and the outline of the canal basin.

The park is a well-loved local facility with green lawns, trees and flowers. It also has a great new playground for kids; astroturf football pitches; tennis courts, toilets, cafe, City farm, and a wild wooded area. This is dominated by the Cherry Plum, trees and is a haven for squirrels. Rats loved it too, but I haven’t seen one for 18 months or so.

The Gardeners obviously like the hengiform design because the Park has a lot of henges, and circuses. I have named most of them.

Snowdrop Henge

Snowdrop henge Haggerston Park, photo K Flude
Snowdrop henge Haggerston Park, photo K Flude

Silver Birch Circle

Silver Birch Circle Haggerston Park, Photo Kevin Flude

The beautiful croci are not so clear in this picture, but they are really lovely! (See my post on Croci here). Last year I got a better photo of the croci.

Haggerston Park, 2024 Photo K Flude

Oak Tree Cluster

Oak Tree Cluster, Haggerston Park photo by Kevin Flude
Oak Tree Cluster, Haggerston Park photo by Kevin Flude

This wonderful Oak tree is surrounded by daffodils and croci.

Oak Tree and flowers, Haggerston Park Photo K Flude
Oak Tree and flowers, Haggerston Park Photo K Flude

Primula Patch

Primula Patch, Haggerston Park, Photo K Flude

The circle is in the middle of the Basin that connected the Gas Works to the Regent’s Canal. I do hope they are primulas. There is also a lovely circle of Roses.

Gas Works

Haggerston Park before WW2.

The Park covers the area of the Imperial Gas Works shown above. The photos above of the circles of flowers and trees are mostly in the area of the old Retort House (top left of the Gas works). You might also notice the Ice House, near the top left. (for my post on Ice House please look here).

An earlier map shows the basin leading to the Gas Works from the Canal:

1909 map of Haggerston.

Heron in the Pond, Ancient Wisteria

Looking at the maps, it makes it obvious how important the canal was for London’s 19th Century Industry. The whole strip of land on either side was full of factories, warehouses, and basins.

First written on 19th March 2025

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Walk of Socialists 28th February 1887

Victorian lampoon on Socialist Values 'Yes Gentlemen, these is my principles, no King, no Lords, No Parsons, No Police, No Taxes, No Transportation, no No'thing.'
Victorian lampoon on Socialist Values ‘Yes Gentlemen, these is my principles, no King, no Lords, No Parsons, No Police, No Taxes, No Transportation, no No’thing.’

Walk of Socialists at St. Paul’s 28th February 1887

My French friend went yesterday to St. Paul’s and saw a large procession of socialists. It is a strange move of the socialists to visit all the Churches. The Archdeacon of London preached to them from: “the rich and poor meet together, and the Lord is the maker of them all.” A noble sermon, they behaved fairly well.

Helen G. McKenney, Diary, 1887 (source: A London Year. Compiled by Travis Eldborough and Nick Bennison)

The quotation is from the Bible, Proverbs 22, where it sits with a number of other wise sayings. Perhaps, number 16:

‘One who oppresses the poor to increase his wealth and one who gives gifts to the rich—both come to poverty‘

is most likely to stir a Socialist. I imagine the Archdeacon was also making a point that the Lord made the Rich and the Poor. So there is nothing wrong with being Rich, as long as you are generous to the Poor. Equally, nothing wrong with being Poor.

Bloody Sunday

It’s rather lovely to imagine the Walk of Socialists walking around Wren’s masterpieces in the City of London. However, later in 1887, things turned much worse. The Social Democratic Federation and the Irish National League organised a march against Unemployment and the Irish Coercion Acts. The Police had been trying to prevent the ever-increasing use of Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park as protest venues. So, on November 13th, Bloody Sunday, the Police Commissioner, Charles Warren, ordered a massive police presence. He backed this up with 400 Soldiers. He aimed to prevent the entry to Hyde Park. Among the 10 to 30 thousand citizens presence were William Morris, Annie Besant , George Bernard Shaw and Eleanor Marx.

By the end of the day there were 2 people dead, 100 seriously injured, and 45 arrests. There were 75 accusations of police brutality but also many Police Casualties. Warren was acting as a caretaker until a new Commissioner was in place. He had already resigned following criticism of the failure to find Jack the Ripper.

Engraving from The Graphic (published 19 November 1887). Wikipedia describes it as ‘depicting a policeman being clubbed by a demonstrator as he wrests a banner from “a Socialist woman leader, one Mrs. Taylor”, while other people are covering their heads to protect themselves from raised police batons.’ Pubic Domain

Progressive Politics

Before the Foundation of the Labour Party, progressive politics were in the lukewarm hands of the Liberal Party. This developed from the Restoration period Whig Party. The Liberal Party had a radical wing, but it had a reluctance to put forward working-class candidates. In the early 19th Century, much of the agitation was led by a movement called the Chartists. But as their goals became adopted by the main two parties, progressive politics was led by various reform, radical, socialist, marxist and anarchic groups.

I have not been able to find out who led the 1887 Walk of Socialists around the City Churches. However, William Morris’ presence suggests the Socialist League? In 1885, the Socialist League was an offshoot of the Social Democratic Federation. But it was not a harmonious group. Its most famous members were William Morris, and Eleanor Marx. It included Fabians, Christian Socialists and Anarchists. By 1887 it was split ideologically into three main factions, Anarchists, parliamentary orientated Socialists, and anti-parliamentary Socialists. William Morris was the editor of their newspaper, ‘the Commonweal’ but he was sacked and replaced by Frank Kitz as the Anarchists took over the organisation.

So, without going into a long history of Socialism in London, what happened was that the Socialist groups made very little impact until the Independent Labour Party was set up in Bradford 1893. And in 1900, Keir Hardie, who was already an independent MP in Parliament, set up the Labour Representation Committee in 1900. This was was soon renamed the Labour Party. The Independent Labour Party joined, and Labour began to take over control of the working-class vote. It fought for this with the Liberal Party. It was not until after World War 1, with the decline of the Liberal Vote that it was able to secure minority Governments. It was only after World War 2 that it replaced the Liberals as one of the two Political Parties which could win a majority in Parliament.

London was one of the places where the Party experimented with left wing policies. The East End areas of Poplar, Limehouse and Bermondsey were particularly important. These led to the National Health Service,

My Grandma who was born in Hoxton in 1902, voted for Labour all her life. I’m pretty sure it was out of class loyalty because I always thought her opinions were more traditional than progressive. For more on Hoxton and revolution you may be interested in my post on Hoxton and the Gunpowder plot.

Tomorrow isn’t the 29th but if it were you would want to see my post on leap year and the Roman Calendar – February 29th/

First Published in February 2024, republished in 2025

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News of Virtual Tours

Sorry to send an additional post but coming up are a couple of fascinating Virtual Tours which I would like to remind you of!

Tonight is an exploration of early 19th Century London. It is based on the 1809 Picture of London Guide book. An original copy was given to me by someone grateful to have attended one of my lectures at the Old Operating Theatre Museum. It is a tour of what Jane Austen could have visited on her walks around London. There are Austen associations, but mainly we are looking at London in 1809.

Jane Austen’s ‘A Picture of London in 1809’ Virtual Walk Mon 7.30 27th Jan25 To book

Yesterday, I was asked to give a Cromwell’s London walk as a 75th Birthday present. I haven’t done one for at least 25 years. But I really enjoyed the research. So added a guided walk and a virtual tour to my programme. This is the first time I have done this VT and it is a cracking story.


The Civil War, Restoration and the Great Fire of London Virtual Tour 7:30pm Thurs 30th Jan25To book

Finally, April is the month we go on pilgrimages, as Chaucer said (in Old English). So, in addition to my Chaucer Walks, I have added a Virtual tour so we can go all the way to Canterbury.


Chaucer’s London To Canterbury Virtual Pilgrimage 7.30pm Friday 18th April 25 To book

I may add one or two more before the Sun comes back

To see all my walks see this page.

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Burn’s Night January 25th

Edinburgh Writer’s Museum ‘Burn’s Monument from Campbell’s Close Canongate’ by John Bell. The Burn’s Monument is is on the hill in the background.

Burn’s Night is an increasingly important date on the calendar of Scotland’s Cultural Heritage. Wikipedia says it began:

‘at Burn’s Cottage in Ayrshire by Burns’s friends, on 21 July 1801‘

This was 5 years after his death. It is now celebrated around the world, making clear the importance of Robert Burns.

Burns himself would have been astonished at the spread of Burn’s Night. He was modest about his attainments, saying, in his introduction to the Commonplace Book:

‘As he was but little indebted to scholastic education, and bred at a plough-tail, his performance must be strongly tinctured with his unpolished rustic way of life. ‘

To celebrate Burn’s Night here is one of his most famous works. Also have a look at my post on his great narrative poem, Tam O’Shanter and the Cutty Shark.

Address to a Haggis

Fair fa’ your honest, sonsie face,
Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race!
Aboon them a’ ye tak your place,
Painch, tripe, or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy of a grace
As lang ‘s my arm.

The groaning trencher there ye fill,
Your hurdies like a distant hill,
Your pin wad help to mend a mill
In time o’ need,
While thro’ your pores the dews distil
Like amber bead.

His knife see Rustic-labour dight,
An’ cut ye up wi’ ready slight,
Trenching your gushing entrails bright,
Like onie ditch;
And then, O what a glorious sight,
Warm-reekin, rich!

(for the other five verses have a wee lookie here)

The Writer’s Museum

Often bypassed by the tourists on a visit to the wonderful City of Edinburgh is the Writer’s Museum. It is in one of those remarkable Tower houses which seem unique to the High Street in Edinburgh. Inside, it gives a great introduction to the great writers of Scotland.

‘Is it not strange’ wrote philosopher David Hume in 1757 ‘that a time when we have lost our Princes, our Parliament, Independent Government …..that we shou’d really be the people most distinguish’d for literature in Europe?’ (source: Museum display panel)

Edinburgh Writer’s Museum Burns, Scott, Stevenson.
A Visual for Burn’s Night ‘Window in the Writer’s Museum, Edinburgh’ Photo by K Flude
Writer’s Museum photo K. Flude

First published Jan 2023, republished Jan 2024, 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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Royal Africa Company Founded by Charles II January 10th 1663

Map of the Guinea Coast and Colonial territories
‘Negroland and Guinea with the European Settlements, Explaining what belongs to England, Holland, Denmark, etc’. By H. Moll Geographer (Printed and sold by T. Bowles next ye Chapter House in St. Pauls Church yard, & I. Bowles at ye Black Horse in Cornhill, 1729, orig. published in 1727) Source Wikicommons.

Note to the receivers of emails. I published the last couple of days from my laptop but the emails did not get posted. So here is one of the backlog and others to follow.

The Royal Africa Company

The Royal Africa Company was set up with a monopoly on trade with the west coast of Africa in:

“redwood, elephants’ teeth, negroes, slaves, hides, wax, guinea grains, or other commodities of those countries”

On January 10th. 1663 King Charles II affirmed the new charter for the Company that, above all else, was responsible for British continuing involvement in enslavement. Shareholders included his nephew, Prince Rupert, Samuel Pepys, and much of the British Establishment, Aristocracy, and City Merchants. Its headquarters were in Cornhill, not far from the East India Company’s HQ. The company was closed in 1752.

Guineas

Gold from the Gold Coast in Guinea was used to make coins, which became known as ‘guineas’. They were originally made from one quarter of an ounce of gold. Below is a sketch of a two guinea coin from the reign of Charles II. Note the elephant at the bottom of the coin.

Sketch of a two guinea coin from the reign of Charles II showing an elephant below the image of the King, referencing Africa and the use of an elephant on the Royal Africa Company of which Charles was the patron
Sketch of a two guinea coin from the reign of Charles II showing an elephant below the image of the King.

The guinea was original worth 1 pound but fluctuated with the price of Gold. Pepys records it at 24 or 25 shillings. It was eventually phased out, but it became a posh way of expressing value. Ordinary goods would be priced in pounds, but expensive ones in Guineas. By then valued at 21 shillings. (£1 pound 5 pence). Wikipedia suggests it was used for ‘prices of land, horses, art, bespoke tailoring, furniture, white goods and other “luxury” items‘. I remember going shopping with my parents in London and wondering at the fur coats being priced in Guineas. It died out, as a practice, in the 70s.

Enslavement, Government & the Royal Africa Company

There are many sites giving a history of slavery, and the British involvement with it. But, here, I would just like to point out how involved the British Royal Family was in the trade. One of the instigators of the Trade, in the 16th Century was John Hawkins. He secured investment in his second slaving expedition from: Queen Elizabeth I, Robert Dudley, Edward Clinton, Lord Burghley amongst others. Royal involvement in the foundation of the Royal Africa Company was only one of many connections between Royalty and Slavery.

It should be noted that the British education system has emphasised the role of Britain in the abolition of slavery. We are more reluctant to highlight our involvement in setting it up and continuing it. This has begun to change. A new generation of school children in London can visit the excellent London: Sugar & Slavery Gallery at the Museum of London in Docklands.

Compensation for Slavery & Reparations

University College, London has undertaken a profound project where they took the records of compensation payments to:

The slaves, you are thinking?

No, to the slave owners!

The compensation of £20m pounds was provided by a loan to the Governemt by Rothschilds Bank in the City of London. It probably represents around £16billion in modern terms. I have been unsure of the case for historic ‘reparations’. But when ‘we’ compensated the slave owners, it makes the case for compensation overwhelming. The least we can do is to fund projects to correct the educational and life disadvantages of people and countries impacted by slavery. And £16 billion seems like the right amount.

Legacies of British Slave-ownership project

UCL have created a resource where you can click on the streets of London and other areas, to find out the holders of slaves who were compensated in that street.

I looked at the UCL resource looking for the closest slave owner in my area of the East End of London. The nearest person lived about 500 yards away from me. Here are the abridged details from the database. It is very simple to use. Have a go by following this link.

Solomon Nunes Flamengo of Kingston, living at Mutton Lane in Hackney when he wrote his will in 1778.   Merchant. Estate probated in Jamaica in 1779. Slave-ownership at probate: 6 of whom 2 were listed as male and 4 as female. 4 were listed as boys, girls or children. Total value of estate at probate: £21356.26 Jamaican currency of which £332.5 currency was the value of enslaved people.

I guess the value of his compensation was £332.5. Solomon was Jewish, which is unusual for the records, by far the majority being Christian. I chose Solomon simply because he was the closest to my house. The UCL website is at https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/.

Britain began regulating the Slave trade in the late 18th Century, abolished the Slave Trade in 1807.   Slavery, with the compensation to slave owners in 1833, was abolished but they replaced slavery with apprenticeship – in effect bound labour.  This was ended in 1838. For more details look at https://www.parliament.uk/

Slavery or Enslavement

Finally, I have seen several exhibitions and TV documentares in recent months where victims of the pernicious trade are referred to as ‘enslaved’ and not slaves.

It is a profound difference. The victims did not make themselves slaves, they did not identify as slaves.  They were forced into lt by violence, kidnap. rape, murder, torture, imprisonment, trafficking, forced exile.  They were enslaved.

Published January 2024, revised 2025

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A Radical Twelfth Night January 6th

Drawing for Twelfth Cake' at St. Annes Hill 'Twelfth Night Cruikshank, Isaac, Frances Burdett and Charles James Fox
‘Drawing for Twelfth Cake’ at St. Annes Hill
’12th Night Cruikshank, Isaac, 1756-1811 printmaker. Published Janr. 10, 1807 by Thomas Tegg, 111 Cheapside’

Twelfth Night

Yesterday was Twelfth Night for the modern Church of England, but today is Twelfth Night for the Catholic Church and in England in former times. It is also Epiphany or Three Kings Day and because of calendrical differences, Christmas Eve for the Orthodox Church. In Ireland, it is Nollaig na mBan. This is Women’s Little Christmas; when Women get to rest and let men do the work. This is a typical Saturnalia-style reversal of roles.

I used the print above, three years ago for my post on New’s Day, then moved it to Twelth Night. I also use it for lectures on Christmas and Jane Austen. But the focus of my presentation is explaining the Twelfth Night Cake and the game that was played. But in fact, this is a very political satirical cartoon. More of that, later, let’s begin with the more trivial aspect of the print above.

Twelfth Night and Christmas Cake

It used to be the big party night, featuring the famous Twelfth Night Cake and theatrical entertainments; mumming and wassailing. The cake has disappeared from current Christmas celebration, probably because it transmuted into our present Christmas Cake. This, I regret. I have had a lifetime when a very heavy Christmas Dinner is followed first, by Christmas Pudding. Then, overloading with food, the Christmas Cake is brought out. No one, in their right mind, wants a slice of heavy Christmas Cake at that time. Many of my American friends disparage fruit cake, but they are mistaken. Good Christmas Cake is something to be thoroughly enjoyed, but on the days following Christmas Day.

I gave a recipe for the Twelfth Night Cake in another post, (here it is). But the important point is that it had a bean and a pea in it. The one who got the bean was selected as King for night and the pea the Queen. Traditionally, the women draw a card from a ‘reticule’ (bag) and the men’s from a hat. But there are no women at this satirical party. The cards detailed a role they were to play for the rest of the night. The card began with an introductory speech, or rhyme, for the person to speak. The King and Queen led the way, and for the rest of the evening the party members adopted their persona. They might be an aristocrat, a soldier, a cook, a parson, a dairy maid etc. The French do something similar with their Galette des Rois. The bean is called the feve, and may be replaced by a porcelain model. Other places have a King’s Cake for epiphany.

Twelfth Night Satire

So, as I was rushing to get the original Twelfth Night post done, I failed to examine it in any detail. I assumed the cards gave them satirical occupations which would be funny to the contemporary audience in 1807. But then, I noticed the title mentioned St Anne’s Hill. I looked it up and discovered myself down a deep and very enjoyable research rabbit hole.

St Anne’s Hill & Charles James Fox

Now, let’s go down that rabbit hole and look a little deeper.

The caption mentions St Anne’s Hill. I believe this refers to St Anne’s Hill, near Chertsey (SW of London on the River Thames). Here, there was a grand house which was owed by Charles James Fox. He was the leader of the Whigs, a persistent opponent of King George III. He was a supporter of the American and French Revolutions. This explains the red bonnet used to pull out the cards in the illustration.

The central figure is then, Fox. But he died in September,. 1806. The print is dated January 1807. Just before he died, his Foreign Slave Trade Bill of 1806 began the dismantling of this pernicious trade in the British Empire. He was Foreign Minister who assumed a couple of civil chats with the French would end the long-standing war. But he soon discovered that Napoleon was not to be trusted in negotiations. The war went on for another 9 or so years.

Charles James Fox was a mercurial figure with many radical views. He was also a notorious gambler and loved the high life. One of his many lovers was Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. He eventually married, Elizabeth Armistead, an ex-mistress of the Prince of Wales. St Anne’s Hill was her house. I am pleased to report that she is credited with calming his life-style. He now spent more time at St Anne’s where they would ‘read, garden, explore the countryside and entertain friends’ (Wikipedia).

Isaac Cruikshank’s ‘Drawing for Twelfth Cake’ at St. Annes Hill

Cruikshank’s illustration is, of course, not designed to document quaint Twelfth Night customs but is a political satire and I discovered that the British Museum has the original version of this print, and. It is dated to 1799 which makes much more sense!

At the back right of the print is a notice which says:

‘Rules to be observed at this Meeting
1. That the Cake be decorated with appropriate insignia
2 That the tickets be deposited in a Bonnet Rouge and drawn in Rotation
3 That the Old Fashioned Game of King and Queen be exploded & Catch as Catch can Substituted in its stead.’

The bonnet rouge is defined by the Collins Dictionary as a ‘redcap worn by ardent supporters of the French Revolution’ or ‘an extremist or revolutionary’. The last point relates to Fox’s opposition to the King, and the expression Catch as Catch Can refers to a free form of wrestling without rules.

The characters in the scene (all men) are all political figures. They are associated with the opposition to the very right-wing Government of William Pitt. During the war with France, the opposition was led by a supporter of the French Revolution. For those on the right, which included Pitt’s government, supporting the French Revolution was tantamount to treason. Pitt suspended many civil liberties in ‘Pitt’s Reign of Terror’. He arrested and indeed executed leading members of those demanding political change. The Government even suspended Habeas Corpus to make it easier to arrest their opponents,

Fox is seen drawing a 12th Night Game ticket which is marked ‘Perpetual Dictator’. To his right is Frances Burdett. He was a radical politician, who supported universal male suffrage, equal electoral districts, vote by ballot, and annual parliaments. Note that this is well before these aims became the core of the Chartists campaign for electoral reform. (for other people in the illustration look at the British Museum notes on the print. )

Frances Burdett, Edward and Catherine Despard

Burdett is shown holding a ticket saying ‘Keeper of the Prison in Cold Bath Fields’. This is a satirical reference to a serious political crisis. The Cold Baths Fields was the site of a medical spring in Clerkenwell, London. This was where a prison was situated where radicals were imprisoned. They were held in poor conditions despite the recent rebuilding under the aegis of the prison reformer, John Howard. Burdett exposed the scandalous conditions in the House of Commons. He began a campaign against the magistrates involved in the arrests.

One of the prisoners was Edward Despard who had associations with many radical groups. These included the London Corresponding Society, the United Irishmen and United Britons. Despard was married to Catherine, the daughter of a free black woman from Jamaica. She, with Burdett, led the campaign against these arrests without trial. Catherine wrote a letter to the Attorney General who replied in a demeaning manner:

‘it was a well-written letter, and the fair sex would pardon him, if he said it was a little beyond their style in general’

He did not comment on her colour. She described the imprisonment of her husband as being :

“in a dark cell, not seven feet square, without fire, or candle, chair, table, knife, fork, a glazed window, or even a book”

Execution of Edward Despard

Despard was freed in 1802, went to Ireland. But returned to London, where he was arrested again. But this time he was accused of a being the ringleader of a plot to assassinate the King. There was little real evidence. Horatio Nelson was a character witness, and appealed to the King for clemency. It was given. But only in so far as Despard was not disembowelled but ‘only ‘Hanged and Drawn’ at Horsemonger Lane Gaol (1803). This was the last time someone was drawn through the streets at the tail of a horse before execution for treason. These are his last words:

Fellow Citizens, I come here, as you see, after having served my Country faithfully, honourably and usefully, for thirty years and upwards, to suffer death upon a scaffold for a crime which I protest I am not guilty. I solemnly declare that I am no more guilty of it than any of you who may be now hearing me. But though His Majesty’s Ministers know as well as I do that I am not guilty, yet they avail themselves of a legal pretext to destroy a man because he has been a friend to truth, to liberty, and to justice

(a considerable huzzah from the crowd)

and because he has been a friend to the poor and to the oppressed. But, Citizens, I hope and trust, notwithstanding my fate, and the fate of those who no doubt will soon follow me, that the principles of freedom, of humanity, and of justice, will finally triumph over falsehood, tyranny and delusion, and every principle inimical to the interests of the human race.

(a warning from the Sheriff)

I have little more to add, except to wish you all health, happiness and freedom, which I have endeavoured, as far as was in my power, to procure for you, and for mankind in general.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Despard

After his death, his family denied that Catherine was his wife but merely his ‘house-keeper.’ I assume, was because they wanted the inheritance rather than, or perhaps, as well as naked prejudice.

Francis Burdett married into the fabulously rich banking family the Coutts. His daughter was the famous Angela Burdett Coutts who was a philanthropist who collaborated extensively with Charles Dickens.

@Phew! This is what I love about what I do, you find things out that link disparate parts of your knowledge, creating an ever-interwining web of history.

On this Day

1412 Joan of Arc was born. (it is believed).

Written 2022, and revised 2024, and 2025

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The French Revolutionary Calendar — January 2nd

French Revolutionary Calendar Pocket Watch

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me 
Nine ladies dancing, Eight maids a-milking, Seven swans a-swimming, 
Six geese a-laying, Five golden rings, 
Four calling birds, Three French hens, Two turtle-doves, 
And a partridge in a pear tree. 

Ripping up the Year

On this day in 1793 the National Convention in Revolutionary France decreed that Year II of the Republic had begun the day before. That is on New Year’s Day, January 1st. But, by October, they decided that the French Revolutionary Calendar should have begun on the Autumn Equinox. So they, retrospectively, made 22 September 1792 the first day of Year I.

By choosing a radical and rational reform of the Calendar the Revolutionaries were following Julius Caesar’s example. His Julian Calender tidied up the old Roman Calendar but kept many of the essentials in place. The French, by contrast, almost completely ripped up the calendrical rule book. For more on the Julian Calendar read my post here.

Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy Months

Let’s start with the names of the months. The concept of the month they kept but got rid of the irrational Latin-based names. They replaced them with neologisms derived from seasonal indicators as you will see.

But it’s more fun to begin with the names as reported, satirically, by John Brady. He published these in England in 1811. The list starts with ‘October’ as the year began at the Winter Solstice. The seasons are separated by semicolons.

Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery
and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.

The historian Thomas Carlyle suggested somewhat more serious English names
in his 1837 work ‘The French Revolution: A History’ namely:

Vintagearious, Fogarious, Frostarious; Snowous, Rainous, Windous; Buddal,
Floweral, Meadowal; Reapidor, Heatidor, and Fruitidor.

The actual revolutionary names were: Vendémiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire; Nivôse, Pluviôse, Ventôse; Germinal, Floréal, Prairial; Messidor, Thermidor, Fructidor

Each month was a rational 30 days, leaving 5 days of the solar year to be sorted out. These were given to the Sans Culottes as holidays and called complimentary days. The leap year was similarly given to the Sans Culottes; an extra day, every 4 years. It was a copy of the Egyptian year, which had inspired Caesar to make the Roman year rational.

Working flat out 10/10

And like the Egyptians, the 7-day week went out the window. The month was divided into three décades of 10 days. The tenth day, the décadi, being a day of rest. By my calculations, the ‘lucky’ Sans Culottes gained 5 days at the end of the year. But lost 16 Sundays, a net lost of 11 days over the year. I’m guessing they would have been compensated somewhere in the year? By time off to celebrate various revolutionary festivals, such as the 14th July (celebrating the storming of the Bastille)? The days were called primidi (first day) duodi (second day) tridi (third day) etc.

The hours of the day were decimalised. So each day was divided into 10 hours, rather than the 24 hours we use. The hours into 100 decimal minutes, and the minute into 100 decimal seconds. This meant that an hour was 144 conventional minutes; a minute 86.4 conventional seconds, and a second 0.864 conventional seconds.

Thank you, Napoleon?

So, had we adopted the French Revolutionary Calendar as we did the metric system this would be Tridi 13th Nivôse, Year 233. (According to the calculator at French Calendar.)

The French Revolutionary Calendar did not survive Napoleon, who recalled the conventional calendar. Time keeping returned to the Gregorian standard on 1 January 1806.

I do like the idea of the 10-day week. But I would like it to be 6 days of work and 4 days of leisure, thank you. I do wish we could rename our months: Wheezy, Sneezy and Freezy; Slippy, Drippy and Nippy; Showery, Flowery and Bowery; Hoppy, Croppy and Poppy.

To find out more look at Wikipedia and consult John Brady (1812), Clavis Calendaria: Or, A Compendious Analysis of the Calendar; Illustrated with Ecclesiastical, Historical, and Classical Anecdotes, vol. 1, Rogerson and Tuxford

On this Day

Today, is special for the Cybele, Isis, Aphrodite and Ishtar, and is the Vigil for St Genevieve of Nanterre. Paris. (more tomorrow).

Sorry to post so many today, but had to catch up after New Year’s Eve. Where is that willow bark?

First Published Jan 2nd 2023, republished Jan 2024, and 2025