Category: Tudor/Stuart

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

Fascinating read about the King’s Evil by Andrew Taylor

Aries & Noses

aries star sign

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

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

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

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

A Fungous Nose & the King’s Evil

The second rather revolting tale is from John Aubrey.

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

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

Etiquette and Handkerchiefs

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

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

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

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

Scofula and the King’s Touch

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

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

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

Who Started touching for the King’s Evil?

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

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

On This Day

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

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

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

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

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Mothering Sunday & Simnel Cake

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

(Letter 22.7 – Wikipedia)

Simnel Cake

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

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

Herrick Hesperides 1647

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

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

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

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

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

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Newark & the Penny Loaf Day March 11th

River Trent from Trent Bridge, Newark on Trent by Peter Tarleton WIKIPEDIA -CC BY-SA 2.0
Newark on Trent by Peter Tarleton Wikipedia CC BY-SA 2.0 Newark & the Penny Loaf Day

This post is about Newark & the Penny Loaf, but as it is still Women’s Week, I’d like to share with you a discovery I have just made:

Dorothy Thurtle

Dorothy Thurtle. By https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/obf_images/b5/be/a6cfe553603c25fd36627e6c24d4.jpgGallery: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/L0026656.html, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36012910

By chance, a few days after International Women’s Day, I was reading the Hackney Society’s Newsletter and read about some canon bollards in Shoreditch Park, in the Dorothy Thurtle Memorial Garden. Well, my nearest Bus Stop is Thurtle Street, which always seemed a strange turtle-like name. So, I looked her up!

Turns out she was a pioneer of the Labour Party. Also, daughter of the great George Lansbury. And a redoubtable pioneer of contraception, and abortion rights. Her opinion was that the Labour Party’s commitment to equality between the sexes made no sense unless it supported contraception and legal abortion. She and her husband, Ernest, founded the Workers’ Birth Control Group. Dorothy was general secretary of Shoreditch Trades Council and Labour Party, became a councillor and eventually Mayor of Shoreditch. She was the only supporter of Abortion Law reform on the Birkett Committee, and issued an influential dissenting report. In her report, she ‘argued that because many married women would face pregnancy every one or two years until their menopause, withholding access to fertility advice and birth control was “a form of class discrimination and penalisation”‘ (Wikipedia). World War 2 delayed any reform.

Right on my doorstep! For more read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorothy_Thurtle

George Lansbury

George Lansbury making a speech. By LSE Library – Flickr: George Lansbury, c1935, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31131566

Dorothy’s father was originally a Radical Liberal Party member. He then joined the Labour Party and became an MP for Bow and Bromley in 1910. During the struggle for Women’s Suffrage he was imprisoned. He was also imprisoned in the Poplar Rates Revolt of 1921. (He was the first labour Mayor of Poplar). After Ramsay MacDonald joined the National Government, Lansbury replaced MacDonald. He lead the few remaining ‘loyal’ Labour Party members who would not join a Conservative dominated Government. He was elected leader from 1932 to 1935, with Clement Atlee as his deputy. Lansbury was a life long Pacifist and so stood down in 1935, as he was out of step with the need for rearming with the rise of Fascism. Atlee became leader.

Canon Bollards

Smithfield., Canon Bollards Photo K Flude)
Canon Bollards in Cloth Fair (photo K Flude)

Canon Bollards are made of repurposed canons from the British Navy. They are sometimes hard to distinguish from those made from repurposed canon moulds, or bollards that are designed to look like canons.

Newark in the Civil War

I will move the Dorothy Thurtle content to International Women’s Day, by next year. Which leaves us with an abrupt change of subject! On the 11th March 1644, the Parliamentary forces were besieging the Royalist-held Newark-on-Trent. Newark was a strategic centre as it was on the River Trent and on a major road junction.  Here, the Great North Road (A1 from London to the North) and the Fosse Way (from Exeter, via the Cotswolds to Leicester) meet. It was vital for the King, as the roads linked Chester and York to Oxford.  Oxford was the King’s HQ; Chester was the key to Wales and the North West. York controlled access to the North East.

Newark withheld three sieges and only ‘fell’ when King Charles I surrendered. The Castle and other military defences were slighted.

Newark & the Penny Loaf & Hercules Clay,

During the second siege, in 1644, Hercules Clay dreamt that his house was on fire. He ignored the dream at first. Then it repeated, so he took his family out of the house (next door to the Town Hall).

Shortly after, a ‘bombshell’ hit his house, fired by the Parliamentary side.  Because of his miraculous delivery, he left £100 in his will for a distribution of ‘penny loaves’ to the poor of Newark. His Will said:

‘Upon the 11th day of March yearly forever upon which day it pleased God of his infinite mercy wonderfully to preserve me and my wife from a fearful destruction by a terrible blow of a granado in the time of the last siege’

And also he left £100 for a commemorative sermon to be read on the anniversary of the incident. The service is normally held on the closest Sunday to the 11th March. The Church is being refurbished, so instead they had an event in the Town Hall and a procession.

Clay was a Mercer and a Royalist. After his death he was fined for lending £600 for the maintenance of the Royalist Garrison. It was paid by his brother.

At the time Churches had poor or bread boxes into which the women of the Parish would place loaves for the poor.

Auction Web site showing 17th Century Poor Box used for holding loaves for the poor

For more information on Hercules Clay see https://www.clayofderbyshire.co.uk/mayors. And thanks to the Clays for the research.

Penny loaf day see https://calendarcustoms.com/articles/newark-penny-loaf-day/

Newark Penny Loaf Day and Hercules Clay Bombshell Sermon

For my post on the execution of Charles 1 look here https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/january-28th-31st-charles-i-martyrdom-get-back/

On This Day

1702 – Elizabeth Mallet published the first English daily newspaper the Daily Courant, on Fleet Bridge, next to the King’s Arms. She, previously, dominated the publishing of ‘last dying speeches’ of people executed at Tyburn.

The Daily Courant By Edward Mallet from rooms above the White Hart pub in Fleet Street – The Daily Courant, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=880402. Elizabeth Mallet published under a male name.

1941 – Roosevelt signed the Lend-Lease Bill – this was a life-line to the UK as it enabled the supply of war materials to flow to Britain who stood alone, in Europe, against fascism. see my post for Roosevelt’s 4 freedoms.

1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev, appointed General Secretary of the USSR

First written in 2024, revised 2025, Thurtle and Lansbury and On This Day added in 2026

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Nettle. Tea, Beer, Pudding & Flagellation March 10th

Nettle – photo by Paul Morley Unsplash

Nettle Tea

The store cupboards are getting denuded of the fruits, nuts, preserves, pickles, salted and dried foods saved from the summer and autumnal abundance. Of course, this is alleviated by the reduced consumption of the Lenten fast.  (I’m continuing my lenten practice of giving up, giving up things for Lent). But nettles are budding. I take a regular cup of nettle tea. Normally, provided by the excellent Cowan’s tea emporium in the Covered Market in Oxford. But I’m running out and not due to visit Oxford for a month or so. So Charles Kightley in his Perpetual Almanac tells me that young stinging nettles are appearing and this is the time to collect own young, juicy nettles.

Here is a video about collecting them.

YouTube Video on making Nettle Tea

Nettle Beer

Or better still, change up the tea for a nettle beer:

Take a gallon measure of freshly gathered young nettles washed well dried and well packed down. Boil them in a gallon of water for at least a quarter of an hour. Then strain them, press them and put the juice in an earthenware pot with a pound of brown sugar and the juice and grated skin of a lemon. Stir well, and before it grows cool put in an ounce of yeast dissolved in some of the liquid. Cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for four or five days and strain again and bottle it, stopping the bottles well.  It’ll be ready after a week, but better if left longer.

Nettle Beer was brewed for old people against ‘gouty and rheumatic pains’.

Nettle: Detecting Virgins

A more sinister use is provided by William Coles who gives a method of detecting virginity.

‘Nettle tops are usually boiled in pottage in the Springtime, to consume the Phlegmatic superfluities in the body of man, that the coldness and moistness of the winter have left behind. And it is said that if the juice of the roots of nettles be mixed with ale and beer, and given to one that suspected to have lost her maidenhood, if it remain with her, she is a maid, But if she’s spews forth, she is not.‘

William Cole’s Adam in Eden 1657.

Flagellation with Nettles?

William Camden reported that Roman soldiers used nettles to heat up their legs in the cold of a British winter. (from Mrs Greaves’ ‘A Modern Herbal). Perhaps, I should have sent that idea to PM Keir Starmer? He might have suggested the method to Senior Citizens to alleviate the loss of their Winter Fuel Allowance? (which he has now restored). Flogging with nettles was a cure for rheumatism and the loss of muscle power in the early modern period. Nettles were also added to horse feed to make their coats shine. It was used as a hair tonic for humans. 

Nettle Fabrics

The 18th century poet Thomas Campbell is quoted on the virtues of nettles:

“I have slept in nettle sheets, and I have dined off a nettle tablecloth. The young and tender nettle is an excellent potherb. The stalks of the old nettle are as good as flax for making cloth. I have heard my mother say that she thought nettle cloth more durable than any other linen.”

In 2012, a Danish Bronze Age Burial was found to be dressed in a shroud made of Nettle. Strangely, the nettle was not local, perhaps being made in Austria where other objects in the rich burial came from. However, the person was thought to be Scandinavian. For more have a look at this article on www.nbcnews.com.

In the Irong Age, also in Denmark, Huldremose Woman was found buried in a bog. She had a severed arm and was buried in elaborate sheep and goat skin clothes, but underneath:

‘she wore a white inner garment made from plant fibres that reached from the shoulders to below the knees. The type of plant fiber is unclear but other evidence from the time period suggests that it could have been made of nettle.’

To find out more: the-woman-from-huldremose/the-huldremose-woman-clothes/

World War 1 use of Nettle cloth

Greaves tells us that the German and Austrians had a shortage of cotton during the blockade of World War 1. They turned to nettles to replace cotton production believing it to be the only effective substitute.  It was also substituted for sugar, starch, protein, paper and ethyl alcohol. 

YouTube Video on making fabric from nettles

Nettle Pudding

Pepys ate Nettle Pudding in February 1661 and pronounced it ‘very good’.  Here is more on Nettles in history AND a recipe for Nettle Pudding! I can see I’m going to have to get out there and carefully pick myself some nettles! ( For Folklore of Nettles look here).

Nettles Photo by Les Argonautes on Unsplash

Remember, none of the above is necessarily good advice as far as medicine is concerned. For smoking herbs see my post coltsfoot-smoking-cholera

March Weather

In the early modern almanacs there is much weather and horticultural advice to be had (Weather Lore. Richard Inwards).

‘March damp and warm
Will do farmer much  harm‘

or

‘In March much snow
to plants and trees much woe‘

On This Day

March 10th is St Kessog Day. He is associated with Luss on Loch Lomond, and was Robert the Bruce’s rallying cry. St Kessog and Scotland!

241 BC – The Battle of the Aegates in which the Carthaginian fleet is sunk, and the First Punic War ends. Carthage was destroyed in the Third Punic War in 146BC. Rebuilt as a Roman City 100 years later.

1629 – Parliament is dissolved by Charles I. This was followed by a Royal dictatorship which lasted 11 years, and then led to Civil War.

1906 – Bakerloo Line Opened. The name originated from the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway. It goes from Harrow &Wealdstone in the NW to Elephant & Castle in the South East, via the Central London section which goes from Bakers Street to Waterloo, Sherlock Holmes didn’t use the Tube very much (see this post here for those times he did). There is a proposed extension from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham.

1969 – James Earl Ray sentenced to 99 years in jail for murdering Martin Luther King. While Ray was a segrationalist and a supporter of George Wallace, he maintained he was set up as the scapegoat. He died in prison in 1998.

Written 2024, revised 2025, the content on Hesiod and a Grecian Spring moved to: march-13th-hesiod-and-a-grecian-spring/. On this Day added 2026.

My trip (in March 2022) to the British Museum with my 20 month year old Grandson is posted here:

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Dung, Time to Manure your Garden March 4th

Hen’s Dung. Image by Anja from Pixabay

John Worlidge knew all about dung. And it is all spread out in his ‘Worlidge Systema Agriculurae’ of 1697 brought to my attention by Charles Kightly’s Perpetual Almanac.

Worlidge tells us that although it used not be esteemed, but Hens and Pigeons’s Dung is the best if mixed with common earth or sand, and let to rot. He says:

Pigeons or Hens dung is incomparable, one Load is worth ten Load of other Dung, and therefore it’s usually sown on Wheat (or Barly) that lieth afar off, and not easily to be helped; it’s extraordinary likewise on a Hop-garden.

… It’s generally little set by, because our Fore-fathers did not make any great matter of it, and because they understand not the strength and power of it; for when they take it out of the houses it’s of a very hot nature, and must needs injure some things, if laid thereon; but if it be mixed well with common Earth, Sand, or such-like, and let lie till it rot well together, you will finde it a very rich Manure, and of value to answer a great part of your Poultreys expence.

I have known a Quince-tree whereon Poultrey always pearched, that by reason of the Rain washing to its Roots the salt and fatness of the Dung, did bear yearly an incredible number of very excellent Quinces.

To read the Systems see https://quod.lib.umich.edu. For more on Worlidge wisdom see my post on Hawthorn.

Before we turn to the sweet Quincwe I’ve found a poem about dung:

Dilbert Dung Beetles Delicacy

Mr. Camel is fascinated by his friend Dilbert Dung Beetle’s diet.
He thinks eating up excrement, feces and manure is a riot.
It is tasty! Delicious! You should try a salty elephant pie!
Dilbert Dung Beetle says. You would love it if you gave it a try!

Mr. Camel watches Dilbert dig in, gulping down gobs of the stuff.
He thinks it must have a weird smell, but Dilbert can’t get enough.
You might sample a tiny bit Dilbert says, it is delicious you see!
Mr. Camel shakes his head and says “Sorry, it does not appeal to me.”

© Caren Krutsinger

All things Quince

Homemade Quince J
am (just out of the freezer
Homemade Quince Jelly

I made quince jam this winter for the third year running from my Father’s Tree. Likely to be the last year as he is 98 and has just gone into a lovely home. It’s very easy to make (although very hard to cut up the fruit) and delicious because it is not too sweet. Here is a recipe (not necessarily the one I used}. Indeed, my most successful year was when I didn’t use a recipe, just boiled the fruit with sugar to taste. Beginner’s Luck, I expect.

Quince is mentioned once in Shakespeare, when the Nurse says the pastry makers are calling for Quince and Dates. (Here is a recipe for Tudor Quince Pie) And of course, the mechanicals theatre director is Peter Quince the Carpenter. But the most famous reference is in the Owl and the Pussycat by Edward Lear.

They dined on mince, and slices of quince
Which they ate with a runcible spoon;
And hand in hand, on the edge of the sand,
They danced by the light of the moon.

Quinces are native to the Caspian Seas, and Wikipedia says spread to England when planted at the Tower of London at the order of Edward I. Quinces were sacred to Aphrodite. and taste great with Cheese (dulce de membrillo) if you are in Span. The Balkans have an aqua vita called rakija. Quince is considered old-fashioned and not grown very much in gardens in the UK.

First published on March 4th, 2026

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John Evelyn Died February 27th 1706

Portrait of John Evelyn holding a book
Portrait of John Evelyn by Godfrey Kneller 1687 (Wikipedia)

John Evelyn is, with Pepys and Wren, one of the great figures of 17th Century London.  Unlike Pepys, he was an avowed Royalist who hated Oliver Cromwell and all he stood for.  He went into exile with his King and gives a great description of Paris (see below). 

Like Pepys, John Evelyn was a diarist and a writer. And they, like Wren, were alumni of the Royal Society, one of the great scientific societies. John Evelyn was a founding fellow. It was innovative in that it employed an experimenter. This was Robert Hooke – one of the great early Scientists, who also worked with Wren rebuilding London after the Great Fire. The Royal Society encouraged scientists to experiment, write up their observations, and submit their theories for peer review. This is the foundation of modern Science, and a bedrock of the Enlightenment.

Frontispiece of ‘the History of the Royal-Society of London by Thomas Sprat. John Evelyn was a founder member

Evelyn the Writer.

John Evelyn has a place in my history because, in the 1980’s I worked. with Paul Herbert, on a project to create an interactive history of London. It was financed by Warner Brothers, and in cooperation with the short-lived ‘BBC Interactive TV Unit’. One part of it was a Literary Tour of London. The first half of this Tour is the basis for my book ‘In Their Own Words’ (To buy click here ) And this is where I came across John Evelyn using several of the quotations on this page.

Evelyn was a prolific traveller and a polymath. He wrote on the need to improve London’s architecture and air in Fumifugium (or The Inconveniencie of the Aer and Smoak of London Dissipated). Here is an extract from his Furmifugium.

‘That this Glorious and Antient City, which from Wood might be rendred Brick, and (like another Rome) from Brick made Stone and Marble; which commands the Proud Ocean to the Indies, and reaches to the farthest Antipo­des, should wrap her stately head in Clowds of Smoake and Sulphur, so full of Stink and Dark­nesse, I deplore with just Indignation.

That the Buildings should be compos’d of such a Congestion of mishapen and extravagant Houses; That the Streets should be so narrow and incommodious in the very Center, and busiest places of Intercourse: That there should be so ill and uneasie a form of Paving under foot, so troublesome and malicious a disposure of the Spouts and Gutters overhead, are particulars worthy of Reproof and Reforma­tion; because it is hereby rendred a Labyrinth in its principal passages, and a continual Wet-day after the Storm is over. ‘

And he was an expert on trees. Author of: Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees (1664). He lived at Sayes Court in Depford near Greenwich, which he ill-advisedly rented to Peter the Great of Russia. Letting to Peter was a lot-like inviting a 1960s Rock Band to trash your mansion.

John Evelyn the Exile

Here is a taste of Evelyn’s time as an Exile. It is a short extract from a long entry on the splendid Palaces in and around Paris.

27th February, 1644. Accompanied with some English gentlemen, we took horse to see St. Germains-en-Laye, a stately country house of the King, some five leagues from Paris. By the way, we alighted at St. Cloud, where, on an eminence near the river, the Archbishop of Paris has a garden, for the house is not very considerable, rarely watered and furnished with fountains, statues,[and groves; the walks are very fair; the fountain of Laocoon is in a large square pool, throwing the water near forty feet high, and having about it a multitude of statues and basins, and is a surprising object. But nothing is more esteemed than the cascade falling from the great steps into the lowest and longest walk from the Mount Parnassus, which consists of a grotto, or shell-house, on the summit of the hill, wherein are divers waterworks and contrivances to wet the spectators; this is covered with a fair cupola, the walls painted with the Muses, and statues placed thick about it, whereof some are antique and good. In the upper walks are two perspectives, seeming to enlarge the alleys, and in this garden are many other ingenious contrivances.

John Evelyn’s Diary from https://www.gutenberg.org/

John Evelyn and the Restoration of Charles II

This was Evelyn’s reaction when Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660,

May 29th 1660:

This day came in his Majestie Charles the 2d to London after a sad, and long exile… this was also his birthday, and with a Triumph of above 20,000 horse and foote, brandishing their swords and shouting with unexpressable joy; the wayes strawed with flowers, the bells ringing, the streets hung with Tapisry, fountains running with wine: ‘

‘The mayor, Aldermen, all the companies in their liveries, chaines of gold, banners, Lords and nobles, cloth of Silver, gold and velvet every body clad in, the windows and balconies all set with Ladys, Trumpetes, Musik, and myriads of people … All this without one drop of bloud …it was the Lords doing…

For Evelyn’s opinion of Cromwell have a look at this post of mine: january-28th-31st-charles-i-martyrdom-get-back/

On This Day

1661 – ‘Ash Wednesday. Preached before the King the Bishop of London (Dr. Sheldon) on Matthew xviii. 25, concerning charity and forgiveness.‘

John Evelyn’s Diary Dr Sheldon, the Bishop of London mentioned above, went on to become Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a friend of Wren’s Father, and commissioned Wren to build the Sheldonian Theatre, in Oxford.

1782 – OK! Let’s give up! The House of Commons votes against continuing the war with Revolutionary America.

1900 – The Labour Party is founded. And today, the UK woke up to a by-election in a safe Labour seat won by the Greens (40%) with Reform 2nd (29%) and the Labour Party third (26%) Conservatives fourth (2%). So, clearly a progressive vote determined to beat Reform, Labour won about 50% of the vote last time, so a disaster for them. Not a success for Reform, and bad result for the Conservatives.

1933 – Reichstag burns down. Hitler uses it to suspend Civil Liberties, and attack the German Communist Party which was falsely blamed for the fire.

First Published 2024, republished 2025, Making Lardy Cake moved to Fat Thursday and On This Day added 2026

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Gregorian Calendar & Coltsfoot & Smoking & Cholera February 24th

Gregorian Calendar, Lunario Novo, Secondo la Nuova Riforma della Correttione del l’Anno Riformato da N.S. Gregorio XIII,[k] printed in Rome by Vincenzo Accolti in 1582, one of the first printed editions of the new calendar

On February 24th 1582 – Pope Gregory XIII published the papal bull Inter gravissimas. This announced amendments to the Julian Calendar created by Julius Caesar and created the Gregorian Calender. Caesar had realigned the Roman Calendar with the Solar Year, creating a ‘Year of Confusion’. The year was 445 days long but it resynced the days to their proper season.

The Julian Calendar

The Julian Calendar used leap years to align the Calendar Year with the Solar Year. But the earth does not cycle the Sun in 365.25 days. This is an overestimate of 1 day every century. So, since the time of Caesar, the year had got 10 days out of kilter. Gregory chopped those 10 days out of the Calendar. The 4th of October 1582, was to be followed by the 15th October 1582. This might seem simple, but imagine you are receiving your salary for October, and you find it 10 days short? Or you have a month to pay your debt and find it called in 10 days early? So the Pope ordered that these 10 missing days shouldn’t be used in calculating financial matters.

Computus

One of the main reasons for the reform was the ‘Computus’. This was the method of calculating Easter. Easter was a festival that followed the movements of the Moon but was synced into the Vernal Equinox. (The timing of Easter is the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox.). So the chopping of 10 days meant that the vernal equinox was set back to its proper place on March 21st. Arguments over the correct calculations of Easter had, in the 7th Century been a major stumbling block in uniting the Celtic Church in Britain with the Roman Catholic Church. (See my post on Easter here).

But this still left the drift caused by Caesar’s faulty leap year system. Gregory’s reforms stopped future drift by fine-tuning the leap years. From 1582 there would not be a leap year in those centurial years which were not divisible by 400. So 2000 was a leap year, but 2100 is not. This skips ‘three Julian leap days in every 400 years, giving an average year of 365.2425 mean solar days long.’ (Wikipedia). This keeps us aligned, although there is still a small error.

If you enjoy this sort of calendrical detail, you will love ‘The Calendar’ by David Ewing Duncan.

British Exceptionalism

Of course, Britain refused to join a Catholic innovation for nearly 200 years. But, religious prejudice at last gave way to reason, when we adopted the Gregorian Calendar in 1752. In the process, we lost 11 days, much to the horror of the London mob, who rioted against their loss.

Greece was the last European state to join in 1923. Japan joined in 1873, China in 1912, and Saudi Arabia in 2016. Ethiopia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Nepal keep distinct calendrical traditions. (see seasia.co for more details.) Strictly, we are using the Gregorian amendment to the Julian Calendar because it has all the elements of the Julian Calendar except a couple of adjustments.

See my post on the Julian Calendar here and my post on the year of confusion. For more on the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 look here

Coltsfoot and Smoking

Photo of Coltsfoot by Andreas Trepte Wikipedia

Coltsfoot is a daisy-like plant which is flowering about now. Gerard’s Herbal of 1633 suggests that the ‘fumes of the dried leaves taken through a funnel’ is good for those with coughs and shortness of breath. He suggests that it is smoked like tobacco and it ‘mightly prevaileth.’

This idea, Mrs Grieves says in her herbal (1931), is endorsed by ‘Dioscorides, Galen, Pliny, and Boyle’. And Coltsfoot is ‘nature’s best herb for the lungs’. (This is historic information re herbs and NOT current medical advice, as Coltsfoot can be very dangerous!).

engraving of a man smoking Lobspruch deß edlen hochberühmten Krauts Petum oder Taback Nuremberg, 1658 New York Public Library Public Domain
Detail from Lobspruch deß edlen hochberühmten Krauts Petum oder Taback Nuremberg, 1658 New York Public Library Public Domain

My grandson and parents found a 19th Century pipe bowl, much like the one pictured here, by the Thames where there were many fragments of clay pipe. For more on 17th Century smoking, have a look here.

On This Day

In Rome February 24th was the day of the 4 yearly leap day. The way they did it was to have two days called February 24th! It was the sixth day before the Calendars (March 1). This practice gradually got replaced by adding a new day, February 29th, at the end of the Month. In England, February 29th starts appearing in the 15th Century. But Wikipedia tells me:

‘the proceedings of the House of Commons of England continued to use the old system until the middle of the sixteenth century. It was not until passage of the Calendar (New Style) Act 1750 that 29 February was formally recognised in British law.’

See my page on the Leap Year here.

1809 – The famous Drury Lane Theatre burnt to the ground.

It is said that the owner and playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan replied to someone who was surprised to see him sitting quietly having a drink while his theatre burnt down: “A man may surely be allowed to take a glass of wine by his own fireside?” londonist.com

1832 – Cholera in London

‘The news of the Cholera being in London has been received abroad. According to the feelings of the different nations towards England, France, who wish to court us has ordered a quarantine in her ports of three days; Holland, who feels aggrieved by our conduct at the conference, one of 40 days. The fog so thick in London that the illuminations for the Queen’s Birthday were not visible. ‘

24th February 1832 Thomas Raikes, Diary 1832 (from ‘A London Year’ Compiled by Travis Elborough and Nick Bennison, 2013,

This was the second Cholera Pandemic, but the first to reach the UK. The second landed in Sunderland in October 1831. Cholera killed over 6,000 in London. It was called the Asiatic Cholera based on its origin. The Cholera came more virulently in subsequent decades. It was thought to be spread by a miasma in the air. But, John Snow proved it was caused by polluted water, but I will tell that story in another post.

I think the Conference mentioned above was the London Conference of May 1832, which aimed to establish a Kingdom of Greece with King. It was set up by Foreign Secretary Lord Palmerston without discussion with the Greeks and ended up giving them a Bavarian King. King Otto. Otto was forced from the throne in a revolution in 1862, and replaced by a Danish King, from whom Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was descended.

1920 –The Conservative MP, Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons. Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected as an MP in 1918, but she was a member of Siin Fein and did not take her seat.

First published in February 2024, republished in 2025, The Gregorian Calendar added in 2026, and On This Day also added. And Retitled too.

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The Sun Enters the House of Pisces February 20th

Attributes of Pisceans selfless, mystical compassionate imaginative sensitive

pisces from the zodiac from kalendar of shepherds
Pisces from Kalendar of Shepherds

A man born in Pisces shall be a great goer, a fornicator, a mocker and covetous: he will say one thing and do another. He shall trust is his sapience, he shall have good fortune: He will be a defender of widows and orphans. He shall be fearful on water: he shall soon pass all adversities and live 72 years after nature.

The woman shall be delicious, familiar in jests, pleasant of courage, fervent, a great drinker. She shall have sickness of her eyes and be sorrowful by shame, needlessly. Her husband will leave her and she shall have much trouble with strangers. She shall travel much, have pain in his stomach and live seventy-seven years.

Both man and woman shall live faithfully.

Kalendar of Shepherds, 1604 (from the Perpetual Almanac by Charles Kightly)

What surprises me about the fortune-telling above is that it has to be nearly always wrong as the predictions are way too specific. The art of the fortune-telling is about being vague, with subtle predictions that can be interpreted in different ways.

Here is Old Moore’s Prediction for Pisceans this week:

‘Innovation and originality flow freely as your unique perspective solves problems that stump others. Social consciousness drives you toward meaningful causes or community involvement. While your independent streak is strong, collaboration with like-minded individuals amplifies your impact. An unexpected insight arrives through friendship.‘

oldmooresalmanac-com-pisces-horoscope

Now, the Old Moore’s 2023 Almanac had a page on Liz Truss of all people, written before she became Prime Minister. It is clear they thought she had a real chance of being PM. They say she has ‘an almost steely determination and plenty of apparent ambition. …. She has every astrological requirement necessary to keep her nose clean and at this moment in time is certainly among the main contenders.‘. So yes, they are right about her being among the main contenders, but absolutely no hint of the epic disaster that her PMship was.

London Stone as a Palladium

OLD ENGRAVING OF London stone
Old Engraving of London Stone, Cannon Street

On February 18th, I revised a post about Ravens, King Bran’s Head and other Palladiums that protected Britain (or London) from invasion. If you missed it, look here. A possible palladium I missed out is London Stone. To remind you, a palladium is something that stops your country or City being harmed or invaded.

London Stone is an eponymous stone found in Cannon Street, in the heart of the City of London, It is first mentioned in the 12th Century, and no one knows why it was famous. In 1862, an ‘ancient proverb’ surfaced:

“So long as the Stone of Brutus is safe, so long shall London flourish”

It was made anonymously in the journal Notes and Queries. In Welsh, it was “Tra maen Prydain, Tra lled Llyndain’. This verse, if genuine, would link the Stone to Brutus of Troy, the legendary founder of London. To be precise: by genuine, I don’t mean it would prove the stone was linked to King Brutus, or that Brutus was a real person. I mean, if genuine, it would prove that in the medieval period the stone was linked to Brutus.

Richard Williams Morgan

However, the writer has been identified as Richard Williams Morgan, who was a passionate Welsh Nationalist and prolific author. He was, also, not very scrupulous with his analysis of sources. As no earlier source can be found, it is thought Morgan made it up.

He lived in London in the 1850s and was very struck by the London Stone. Archaeologists prefer the idea that London Stone is, likely, a milestone from which the Romans measured distance. For Shakespeare, it was the stone on which rebel Jack Cade claimed lordship of London. For the romantic, it was a coronation stone; a stone of power; the sword in the stone, stone; or an ancient megalith. The truth is, we have no idea. But it has been called the London Stone since the 12th Century.  Why was it so named, and what was it ‘for’ or symbolic of?

picture of london stone from the inside
Pic by Graham Hussey pic shows the LONDON STONE which is in Canon Street, London .pic taken inside the Tech Sports shop

Morgan came to the conclusion it was the stone plinth on which the original Trojan palladium had stood. This was a wooden statue of Pallas Athene, that protected Troy from invasion.  It was stolen by Odysseus and Diomedes shortly before the successful Trojan Horse plot. It was then taken to Italy.

Morgan’s idea was that King Brutus brought it from Rome when he sailed into Exile in Britain. Brutus, was a descendant of Aeneas. Aeneas was the only Trojan leader to escape from the destruction of Troy. He found his way to Rome, after leaving Dido in Carthage. He was the ancestor of Romulus who founded Rome, and the ancestor of King Brutus.

According to legend, Brutus gathered all the Trojan slaves and exiles in the Mediterranean. He then sailed to found a new Troy in our green and pleasant lands. His new capital he called Troia Nova (New Troy), which became Trinovantum, then Lud’s Dun, and finally London. Or so the Myths say.

Morgan’s theory held that the Stone was used as the altar stone of the Temple of Diana. Folklorist contend that the temple was originally on the site of St Pauls Cathedral. Morgan (in the 19th Century) was the first person to link London Stone with Brutus, or so people thought and still think (see Wikipedia). That was until 2018.

Picture of the plinth in which London stone is rehoused recently
London Stone as recently rehoused.(Photo K Flude)

John Clark

John Clark, Emeritus Curator at the Museum of London, found a reference to a narrative poem of the 14th Century. This links London Stone to Brutus and to the future prosperity of London. Just as Morgan did. So, it makes it possible, at least, that Morgan did not just make the connection but drew on a medieval ‘tradition.’

Brutus set up London Stone
And these words he said anon:
‘If each king that comes after me
Makes this city wide and roomy  
As I have in my day,
Still hereafter men may say 
That Troy was never so fair a city  
As this city shall be.’

From Burnley & Wiggins 2003b, lines 457–64(John Clark’s modern English version)

For the full story, see John Clark’s article.

London Stone & the Neolithic

Recent archaeological discoveries reveal that London was the site of Late Neolithic feasting on a possibly large scale (discussed here:). This increases the possibility that the London stone is a ‘ritual’ stone from prehistory. But, of course, there is still no evidence that London Stone is prehistoric, and even less that Brutus actually existed. 

On This Day

1472 – Orkney and Shetland are given to Scotland by Norway in lieu of  dowry for Margaret of Denmark.

1933 – Adolf Hitler meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party’s election campaign. Democracy is doomed.

Written in 2023 and revised in February 2024 and 2025 Pisces and London Stone joined into one page 2026

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Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Crocus and Saffron February 19th

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

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

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

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

Ovid’s Metamorphoses and the Crocus

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

Morning Glory or Field Bindweed photo Leslie Saunders unsplash

Ovid’s Metamorphoses and Bindweed

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

The Metamorphosis of Data and the correct use of the plural

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

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

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

Violets and Crocuses

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

Crocus & Saffron

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

Saffron in London

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

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

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

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

Saffron Photo by Vera De on Unsplash

Violets

Viola odorata CC BY-SA 2.5 Wikipedia

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

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

On This Day

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

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

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

1878 – Thomas Edison patents the phonograph.

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

First written 2023, revised 2024, 2025 and 2026

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Shrove Tuesday – Pancake Day – Mardi Gras – End of the Carnival

Les_Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry February (Detail) The people inside are warming their legs and their hands in front of a roaring fire.
Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry February (Detail) The people inside are warming their legs and their hands in front of a roaring fire.

Shrove Tuesday & Carnival

This year, February 17th is Shrove Tuesday, the end of the Carnival. Etymology-on line says the origins of the term Carnival are:

1540s, “time of merrymaking before Lent,” from French carnaval, from Italian carnevale “Shrove Tuesday,” from older Italian forms such as Milanese *carnelevale, Old Pisan carnelevare “to remove meat,” literally “raising flesh,” from Latin caro “flesh” (originally “a piece of flesh,” from PIE root *sker- (1) “to cut”) + levare “lighten, raise, remove” (from PIE root *legwh- “not heavy, having little weight”).

Folk etymology has it from Medieval Latin carne vale ” ‘flesh, farewell!’ ” Attested from 1590s in the figurative sense of “feasting or revelry in general.” The meaning “a circus or amusement fair” is attested by 1926 in American English.Related entries & more 

www.etymonline.com

Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday

Pancake Day is another name for Shrove Tuesday. It is the day we eat up all our surplus food. Then on Ash Wednesday we must begin our lenten fast and turn our mind to repentance. Pancake Day, in the UK, is celebrated with a simple pancake with lemon and sugar. Here is a recipe from the BBC. On the other hand, Shrove Tuesday can be a day of excess before the 40 days of restraint. Shrovetide was normally three days from the Sunday before Lent to Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. (Here is my post on Ash Wednesday).

Mardi Gras

In France, it’s called Mardi Gras which means Fatty Tuesday, in Italy Martedi Grasso. In New Orleans it stretches from Twelfth Night to Shrove Tuesday. But as we saw, in my post on Fat or Lardy Thursday‘ the Carnival period was more normally a week. In most other places it is one to three days. In Anglo-Saxon times there was ‘Cheese Week’, ‘Butter Week’, ‘Cheesefare Sunday’ and ‘Collop Monday’, preceding Ash Wednesday.

Shrove Tuesday the Day to be Shriven

Shrove Tuesday is the day we should be ‘shriven’ which means to make confession. The Church has been leading up to Easter since Advent – before Christmas. (See more on Advent Sunday here). Easter is the date of the conception and, also, the date of the execution and apotheosis of Jesus Christ. So the pious should confess their sins, then undertake their lenten fast before entering the Holy Week purged and sin-free.

In the Anglo-Saxon Church, there was a custom called ‘locking the Alleluia.’ The Church stopped using the word Alleluia from 70 days before Easter. Alleluia represented the return from exile in Babylon. So, with the approach of the death of Christ it was not felt appropriate to be celebratory.

The sombre nature of this block of time was highlighted by Ælfric of Eynsham (c. 955 – c. 1010).

Now a pure and holy time draws near, in which we should atone for our neglect. Every Christian, therefore, should come to his confession and confess his hidden sins, and make amends according to the guidance of his teachers; and let everyone encourage each other to do good by good example.

Ælfric, Catholic Homilies Text Ed. Peter Clemoes quoted in ‘Winters in the World’ Eleanor Parker

Time for Football!

Shrove Tuesday was the traditional time for football games, in the days before football had any rules to speak of. It was a wild game. Teams tried to get a bladder from one end of town to the other, or one side of a field to the other. In Chester, the Shrove Tuesday football game was held on the Roodee island. It was so rowdy that the Mayor created the Chester Races specifically to provide a more sedate alterative to the violence of the ‘beautiful game.’

Here is a youtube video of Shrovetide Football at Royal Asbourne in Derbyshire. You will notice it seems chaotic but if you look at the participants directed the action you can see how involved they are in it.

Royal Asbourne Shrove Tueday Football

In London, Henry Fitzstephen wrote about Shrove Tuesday Games in London in the late 12th Century:

‘Every year also at Shrove Tuesday, that we may begin with children’s sport, seeing we all have been children, the school boys do bring cocks of the game to their master, and all the forenoon they delight themselves in cockfighting. After dinner all the youths go into the fields to play at the ball. The scholars of every school have their ball, or baston in their hands. The ancient and wealthy men of the City come forth on horseback to see the sport of the young men and to take part of the pleasure in beholding their agility.’

Fitzstephen was the first biographer of Thomas Becket.

Pancake Race

The City of London has an annual pancake race at the Guildhall Yard. It is an inter-livery company competition. The Livery Companies also known as medieval Guilds, have to run across the Guildhall while holding a frying pan and pancake. There is a zone marked out where they have to toss the pancake. Here is a youtube video of the 2023 race.

Pancake Day/Shrove Tuesday Pancake Race

First published on February 21st, 2023 republished on February 13th 2024, and March 4th 2025, February 17th 2026