Holy Saturday

This week is Holy Week and tomorrow many break their Lenten fasts, or feast on chocolate. The two are not mutually exclusive.

As part of the Easter story (well, that accepted in the Middle Ages), Jesus spent the time between his crucifixion and resurrection harrowing hell. This 'harrowing', a term which means either ploughing or the sacking of a place, essentially meant that those that had died, but were not sinners, were now permitted to enter heaven as a result of Christ's intervention. The gates of heaven were now open, death was no longer a waiting room for salvation.

There's shedloads of stuff to read regarding the harrowing of hell (Is it a part of the original easter story? Was it invented later? Was salavation only possible after?....etc.etc.), but like other famous myths it lends itself wonderfully to artists:

Happy Easter (tomorrow) everyone!

Baltimore, Walter Art Museum, MS W. 918 f. 149 v.

London, BL, Arundel 157, f. 110

 

New York, The Madison Library, MS W.2 f. 139 v.

Philadelphia, Penn Library, MS Codex 738, f. 127 r.

Heart Shaped books

In an attempt to have something vaguely Valentine's day themed ahead of tomorrow, have some eye candy in the form of heart shaped books.

I'm by no means a manuscript scholar, so if you're curious about them (and the heart as a symbol in general) I thoroughly reccomend this link which summarises a book on the topic:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/391167.html

Now, onto the eye candy:

This paining is held in the Met Museum and is dated to the mid-fifteenth century. 

Depicted, is the elevation of the host during mass when the host is raised and "This is my body" is spoken. According to Eric Jager, the shape of the book demonstrates veneration of chirst and an association between "the worshipper's heart (cor) to Christ's body (corpus)".

The shape of the book is also symbolic of the "inner self" - but at this point we're venturing into a larger topic than this blog can handle!

Here are some examples of genuine heart shaped books however to sate your curiosity.

BnF, latin 10536

BnF, latin 10536

15th c., BnF Latin 10536, Book of Hours
http://classes.bnf.fr/dossisup/grands/ec060a.htm

 

 15th c., BnF Rothschild 297, Music book

http://classes.bnf.fr/dossiecr/gc178-4.htm

  

The Oldest Christmas Carol?

Allegedly the earliest Christmas carol, usually dated to the thirteenth century:

Lordings, listen to our lay —
We have come from far away
    To seek Christmas;
In this mansion we are told
He his yearly feast doth hold;
    'Tis t-day!
May joy come from God above,
To all those who Christmas love.

Lordings, I now tell you true,
Christmas bringeth unto you
    Only mirth;
His house he fills with many a dish
Of bread and meat and also fish,
    To grace the day.
May joy come from God above,
To all those who Christmas love.

Lordings, through our army's band
They say — who spends with open hand
    Free and fast,
And oft regals his many friends —
God gives him double what he spends
    To grace the day.
May joy come from God above,
To all those who Christmas love.

Lordings, wicked men eschew,
In them never shall you view
    Aught that's good;
Cowards are the rable rout,
Kick and beat the grumblers out,
    To grace the day.
May joy come from God above,
To all those who Christmas love.

To English ale and Gascon wine,
And French, doth Christmas much incline —
    And Anjou's, too;
He makes his neighbour freely drink
So that in sleep his head doth sink
    Often by day.
May joy come from God above,
To all those who Christmas love.

Lords, by Christmas and the host
Of this mansion hear my toast —
    Drink it well —
Each must drain his cup of wine,
And I the first will toss off mine:
    Thus I advise.
Here then I bid you all Wassail,
Cursed be he who will not say, Drinkhail.
May joy come from God above,
To all those who Christmas love.

Wassail translates as "your health", and drinkhail as "drink health". Both terms are Anglo-Saxon in origin and really deserve to make their way back into common usuage.

The original manuscript that contained this carol has been missing since 7th June 1879, but remains listed in the British Library's catalogue as Royal MS 16 E VIII. It was found in the midst of a miscellany alongside other documents such as a "short description of England" and "phases of the moon proper for any business". 

EDIT:
This video worked up until this blog post went live which is rather typical. You can find a performed version of this song however if you search for the group "Joglaresa".

Notes 

Transcription (in Anglo-Norman) can be found in Douce, F. Illustrations of Shakespeare, and of Ancient Manners: With Dissertations on the Clowns and Fools of Shakespeare; on the Collection of Popular Tales Entitled Gesta Romanorum; and on the English Morris Dance, Volume 2 (London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807) p. 215

Rickert, E. Ancient English Chirstmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914) pp. 134-5

Summer is a coming! (Sumer is icumen in)

Things have been a little hectic this week (that'll teach me for going away) so in lieu of a post I had planned to write (coming soon!) I shall highlight a fun item from the British Library collections.

This is a page from an early/mid-thirteenth century song book (probably from Reading abbey) with lyrics written in middle English and featuring turns of phrases such as:

'The ewe bleats after the lamb

The cow lows after the calf.

The bullock stirs, the stag farts,

Merrily sing, Cuckoo!'

Almost a medieval version of Old MacDonald.

At the bottom of the page in red are instructions on how the sung is to be sung which according to the modern commentary, the song is "intended to be sung in a round, requiring four singers to sing the same melody, one after the other, each starting when the previous singer reaches the red cross on the first line. While this is happening, two lower voices repeat the words 'sing cuccu'."

Interestingly, while the song is in Middle English, the instructions are in Latin along with the red lyrics. The lyrics in black are in Middle English. We can speculate to our heart's delight as to why this song had both Latin and middle English lyrics, but this is the earliest known English example.

You can listen to the song here:

Notes
MS, BL Harley 978 f.12v

http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item100326.html

Eastertide

The word ‘Easter’ itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon goddess Eostre/Ostara (with whom the association of rabbits is supposed to originate from) and the Christian festival of Easter began pretty early on as a successor of the Jewish Passover.  

The actual date of Easter is one that has been contentious for a very long time and anyone who has been to Orthodox areas of the world will know that they have a completely different date to other areas of the Christian world (I speak from experience, ended up having two Easter’s in one year and was thoroughly confused until Google helped me out) (Barnett: 63-64).

For those of us in the West, the Council of Nicea in 325 AD decreed that Easter would take place on the 1^st Sunday following the 1^st full moon after the 21st March. This date was apparently picked in order that it did not clash with passover and it was the Emperor Constantine that is apparently responsible for the gaudy dress and elaborate church ceremonies that form the Easter celebrations. 

#WrongConstantine

If in doubt, blame Constantine.

Easter celebrations continued to evolve over the years and around the world and continued to incorporate pagan elements into the Christian festival (the word for this is ‘syncretism’). 

As I’m sure you know, Easter is the most important festival in the Christian calendar and was taken very seriously as a result during the middle Ages. At the abbey of Centula (Saint-Riquier) in Northern France for example, on Easter Sunday it was such an important day that the priests celebrated mass in the western gallery of the church (the bit upstairs if you’re standing in the nave) in order that more men and women could be accommodated at this public mass. Afterwards, “the priests could descent the spiral stairs to give communion to those below” (Huitson: 45).

Not everyone felt holy during Easter week apparently and the citizens of Whalley parish in the early sixteenth century decided to rat on their neighbours. Jacob and Nicholas Robinson were accused of working too late on Saturdays in general, AND of making a plough and cutting hedges during Holy Week (the week before Easter). Meanwhile, the wife of John Hay was accused of doing some gardening during this week. Several others even dared to plough during this holy time (Cooke: 90-91). All of these accusations took place in the same year and it makes you wonder which particular member of the parish was the curtain ‘twitcher’ who ran to the local prior whenever they sensed infractions. 

Notes

Barnett, J. (1949) “The Easter Festival -A Study in Cultural Change” in American Sociological Review, Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 62-70

Cooke, A. (1901), Act book if the ecclesiastical court of Whalley (Manchester: Chetham Society) 

Huitson, T. (2014), Stairway to Heaven: The functions of medieval upper spaces (Oxford: Oxbow Books)

Storytime: Why there are no Welshmen in heaven

As it is St David’s day tomorrow, I thought I’d mark the occasion with a medieval Welsh ‘joke’. Thus proving that they have been picked on for a veeeeeeeeeeery long time:

“I find written among old stories how God made Saint Peter port of Heaven, and how God, in his goodness soon after his suffering on the cross allowed many men to come to the kingdom of heaven who very little deserved it. So at this time there were in heaven a lot of Welshmen, who troubled all the rest with their boasting and chatter. So God said to Saint Peter that he was fed up with them, and that he’d be very glad to have them out of heaven. Saint Peter replied to him, 

“Good lord, I guarantee that it will be done in no time.” So Saint Peter went outside the gates of heaven and shouted in a loud voice,

“Cause bobe!” which is as much as to say, “Roasted cheese.” 

When they heard this the Welshmen ran out of heaven at great speed. And when Saint Peter saw that they were all outside, he quickly went in to Heaven and locked the door, and so he barred all the Welshmen out.

By this you can see that there is no sense in a man loving or setting his mind too much upon any dainty or worldly pleasure whereby he may lose heavenly or eternal joy.”

Notes

1 of 8 stories about the Welsh in the 1526, “The Hundred Mery Talys”, printed in Medieval Comic Tales, ed. D. Brewer (Cambridge, Boydell & Brewer Press: 1973)

Shrove Tuesday

Well, it's not really shrove Tuesday any more, but I wanted to write about it anyway so here's your dose of trivia, four days late.

Shrovetide, or Shrove Tuesday, is a feast celebrated across Europe and called “Carnival” in Southern regions from the latin “carne levare” (taking away of flesh) which heralded the beginning of the Lenten fast. The importance of this day in the relgious calendar is emphasised c. 1000 by Abbot Aelfric’s  who in his Ecclesiastical Institutes states that:

"In the week immediately before Lent everyone shall go to his confessor and confess his deeds and the confessor shall so shrive him as he then may hear by his deeds what he is to do [in the way of penance]".

   

It was a very important religious day then, so where do the pancakes come in? Well, traditionally making pancakes enables you to use up your remaining eggs and fat, freeing your kitchen from their temptation during lent. Pancakes were not the only tradition however, and plays, football games and general festivities accompanied the day. 

The tradition of games continues to the present day with annual pancake races taking place across the country which are said to have originated in 1445 in the village of Olney. A woman, according to legend, was making pancakes that morning and running late ran out of the house still clutching the frying pan upon hearing the church bells. How you go about providing evidence for this custom is beyond me so I present it to you as a charming myth that may, or may not, have any truth to it.

On the subject of plays, these have largely fallen out of modern practice but were alive and well in the sixteenth century and Shakespeare’s “As you like it” was performed at Richmond on the 20^th February 1599. The play was accompanied by the Elizabethan version of pancakes (which were stuffed with meat), and the following quote from the play has been argued to have been either an improvisation by the actor, or a nod to the occasion by the playwright.

“Of a certain knight that swore by his honour they were good pancakes and swore by his honour themustard was naught: now I'll stand to it, the pancakes were naught and the mustard was good, and yet was not the knight forsworn.” 

-  Touchstone, As you like it, Act I, scene i

Notes

BL Harley 3448 f. 2v Two men eating
BL Royal 10 E IV f. 94v Men playing a game
BL Yates Thompson 31 f. 167v A priest absolving a penitent sinne

Dusinberre, J. Pancakes and a Date for "As You like It" in Shakespeare Quarterly, Vol. 54, No. 4 (Winter, 2003), pp. 371-405

Nilles, Calendarium Manuale Utriusque Ecclessiae, II (Innsbruck, 1897) pp/ 55-70

Olney pankcake race:

http://olneypancakerace.org/

Thurston, H. (1912).“Shrovetide” in The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 17, 2015 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13763a.htm

St Valentine's day

A little bit on the origins of Valentine's day this week.

The romantic elements of Valentine's Day appear to have begun in the medieval England and France and the chosen date of the 14th of February is impart due to the changing seasons and belief that birds began pairing up for mating on this date.

 For this was sent on Seynt Valentyne's day
Whan every foul cometh ther to choose his mate.

 

- Geoffrey Chaucer, The Parlement of Foules, lines 309-310

 
Literature and traditions of the time followed suit and Valentines gradually accrued a catalogue of poems, letters, and tokens of affection exchanged on this day. One of the oldest of these Valentine's day letters was written by Margery Brews to her fiance John Paston in 1477:

Unto my right well-beloved Valentine John Paston, squire, be this bill delivered.

Right reverent and worshipful and my right well-beloved valentine, I recommend me unto you full heartedly, desiring to hear of your welfare, which I beseech Almighty God long for to preserve unto his pleasure and your hearts desire. And if it pleases you to hear of my welfare, I am not in good health of body nor of heart, nor shall I be till I hear from you. For there knows no creature what pain that I endure, And even on the pain of death I would reveal no more. And my lady my mother hath laboured the matter to my father full diligently, but she can no more get than you already know of, for which God knoweth I am full sorry. But if you love me, as I trust verily that you do, you will not leave me therefore. For even if you had not half the livelihood that you have, for to do the greatest labour that any woman alive might, I would not forsake you. And if you command me to keep me true wherever I go, indeed I will do all my might you to love and never anyone else. And if my friends say that I do amiss, they shall not stop me from doing so. My heart me bids evermore to love you truly over all earthly things. And if they be never so angry, I trust it shall be better in time coming. No more to you at this time, but the Holy Trinity have you in keeping. And I beseech you that this bill be not seen by any non earthly creature save only yourself. And this letter was written at Topcroft with full heavy heart.

Be your own Margery Brews.

Of the actual St Valentine, details are a little sketchy (as there are several individuals) but the primary martyr appears to have been martyred in Rome in the 3rd century and he, or the others bearing his name, became associated with the 14th February.

Finishing with something practical (or not) those of you wishing to entrap the object of your desires may wish to go and find a wolf:

 "Soliunus, who tells us much about the nature of things, says that there is a little patch of hair on its tail which is a love-charm: if the wolf is afraid that it will be caught, it tears it off with its teeth of its own accord. The hair has no effect if it is not taken from the wolf while it is still alive"

Notes 
Bestiary Image: Aberdeen University Library MS 24, f. 16v
http://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/translat/16v.hti

Bestiary text:
Bestiary, being an English Version of the Bodleian Libary, Oxford, MS Bodley 764, ed. R. Barber (Woodbridge, Boydell Press: 1992) p. 70

Miniature of Queen Guinevere questioning Lancelot about his love for her:
BL, MS Additional 10293 f. 199




Parlement of Foules:
http://www.bartleby.com/258/58.html

Paston letter:
http://www.bl.uk/learning/timeline/item126579.html


"St. Valentine." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15254a.htm

Happy New Year!

I trust your New Year's Eve/Hogmanay went with a bang?

Or did it go something like this:

 

"D...dronken -

dronken, dronken, y-dronken,

... dronken is Tabat attë wyne.             (Drunk is Tabart at the wine)

Hay…suster, Walter, Peter,                  (sister)

Ye dronke all depe,                             (you all drink deeply)

And Ichulle eke.                                 (and I shall too)

Stondëth alle stillë -                            (stand everyone still)

Stillë, stillë, stillë –

Stondëth allë stillë –

Stille as any ston;                                (stone)

Trippe a litel with thy fot,

And let thy body gon."                         (go)

A happy, healthy and prosperous new year to you all!

Notes

Image - MS, British Library, Additional, 27695, f. 14

Poem/Song - MS Oxford, Bodleian. Rawlinson D. 913

Duncan, T., ed., Medieval English Lyrics and Carols (Camridge: D.S. Brewer, 2013) p. 176