Feast of St. Stephen, December 26th. |
In this series:
The twelve Days of Christmas are racing by. Or at least St. Stephen’s Day, December 26th, is. Barnaby Googe’s translation of Naogeorgus’ Regnum Papisticum (1553) preserves the fact that, at least in the German Empire,
- The Wild Boar from Valhalla to Christmas Kitchen.
- Catering the Medieval and Tudor Christmas Feasts.
- Ordering the Medieval and Tudor Household for Christmas.
- Feasting in the Great Hall on Christmas Day!
- Celebrating the Days of Christmas Before the New Year.
The twelve Days of Christmas are racing by. Or at least St. Stephen’s Day, December 26th, is. Barnaby Googe’s translation of Naogeorgus’ Regnum Papisticum (1553) preserves the fact that, at least in the German Empire,
Then followeth Saint Stephens days
whereon doth every man
His horses jaunt and course abrode, as
swiftly as he can,
Until they doe extreemely sweate, and
than they let them blood,
For this being done upon this day, they
say doth do them good,
And keepes them from all maladies and
sicknesse through the yeare,
As if that Steven any time took
charge of horses heare.[1]
The common sources of horse veterinarian information in
England, as well as Germany, at the time, referring to the ancient Greeks and
Persians for much of their information, it is likely that they shared the
ancients’ dedication to periodically “sweating” war horses.[2]
Closer to home, as it were, we are informed by Thomas
Trusser that the humble husbandman was in the habit of bleeding his horses on or
about the same day.
Yer Christmas be passed, let Horsse be
lett blood,
For many a purpose it doth him much
good:
The day of St. Steven, old fathers did
use,
If that do mislike thee, some other
day chuse.[3]
It seems a bit too much to be a coincidence, however much
the farmer does not seem to have done so after sweating.
The farmer’s reason for specifically choosing Stephen’s Day[4]
to bleed his horses is clear.
Plough Monday, next after that
Twelftide is past,
bids out with the plough, the
woorst husband is last.[5]
The fields must be plowed in order to plant winter oats and
wheat following Twelvetide. The plow
horse must be made as strong as possible for the task.
Why the nobleman’s horse was sweated and bled on St. Stephen’s
Day, in particular, is not clear. King
Stephen being a horseman of ancient Persia famous for rearing war horses may
have brought the day to mind. Preparation
for the breeding season may have begun
earlier in the Middle Ages than now.
At the Inns of Court, the Feast of St. Stephen was
celebrated with costumed suppliants, arriving between the first and second
courses, to offer themselves as servants to the Lord of Misrule. The second character was a Master of the Game. His speech ends in a fashion that reminds us
just how profoundly different the Medieval and Tudor mind was from modern.
This ceremony also performed, a huntsman cometh into the hall
with a fox and a purse-net, with a cat, both bound at the end of a staff, and
with them nine or ten couple of hounds, with the blowing of hunting-hornes, and
the fox and cat are by the hounds set upon and killed beneath the fire. This
sport finished, the marshall placeth them in their several appointed places.[6]
St. John’s Day, the 27th, passed much as did St.
Stephen’s minus the bleeding and the baying of hunting hounds. The attendants of the Lord of Misrule
apparently began to lose their enthusiasm for the general fun. The Lord is said to go now to their rooms, in
the morning, and roust them out to do their duties. Those who refuse to attend
are replaced. After the second course is
a mock charge-and-answer of miscreants. “If any offendor escape, from the lieutenant into the buttery, and bring into the
hall a manchet upon the point of a knife, he is pardoned:…”.[7]
Childermas, December 28th, was understood to be a
solemn day. The farther back in English
Medieval history, the more likely that parents whipped their children in the
morning “that the memorie of this murther might stick the closer; and, in a
moderate proportion, to act over the crueltie again in kind."[8]
Any undertaking begun on the day was considered unpropitious.
Weddings are never held on the day. It
was considered unlucky to put on new clothes or pare one’s nails.[9]
At the Inns of Court meals were served with a minimum of servants and no
attendants. There was no entertainment. Even the coronation of Edward IV is said to
have been postponed a day rather than be held on Childermas.
In 1517, King Henry VIII forbade the gloom of the day
commanding
that the king of cockneys, on Childermas-day, should sit and
have due service; and that he and all his officers should use honest manner and
good order, without any waste or destruction making in wine, brawn, chely, or
other vitails: and also that he, and his marshal, butler, and constable
marshal, should have their lawful and honest commandments by delivery of the
officers of Christmas, and that the said king of cockneys [later Lord of
Misdrule], ne none of his officers medyl neither in the buttery, nor in the
Stuard of Christmass his office, upon pain of 40s. for every such medling: and
‘lastly, that Jack Straw, and all his adherents, should be thenceforth utterly
banisht and no more to be used in this house, upon pain to forfeit, for every
time, five pounds, to be levied on every fellow hapning to offend against this
rule.[10]
Why there seems only to be this one record of such a Royal
command to the Inns is not clear.
[1] Naogeorgus,
Thomas. The Popish Kingdom or reigne
of Antichrist,… englyshed by Barnaby Googe (1570, 1880). 45.
[2] Aldrovandi,
Ulyssis. De Quadrupedibus Solidipedibus (1616).
Also Gessner, Conradi. Нistоriае Animalium
Liber Primus. De Quadrupedibus viviparis.
(1603). Et alii. These rely
heavily on the Sicilian classic by Rufius, Giordanus (Giordano Ruffo). De
medicina equorum (14th century) translated into Latin by Bartolomeo
Spadafora di Messina. All rely upon
Pliny, Propertius and various ancient Greek and Persian sources.
[3] Tusser,
Thomas. Five Hundred Pointes of Good Husbandrie (1557, 1878), Payne and
Herrtage, ed. 63.
[4] Or
another day in “Twelvetide”.
[5] Ibid.
180.
[6]
Dugdale, William. The History and Antiquities
of the four inns of court (Dublin, 1780). 22.
[7]
Ibid. 23.
[8] Dyer,
T. F. Thiselton. British Popular Customs Present and Past (1900). 498.
citing Gregory, John. Episcopus
puerorum in die Innocentium; or a Discoverie of an ancient Custom in the church
of Sarum (1683). 113.
[9] Dyer,
T. F. Thiselton. British Popular Customs Present and Past (1900). 498.
[10] Ibid.
Also at Virtual Grub Street:
- Zombie Apocalypse & Trick-or-Treating: Halloween through History. October 30, 2019. “Looking closely, however, we see that this Shakespeare quote has moved the “puling” (which it was actually called) back one day to Hallowmas, All Hallows Day, rather than All Souls. Far more important, he has actually referred to puling as a special kind of speech spoken by beggars on Hallowmas Day.”
- A Thousand Years of English Terms. June 2, 2019. ‘One person did not say to another, “Meet you at three o’clock”. There was no clock to be o’. But the church bell rang the hour of Nones and you arranged to meet “upon the Nones bell”.’
- Feast of St. Michael, September 29: Beginning of the English Year. September 29, 2019. "Those who have read my “Thousand Years of English Terms” may recall that the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels (a.k.a. “Michaelmas”), on September 29, marked the beginning to the English legal and business year."
- A Most Curious Account of the Funeral of Queen Elizabeth I: April 28, 1603. April 28, 2019. “Once it was clear that James I would face no serious challenges, Cecil and the others could begin to give attention to the matter of the Queen’s funeral.”
- Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.
- Check out the Medieval Topics Article Index for many more articles about this fascinating time.
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