Tudor Trivia Tuesday: Shrove Tuesday Edition.

It's that time again!!!
It's Tudor Trivia Tuesday!!!

1) In Catholic England Mardi Gras was called “carniscapium” or “carnicapium” [carni(s) = meat; capere = to take].  The day after or Sunday after was called “carniprivium” [carnis = meat; privare = to take away], the beginning of the abstinence from meat lasting until Easter.  The day after carniscapium  was also the Quatuor Temporum (beginning of the 40 days) during which was celebrated the Missae Cineres (Mass of Ashes).  It was the first day of the Quadragesima (Lent).

2) In Protestant England Mardi Gras was called “Shrove Tuesday”.  The days after were commonly called “Ember Days,” at first, and the Wednesday after eventually “Ash Wednesday,” a day of reflection upon the humble dust that is man.  It was also a day in which bread could not be eaten that was not cooked under embers.  It is the first day of Lent.

3) From the Sunday before Shrove Tuesday until Shrove Tuesday was called “Shrovetide”.  In some places Shrovetide lasted from that Sunday until the following Saturday.

4) Shrove Tuesday was alternately called “Pancake Tuesday” in Protestant countries.  Pancakes and apple fritters were the mainstay of suppers on this day.

5) Shrove Tuesday was a traditional day for University scholars to act plays. 

6) “Status Scholae Etonensis, A. D. 1560," mentions a custom of that School on Shrove Tuesday, of the boys being allowed to play from eight o'clock for the whole day. The Eton cook would fasten a Pancake to a Crow nesting near the school door.  It being the season for young crows to emerge from the nest, the young Crows would comically pursue the fleeing pancake to pull away morsels bit by bit until it was eaten.

7) During the reign of Elizabeth I, masques and plays were acted at Court throughout every Shrovetide.  On Shrove Sunday, February 17, 1577, The History of the Solitary Knight, was performed by Lord Howard's servants.  Some think this may have been an early version of Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens.

8) The Clown in Shakespeare’s All’s Well that Ends Well lets us know the playwright shared in the Shrovetide festivities of his day.

Countess. Will your answer serve fit to all questions?

Clown. As fit as ten groats is for the hand of an attorney, as your French crown for your taffeta punk, as Tib's rush for Tom's forefinger, as a pancake for Shrove-Tuesday…

9) In the religious manual entitled The Festyvall the worshipper is instructed “Ye shall begyn your faste upon Ashe Wednesdaye. That daye must ye come to holy chirche and take ashes of the Preestes hondes and thynke on the wordes well that he sayeth over your hedes, (Memento, homo, quia cinis es; et in cinerem reverteris), have mynde, thou man, of asshes thou art comen, and to ashes thou shalte tourne agayne.”

10) Back through time immemorial, a sadly cruel favorite sport, on Shrove Tuesday, was “throwing at Cocks”.  A rooster was tied to a post and the players threw heavy sticks at it until it died.  The thrower of the mortal stick won the game and took the animal home to add to the household pot.  In some places, a hen was used rather than a cock.

Also at Virtual Grub Street:

• On The Twelfth Day of Christmas… January 6, 2020. “On Twelfth-Day, 1563, Mary, Queen of Scots celebrated the French pastime of the King of the Bean at Holyrood, but with a queen instead of a king, as more appropriate, in consideration of herself being a female sovereign.”
• New Year’s Gifts through the Ages.  January 1, 2020.  “Henry’s daughter, the Princess Elizabeth, gave as well as received gifts on New Year’s day.”
• 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.”
• Feast of St. Michael, September 29: Beginning of the English Year. September 29, 2019. "In the 19th century it was commonly claimed that Queen Elizabeth I heard about the defeat of the Spanish Armada while she was eating her Michaelmas feast which just happened to feature goose.  She declared that she would eat goose each year for the annual feast in commemoration of her greatest victory."
• Check out the English Renaissance Article Index for many more articles and reviews about this fascinating time and about the Shakespeare Authorship Question.