St Lawrence with his griddle, Courtald Gallery Master of the Fogg Pieta 1310-1340
The Martyr Treasurer
St Lawrence was the Treasurer of the early Church in Rome. He was called in front of a magistrate and told to hand over the treasures of the Church.
He said: 0k I’ll need three days to do that.
3 days later he came back with sick people, disabled people, old people, orphans. These, he said, are the treasures of the Church of Rome. He had also distributed the treasures to the poor to prevent then getting into Roman hands. He is, thus, the patron saint of the poor.
So, the Romans sentenced him to be executed on a griddle over a fire. I presume because they hoped he might relent and give information about where the treasures really were.
Where he was executed is not known but, normally, martyrdoms were held at an amphitheatre.
When the burning was halfway through, Lawrence turns to the executioner and says: Turn me over. I’m done on this side.
So, he is the patron saint of City Officials, Cooks and Comedians! Also Tanners, Butchers and Librarians.
St Lawrence Church in London is on the site of the Roman Amphitheatre. Now, us archaeologists didn’t know this till the 1980s. But presumably they did know it in the medieval period. Unless the attribution is a lucky coincidence.
He was martyred during the persecution of Valerian 258 AD.
For more about the London Amphitheatre see my posts here and here.
Because the Perseids Meteor Shower are at their peak around this period, they are called the tears of St Lawrence.
August was originally ‘sextilis’ or the 6th Month of the ten-month Roman Calendar. It became the 8th Month when January and February were added to the calendar to make a 12 month year. By tradition, this happened during the reign of King Numa Pompilius. Originally set as a 29-day month but changed to a 31-day month in the reforms of Julius Caesar. It was subsequently renamed August by a sycophantic Senate trying to flatter the divine Octavian, Emperor Augustus. (more of my posts about the Roman Calendar here and here)
The Celtic August
In modern Irish, it is Lúnasa, which means the month of the festival of Lughnasa. It is a harvest festival, celebrating the ripening of wheat, barley, rye, and potatoes. In Ireland, it is the festival of the God Lugh, celebrated with games, fairs, and ceremonies. Lughnasa is 6 months after Imbolc. It marks the ending of lactation of lambs and the beginning of the tupping season. (impregnation of the ewes). It can be celebrated by climbing hills, visiting springs, wells, lakes and eating bilberries. (Myths and Legends of the Celts. James MacKillop).
In Welsh, it is Awst which comes from the Latin. Called Calan Awst in Wales, it is the festival of August. In Gaelic Scotland it is called Lunasuinn, and Laa Luanistyn in the Isle of Man.
Lughnasa is one of the Celtic quarter days,. They are halfway between the Solstices and Equinoxes. They are: Samhain (1 Nov) Imbolc (1 Feb), Beltane (1 May) and Lughnasa (1 Aug). All are, or can be seen to be, a turning point in the farming year.
The Gallic Coligny ‘Celtic’ Calendar records August as a ‘great festival month’. The stone-carved Calendar was found near Lyon, whose Roman name was Lugodunum. The town is named after the Gaulish God Lugos. It is thought he is related to the Irish God, Lugh and the Welsh Llew Llaw Gyffes. He has an unstoppable fiery spear, a sling stone, and a hound called Failinis. The Romans associate Lugos with Mercury, and the Church associated Lugh with St Michael.
Lughnasa was founded by Lugh himself to honour his foster mother Tailtiu at Brega Co. Meath. Tailtiu became one of Ireland’s greatest festivals, springing from the horse races and marital contests set up by Lugh.
Anglo Saxon August
In Anglo-Saxon: the Venerable Bede, writing in the 8th Century, says August is Wēodmōnaþ or the Weed Month. Named because of the proliferation of weeds. Why does that seem such an unsatisfactory name for August? An early Kentish source calls the month Rugern – perhaps the month of the harvest of Rye? (Winters in the World by Eleanor Parker).
Lammas
For the Anglo-Saxons, August brings in the harvest period. This is the most important months of the year. The Harvest brings in the bounty of the earth. It needs to be carefully collected, enjoyed but not wasted. It begins with the festival of Lammas, which derives from the English words for bread and mass. The Bread Mass when bread made from the first fruits of the harvest is blessed.
Kalendar of Shepherds
Kalendar of Shepherds, August
The 15th Century illustration in the Kalendar of Shepherds, above, shows that the Harvest is the main attribute of the Month, and the star signs, Leo and Virgo.
The 16th/17th Century text in the Kalendar of Shepherds gives an evocative insight into the month.
St Germanus of Auxerre, Window in St Paul’s parish church, Morton, Lincolnshire, made by Sir Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris in 1914. Photo by Jenny of Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK (CC BY 2.0 Wikimedia Photo by Jenny of Jules & Jenny from Lincoln, UK)
St Germanus is the source of one of the few contemporary references to Britain in the 5th Century (the Dark Ages). One of his followers wrote his life story. The Saint, a Bishop in France, was sent to Britain because the Pelagian Heresy was endangering the Catholic version of Christianity. Pelagius was a highly educated British (or possibly Irish) priest who moved to Rome in the late 4th Century. He lived by a strict moral code, attacking Catholic laxity and opposing St Augustine of Hippo’s theory of Divine Grace. By contrast, Pelagius promoted human choice in salvation and denied the doctrine of original sin. Wikipedia tells us that he:
considered it an insult to God that humans could be born inherently sinful or biased towards sin, and Pelagius believed that the soul was created by God at conception, and therefore could not be imbued with sin as it was solely the product of God’s creative agency.
17th Century print of Pelagius
Germanus was sent to Britain, where he confronted Pelagian converts in a public debate which is thought to have taken place in a disused Roman amphitheatre. The author is not interested in Britain, per se, so does not tell us which town it was, but, it is mostly assumed to be St Albans, although London is possible.
In the stadium, the Saint and his acolytes confound the heretics and, so, convert the town’s people sitting watching the debate. St Germanus goes to a nearby shrine of St Alban to thank God, falls asleep in a hut, and is miraculously saved from a fire. He then comes across a man called a Tribune, and helps defeat a Saxon army in the ‘Alleluia’ victory. The importance of all this is that it gives us a few glimpses of Britain, in about 429AD, two decades after the Romans have left.
The British Bishops were led in their heresy by someone called Agricola. The writer describes these bishops as ‘conspicuous for riches, brilliant in dress and surrounded by a fawning multitude’. The use of the title ‘Tribune’ in the story suggests Roman administrative titles are still in use 19 years after the date of the ‘formal’ end of Roman Britain, 410AD. The Alleluia victory over the Saxons also gives us an early date for Saxon presence in the country as an enemy.
St Albans is the favoured choice for the location of the event because, Bede tells us St Albans was born, martyred and commemorated in Verulamium, now called St Albans. Archaeology shows possible post Roman occupation of the town. And it has a famous Amphitheatre.
However, Gildas, who is writing 200 years or more before Bede, tells us St Alban was born in Verulamium but martyred in London. This makes sense as London was the late Roman Capital and more likely to be the site of a martyrdom. There is also a church dedicated to St Albans close to the Roman Amphitheatre, where Gildas tells us the execution took place. Unfortunately, the Church cannot be, archaeologically dated back to 429AD.
Bede’s account of the martyrdom of St Albans is also somewhat farcical, as God divides the waters of the River Ver for Alban to get to his martyrdom more quickly. The bridge was said to be full of people walking to witness Alban’s execution, and blocking Alban’s path to Heaven. But the Ver is but a piddle, and it would be easy to walk across without even needing wellington boats, let along a miracle. This story is much more impressive, in Gildas’ version who has the miraculous crossing over the River Thames.
Had Pelegius won, and the Roman Church had a more optimistic view of the human spirit, would it have made any difference? It’s a big question, but maybe it would have left less room for pessimism and guilt?
What were the effects of original sin? …. it damaged our relationship with God. He seemed distant, we became mistrustful. We lost sanctifying grace. The weakening of the will, making us more prone to temptation. The darkening of the intellect. Increased vulnerability to sickness and disease. Spiritual death.
Germanus died in Ravenna.
For more on Nick Fuentes and his theories on St Germanus, St Patrick and King Arthur click here:
‘Beans in a Supermarket’) By 維基小霸王 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88894798
So, I started to write about the importance of beans on July 27th until waylaid by the Earl of Oxford’s Fart (see my post here).
This is the time of year when Beans were being harvested. The humble bean (Broad beans) were surprisingly important for the pre-modern diet. Virgil in his Georgics comments on the fallow system as follows:
‘Likewise, alternate years, let your cut fields lie fallow, and the idle ground harden with neglect: or sow yellow corn, under another star, where you first harvested beans. rich in their quivering pods’
Beans were introduced to the UK in the Bronze Age and are often found in Iron Age sites. But they grew in importance. By the thirteen hundreds beans represented 17% of Leicestershire crops, 30% by 1400 and 46% by 1588, and thereafter declined. Beans fix nitrogen in the soil so would have helped with the general fertility. But they were also a very healthy and filing food which had the added advantage that, when dried, they are virtually indestructible.
Aelfric of the Cistercian Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire wrote of eating ‘leaves and egg, fish and cheese, butter and beans’. Beans or peas would also have been eaten with bacon, which is like our Pea and Ham Soup. The salted bacon would provide the salt. Physician Andrew Boorde suggested the Danes lived on Beans and Salt Fish. (A Dyetary of Health 1542.) The place of Broad Beans in our diet has largely been replaced by beans from the Americas.
Elizabeth Tingle in ‘The Bean-Bellies’ of Leicestershire gives an interesting account of how much beans dominated midland farming. A well-known saying was ‘Shake a Leicestershire man by the collar and you may hear the beans rattle in his belly’
The Feudal system in the medieval system had the land owned by the Lord of the Manor, and managed by his Reeve. The land was divided up into three large fields which the Reeve arranged the dividing up of between the peasants. The fields were divided into furlong-length strips. A furlong was a furrow length, and was 220 yards long. By the end of the furrow the ox needed a rest, and were turned around. This system lead to the creation of ridge and furrows which you can often see in fields even to this day. (In Scotland its known as rigg and furrow.) These long ridge and hollows in fields are caused by non-reversible ploughs, which threw up the soil on the same side building it up.
The first field normally grew wheat or sometimes rye. The second field was planted with a mixture of crops which included peas and beans, rye, barley or oats, which are spring crops. The third field was left fallow, which allowed the sheep to graze upon it and their dung helped the field recover. The next year the fields were rotated. There were also water meadows and a common field. The common field was usably by everyone and became vital for the succour of poor people. All its resources could be exploited: for grazing, firewood, mushrooms, etc. The meadows were used to graze cows and then for making hay. ( see my post on haymaking here🙂 The woodland areas would be used for grazing pigs, providing fuel, and wood for manufacturing tools, and structures. Peasants had their own garden plot and often kept a pig.
‘Beans in a Supermarket’) By 維基小霸王 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=88894798
‘This Earl of Oxford, making of his low obeisance to Queen Elizabeth, happened to let a Fart, at which he was so abashed and ashamed that he went to Travel [for] 7 years. On his return the Queen welcomed him home, and said, ‘My Lord, I had forgot the Fart’.’
‘Beans cause flatulence due to the presence of oligosaccharides, a type of sugar that the body struggles to digest. These sugars pass through the small intestine undigested and reach the large intestine, where gut bacteria ferment them, producing gas (hydrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide) as a byproduct. ‘
This is the second time I’ve used AI, the other was to get a short history of ice cream. (Click here to read it).
The Earl of Oxford is, of course, Edward de Vere (1550 -1604). One of the favourites of those who think Shakespeare didn’t write Shakespeare’s Plays. De Vere lived in a big house in Clapton, Hackney. On the other side of Brooke Rd where I lived in the 1990’s. The House was originally called the King’s Place, and had a part in Henry VIII’s reconciliation with his daughter Mary. It came into the hands of Thomas Cromwell, and was eventually bought by de Vere. He died while living there and is buried in the nearby St John’s Church, Hackney. But plans for a grand tomb for him and his wife were not honoured by his heirs, and so his burial plot is not known. The House was renamed Brooke House, after Fulke Greville (Lord Brooke) Poet and courtier who lived here 1609-1628. He was from the Warwick Family. Shakespeare was involved with his relative who enclosed the common land where the Royal Shakespeare Memorial Theatre now is.
Fulke Grenville wrote the first biography of the inventor of the Sonnet, Sir Philip Sidney, his dear friend. The form which Shakespeare used to such good effect in his Sonnets.
Sir Philip Sidney’s sister Mary was a formidable literary star in her own right, completing some of her brother’s work after his death. She ran formidable salons in her houses at Wilton and Baynards Castle (in London). She married the Earl of Pembroke. Their son was William Third Earl of Pembroke who was founder of Pembroke College with James 1st and the Chancellor of Oxford University. But also he and his younger brother, Philip were the “incomparable pair of brethren” to whom the First Folio of Shakespeare’s collected works was dedicated in 1623.
Quite some literary nexus at Brooke Road, Clapton. De Vere himself was part of this world. Considered one of the best Court Poets, Playwrights anf a patron of the arts. He was also a champion jouster. Not only was he from one of the oldest families but he was a ward of Queen Elizabeth I and married to Lord Burghley’s daughter. He was evidently charming. But also murderous as he got involved with various fatal street battles with his enemies in London. His career was up and down and full of crises. He was involved with the Boy Companies that acted in the old Blackfriars friary.
There seems to have been an attraction to Catholicism, but he accused Arundell and Henry Howard of involvement in Catholic plot. They counter claimed he was guilty of
‘atheism, lying, heresy, disobedience to the crown, treason, murder for hire, sexual perversion, habitual drunkenness, vowing to murder various courtiers, and criticizing the Queen for doing “everything with the worst grace that ever woman did.
They claimed he was guilty of
‘serial child rape, claiming he’d abused “so many boyes it must nedes come out. Detailed testimony from nearly a dozen victims and witnesses substantiated the charge and included names, dates, and places. Two of the six boys named had sought help from adults after Oxford raped them violently and denied them medical care.’
(Quotations from Wikipedia)
None of the three suffered from these mutual accusations.
And I began this piece wanting to talk about the humble bean!
There is much more to say too, about Brooke House, De Vere and the Sidney’s.
Screenshot of BBC Webpage annoucing the attack on the Stone of Destiny
I just tried to book a visit to see the Stone of Destiny, at Perth Museum. But I was told it was closed until at least the end of August. The reason being that a case had been damaged. A quick search revealed this notice that an Australian had attacked the case containing the Stone with a hammer. They are now repairing the Case, and double checking the condition of the stone, which is thought to be undamaged. The Stone is well protected in a special room of the Museum. But, until now, those booking to see it are not searched. So I imagine that this will become more formal in future.
Below is my post of 2024, updated on March 30th 2025.
New Home for the Stone of Destiny
Old Photograph of the Stone of Destiny beneath the Coronation Chair.
Last year, the Stone of Destiny was set up in its new permanent place. The Stone was unveiled in a room at the centre of the redeveloped Perth Museum, in Scotland. This is near to its ‘original’ home at the Palace of Scone.
‘£27m development project ….funded by £10m UK government investment from the £700m Tay Cities Deal and by Perth & Kinross Council, the museum is a transformation of Perth’s former city hall by architects Mecanoo.’
As well as the Stone of Destiny, the Museum has Bonnie Prince Charlie’s sword and a rare Jacobite wine glass. Both on public display for the first time. This is the first time the sword has been in Scotland since it was made in Perth in 1739. https://perthmuseum.co.uk/the-stone-of-destiny/. Since I first wrote this I have visited about 5 times. Entry is free but needs to be booked. It is held in a separate structure in the open space at the heart of the Perth Museum. There is an excellent-animated introduction, and then the doors open and the Stone is revealed in a glass cabinet. It is very effective.
Webpage of the Perth Museum show a photo of the Stone of Destiny
The Stone of Destiny in the Modern Era
Before Perth, the Stone was in London for a brief visit for the Coronation of King Charles III (6 May 2023) . It was put back, temporarily under the Coronation Chair. Before that it was on display in Edinburgh Castle. Tony Blair’s Labour Government sent it back to Scotland as a symbol of the devolution of power from Westminster. This was on the occasion of the restoration of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh in November 1996. Until then the Stone was under the Coronation Chair, where Edward I put it after he stole it (1296) from Scone. Virtually every English and British King has been crowned upon the Stone of Scone.
However, the Stone had a brief holiday in Scotland in 1950/51. Four Scottish students removed it from Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day 1950. After three months, it turned up at the high altar of Arbroath Abbey. It was briefly in a Prison Cell, then returned to Westminster for the Coronation of Elizabeth II.
Poor photograph of a press cutting on display at the Palace of Scone (Photo by me!)
Declaration of Arbroath
I’m guessing the-would-be liberators of the Stone, thought Arbroath was the most suitable place to return it. For it was the Declaration of Arbroath which is the supreme declaration of Scottish Independence from England.
Following the Battle of Bannockburn the Scots wrote to the Pope of their commitment to Scotland as an independent nation. They said:
“As long as a hundred of us remain alive, never will we on any conditions be subjected to the lordship of the English. It is in truth not for glory, nor riches, nor honours that we are fighting, but for freedom alone, which no honest man gives up but with life itself”
The Pope agreed and Scotland remained independent until voluntarily joining England in the United Kingdom in 1707.
Before Edward 1 stole the Stone, it was at Scone Palace. Here most of the Kings of Scotland were crowned, including Macbeth (August 14, 1040).
Moot or Boot Hill where Scottish Kings were crowned. Palace of Scone Photo Kevin Flude)
Those who attended the coronation traditionally shook their feet of all the earth they had brought from their homelands. This over the centuries, grew into Boot Hill, aka Moot Hill. So the mound represents the sacred land of Scotland. 42 Kings were crowned upon its soil on its Stone. (but not Mary Queen of Scots she and her son were crowned at the Chapel Royal of Stirling Castle).
Where was the Stone of Destiny before Scone?
Before Scone, it was, possibly, in Argyllshire where the Gaelic Kings were crowned. Their most famous King was Kenneth MacAlpin. He united the Scots, Gaelic people originally from Ireland, the Picts, and the British. And created a new Kingdom which was originally called Alba, but became Scotland.
MacAlpin was the first king to be crowned on the Stone at Scone in 841 or so. He made Scone the capital of his new Kingdom because it was a famous Monastery, associated with the Culdees, an early sect of monks. MacAlpin brought sacred relics from Iona to sanctify the new capital. And Scottish Kings were by tradition crowned at Scone and buried on the holy Island of Iona.
Legend has it that the Scots bought the Stone from Ireland when they began to settle in Western Scotland (c500AD). The Scots, it is said, got the Stone from the Holy Land. Jacob lay his head on the stone to sleep. He had a dream of Angels ascending and descending a ladder to Heaven. Jacob used the stone as a memorial, which was called Jacob’s Pillow (c1652 years BC).
Fake, Copy or Genuine?
But, questions about the Stone remain. Firstly, would the Monks of the Abbey meekly hand over the stone to a raging King Edward I? Sacking the Abbey was one of the last events of Edward’s failed attempt to unite the two countries. Isn’t it more likely that they hide the original and gave him a fake?
Secondly, was the Stone brought to Scone from Western Scotland in the 9th Century? Or was it made in Scone?
These questions of doubt are based on the assumption that the Stone is made of the local Scone sandstone. If it were brought to Scone from somewhere else, it would be in a different type of stone, surely? So, either it was made in Scone, possibly for MacAlpin’s Coronation or the Monks fooled the English into taking a copy. The English would then have been crowning their Monarchs on a forgery.
Ha! Silly English but then the Scots have spent £27m on the same forgery.
Before bringing the stone to Scone, Historic Environment Scotland undertook a new analysis of the stone. This confirmed:
‘the Stone as being indistinguishable from sandstones of the Scone Sandstone Formation, which outcrop in the area around Scone Palace, near Perth‘.
It also found that different stone workers had worked on the stone in the past. It bore traces of a plaster cast being made. It had markings which have not yet been deciphered. There was copper staining suggesting something copper or bronze was put on the top of it at some point in its life.
So it seems the Stone of Destiny was made in Scone. The simplest explanation is that it was made for MacAlpin in the 9th Century. But it does not rule out that it is a copy given to Edward I. But if this is the case it is still an awesome relic of history as so many Kings and Queens, Scottish and English, have been crowned upon it.
Summer is the best time to fish for Eels. Mid May to the end of July. But they can be caught all year around. Jellied Eels have been a staple of East End diets since the 18th Century. They were to be found in many stalls dotted around the East End, from vendors venturing into pubs and in Pie and Mash shops. Tubby Isaacs is perhaps, the most famous. Jellied eels are still sold in a diminishing number of places in the East End. Manze’s Eel, Pie, and Mash shop at 204 Deptford High Street, London was listed in December 2023. The shop opened in 1914 and was a pioneer of commercial branding. This is the fourth Manze’s shop to be listed: Tower Bridge Street, Chapel Market Islington, and Walthamstow High street. The current owner of the Deptford shop is retiring and so the shop will close.
There are three Pie and Mash shops near me in Hackney. The one in Dalston has become a bar. In Broadway Market it is now an optician. But the one in Hoxton Market is surviving, and all three have retained their distinctive interiors. On the River Lee Navigation is another piece of Eel history which is the excellent Fish and Eel Pub at Dobbs Weir.
Pie and Mash Shop. Established 1862, closed down 2021. Broadway Market, Hackney (photo, copyright the author)
My mum loved jellied eels. It took me until I was over 60 before I could bring myself to try them. And I have no wish to repeat, what for me, was a revolting experience.
By JanesDaddy (Ensglish User) – English Wikipedia – [1], CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1663124
Gervase Markham in his ‘The English Husbandman’ of 1635 provides instructions on how:
To take Eels in Winter, Make a long bottle or tube of Hay, wrapped about Willow boughs, and having guts or garbage in the middles. Which being soaked in the deep water by the river side, after two or three days the eels will be in it and you may tread them out with your feet.
Eel traps at Bray, on the River Thames (Henry Taught 1885)
Romans, Saxons and Eels
Eels have been eaten for thousands of years. Apicius, author of a famous collection of Roman Recipes tells us of two sauces for eels:
Sauce for Eel Ius in anguillam
Eel will be made more palatable by a sauce which has pepper, celery seed, lovage, anise, Syrian sumach, figdate wine, honey, vinegar, broth, oil, mustard, reduced must.
Another Sauce for Eel Aliter ius in anguillam
Pepper, lovage, Syrian sumach, dry mint, rue berries, hard yolks, mead, vinegar, broth, oil; cook it.
Bede’s Historia Ecclesiastica, which tells of Britain as a land with “the greatest plenty of eel and fish.” Several fish traps have been found in and around the Thames, one for example in Chelsea.
Aristotle, Freud and the Deep Sargasso Sea
But eels had a great mystery no one knew where they came from or how they reproduced. Aristotle thought they spontaneously emerged from the mud. Sigmund Freud dissected hundreds of Eels, hoping to find male sex organs. It was only on 19th October 2022 that an article in the science journal Nature disclosed the truth. The article was ‘First direct evidence of adult European eels migrating to their breeding place in the Sargasso Sea‘. Ir proved beyond doubt that the theory that Eels go to the sea near Bermuda to spawn was, incredibly, true.
Eel Pie Island
Eel Pie Island . Ordnance Survey In 1871 to 1882 map series (OS, 1st series at 1:10560: Surrey (Wikipedia)
But Eels also have their place in Rock and Roll History. Eel Pie island is on the Thames, near Twickenham and Richmond. It is famous for its Eels. But was home to an iconic music venue. The Eel Pie Hotel hosted most of the great English Bands of the 50s. 60s, and 70s. The roll call of bands here is awesome. The Stones, Cream, Rod Stewart, Pink Floyd, you name it, they were here:
David Bowie, Jeff Beck, Howlin’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Memphis Slim, Champion Jack Dupree. Buddy Guy, Geno Washington, Long John Baldry, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger. John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Ten Years After, Chicken Shack, and one of my all-time favourite bands. the Savoy Brown Blues Band. And I have forgotten the Nice, the Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Joe Cocker, and the Who. And many more!
The Rolling Stones played at the Railway Tavern, Richmond on Sunday, February 24, 1963. Here they were spotted by people from the nearby Eel Pie Hotel. They were booked for a 6 month residency, which they began as virtually unknown and ended as famous.
This was first published as part of another post in 2022, and revised and republished on 28th November 2023, 2024.Moved from November 28th to July 23rd in 2025
(I moved it to make room for a post on Mrs Shakespeare. Also, because I cannot find anything to substantiate the opening statement that the Eel Season had its second day on November 28th. All evidence I find says the best fishing is in the Summer.
St Margaret about to be beheaded. Castle Howard (if I remember rightly from the label, this is by William Morris)
Apologise for being a day or two late with St Margaret’s story. I’m thinking this might be the last post about a converted Christian young woman, who declares her virginity and is then tortured and executed by a rich Roman official who wants to marry her. But St Margaret was a very important Saint in Medieval England, there were 250 churches in England dedicated to her. Perhaps the best known one being St Margaret’s in Westminster which is Parliament’s Parish Church.
Margaret is probably fictitious, but the martyrdom is placed in the early 4th Century near Antioch. When I worked for the V&A, I walked past her Altarpiece most days. You can see it below. I always stopped to look at it. I would wonder why medieval martyrdoms were so very bloody, frankly, sadomasochistic.
St Margaret of Antioch’s Altar Piece. North Germany c 1520. Victoria and Albert Museum. Photo by K. Flude
Her story is of a young women, who finds Christ, and vows to stay a virgin. She is desired by a powerful pagan Roman who she refuses. So he has her imprisoned, tempted by the devil, and tortured. First, with iron combs, then scourged, eaten by a dragon, boiled in a vessel of pitch, and finally beheaded.
The interesting bit is the dragon. She survives being eaten (does a dragon not have teeth?). And, in the dragon’s stomach, her Cross makes the dragon bursts open. She is ejected alive. But there is no respite, and resumes her torture. But because she comes out of the dragon’s stomach, she is the Patron Saint of Child bearing! It’s a mad story and all depicted in graphic detail on the central section of the altarpiece. Her beheading is on the right hand section.
If you, like me, do not understand all this holy violence, you will want to click on the link below. This will lead you to an fascinating essay on Martyrdom, written for St Margaret’s Day. For another Martyr, with a parallel story, have a look at my post of St Catherine.
St Uncumber or St Wilgerfortis Chapel of Henry VII Westminster Abbey, London
My jaw literally dropped when I first came across a reference to St Wilgerfortis. She is also known as St Uncumber. The stories of early Catholic martyrs, particularly female ones, are often so bizarre that I’m surprised I can be surprised. But let’s uncumber the story.
Her Portuguese father promised her in marriage to a Moorish King or in other versions, a Sicilian King. She had made a vow of virginity. She prayed to God to make her repulsive so that the marriage would not go ahead. God heard her prayers and she grew a beard. The marriage was cancelled. But her angry dad had her crucified.
She is normally shown on a cross in female attire with a prominent beard. She is the patron saint of people who are trapped in unwanted or abusive relationships. So those who need to uncumber themselves from an unsuitable partner. Wilgerfortis’s name is thought to derive from Latin “virgo fortis” meaning “courageous virgin”. She goes under different names in different parts of Europe. For instance, in France she is known as Débarras meaning “riddance”.
The cult was suppressed in the 16th Century but continued in some areas into the 19th Century. The location of a statue to her in Henry VII’s Chapel, Westminster Abbey suggests she had some influence in England late into the medieval period.
The obvious trans aspects of her story gives her contemporary resonance. Her status as protector of those wanting to uncumber themselves from unsuitable relationships has interesting discontinuities with traditional catholic theology. I would love to hear a medieval Catholic discussion about her role.
St Wilgerfortis St Etienne Beauvais c 1500 AD
She is both woman and man, and by being crucified both human and divine. She is often shown with only one shoe on. One explanation of this is that a fiddler played at her feet to comfort her during he death agonies. So she dropped a silver shoe to reward the fiddler. Others propose that the shoe is a symbol of female genitalia. One shoe on, one off can, therefore, be a symbol of shared male and female genitalia?
How the cult developed is not known but a suggestion is made that early medieval icons of the crucifixion were dressed in gowns that were confused with female attire. And it caught on providing comfort for people the image talked to.
St Wilgerfortis
Perhaps, she shows the power of Art to break down traditional values. There above you on the Church wall, the image evokes Christ, But both female and yet male. Human and Divine. And graphical condemning male violence against women. So a Saint who is non-binary, existing in the gaps between the normative?
Round about this time every year, the City of London, goes through its ancient Carmarking Ceremony. This records that the vehicle has paid the 5/- license fee for going through Guildhall Arch. The ceremony brands each vehicle with a hot branding iron. A piece of wood is branded which is attached to the vehicle.
![By JanesDaddy (Ensglish User) - English Wikipedia - [1], CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1663124](https://www.chr.org.uk/anddidthosefeet/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/1280px-Eels_1385-1024x768.jpg)
