Concluding Carol Service of the Nineteenth Century 349
INDEX 351
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
Bringing in the Yule Log _Frontispiece_
The Herald Angels 2
Virgin and Child 5
Joseph Taking Mary to be Taxed, and the Nativity Events 6
The Nativity (_Central portion of Picture in National Gallery_) 8
Virgin and Child (_Relievo_) 9
Group from the Angels' Serenade 10
Adoration of the Magi (_From Pulpit of Pisa_) 11
"The Inns are Full" 14
Grape Gathering and the Vintage (_Mosaic in the Church of
St. Constantine, Rome, A.D. 320_) 16
German Ninth Century Picture of the Nativity 16
Ancient Roman Illustrations 17
Ancient Roman Illustrations 18
Ancient Agape 19
Ancient Roman Illustrations 21
Early Celebrations in Britain 23
Queen Bertha 27
An Ancient Fireplace 30
Traveling in the Olden Time, with a "Christmas Fool"
on the Front Seat" 31
The Wild Boar Hunt: Killing the Boar 32
Adoration of the Magi (_Picture of Stained Glass, Winchester
Cathedral_) 34
A King at Dinner 40
Blind Minstrel at a Feast 42
Minstrels' Christmas Serenade at an Old Baronial Hall 44
Westminster Hall 46
Strange Old Stories Illustrated (_From Harl. MS._) 50
A Cook of the Period (_Early Norman_) 55
Monk Undergoing Discipline 56
Wassailing at Christmastide 57
Panoply of a Crusader 58
Royal Party Dining in State 63
Ladies Looking from the Hustings upon the Tournament 73
The Lord of Misrule 74
Curious Cuts of Priestly Players in the Olden Time 76
A Court Fool 77
Virgin and Child (_Florentine, 1480. South Kensington Museum_) 83
Henry VI.'s Cradle 84
Lady Musician of the Fifteenth Century 91
Rustic Christmas Minstrel with Pipe and Tabor 92
Martin Luther and the Christmas Tree 106
The Little Orleans Madonna of Raphael 107
Magdalen College, Oxford 110
Bringing in the Boar's Head with Minstrelsy 111
Virgin and Child, Chirbury, Shropshire 118
Riding a-Mumming at Christmastide 121
A Dumb Show in the Time of Elizabeth 123
The Fool of the Old Play (_From a Print by Breughel_) 137
The Acting of one of Shakespeare's Plays in the Time of
Queen Elizabeth 141
Neighbours with Pipe and Tabor 147
Christmas in the Hall 149
The Hobby-Horse 197
Servants' Christmas Feast 202
"The Hackin" 216
Seafaring Pilgrims 219
An Ancient Fireplace 225
A Druid Priestess Bearing Mistletoe 228
A Nest of Fools 229
"The Mask Dance" 231
The Christmas Mummers 234
The Waits 240
The Christmas Plum-Pudding 245
Italian Minstrels in London, at Christmas, 1825 246
Snap Dragon 247
Blindman's Buff 249
The Christmas Dance 250
The Giving Away of Christmas Doles 257
Poor Children's Treat in Modern Times 265
The Christmas Bells 271
Wassailing the Apple-Trees in Devonshire 279
Modern Christmas Performers: Yorkshire Sword-Actors 282
Modern Christmas Characters: "St Peter," "St. Denys" 283
A Scotch First Footing 285
Provençal Plays at Christmastide 320
Nativity Picture (_From Byzantine Ivory in the British Museum_) 324
Calabrian Shepherds Playing in Rome at Christmas 329
Worshipping the Child Jesus (_From a Picture in the Museum
at Naples_) 337
Angels and Men Worshipping the Child Jesus (_From a
Picture in Seville Cathedral_) 338
Simeon Received the Child Jesus into his Arms (_From Modern
Stained Glass in Bishopsgate Church, London_) 348
Lichfield Cathedral 349
[Illustration]
[Illustration:
While shepherds watched their flocks by night,
All seated on the ground;
The angel of the Lord came down,
And glory shone around.
_Carol._]
THE HERALD ANGELS.
Lo! God hath ope'd the glist'ring gates of heaven,
And thence are streaming beams of glorious light:
All earth is bath'd in the effulgence giv'n
To dissipate the darkness of the night.
The eastern shepherds, 'biding in the fields,
O'erlook the flocks till now their constant care,
And light divine to mortal sense reveals
A seraph bright descending in the air.
Hark! strains seraphic fall upon the ear,
From shining ones around th' eternal gates:
Glad that man's load of guilt may disappear,
Infinite strength on finite weakness waits.
Why are the trembling shepherds sore afraid?
Why shrink they at the grand, the heavenly sight?
"Fear not" (the angel says), nor be dismay'd,
And o'er them sheds a ray of God-sent light.
O matchless mercy! All-embracing love!
The angel speaks and, gladly, men record:--
"I bring you joyful tidings from above:
This day is born a Saviour, Christ the Lord!"
Hark! "Peace on earth, and God's good-will to men!"
The angels sing, and heaven resounds with praise--
That fallen man may live with God again,
Through Christ, who deigns the sons of men to raise.
W. F. D
_CHAPTER I._
THE ORIGIN AND ASSOCIATIONS OF CHRISTMAS.
THE FIRST CHRISTMAS: THE ADVENT OF CHRIST.
Behold, a virgin shall conceive,
And bear a Son,
And shall call His name Immanuel.
(_Isaiah_ vii. 14.)
[Illustration]
Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When His mother Mary
had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found
with child of the Holy Ghost. And Joseph her husband, being a
righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was
minded to put her away privily. But when he thought on these things,
behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying,
Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife:
for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall
bring forth a Son; and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for it is He
that shall save His people from their sins. Now all this is come to
pass, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through
the prophet, saying,
Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a Son,
And they shall call His name Immanuel;
which is, being interpreted, God with us. And Joseph arose from his
sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took unto
him his wife; and knew her not till she had brought forth a Son; and
he called His name Jesus.
(_Matthew_ i. 18-25.)
[Illustration: "There went out a decree from Cæsar Augustus that all the
world should be taxed. And Joseph went to be taxed with Mary his
espoused wife, being great with child." (_Luke_ ii. 1-5.)]
And there were shepherds in the same country abiding in the field,
and keeping watch by night over their flock. And an angel of the Lord
stood by them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and
they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Be not afraid;
for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to
all the people: for there is born to you this day in the city of David
a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this is the sign unto you; Ye
shall find a babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host
praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace among men in whom He is well pleased.
And it came to pass, when the angels went away from them into heaven,
the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem,
and see this thing that is come to pass, which the Lord hath made
known unto us. And they came with haste, and found both Mary and
Joseph, and the Babe lying in the manger. And when they saw it, they
made known concerning the saying which was spoken to them about this
child. And all that heard it wondered at the things which were spoken
unto them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, pondering
them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising
God for all the things that they had heard and seen, even as it was
spoken unto them.
(_Luke_ ii. 8-20.)
THE PLACE OF THE NATIVITY.
The evangelist Matthew tells us that "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of
Judæa in the days of Herod the king;" and Justin Martyr, who was born
at Shechem and lived less than a century after the time of Christ,
places the scene of the Nativity in a cave. Over this cave has risen
the Church and Convent of the Nativity, and there is a stone slab with
a star cut in it to mark the spot where the Saviour was born. Dean
Farrar, who has been at the place, says: "It is impossible to stand in
the little Chapel of the Nativity, and to look without emotion on the
silver star let into the white marble, encircled by its sixteen
everburning lamps, and surrounded by the inscription, '_Hic de Virgine
Maria Jesus Christus natus est_.'"
To visit such a scene is to have the thoughts carried back to the
greatest event in the world's history, for it has been truly said that
the birth of Christ was the world's second birthday.
Now, death is life! and grief is turn'd to joy!
Since glory shone on that auspicious morn,
When God incarnate came, not to destroy,
But man to save and manhood's state adorn!
W. F. D.
[Illustration: The Nativity by Sandro Botticelli
Centre Portion of Picture in National Gallery]
THE WORD "CHRISTMAS": ITS ORTHOGRAPHY AND MEANING.
"Christmas" (pronounced Kris'mas) signifies "Christ's Mass," meaning
the festival of the Nativity of Christ, and the word has been
variously spelt at different periods. The following are obsolete forms
of it found in old English writings: Crystmasse, Cristmes, Cristmas,
Crestenmes, Crestenmas, Cristemes, Cristynmes, Crismas, Kyrsomas,
Xtemas, Cristesmesse, Cristemasse, Crystenmas, Crystynmas, Chrystmas,
Chrystemes, Chrystemasse, Chrystymesse, Cristenmas, Christenmas,
Christmass, Christmes. Christmas has also been called _Noël_ or
_Nowel_. As to the derivation of the word _Noël_, some say it is a
contraction of the French _nouvelles_ (tidings), _les bonnes
nouvelles_, that is "The good news of the Gospel"; others take it as
an abbreviation of the Gascon or Provençal _nadaü_, _nadal_, which
means the same as the Latin _natalis_, that is, _dies natalis_, "the
birthday." In "The Franklin's Tale," Chaucer alludes to "Nowel" as a
festive cry at Christmastide: "And 'Nowel' crieth every lusty man."
Some say _Noël_ is a corruption of _Yule_, _Jule_, or _Ule_, meaning
"The festival of the sun." The name _Yule_ is still applied to the
festival in Scotland, and some other places. Christmas is represented
in Welsh by _Nadolig_, which signifies "the natal, or birth"; in
French by _Noël_; and in Italian by _Il Natale_, which, together with
its cognate term in Spanish, is simply a contraction of _dies
natalis_, "the birthday."
CHRISTMAS: blest Feast of the Nativity!
H eaven made thy lowly shrine
R esplendent with the gift of the eternal Deity
I n whom we live and move, whose large benignity
S pared not His Son divine:
T hat well-beloved Son by God was given,
M ankind to save with His redeeming blood;
A nd Jesus freely left the bliss of Heaven,
S uffering death, to achieve our lasting good.--W. F. D.
[Illustration]
_CHAPTER II_.
THE EARLIER CELEBRATIONS OF THE FESTIVAL.
THE EARLIER CELEBRATIONS.
[Illustration: GROUP FROM THE ANGELS' SERENADE THEODORE MINTROP]
The Angels' Song has been called the first Christmas Carol, and the
shepherds who heard this heavenly song of peace and goodwill, and went
"with haste" to the birthplace at Bethlehem, where they "found Mary,
and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger," certainly took part in
the first celebration of the Nativity. And the Wise Men, who came
afterwards with presents from the East, being led to Bethlehem by the
appearance of the miraculous star, may also be regarded as taking part
in the first celebration of the Nativity, for the name Epiphany (now
used to commemorate the manifestation of the Saviour) did not come
into use till long afterwards, and when it was first adopted among the
Oriental Churches it was designed to commemorate both the birth and
baptism of Jesus, which two events the Eastern Churches believed to
have occurred on January 6th. Whether the shepherds commemorated the
Feast of the Nativity annually does not appear from the records of the
Evangelists; but it is by no means improbable that to the end of their
lives they would annually celebrate the most wonderful event which
they had witnessed.
[Illustration: ADORATION OF THE MAGI (Relievo.)
From Pulpit of Pisa Nicola: Pisano]
Within thirty years after the death of our Lord, there were churches
in Jerusalem, Cæsarea, Rome, and the Syrian Antioch. In reference to
the latter, Bishop Ken beautifully says:--
"Fair Antioch the rich, the great,
Of learning the imperial seat,
You readily inclined,
To light which on you shined;
It soon shot up to a meridian flame,
You first baptized it with a Christian name."
Clement, one of the Apostolic Fathers and third Bishop of Rome, who
flourished in the first century, says: "Brethren, keep diligently
feast-days, and truly in the first place the day of Christ's birth."
And according to another of the early Bishops of Rome, it was ordained
early in the second century, "that in the holy night of the Nativity
of our Lord and Saviour, they do celebrate public church services and
in them solemnly sing the Angels' Hymn, because also the same night He
was declared unto the shepherds by an angel, as the truth itself doth
witness."
But, before proceeding further with the historical narrative, it will
be well now to make more particular reference to the fixing of the
date of the festival.
FIXING THE DATE OF CHRISTMAS.
Whether the 25th of December, which is now observed as Christmas Day,
correctly fixes the period of the year when Christ was born is still
doubtful, although it is a question upon which there has been much
controversy. From Clement of Alexandria it appears, that when the
first efforts were made to fix the season of the Advent, there were
advocates for the 20th of May, and for the 20th or 21st of April. It
is also found that some communities of Christians celebrated the
festival on the 1st or 6th of January; others on the 29th of March,
the time of the Jewish Passover: while others observed it on the 29th
of September, or Feast of Tabernacles. The Oriental Christians
generally were of opinion that both the birth and baptism of Christ
took place on the 6th of January. Julius I., Bishop of Rome (A.D.
337-352), contended that the 25th of December was the date of Christ's
birth, a view to which the majority of the Eastern Church ultimately
came round, while the Church of the West adopted from their brethren
in the East the view that the baptism was on the 6th of January. It
is, at any rate, certain that after St. Chrysostom Christmas was
observed on the 25th of December in East and West alike, except in the
Armenian Church, which still remains faithful to January 6th. St.
Chrysostom, who died in the beginning of the fifth century, informs
us, in one of his Epistles, that Julius, on the solicitation of St.
Cyril of Jerusalem, caused strict inquiries to be made on the subject,
and thereafter, following what seemed to be the best authenticated
tradition, settled authoritatively the 25th of December as the
anniversary of Christ's birth, the _Festorum omnium metropolis_, as it
is styled by Chrysostom. It may be observed, however, that some have
represented this fixing of the day to have been accomplished by St.
Telesphorus, who was Bishop of Rome A.D. 127-139, but the authority
for the assertion is very doubtful. There is good ground for
maintaining that Easter and its accessory celebrations mark with
tolerable accuracy the anniversaries of the Passion and Resurrection
of our Lord, because we know that the events themselves took place at
the period of the Jewish Passover; but no such precision of date can
be adduced as regards Christmas. Dr. Geikie[1] says: "The _season_ at
which Christ was born is inferred from the fact that He was six months
younger than John, respecting the date of whose birth we have the help
of knowing the time of the annunciation during his father's
ministrations in Jerusalem. Still, the whole subject is very
uncertain. Ewald appears to fix the date of the birth as five years
earlier than our era. Petavius and Usher fix it as on the 25th of
December, five years before our era; Bengel, on the 25th of December,
four years before our era; Anger and Winer, four years before our era,
in the spring; Scaliger, three years before our era, in October; St.
Jerome, three years before our era, on December 25th; Eusebius, two
years before our era, on January 6th; and Ideler, seven years before
our era, in December." Milton, following the immemorial tradition of
the Church, says that--
"It was the winter wild."
But there are still many who think that the 25th of December does not
correspond with the actual date of the birth of Christ, and regard the
incident of the flocks and shepherds in the open field, recorded by
St. Luke, as indicative of spring rather than winter. This incident,
it is thought, could not have taken place in the inclement month of
December, and it has been conjectured, with some probability, that the
25th of December was chosen in order to substitute the purified joy of
a Christian festival for the license of the _Bacchanalia_ and
_Saturnalia_ which were kept at that season. It is most probable that
the Advent took place between December, 749, of Rome, and February,
750.
Dionysius Exiguus, surnamed the Little, a Romish monk of the sixth
century, a Scythian by birth, and who died A.D. 556, fixed the birth
of Christ in the year of Rome 753, but the best authorities are now
agreed that 753 was not the year in which the Saviour of mankind was
born. The Nativity is now placed, not as might have been expected, in
A.D. 1, but in B.C. 5 or 4. The mode of reckoning by the "year of our
Lord" was first introduced by Dionysius, in his "Cyclus Paschalis," a
treatise on the computation of Easter, in the first half of the sixth
century. Up to that time the received computation of events through
the western portion of Christendom had been from the supposed
foundation of Rome (B.C. 754), and events were marked accordingly as
happening in this or that year, _Anno Urbis Conditæ_, or by the
initial letters A.U.C. In the East some historians continued to reckon
from the era of Seleucidæ, which dated from the accession of Seleucus
Nicator to the monarchy of Syria, in B.C. 312. The new computation was
received by Christendom in the sixth century, and adopted without
adequate inquiry, till the sixteenth century. A more careful
examination of the data presented by the Gospel history, and, in
particular, by the fact that "Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa"
before the death of Herod, showed that Dionysius had made a mistake of
four years, or perhaps more, in his calculations. The death of Herod
took place in the year of Rome A.U.C. 750, just before the Passover.
This year coincided with what in our common chronology would be B.C.
4--so that we have to recognise the fact that our own reckoning is
erroneous, and to fix B.C. 5 or 4 as the date of the Nativity.
[Illustration: "THE INNS ARE FULL."]
Now, out of the consideration of the time at which the Christmas
festival is fixed, naturally arises another question, viz.:--
THE CONNECTION OF CHRISTMAS WITH ANCIENT FESTIVALS.
Sir Isaac Newton[2] says the Feast of the Nativity, and most of the
other ecclesiastical anniversaries, were originally fixed at cardinal
points of the year, without any reference to the dates of the
incidents which they commemorated, dates which, by lapse of time, it
was impossible to ascertain. Thus the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary
was placed on the 25th of March, or about the time of the vernal
equinox; the Feast of St. Michael on the 29th of September, or near
the autumnal equinox; and the Birth of Christ at the time of the
winter solstice. Christmas was thus fixed at the time of the year when
the most celebrated festivals of the ancients were held in honour of
the return of the sun which at the winter solstice begins gradually to
regain power and to ascend apparently in the horizon. Previously to
this (says William Sandys, F.S.A.),[3] the year was drawing to a
close, and the world was typically considered to be in the same state.
The promised restoration of light and commencement of a new era were
therefore hailed with rejoicings and thanksgivings. The Saxon and
other northern nations kept a festival at this time of the year in
honour of Thor, in which they mingled feasting, drinking, and dancing
with sacrifices and religious rites. It was called Yule, or Jule, a
term of which the derivation has caused dispute amongst antiquaries;
some considering it to mean a festival, and others stating that Iol,
or Iul (spelt in various ways), is a primitive word, conveying the
idea of Revolution or Wheel, and applicable therefore to the return of
the sun. The _Bacchanalia_ and _Saturnalia_ of the Romans had
apparently the same object as the Yuletide, or feast of the Northern
nations, and were probably adopted from some more ancient nations, as
the Greeks, Mexicans, Persians, Chinese, &c., had all something
similar. In the course of them, as is well known, masters and slaves
were supposed to be on an equality; indeed, the former waited on the
latter.[4] Presents were mutually given and received, as Christmas
presents in these days. Towards the end of the feast, when the sun was
on its return, and the world was considered to be renovated, a king or
ruler was chosen, with considerable power granted to him during his
ephemeral reign, whence may have sprung some of the Twelfth-Night
revels, mingled with those in honour of the Manifestation and
Adoration of the Magi. And, in all probability, some other Christmas
customs are adopted from the festivals of the ancients, as decking
with evergreens and mistletoe (relics of Druidism) and the wassail
bowl. It is not surprising, therefore, that Bacchanalian illustrations
have been found among the decorations in the early Christian Churches.
The illustration on the following page is from a mosaic in the Church
of St. Constantine, Rome, A.D. 320.
[Illustration: GRAPE GATHERING AND THE VINTAGE.
MOSAIC IN THE CHURCH OF ST. CONSTANTINE, ROME, A.D. 320.]
[Illustration: FROM AN IVORY (PART OF BOOK COVER)
GERMAN NINTH CENTURY BRITISH MUSEUM]
Dr. Cassel, of Germany, an erudite Jewish convert who is little known
in this country, has endeavoured to show that the festival of
Christmas has a Judæan origin. He considers that its customs are
significantly in accordance with those of the Jewish festival of the
Dedication of the Temple. This feast was held in the winter time, on
the 25th of Cisleu (December 20th), having been founded by Judas
Maccabæus in honour of the cleansing of the Temple in B.C. 164, six
years and a half after its profanation by Antiochus Epiphanes. In
connection with Dr. Cassel's theory it may be remarked that the German
word _Weihnachten_ (from _weihen_, "to consecrate, inaugurate," and
_nacht_, "night") leads directly to the meaning, "Night of the
Dedication."
[Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN ILLUSTRATIONS.]
In proceeding with our historical survey, then, we must recollect that
in the festivities of Christmastide there is a mingling of the Divine
with the human elements of society--the establishment and development
of a Christian festival on pagan soil and in the midst of
superstitious surroundings. Unless this be borne in mind it is
impossible to understand some customs connected with the celebration
of Christmas. For while the festival commemorates the Nativity of
Christ, it also illustrates the ancient practices of the various
peoples who have taken part in the commemoration, and not
inappropriately so, as the event commemorated is also linked to the
past. "Christmas" (says Dean Stanley) "brings before us the relations
of the Christian religion to the religions which went before; for the
birth at Bethlehem was itself a link with the past. The coming of
Jesus Christ was not unheralded or unforeseen. Even in the heathen
world there had been anticipations of an event of a character not
unlike this. In Plato's Dialogue bright ideals had been drawn of the
just man; in Virgil's Eclogues there had been a vision of a new and
peaceful order of things. But it was in the Jewish nation that these
anticipations were most distinct. That wonderful people in all its
history had looked, not backward, but forward. The appearance of Jesus
Christ was not merely the accomplishment of certain predictions; it
was the fulfilment of this wide and deep expectation of a whole
people, and that people the most remarkable in the ancient world."
Thus Dean Stanley links Christianity with the older religions of the
world, as other writers have connected the festival of Christmas with
the festivals of paganism and Judaism. The first Christians were
exposed to the dissolute habits and idolatrous practices of
heathenism, as well as the superstitious ceremonials of Judaism, and
it is in these influences that we must seek the true origin of many of
the usages and institutions of Christianity. The old hall of Roman
justice and exchange--an edifice expressive of the popular life of
Greece and Rome--was not deemed too secular to be used as the first
Christian place of worship: pagan statues were preserved as objects of
adoration, being changed but in name; names describing the functions
of Church officers were copied from the civil vocabulary of the time;
the ceremonies of Christian worship were accommodated as far as
possible to those of the heathen, that new converts might not be much
startled at the change, and at the Christmas festival Christians
indulged in revels closely resembling those of the _Saturnalia_.
[Illustration: ANCIENT ROMAN ILLUSTRATIONS.]
CHRISTMAS IN TIMES OF PERSECUTION.
It is known that the Feast of the Nativity was observed as early as
the first century, and that it was kept by the primitive Christians
even in dark days of persecution. "They wandered in deserts, and in
mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth" (Heb. xi. 38). Yet they
were faithful to Christ, and the Catacombs of Rome contain evidence
that they celebrated the Nativity.
The opening up of these Catacombs has brought to light many most
interesting relics of primitive Christianity. In these Christian
cemeteries and places of worship there are signs not only of the deep
emotion and hope with which they buried their dead, but also of their
simple forms of worship and the festive joy with which they
commemorated the Nativity of Christ. On the rock-hewn tombs these
primitive Christians wrote the thoughts that were most consoling to
themselves, or painted on the walls the figures which gave them the
most pleasure. The subjects of these paintings are for the most part
taken from the Bible, and the one which illustrates the earliest and
most universal of these pictures, and exhibits their Christmas joy, is
"The Adoration of the Magi." Another of these emblems of joyous
festivity which is frequently seen, is a vine, with its branches and
purple clusters spreading in every direction, reminding us that in
Eastern countries the vintage is the great holiday of the year. In the
Jewish Church there was no festival so joyous as the Feast of
Tabernacles, when they gathered the fruit of the vineyard, and in some
of the earlier celebrations of the Nativity these festivities were
closely copied. And as all down the ages pagan elements have mingled
in the festivities of Christmas, so in the Catacombs they are not
absent. There is Orpheus playing on his harp to the beasts; Bacchus as
the god of the vintage; Psyche, the butterfly of the soul; the Jordan
as the god of the rivers. The classical and the Christian, the Hebrew
and the Hellenic elements had not yet parted; and the unearthing of
these pictures after the lapse of centuries affords another
interesting clue to the origin of some of the customs of
Christmastide. It is astonishing how many of the Catacomb decorations
are taken from heathen sources and copied from heathen paintings; yet
we need not wonder when we reflect that the vine was used by the early
Christians as an emblem of gladness, and it was scarcely possible for
them to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity--a festival of glad
tidings--without some sort of _Bacchanalia_. Thus it appears that even
beneath the palaces and temples of pagan Rome the birth of Christ was
celebrated, this early undermining of paganism by Christianity being,
as it were, the germ of the final victory, and the secret praise,
which came like muffled music from the Catacombs in honour of the
Nativity, the prelude to the triumph-song in which they shall unite
who receive from Christ the unwithering crown.
[Illustration: ANCIENT AGAPE.
(_From Withrow's_ "_Catacombs of Rome_," which states that the
inscriptions, according to Dr. Maitland, should be expanded thus IRENE
DA CALDA[M AQVAM]--"Peace, give hot water," and AGAPE MISCE MI [VINVM
CVM AQVA]--"Love, mix me wine with water," the allusion being to the
ancient custom of tempering wine with water, hot or cold)]
[Illustration]
But they who would wear the crown must first bear the cross, and these
early Christians had to pass through dreadful days of persecution.
Some of them were made food for the torches of the atrocious Nero,
others were thrown into the Imperial fish-ponds to fatten lampreys for
the Bacchanalian banquets, and many were mangled to death by savage
beasts, or still more savage men, to make sport for thousands of
pitiless sightseers, while not a single thumb was turned to make the
sign of mercy. But perhaps the most gigantic and horrible of all
Christmas atrocities were those perpetrated by the tyrant Diocletian,
who became Emperor A.D. 284. The early years of his reign were
characterised by some sort of religious toleration, but when his
persecutions began many endured martyrdom, and the storm of his fury
burst on the Christians in the year 303. A multitude of Christians of
all ages had assembled to commemorate the Nativity in the temple at
Nicomedia, in Bithynia, when the tyrant Emperor had the town
surrounded by soldiers and set on fire, and about twenty thousand
persons perished. The persecutions were carried on throughout the
Roman Empire, and the death-roll included some British martyrs,
Britain being at that time a Roman province. St. Alban, who was put to
death at Verulam in Diocletian's reign, is said to have been the first
Christian martyr in Britain. On the retirement of Diocletian, satiated
with slaughter and wearied with wickedness, Galerius continued the
persecutions for a while. But the time of deliverance was at hand, for
the martyrs had made more converts in their deaths than in their
lives. It was vainly hoped that Christianity would be destroyed, but
in the succeeding reign of Constantine it became the religion of the
empire. Not one of the martyrs had died in vain or passed through
death unrecorded.
[Illustration]
"There is a record traced on high,
That shall endure eternally;
The angel standing by God's throne
Treasures there each word and groan;
And not the martyr's speech alone,
But every word is there depicted,
With every circumstance of pain
The crimson stream, the gash inflicted--
And not a drop is shed in vain."
CELEBRATIONS UNDER CONSTANTINE THE GREAT.
With the accession of Constantine (born at York, February 27, 274, son
of the sub-Emperor Constantius by a British mother, the "fair Helena
of York," and who, on the death of his father at York in 306, was in
Britain proclaimed Emperor of the Roman Empire) brighter days came to
the Christians, for his first act was one of favour to them. He had
been present at the promulgation of Diocletian's edict of the last and
fiercest of the persecutions against the Christians, in 303, at
Nicomedia, soon after which the imperial palace was struck by
lightning, and the conjunction of the events seems to have deeply
impressed him. No sooner had he ascended the throne than his good
feeling towards the Christians took the active form of an edict of
toleration, and subsequently he accepted Christianity, and his example
was followed by the greater part of his family. And now the
Christians, who had formerly hidden away in the darkness of the
Catacombs and encouraged one another with "Alleluias," which served as
a sort of invitatory or mutual call to each other to praise the Lord,
might come forth into the Imperial sunshine and hold their services in
basilicas or public halls, the roofs of which (Jerome tells us)
"re-echoed with their cries of Alleluia," while Ambrose says the sound
of their psalms as they sang in celebration of the Nativity "was like
the surging of the sea in great waves of sound." And the Catacombs
contain confirmatory evidence of the joy with which relatives of the
Emperor participated in Christian festivities. In the tomb of
Constantia, the sister of the Emperor Constantine, the only
decorations are children gathering the vintage, plucking the grapes,
carrying baskets of grapes on their heads, dancing on the grapes to
press out the wine. This primitive conception of the Founder of
Christianity shows the faith of these early Christians to have been of
a joyous and festive character, and the Graduals for Christmas Eve and
Christmas morning, the beautiful Kyrie Eleisons (which in later times
passed into carols), and the other festival music which has come down
to us through that wonderful compilation of Christian song, _Gregory's
Antiphonary_, show that Christmas stood out prominently in the
celebrations of the now established Church, for the Emperor
Constantine had transferred the seat of government to Constantinople,
and Christianity was formally recognised as the established religion.
EPISCOPAL REFERENCES TO CHRISTMAS AND CAUTIONS AGAINST EXCESSES.
Cyprian, the intrepid Bishop of Carthage, whose stormy episcopate
closed with the crown of martyrdom in the latter half of the third
century, began his treatise on the Nativity thus: "The much wished-for
and long expected Nativity of Christ is come, the famous solemnity is
come"--expressions which indicate the desire with which the Church
looked forward to the festival, and the fame which its celebrations
had acquired in the popular mind. And in later times, after the
fulness of festivity at Christmas had resulted in some excesses,
Bishop Gregory Nazianzen (who died in 389), fearing the spiritual
thanksgiving was in danger of being subordinated to the temporal
rejoicing, cautioned all Christians "against feasting to excess,
dancing, and crowning the doors (practices derived from the heathens);
urging the celebration of the festival after an heavenly and not an
earthly manner."
In the Council, generally called _Concilium Africanum_, held A.D. 408,
"stage-playes and spectacles are forbidden on the Lord's-day,
Christmas-day, and other solemn Christian festivalls." Theodosius the
younger, in his laws _de Spectaculis_, in 425, forbade shows or games
on the Nativity, and some other feasts. And in the Council of Auxerre,
in Burgundy, in 578, disguisings are again forbidden, and at another
Council, in 614, it was found necessary to repeat the prohibitory
canons in stronger terms, declaring it to be unlawful to make any
indecent plays upon the Kalends of January, according to the profane
practices of the pagans. But it is also recorded that the more devout
Christians in these early times celebrated the festival without
indulging in the forbidden excesses.
[1] Notes to "Life of Christ."
[2] "Commentary on the Prophecies of Daniel."
[3] Introduction to "Christmas Carols," 1833.
[4] The Emperor Nero himself is known to have presided at
the _Saturnalia_, having been made by lot the _Rex
bibendi_, or Master of the Revels. Indeed it was at one of
these festivals that he instigated the murder of the young
Prince Britannicus, the last male descendant of the family
of the Claudii, who had been expelled from his rights by
violence and crime; and the atrocious act was committed
amid the revels over which Nero was presiding as master.
_CHAPTER III._
EARLY CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS IN BRITAIN.
[Illustration]
EARLY CELEBRATIONS IN BRITAIN.
It is recorded that there were "saints in Cæsar's household," and we
have also the best authority for saying there were converts among
Roman soldiers. Cornelius, a Roman centurion, "was a just man and one
that feared God," and other Roman converts are referred to in
Scripture as having been found among the officers of the Roman Empire.
And although it is not known who first preached the Gospel in Britain,
it seems almost certain that Christianity entered with the Roman
invasion in A.D. 43. As in Palestine some of the earlier converts
served Christ secretly "for fear of the Jews," so, in all probability,
did they in Britain for fear of the Romans. We know that some
confessed Christ and closed their earthly career with the crown of
martyrdom. It is also certain that very early in the Christian era
Christmas was celebrated in Britain, mingling in its festivities some
of the winter-festival customs of the ancient Britons and the Roman
invaders, for traces of those celebrations are still seen in some of
the Christmas customs of modern times. Moreover, it is known that
Christians were tolerated in Britain by some of the Roman governors
before the days of Constantine. It was in the time of the fourth Roman
Emperor, Claudius, that part of Britain was first really conquered.
Claudius himself came over in the year 43, and his generals afterwards
went on with the war, conquering one after another of the British
chiefs, Caradoc, whom the Romans called Caractacus, holding out the
longest and the most bravely. This intrepid King of the Silurians, who
lived in South Wales and the neighbouring parts, withstood the Romans
for several years, but was at last defeated at a great battle,
supposed to have taken place in Shropshire, where there is a hill
still called Caer Caradoc. Caradoc and his family were taken prisoners
and led before the Emperor at Rome, when he made a remarkable speech
which has been preserved for us by Tacitus. When he saw the splendid
city of Rome, he wondered that an Emperor who lived in such splendour
should have meddled with his humble home in Britain; and in his
address before the Emperor Claudius, who received him seated on his
throne with the Empress Agrippina by his side, Caradoc said: "My fate
this day appears as sad for me as it is glorious for thee. I had
horses, soldiers, arms, and treasures; is it surprising that I should
regret the loss of them? If it is thy will to command the universe, is
it a reason we should voluntarily accept slavery? Had I yielded
sooner, thy fortune and my glory would have been less, and oblivion
would soon have followed my execution. If thou sparest my life, I
shall be an eternal monument of thy clemency." Although the Romans had
very often killed their captives, to the honour of Claudius be it said
that he treated Caradoc kindly, gave him his liberty, and, according
to some historians, allowed him to reign in part of Britain as a
prince subject to Rome. It is surprising that an emperor who had shown
such clemency could afterwards become one of Rome's sanguinary
tyrants; but Claudius was a man of weak intellect.
There were several of the Roman Emperors and Governors who befriended
the Christians, took part in their Christmas festivities, and
professed faith in Christ. The Venerable Bede says: "In the reign of
Marcus Aurelius Antonius, and his partner in the Empire, Lucius Verus,
when Eleutherius was Bishop of Rome, Lucius, a British king, sent a
letter to his prelate, desiring his directions to make him a
Christian. The holy bishop immediately complied with this pious
request; and thus the Britons, being brought over to Christianity,
continued without warping or disturbance till the reign of the Emperor
Diocletian." And Selden says: "Howsoever, by injury of time, the
memory of this great and illustrious Prince King Lucy hath been
embezzled and smuggled; this, upon the credit of the ancient writers,
appears plainly, that the pitiful fopperies of the Pagans, and the
worship of their idol devils, did begin to flag, and within a short
time would have given place to the worship of the true God." As this
"illustrious Prince King Lucy"--Lucius Verus--flourished in the latter
part of the second century, and is credited with the erection of our
first Christian Church on the site of St. Martin's, at Canterbury, it
seems clear that even in those early days Christianity was making
progress in Britain. From the time of Julius Agricola, who was Roman
Commander from 78 to 84, Britain had been a Roman province, and
although the Romans never conquered the whole of the island, yet
during their occupation of what they called their province (the whole
of Britain, excepting that portion north of the Firths of Forth and
Clyde), they encouraged the Christmas festivities and did much to
civilise the people whom they had conquered and whom they governed for
more than three hundred years. They built towns in different parts of
the country and constructed good roads from one town to another, for
they were excellent builders and road-makers. Some of the Roman
emperors visited Britain and others were chosen by the soldiers of
Britain; and in the reigns of Constantine the Great and other tolerant
emperors the Britains lived like Romans, adopted Roman manners and
customs, and some of them learned to speak the Latin language.
Christian churches were built and bishoprics founded; a hierarchy was
established, and at the Council of Arles, in 314, three British
bishops took part--those of York, London, and Camulodunum (which is
now Colchester or Malden, authorities are divided, but Freeman says
Colchester). The canons framed at Arles on this occasion became the
law of the British Church, and in this more favourable period for
Christians the Christmas festival was kept with great rejoicing. But
this settled state of affairs was subsequently disturbed by the
departure of the Romans and the several invasions of the Anglo-Saxons
and the Danes which preceded the Norman Conquest.
[Illustration]
CHRISTMAS AGAIN IN TROUBLOUS TIMES: THE DEPARTURE OF THE ROMANS AND
THE INVASION OF THE ANGLO-SAXONS.
The outgoing of the Romans and the incoming of the Angles, the Saxons,
and the Jutes disastrously affected the festival of Christmas, for the
invaders were heathens, and Christianity was swept westward before
them. They had lived in a part of the Continent which had not been
reached by Christianity nor classic culture, and they worshipped the
false gods of Woden and Thunder, and were addicted to various
heathenish practices, some of which now mingled with the festivities
of Christmastide. Still, as these Angles came to stay and have given
their name to our country, it may be well to note that they came over
to Britain from the one country which is known to have borne the name
of Angeln or the Engle-land, and which is now called Sleswick, a
district in the middle of that peninsula which parts the Baltic from
the North Sea or German Ocean. The Romans having become weakened
through their conflicts with Germany and other nations, at the
beginning of the fifth century, the Emperor Honorius recalled the
Roman legions from Britain, and this made it much easier for the
Angles and Saxons (who had previously tried to get in) to come and
remain in this country. Thus our Teuton forefathers came and conquered
much the greater part of Britain, the Picts and Scots remaining in the
north and the Welsh in the west of the island. It was their custom to
kill or make slaves of all the people they could, and so completely
did they conquer that part of Britain in which they settled that they
kept their own language and manners and their own heathenish religion,
and destroyed or desecrated Christian churches which had been set up.
Hence Christian missionaries were required to convert our ancestral
worshippers of Woden and Thunder, and a difficult business it was to
Christianise such pagans, for they stuck to their false gods with the
same tenacity that the northern nations did.
In his poem of "King Olaf's Christmas" Longfellow refers to the
worship of Thor and Odin alongside with the worship of Christ in the
northern nations:--
"At Drontheim, Olaf the King
Heard the bells of Yule-tide ring,
As he sat in his banquet-hall.
Drinking the nut-brown ale,
With his bearded Berserks hale
And tall.
* * * * *
O'er his drinking horn, the sign
He made of the Cross divine
As he drank, and muttered his prayers;
But the Berserks evermore
Made the sign of the Hammer of Thor
Over theirs."
In England, too, Christ and Thor were worshipped side by side for at
least 150 years after the introduction of Christianity, for while some
of the English accepted Christ as their true friend and Saviour, He
was not accepted by all the people. Indeed, the struggle against Him
is still going on, but we anticipate the time when He shall be
victorious all along the line.
The Christmas festival was duly observed by the missionaries who came
to the South of England from Rome, headed by Augustine, and in the
northern parts of the country the Christian festivities were revived
by the Celtic missionaries from Iona, under Aidan, the famous
Columbian monk. At least half of England was covered by the Columbian
monks, whose great foundation upon the rocky island of Iona, in the
Hebrides, was the source of Christianity to Scotland. The ritual of
the Celtic differed from that of the Romish missionaries, and caused
confusion, till at the Synod of Whitby (664) the Northumbrian Kingdom
adopted the Roman usages, and England obtained ecclesiastical unity as
a branch of the Church of Rome. Thus unity in the Church preceded by
several centuries unity in the State.
[Illustration: QUEEN BERTHA.]
In connection with Augustine's mission to England, a memorable story
(recorded in Green's "History of the English People") tells how, when
but a young Roman deacon, Gregory had noted the white bodies, the fair
faces, the golden hair of some youths who stood bound in the
market-place of Rome. "From what country do these slaves come?" he
asked the traders who brought them. "They are English, Angles!" the
slave-dealers answered. The deacon's pity veiled itself in poetic
humour. "Not Angles, but Angels," he said, "with faces so angel-like!
From what country come they?" "They come," said the merchants, "from
Deira." "De ira!" was the untranslatable reply; "aye, plucked from
God's ire, and called to Christ's mercy! And what is the name of their
king?" "Ælla," they told him, and Gregory seized on the words as of
good omen. "Alleluia shall be sung in Ælla's land!" he cried, and
passed on, musing how the angel-faces should be brought to sing it.
Only three or four years had gone by when the deacon had become Bishop
of Rome, and the marriage of Bertha, daughter of the Frankish king,
Charibert of Paris, with Æthelberht, King of Kent, gave him the
opening he sought; for Bertha, like her Frankish kinsfolk, was a
Christian.
And so, after negotiations with the rulers of Gaul, Gregory sent
Augustine, at the head of a band of monks, to preach the gospel to the
English people. The missionaries landed in 597, on the very spot where
Hengest had landed more than a century before, in the Isle of Thanet;
and the king received them sitting in the open air on the chalk-down
above Minster, where the eye nowadays catches, miles away over the
marshes, the dim tower of Canterbury. Rowbotham, in his "History of
Music," says that wherever Gregory sent missionaries he also sent
copies of the Gregorian song as he had arranged it in his
"Antiphonary." And he bade them go singing among the people. And
Augustine entered Kent bearing a silver cross and a banner with the
image of Christ painted on it, while a long train of choristers walked
behind him chanting the _Kyrie Eleison_. In this way they came to the
court of Æthelberht, who assigned them Canterbury as an abode; and
they entered Canterbury with similar pomp, and as they passed through
the gates they sang this petition: "Lord, we beseech Thee to keep Thy
wrath away from this city and from Thy holy Church, Alleluia!"
As papal Rome preserved many relics of heathen Rome, so, in like
manner, Pope Gregory, in sending Augustine over to convert the
Anglo-Saxons, directed him to accommodate the ceremonies of the
Christian worship as much as possible to those of the heathen, that
the people might not be much startled at the change; and, in
particular, he advised him to allow converts to kill and eat at the
Christmas festival a great number of oxen to the glory of God, as they
had formerly done to the honour of the devil. The clergy, therefore,
endeavoured to connect the remnants of Pagan idolatry with
Christianity, and also allowed some of the practices of our British
ancestors to mingle in the festivities of Christmastide. The religion
of the Druids, the priests of the ancient Britons, is supposed to have
been somewhat similar to that of the Brahmins of India, the Magi of
Persia, and the Chaldeans of Syria. They worshipped in groves,
regarded the oak and mistletoe as objects of veneration, and offered
sacrifices. Before Christianity came to Britain December was called
"Aerra Geola," because the sun then "turns his glorious course." And
under different names, such as Woden (another form of Odin), Thor,
Thunder, Saturn, &c., the pagans held their festivals of rejoicing at
the winter solstice; and so many of the ancient customs connected with
these festivals were modified and made subservient to Christianity.
Some of the English even tried to serve Christ and the older gods
together, like the Roman Emperor, Alexander Severus, whose chapel
contained Orpheus side by side with Abraham and Christ. "Roedwald of
East Anglia resolved to serve Christ and the older gods together, and
a pagan and a Christian altar fronted one another in the same royal
temple."[5] Kent, however, seems to have been evangelised rapidly, for
it is recorded that on Christmas Day, 597, no less than ten thousand
persons were baptized.
[Illustration]
Before his death Augustine was able to see almost the whole of Kent
and Essex nominally Christian.
Christmas was now celebrated as the principal festival of the year,
for our Anglo-Saxon forefathers delighted in the festivities of the
Halig-Monath (holy month), as they called the month of December, in
allusion to Christmas Day. At the great festival of Christmas the
meetings of the Witenagemot were held, as well as at Easter and
Whitsuntide, wherever the Court happened to be. And at these times the
Anglo-Saxon, and afterwards the Danish, Kings of England lived in
state, wore their crowns, and were surrounded by all the great men of
their kingdoms (together with strangers of rank) who were sumptuously
entertained, and the most important affairs of state were brought
under consideration. There was also an outflow of generous hospitality
towards the poor, who had a hard time of it during the rest of the
year, and who required the Christmas gifts to provide them with such
creature comforts as would help them through the inclement season of
the year.
Readers of Saxon history will remember that chieftains in the festive
hall are alluded to in the comparison made by one of King Edwin's
chiefs, in discussing the welcome to be given to the Christian
missionary Paulinus: "The present life of man, O King, seems to me, in
comparison of that time which is unknown to us, like to the swift
flight of a sparrow through the hall where you sit at your meal in
winter, with your chiefs and attendants, warmed by a fire made in the
middle of the hall, while storms of rain or snow prevail without."
[Illustration: AN ANCIENT FIREPLACE.]
The "hall" was the principal part of a gentleman's house in Saxon
times--the place of entertainment and hospitality--and at
Christmastide the doors were never shut against any who appeared to be
worthy of welcome. And with such modes of travelling as were in vogue
in those days one can readily understand that, not only at Christmas,
but also at other seasons, the rule of hospitality to strangers was a
necessity.
To this period belong the princely pageants and the magnificent
CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENTS OF KING ARTHUR
and the Knights of his Round Table. We know that some people are
inclined to discredit the accounts which have come down to us of this
famous British King and Christian hero, but for our own part we are
inclined to trust the old chroniclers, at all events so far as to
believe that they give us true pictures
[Illustration: TRAVELLING IN THE OLDEN TIME, WITH A "CHRISTMAS FOOL"
ON THE FRONT SEAT.]
of the manners and customs of the times of which they write; and in
this prosaic age it may surely be permitted to us at Christmastide to
linger over the doings of those romantic days,
"When every morning brought a noble chance,
And every chance brought out a noble knight."[6]
Sir John Froissart tells us of the princely pageants which King Arthur
held at Windsor in the sixth century, and of the sumptuous Christmas
banquetings at his Round Table--the very Round Table (so we are to
believe, on the authority of Dr. Milner)[7] which has been preserved
in the old chapel, now termed the county hall, at Winchester. It
consists of stout oak plank, perforated with many bullets, supposed to
have been shot by Cromwell's soldiers. It is painted with a figure to
represent King Arthur, and with the names of his twenty-four knights
as they are stated in the romances of the old chroniclers. This famous
Prince, who instituted the military order of the Knights of the Round
Table, is also credited with the reintroduction of Christianity at
York after the Saxon invaders had destroyed the first churches built
there. He was unwearying in his warfare against enemies of the
religion of Christ. His first great enterprise was the siege of a
Saxon army at York, and, having afterwards won brilliant victories in
Somersetshire and other parts of southern England, he again marched
northward and penetrated Scotland to attack the Picts and Scots, who
had long harassed the border. On returning from Scotland, Arthur
rested his wearied army at York and kept Christmas with great
bountifulness. Geoffrey of Monmouth says he was a prince of
"unparalleled courage and generosity," and his Christmas at York was
kept with the greatest joy and festivity. Then was the round table
filled with jocund guests, and the minstrels, gleemen, harpers,
pipe-players, jugglers, and dancers were as happy round about their
log-fires as if they had shone in the blaze of a thousand gas-lights.
[Illustration: THE WILD BOAR HUNT: KILLING THE BOAR.]
King Arthur and his Knights also indulged in out-door amusements, as
hunting, hawking, running, leaping, wrestling, jousts, and tourneys.
"So," says Sir Thomas Malory,[8] "passed forth all the winter with all
manner of hunting and hawking, and jousts and tourneys were many
between many great lords. And ever, in all manner of places, Sir
Lavaine got great worship, that he was nobly renowned among many of
the knights of the Round Table. Thus it passed on until Christmas, and
every day there were jousts made for a diamond, that whosoever joust
best should have a diamond. But Sir Launcelot would not joust, but if
it were a great joust cried; but Sir Lavaine jousted there all the
Christmas passing well, and most was praised; for there were few that
did so well as he; wherefore all manner of knights deemed that Sir
Lavaine should be made a Knight of the Round Table, at the next high
feast of Pentecost."
THE ANGLO-SAXON EXCESSES
are referred to by some of the old chroniclers, intemperance being a
very prevalent vice at the Christmas festival. Ale and mead were their
favourite drinks; wines were used as occasional luxuries. "When all
were satisfied with dinner," says an old chronicler, "and their tables
were removed, they continued drinking till the evening." And another
tells how drinking and gaming went on through the greater part of the
night. Chaucer's one solitary reference to Christmastide is an
allegorical representation of the jovial feasting which was the
characteristic feature of this great festival held in "the colde
frosty season of December."
"Janus sits by the fire with double beard,
And drinketh of his bugle horn the wine:
Before him stands the brawn of tuskéd swine,
And 'Nowel' cryeth every lusty man."[9]
The Saxons were strongly attached to field sports, and as the "brawn
of the tuskéd swine" was the first Christmas dish, it was provided by
the pleasant preliminary pastime of hunting the wild boar; and the
incidents of the chase afforded interesting table talk when the boar's
head was brought in ceremoniously to the Christmas festival.
Prominent among the Anglo-Saxon amusements of Christmastide, Strutt
mentions their propensity for gaming with dice, as derived from their
ancestors, for Tacitus assures us that the ancient Germans would not
only hazard all their wealth, but even stake their liberty, upon the
turn of the dice: "and he who loses submits to servitude, though
younger and stronger than his antagonist, and patiently permits
himself to be bound and sold in the market; and this madness they
dignify by the name of honour." Chess and backgammon were also
favourite games with the Anglo-Saxons, and a large portion of the
night was appropriated to the pursuit of these sedentary amusements,
especially at the Christmas season of the year, when the early
darkness stopped out-door games.
"When they had dined, as I can you say,
Lords and ladies went to play;
Some to tables, and some to chess,
With other games more and less."[10]
Our Saxon forefathers were very superstitious. They had many
pretenders to witchcraft. They believed in the powers of philtres and
spells, and invocated spirits; and they relished a blood-curdling
ghost story at Christmas quite as much as their twentieth-century
descendants. They confided in prognostics, and believed in the
influence of particular times and seasons; and at Christmastide they
derived peculiar pleasure from their belief in the immunity of the
season from malign influences--a belief which descended to Elizabethan
days, and is referred to by Shakespeare, in "Hamlet":--
"Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes,
Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated,
The bird of dawning singeth all night long:
And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad;
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So hallowed and so gracious is the time."
[Illustration: ADORATION OF THE MAGI
OLD GLASS WINCHESTER CATHEDRAL]
We cannot pass over this period without mentioning a great Christmas
in the history of our Teutonic kinsmen on the Continent, for the
Saxons of England and those of Germany have the same Teutonic origin.
We refer to
THE CROWNING OF CHARLEMAGNE EMPEROR OF THE ROMANS ON CHRISTMAS DAY.
The coronation took place at Rome, on Christmas Day, in the year 800.
Freeman[11] says that when Charles was King of the Franks and Lombards
and Patrician of the Romans, he was on very friendly terms with the
mighty Offa, King of the Angles that dwelt in Mercia. Charles and Offa
not only exchanged letters and gifts, but each gave the subjects of
the other various rights in his dominions, and they made a league
together, "for that they two were the mightiest of all the kings that
dwelt in the Western lands." As conqueror of the old Saxons in
Germany, Charles may be regarded as the first King of all Germany, and
he was the first man of any Teutonic nation who was called Roman
Emperor. He was crowned with the diadem of the Cæsars, by Pope Leo, in
the name of Charles Augustus, Emperor of the Romans. And it was held
for a thousand years after, down to the year 1806, that the King of
the Franks, or, as he was afterwards called, the King of Germany, had
a right to be crowned by the Pope of Rome, and to be called Emperor of
the Romans. In the year 1806, however, the Emperor Francis the Second,
who was also King of Hungary and Archduke of Austria, resigned the
Roman Empire and the Kingdom of Germany. Since that time no Emperor of
the Romans has been chosen; but a new German Emperor has been created,
and the event may be regarded as one of Christmastide, for the
victorious soldiers who brought it about spent their Christmas in the
French capital, and during the festival arranged for the
re-establishment of the German Empire. So it happens, that while
referring to the crowning of the first German Emperor of the Roman
Empire, on Christmas Day, 800, we are able to record that more than a
thousand years afterwards the unification of the German Empire and the
creation of its first Emperor also occurred at Christmastide, under
the influence of the German triumphs over the French in the war of
1870. The imposing event was resolved upon by the German Princes on
December 18, 1870, the preliminaries were completed during the
Christmas festival, and on January 18, 1871, in the Galerie des Glaces
of the château of Versailles, William, King of Prussia, was crowned
and proclaimed first Emperor of the new German Empire.
Now, going back again over a millennium, we come to
CHRISTMAS IN THE TIME OF ALFRED THE GREAT.
During the reign of Alfred the Great a law was passed with relation to
holidays, by virtue of which the twelve days after the Nativity of our
Saviour were set apart for the celebration of the Christmas festival.
Some writers are of opinion that, but for Alfred's strict observance
of the "full twelve holy days," he would not have been defeated by the
Danes in the year 878. It was just after Twelfth-night that the Danish
host came suddenly--"bestole," as the old Chronicle says--to
Chippenham. Then "they rode through the West Saxons' land, and there
sat down, and mickle of the folk over sea they drove, and of others
the most deal they rode over; all but the King Alfred; he with a
little band hardly fared after the woods and on the moor-fastnesses."
But whether or not Alfred's preparations for the battle just referred
to were hindered by his enjoyment of the festivities of Christmastide
with his subjects, it is quite certain that the King won the hearts of
his people by the great interest he took in their welfare. This good
king--whose intimacy with his people we delight to associate with the
homely incident of the burning of a cottager's cakes--kept the
Christmas festival quite as heartily as any of the early English
kings, but not so boisterously as some of them. Of the many beautiful
stories told about him, one might very well belong to Christmastide.
It is said that, wishing to know what the Danes were about, and how
strong they were, King Alfred one day set out from Athelney in the
disguise of a Christmas minstrel, and went into the Danish camp, and
stayed there several days, amusing the Danes with his playing, till he
had seen all he wanted, and then went back without any one finding him
out.
Now, passing on to
CHRISTMAS UNDER THE DANISH KINGS OF ENGLAND,
we find that in 961 King Edgar celebrated the Christmas
festival with great splendour at York; and in 1013 Ethelred
kept his Christmas with the brave citizens of London who had
defended the capital during a siege and stoutly resisted Swegen,
the tyrant king of the Danes. Sir Walter Scott, in his beautiful
poem of "Marmion," thus pictures the "savage Dane" keeping
the great winter festival:--
"Even, heathen yet, the savage Dane
At Iol more deep the mead did drain;
High on the beach his galleys drew,
And feasted all his pirate crew;
Then in his low and pine-built hall,
Where shields and axes deck'd the wall,
They gorged upon the half-dress'd steer;
Caroused in seas of sable beer;
While round, in brutal jest, were thrown
The half-gnaw'd rib, and marrow bone:
Or listen'd all, in grim delight.
While Scalds yell'd out the joys of fight.
Then forth, in frenzy, would they hie,
While wildly-loose their red locks fly,
And dancing round the blazing pile,
They make such barbarous mirth the while,
As best might to the mind recall
The boisterous joys of Odin's hall."
When the citizens of London saw that Swegen had succeeded all over
England except their own city, they thought it was no use holding out
any longer, and they too, submitted and gave hostages. And so Swegen
was the first Dane who was king, or (as Florence calls him) "Tyrant
over all England;" and Ethelred, sometimes called the "Unready," King
of the West Saxons, who had struggled unsuccessfully against the
Danes, fled with his wife and children to his brother-in-law's court
in Normandy. On the death of Swegen, the Danes of his fleet chose his
son Cnut to be King, but the English invited Ethelred to return from
Normandy and renew the struggle with the Danes. He did so, and the
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says: "He held his kingdom with great toil and
great difficulty the while that his life lasted." After his death and
that of his son Edmund, Cnut was finally elected and crowned.
Freeman,[12] in recording the event, says that: "At the Christmas of
1016-1017, Cnut was a third time chosen king over all England, and one
of the first things that he did was to send to Normandy for the
widowed Lady Emma, though she was many years older than he was. She
came over; she married the new king; and was again Lady of the
English. She bore Cnut two children, Harthacnut and Gunhild. Her three
children by Ethelred were left in Normandy. She seems not to have
cared at all for them or for the memory of Ethelred; her whole love
passed to her new husband and her new children. Thus it came about
that the children of Ethelred were brought up in Normandy, and had the
feelings of Normans rather than Englishmen, a thing which again
greatly helped the Norman Conquest."
Cnut's first acts of government in England were a series of murders;
but he afterwards became a wise and temperate king. He even identified
himself with the patriotism which had withstood the stranger. He
joined heartily in the festivities of Christmastide, and atoned for
his father's ravages by costly gifts to the religious houses. And his
love for monks broke out in the song which he composed as he listened
to their chant at Ely: "Merrily sang the monks in Ely when Cnut King
rowed by" across the vast fen-waters that surrounded their Abbey.
"Row, boatmen, near the land, and hear we these monks sing."[13]
"'All hail!' the monks at Christmas sang;
The merry monks who kept with cheer
The gladdest day of all the year."[14]
It is said that Cnut, who is also called Canute, "marked one of his
royal Christmases by a piece of sudden retributive justice: bored
beyond all endurance by the Saxon Edric's iteration of the traitorous
services he had rendered him, the King exclaimed to Edric, Earl of
Northumberland: 'Then let him receive his deserts, that he may not
betray us as he betrayed Ethelred and Edmund!' upon which the ready
Norwegian disposed of all fear on that score by cutting down the
boaster with his axe, and throwing his body into the Thames."[15]
In the year 1035, King Cnut died at Shaftesbury, and was buried in
Winchester Cathedral. His sons, Harold and Harthacnut, did not possess
the capacity for good government, otherwise the reign of the Danes
might have continued. As it was, their reigns, though short, were
troublesome. Harold died at Oxford in 1040, and was buried at
Westminster (being the first king who was buried there); Harthacnut
died at Lambeth at a wedding-feast in 1042, and was buried beside his
father in Winchester Cathedral. And thus ended the reigns of the
Danish kings of England.
Now we come to
THE REIGN OF EDWARD THE CONFESSOR,
who, we are told, was heartily chosen by all the people, for the two
very good reasons, that he was an Englishman by birth, and the only
man of either the English or the Danish royal families who was at
hand. He was the son of Ethelred and Emma, and at the Christmas
festival of his coronation there was great rejoicing. As his early
training had been at the court of his uncle, Richard the Good, in
Normandy, he had learnt to prefer Norman-French customs and life to
those of the English. During his reign, therefore, he brought over
many strangers and appointed them to high ecclesiastical and other
offices, and Norman influence and refinement of manners gradually
increased at the English court, and this, of course, led to the more
stately celebration of the Christmas festival. The King himself, being
of a pious and meditative disposition, naturally took more interest in
the religious than the temporal rejoicings, and the administration of
state affairs was left almost entirely to members of the house of
Godwin during the principal part of his reign. Many disturbances
occurred during Edward's reign in different parts of the country,
especially on the Welsh border. At the Christmas meeting of the King
and his Wise Men, at Gloucester, in 1053, it was ordered that Rhys,
the brother of Gruffydd, the South Welsh king, be put to death for his
great plunder and mischief. The same year, the great Earl Godwine,
while dining with the king at Winchester at the Easter feast, suddenly
fell in a fit, died four days after, and was buried in the old
cathedral. A few years later (1065), the Northumbrians complained that
Earl Tostig, Harold's brother, had caused Gospatric, one of the chief
Thanes, to be treacherously murdered when he came to the King's court
the Christmas before. King Edward kept his last Christmas (1065), and
had the meeting of his Wise Men in London instead of Gloucester as
usual. His great object was to finish his new church at Westminster,
and to have it hallowed before he died. He lived just long enough to
have this done. On Innocent's Day the new Minster was consecrated, but
the King was too ill to be there, so the Lady Edith stood in his
stead. And on January 5, 1066, King Edward, the son of Ethelred, died.
On the morning of the day following his death, the body of the
Confessor was laid in the tomb, in his new church; and on the same
day--
HAROLD WAS CROWNED KING
in his stead. Thus three very important events--the consecration of
Westminster Abbey, the death of Edward the Confessor, and the crowning
of Harold--all occurred during the same Christmas festival.
In the terrible year 1066 England had three kings. The reign of
Harold, the son of Godwine, who succeeded Edward the Confessor,
terminated at the battle of Senlac, or Hastings, and on the following
CHRISTMAS DAY WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR WAS CROWNED KING
by Archbishop Ealdred. He had not at that time conquered all the land,
and it was a long while before he really possessed the whole of it.
Still, he was the king, chosen, crowned, and anointed, and no one ever
was able to drive him out of the land, and the crown of England has
ever since been held by his descendants.
[5] Green's "History of the English People."
[6] Tennyson.
[7] "History of Winchester."
[8] "History of King Arthur and His Noble Knights."
[9] "The Franklin's Tale."
[10] "Romance of Ipomydon."
[11] "Old English History."
[12] "Short History of the Norman Conquest."
[13] "History of the English People."
[14] J. G. Whittier.
[15] "Chambers's Journal," Dec. 28, 1867.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER IV.
CHRISTMAS, FROM THE NORMAN CONQUEST
TO MAGNA CHARTA.
(1066 to 1215.)
Now we come to the
CHRISTMAS CELEBRATIONS UNDER THE NORMANS.
[Illustration: A KING AT DINNER.]
Lord Macaulay says "the polite luxury of the Normans presented a
striking contrast to the coarse voracity and drunkenness of their
Saxon and Danish neighbours." And certainly the above example of a
royal dinner scene (from a manuscript of the fourteenth century) gives
an idea of stately ceremony which is not found in any manuscripts
previous to the coming over of the Normans. They "loved to display
their magnificence, not in huge piles of food and hogsheads of strong
drink, but in large and stately edifices, rich armour, gallant horses,
choice falcons, well-ordered tournaments, banquets delicate rather
than abundant, and wines remarkable rather for their exquisite flavour
than for their intoxicating power." Quite so. But even the Normans
were not all temperate. And, while it is quite true that the refined
manners and chivalrous spirit of the Normans exercised a powerful
influence on the Anglo-Saxons, it is equally true that the conquerors
on mingling with the English people adopted many of the ancient
customs to which they tenaciously clung, and these included the
customs of Christmastide.
The Norman kings and nobles displayed their taste for magnificence in
the most remarkable manner at their coronations, tournaments, and
their celebrations of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide. The great
councils of the Norman reigns which assembled at Christmas and the
other great festivals, were in appearance a continuation of the
Witenagemots, but the power of the barons became very formal in the
presence of such despotic monarchs as William the Conqueror and his
sons. At the Christmas festival all the prelates and nobles of the
kingdom were, by their tenures, obliged to attend their sovereign to
assist in the administration of justice and in deliberation on the
great affairs of the kingdom. On these occasions the King wore his
crown, and feasted his nobles in the great hall of his palace, and
made them presents as marks of his royal favour, after which they
proceeded to the consideration of State affairs. Wherever the Court
happened to be, there was usually a large assemblage of gleemen, who
were jugglers and pantomimists as well as minstrels, and were
accustomed to associate themselves in companies, and amuse the
spectators with feats of strength and agility, dancing, tumbling, and
sleight-of-hand tricks, as well as musical performances. Among the
minstrels who came into England with William the Conqueror was one
named Taillefer, who was present at the battle of Hastings, and rode
in front of the Norman army, inspiriting the soldiers by his songs. He
sang of Roland, the heroic captain of Charlemagne, tossing his sword
in the air and catching it again as he approached the English line. He
was the first to strike a blow at the English, but after mortally
wounding one or two of King Harold's warriors, he was himself struck
down.
At the Christmas feast minstrels played on various musical instruments
during dinner, and sang or told tales afterwards, both in the hall and
in the chamber to which the king and his nobles retired for amusement.
Thus it is written of a court minstrel:--
"Before the King he set him down
And took his harp of merry soun,
And, as he full well can,
Many merry notes he began.
The king beheld, and sat full still,
To hear his harping he had good will.
When he left off his harping,
To him said that rich king,
Minstrel, we liketh well thy glee,
What thing that thou ask of me
Largely I will thee pay;
Therefore ask now and asay." (_Sir Orpheo._)
[Illustration: BLIND MINSTREL AT A FEAST.]
After the Conquest the first entertainments given by William the
Conqueror were those to his victorious warriors:--
"Every warrior's manly neck
Chains of regal honour deck,
Wreathed in many a golden link:
From the golden cup they drink
Nectar that the bees produce,
Or the grape's extatic juice.
Flush'd with mirth and hope they burn."
_The Gododin._
In 1067 the Conqueror kept a grand Christmas in London. He had spent
eight months of that year rewarding his warriors and gratifying his
subjects in Normandy, where he had held a round of feasts and made a
grand display of the valuable booty which he had won by his sword. A
part of his plunder he sent to the Pope along with the banner of
Harold. Another portion, consisting of gold, golden vases, and richly
embroidered stuffs, was distributed among the abbeys, monasteries, and
churches of his native duchy, "neither monks nor priests remaining
without a guerdon." After spending the greater part of the year in
splendid entertainments in Normandy, apparently undisturbed by the
reports which had reached him of discontent and insurrection among his
new subjects in England, William at length embarked at Dieppe on the
6th of December, 1067, and returned to London to celebrate the
approaching festival of Christmas. With the object of quieting the
discontent which prevailed, he invited a considerable number of the
Saxon chiefs to take part in the Christmas festival, which was kept
with unusual splendour; and he also caused a proclamation to be read
in all the churches of the capital declaring it to be his will that
"all the citizens of London should enjoy their national laws as in the
days of King Edward." But his policy of friendship and conciliation
was soon changed into one of cruelty and oppression.
At the instigation of Swein, the King of Denmark, who appeared in the
Humber with a fleet, the people in the north of England and in some
other parts rose in revolt against the rule of the Conqueror in 1068.
So skilfully had the revolt been planned that even William was taken
by surprise. While he was hunting in the Forest of Dean he heard of
the loss of York and the slaughter of his garrison of 3,000 Normans,
and resolved to avenge the disaster. Proceeding to the Humber with his
horsemen, by a heavy bribe he got the King of Denmark to withdraw his
fleet; then, after some delay, spent in punishing revolters in the
Welsh border, he attacked and took the city of York. The land in
Durham and Northumberland was still quite unsubdued, and some of
William's soldiers had fared badly in their attempts to take
possession. At the Christmas feast of 1068 William made a grant of the
earldom of Northumberland to Robert of Comines, who set out with a
Norman army to take possession. But he fared no better than his
predecessors had done. The men of the land determined to withstand
him, but through the help of Bishop Æthelwine he entered Durham
peaceably. But he let his men plunder, so the men of the city rose and
slew him and his followers. And now, says Freeman,[16] William "did
one of the most frightful deeds of his life. He caused all Northern
England, beginning with Yorkshire, to be utterly laid waste, that its
people might not be able to fight against him any more. The havoc was
fearful; men were starved or sold themselves as slaves, and the land
did not recover for many years. Then King William wore his crown and
kept his Christmas at York" (1069).
Now the Conqueror set barons in different parts of the country, and
each of them kept his own miniature court and celebrated Christmas
after the costly Norman style. In his beautiful poem of "The Norman
Baron" Longfellow pictures one of these Christmas celebrations, and
tells how--
"In the hall, the serf and vassal
Held, that night, their Christmas wassail;
Many a carol, old and saintly,
Sang the minstrels and the waits.
And so loud these Saxon gleemen
Sang to slaves the songs of freemen,
That the storm was heard but faintly
Knocking at the castle-gates.
Till at length the lays they chaunted
Reached the chamber terror-haunted,
Where the monk, with accents holy,
Whispered at the baron's ear.
Tears upon his eyelids glistened
As he paused awhile and listened,
And the dying baron slowly
Turned his weary head to hear.
'Wassail for the kingly stranger
Born and cradled in a manger!
King, like David, priest, like Aaron,
Christ is born to set us free!'"
[Illustration: MINSTRELS' CHRISTMAS SERENADE AT AN OLD BARONIAL HALL.]
According to Strutt, the popular sports and pastimes prevalent at the
close of the Saxon era were not subjected to any material change by
the coming of the Normans. But William and his immediate successors
restricted the privileges of the chase, and imposed great penalties on
those who presumed to destroy the game in the royal forests without a
proper license. The wild boar and the wolf still afforded sport at the
Christmas season, and there was an abundance of smaller game. Leaping,
running, wrestling, the casting of darts, and other pastimes which
required bodily strength and agility were also practised, and when the
frost set in various games were engaged in upon the ice. It is not
known at what time skating made its first appearance in England, but
we find some traces of such an exercise in the thirteenth century, at
which period, according to Fitzstephen, it was customary in the
winter, when the ice would bear them, for the young citizens of London
to fasten the leg bones of animals under the soles of their feet by
tying them round their ankles; and then, taking a pole shod with iron
into their hands, they pushed themselves forward by striking it
against the ice, and moved with celerity equal, says the author, to a
bird flying through the air, or an arrow from a cross-bow; but some
allowance, we presume, must be made for the poetical figure: he then
adds, "At times, two of them thus furnished agree to start opposite
one to another, at a great distance; they meet, elevate their poles,
attack, and strike each other, when one or both of them fall, and not
without some bodily hurt; and, even after their fall, are carried a
great distance from each other, by the rapidity of the motion, and
whatever part of the head comes upon the ice it is sure to be laid
bare."
The meetings of the King and his Wise Men for the consideration of
state affairs were continued at the great festivals, and that held at
Christmas in 1085 is memorable on account of the resolution then
passed to make the Domesday survey, in reference to which Freeman
says: "One of the greatest acts of William's reign, and that by which
we come to know more about England in his time than from any other
source, was done in the assembly held at Gloucester at the Christmas
of 1085. Then the King had, as the Chronicle says, 'very deep speech
with his Wise Men.' This 'deep speech' in English is in French
_parlement_; and so we see how our assemblies came by their later
name. And the end of the deep speech was that commissioners were sent
through all England, save only the Bishopric of Durham and the earldom
of Northumberland, to make a survey of the land. They were to set down
by whom every piece of land, great and small, was held then, by whom
it was held in King Edward's day, what it was worth now, and what it
had been worth in King Edward's day. All this was written in a book
kept at Winchester, which men called _Domesday Book_. It is a most
wonderful record, and tells us more of the state of England just at
that moment than we know of it for a long time before or after."
The Domesday Book was completed in 1086, and the following year
(1087) William the Conqueror died, and his son, William Rufus,
succeeded him.
[Illustration: WESTMINSTER HALL.]
THE CORONATION OF WILLIAM THE RED
took place at Westminster on September 26, 1087, Archbishop Lanfranc
officiating. The King kept his first Christmas sumptuously at
Westminster, and, Freeman says, "it seems to have been then that he
gave back the earldom of Kent to his uncle, Bishop Odo." The character
of the Royal Christmases degenerated during the reign of Rufus, whose
licentiousness fouled the festivities. In the latter part of his reign
Rufus reared the spacious hall at Westminster, where so many Royal
Christmases were afterwards kept, and which Pope calls
"Rufus's roaring hall."
It is a magnificent relic of the profuse hospitality of former times.
Richard the Second heightened its walls and added its noble roof of
British oak, which shows the excellence of the wood carving of that
period. Although Sir Charles Barry has shortened the Hall of its
former proportions to fit it as a vestibule to the New Houses of
Parliament, it is still a noble and spacious building, and one cannot
walk through it without in imagination recalling some of the Royal
Christmases and other stately scenes which have been witnessed there.
The last of these festal glories was the coronation of George the
Fourth, which took place in 1821. This grand old hall at Westminster
was the theatre of Rufus's feasting and revelry; but, vast as the
edifice then was, it did not equal the ideas of the extravagant
monarch. An old chronicler states that one of the King's courtiers,
having observed that the building was too large for the purposes of
its construction, Rufus replied, "This halle is not begge enough by
one half, and is but a bedchamber in comparison of that I mind to
make." Yet this hall was for centuries the largest of its kind in
Europe, and in it the Christmas feasts were magnificently kept.
After a reign of thirteen years the vicious life of William Rufus met
with a tragical close. His dead body was found by peasants in a glade
of the New Forest with the arrow either of a hunter or an assassin in
his breast. Sir Walter Tyrrel, a Norman knight, who had been hunting
with the king just before his death, fled to Normandy immediately
afterwards, and was suspected of being a regicide. The body of Rufus
was buried in Winchester Cathedral.
CHRISTMAS IN THE REIGN OF HENRY I.
Henry the First's Christmas festival at Windsor, in 1126, was a
memorable one. In that year Henry's daughter Matilda became a widow by
the death of her husband, Henry V. of Germany, and King Henry
determined to appoint her his successor to the throne of England and
the Dukedom of Normandy. On Christmas Day, 1126, a general assembly of
the nobles and higher ecclesiastics of the kingdom was held at Windsor
for the purpose of declaring the Empress Matilda (as she was still
called) the legitimate successor of Henry I., and the clergy and
Norman barons of both countries swore allegiance to her in the event
of the king's death. This appointment of Matilda was made by Henry in
consequence of the calamity which occurred just before Christmas, in
1120, when he lost his much-loved son, Prince William--the only male
legitimate issue of Henry--through the wreck of _La Blanche Nef_ (the
White Ship). On board the vessel were Prince William, his half-brother
Richard, and Henry's natural daughter the Countess of Perche, as well
as about a hundred and forty young noblemen of the most distinguished
families in England and Normandy, all of whom were lost in their
passage home, only a few hours after the safe arrival of the king in
England. Henry is said to have swooned at the intelligence, and was
never afterwards seen to smile. He had returned home anticipating a
joyous Christmas festival, a season of glad tidings, but he was
closely followed by this sad news of the death of the heir apparent.
The incident has called forth one of the most beautiful poems of Mrs.
Hemans, from which we quote two verses:--
"The bark that held a prince went down,
The sweeping waves rolled on;
And what was England's glorious crown
To him that wept a son?
He lived--for life may long be borne,
Ere sorrow break its chain:
Why comes not death to those who mourn?
He never smiled again!
* * * * *
He sat where festal bowls went round,
He heard the minstrel sing;
He saw the tourney's victor crowned,
Amidst the kingly ring;
A murmur of the restless deep
Was blent with every strain,
A voice of winds that would not sleep,--
He never smiled again!"
In 1127 Henry invited the king of the Scots to Windsor to join in the
royal celebration of Christmas, but the festivities were marred by an
unseemly quarrel between the two primates. Thurstan, Archbishop of
York, encroaching upon the privileges of his brother of Canterbury
(William de Corbeuil), insisted upon placing the crown upon the king's
head ere he set out for church. This the partisans of Canterbury would
not allow, settling the matter by turning Thurstan's chaplain and
followers out of doors, and thereby causing such strife between the
heads of the Church that they both set off to Rome to lay their
grievances before the Pope. And, subsequently, appeals to Rome became
frequent, until a satisfactory adjustment of the powers and privileges
of the two archbishops was arrived at. The Archbishop of Canterbury
was acknowledged Primate of all England and Metropolitan; but, while
the privilege of crowning the sovereign was reserved for the
Archbishop of Canterbury, that of crowning the Queen Consort was given
to the Archbishop of York.
[Illustration]
STRANGE OLD STORIES OF CHRISTMASTIDE.
The progress of literature under the Conqueror and his sons was very
great, many devoting themselves almost entirely to literary pursuits.
Lanfranc and Anselm, the Archbishops of Canterbury, had proved
themselves worthy of their exalted station. Their precepts and
examples had awakened the clergy and kindled an ardour for learning
unknown in any preceding age. Nor did this enthusiasm perish with its
authors: it was kept alive by the honours which were lavished on all
who could boast of literary acquirements. During the reign of Henry I.
Geoffrey of Monmouth published his History of the Britons, and William
of Malmesbury assures us that every poet hastened to the court of
Henry's Queen Matilda, at Westminster, to read his verses to the Queen
and partake of her bounty. William of Malmesbury carefully collected
the lighter ballads which embodied the popular traditions of the
English kings, and he tells an amusing story which is connected with
the festival of Christmas. In early times dancing developed into a
sort of passion, men and women continually dancing and singing
together, holding one another by the hands, and concluding the dances
with kisses. These levities were at first encouraged by the Church,
but afterwards, seeing the abuse of them, the priests were compelled
to reprimand and restrain the people. And the story told by William of
Malmesbury describes the singular punishment which came upon some
young men and women for disturbing a priest who was performing mass on
the eve of Christmas. "I, Othbert, a sinner," says the story, "have
lived to tell the tale. It was the vigil of the Blessed Virgin, and in
a town where was a church of St. Magnus. And the priest, Rathbertus,
had just begun the mass, and I, with my comrades, fifteen young women
and seventeen young men, were dancing outside the church. And we were
singing so loud that our songs were distinctly heard inside the
building, and interrupted the service of the mass. And the priest came
out and told us to desist; and when we did not, he prayed God and St.
Magnus that we might dance as our punishment for a year to come. A
youth, whose sister was dancing with us, seized her by the arm to drag
her away, but it came off in his hand, and she danced on. For a whole
year we continued. No rain fell on us; cold, nor heat, nor hunger, nor
thirst, nor fatigue affected us; neither our shoes nor our clothes
wore out; but still we went on dancing. We trod the earth down to our
knees, next to our middles, and at last were dancing in a pit. At the
end of the year release came."
Giraldus Cambrensis, amongst many ridiculous Christmas stories of
miracles, visions, and apparitions, tells of one devil who acted a
considerable time as a gentleman's butler with great prudence and
probity; and of another who was a very diligent and learned clergyman,
and a mighty favourite of his archbishop. This last clerical devil
was, it seems, an excellent historian, and used to divert the
Archbishop with telling him old stories, some of which referred to the
incarnation of our Saviour, and were related at the Christmas season.
"Before the incarnation of our Saviour," said the Archbishop's
historian, "the devils had great power over mankind, but after that
event their power was much diminished and they were obliged to fly.
Some of them threw themselves into the sea; some concealed themselves
in hollow trees, or in the clefts of rocks; and I myself plunged into
a certain fountain. As soon as he had said this, finding that he had
discovered his secret, his face was covered with blushes, he went out
of the room, and was no more seen."
The following cut (taken from MS. Harl., No. 4751, of the end of the
twelfth century) represents an elephant, with its castle and armed
men, engaged in battle. The bestiaries relate many strange things of
the elephant. They say that, though so large and powerful, and so
courageous against larger animals, it is afraid of a mouse; that its
nature is so cold that it will never seek the company of the female
until, wandering in the direction of Paradise, it meets with the plant
called the mandrake, and eats of it, and that each female bears but
one young one in her life.
[Illustration]
Absurd as we consider such stories, they were believed by the Normans,
who were no less credulous than the Anglo-Saxons. This is evident
from the large number of miracles, revelations, visions, and
enchantments which are related with great gravity by the old
chroniclers.
[Illustration]
THE MISRULE OF KING STEPHEN.
Stephen of Blois was crowned at Westminster Abbey during the Christmas
festival (December 26, 1135). As a King of Misrule, he was fitly
crowned at Christmastide, and it would have been a good thing for the
nation if his reign had been of the ephemeral character which was
customary to Lords of Misrule. The nineteen years of his reign were
years of disorder unparalleled in any period of our history. On the
landing of Henry the First's daughter, "the Empress Matilda," who
claimed the English crown for her son Henry, a long struggle ensued,
and the country was divided between the adherents of the two rivals,
the West supporting Matilda, and London and the East Stephen. For a
time the successes in war alternated between the two parties. A defeat
at Lincoln left Stephen a prisoner in the hands of his enemies; but
after his escape he laid siege to the city of Oxford, where Matilda
had assembled her followers. "The Lady" of the English (as Matilda was
then called) had retreated into the castle, which, though a place of
great strength, proved to be insufficiently victualled. It was
surrounded and cut off from all supplies without, and at Christmastide
(1142), after a siege of three months, Matilda consulted her own
safety by taking flight. On a cold December night, when the ground was
covered with snow, she quitted the castle at midnight, attended by
four knights, who as well as herself were clothed in white, in order
that they might pass unobserved through the lines of their enemies.
The adventurous "Lady" made good her escape, and crossing the river
unnoticed on the ice, found her way to Abingdon. The long anarchy was
ended by the Treaty of Wallingford (1153), Stephen being recognised as
king during his life, and the succession devolving upon Matilda's son
Henry. A year had hardly passed from the signing of the treaty, when
Stephen's death gave Henry the crown, and his coronation took place at
Christmastide, 1154, at Westminster.
THE REIGN OF HENRY II.,
it has been truly said, "initiated the rule of law," as distinct from
despotism, whether personal or tempered by routine, of the Norman
kings. And now the despotic barons began gradually to be shorn of
their power, and the dungeons of their "Adulterine" castles to be
stripped of their horrors, and it seemed more appropriate to celebrate
the season of glad tidings. King Henry the Second kept his first
Christmas at Bermondsey with great solemnity, marking the occasion by
passing his royal word to expel all foreigners from the kingdom,
whereupon William of Ypres and his Flemings decamped without waiting
for further notice. In 1158 Henry, celebrating the Christmas festival
at Worcester, took the crown from his head and placed it upon the
altar, after which he never wore it. But he did not cease to keep
Christmas. In 1171 he went to Ireland, where the chiefs of the land
displayed a wonderful alacrity in taking the oath of allegiance, and
were rewarded by being entertained in a style that astonished them.
Finding no place in Dublin large enough to contain his own followers,
much less his guests, Henry had a house built in Irish fashion of
twigs and wattles in the village of Hogges, and there held high
revelry during Christmastide, teaching his new subjects to eat cranes'
flesh, and take their part in miracle plays, masques, mummeries, and
tournaments. And a great number of oxen were roasted, so that all the
people might take part in the rejoicings.
CHRISTMAS ENTERTAINMENTS AT CONSTANTINOPLE.
In his description of Christian Constantinople, Benjamin of Tudela, a
Spanish Jew, who travelled through the East in the twelfth century
(1159 or 1160), describes a "place where the king diverts himself,
called the hippodrome, near to the wall of the palace. There it is
that every year, on the day of the birth of Jesus the Nazarene, the
king gives a grand entertainment. There are represented by magic arts
before the king and queen, figures of all kinds of men that exist in
the world; thither also are taken lions, bears, tigers, and wild
asses, which are made to fight together; as well as birds. There is no
such sight to be seen in all the world." At Constantinople, on the
marriage of the Emperor Manuel with Mary, daughter of the Prince of
Antioch, on Christmas Day, 1161, there were great rejoicings, and
similar spectacular entertainments to those described by Benjamin of
Tudela.
AN ARCHBISHOP MURDERED AT CHRISTMASTIDE.
During the Christmas festival of 1170 (December 29th) occurred an
event memorable in ecclesiastical history--the murder of Thomas
Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1162 Becket (who had previously
been Chancellor to Henry II.) was made Archbishop, in succession to
Archbishop Theobald. The King soon found that he who had served him
faithfully as Chancellor would oppose him doggedly as Archbishop.
Henry determined to subject the Church as well as the State to the
supremacy of the law; and Becket determined to resist the King to the
end, thus manifesting his desire for martyrdom in the cause of the
Church. Henry had greatly offended the Archbishop by causing his
eldest son to be crowned by the Archbishop of York. For this violation
of the rights of Canterbury Becket threatened to lay the country under
an interdict, which he had the power from the Pope to pronounce. A
sort of reconciliation was effected between the King and the
Archbishop at Freteval on July 21, 1170, but a further dispute arose
on Becket delaying his return to England, the King being anxious to
get him out of France. The Archbishop was full of complaints against
Henry for the injuries he had done to his see, and the King stood upon
his dignity, regardless of the threatened interdiction. The Archbishop
returned to England on the 1st of December, and was joyfully received
by the people. His enemies, however, and especially the family of De
Broc, did all they could to annoy him; and on Christmas Day he uttered
a violent anathema against them. He preached from the text, "I come to
die among you," evidently anticipating what might be the personal
consequences of his action. He told his congregation that one of the
archbishops had been a martyr, and they would probably soon see
another; but before he departed home he would avenge some of the
wrongs the Church had suffered during the previous seven years. Then
he thundered forth his sentence of excommunication against Ranulph and
Robert de Broc, and Nigellus, rector of Harrow. Meanwhile news had
reached the King that Becket had excommunicated certain bishops who
had taken part in his son's coronation. In a fit of exasperation the
King uttered some hasty words of anger against the Archbishop. Acting
upon these, four of Henry's knights--Hugh de Morville, Reginald
FitzUrse, William de Tracy, and Richard Brito--crossed to England,
taking with them Ranulf de Broc and a band of men, and murdered the
Archbishop in Canterbury Cathedral. In the altercation which took
place before the consummation of the terrible deed, the Primate was
asked to absolve the bishops whom he had excommunicated, but he
refused in a defiant and insulting manner. "Then die," exclaimed
FitzUrse, striking at Becket's head with his weapon; but the devoted
cross-bearer warded off the blow with his own arm, which was badly
cut, so that the Archbishop was but slightly injured. One of the
attacking party then called out, "Fly, or thou diest!" The Archbishop,
however, clasped his hands, and, with the blood streaming down his
face, fervently exclaimed, "To God, to St. Mary, to the holy patrons
of this Church, and to St. Denis I commend my soul and the Church's
cause." He was then struck down by a second blow, and the third
completed the tragedy; whereupon one of the murderers, putting his
foot on the dead prelate's neck, cried, "Thus dies a traitor!" In 1173
the Archbishop was canonised, and his festival was appointed for the
day of his martyrdom; and for three centuries after his death the
shrine of St. Thomas at Canterbury was a favourite place of
pilgrimage, so great was the impression that his martyrdom made on the
minds of the English people. As early as the Easter of 1171 Becket's
sepulchre was the scene of many miracles, if Matthew Paris, the
historian, is to be believed. What must have been the credulity of the
people in an age when an historian could gravely write, as Matthew
Paris did in 1171? "In this year, about Easter, it pleased the Lord
Jesus Christ to irradiate his glorious martyr Thomas Becket with many
miracles, that it might appear to all the world he had obtained a
victory suitable to his merits. None who approached his sepulchre in
faith returned without a cure. For strength was restored to the lame,
hearing to the deaf, sight to the blind, speech to the dumb, health to
the lepers, and life to the dead. Nay, not only men and women, but
even birds and beasts were raised from death to life."
ROYAL CHRISTMASES AT WINDSOR.
Windsor Castle appears to have been the favourite residence of Henry
II. When, in 1175, he had united with him his son Henry in his crown
and prerogatives, the two kings held an assembly at Windsor, attended
by the judges, deputies of counties and districts, and all the great
officers of state. Henry also kept his ensuing Christmas with the
magnificence and display peculiar to the times, and all the ancient
sports and usages; in which the nobles and gentry of the surrounding
country assisted with much splendour at the hunt and tourney, and
bestowed lavish gifts on the spectators and the people. After the
kingdom was parcelled out into four jurisdictions, another assembly
was held at the castle, in 1179, by the two kings; and, in 1184, Henry
for the last time celebrated his Christmas in the same hall of state:
his son, who had shared the throne with him, being then dead.
For the festivals of this period the tables of princes, prelates, and
great barons were plentifully supplied with many dishes of meat
dressed in various ways. The Normans sent agents into different
countries to collect the most rare dishes for their tables, by which
means, says John of Salisbury, this island, which is naturally
productive of plenty and variety of provisions, was overflowed with
everything that could inflame a luxurious appetite. The same writer
says he was present at an entertainment which lasted from three
o'clock in the afternoon to midnight; at which delicacies were served
up which had been brought from Constantinople, Babylon, Alexandria,
Palestine, Tripoli, Syria, and Phoenicia. The sumptuous
entertainments which the kings of England gave to their nobles and
prelates at the festivals of Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide
diffused a taste for profuse and expensive banqueting; for the wealthy
barons, prelates, and gentry, in their own castles and mansions,
imitated the splendour of the royal entertainments. Great men had some
kinds of provisions at their tables which are not now to be found in
Britain. When Henry II. entertained his own court, the great officers
of his army, and all the kings and great men in Ireland, at the feast
of Christmas, 1171, the Irish princes and chieftains were quite
astonished at the profusion and variety of provisions which they
beheld, and were with difficulty prevailed on by Henry to eat the
flesh of cranes, a kind of food to which they had not been accustomed.
Dellegrout, maupigyrum, karumpie, and other dishes were then used, the
composition of which is now unknown, or doubtful. Persons of rank and
wealth had variety of drinks, as well as meats; for, besides wines of
various kinds, they had pigment, morat, mead, hypocras, claret, cider,
perry, and ale. The claret of those times was wine clarified and mixed
with spices, and hypocras was wine mixed with honey.
[Illustration: A COOK OF THE PERIOD.]
The profusion of viands and drinks, obtained at great expense from
different parts of the world for the gratification of the animal
appetites at such festivals as have been described, naturally led to
EXCESSES IN EATING AND DRINKING,
and from the statements and illustrations in old manuscripts it would
appear that "the merry monks" were prominent in gastronomical circles.
And extant records also state that the abbots of some of the
monasteries found it necessary to make regulations restraining the
monks, and to these regulations the monks objected. Consequently the
monks of St. Swithin at Winchester made a formal complaint to Henry
II. against their abbot for taking away three of the thirteen dishes
they used to have at dinner. The monks of Canterbury were still more
luxurious, for they had at least seventeen dishes every day besides a
dessert; and these dishes were dressed with spices and sauces which
excited the appetite as well as pleased the taste. And of course the
festive season of Christmas was an occasion of special indulgence.
Sometimes serious excesses were followed by severe discipline,
administered after the manner shown in the ancient illustration which
is reproduced here.
[Illustration: MONK UNDERGOING DISCIPLINE.]
But these excesses were by no means confined to the monks. The Norman
barons and gentry adopted many of the manners of the English among
whom they lived, and especially was this the case in regard to the
drinking customs of Christmastide. Instead of commending the Normans
of his time for their sobriety, as he might have done their ancestors,
Peter of Blois, who was chaplain to Henry II., says: "When you behold
our barons and knights going upon a military expedition you see their
baggage horses loaded, not with iron but wine, not with lances but
cheeses, not with swords but bottles, not with spears but spits. You
would imagine they were going to prepare a great feast rather than to
make war. There are even too many who boast of their excessive
drunkenness and gluttony, and labour to acquire fame by swallowing
great quantities of meat and drink." The earliest existing carol known
to antiquaries is in the Anglo-Norman language, and contains
references to the drinking customs of the period:--
"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 joys flow 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."[17]
[Illustration: WASSAILING AT CHRISTMASTIDE.]
Proceeding with our historical narrative we come now to
[Illustration]
THE ROMANTIC REIGN OF RICHARD THE FIRST,
surnamed Coeur de Lion, the second son of Henry II. and Eleanor of
Aquitaine, who succeeded to the English throne on the death of his
father in 1189. Richard is generally supposed to have derived his
surname from a superiority of animal courage; but, if the metrical
romance bearing his name, and written in the thirteenth century, be
entitled to credit, he earned it nobly and literally, by plucking out
the heart of a lion, to whose fury he had been exposed by the Duke of
Austria for having slain his son with a blow of his fist. In the
numerous descriptions afforded by the romance Richard is a most
imposing personage. He is said to have carried with him to the
Crusades, and to have afterwards presented to Tancred, King of Sicily,
the wonder-working sword of King Arthur--
"The gude sword Caliburne
that Arthur luffed so well."
He is also said to have carried a shaft, or lance, 14 feet in length,
and
"An axe for the nones,
To break therewith the Sarasyns bones.
The head was wrought right wele,
Therein was twenty pounds of steel."
But, without attempting to follow Richard through all the brilliant
episodes of his romantic career, there can be no doubt that he was a
king of great strength and courage, and that his valorous deeds won
the admiration of poets and chroniclers, who have surrounded him with
a splendid halo of romance. Contemporary writers tell us that while
Richard kept magnificent Christmases abroad with the King of Sicily
and other potentates, his justiciars (especially the extravagant
William Longchamp, Bishop of Ely) were no less lavish in their
expenditure for festive entertainments at home. And the old romance of
"Richard Coeur de Lion" assures us that--
"Christmas is a time full honest;
Kyng Richard it honoured with gret feste.
All his clerks and barouns
Were set in their pavylouns,
And seryed with grete plenté
Of mete and drink and each dainté."
There is no doubt that the Crusades had a vast influence upon our
literary tastes, as well as upon the national manners and the
festivities of Christmastide. On their return from the Holy Land the
pilgrims and Crusaders brought with them new subjects for theatrical
representation, founded on the objects of their devotion and the
incidents in their wars, and these found expression in the early
mysteries and other plays of Christmastide--that of St. George and the
Dragon, which survived to modern times, probably owing its origin to
this period. It is to Richard Coeur de Lion that we are indebted for
the rise of chivalry in England. It was he who developed tilts and
tournaments, and under his auspices these diversions assumed a
military air, the genius of poetry flourished, and the fair sex was
exalted in admiration. How delightful was it then, beneath the
inspiring gaze of the fair--
"Sternly to strike the quintin down;
Or fiercely storm some turf-formed town;
To rush with valour's doughty sway,
Against a Babylon of clay;
A Memphis shake with furious shock,
Or raze some flower-built Antioch!"[18]
On the death of Richard, in 1199, his brother
JOHN WAS CROWNED KING OF ENGLAND.
The youngest and favourite son of Henry II., John, was humoured in
childhood and grew to be an arrogant and petulant man, and was one of
the worst of English kings. He possessed ability, but not discipline.
He could neither govern himself nor his kingdom. He was tyrannical and
passionate, and spent a good deal of time in the gratification of his
animal appetites. He was fond of display and good living, and
extravagant in his Christmas entertainments. When, in 1201, he kept
Christmas at Guildford he taxed his purse and ingenuity in providing
all his servitors with costly apparel, and he was greatly annoyed
because the Archbishop of Canterbury, in a similar fit of sumptuary
extravagance, sought to outdo his sovereign. John, however, cunningly
concealed his displeasure at the time, but punished the prelate by a
costly celebration of the next Easter festival at Canterbury at the
Archbishop's expense. In consequence of John's frequent quarrels with
his nobles the attendance at his Christmas feasts became smaller every
year, until he could only muster a very meagre company around his
festive board, and it was said that he had almost as many enemies as
there were nobles in the kingdom.
In 1205 John spent his Christmas at the ancient town of Brill, in the
Vale of Aylesbury, and in 1213 he kept a Royal Christmas in the great
hall at Westminster.
MAGNA CHARTA DEMANDED AT A CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL.
The Christmas of 1214 is memorable in English history as the festival
at which the barons demanded from King John that document which as the
foundation of our English liberties is known to us by the name of
_Magna Charta_, that is, the Great Charter. John's tyranny and
lawlessness had become intolerable, and the people's hope hung on the
fortunes of the French campaign in which he was then engaged. His
defeat at the battle of Bouvines, fought on July 27, 1214, gave
strength to his opponents; and after his return to England the barons
secretly met at St. Edmundsbury and swore to demand from him, if
needful by force of arms, the restoration of their liberties by
charter under the king's seal. Having agreed to assemble at the Court
for this purpose during the approaching festival of Christmas they
separated. When Christmas Day arrived John was at Worcester, attended
only by a few of his immediate retainers and some foreign mercenaries.
None of his great vassals came, as was customary at Christmas, to
offer their congratulations. His attendants tried in vain to assume an
appearance of cheerfulness and festivity; but John, alarmed at the
absence of the barons, hastily rode to London and there shut himself
up in the house of the Knights Templars. On the Feast of the Epiphany
the barons assembled in great force at London and presenting
themselves in arms before the King formally demanded his confirmation
of the laws of Edward the Confessor and Henry I. At first John assumed
a bold and defiant air and met the barons with an absolute refusal
and threats; but, finding the nobles were firm, he sank to the
meanness of subterfuge, and pleaded the necessity of time for the
consideration of demands so weighty. With some reluctance the barons
granted the delay, and ultimately, in 1215, the tyrant bowed to the
inevitable, called the barons to a conference at Runnymede, and there
signed the Great Charter, whose most important clauses protect the
personal liberty and property of every freeman in the kingdom by
giving security from arbitrary imprisonment and unjust exactions.
[16] "Short History of the Norman Conquest."
[17] Wassail and Drinkhail are both derived from the
Anglo-Saxon. They were the common drinking pledges of the
age. Wassail is equivalent to the phrase, "Your health,"
of the present day. Drinkhail, which literally signifies
"drink health," was the usual acknowledgment of the other
pledge. The carol from which the verses are quoted was
evidently sung by the wandering minstrels who visited the
castles of the Norman nobility at the festive season of
Christmas.
[18] Grattan.
[Illustration]
CHAPTER V.
CHRISTMAS, FROM MAGNA CHARTA TO THE END OF THE WARS OF THE ROSES.
(1215-1485.)
Soon after the disaster which overtook John's army at the Wash the
King ended his wretched career by death. He died on October 18, 1216,
in the castle of Newark on the Trent, and the old chroniclers describe
him as dying in an extremity of agony and remorse.
HENRY THE THIRD,
sometimes called "Henry of Winchester," came to the throne in
troublous times, before he was ten years of age. The tyranny of his
father had alienated every class of his subjects, and the barons who
had obtained Magna Charta from King John had called in Louis of
France. But through the conciliatory measures of the Regent Pembroke
towards the barons, and the strong support which the Roman Church gave
the boy-king (whose father had meanly done homage to the Pope), the
foreigners were expelled, and the opposition of the barons was
suppressed for a time, though in later years they again struggled with
the crown for supremacy of power. When Henry had grown to manhood and
the responsibility of government rested upon his own shoulders, he
still exulted in the protection of the Holy See, which found in him a
subservient vassal. He fasted during Lent, but feasted right royally
both at Christmas and Easter. In 1234 he kept a grand Christmas in the
Great Hall at Westminster, and other royal Christmases were celebrated
at Windsor Castle and at his palace at Winchester. He made large
additions to Windsor Castle, and some of his mandates giving minute
directions for the decoration of his palace at Winchester are still
preserved. He enjoyed the old plays and ballets of Christmastide
introduced from France at this period.
[Illustration: ROYAL PARTY DINING IN STATE.]
Henry the Third's most splendid Christmas was in the twentieth year of
his reign, when he welcomed Eleanor, daughter of the Count of
Provence, to whom he was married on January 14, 1236. The youthful
princess left Provence amidst the rejoicings of the whole kingdom.
She was accompanied by Henry's ambassadors and a grand cavalcade, in
which were more than three hundred ladies on horseback. Her route lay
through Navarre and France. On reaching England, at Dover, the
princess and her train proceeded to Canterbury, where Henry awaited
their coming. It was in that ancient city that the royal pair were
married by the Archbishop Edmund and the prelates who accompanied
Eleanor. From Canterbury the newly-wedded king and queen set out for
London, attended by a splendid array of nobles, prelates, knights and
ladies. On the 20th of January, Eleanor was crowned at Westminster
with great splendour. Matthew Paris, the historian, gives an
interesting description of the royal procession, and the loyal welcome
of the citizens of London: "There had assembled together so great a
number of the nobility of both sexes, so great a number of religious
orders, so great a concourse of the populace, and so great a variety
of players, that London could scarcely contain them in her capacious
bosom. Therefore was the city adorned with silk hangings, and with
banners, crowns, palls, tapers, and lamps, and with certain marvellous
ingenuities and devices; all the streets being cleaned from dirt, mud,
sticks and everything offensive. The citizens of London going to meet
the king and queen, ornamented and trapped and wondrously sported
their swift horses; and on the same day they went from the City to
Westminster, that they might discharge the service of butler to the
king in his coronation, which is acknowledged to belong to them of
ancient right. They went in well-marshalled array, adorned in silken
vestments, wrapped in gold-woven mantles, with fancifully-devised
garments, sitting on valuable horses refulgent with new bits and
saddles: and they bore three hundred and sixty gold and silver cups,
the king's trumpeters going before and sounding their trumpets; so
that so wonderful a novelty produced a laudable astonishment in the
spectators." The literary monk of St. Albans also describes the
splendour of the feast, and the order of the service of the different
vassals of the crown, many of whom were called upon at the coronation
to perform certain peculiar services. According to the ancient City
records, "these served in order in that most elegant and unheard-of
feast: the Bishop of Chichester, the Chancellor, with the cup of
precious stones, which was one of the ancient regalia of the king,
clothed in his pontificals, preceded the king, who was clad in royal
attire, and wearing the crown. Hugh de Pateshall walked before with
the patine, clothed in a dalmatica; and the Earls of Chester, Lincoln,
and Warren, bearing the swords, preceded him. But the two renowned
knights, Sir Richard Siward and Sir Nicholas de Molis, carried the two
royal sceptres before the king; and the square purple cloth of silk,
which was supported upon four silver lances, with four little bells of
silver gilt, held over the king wherever he walked, was carried by the
barons of the Cinque Ports; four being assigned to each lance, from
the diversity of ports, that one port should not seem to be preferred
before the other. The same in like manner bore a cloth of silk over
the queen, walking behind the king, which said cloths they claimed to
be theirs by right, and obtained them. And William de Beauchamp of
Bedford, who had the office of almoner from times of old, found the
striped cloth or _burel_, which was laid down under the king's feet as
he went from the hall as far as the pulpit of the Church of
Westminster; and that part of the cloth that was _within_ the Church
always fell to the sexton in whatever church the king was crowned; and
all that was _without_ the church was distributed among the poor, by
the hands of William the almoner." The ancient records contain many
other particulars respecting the ceremonies which graced the marriage
feast of Henry and Eleanor of Provence, but enough has been quoted to
show the magnificence of the celebration.
Year by year, as the Christmas festival came round, it was royally
celebrated wherever the Court happened to be, even though the king had
to pledge his plate and jewels with the citizens of London to
replenish his exchequer. But Henry's Royal Christmases did not allay
the growing disaffection of his subjects on account of his showing too
much favour to foreigners; and some of the barons who attended the
Royal Christmas at Westminster in 1241, left in high dudgeon, because
the place of honour at the banquet was occupied by the papal legate,
then about to leave England, "to the sorrow of no man but the king."
In 1252, Henry gave in marriage his beautiful daughter Margaret, to
Alexander, King of the Scots, and held his Christmas at the same time.
The city of York was the scene of the regal festivities. The marriage
took place on Christmas Day, the bridegroom and many of his nobles
receiving knighthood at the hands of the English king. Henry seems to
have conciliated the English barons for a time, for most of them were
present at the marriage festivities, and he counted a thousand knights
in his train; while Alexander brought sixty splendidly-attired
Scottish knights with him. That the banqueting was on no mean scale is
evident from the fact that six hundred fat oxen were slaughtered for
the occasion, the gift of the Archbishop of York, who also subscribed
four thousand marks (£2,700) towards the expenses. The consumption of
meats and drinks at such feasts was enormous. An extant order of
Henry's, addressed to his keeper of wines, directs him to deliver two
tuns of white and one of red wine, to make garhiofilac and claret 'as
usual,' for the king at Christmas; and upon another occasion the
Sheriffs of Gloucestershire and Sussex were called upon to supply part
of the necessary provisions; the first named being directed to get
twenty salmon, and make pies of them; while the latter was instructed
to send ten peacocks, ten brawns with their heads, and other things.
And all this provision was necessary, for while Henry feasted the
rich, he did not forget the poor. When he kept his Christmas at
Winchester in 1248, he ordered his treasurer to fill Westminster Hall
with poor people, and feast them there for a week. Twenty years
afterwards, he kept his Royal Christmas in London for fifteen days,
opening a fair meantime at Westminster, and forbidding any shop to be
opened in London as long as the festival lasted. This prohibition of
business naturally displeased the citizens of London, but the king
would not withdraw his prohibition until they agreed to make him a
present of two thousand pounds, upon the receipt of which the
prohibition was withdrawn.
We cannot pass over this period without reference to the summoning of
THE FIRST ENGLISH PARLIAMENT,
which was a great event of Christmastide.
The Barons' Wars interfered seriously with the Christmas festivities,
but they solved the problem of how to ensure the government of the
realm in accordance with the provisions of the Great Charter. The King
(Henry III.) had sworn again and again to observe the Charter, but his
oath was no sooner taken than it was unscrupulously broken. The
barons, with the patriotic Simon de Montfort at their head, were
determined to uphold the rights of the people, and insisted on the
king's compliance with the provisions of the Charter; and this
struggle with the Crown yielded one of the greatest events of
Christmastide: the summoning of the first national Parliament. By
summoning the representatives of the cities and boroughs to sit beside
the knights of the shires, the barons and the bishops in the
Parliament of the realm, Simon de Montfort created a new force in
English politics. This first national assembly met at Westminster, in
January, 1265, while the king was a prisoner of Earl Simon. The form
of national representation thus inaugurated had an immense influence
on the rising liberties of the people, and has endured to our own
times. It is not surprising, therefore, that the adoption of this
measure by the great Earl of Leicester invested his memory with a
lustre which has not been dimmed by the lapse of centuries. The
paltering of the king called forth the patriotism of the people. "So
may a glory from defect arise." The sevenfold lustre of the rainbow is
only seen when there is rain as well as sun.
"Only the prism's obstruction shows aright
The secret of a sunbeam, breaks its light
Into the jewelled bow from blankest white;
So may a glory from defect arise."[19]
[Illustration]
THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD ON CHRISTMAS EVE.
The famous freebooter, Robin Hood, who, according to tradition,
flourished in Sherwood Forest in the distracted reign of Henry the
Third, is said to have died on Christmas Eve, in the year 1247. The
career of this hero of many popular ballads is not part of our
subject, though Hone[20] records his death as a Christmas event; and
Stowe, writing in 1590, evidently believes in Robin Hood as an
historical personage, for he says, "he suffered no woman to be
oppressed ... poor men's goods he spared, abundantly relieving them
with that which by theft he got from the abbeys, and the houses of
rich old earles."
From the doubtful doings of the romantic chief and his band of
freebooters, we now pass on to the
REIGN OF EDWARD THE FIRST.
[Illustration]
Edward the First was in the truest sense a national king. He was
English to the core, and he won the love of his people by his bravery,
justice, and good government. He joined freely in the national sports
and pastimes, and kept the Christmas festival with great splendour.
There was much of the chivalric in his character, and he shared to the
full his people's love of hard fighting. He was invested with the
honour of knighthood and went to foreign courts to display his
prowess. Matthew of Westminster states that while Edward was
travelling in France, he heard that a lord of Burgundy was continually
committing outrages on the persons and property of his neighbours. In
the true spirit of chivalry Edward attacked the castle of the
uncourteous baron. His prowess asserted the cause of justice, and he
bestowed the domains which he had won upon a nobler lord. For the sake
of acquiring military fame he exposed himself to great dangers in the
Holy Land, and, during his journey homeward, saved his life by sheer
fighting in a tournament at Challon. At his "Round Table of
Kenilworth" a hundred lords and ladies "clad all in silk" renewed the
faded glories of Arthur's Court, and kept Christmas with great
magnificence. In 1277, Llewellyn, Prince of Wales, bidden from his
mountain fastnesses "with a kiss of peace," sat a guest at the
Christmas feast of Edward, but he was soon to fall the last defender
of his weeping country's independence in unequal battle with the
English King. In 1281-2, Edward kept his feast of Christmas at
Worcester, and there was "such a frost and snow as no man living could
remember the like." Rivers were frozen over, even including the Thames
and Severn; fish in ponds, and birds in woods died for want of food;
and on the breaking up of the ice five of the arches of old London
bridge were carried away by the stream, and the like happened to many
other bridges. In 1286 Edward kept his Christmas at Oxford, but the
honour was accompanied by an unpleasant episode in the hanging of the
Mayor by the King's command. In 1290, 1292, and 1303, Edward the
First kept Royal Christmases in the great hall at Westminster. On
his way to Scotland, in the year 1299, the King witnessed the
Christmas ceremonial of the Boy Bishop. He permitted one of the
boy bishops to say vespers before him in his chapel at Heton, near
Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and made a present to the performers of forty
shillings, no inconsiderable sum in those days. During his Scotch
wars, in 1301, Edward, on the approach of winter, took up his quarters
in Linlithgow, where he built a castle and kept his Christmas; and
during his reign he celebrated the festival at other places not
usually so honoured--namely, Bury, Ipswich, Bristol, Berwick,
Carlisle, and Lincoln.
EDWARD THE SECOND
succeeded his father in 1307, being the fourth son of Edward I. and
Eleanor of Castile. He took great delight in the Christmas revels and
expended large sums of money in the entertainment of his court
favourites. In 1311 he kept his Christmas at York, rejoicing in the
presence of Piers Gaveston, whom he had recalled from banishment in
utter disregard of advice given to him by his father (Edward I.) on
his death-bed. Edward II. kept his Christmas in the great hall at
Westminster in 1317, when, however, few nobles were present, "because
of discord betwixt them and the King;" but in 1320 the Royal Christmas
was kept at Westminster "with great honour and glorie." In 1324-5 the
King's Christmas was sumptuously observed at Nottingham, but the
following year found Edward a prisoner at Kenilworth, while his wife,
who had successfully intrigued with Roger Mortimer, leader of the
Barons, observed the Christmas festivities with her son at
Wallingford, glad at the downfall of her husband. Edward was an
irresolute and weak-minded king. He displayed singular incapacity for
government, wasting almost all his time in frivolous amusements. The
chief characteristics of his reign were defeat and disgrace abroad,
and misrule ending in misery at home. Instead of following the example
of his noble father, Edward I., who has been deservedly styled "the
greatest of the Plantagenets," he proved himself the weakest of that
line of kings, spending his time in such trifling diversions as "cross
and pile," a game of chance with coins. He was so utterly devoid of
self-respect that he even borrowed money of his barber to carry on
this frivolous pastime, such items as the following being found in his
wardrobe rolls:--"Item, paid to Henry, the king's barber, for money
which he lent the king to play at cross and pile, five shillings.
Item, paid to Pires Barnard, usher of the king's chamber, money which
he lent the king, and which he lost at cross and pile; to Monsieur
Robert Wattewille eightpence." At length the barons, tired of
Edward's misgovernment, revolted, and made the king a prisoner. During
the Christmas festival of 1326, Edward was imprisoned in Kenilworth
Castle. While there he was informed that in a Parliament held at
Westminster, during Christmas 1326-7, he was deposed, and his son
Edward, then only fourteen years of age, elected in his stead. On the
21st of September in the same year Edward II. ended his miserable
career in Berkeley Castle, being, it is supposed, cruelly murdered by
his keepers.
EDWARD THE THIRD'S CORONATION
festivities were a sumptuous enlargement of the Christmas celebration,
which usually extended over Twelfth Night. It is said that the
banqueting cost the equivalent of forty thousand pounds of our money;
and before the young king there appeared quite a multitude of
minstrels, mimics, and gleemen. Professor Henry Morley[21] gives a
specimen of the metrical romances which were translated from the
French for recitation at the royal and noble banquets of this period.
They were "busy with action, and told with a lively freedom;" and, in
the one quoted, "The Fabliau of Sir Cleges," we catch some interesting
references to the celebration of Christmas:--
"Every year Sir Cleges would
At Christmás a great feast hold
In worship of that day,
As royál in allé thing
As he haddé been a king
For sooth as I you say.
Rich and poor in the country about
Should be there withouten doubt;
There would no man say nay.
Minstrels would not be behind,
For there they might most mirthés find
There would they be aye.
"Minstrels when the feast was done
Withouten giftés should not gon,
And that both rich and good:
Horsé, robes and riché ring,
Gold, silver, and other thing,
To mend with their mood.
Ten yearé such feast be held,
In the worship of Mary mild
And for Him that died on the rood.
By that his good began to slake
For the great feasts that he did make.
The knight gentil of blood."
"KEPE OPEN COURT" AT CHRISTMAS.
Froissart, in Cap. XIIII. of his "Chronicles,"[22] gives the
following account of the Christmas Celebration at which Edward the
Third was crowned:--
"After that the most part of the company of Heynaulte were departed,
and syr John Heynaulte lorde of Beamonde taryed, the Quene gave leve
to her people to departe, savynge a certayne noble knightis the whiche
she kept styl about her and her s[=o]ne, to counsell them, and
commaunded all them that departed, to be at London the next Christmas,
for as than she was determyned to kepe open court, and all they
promysed her so to do. And whan Christmas was come, she helde a great
court. And thyther came dukes, erles, barons, knightis, and all the
nobles of the realme, with prelates, and burgesses of good townes, and
at this assemble it was advised that the realme coud nat long endure
without a head and a chief lord. Than they put in wrytynge all the
dedis of the kyng who was in prison, and all that he had done by evyll
counsell, and all his usages, and evyll behavyngis, and how evyll he
had governed his realme, the which was redde openly in playn audience,
to thentent that the noble sagis of the realme might take therof good
advyce, and to fall at acorde how the realme shuld be governed from
thensforth; and whan all the cases and dedis that the kyng had done
and c[=o]sented to, and all his behavyng and usages were red, and wel
understand, the barons and knightis and al ye co[=u]sels of the
realme, drew them aparte to co[=u]sell, and the most part of them
accorded, and namely the great lordes and nobles, with the burgesses
of ye good townes, accordyng as they had hard say, and knew themselfe
the most parte of his dedis. Wherfore they c[=o]cluded that such a man
was nat worthy to be a kyng. But they all accorded that Edward his
eldeste son who was ther present, and was ryghtful heyre, shuld be
crowned kyng in stede of his father, so that he would take good
counsell, sage and true about hym, so that the realme from thensforth
myght be better governed than it was before, and that the olde kyng
his father shuld be well and honestly kept as long as he lyved
accordyng to his astate; and thus as it was agreed by all the nobles,
so it was accomplysshed, and than was crowned with a crowne royall at
the palaice of Westminster, beside L[=o]don, the yong kyng Edward the
III. who in his dayes after was right fortunate and happy in armes.
This coronacion was in the yere of our Lorde MCCCXXVI, on Christymas
day, and as than the yong kyng was about the age of XVI., and they
held the fest tyl the c[=o]vercion of saynt Paule followyng: and in
the mean tyme greatly was fested sir John of Heynaulte and all the
princis and nobles of his co[=u]tre, and was gyven to hym, and to his
company, many ryche jewels. And so he and his company in great feast
and solas both with lordis and ladyes taried tyll the XII. day."
EDWARD BALLIOL, OF SCOTLAND, DEFEATED AT CHRISTMAS.
The Christmas of 1332 is memorable in Scottish annals as the time of
the defeat of Edward Balliol, the "phantom king" of Scotland. His
success was as unreal as a dream. He was solemnly crowned at Scone in
the month of September, 1332, fondly imagining that he had permanently
conquered the patriotic Scottish nobles who had opposed him. His
reign, however, only lasted for a few months. The leaders of the
national party suddenly assembled a force, and attacked him, while he
was feasting at Annan, in Dumfriesshire, where he had gone to keep his
Christmas. A body of horse under Sir Archibald, the young Earl of
Moray, and Sir Simon Fraser, made a dash into the town to surprise
Balliol, and he escaped only by springing upon a horse without any
saddle, leaving behind him his brother Henry slain. Balliol escaped to
England and was kindly received by Edward III., who afterwards made
fresh expeditions into Scotland to support him. "Whenever the English
king appeared the Scots retired to their mountain fastnesses, while
Edward and his army overran the country with little opposition, burnt
the houses, and laid waste the lands of those whom he styled rebels;
but whenever he returned to England they came forth again, only the
more embittered against the contemptible minion of the English king,
the more determined against the tyranny of England. The regent, Sir
Andrew Murray, pursued, with untiring activity, Balliol and his
adherents. When Edward marched homeward to spend in London the
Christmas of 1336, he left Scotland to all appearance prostrate, and
flattered himself that it was completely subdued. Never was it further
from such a condition. Only one spirit animated the Scottish
nation--that of eternal resistance to the monarch who had inflicted on
it such calamities, and set a slave on its throne."[23]
COTTAGE CHRISTMAS-KEEPING IN THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY.
At this period the greatest of the Bishops of Winchester, William of
Wykeham, was a schoolboy. He was born of humble parents, educated at
Winchester school, and afterwards became secretary to Uvedale, Lord of
Wickham Manor, through whom he was introduced to King Edward III. In
his interesting "Story of the Boyhood of William of Wykeham," the Rev.
W. A. C. Chevalier thus pictures William's Christmas holidays:--
"Three days after William's arrival home was Christmas-eve. There were
great preparations in the cottage for spending Christmas worthily, for
if there was one thing more than another that John Longe believed in,
it was the proper keeping of Christmas. It was a part of the worthy
yeoman's faith. He was a humble and thorough believer in all the
tenets of Christianity, he worshipped the Saviour and adored His
Nativity, but his faith was a cheerful one, and he thought he best
honoured his Master by enjoying the good gifts which He sent. Hence
it was a part of his creed to be jovial at Christmas-tide. And so
Dame Alice had been busy all that day, and a part of the day before,
making Christmas pies, dressing Christmas meats, and otherwise making
ready for the great festival. John Longe, too, had not been idle. He
and his men had been working hard all day getting in huge Yule-logs
for the great kitchen fire, whilst William and little Agnes had been
employed in decorating the kitchen with evergreens and mistletoe,
displaying in great profusion the red berries of the holly bushes.
Everything was decked with evergreens, from the cups and platters on
the shelves to the hams and bacon hanging from the ceiling."
At length the preparations were completed; then came the telling of
tales and cheerful gossip round the blazing fire on Christmas Eve, and
the roasting of chestnuts on the embers. "Christmas Day passed at the
little homestead with all the social and religious honours that the
honest yeoman could think of. The little household attended the
service of Mass in the morning, and then, with clear consciences and
simple hearts, spent the rest of the day in domestic and convivial
enjoyment."
Returning to royalty, we next see illustrated Froissart's statement
that "Edward the third was right fortunate and happy in armes."
EDWARD THE THIRD'S VICTORIES AND FESTIVITIES.
[Illustration]
During the invasion of France, Edward III. raised the martial glory of
England by his splendid victories at Crecy, Poictiers, and other
places; and he kept Christmas right royally with his soldiers on
French soil. After the battle of Crecy, at which the Prince of Wales
gained the celebrated title of the Black Prince, Edward marched upon
Calais, and laid siege to it; and at length he took the place. During
Edward's absence, England was invaded by David II. of Scotland, who
was defeated and taken prisoner by the army under Philippa, Edward's
Queen. The brave Queen then joined King Edward on the French
battle-ground, and they kept the Christmas of 1346 with much
rejoicing.
During the Christmas festivities of this period the most noble Order
of the Garter was instituted by King Edward III. to excite emulation
amongst the aristocratic warriors of the time, in imitation of orders
of a similar kind, both religious and military, which had been
instituted by different monarchs of Europe; and that those who were
admitted to the order were enjoined to exalt the religion of Christ
is evident from some lines which Chaucer addressed to the Lords and
Knights--
"Do forth, do forth, continue your succour,
Hold up Christ's banner, let it not fall."
And again--
"Ye Lordis eke, shining in noble fame,
To which appropered is the maintenance
Of Christ 'is cause; in honour of his name,
Shove on, and put his foes to utterance."
In imitation of King Arthur, Edward III. set up at Windsor a Round
Table, which was consecrated with feasts and tournaments, and baptized
with the blood of the brave. On New Year's Day, 1344, he issued his
royal letters of protection for the safe-coming and return of foreign
knights to the solemn jousts which he appointed to be held at Windsor
on St. Hilary's Day, in extension of the Christmas festivities. The
festival was opened with a splendid supper; and the next day, and
until Lent, all kinds of knightly feats of arms were performed. "The
queen and her ladies," says an old historian, "that they might with
more convenience behold this spectacle, were orderly seated upon a
firm ballustrade, or scaffold, with rails before it, running all round
the lists. And certainly their extraordinary beauties, set so
advantageously forth with excessive riches of apparel, did prove a
sight as full of pleasant encouragement to the combatants, as the
fierce hacklings of men and horses, gallantly armed, were a delightful
terror to the feminine beholders."
[Illustration: LADIES LOOKING FROM THE HUSTINGS UPON THE TOURNAMENT.]
In 1348 Edward III. kept a grand Christmas at Guildford. "Orders were
given to manufacture for the Christmas sports eighty tunics of buckram
of different colours, and a large number of masks--some with faces of
women, some with beards, some like angel heads of silver. There were
to be mantles embroidered with heads of dragons, tunics wrought with
heads and wings of peacocks, and embroidered in many other fantastic
ways. The celebration of Christmas lasted from All Hallow's Eve, the
31st of October, till the day after the Purification, the 3rd of
February. At the court a lord of misrule was appointed, who reigned
during the whole of this period, and was called 'the master of merry
disports.' He ruled over and organised all the games and sports, and
during the period of his rule there was nothing but a succession of
masques, disguisings, and dances of all kinds. All the nobles, even
the Mayor of London, had an officer of this kind chosen in their
households. Dancing was a very favourite amusement. It was practised
by the nobility of both sexes. The damsels of London spent their
evenings in dancing before their masters' doors, and the country
lasses danced upon the village green."[24]