A Medieval ChristmasPresented by : The Barony of Castel Rouge

2009

“…and now it draweth fast

unto Christmas, on

which time every true

Christian man should be

merry, jocund and glad.”

Letter from a monk to John Paston, 1460s

Welcome to the Current Middle Ages!

Today we’ll have a quick tour of what Christmas would have been like from about 400AD-1600AD.

You’ll get to experience some of the sights, sounds & tastes of that time.

When did Christmas start?

• Began as an official celebration very early in Christian history, somewhere in the 300’s

• Known originally as “Christ’s Mass” but……it was built on many non-Christian traditions

• Europe not fully Christianized until the late 700s/early 800s…& maybe later….

• Many old traditions carried on, & were deliberately encouraged by church fathers

• “if you can’t beat’em, join ‘em”…the new holiday combined Roman Saturnalia, Nordic Yule, & other solstice celebrations.

Saturnalia

• Marked by a week of feasting, drinking, giftgiving & good times

• Reversal of roles – slaves were served by masters• When did it happen? December 17-25

Yule

• Celebrated at midwinter solstice in northern Europe

• Also a time of feasting & celebration• Boar’s head & wassail were traditional food/drink

Why December 25?

• All midwinter festivals happen at this time, because of winter solstice around Dec. 21

• Dec. 25 was also the date of the festival of Mithras, a Christ-like figure connected to sun-worship

• Christianity took Dec. 25 as the high holy day

The 8 weeks of Christmas??

• St. Martin’s Day Nov. 11• St. Andrew’s Day Nov. 30• St. Nicholas’ Day Dec. 5/6 • Immaculate Conception Dec. 8• Santa Lucia Day Dec. 13• Christmas Day Dec. 25• St. Stephen’s Day Dec. 26• St. John the Evangelist’s Day Dec. 27• Holy Innocents’ Day Dec. 28• St. Sylvester’s Day Dec. 31• Feast of Circumcision Jan 1• Epiphany/Twelfth Night Jan 6 • Candlemas Feb 2

Christmas Symbols

Much of our modern Christmas imagery started in the Middle Ages:– Angels – The Nativity Scene – 3 Wise Men– Shepherds

Angels & The Annunciation

•Annunciation was the beginning of the cycle of Christmas images•Angel announced to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus

Russian, 1100s

French, 12th century

Cavallini (Italian) 1291

English, 1300sEmbroidered book cover

Robert Campin, Merode AltarpieceNetherlands, 1428

Botticelli1490

The Nativity Scene

1st Known Scene of Mary with baby, 250 AD, Rome.

Italian, 1100s

French Psalter, 1250

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Giotto (Italian) 1304

Fabriano (Italian) 1423

Robert CampinNetherlands, 1425/30

Gerard David, Netherlands, 1515

St. Francis & the Creche

• Similarity of appearance of Nativity scenes may be also be due to St. Francis of Assisi

• He’s credited with the first creche/crib in 1223, although similar scenes seem to have been set up in churches beforehand

• Many paintings, carvings, etc. used as teaching tools

Roman sarcophagus, 4th century

The Three Wise Men

Magi, Ravenna, 6th Century

Giotto, 1304

Bouts, 1470(Netherlands)

Leonardo da Vinci, 1481/82

Brueghel, 1564Netherlands

Shepherds

Chartres Cathedral 13th century

De Lisle Psalter,England 1310

Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry1412-16

Flemish, 1477

What about these symbols?

First Christmas Tree?

• Martin Luther often credited with first lighted tree in early 1500s

• Riga, Latvia claims that they had the first tree in 1510

• Tree legends go back even further – in 8th century St. Boniface chopped down an oak tree & a fir grew in its place

Christmas Greenery

• Evergreens were brought into the house from earliest times

• Symbolizes life surviving through the winter

• Holly, ivy & mistletoe = European evergreens

• Yule log – symbol of life, kept burning for up to 12 days, used to relight next year’s fire

Who wrote this song?

“Green groweth the holly, so doth the ivy.

Though winter blasts blow never so high, Green groweth the holly.”

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/greengroweth.htm

Christmas, 1509

Why this date?

• First Christmas of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon as husband & wife/ King & Queen

• 1509 was at the end of the Middle Ages & beginning of the Renaissance – old ways still being practiced, not influenced yet by Reformation

• Henry’s Christmases were famous for extravagance

What about everyone else?

• Most people were peasants & lived in villages

• Farmed on a lord’s manor & had a small house & some land for themselves

• By 1509, more people were living in towns & cities and working at trades, manufacturing

• Christmas was a public religious festival, not the Victorian-style family-centred one we know today

• Major state occasions were often timed to happen at Christmas

• Little work got done during the traditional 12 days of Christmas

• Formulas exist for how much work to be done on feast-days

• Lots of time for entertainment

"...there were no disguisings [acting], nor harping, luting or singing, nor any lewd sports, but just playing at the tables [backgammon] and chess and cards. Such sports she gave her folk leave to play and no other."

– Lady Morley’s mourning Christmas, 1458

How would you have celebrated?

Disguising, Masques & Plays

• Also known as mumming or mummering• Still practiced in Newfoundland today

between Christmas & Epiphany• Not too much known, but may have

been related to the idea of reversal of roles: Feast of Fools, Jan 1, or midwinter solstice rites

•Henry VIII was credited with bringing the masque to England

•A disguised Henry VIII & retinue ambushed Katharine & ladies on their 1st Christmas together

•Masques continued to be a large part of court entertainment at Christmas

Mystery/Miracle plays

• Plays/pageants telling the story of the Nativity were popular

• Performed outdoors by professional or semi-professional troupes

• Complaints - tone down Herod’s massacre of innocents

Harping, Luting & Singing :

Carols

• Carols come down from pagan times

• Were originally performed in a circle dance (carole) and were based on folk tunes

• Later associated with the Christmas plays

• Because of pagan overtones, were frowned upon by the church; were later banned in England by Puritans (1600s)

• Earliest one said to have been written by St. Francis of Assisi, but prime time was 15th & 16th centuries

• Henry VIII a big fan of carols – “Greensleeves” attributed to him, is also tune for “What Child is This.”

Medieval/Renaissance Carols We sing today

• Coventry Carol, 1591• Wassail Song, pre-15th

century• Holly & Ivy, words pre-15th

century• What Child is this, music,

16th century• Good King Wenceslas,

music, 16th century• 12 Days of Christmas, 16th

century (code song for Catholics)

Katherine of Aragon watching Henry VIII joust, 1510/11

Lewd Sports?

Ice skates from the 1170s are made of 'shinbones of cattle‘, found near London

http://golondon.about.com/od/londonpictures/ig/Medieval-London/Ice-Skates.htm

Backgammon, chess, cards

“..also if ye be at home this Christmas, it were

well done ye should do purvey a garnish or

twain of pewter vessel, two basins and two ewers, and twelve candlesticks, for ye

have too few of any of these to serve this

place.” Letter from Margaret Paston to John Paston, 1460s

Entertaining

Music & Dancing were very popular

Gift-giving

• Happened more among the rich

• Symbol of an obligation between lord & master, lord & tenant – rents were due!

• Gifts were given on Dec 5/6 (St. Nicholas day) or Jan 6 (12th night/Epiphany) rather than on Christmas Day itself

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A 16th Century development:

“In Holland it was said that during the night of 5/6 December, the bearded Saint Nicholas and his white horse rode over the snow-covered roofs and threw presents through the chimneys, which the children would find early in the morning, often hid in shoes.”

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Looking Fine

“Right reverend and worshipful father… I beseech you that you would vouchsafe to send me some money…for I have but one gown at Framlingham, and another here, and that is my livery gown, and we must wear them every day for the more part, and one gown without change will soon be done.

Your son and lowly servant.”

Letter from John Paston Jr., 20 years old, to his father, Halloween 1462.

Christmas Feasting

• Midwinter feasting goes back to pre-Roman times

• An opportunity to celebrate the harvest, use up food that might not survive the winter

• Also an opportunity to break the Advent fast

A Noble Christmas Dinner

In 1289 the Bishop of Swinford had a Christmas feast that lasted 3 days.

“They ate no less than 1 boar, 2 complete carcasses and 3 quarters of beef, 2 calves, 4 doves, 4 pigs, about 60 fowl (hens or possibly capons), 8 partridges and 2 geese, as well as bread and cheese. The amount of ale served was not recorded, but ten sextaries (about 10 pints) of red wine and one of white were consumed.

This is a modest amount for about 70 people”.

Making Sotelties, Hampton CourtKitchen hearth, Hampton Court

• Everyone feasted as much as they were able to.

• Peasants/tenants usually received food from their lord.

• In 1509, a developing middle class would have had family feasts.

The Common Folk

A group of three prosperous villeins on a manor belonging to Wells Cathedral in the early fourteenth century received 'two white loaves, as much beer as they will drink in a day, a mess of beef and of bacon with mustard, one of browis (stew) of hen, and a cheese, fuel to cook their food... and to burn from dinner time till even and afterwards, and two candles.'

'but he must bring with him... his own cloth, cup and trencher, and take away all that is left on his cloth, and he shall have for himself and his neighbours one wastel [loaf] cut in three for the ancient Christmas game to be played with the said wastel.'

Menus

• No special Christmas food; same as most of the year, but more of it, richer, & spicier

• Included:• mulled wine & cider, • chicken, goose, beef, pork, venison, rabbit• apples & pears• tarts & pies – sweet & savoury• carrots, peas

www.godecookery.com

The Main Course: Pork

• Pigs were traditionally eaten at Yuletide/Christmas

• Most families would have had several pigs, if they could afford them

• The Christmas boar hunt was a traditional pastime of the nobility

• The Boar’s Head – big part of upper class feasts for all of medieval period

Medieval or Modern?

• Mince tarts• Turkey• Plum pudding• Gingerbread• Candy canes• Egg nog• Wassail/mulled wine• Goose• Hot chocolate• Cookies

• Medieval• Modern/late medieval• Medieval• Medieval• Modern (1670)• Modern/medieval• Medieval/modern• Medieval/modern• Modern• Modern/Medieval

..and our friend Henry?

On Christmas Day, there was always the seasonal favourite, seethed brawn made from spiced boar or pork, and perhaps roast swans; the first course, however, was invariably a boar's head, which was served "bedecked with bay and rosemary".

For the sumptuous banquet that marked Twelfth Night, a special cake containing dried fruit, flour, honey, and spices was baked. The cake contained a pea or a bean; whoever found it would be King or Queen of the Pea or Bean for the evening. ...

At the void on Twelfth Night, the choir of the Chapel Royal sang as the wassail cup, which contained spiced ale, was brought in by the Lord Steward and presented to the King and Queen and then passed around the table.

Henry VIII: The King and his Court by Alison Weir

“I’ll be home for Christmas”...

Medieval or Modern?

“I am sorry that ye shall not at home be for Christmas. I pray you that ye will come as soon as ye may; I shall think myself half a widow, because ye shall not be at home. God have you in his keeping.

Written on Christmas even.” Letter from Margery Paston to her husband

John, 1484.

Thank You!