I have always taken Crispin Crispinian as being the "private holy day" of
the cobblers -which must have been important enough to warrant mention in
King Edward VI Injunctions  (and I'm still professionally interested , but
unsatisfied, in what day the brewers claimed ! ):

"....as in casting holy water upon his bed, upon images, and other dead
things, or bearing about him holy bread, or St. John's Gospel, or making of
crosses of wood upon Palm Sunday, in time of reading of the Passion, or
keeping of private holy days, as bakers, brewers, smiths, shoemakers, and
such other do; or ringing of holy bells; or blessing with the holy candle,
..."

http://history.hanover.edu/texts/ENGref/LXXVIII_1.htm

Thus Crispin Crispinian must have been some kind of cult well before
Shakespeare wrote about it in the 1590's.

Hutton (The Stations of the Sun) quotes a nineteenth century rhyme from
Herefordshire:

"The 25th of October:
Cursed be the cobbler
That goes to bed sober."

Carolyn said that:
* John of Bridlington (1379)
- after study at Oxford, took religious habit in Augustinian
priory of Bridlington
- King Henry V attributed his victory at Agincourt to this saint's
intercession (with that of John of Beverley)

John of Beverley seemed to have made a habit of this (? patron saint of
Kings in foreign lands with outnumbered armies ?) - at least from my attempt
to translate the Latin of the office for the feast of his translation it
appears that Athelstan (?925 - 940) was marching north to fight the Scots
when he came across a crowd blocking the road who had come from Beverley
where John had been healing the lame, deaf and dumb. He changed his plans,
went and saw John , asked his aid and swapped his dagger (left on the altar)
for a banner from John. Carrying on north with his army, the night before
the battle John appeared to him and gave him his battle plans. The Scots
were  duly defeated. Athelstan later asked for a sign to confirm his success
was due to John's intercession and succeeded in driving his sword an arms
length into a rock near Dunbar. [ Any corrections to this gratefully
received - the chronology is a bit doubtful if Athelstan reigned from
925-940 but John died in 721 (!!) or did he the King only pray
at the shrine !! Bede doesn't seem to mention this miracle of  John.]

John of Bridlington seems another matter and I haven't found out much about
him (and I don't think Bill East's archived suggestion  from last year that
someone on the list must have a thesis on him produced a response). The
Catholic Encyclopedia says he was the last English Saint to be canonized
before the Reformation
"Prior of St. Mary's, Bridlington, b. near the town, 1319; d. at
Bridlington, 1379"
and quotes some miracles :
".... Even in his lifetime he enjoyed a reputation for great holiness and
for miraculous powers. On one occasion he changed water into wine. On
another, five seamen from Hartlepool in danger of shipwreck called upon God
in the name of His servant, John of Bridlington, whereupon the prior himself
appeared to them in his canonical habit and brought them safely to shore.
After his death the fame of the miracles wrought by his intercession spread
rapidly through the land. " And  hence Margery Kempe :"Than went thei forth
to
Brydlyngtonward in rygth hoot wedyr, the fornseyd creatur havyng gret sorwe
and gret
dred for hyr chastité. "
A John of Bridlington (is he the same one ?) also seems to be linked  later
with ancient prophecies ( Merlin, Geoffrey of
Monmouth, Bede etc.) which were used to support various protagonists in the
Wars of the Roses.
Even later, in 1535, John Hale, the vicar of my parish of Isleworth, was
executed for
declaring that Henry VIII was the Mouldwarp of one of the prophecies (an
evil king who
would be driven from the land by a dragon, a wolf and a lion, after which
England
would be divided into three parts). [Keith Thomas, Religion and Decline of
Magic]


Regards,
Tim

----- Original Message -----
From: Hilary Carey <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, October 26, 2000 5:52 AM
Subject: Re: FEAST 25 October


> >notable cult in northern Europe, especially England; they are mentioned
by
> >Shakespeare (Henry V, iv, 3)
>
> On the "notable cult" in northern Europe of  Crispin and Crispinian - I
> wonder how notable and if Shakespeare might not be  largely responsible
for
> this idea?
>
> Henry V did not thank C & C for his victory at Agincourt, but the English
> John of Beverley (d. 721; feast day: May 7).  Agincourt was won on the
feast
> of John of Beverley's translation (25 October,1415) and Henry attributed
the
> victory to his  intercession (The Catholic Encyclopedia gives Lyndwode
> "Provinciale", II, "Anglicanae" as the source for this). A national cult
was
> then proclaimed to the saint. This must have been very swiftly and
> effectively instituted because it can be used as a way of dating calendars
> pre and post c.1415, or at least I have found it so.
>
> Hilary Carey
>
>
>
>
>




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