In an article called "Bacon and Eggs: Bishop Buckingham and
Superstition in Lincolnshire" (_Studies in Church History_ 8 [1972]),
Dorothy M. Owen reports (pp. 141-42) an injunction by Bishop John
Buckingham to the rector of Nettleham (Linc.) about "a very foul abuse,
hateful to God" whereby at Easter, before the distribution of Easter
communion, the priest solemnly blessed in church "swine's flesh commonly
called Bacoun...and many shelled hardboiled eggs. These, which are
provided at your [i.e., the rector's] expense, are carried to every house
in the parish as a sort of holy offering, to the great scandal and
dishonour of the Church...." She doesn't date the passage, but in context
it seems to come from the 1390s. Owen says this is a unique reference in
Buckingham's register, but she notes that a century earlier, other bishops
of Lincoln allowed the offering of "meinport," bread brought to church on
Easter Tuesday by the married women of the parish.
J. H. Moorman says that eggs were offered (apparently as part of
the annual tithe on eggs) at Easter and cites several Eng. bishops'
registers as his source (_Church Life in Eng. in the XIIIth Century_, p.
129, nt. 4). Off the top of my head, this looks like part of the normal
grab bag of Easter tithe offerings (milk, cheese, eggs) requested in
episcopal statutes of the period, so I don't know if any particularly
"Easter-eggy associations are intended.
Sounds like we're perilously near the Christian/"pagan" debate
again!
On Sun, 3 Oct 1999, damon knight wrote:
> Does anybody happen to know what, if anything, 14th century people did
> with eggs at Easter?
>
> Damon
>
>
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