Crispin and Crispianus

[steepholm]

How did Henry V happen to know that 25th October was St Crispin's day?

Crispin and Crispinian have never been major saints, but they did have a personal connection to Shakespeare, for they are (among other things) the patron saints of glovemakers, which was of course the profession of Shakespeare's father. As a good Catholic, no doubt John Shakespeare kept the feast. 25th October was important to Will as the feast of Crispin long before he knew it as the date of Agincourt.

"This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered."

Is it fanciful to hear in these lines a little batsqueak of recusant defiance? A sly filial tribute?

This speculation brought to you courtesy of 3am insomnia.

Comments

[oursin]

Take that, Oxfordians!!!

[steepholm]

I keep forgetting that Oxfordians exist!

[cmcmck]

If I recall correctly, Henry personally reverenced Crispin.

There's a Crispin Crispianus Inn (it's old) in my home area, in the town of Strood which was much beloved of Charles Dickens. The story goes that he would sit in the bar in disguise to listen to the local gossip.

[steepholm]

If I recall correctly, Henry personally reverenced Crispin.

That would rather put a dent in my theory...

[tree_and_leaf]

Crispin was also important enough to make it into the BCP calendar (he doesn't rate a collect, so not of the first rank of importance, but he is nonetheless there). I think it's possible that he was less obscure in Shakespeare's day than he is now.

[shewhomust]

What a great question! As for how he knew which saint's day it was, does that come with his known source material? I'm having trouble deciphering text from annotation in this account of Holinshed, but that would seem to be a 'maybe'.

Which doesn't explain why he makes such a big deal of it ... I like the 'filial tribute' option, but with the caveat that we tend to regard as obscure things we don't know, and as obvious things that we do. If Will grew up observing the date of the professional patron - as a professional rather than a religious celebration - he may not have thought of it as an obscure reference.

[calimac]

Might some priest in Henry's entourage have carried a saints' calendar? I know the Spanish explorers who covered what's now the western US did that. Every time they discovered something, they'd look up in the calendar to see what saint's day it was and name it after the saint, which is why that area is now littered with names beginning with "San" and "Santa".

[steepholm]

I'm sure they would have had access to the information, had they wanted it. I suppose what really interested/puzzled me was why Shakespeare would have Henry make such a big deal about such a relative obscure feast.

[rachelmanija]

That's so interesting. I always assumed it was a day that was famous at the time, much like we'd all know that December 24 is Christmas Eve.