St. Bartholomew’s Day

One of the goals of my work is to help people connect to the historic practice of herbal medicine in an authentic manner. I do this mostly so people with Western European ancestry stop appropriating other cultures’ traditions. We have our own rich and diverse cultures. We don’t need to do that.

Learning about holidays, feast days, and celebrations that were observed historically is in keeping with that goal because it provides you with another layer of context. These customs and rituals also served the important role of keeping agricultural and household tasks on schedule, so they give us a feeling for the seasonal rhythm of their year. The great part about living now is that we can look through folklore (yes, I include biblical accounts) without being bogged down by any harmful dogma.

People are looking too hard for deep esoteric meaning anyway. Peasants didn’t have much time for philosophy and neither do I. I will leave the philosophical dissection to people with more time on their hands.  I have work to do.

Today is St. Bartholomew’s Day and it’s definitely one of those celebrations people have mostly forgotten. The unfortunate St. Bartholomew was a Christian saint who became a martyr by being flayed alive. You will sometimes read that this happened in Armenia, but historians now question that narrative and believe it is more likely to have occurred in India. This is in keeping with medieval literature in which we are told he turned the gospel into the tongue of India.

In the thirteenth century the Dominican friar, Jacobus de Voragine told the story of an Indian ruler named Polimius and St. Bartholomew. The story goes that the ruler had a giant statue in which a demon lived that was worshipped as idols often were at that time. St. Bartholomew bargained with the ruler that if he could chain the demon, the king would allow himself to be baptized as a Christian. The demon lost the skirmish and St. Bartholomew made him break up the statue he had lived in and retreat to the jungle. The king received his baptism and this angered someone to the point that poor St. Bartholomew met his gruesome end.

The nature of his demise led to him being associated with people who worked with leather. St. Bartholomew is the patron saint of leatherworkers, bookbinders, tanners, shoemakers, and butchers which is kind of nasty when you think about it. 

By happenstance, the day became popularized through a political charter granted to a courtier of Henry I in the 12th century. The hospital known as St. Bartholomew the Great has an interesting history.  The priory was said to be founded by the minstrel of William the Conqueror’s son, Henry I

[date 1102] In this third year of King Henry the church and hospital of Saint Bartholomew in Smithfield was begun to be founded by a minstrel of the king’s named Rayer [Rahere].”[i] 

Some lay historians today call Rahere a jester because they don’t understand that originally the office held a little more responsibility. They advised royalty due to being responsible for keeping track of law and history. This may or may not have been done via verse and song. There is a primary source document calling Rahere a canon, which may mean he was specifically responsible for keeping track of ecclesiastic law. He was said to travel to Rome, at times.

I have read some stories that say Rahere had retired from the king’s service, joined the Augustine order, and established the Priory. Others say that he pledged to build the hospital due to a bargain he made with God to recover from an illness.  Smithfield was said to be a “laystall of all order of filth; and the place where felons and other transgressors of the king’s laws were put to execution”[ii] so it was undoubtedly a charitable endeavor.

You will see the hospital mentioned in early modern medical transcripts because some physicians and surgeons worked there. Thomas Vicary, who was the surgeon of Henry VIII on whose request the company of Barber Surgeons was formed, was appointed superintendent of St. Bartholomew’s hospital at the dissolution.

The Church of England decreed that the epistle to be read on St. Bartholomew’s day spoke of the apostles saying that they brought the sick into the streets and laid them on beds and couches “bringing sicke folkes, and them whiche were vexed with uncleane spirites: And they were healed euery one.”[iii]  

That could be seen as a veiled attempt to associate him with hospitals. Besides the hospital associated with the priory, there is another ancient St. Bartholomew’s hospital in Kent that was an almshouse built around 1200 CE to provide homes for travelers and pilgrims as was typical in the medieval era. They have a more modern tradition of having a current bun rolling contest on the hospital grounds dating to sometime in the 19th century.

Most hospitals that began life as catholic institutions are named for one saint or another though, so I don’t find that hospitals are unique to his legacy but there is no harm in using today as a reminder to send a donation to your local hospital.

Bartholomew’s Faire is an event associated with the priory of St. Bartholomew. The Faire held on St. Bartholomew’s Day was chartered by King Henry I and it was originally a two-week event the proceeds of which supported the Priory.  It drew a large crowd and became associated with Cloth Fair a street once lined with shops owned by drapers (cloth merchants) and dealers in fine textiles known as mercers.

It was by all accounts quite the event as medieval faires go and there were many performers and vendors who came out to try to get the fashionable people of England to spend their money.

According to one synopsis of a 1614 play written about it, “The fair attracted every class of people in London (from lords to prostitutes) and was the type of place where one could buy the best meat in town, while also watching a public execution.” The event was shut down for rowdiness and debauchery in 1855, but the tradition has recently been revived.

Some sources talk about St. Bartholomew being associated with beekeeping and honey which is questionable. Apples dipped in thick honey were said to be one of the treats available at the faire,[iv] but I have never found a primary source for that. It makes sense though for this time of the year as you see toffee apples associated with other harvest festivals.

I have seen a few receipts that mentioned that it was good to make metheglin between St Bartholomew’s and Michaelmas which indicates that honey was harvested about this time. You read about various churches in Cornwall, holding services for blessing the mead. So that’s good enough to convince me that today would be a good day to start a batch of mead. It doesn’t take much.

It was of course a feast day. I believe the association with butchers has something to do with an old adage I have heard amongst farmers that livestock that had not reached a certain size before St. Bartholomew’s Day should be culled. It is a harvest feast if you will with a focus on an abundance of meat.

I have only ever found one primary source receipt that mentions Bartlemas. I have seen some odd modern translations of this, one of which even tells you to make a paste of flour and water and brush it on the beef, but remember at this time the term paste meant dough. Don’t do that.

To me, the directions sound somewhat like assembling a Beef Wellington without the mushroom layer.

To make rare Bartlemas beef.

TAke a fat Brisket piece of beef and bone it, put it into so much water as will cover it, shifting it three times a day for three dayes together, then put it into as much white wine and vineger as will cover it; and when it hath lyen twenty four hours take it out and drye it in a cloth, then take nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and mace, of each a like quantity, beaten small and mingled with a good handfull of salt, strew both sides of the Beef with this, and roul it up as you do Brawn, tye it as close as you can; then put it into an earthen pot, and cover it with some paste; set it into the Oven with houshold bread, and when it is cold, eat it with mustard and sugar.

The cook’s guide: or, Rare receipts for cookery Hannah Woolley 1664

Modern Directions

1 beef tenderloin
1 tbsp nutmeg
1 tbsp ginger
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cloves
t tbsp mace
Pie Crust or Puff Pastry

The soaking of the brisket is probably just a tenderizing process. Today we can purchase a nice filet mignon or beef tenderloin for this. It is definitely less expensive to try this process, though so give it go if you want. It’s pretty self-explanatory.

It sounds like they would have cut the brisket flat enough to put the rub on both sides and then rolled it up like a jellyroll and tied it with baking string. I like this process so much that I do it more frequently and experiment with other herbs and spices.

I have a 9×13 stoneware baker and when I am feeling really lazy, I just pop this roll in the baker and cover it with store-bought puff pastry. When I am more energetic I will roll some pastry out and put it on the bottom of the pan, place the meat on top and cover it with the rest of my pastry making a coffyn-like casing.

Hopefully, this post gives you some ideas as to ways you can authentically connect to this tradition. I think it would be amazing if next year you were to organize a community fair to benefit your local hospital. Or maybe you could just host a simple meal and share some mead you start in the next few days.

*cover photo Pierre Le Gros’ statue of our boy at the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran in Rome