October 14th - another important date

 

Another important date – October 14^th  

All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Stained glass window in St Mary's Church, Battle, depicting William the Conqueror and King Harold

On this day in 1066, the Battle of Hastings was fought between the armies of the Anglo-Saxon King Harold Godwinson of England and the French Duke William of Normandy. Harold battled in vain to retain his crown but was defeated by William.    

The battle lasted all day and the outcome changed the life of the Anglo-Saxons (English) forever. William, henceforth always referred to as ‘William the Conqueror’, spoke only French and never mastered English. Therefore the Norman invasion ensured that for centuries French was the official language of England. The last French-speaking king was Richard II, who died in 1399.

After his victory William marched to London and was crowned in Westminster Abbey on Christmas Day, 1066.

Four years later, in 1070, Pope Alexander II ordered William to make penance for his invasion of England. William commissioned the building of Battle Abbey on the site of his conquest as a memorial to the dead. The high altar was placed at the exact spot where Harold met his death. 

In 1085 William I ordered a ‘Great Survey’ to be undertaken. He sent his agents to survey every shire in England The purpose was to conduct a census of the lands and people of England and the resources from which they gained their livelihoods and to assess their rateable value. It was completed in 1086, the year before William died. It became known as the ‘Domesday Book’ and was originally kept in the royal treasury in Winchester. Today it is kept at the National Archives in Kew, London.

The story of the Norman Conquest is told in the Bayeux Tapestry, which was made in England soon after the Battle of Hastings. It consists of 58 panels of linen embroidered in wool with scenes from the Conquest. Today it is housed in the Bayeux Tapestry Museum in Bayeux, France. A replica tapestry, created in 1885, hangs in the Bayeux Gallery of Reading Museum.

 

Triskaidekaphobia and Paraskavedekatriaphobia or Friggatriskaidekaphobia

Is fear of the number 13 more troubling than fear of Friday 13^th? After all there is a 13 in every month.

In any year there will be at least one Friday 13^th but never more than three. If the month starts on a Sunday the thirteenth day will be a Friday. This year’s Friday 13ths fall in January, April and July.

However, there is little evidence that Friday 13^th was considered unlucky before the 19^th century. The superstition seems to be a combination of two older ones, namely Friday is an unlucky day and 13 is an unlucky number. Friday was the day for executions in ancient Rome. Christ was crucified on a Friday. In Britain hangings were carried out on Fridays.

On Friday 13^th October, 1066, William of Normandy demanded that King Harold II relinquish his throne.  Harold refused and the Battle of Hastings took place the next day, Harold’s troops falling to William the Conqueror’s army. Life for the Anglo-Saxons was never the same again!

In recent times, stock market crashes have occurred on Fridays, spawning the phrase ‘Black Friday.’

The ancient Egyptians believed that people passed through twelve stages of life on earth and the thirteenth stage was the happy afterlife. When this belief was adopted by other cultures the association with happiness after death was lost and thirteen related simply to bad luck or death.

Witches’ covens are thought to have thirteen members and thirteen guests at a table presages disaster. In an Old Norse myth the god Odin invited eleven of the gods to a banquet. He did not invite the mischievous Loki to the feast but he heard about it and attended anyway. Loki caused an argument which resulted in the death of one of the gods.

Jesus sat down to the Last Supper with his twelve disciples. Judas Iscariot was one of the party of thirteen. He betrayed his master and killed himself.

Some hosts will seat a teddy bear or doll at a table where only thirteen people will gather. Towns often omit thirteen when numbering their streets, as do some hotels and airlines. Many high-rise blocks do not have a thirteenth floor. Italy’s national lottery doesn’t have a number thirteen.

So perhaps Friggatriskaidekaphobia is greater – it seems that the combination of an unlucky day with an unlucky number is just too terrifying to ignore.

   

However, in Spanish-speaking countries and in Greece it is Tuesday 13^th that is considered unlucky.