{"id":3555,"date":"2018-01-15T13:05:12","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T13:05:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?p=3555"},"modified":"2018-01-15T13:05:12","modified_gmt":"2018-01-15T13:05:12","slug":"update-stop-the-press-even-earlier-plough-ceremonies-from-durham","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/?p=3555","title":{"rendered":"Update (stop the press): even earlier plough ceremonies from Durham?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an update to REED N-E’s earlier ‘Flower of the Month’, we’ve discovered that Durham might have even\u00a0older<\/em> evidence for plow ceremonies than those mentioned last week (see Epiphanytide in Medieval Durham<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Ploughing, detail from the Macclesfield Psalter, ca. 1330, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (f. 77v)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

As mentioned in the previous post, accounts from several of the manor houses attached to Durham Cathedral Priory record payments to ploughmen and carters\u00a0in die carucarum <\/em>\u2018on plough day\u2019, also called forthdrawe <\/em>or ploudrawe<\/em>. A typical example appears in the earliest of such entries, from\u00a0the accounts for the Priory’s manor estate at Pittington for 1277-78:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Liberati<\/em> Carucariis<\/em>. Carectariis<\/em> & aliis familiaribus<\/em> pro<\/em> forthdraue de consuetudine <\/em>\u2013 xviij.d<\/span><\/p>\n

Paid to the ploughmen, carters & other household members for the customary ‘forthdrawe’ – 18 d.<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The ‘forthdrawe’ would appear to be some sort of plough ceremony, and it is described as being de<\/em>\u00a0consuetudine<\/em> – customary, by tradition.<\/p>\n

However, such entries in the accounts are often grouped together with similar payments at Michaelmas, so it is not certain that all of them represent an actual ceremony or performance. It is probable, though, that two English names forthdrawe\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0ploudrawe<\/em>\u00a0imply something like the later Plough Monday custom, in which the manor\u2019s ploughmen (and sometimes also its other workers) pulled a plough round the estate and solicited money for ale.<\/p>\n

In a once-off entry in the account of the manors of Bewley and Billingham for 1296-7 includes a reference to\u00a0forth<dra>we cum ceruisia et companagio ad precarias carucarum et hersiarum<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>(<\/span>bringing out [the plough], with ale and accompanying food for the soliciting ploughmen and harrowers)<\/span><\/span>.<\/span> This indicates that the custom already included dragging the plough (and harrow) and begging for money for drink.<\/p>\n

Such evidence is\u00a0very<\/em> early for these kinds of ceremonies – indeed, arguably the earliest on record in Britain, and by centuries!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The above has been provided by the REED: Durham editors John McKinnell \u00a0& Mark Chambers<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an update to REED N-E’s earlier ‘Flower of the Month’, we’ve discovered that Durham might have even\u00a0older evidence for plow ceremonies than those mentioned last week (see Epiphanytide in Medieval Durham). As mentioned in the previous post, accounts from several of the manor houses attached to Durham Cathedral Priory record payments to ploughmen and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[25],"tags":[359,364,16,27,363,69,169,154,357,362,8],"class_list":["post-3555","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-flower-of-the-month-2","tag-bearpark","tag-belasis","tag-durham","tag-durham-priory","tag-houghall","tag-john-mckinnell","tag-mark-chambers","tag-north-east","tag-plough-ceremony","tag-plow-ceremonies","tag-records-of-early-english-drama"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p67HiV-Vl","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/Macclesfield-Psalter-77v-Detail-of-the-Plough.jpg?fit=1142%2C627&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3555"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3555\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3555"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3555"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reed-ne.webspace.durham.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}