The Yule Log during Advent in Europe

 

The venerable, dried log, which would crackle a warming welcome for all-comers, was drug in triumph from its resting-place in the woods. During Advent as Christmas neared, a big log was brought into the home. Songs were sung a& stories told. Children danced. Offerings of food & wine and decorations were placed upon it. Personal faults, mistakes & bad choices were burned in the flame, so everyone's new year would start with a clean slate. 

In Scandinavia, the Norse celebrated Yule from December 21, their winter solstice, through January. In recognition of the return of the sun, fathers & sons would bring home large logs, which they would set on fire. The people would feast until the log burned out, which could take as many as 12 days. The Norse believed that each spark from the fire represented a new pig or calf that would be born during the coming year.

Early on, burning a Yule log was a celebration of the winter solstice. In Scandinavia, Yule ran from several weeks before the winter solstice to a couple weeks after. This was the darkest time of year, & the people celebrated, because days would start getting longer after the solstice. There was quite a bit of ritual & ceremony tied to the Yule log, for it marked the sun's rebirth from its southern reaches.

The Yule Log often was an entire tree, that was carefully chosen & brought into the house with great ceremony. Sometimes, the largest end of the log would be placed into the fire hearth, while the rest of the tree stuck out into the room!  The log would be lit from the remains of the previous year's log which had been carefully stored away & often slowly fed into the fire through the Twelve Days of Christmas. Tradition dictated that the re-lighting process was carried out by someone with clean hands

The burning of the Yule log is an ancient Christmas ceremony, transmitted from Scandinavian ancestors, who, at their feast of Juul, at the winter-solstice, used to kindle huge bonfires in honor of their god Thor.  The bringing in & placing of the ponderous tree trunk on the hearth of a wide chimney was one of the most joyous of the ceremonies observed on Christmas Eve in feudal times.

Early bards wrote of the Yule-log...

The following song is supposed to be of the time of Henry VI:

WELCOME YULE

Welcome be thou, heavenly King,
Welcome born on this morning,
Welcome for whom we shall sing,
                              Welcome Yule,

Welcome be ye Stephen & John,
Welcome Innocents every one,
Welcome Thomas Martyr one,
                             Welcome Yule.

Welcome be ye, good New Year,
Welcome Twelfth Day, both in fere,
Welcome saints, loved & dear,
                             Welcome Yule.

Welcome be ye, Candlemas,
Welcome be ye, Queen of Bliss,
Welcome both to more & less,
                             Welcome Yule.

Welcome be ye that are here,
Welcome all, & make good cheer,
Welcome all, another year,
                             Welcome Yule.'

And Robert Herrick (1591-1674) writes of the Yule log:

‘Come bring with a noise,
My merry, merry boys,
   The Christmas log to the firing,
While my good dame she
Bids ye all be free,
   And drink to your heart's desiring.

With the last year's brand
Light the new block, &,
   For good success in his spending,
On your psalteries play
That sweet luck may
   Come while the log is a teending.

Drink now the strong beer,
Cut the white loaf here,
   The while the meat is a shredding;
For the rare mince-pie,
And the plums stand by,
   To fill the paste that's a kneading.'
The reference in the 2nd stanza, is to the practice of laying aside the half-consumed block after having served its purpose on Christmas Eve, preserving it carefully in a cellar or other secure place till the next Christmas, & then lighting the new log with the charred remains of its predecessor. It was believed that the preservation of last year's Christmas log was a most effective security to the house against fire. A few other traditions lingered into the 20C.  It was regarded as a sign of bad-luck if a squinting person entered the hall, when the log was burning, or a bare-footed person, &, above all, a flat-footed woman!  As an accompaniment to the Yule log, a candle of monstrous size, called the Yule Candle, or Christmas Candle, usually shed its light on the food table during the evening.

The Yule Log is still used.  In some parts of France, the family sings a traditional carol, when the log is brought into the home, usually on Christmas Eve. The carol prays for health & fertility of mothers, nanny-goats, ewes, plus an abundant harvest.  In France, it is also traditional that the whole family helps to cut the log down & that a little bit is burnt each night. If any of the log is left after Twelfth Night, it is kept safe in the house until the next Christmas to protect against lightning! In some parts of Holland, this is also done, but the log had to be stored under a bed.

In Yugoslavia, the Yule Log was cut just before dawn on Christmas Eve & carried into the house at twilight. The wood itself was decorated with flowers, colored silks & gold, and then doused with wine plus an offering of grain.

In Devon & Somerset in the UK, some people collect a very large bunch of Ash twigs instead of the log. This tradition stems from a local legend that Joseph, Mary & Jesus were very cold, when the shepherds found them on Christmas Night. So the shepherds got some bunches of twigs to burn to keep them warm.  In some parts of Ireland, people have a large candle instead of a log, which this is only lit on New Year's Eve and Twelfth Night.  In some eastern European countries, the Yule Log is cut down on Christmas Eve morning & lit that evening.

The ashes of Yule logs were believed to be very good for plants. Today the ash from burnt wood contains a lot of "potash," which helps plants flower. But if the revelers throw the ashes from the Yule Log out on Christmas day, it is still supposedly very unlucky.

768 Charlemagne Crowned on Christmas & then Annually Calculated the Value of His Crops Then

Charlemagne (Charles I, Carolus Magnus, Charles the Great) (742-814) was King of the Franks from 768 until his death. He expanded small Frankish kingdoms into an Empire that covered much of Western & Central Europe. 

The Capitulare de Villis - On Gardening & Farming

This document dates to the end of the 8C & survives in a manuscript of near contemporary date. It describes, in an idealized form, the management of royal estates. The terminology & types of plant listed suggest that it describes estates in Aquitaine (i.e. western France, south of the Loire) which in the late 8C was ruled by Charlemagne's son Louis, later the Emperor Louis the Pious. 

8. That our stewards shall take charge of our vineyards in their districts, & see that they are properly worked; & let them put the wine into good vessels, & take particular care that no loss is incurred in shipping it. They are to have purchased other, more special, wine to supply the royal estates. And if they should buy more of this wine than is necessary for supplying our estates they should inform us of this, so that we can tell them what we wish to be done with it. They shall also have slips from our vineyards sent for our use. Such rents from our estates as are paid in wine they shall send to our cellars.

13. That they shall take good care of the stallions, & under no circumstances allow them to stay for long in the same pasture, lest it should be spoiled. And if any of them is unhealthy, or too old, or is likely to die, the stewards are to see that we are informed at the proper time, before the season comes for sending them in among the mares.

14. That they shall look after our mares well, & segregate the colts at the proper time. And if the fillies increase in number, let them be separated so that they can form a new herd by themselves.

15. That they shall take care to have our foals sent to the winter palace at the feast of St Martin.

17. A steward shall appoint as many men as he has estates in his district, whose task it will be to keep bees for our use.

18. At our mills they are to keep chickens & geese, according to the mill's importance—or as many as is possible.

19. In the barns on our chief estates they are to keep not less than 100 chickens & not less than 30 geese. At the smaller farms they are to keep not less than 50 chickens & not less than 12 geese.

20. Every steward is to see that the produce is brought to the court in plentiful supply throughout the year; also, let them make their visitations for this purpose at least three or four times.

21. Every steward is to keep fishponds on our estates where they have existed in the past, & if possible he is to enlarge them. They are also to be established in places where they have not so far existed but where they are now practicable.

22. Those who have vines shall keep not less than three or four crowns of grapes.

23. On each of our estates the stewards are to have as many byres, pigsties, sheepfolds & goat-pens as possible, & under no circumstances arc they to be without them. They are also to have cows provided by our serfs for the performance of their service, so that the byres & plough-teams are in no way weakened by service on our demesne. And when they have to provide meat, let them have lame but healthy oxen, cows or horses which are not mangy, & other healthy animals; &, as we have said, our byres & plough-teams must not suffer as a result of this.

Pope Leo III crowning Charlemagne emperor, December 25, 800

24. Every steward is to take pains over anything he has to provide for our table, so that everything he gives is good & of the best quality, & as carefully & cleanly prepared as possible. And each of them, when he comes to serve at our table, is to have corn for two meals a day for his service; & any other provisions, whether in flour or in meat, are similarly to be of good quality.

25. They are to report on the first of September whether or not there will be food for the pigs.

32. That every steward shall make it his business always to have good seed of the best quality, whether bought or otherwise acquired.

34. They are to take particular care that anything which they do or make with their hands—that is, lard, smoked meat, sausage, newly-salted meat, wine, vinegar, mulberry wine, boiled wine, garum, mustard, cheese, butter, malt, beer, mead, honey, wax & flour—that all these are made or prepared with the greatest attention to cleanliness.

35. It is our wish that tallow shall be made from fat sheep & also from pigs; in addition, they are to keep on each estate not less than two fattened oxen, which can either be used for making tallow there or can be sent to us.

36. That our woods & forests shall be well protected; if there is an area to be cleared, the stewards are to have it cleared, & shall not allow fields to become overgrown with woodland. Where woods are supposed to exist they shall not allow them to be excessively cut & damaged. Inside the forests they are to take good care of our game; likewise, they shall keep our hawks & falcons in readiness for our use, & shall diligently collect our dues there. And the stewards, or our mayors or their men, if they send their pigs into our woods to be fattened, shall be the first to pay the tithe for this, so as to set a good example & encourage other men to pay their tithe in full in the future.

37. That they shall keep our fields & arable land in good order, & shall guard our meadows at the appropriate time.

38. That they shall always keep fattened geese & chickens sufficient for our use if needed, or for sending to us.

39. It is our wish that the stewards shall be responsible for collecting the chickens & eggs which the serfs & manse-holders contribute each year; & when they are not able to use them they are to sell them.

40. That every steward, on each of our estates, shall always have swans, peacocks, pheasants, ducks, pigeons, partridges & turtle doves, for the sake of ornament.

44. Two thirds of the Lenten food shall be sent each year for our use — that is, of the vegetables, fish, cheese, butter, honey, mustard, vinegar, millet, panic, dry or green herbs, radishes, turnips, & wax or soap & other small items; & as we have said earlier, they are to inform us by letter of what is left over, & shall under no circumstances omit to do this, as they have done in the past, because it is through those two thirds that we wish to know about the one third that remains.

45. That every steward shall have in his district good workmen — that is, blacksmiths, gold- & silver-smiths, shoemakers, turners, carpenters, shield-makers, fishermen, falconers, soap-makers, brewers (that is, people who know how to make beer, cider, perry or any other suitable beverage), bakers to make bread for our use, net-makers who can make good nets for hunting or fishing or fowling, & all the other workmen too numerous to mention.

46. That the stewards shall take good care of our walled parks, which the people call brogili, & always repair them in good time, & not delay so long that it becomes necessary to rebuild them completely. This should apply to all buildings.

47. That our hunters & falconers, & the other servants who are in permanent attendance on us at the palace, shall throughout our estates be given such assistance as we or the queen may command in our letters, on occasions when we send them out on an errand or when the seneschal or butler gives them some task to do in our name.

48. That the wine-presses on our estates shall be kept in good order. And the stewards are to see to it that no one dares to crush the grapes with his feet, but that everything is clean & different.

58. When our puppies are entrusted to the stewards they are to feed them at their own expense, or else entrust them to their subordinates, that is, the mayors & deans, or cellarers, so that they in their turn can feed them from their own resources—unless there should be an order from ourselves or the queen that they arc to be fed on our estate at our own expense. In this case the steward is to send a man to them, to see to their feeding, & is to set aside food for them; & there will be no need for the man to go to the kennels every day.

62. That each steward shall make an annual statement of all our income, from the oxen which our ploughmen keep, from the holdings which owe ploughing services, from the pigs, from rents, judgement-fees & fines, from the fines for taking game in our forests without our permission & from the various other payments; from the mills, forests, fields, bridges & ships; from the free men & the hundreds which are attached to our fisc; from the markets; from the vineyards, & those who pay their dues in wine; from hay, firewood & torches, from planks & other timber; from waste land; from vegetables, millet & panic; from wool, linen & hemp; from the fruits of trees; from larger & smaller nuts; from the graftings of various trees; from gardens, turnips, fishponds; from hides, skins & horns; from honey & wax; from oil, tallow & soap; from mulberry wine, boiled wine, mead & vinegar; from beer & from new & old wine; from new & old grain; from chickens & eggs & geese; from the fishermen, smiths, shield-makers & cobblers; from kneading troughs, bins or boxes; from the turners & saddlers; from forges & from mines, that is, from iron- or lead-workings & from workings of any other kind; from people paying tribute; & from colts & fillies. All these things they shall set out in order under separate headings, & shall send the information to us at Christmas time, so that we may know the character & amount of our income from the various sources.

65. That the fish from our fishponds shall be sold, & others put in their place, so that there is always a supply of fish; however, when we do not visit the estates they are to be sold, & our stewards are to get a profit from them for our benefit.

66. They are to give an account to us of the male & female goats, & of their horns & skins; & each year they are to bring to us the newly-salted meat of the fattened goats.

70. It is our wish that they shall have in their gardens all kinds of plants: lily, roses, fenugreek, costmary, sage, rue, southernwood, cucumbers, pumpkins, gourds, kidney-bean, cumin, rosemary, caraway, chick-pea, squill, gladiolus, tarragon, anise, colocynth, chicory, ammi, sesili, lettuces, spider's foot, rocket salad, garden cress, burdock, penny-royal, hemlock, parsley, celery, lovage, juniper, dill, sweet fennel, endive, dittany, white mustard, summer savory, water mint, garden mint, wild mint, tansy, catnip, centaury, garden poppy, beets, hazelwort, marshmallows, mallows, carrots, parsnip, orach, spinach, kohlrabi, cabbages, onions, chives, leeks, radishes, shallots, cibols, garlic, madder, teazles, broad beans, peas, coriander, chervil, capers, clary. And the gardener shall have house-leeks growing on his house. As for trees, it is our wish that they shall have various kinds of apple, pear, plum, sorb, medlar, chestnut & peach; quince, hazel, almond, mulberry, laurel, pine, fig, nut & cherry trees of various kinds. The names of apples are: gozmaringa, geroldinga, crevedella, spirauca; there are sweet ones, bitter ones, those that keep well, those that are to be eaten straightaway, & early ones. Of pears they are to have three or four kinds, those that keep well, sweet ones, cooking pears & the late-ripening ones.

See:
Manuscript: The extant copy of the Capitulare de Villis survives in Wolfenbüttel, Cod. Guelf. 254 Helmst. (fols 12v-16r) which dates to c. 800. Translation: H.R. Loyn & J. Percival, The Reign of Charlemagne. Documents on Carolingian Government & Administration Documents of Medieval History 2 (London 1975) pp. 64-73. 

How did Europeans produce Images & Text before the Invention of the Printing Press?

 

Illuminated Manuscripts - Parchment Sellers scrubbing & stretching the parchment 15th century Bologna, University Library. Cod. Bonon. 963, f. 4.

European manuscript Illuminations began at end of the 4C, as Christianity was spreading.  The need to illustrate books usually developed with a style specific to the region & civilization. In Western Europe, from the 6C until the 12C, the illustrated manuscript was mainly religious, created by Christian monks copyists (usually the scholars of their area) in abbeys. Towards the 13C with the development & growth of European universities & administrations, the demand for books was increasing & lay workshops were created.  During the 10 centuries of illuminations in Europe, several styles emerged : Island style (British Isles) & Merovingian (before the 9C), Carolingian style (9-10C), Romanesque style (10-12C), Transitional period (13C), Gothic style (14-16C). At the end of the 15C the invention of printing greatly reduced the production of  books painted by the human hand.

Manuscripts were hand-written & illustrated during the medieval era (A.D. 500-1500), before the invention of printing presses. They were time-consuming & expensive to make; but obviously, the method was quicker & much more portable than carving language symbols in stone or wood.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Scribe buying parchment Copenhagen, Royal Library. Ms. 4, 2o f. 183v.

Manuscripts were usually written parchment or vellum made from the skins of sheep, calves, or goats. Parchment & vellum are often used interchangeably, although sometimes vellum refers to a finer quality of writing material.  Parchment was eventually replaced by paper. Some manuscripts were written on paper made from linen rags. Sometimes lines were ruled on the pages of manuscripts to guide the script writer.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Santa Catalina de Bolonia  

Some manuscripts were written on papyrus, a fragile Egyptian reed material, which continued to be used for manuscripts until the 7-8th-centuries. Papyrus plantations came to Sicily during the papacy of Gregory I (590-604) & so loved that papyrus was used for papal correspondence until the 11th century.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Matthew ruling parchment 12th cent Dinant Gospels Manchester, John Rylands University Library. Rylands Latin Ms. 11, f. 14.

In the Early Middle Ages, the majority of manuscripts produced served as the liturgical books used by priests & monks in churches & monasteries.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Mark sharpening his quill in French Renaissance Book of Hours as a scribe Waddesdon Manor, Aylesbury, The National Trust. Ms 20, f. 13v.

As the church expanded & new monesteries were built, more liturgical books were needed. At new venues, the abbot or the monks initially came from an already established monastic community, which provided the most urgent books for the new site.  Immediately the monks began to copy necessary books for themselves.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Paul sharpens his quill, assistant rubs parchment with pumice stone  Colegio Santa Catalina de Bolonia

Medieval copyist monks, often called scribes, were responsible for copying the existing works of authors by hand. 
Illuminated Manuscripts - Jean Miélot, also Jehan, (d. 1472) scribe for Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy from 1449-1467. Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France Ms. Fr. 9198, f. 19.

As early as the 1100s, books began to be produced for wealthy individuals as well as religious institutions. There began to be a growing secular, well-to-do reading public demanding an increase in manuscript production.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Detail from the Codex Caesareus Upsaliensis Emperor's Bible Matthew Uppsala University Library (c 93)

Because manuscripts were very expensive to make, they often served as status symbols for the upper classes. Most families who owned manuscripts held privileged positions in society.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Initial letter G, from a manuscript produced in northern Italy during the early 1400s.

The major themes of manuscripts became more diversified as the secular readership grew and included the traditional religious (particularly Christianity) books plus new art & how-to-do subjects such as courtly activities, the hunt, decorative & medicinal gardening, & literature.

Illuminated Manuscripts -  sprytny mebel. Gabriel Mälesskircher - św. Mateusz - 1478

Illuminated Manuscripts - Bookbinder. Landauer Twelve Brothers House manuscript 1400s

Illuminated Manuscripts -  Scribe at Work. circa 1160-70. Eadwine Psalter. Christ Church. Canterbury (England) UK.

Illuminated Manuscripts - 1150-1200 Manuscript Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague

 Illuminated Manuscripts - Hague mmw 10 a 15pts - 

Illuminated Manuscripts - 1Le copiste-enlumineur Giovanni Colonna, Mare historiarum, ouest de la France (Angers ), milieu XVe siècle

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical John the Evangelist with his eagle. Gabriel Mälesskircher

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Mark with his lion. Gabriel Mälesskircher

Illuminated Manuscripts - Scribe Jean Jean Miélot, 1400s, Brussels Royal Library, MS 9278, fol. 10r

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical John (depicted as a scribe) from Bodleian Library MS Auct. D. 1.17

Illuminated Manuscripts - Laurence before 1149 as a scribe Durham, University Library. Ms. Cosin V. III. 1. f. 22v.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Josephus and Scribe Samuel Canterbury 1130 Cambridge, St, John’s College. Ms. A. 8, fol. 103v.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical John with a few helpers depicted recording Book of Revelation Book of Hours c 1480

Illuminated Manuscripts - Domenico Ghirlandaio Portrait of Jerome writing in his Study 1480

Illuminated Manuscripts -  G. Tory (1480-1533) Scribe with a little divine guidance Book of Hours, Ms. Library of Congress. Rosenwald ms. 10 (1533)

Illuminated Manuscripts - Apparently harried scribe writing & holding his ink. Biblical Matthew, from the Gospel Book of Archbishop Ebbo of Reims, Hautvilliers near Reims, c. 816 - 35. Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris.

Illuminated Manuscripts - This scribe appears to have very little power. Augustine De Civitate Dei 1100s Apprentice Everwinus + Master Hildebertus Prague, The Metropolitan Chapter Library. Ms. A XXI-1. f. 153v.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Organized scribe Ezra rewriting the Sacred Records with storage cabinet, from the Codex Amiatinus, Jarrow, early 8C. Biblioteca Medicea-Laurenziana, Florence.

Illuminated Manuscripts - A leaf from the Skevra Evangeliary (Lviv Evangeliary)  1198

Illuminated Manuscripts - A leaf from the Skevra Evangeliary (Lviv Evangeliary)  1198

Illuminated Manuscripts - A scribe reportedly copying Gospels of Kildare. The British Library

Illuminated Manuscripts - A scribe writing. The British Library

Illuminated Manuscripts -  Nationale de France, Dossier pédagogique - Jean Fouquet

Illuminated Manuscripts - It's always nice to have an Angel helping you. British Library

Illuminated Manuscripts - British Library Netherlands Manuscript 1479

Illuminated Manuscripts - British Library

Illuminated Manuscripts - Christine de Pizan at work guarded by Lady Justice with her Sword and Sheild 15C  Between 1410-15, Christine de Pizan presented the Queen of France, Isabeau de Bavière, with a lavishly illustrated copy of her collected works. Christine de Pizan was attempting "to establish & to authorize her new identity as a woman writer."  Christine, born in Venice in 1364, was the daughter of Thomas de Pizan, a respected astrologer. While still a child, she left her native Italy with the rest of her family to join her father who had taken a position as the astrologer & physician in the court of Charles V. At the age of 15, she married Etienne Castel, a young nobleman who served as a secretary in the royal chancery. With the deaths of her father & husband, Christine's "secure" position was gone. Later in her Livre de la Mutacion de fortune (The Book of the Change of Fortune), she was to describe her situation as being adrift on a ship during a storm. With the loss of her husband, she had to take the helm. She chose the role of the husband in the family. Christine resisted the usual solutions of remarriage or entry into a convent. Instead she began a career as a writer.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Christine de Pizan, 1st woman in western literature known to make a living from her work, writing a book.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Codex Manesse Schulmeister

Illuminated Manuscripts - Gallica  Bibliothèque nationale de France, Jacques de Voragine , Légende dorée, 15e siècle

Am Illuminated manuscript in the Musée Marmottan's

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Mark the Evangelist Artist - Grigor Tatevatsi, 1378 Gospel, 1297

Illuminated Manuscripts - Siena, Biblioteca Communale degli Intronati, I.V.25-26, 1399

Illuminated Manuscripts - Dunstan Writing, Extracted From A Commentary On The Rule Of St. Benedict 1170

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical John writing at desk. MS. Laud Lat. 9, France, Ca. 1220-1230.

Illuminated Manuscripts - Biblical Matthew. Image from the Lindisfarne Gospels. The British Library