Supplemental: This Week in YouTube December 29
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Hey friends, welcome to the Renaissance English History Podcast. This is the weekly highlight reel of videos that I have put out on YouTube. So in case you don't know, you can go over to YouTube and watch all my videos. The channel is History and Coffee, and you can just search for my name as well, Heather Tesco, History and Coffee, and you will get it. And you can subscribe there. Thank you to the many people who already subscribe. And then what I've started doing is

weekly highlight reels of some of the videos that have gone out on YouTube that would be of interest to the podcast listeners as well. So thanks for listening. And you can also, like I said, go over and join me on YouTube history and coffee and search for Heather. And there I am. So let's get right into it.

Today is the winter solstice, and we are going to talk about how our Tudor friends would have been marking that day, what they might have done. Are you off to any solstice celebrations? I would love to know. Leave me a comment and tell me. All right, so December 21st, it's the winter solstice.

It's when the days in the Northern Hemisphere at least start to get longer, the longest night of the year, the shortest day, all of that. It is for our Tudor friends and for us today, a time of reflection, of ritual, and of

and in Tudor England, a little bit of storytelling. While the Tudors didn't mark the solstice as a formal holiday, it was deeply woven into their seasonal rhythms, blending ancient customs with their own traditions. For centuries, midwinter celebrations had been about surviving the dark and the cold, and also about community and hope and light returning.

So let's start with the basics. The solstice marks the moment when the sun appears at its very lowest point in the sky and then the days start to grow longer. For people living in an agricultural society like the Tudors, the shift wasn't just symbolic. It marked the end of the autumn sowing season and the start of a period of rest before spring planting.

You can imagine how significant this must have felt after months of hard work in the fields. The solstice was a moment to pause and look ahead to brighter days, both literally and metaphorically.

The Tudors, like their medieval ancestors, inherited a patchwork of traditions that were rooted in ancient festivals. One of the most famous was Saturnalia, the Roman festival honoring Saturn, the god of agriculture. Saturnalia was a week-long extravaganza of feasting and gift-giving and role reversals, servants, dining at master's tables, things like that. The

The Tudors didn't celebrate Saturnalia, that was a Roman thing, but its echoes were still present in the midwinter festivities, particularly the feasting and the merrymaking and the role reversal with characters like the Lord of Misrule. Then there's Yule, which was the Norse celebration of midwinter. The Norse lit bonfires to keep the darkness at bay, drank ale sweetened with honey, and told stories to pass the long winter nights.

These traditions, especially the focus on fire and community, likely found their way into English customs because of the Viking and the Norwegian invasions and settlements from 800, 700 years before the Tudors. By the Tudor times, lighting fires and gathering around them for warmth and cheer were as much a practical necessity as they were a ritual.

One of the most enduring solstice customs was the lighting of bonfires. Fire had long been seen as a symbol of the sun's strength, a way to call back its warmth and light in the darkest part of the year. In Tudor England, bonfires were communal affairs bringing together villages or entire neighborhoods. The fires were symbolic, a way to mark the transition from darkness back to light.

And I mean, to be honest, who doesn't love a good bonfire? I love a good bonfire on a cold December night. Here where I live, there's a living history museum that does Christmas bonfires and you gather around and sing Christmas carols. It's super fun. I really enjoy that. The tradition of bonfires goes back to ancient practices of honoring the unconquered sun. It's a way of reminding everyone that even though the nights are long and cold and dark, the sun will return. The

In a society where people rely so much on the natural world, the symbolism was not lost on the Tudors.

The long, dark nights also would spark the imagination. It's widely believed that the veil between the worlds of the living and the dead was at one of its thinnest periods during this time. Of course, all hallows, it was also quite thin. But during solstice periods, it was also very thin. So spirits, both good and bad, would be roaming the earth more freely during this time. So you might want to avoid graveyards tonight if that freaks you out.

The custom eventually became associated with Christmas Eve storytelling, which is a tradition that we see echoed in more modern things like A Christmas Carol.

Telling ghost stories wasn't just about scaring each other. It was also a way of connecting to the unseen and honoring the mysteries of the season, O Manu Mysterium. In a world lit only by firelight, with the howl of the wind outside and the shadows dancing on the walls, it's no wonder that the Tudors found so much inspiration for their eerie tales.

For the Tudors, and for us, this is also a moment to reflect on the cycle of life and the passing of seasons. This was especially meaningful in a society that was so deeply tied to the land. The autumn sowing season had ended. The solstice was this pause before the next great labor of spring planting. It was a chance to rest, to share food, and to look forward to the coming year.

This connection also carried a sense of spiritual wonder. The Tudors saw God's hand in the turning of the seasons, and the solstice reminded them of the balance between lightness and darkness, death and rebirth. Even as Christianity dominated the religious life, these natural rhythms rooted in very ancient pagan beliefs remained a very strong source of meaning for people, as I think they do today for people too. It's just kind of like a universal thing, isn't it?

There was also Stonehenge and the mystical alignment. Stonehenge was already ancient by the Tudor period. Its connection to the solstice also fascinated people then. The primary axis of Stonehenge aligns perfectly with the sunset on winter solstice, which is an engineering marvel that speaks to the ingenuity of the people who built it.

The Tudors likely viewed these landmarks with reverence and with curiosity, seeing them as remnants of a mythical past. While there's no evidence of celebrations that the Tudors had at Stonehenge itself, like today, it's a bit of a pilgrimage space,

It did have a symbolism that tied it to the rhythms of the world, and that would have resonated with people. It's a reminder that even in the world that was rapidly changing, the cycle of earth and sky remained constant.

by the tudor period many solstice traditions had become part of the broader christmas season feasting for example had been a key part of both solstice and christmas celebrations livestock had been slaughtered about six weeks before to avoid feeding the animals through the winter and households would have an abundance of fresh meat

Pair that with preserved fruits and nuts and spices saved from the harvest, and you have perfect ingredients for a midwinter feast. Decorations like holly, ivy, and mistletoe bridged the gap as well between pagan and Christian traditions. These evergreens symbolized eternal life and had been used in solstice decorations and celebrations for centuries. The Tudors adapted them for their own Christmas celebrations and decorations, creating a visual link between old beliefs and their new faith.

In fact, some churches actually didn't like using mistletoe and holly and ivy because they thought it was too pagan. But most people were cool with it. Above all, the solstice is a time for hope. As the days grow longer, people begin to look forward to the return of the warmth and the light and the rebirth of spring.

For the Tudors, this anticipation was practical. Spring brought new crops, new lambs, new opportunities, and a reminder that life, like the seasons, is always in motion.

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So today we are going to talk about some of the possessions, the items that Henry VIII had. So when Henry died, they did a full inventory of all of his possessions. I actually did an episode, gosh, maybe five years ago on Henry's inventory. I'll find it and link to it. But we're going to look at some of the most

Interesting, bizarre items that Henry VIII had in his possessions. Possibly Christmas gifts that were given to him and he never regifted. Maybe things that he liked. I don't know.

So we're going to start with some of the instruments that Henry had. His 1547 inventory lists more than 20 recorders, 19 vials, two clavichords, and four sets of bagpipes, including one made of purple velvet with ivory pipework. Henry was a very talented musician. He was a composer.

and he absolutely loved music. Most of his collection of instruments was at Westminster Palace. They were maintained by a Flemish-born composer named Philip van der Weylder, who was given the title the Keeper of the King's Instruments.

Henry also had this miniature of musicians, keeping with the music theme, musicians with various instruments, a trumpet, a harp, a dulcimer, and this was in Henry's Psalter. Next up, Henry had a codpiece large enough to conceal a weapon.

Henry, of course, is famous for these exaggerated, really big cod pieces that would show masculinity. The king, of course, had to have the largest cod piece of them all, compensating for anything that happened.

But towards the end of his life, Henry's cod pieces had become big enough that he could actually use them as spare pockets. So he could keep his jewels, his family jewels. Maybe that's where the term comes from. I don't know. If you know, let me know. He could keep his jewels in his cod piece. He could even keep small weapons and he even had them built into his armor so that he could keep his valuables there if he went to war and

couldn't carry a bag. Before he got to be the Henry that we know, Henry loved sports. And in 1526, he commissioned a pair of leather football boots. It cost about 90 pounds in today's money. And Henry

He was an avid fan of football, so I'm not sure who he would support today. I support Tottenham myself, but it's not because I actually made any kind of intellectual choice. It's just because when I lived in London, my best friend was a Tottenham supporter, so I became a Tottenham supporter by default. Also, here's a fun story. So when I lived in London, I lived in Finsbury Park, right across from the old Arsenal Stadium, Isle of Den Road. So

So there was a bridge and the Arsenal Stadium was on the other side of the bridge. And I lived on the Isleton Road side of the bridge. And this is before the new Emirates Stadium.

So one time my friend and I were going to a Tottenham match and he came over and I made lunch, I guess. And we had our Tottenham scarves like I'd gotten myself a scarf and, you know, we're all dressed up and there are people going to the Arsenal match. And so I'd made lunch and I needed to go out into the backyard and throw something away. And somehow I locked myself out of our house, out of my house, my flat.

and my flatmate wasn't there, so I wasn't sure what we were going to do. We wound up, there was an open window, we wound up climbing through the open window. But the thing that was just really weird is we were like surrounded by Arsenal supporters while we're wearing our Tottenham stuff breaking into a house. Looked like.

that was, you know, on Arsenal, in Arsenal territory. So it was a little bit sus and people kind of made some comments, but nobody accused us or anything. I was like, I just kept saying, like, I live here, I just lock myself out and, like, excuse the Tottenham stuff. Anyway...

I don't know how I got out Henry VIII and football. So Henry loved football and Henry had a pair of leather football boots commissioned, especially for him. But then randomly in 1540, he banned football for a while on the grounds that it done incited riots. So that's fun. A couple of years ago, I did do an episode on football in Tudor England. It was during the World Cup. So I will find that and link to that as well.

Something else that Henry loved were animals. And as king, Henry was always being gifted random things. So at one point in 1532, Henry was gifted a polar bear by the Norwegian king Hakon IV. And he kept it at the Tower of London. The Tower of London was also a menagerie. I did an episode on the Tower of Menagerie too, which I will find. See, everything links together in Tudor England. In life too, really. Um...

But anyway, so he kept it at the Tower of London and he kept it on a leash that was long enough that the polar bear could actually go out and swim in the Thames. I don't know how the polar bear felt about this. I'm sure it wasn't ideal. But anyway, Henry had a polar bear. Henry also had a marmoset, which is kind of interesting because Catherine of Aragon also had a marmoset. When Henry died in the inventory, there were more than 60 dog leashes included in his inventory that were in his wardrobe.

And Henry also capped ferrets, hawks, falcons, and lots of other birds, as well as dozens of dogs during his lifetime. Something else that shows the kind of sporty side of Henry is Henry also really enjoyed bowling.

And Henry had a bowling alley built at Hampton Court Palace soon after Edward, his son, Edward was born. So one fun thing about bowling in the Tudor period, the bowling alley was about 200 feet long, which is about three times the size of a modern 10-pin bowling alley.

Bowling was actually quite popular in Tudor England, but then Mary I went and outlawed it because she outlawed bowling alleys, dicing houses, and other unlawful games in 1555. Elizabeth brought it back, though, so it's okay. Are you a good bowler? I'm not a very good bowler at all. I still bowl two-handed, and I just go up and carry it, and I just kind of squat down and roll it and hope for the best, which...

It's really bad when I do that and I wind up beating people that I'm playing with because that's kind of embarrassing for them. So, yeah, that's me and bowling. So there we have it. Some funny and hilarious items that Henry had in his inventory. Maybe some gift ideas for you if you need some last minute Christmas gifts. Thanks so much for listening to this week's YouTube Highlights.

Remember, you can go over and subscribe. History and Coffee, Heather Tesco, you will find me there. And we'll be back again next week with more highlights from what went out on YouTube throughout the week. Thanks so much. Have a great week.

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