St. Crispin's Day

Today is St. Crispin's Day. According to my calendar, St. Crispin was the patron saint of shoemakers in Scarborough. This might be one of those little references which veer my memory away from the normal meanderings. According to the calendar, on this day all of the shoemakers (how many could that be?) would go out to the beach and light torches (or flambeaux) on the sands. St. Crispin apparently invented the little lamp a shoemaker used to make shoes at night. Ergo, St. Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers. If this is all St. Crispin had to do to make Saint status, clearly the requirements of sainthood were lower back in the day.

If you are thinking "Here he goes about shoes again!" I don't blame you. I have been writing about shoes way too much these days. It is somewhat reminiscent of when I was stuck on other things in my previous blogs. I just went on and on and on and on.... However, you must understand that my first thought when I read this calendar epistle was the St. Crispin's Day speech in Henry the Fifth. By Will Shakespeare, of course. As you former English majors and Shakespeare-ophiles know, the speech of Good King Harry to his soldiers on the morn of battle is delivered on St. Crispin's Day and speaks of the envy to be suffered by men in England who are in their beds on this St. Crispin's Day, but will someday wish they were with the English army on this day to experience the glory that will be theirs on this day.

As you English majors know, King Harry's prediction comes true and through the might of the Welsh bowmen and the other English soldiers, the English anhiliate the French army and take control of the majority of France and get Harry a pretty French queen, to boot. Of course, the glory of the piece is the speech that Harry delivers prior to the battle. I have seen it several times now both on stage and in movies and I will say that it will get your cockles (if you have any) going heartily. Make you want to kick butt all over the nearest Frenchman. And then sing the 'Te Deum' afterward. Glory to God. Glory to King Harry. Glory to the Welsh archers.

Then you have the reference to Scarborough. When I think of Scarborough, I think of the third Simon and Garfunkel album and their version of 'Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme'. Tied in with that is the reference of making the singer a new chambray shirt, which, of course, originated in France. The song talks about the singer's girlfriend or wife or mother making him a nice French shirt and buying him some nice land between the sea and the fresh water. Sounds nice.

So clearly St. Crispin's Day has all to do about craftsmen, whether they be shoemakers or seamstresses. As you walk around town today and consider the feast day of St. Crispin, think about all the good shoemakers and seamstresses who make our clothes and keep us shoed and attired.

And think of placing a good English boot up a Frenchman's ass, like Good King Harry.