I
recently came across an interesting and unexpected note in the Plympton St. Mary
parish BMD register. It was penned by the vicar in 1660 and had to do with a
prohibition against eating meat during lent and read:
Whereas I sertainly
know that Alice Parker
the wife of
Edmond Parker Esq. of Burington
in the pish of
Plympton St. Marie is under such
a distemper of
bodie that she is not fitt to eat any salt
flesh or fish
whatsoever therefore I think it fit as
Minister of the
said pish to licence hir to eat flesh
during the time
of hir sickness according to the laws
and statutes of
this Realme made in that Behalfe
Given under my
hand – March the 4th 1660
Simon ?
 |
Note
from Plympton St. Mary parish baptism register #414/1
The
rules concerning what could be eaten during Lent originated with the Roman
Catholic Church. And they came out of the practice of fasting by the Jews in
ancient times. The types of banned foods changed over the years with
considerable diversity in the practice in different parts of the world. Commonly,
meat, dairy products, oil and wine were forbidden.
In
Britain, the laws were retained even after the Reformation. Enforcement waxed
and waned as the monarchy itself shifted from Protestant to Roman Catholic and
back again. Forbidding the eating of flesh was not done altogether for
religious reasons. Queen Elizabeth (1533-1603) issued a number of edicts,
mostly to support English food-producing activities. She was instrumental in
the establishment of meat-free Fridays, a move done to protect the fishing
industry. In 1562, Wednesday was added to the days for eating only fish. Charles
II (1630-1685), in 1660, issued a proclamation “for restraint of killing,
dressing, and eating of flesh in lent or on fish-days appointed by the law to
be observed”. James II (1633-1701), a Catholic, reinforced the rule of eating no
meat in 1687. After the Glorious Revolution, which brought Protestants, William
and Mary to power in England, the laws were basically ignored. They were
finally repealed in 1863. And excellent article on the subject appeared in the
Sydney Morning Herald of March 9, 1935 and can be read online here.
Individuals
could seek relief from the laws about which foods could be consumed from the
ecclesiastical authorities. This was generally done for reasons of health and
with the support of a physician. That seems to be the case for Alice Parker in
Plympton St. Mary. Her delicate condition obviously gave her serious problems
with the consumption of certain types of foods and she was forgiven for eating
any of them by the local minister. As an aside, Alice and “the Right Worshipful
Edmond Parker Esquire” had seven children baptized in the parish. She was buried
on April 11, 1664. The cause of her death was not listed.
Notes
of this nature are not found often in old parish records, especially in BMD
registers. So finding this one while browsing through, and transcribing the
information was a surprise. On further investigation, it turned out to have
some historical significance as well.
The
image reproduced here is used with the kind permission of the rightsholder,
Plymouth and
West Devon Record Office, Wayne Shepheard is a volunteer with the Online Parish Clerk program in
England, handling four parishes in Devon, England. He has
published a number of articles about various aspects of genealogy and is a past
Editor of Chinook, the quarterly
journal of the Alberta Family Histories Society. Wayne also provides
genealogical consulting services through his business, Family History Facilitated.
