The New Murrey and Blue blog

William Francis Dawson

Christmas under Henry VII, complete with “foot sheets”. . .!

Dec 24, 2019

anniversaries, culture, religion

banquets, Christmas, Coronation, Henry VII, mediaeval food, New Year, Twelfth Night, William Francis Dawson

I was browsing, and came upon the following interesting details about how Henry VII celebrated Christmas and Twelfth Night. It is from Christmas: Its Origin and Associations by William Francis Dawson, which I found in Google Books. The following extract has been tweaked a little by me, to create more paragraphs and thus make it…
Henry VII banned card-playing, except at Christmas….

Dec 23, 2018

culture

Christmas, Elizabeth of York, gambling, Henry VII, James III, James IV, Margaret “Tudor”, playing cards, Sauchieburn, Scotland, William Francis Dawson

According to Christmas: Its Origin and Associations by William Francis Dawson, playing cards was prohibited by a statue passed in the reign of Henry VII. The old kill-joy! Or maybe it was in defence of the royal purse, it being known that his queen, Elizabeth of York, was rather over-fond of gambling. Henry paid her…