December 21, 2012 • 18 mins
King Wenceslas is best known as a Christmas carol, but he was a real 10th-century Bohemian prince. Wenceslas was known for his kindness to children and promotion of Christianity, but he was murdered at only 22. Listen in to learn more about the Good King.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from house
stuff Works dot com. Hello, welcome to the podcast. I'm
Sarah Downy and I'm to blinea Chalk recording And this
was our very special annual holiday episode. And one suggestion
(00:21):
that we always get around Christmas time is to do
something on the history behind carols. And for most traditional carols,
that would probably mean biblical history. I mean, that's what
most carols are going to be about, either that or
some kind of aspect of the composition. You know, where
the tune came from, who added the lyrics, when did
Elvis cover the song? You know, all that sort of thing.
(00:43):
But Dablina had another famous carol pop up in a
recent article and she was kind enough to remind me
of it. I did. Sarah was searching for a Christmas
idea she loves to do every year, and I was
editing ten Christmas myths, and in the course of just
researching ideas for that good King once the slast came up.
(01:04):
And it just so happens that that is your favorite
Christmas carol, isn't that right? It's up there. It's kind
of a tradition that my dad and I have to
perform Good King WinCE's list. So when when you told
me about that, and when you told me, yeah, once
this list was a guy, I was hooked. I had
to find out more about this. And just to give
you guys a little background on the carol if you're
(01:26):
not familiar with it already, I kind of like it
because it is sentimental. I mean, after all, the good
King is taking it upon himself to bring a poor
man flesh and wine and some pine logs, all in
the middle of the snowstorm, and all with the help
of his trusty page. But it's never modeling either, because
it has this really clippy sort of tune. Christmas songs
(01:47):
can can get they can cross over into that territory
pretty easily, but this one always is stirring. Almost some
of the lyrics are entertaining to me. Um thither is
always one kind of gets me, making fuel into three syllables,
and then others are just comically dramatic. And we're going
to talk about the composition a little bit more. But
(02:09):
a great example of this is heat was in the
very sod which the Saint had printed. What does that mean?
It means that once Sliss is walking in the snow
and melting it because he is so good. Um. Nevertheless, though,
while researching this episode, I found that a lot of
people had very intense reactions to to this Christmas carol.
(02:30):
You know. They said that it was deeply moving to them. Um,
it was something that made them tear up almost And
I've always found it more of a fun carol, but
that reaction that people have come from it, uh having
a strong message behind it, one of giving to others
who are less fortunate. Yeah, you who now will bless
the poor, shall yourselves find blessing exactly. You'd be mistaken
(02:52):
though if you thought that once the Loss was someone
cooked up for a nice carol with a good moral,
just an anonymous king with an excessive pine lugs. As
we said, he was indeed a real person, but not
exactly the person that's represented in the song. He was
a tenth century Bohemian prince, one known for his generosity,
but perhaps more famous for his murderous can folk and
(03:16):
not just smoil spoiled a surprise for you, but also
known for his exhamation. And once I found out that too,
I mean, come on, that just makes it perfect for us.
Exhumation WinCE with Blistler was actually born Votslov in nine
oh seven near Prague and what was at the time Bohemia.
Today it's the Czech Republic, and our first Carol myth
(03:37):
Busting and Deblina already hinted at this. He was not
a king. Instead, he was a duke or a sovereign
prince in the House of Premisal. His grandfather, a prince
named boche Boy, had established this house, which lasted more
than five hundred years, and had married a princess named Ludmila,
(03:57):
and together this couple convert it to Christianity. They set
up Frog's first Christian church, and eventually Butchervoy was succeeded
by his son, who was once's father. And just to
get into a little interesting linguistic side note here, um,
butcher Voy's life is really really hazy. I mean, not
(04:18):
much seems to be known about him, except that he
started this house he converted to Christianity. Um. But it
is known who converted him, and it was a guy
named Saint Methodius, and along with his brother Cyril, Methodius
is called the Apostle of the Slavs and helped invent
the Slavic alphabet that eventually became the Thrillic alphabet. So
I knew you guys who like language things would be
(04:41):
interested in the But back to Onceslaus's life, Ludmila ended
up having a really important role in that. In fact,
she raised him, focusing mainly on his education, which was
something that was uncommon for nobles at this time. Apparently
a lot we were just illiterate. Yeah, And she also
focused a lot on his religious instruction, so he grew
up a practicing Christian and this proved to be a
(05:03):
pretty big problem when once Slass's father died. And that's
because once the Slas's mother, draw Amira the Arrogance was
her nickname, she proudly adhered to the pre Christian Southern
Slavic religious beliefs, and as regent was suddenly in a
really awkward position with her Christian mother in law. Either
that or she simply chose to align herself with the
(05:24):
faction of government that preferred the old beliefs and really
wanted Ludmila's Christian influence on the future sovereign to be
brought to an end. So ultimately, one Slass was removed
from his grandmother's care and Ludmila was strangled with her
own veil at a castle, likely on the orders of Drawmira.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica. She was also later canonized, which
(05:46):
is going to run in the family too. Um so Yes,
a brutal and for Onzelas's grandmother. Uh. And then of
course attempts were made to bring him he was a
teenager by this point, back into the pre Sstian Slavic
religious fold. That didn't really work, though, you know, his
grandmother had had raised him with these beliefs. He was
(06:07):
considered very pious. He was said to have taken a
vow of chastity, and he encouraged missionary work too in Bohemia,
German missionaries to come in and and uh convert his
his fellow people. Um. He especially tried to make his
people enthusiastic about Christianity, building these beautiful churches, kind of
following in his grandparents footsteps. They're holding feats. He also
(06:31):
decisively defeated his opponents in battle to become the definitive
ruler of Bohemia. I mean, there was no question anymore
who was who was the prince lesh duke uh. He
he expanded the kingdom and after that too. He banished
his mother and reversed her policies of persecuting Christians and
really focused on education, something that ultimately contributed to that
(06:54):
good king sort of reputation he had. According to an
article by Steven Otinow he in Mental flowth he was
also said to have been very kind to children and
to the poor, which is all good carol material if
you're thinking way far down the line. Despite the religious
tensions still existent in Bohemia, though it was an alliance
(07:15):
that ultimately brought an end to once Slass reign in
he chose to pretty much align himself as a junior
partner with the German king, Henry the First the Fowler.
From once Alas's perspective, this was preferable to war with
Germany and an invasion, especially since Bohemia was still able
to maintain much of its independence. But to Bohemian nobles
(07:38):
this was just the last straw, so a contingent encouraged
onceeslast his younger brother Boloslav, who sees the princeton for himself,
and like much of the story, the details of what
happened next or kind of scanty. In one version, Once
Alas is invited by his brother to a religious festival
and Boloslaw murders him on the way to church. In
(08:00):
another version, Bolslough actually avoids murdering once as Loss himself
actually doing the deed and instead has once alass murdered,
but during mass by a henchman. Either way, though, once
the Sluss was murdered September, he was only twenty two
years old. And I think that's going to be our
carol myth busting number two, because even though the Carol
(08:22):
doesn't really spell it out, it just seems to hint
that good King WinCE the Less was an old jolly man.
My my Family's book of Christmas. Carol's even has an
illustration of him, and he's clearly and an elderly fellow
with a large beard. Um. But yeah, he was only
twenty two and after he was dead, uh, bols Love
(08:44):
succeeded his brother and ultimately became known as the Cruel
or the bad Um. Although he was actually quite successful
in his rule. He expanded Bohemia, added quite a bit
more territory, and in his thirty eight years of power
to you he did not reverse Once the Less was
Christian agenda either. You know that it's sometimes set up
(09:04):
as that sort of story. It was his um pre
Christian brother trying to get back to the old ways.
But uh, he continued to allow missions. He didn't get
into the sort of religious persecution that had happened during
his mother's regency. Um though, it is interesting to note
that the royal house that had been started by by
these two fellows grandfather was particularly plagued by this sort
(09:28):
of family strife. It lasted until thirteen o six, you know, remarkable,
and it's five hundred years I think I mentioned earlier. Um,
but both Love's grandsons murdered each other, and other family
feuds and murders stretched into the eleventh century, and a
lot of the trouble came from there not being a
strict line of succession. You know. Sometimes it would just
(09:48):
be whoever in the family was oldest, and that might
be a younger brother. Sometimes it would be the the
duke slash prince's eldest son. All kinds of messy business.
So fratricide is rarely a good pr move. And for
bois Law, despite his political successes that Sarah just mentioned,
it meant that he was faced with a growing cult
(10:10):
around his dead brother. So reports of miracles near on
se Islas's grave started trickling in almost immediately, and unfortunately
weren't We weren't able to find examples of those exact miracles.
So I was trying to find specific examples of what
happened and what led to his sainthood, but I couldn't
find a single thing. I mean, I'm guessing we're just
(10:34):
going to have to imagine some of the standard miracle
miraculous sort of stuff for once Slift here. But what
we do know is that Bolas Law ultimately had once
Slus exhumed and reburied in the Church of St. Vitus
and Prague, which became a prime pilgrim's destination a few
hundred years later, and boloslaf went down in history as
the cruel While murdered Onceslaus became a Czech patron saint,
(10:57):
and even today his feast day, which is the number twenty,
the day that he was murdered, is a national holiday
and a statue stands proudly and once it's last square
in Prague. There's even a parody of the famous statue
that's really close to the original. It's by David Sarney
and it features once it's last riding on an upside
down dead horse. You'll see it a lot on some
(11:18):
of those strangest travel destination lists, and if some listeners
hopefully will be able to post pictures, I expect pictures
from you guys. I'm sure folks have visited it alright.
So once was less check national hero. He's a saint
murdered duke. But how did the Christmas carol end up happening? Uh? Finally,
(11:41):
an English Anglican warden picked up this story, I mean
we're talking hundreds of years later and decided that it
would actually be a pretty fitting reminder for teaching children
about the importance of charity. And we're talking about John
Mason Neil. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman,
and he self was destined for the clergy and was
(12:02):
ordained in eighteen forty two, but he was in very
poor health and couldn't actually go to work in a parish,
and so instead he got a job as the warden
of Sackville College. And you know that sounds like an
educational institute, but it was actually an alms house and
he took his job pretty seriously. There. His early career,
(12:23):
though is very shadowed by suspicions that he was a
crypto Catholic. He was. He was not popular among fellow Anglicans. Otanowski,
who I noted earlier, said that he was at one
point even attacked by a mob and uh received threats
against his home and his life. But he did develop
a pretty solid reputation as a historian and a novelist
(12:46):
and a translator of ancient and medieval works. And my
absolute favorite job description of him comes from Oxford University Press,
where they call him a hymnologist. And fortunately for us,
John Mason Neil not only love to translate hymns, but
he liked to write them as well. Yeah, so, of
(13:07):
course Good King Winceslaus was part of Neil's canon of hymns,
and Carol's specifically one meant for children. As Sarah kind
of indicated earlier. According to BBC History Magazine, he took
the tune from a Scandinavian song that he found in
a medieval book sent to him by a British ambassador
in Stockholm. And interestingly, it's a springtime song tempest a
(13:27):
dust floridam, and he chose the wencee Islast story for
the legends associated with the saint and went with Wenceslaus
instead of vas Law for rhythm, which was a good choice,
I think, yeah. And he published it in eighteen fifty
three and it tops his fairly considerable list of Christmas hits,
including Ocum Ocum Manual and Good Christian Men Rejoice. So,
(13:50):
of course, though, and this is something we couldn't go
without mentioning, Good King winceslast isn't really a Christmas carol.
So you know, we've already said it's not about a king,
but it's not really a Christmas carol either. It's about St.
Stephen's Day, and that's pretty evident from the first line.
Good King Wincesliss looked out on the Feast of Stephen
(14:10):
and um as Stephen St Stephen was associated with alms
for the poor, so too with St Stephen's Day. And
according to Claire Setteth in Time magazine, December twenty six
was when the English poor traditionally received most charity. Uh
So this is another reason why it kind of makes
sense for John Mason Neil writing a song meant to
(14:31):
encourage charity. Um, But why this was why December twenty
six was the day um might be because Anglican churches
would have a collection box out during during all of
Advent collect donations for the poor this Boxing Day, or
because the aristocracy or employees would give out gifts or
(14:52):
boxes to their servants the day after Christmas, because of
course their servants might be working on Christmas Day. Boxing
Day today is still a national holiday in England and
Wales and Canada. In Ireland it's still called St. Stephen's Day.
Reminded me a little bit of the Halloween ups that
I did with Kristen, because I kept on finding all
(15:12):
these different traditions people have in various countries to celebrate
this holiday. And in Ireland they actually kids will attach
a wren to a pole and parade it through town
to celebrate St. Stephen's Day. Apparently, though in England and
Canada it hasn't become so much a day of charitable
giving as a day of intense shopping, kind of like uh,
(15:35):
the Black Friday day after Thanksgiving sales we have here
in the States. Interesting, so very cool to learn some
of the history behind one of the coolest carols out there. Yeah,
did it change your perspective on the carol at all?
Have you shared any of these details with your father. Yeah,
I haven't yet, but I'm sure that this will be
(15:56):
a story I will be relating over over are Christmas holidays.
I'm kind of stuck on the idea of you and
your dad performing this. I feel like we should have
invited your dad to the studio to hear a performance.
I bet he would do it. I'm not totally sure
i'd perform good King Wentz list on the podcasts, but
that he'd be game. Um. Yeah, I'm thinking the biggest
(16:17):
perception change I'm going to have to make is good
King Wentz this list as a twenty two year old. Yeah,
that's true. I too picture cards an old guy. I know. Well,
I'll work on that. In the meantime, though, we'll be
thinking up other topics for the new year, and wish
(16:39):
all of you a very happy holiday, a merry Christmas,
happy Hanukkah, no, any whatever you celebrate Saturnalia, christ Tide.
We've covered a lot of unusual holidays on our on
our podcasts in the past. We have, and we're always
open to more. So if you have any other sort
of holiday suggestions, we may not be able to do
(17:00):
them right now, but we'll definitely keep them on our
to do list for next year, so you can suggest
those to us by writing to us. Where History podcast
at Discovery dot com and you can also find us
on Facebook and on Twitter at my history And if
you want to learn a little bit more about went
left de Blena? You do have your your article coming out,
(17:20):
don't I do? Unfortunately we don't have a WinCE is
Lost entry in there and we didn't make the look,
but we do have one about boxing Day? Did you
know that apparently a lot of people think that boxing
Day is a day for boxing up all the presents
you didn't want and taking them back to the store. Oh,
that's just sad. That totally is the opposite. You already
(17:41):
busted that myth on this podcast. But if you want
to know a few more myths, nine more to be exact,
and they're I guess they're they're true versions, um the
truth about them. You can find out all about that
by searching on our homepage for ten months about Christmas,
and you can and find us by looking up www
(18:03):
dot how stuff works dot com for more on this
and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works
dot com? M
Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class from house
stuff Works dot com. Hello, welcome to the podcast. I'm
Sarah Downy and I'm to blinea Chalk recording And this
was our very special annual holiday episode. And one suggestion
(00:21):
that we always get around Christmas time is to do
something on the history behind carols. And for most traditional carols,
that would probably mean biblical history. I mean, that's what
most carols are going to be about, either that or
some kind of aspect of the composition. You know, where
the tune came from, who added the lyrics, when did
Elvis cover the song? You know, all that sort of thing.
(00:43):
But Dablina had another famous carol pop up in a
recent article and she was kind enough to remind me
of it. I did. Sarah was searching for a Christmas
idea she loves to do every year, and I was
editing ten Christmas myths, and in the course of just
researching ideas for that good King once the slast came up.
(01:04):
And it just so happens that that is your favorite
Christmas carol, isn't that right? It's up there. It's kind
of a tradition that my dad and I have to
perform Good King WinCE's list. So when when you told
me about that, and when you told me, yeah, once
this list was a guy, I was hooked. I had
to find out more about this. And just to give
you guys a little background on the carol if you're
(01:26):
not familiar with it already, I kind of like it
because it is sentimental. I mean, after all, the good
King is taking it upon himself to bring a poor
man flesh and wine and some pine logs, all in
the middle of the snowstorm, and all with the help
of his trusty page. But it's never modeling either, because
it has this really clippy sort of tune. Christmas songs
(01:47):
can can get they can cross over into that territory
pretty easily, but this one always is stirring. Almost some
of the lyrics are entertaining to me. Um thither is
always one kind of gets me, making fuel into three syllables,
and then others are just comically dramatic. And we're going
to talk about the composition a little bit more. But
(02:09):
a great example of this is heat was in the
very sod which the Saint had printed. What does that mean?
It means that once Sliss is walking in the snow
and melting it because he is so good. Um. Nevertheless, though,
while researching this episode, I found that a lot of
people had very intense reactions to to this Christmas carol.
(02:30):
You know. They said that it was deeply moving to them. Um,
it was something that made them tear up almost And
I've always found it more of a fun carol, but
that reaction that people have come from it, uh having
a strong message behind it, one of giving to others
who are less fortunate. Yeah, you who now will bless
the poor, shall yourselves find blessing exactly. You'd be mistaken
(02:52):
though if you thought that once the Loss was someone
cooked up for a nice carol with a good moral,
just an anonymous king with an excessive pine lugs. As
we said, he was indeed a real person, but not
exactly the person that's represented in the song. He was
a tenth century Bohemian prince, one known for his generosity,
but perhaps more famous for his murderous can folk and
(03:16):
not just smoil spoiled a surprise for you, but also
known for his exhamation. And once I found out that too,
I mean, come on, that just makes it perfect for us.
Exhumation WinCE with Blistler was actually born Votslov in nine
oh seven near Prague and what was at the time Bohemia.
Today it's the Czech Republic, and our first Carol myth
(03:37):
Busting and Deblina already hinted at this. He was not
a king. Instead, he was a duke or a sovereign
prince in the House of Premisal. His grandfather, a prince
named boche Boy, had established this house, which lasted more
than five hundred years, and had married a princess named Ludmila,
(03:57):
and together this couple convert it to Christianity. They set
up Frog's first Christian church, and eventually Butchervoy was succeeded
by his son, who was once's father. And just to
get into a little interesting linguistic side note here, um,
butcher Voy's life is really really hazy. I mean, not
(04:18):
much seems to be known about him, except that he
started this house he converted to Christianity. Um. But it
is known who converted him, and it was a guy
named Saint Methodius, and along with his brother Cyril, Methodius
is called the Apostle of the Slavs and helped invent
the Slavic alphabet that eventually became the Thrillic alphabet. So
I knew you guys who like language things would be
(04:41):
interested in the But back to Onceslaus's life, Ludmila ended
up having a really important role in that. In fact,
she raised him, focusing mainly on his education, which was
something that was uncommon for nobles at this time. Apparently
a lot we were just illiterate. Yeah, And she also
focused a lot on his religious instruction, so he grew
up a practicing Christian and this proved to be a
(05:03):
pretty big problem when once Slass's father died. And that's
because once the Slas's mother, draw Amira the Arrogance was
her nickname, she proudly adhered to the pre Christian Southern
Slavic religious beliefs, and as regent was suddenly in a
really awkward position with her Christian mother in law. Either
that or she simply chose to align herself with the
(05:24):
faction of government that preferred the old beliefs and really
wanted Ludmila's Christian influence on the future sovereign to be
brought to an end. So ultimately, one Slass was removed
from his grandmother's care and Ludmila was strangled with her
own veil at a castle, likely on the orders of Drawmira.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica. She was also later canonized, which
(05:46):
is going to run in the family too. Um so Yes,
a brutal and for Onzelas's grandmother. Uh. And then of
course attempts were made to bring him he was a
teenager by this point, back into the pre Sstian Slavic
religious fold. That didn't really work, though, you know, his
grandmother had had raised him with these beliefs. He was
(06:07):
considered very pious. He was said to have taken a
vow of chastity, and he encouraged missionary work too in Bohemia,
German missionaries to come in and and uh convert his
his fellow people. Um. He especially tried to make his
people enthusiastic about Christianity, building these beautiful churches, kind of
following in his grandparents footsteps. They're holding feats. He also
(06:31):
decisively defeated his opponents in battle to become the definitive
ruler of Bohemia. I mean, there was no question anymore
who was who was the prince lesh duke uh. He
he expanded the kingdom and after that too. He banished
his mother and reversed her policies of persecuting Christians and
really focused on education, something that ultimately contributed to that
(06:54):
good king sort of reputation he had. According to an
article by Steven Otinow he in Mental flowth he was
also said to have been very kind to children and
to the poor, which is all good carol material if
you're thinking way far down the line. Despite the religious
tensions still existent in Bohemia, though it was an alliance
(07:15):
that ultimately brought an end to once Slass reign in
he chose to pretty much align himself as a junior
partner with the German king, Henry the First the Fowler.
From once Alas's perspective, this was preferable to war with
Germany and an invasion, especially since Bohemia was still able
to maintain much of its independence. But to Bohemian nobles
(07:38):
this was just the last straw, so a contingent encouraged
onceeslast his younger brother Boloslav, who sees the princeton for himself,
and like much of the story, the details of what
happened next or kind of scanty. In one version, Once
Alas is invited by his brother to a religious festival
and Boloslaw murders him on the way to church. In
(08:00):
another version, Bolslough actually avoids murdering once as Loss himself
actually doing the deed and instead has once alass murdered,
but during mass by a henchman. Either way, though, once
the Sluss was murdered September, he was only twenty two
years old. And I think that's going to be our
carol myth busting number two, because even though the Carol
(08:22):
doesn't really spell it out, it just seems to hint
that good King WinCE the Less was an old jolly man.
My my Family's book of Christmas. Carol's even has an
illustration of him, and he's clearly and an elderly fellow
with a large beard. Um. But yeah, he was only
twenty two and after he was dead, uh, bols Love
(08:44):
succeeded his brother and ultimately became known as the Cruel
or the bad Um. Although he was actually quite successful
in his rule. He expanded Bohemia, added quite a bit
more territory, and in his thirty eight years of power
to you he did not reverse Once the Less was
Christian agenda either. You know that it's sometimes set up
(09:04):
as that sort of story. It was his um pre
Christian brother trying to get back to the old ways.
But uh, he continued to allow missions. He didn't get
into the sort of religious persecution that had happened during
his mother's regency. Um though, it is interesting to note
that the royal house that had been started by by
these two fellows grandfather was particularly plagued by this sort
(09:28):
of family strife. It lasted until thirteen o six, you know, remarkable,
and it's five hundred years I think I mentioned earlier. Um,
but both Love's grandsons murdered each other, and other family
feuds and murders stretched into the eleventh century, and a
lot of the trouble came from there not being a
strict line of succession. You know. Sometimes it would just
(09:48):
be whoever in the family was oldest, and that might
be a younger brother. Sometimes it would be the the
duke slash prince's eldest son. All kinds of messy business.
So fratricide is rarely a good pr move. And for
bois Law, despite his political successes that Sarah just mentioned,
it meant that he was faced with a growing cult
(10:10):
around his dead brother. So reports of miracles near on
se Islas's grave started trickling in almost immediately, and unfortunately
weren't We weren't able to find examples of those exact miracles.
So I was trying to find specific examples of what
happened and what led to his sainthood, but I couldn't
find a single thing. I mean, I'm guessing we're just
(10:34):
going to have to imagine some of the standard miracle
miraculous sort of stuff for once Slift here. But what
we do know is that Bolas Law ultimately had once
Slus exhumed and reburied in the Church of St. Vitus
and Prague, which became a prime pilgrim's destination a few
hundred years later, and boloslaf went down in history as
the cruel While murdered Onceslaus became a Czech patron saint,
(10:57):
and even today his feast day, which is the number twenty,
the day that he was murdered, is a national holiday
and a statue stands proudly and once it's last square
in Prague. There's even a parody of the famous statue
that's really close to the original. It's by David Sarney
and it features once it's last riding on an upside
down dead horse. You'll see it a lot on some
(11:18):
of those strangest travel destination lists, and if some listeners
hopefully will be able to post pictures, I expect pictures
from you guys. I'm sure folks have visited it alright.
So once was less check national hero. He's a saint
murdered duke. But how did the Christmas carol end up happening? Uh? Finally,
(11:41):
an English Anglican warden picked up this story, I mean
we're talking hundreds of years later and decided that it
would actually be a pretty fitting reminder for teaching children
about the importance of charity. And we're talking about John
Mason Neil. He was the son of an Anglican clergyman,
and he self was destined for the clergy and was
(12:02):
ordained in eighteen forty two, but he was in very
poor health and couldn't actually go to work in a parish,
and so instead he got a job as the warden
of Sackville College. And you know that sounds like an
educational institute, but it was actually an alms house and
he took his job pretty seriously. There. His early career,
(12:23):
though is very shadowed by suspicions that he was a
crypto Catholic. He was. He was not popular among fellow Anglicans. Otanowski,
who I noted earlier, said that he was at one
point even attacked by a mob and uh received threats
against his home and his life. But he did develop
a pretty solid reputation as a historian and a novelist
(12:46):
and a translator of ancient and medieval works. And my
absolute favorite job description of him comes from Oxford University Press,
where they call him a hymnologist. And fortunately for us,
John Mason Neil not only love to translate hymns, but
he liked to write them as well. Yeah, so, of
(13:07):
course Good King Winceslaus was part of Neil's canon of hymns,
and Carol's specifically one meant for children. As Sarah kind
of indicated earlier. According to BBC History Magazine, he took
the tune from a Scandinavian song that he found in
a medieval book sent to him by a British ambassador
in Stockholm. And interestingly, it's a springtime song tempest a
(13:27):
dust floridam, and he chose the wencee Islast story for
the legends associated with the saint and went with Wenceslaus
instead of vas Law for rhythm, which was a good choice,
I think, yeah. And he published it in eighteen fifty
three and it tops his fairly considerable list of Christmas hits,
including Ocum Ocum Manual and Good Christian Men Rejoice. So,
(13:50):
of course, though, and this is something we couldn't go
without mentioning, Good King winceslast isn't really a Christmas carol.
So you know, we've already said it's not about a king,
but it's not really a Christmas carol either. It's about St.
Stephen's Day, and that's pretty evident from the first line.
Good King Wincesliss looked out on the Feast of Stephen
(14:10):
and um as Stephen St Stephen was associated with alms
for the poor, so too with St Stephen's Day. And
according to Claire Setteth in Time magazine, December twenty six
was when the English poor traditionally received most charity. Uh
So this is another reason why it kind of makes
sense for John Mason Neil writing a song meant to
(14:31):
encourage charity. Um, But why this was why December twenty
six was the day um might be because Anglican churches
would have a collection box out during during all of
Advent collect donations for the poor this Boxing Day, or
because the aristocracy or employees would give out gifts or
(14:52):
boxes to their servants the day after Christmas, because of
course their servants might be working on Christmas Day. Boxing
Day today is still a national holiday in England and
Wales and Canada. In Ireland it's still called St. Stephen's Day.
Reminded me a little bit of the Halloween ups that
I did with Kristen, because I kept on finding all
(15:12):
these different traditions people have in various countries to celebrate
this holiday. And in Ireland they actually kids will attach
a wren to a pole and parade it through town
to celebrate St. Stephen's Day. Apparently, though in England and
Canada it hasn't become so much a day of charitable
giving as a day of intense shopping, kind of like uh,
(15:35):
the Black Friday day after Thanksgiving sales we have here
in the States. Interesting, so very cool to learn some
of the history behind one of the coolest carols out there. Yeah,
did it change your perspective on the carol at all?
Have you shared any of these details with your father. Yeah,
I haven't yet, but I'm sure that this will be
(15:56):
a story I will be relating over over are Christmas holidays.
I'm kind of stuck on the idea of you and
your dad performing this. I feel like we should have
invited your dad to the studio to hear a performance.
I bet he would do it. I'm not totally sure
i'd perform good King Wentz list on the podcasts, but
that he'd be game. Um. Yeah, I'm thinking the biggest
(16:17):
perception change I'm going to have to make is good
King Wentz this list as a twenty two year old. Yeah,
that's true. I too picture cards an old guy. I know. Well,
I'll work on that. In the meantime, though, we'll be
thinking up other topics for the new year, and wish
(16:39):
all of you a very happy holiday, a merry Christmas,
happy Hanukkah, no, any whatever you celebrate Saturnalia, christ Tide.
We've covered a lot of unusual holidays on our on
our podcasts in the past. We have, and we're always
open to more. So if you have any other sort
of holiday suggestions, we may not be able to do
(17:00):
them right now, but we'll definitely keep them on our
to do list for next year, so you can suggest
those to us by writing to us. Where History podcast
at Discovery dot com and you can also find us
on Facebook and on Twitter at my history And if
you want to learn a little bit more about went
left de Blena? You do have your your article coming out,
(17:20):
don't I do? Unfortunately we don't have a WinCE is
Lost entry in there and we didn't make the look,
but we do have one about boxing Day? Did you
know that apparently a lot of people think that boxing
Day is a day for boxing up all the presents
you didn't want and taking them back to the store. Oh,
that's just sad. That totally is the opposite. You already
(17:41):
busted that myth on this podcast. But if you want
to know a few more myths, nine more to be exact,
and they're I guess they're they're true versions, um the
truth about them. You can find out all about that
by searching on our homepage for ten months about Christmas,
and you can and find us by looking up www
(18:03):
dot how stuff works dot com for more on this
and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works
dot com? M
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