Frankincense at Bristol port in Tudor times
Niall C.E.J. O’Brien
Introduction
The Gospel story in the New
Testament Bible as ascribed to Saint Matthew tells us that =
Jesus was born in the town of
Bethlehem in Judea, during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterwards, some
men who studied the stars (referred to by later writers as the Magi), came from
the east to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the baby born to be the king of the
Jews? We saw his star when it came up in the east and we have come to worship him.”
When Herod heard about this, he was very upset and so was everyone else in
Jerusalem.[1] …
So Herod called the visitors from the east to a secret meeting and found out
from them the exact time the star had appeared. Then he sent them to Bethlehem
…[2]
And so they left, and on their
way they saw the same star they had seen in the east. When they saw it, how
happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped
over the place where the child was. They went into the house and when they saw
the child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshipped him. They
brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh, ad presented them to
him. They then returned to their country by another road, since God had warned
them in a dream not to go back to Herod.[3]
The Magi were the first Gentiles
to worship Jesus, just as the shepherds were the first Jews. The Magi gifts of
gold, frankincense and Myrrh had symbolical significance. The gold was to
honour Jesus as king, the myrrh was indicate that he was human and open to
suffering while the frankincense was to honour God and symbolise prayer.[4]
Frankincense was long associated
with divinity and religious ceremony. Eight centuries before the birth of
Jesus, the great prophet then living in Jerusalem was Isaiah, and he spoke of
the birth of Jesus with reference to incense thus =
Great caravans of camels will
come from Midian and Ephah. They will come from Sheba, brining gold and
incense.[5]
Frankincense
Frankincense comes from inside
the bark on the trunk and branches of the Boswellia tree which grows in Africa
and Arabia. When the bark is removed a whitish resin emerges and this is
frankincense.[6]
Every Sabbath in the Temple in Jerusalem 12 loaves of unleavened bread was laid
out on a special table inside the Temple with fragrant frankincense as an
offering to God.[7]
Regulations on the use of frankincense in the medieval church
In the medieval period of about
500 to1500 the church dominated life and in every church the burning of incense
and its distinct smell filled the air. The regulations applicable to Wells
Cathedral tell us of the use of incense there. It said that the “Altar and the
Choir must be incensed on all double feasts and on simple feasts when the Choir
is ruled at Evensong and at Lauds during the singing of Magnificat and Benedictus”.
The burning of incense was also expected on “all greater-double feasts outside
Eastertide during each Nocturm of Mtins at the second, fifth and eight lessons
and at Te deum”. On the “lesser-double feasts and in Eastertide the Choir is
not incensed at Mattins during the Lessons but only at the Te deum and the Benedictus at Lauds”.[8]
The regulations go on to say that
at Mass on the “greater-double feasts the Altar is incensed by the Priest alone
at the beginning of Mass” and again by him at the Gloria and after the
Offertory. Between the Gloria and the Offertory the deacon incenses the Altar
before the saying of the Gospel.[9] At
occasions of simple feasts only one censer was used for the incense and it was
carried about the Choir by the Acolyte. The main Altar was first incensed by
the officiating priest and then the Choir stalls in decreasing rank. At double
feasts two censers were used and after the main Altar was incensed the other
altars in the Choir were done but only at Evensong. The Bishop’s throne was
then done if he Bishop was present. If no Bishop then the Choir stalls were
done to finish the job.[10]
The monastic and parish churches followed this course to a varied extent.
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Frankincense
Parish church accounts of frankincense
A number of medieval parish
churches have surviving financial accounts giving the income and expenditure of
the church. Among these surviving accost are those for Ashburton in Devon which
cover the years from 1479 to 1580. In 1479-80 the sum of 6d (d = pence) was
spent on frankincense while the sexton, William Astryge, got 4s 8d for his
wages. In 1482-83 Ashburton church paid 6d for 2lbs of frankincense. The church
didn’t buy frankincense every year as it was 1485-86 before another consignment
was purchased and another gap to 1492-93 with an even bigger gap to 1510-11
when 6d was spent on frankincense. The last payment for frankincense at
Ashburton church was in 1557-58 when 6d was spent.[11]
This was the last year of the Roman Catholic Queen Mary. With England going Protestant
under Queen Elizabeth the use of frankincense ended in parish churches as it
was seen as a Roman Catholic thing.
Frankincense in the port of Bristol
The church records of medieval
Europe give us snap shots of incense use and the mention of frankincense in
this but what of any records of frankincense before it reaches the church. The
English exchequer custom accounts are the most comprehensive and long running
records of foreign trade to exist for any country in the pre-modern period.
These records first started in 1275 with the levying of a tax on the export of
wool and hides. By the mid-fourteenth century this custom tax was extended to
all forms of merchandise entering and leaving the country. These custom taxes
created a vast archive of material on medieval trade, but until the recent use
of the electronic computer, the archive was difficult to collate and analyse.[12]
In 2009 the records of Bristol
port between 1503 and 1601 were published[13]
and among the over one thousand pages of data in the published book are
references to frankincense entering and leaving Bristol. This accessible data
is a welcome addition to the story of frankincense but as always in these cases
there are as many unanswered questions that may never be answered.
On 22nd March 1526 the
navicula Kateryn of Bristol entered
Bristol port under the command of Captain John Bernard. The navicula was a type
of sailing vessel of undetermined size but which was big enough for ocean
travel. She carried cargo for eight merchants with wine as the principal cargo
at about 39 tons. Nicholas Walter and Thomas Shipman had one hundred weight of
frankincense and two hundred weight of rosin on the vessel. The value of the
frankincense was 3s 4d while the rosin was worth 4s.[14]
It is possible that Nicholas Walter and Thomas Shipman were from Bristol but
the evidence is not yet supported by solid foundations. There was a Thomas
Shipman, merchant, at Bristol in the years 1548 to 1551 but this is twenty five
years afterwards and so it is unlikely that they were the same person.[15]
On 13th November 1541
the Bride of Waterford left the port
of Bristol with a varied cargo of commodities for fifteen different merchants.
One of these merchants was John Harold who carried thirty-nine different
consignments of cargo varying from hats, girdles, cinnamon, to knives from
Paris, playing cards and glasses. John Harold also carried 6lbs of frankincense
worth 10d. On 17th October 1541 John Harold had brought to Bristol
skins of sheep, lambs and foxes aboard the Anthony
of Waterford.[16]
It is possible that John Harold was a Waterford merchant or from the area of
south Tipperary and south Kilkenny as Waterford was the port for these inland
areas. Yet it cannot be ruled out that he was the John Harold, merchant of
Bristol, who took on an apprentice in 1533.[17]
The three wise men from the East
On 20th November 1542
the Mygell of Waterford left Bristol,
under Captain Robert FitzJohn, carrying a very varied cargo for eleven
different merchants. One of these merchants was George Walter and among his
twenty different items of cargo was 6lbs of frankincense worth 2s 6d. George
Walter had previous brought skins into Bristol on 22nd October 1542
on the Bride of Waterford.[18]
On 17th November 1545
the Katheryn of Pasajes de San Juan in
Basque country of northern Spain arrived into Bristol port with a cargo of 53
tons of wine, 10 tons of iron, 4 hundred weight of frankincense (worth 13s 4d)
and 2 hundred weight of turpentine (26s 8d). John Note de Villa Vaosa (master
of the vessel) and unnamed associates brought in the two latter commodities.[19]
The Katheryn left Bristol on 9th
December 1545 with a cargo that included cloth, hides and lead.[20]
On 4th May 1546 the Katheryn of Pasajes de San Juan again
arrived at Bristol under Captain John Note de Villa Vaosa with John de Skyes
also the only merchant on board and owner of the full cargo. This cargo
consisted of iron, wine, woad, raisins and 1½ hundred weight of frankincense
worth 6s 8d.[21]
The Katheryn left Bristol on 16th
May 1546 with a cargo of cloth, lead, hides and skins for two foreign merchants
and five English merchants.[22]
By the time the Katheryn left Bristol the demand for
frankincense was changing as the religion of England was changing. The burning
of incense was seen as a Roman Catholic thing. The later references to
frankincense in the Bristol port accounts relate to frankincense exported from
Bristol to Ireland. Ireland remained a Catholic country and even the English
settlers in Ireland kept the old faith.
On 9th May 1576 the Peter of Youghal (30 tons burden) left
Bristol with a varied selection of commodities from three merchants of Limerick
and one merchant of Cork. The Peter
first sailed to Cork and then onto Limerick. One of these Limerick merchants,
Richard Mahownde, had thirty different items of cargo including 4lbs of
frankincense worth 8d.[23]
Richard Mahownde only appears this one time in the published Bristol ports
accounts and so we cannot determine if he was a regular trader in frankincense.
The Peter of Youghal appears three
times in the Bristol accounts and it is always traveling to and from Cork. It
is possible that the frankincense carried by Richard Mahownde was destined for
the Cork market.[24]
On 31st July 1576 the Katherin of Waterford (16 tons burden)
left Bristol under Captain John Gall for Waterford. A person called John Gall
was admitted a freeman of Waterford in 1570 and it could be the same person as
the ship captain.[25] The
vessel carried a varied cargo but all for one merchant, Thomas Stretch of
Limerick. Among the cargo was 6lbs of frankincense worth 12d. It is not known
if Thomas Stretch intended to sell all his goods at Waterford or take some onto
other ports including his home town of Limerick.[26]
Thomas Stretch does not appear elsewhere in the published accounts of the port
of Bristol and so it is difficult to determine his usual trading habits.
Conclusion
The published port accounts for
Bristol cover the years 1503 to 1601 but not even year in between is printed,
just sample years across the century. A detailed examination of the
frankincense trade in and out of Bristol would therefore mean examining all the
records in their manuscripts state. The results of that examination would tell
you much the same as this article, i.e., that frankincense was imported from
Spain with Spain receiving the trade by camel train across North Africa or ship
across the Mediterranean with Arabia as the principal source. Once in Bristol
before 1546 the number of customers requiring frankincense was numerous across
England from cathedrals and monastic churches to the thousands of parish
churches. There was also a good export trade of frankincense across the Irish
Sea to Ireland. After 1546 when England turned Protestant the majority
customers for frankincense was in the Irish market.
===============
End of post
==============
[1]
Matthew 2: 1-3
[2]
Mathew 2: 7-8
[3]
Matthew 2: 9-12
[4]
Kaari Ward (ed.), Jesus and his times
(Reader’s Digest, New York, 1989), p. 29
[5]
Isaiah 60: 6
[6]
Paul Z. Bedoukian,’Frankincense’, in The
World Book Encyclopaedia (Chicago, 1980), vol. 7, p. 411
[7]
Kaari Ward (ed.), Jesus and his times
(Reader’s Digest, New York, 1989), p. 132
[8]
Dom Aelred Watkin (ed.), Dean Cosyn and
Wells Cathedral Miscellanea (Somerset Record Society, Vol. 56, 1941), p. 35
[9]
Dom Aelred Watkin (ed.), Dean Cosyn and
Wells Cathedral Miscellanea, p. 35
[10]
Dom Aelred Watkin (ed.), Dean Cosyn and
Wells Cathedral Miscellanea, p. 36
[11]
Alison Hanham (ed.), Churchwarden’s
accounts of Ashburton, 1479-1580 (Devon and Cornwall Record Society, New
Series, Vol. 15, 1970), pp. 1, 4, 8, 19, 42, 139
[12]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601 (Bristol Record Society,
vol. 61, 2009), p. xi
[13]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601 (Bristol Record Society,
vol. 61, 2009)
[14]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 1, 239
[15]
Elizabeth Ralph & Nora M. Hardwick (eds.), Calendar of the Bristol Apprentice Book, 1532-1565 (Bristol Record
Society, vol. 33, 1980), part II (1542-1552), nos. 871, 1093, 1666
[16]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 287, 295
[17]
D. Hollis (ed.), Calendar of the Bristol
Apprentice Book, 1532-1565 (Bristol Record Society, vol. 14, 1949), part 1
(1532-1542), Ms. p. 18
[18]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 391, 398
[19]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 467
[20]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 474
[21]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 509
[22]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 510
[23]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 688
[24]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, pp. 685, 688, 716
[25]
Niall J. Byrne (ed.), The Great Parchment
Book of Waterford: Liber Antiquissimus Civitatis Waterfordiae (Irish
Manuscripts Commission, Dublin, 2007), p. 155
[26]
Susan Flavin & Evan T. Jones (eds.), Bristol’s
trade with Ireland and the Continent 1503-1601, p. 694
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