17th Century Almanac for October – hiring fairs & bodgers
The 17th Century almanac for the month of October – the end of the campaign season and the start of a new farming year. ‘Nature now spreads around, in dreary hue, a pall to cover all that summer knew.’
October was and is when our fields are ploughed and sown with winter wheat. This is the crop that yields our bread. But in the 17th Century, October was also the month when many were left at the hiring fairs without employment. Some scratched a living as hewers and bodgers in the woods. Others were forced into vagrancy.
17th Century Life & Agricultural Labour in October
In the 17th Century, the agricultural year began and ended at Michaelmas, the 29th of September. Yearly rents, dues and tithes were paid from the summer’s harvest, and new contracts were let. In October, the tenants of those contracts set to work for the coming year.
Winter Wheat – seed cake, frumentary, October Beer & wine
First, they had to plough those fields that had been left fallow over the summer. This was the third and final ploughing of these most important of fields. Then they sowed the prepared ground with wheat or rye and harrowed in the precious grain.
This was the key ‘cash’ crop. But the new sown wheat was vulnerable. Flocks of pigeons, rooks and crows would descend on the field to feast on the seed corn. Women and boys had to stand guard in the cold fields with slings and bows until the crop was established.
When the last of the winter wheat was sown, all celebrated with seed cake, pasties and frumentary pot. October is also the month when cider production gets under way and when strong October Beer is brewed. In Europe, it is when the first of the year’s new wine is celebrated and drunk at wienfests.
Spring Crops – peas, beans and spring barley, oats & dredge
But the work did not end there. On last summer’s wheat fields and strips, men cut and gathered in the last of the stubble for fodder and bedding. They scythed the long dry stalks left after the grain was harvested by sickle. This was the first step in preparing these fields and strips for the spring sown crops.
The third field was now left fallow before planting with the following year’s wheat crop. This was the field that had yielded individual strips of peas, beans and spring barley, oats and dredge. The soil was left to recover after two successive harvests. This was key to fixing in the beans’ much needed natural nitrogen.
Grazing on the commons ended on the 8th and on the wheat stubble on 15 October, when ewes were put to ram. Grazing on the meadows would stop at the end of the month and on the spring sown crops soon after. This is still the way in the Nottinghamshire village of Laxton, the last ‘champion’ or open field village in England.
Hiring Fairs – mop fairs, economic depression & unemployment
However, not everyone was employed in the fields in Autumn. Many were laid off after the harvest, unable to find work at the Michaelmas hiring or ‘mop’ fairs. These fairs saw almost all agricultural labourers and domestic servants, men and women, line the streets of market towns across Britain. They stood in their Sunday best, with a symbol of their trade or ‘mop’, hoping to be hired for the coming months. This was the practice in most market towns in Britain up until the Second World War.
But over population meant that by the 17th Century there were more seeking employment than positions to fill. As a result, wages, working conditions, board and lodging worsened. Economic depression, following the poor harvests of the Little Ice Age, led to even more left unemployed in the 1630s. Many of those who had worked the fields over the summer months and harvest were left to fend for themselves in winter.
Hewers of Wood – hurdle makers, bodgers & vagrants
Many turned to the woods for employment. They scratched livings as hewers, as hurdle makers and as bodgers, living and working in the woods. It is very easy today to think of woods as tranquil, quiet places. However, they were places of industry, filled with men working the key raw material available for building, transport, manufacture, tools, furniture, cooking and heating. Forests were wild spaces. Woods were managed, worked. They were factories filled with activity and noise.
Sadly, the woods did not provide employment for all. Some were left to rely on parish charity. But this system was stretched thin. Increasing numbers were forced to leave their homes as a result of enclosure or economic collapse. As vagrants, they tramped the lanes and swelled the numbers living on the streets of towns and cities. They lived on the edge of the law, vulnerable, exploited, forced into crime.
The Hunter’s Moon – duck, woodcock, poachers & gamekeepers
One form of rural crime that filled hungry pots and gaols was poaching. The Hunter’s Moon in October has long been associated with this nocturnal activity. It was both friend and foe to poachers and gamekeepers alike. Migrating ducks and ‘falls’ of woodcock arrive each year with the full moon. The latter were thought to fly from the moon, falling to earth in October.
This year, the Hunter’s Moon rose on the 2nd to be full on 17 October. It will be a super full moon, when the moon will be at the closest point of its orbit. If you can, do pay it your respects.
Hallowtide, Samhain & All Saints – church candles & tindles
Finally, the end of the month will bring in Hallowtide. This started with All Hallows Eve or Samhain, once a time when the dead were remembered with with church vigils, burning candles and bonfires. Many clung to the belief that the souls of their loved ones would be released from Purgatory to return home for this one night. Others saw these ghosts as evil spirits, not departed souls.
By the 17th Century, November the 1st had become All Saints’ Day, a day of protestant prayer for all true Christians. In the Catholic faith, it is followed by All Souls. Families gathered in fields at night to burn tindles of straw and offer prayers. Others saw these acts of faith as proffering a light to the Devil, inviting Satan in to spread evil.
This was a time of year when old practices clashed with Puritanical prayers. It was a time when some clung to what had sustained their forefathers whilst others sought God in the face of a changing world.
Follow & Read More of the 17th Century Almanac
Whether you are ploughing and sowing next year’s wheat, bodging in the woods or waiting for woodcock to fall from the moon, enjoy the autumn hues. As ever, if this post is not the full frumentary pot you were thirsting for, please tell me what is missing.
I will post more of the 17th Century Almanac and yearly activity in Early Modern Britain, next month. If you would like to receive an email notification of the next post, click the button to follow.
In the meantime, this website includes more posts and articles about life in 17th Century Britain, Europe and the Americas at Historical Notes and Maps. These include notes and pages on the impact of the Little Ice Age and The General Crisis of the 17th Century. They include articles on the English Revolution and Great Rebellion. They also include Pike and Shot Warfare and battles of the English Civil War.
You can also find more posts on Early Modern history, Living History and re-enactment at News & Events. You may also wish to read about the English Civil War history talks and battlefield walks I give.
Divided Kingdom – English Civil War historical fiction
The 17th Century almanac blog posts provide a backdrop and set the scene for the Divided Kingdom books. This historical fiction series is set in Early Modern Britain during the English Civil War. These posts are part of their backstory.
The Divided Kingdom books take a fresh approach. They are not based on a single hero. They do not take sides. Their voices – ordinary men and women – face each other in the chaos of Britain in civil war. They are both relatable and sharply relevant today. They are also as historically accurate as is possible.
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