Lord of Misrule

[Sgeir]

Does anyone know where I might find more information on the Lord of Misrule? So far the only thing I've been able to find is a page on Wikipedia (http://www.wikipedia.com) and a section in James Frazer's Golden Bough. I've heard that Frazer has been discredited so I'm a bit wary of taking what he says about the Lord of Misrule (i.e. that he was a man who represented Saturn, overturned all the laws and social customs, and who was originally sacrificed at the end of the Saturnalia) as completely true.

Anybody help?

[Mnemosyne]

I found loads of information on the internet about the Lord of Misrule. I found out that he encouraged people to have a decadent, good time during the Christmas time in the Middle Ages.

"As an impersonater of the god Saturn, the King of Saturnalia was required to be obscenely sacrilegious and to indulge all his passions publicly. At the close of the festival he was expected to cut his own throat on Saturn's true altar and thus restore order. The King of Saturnalia became a clown in the Middle Ages, transformed into the Lord of Misrule, the spirit of festive anarchy. He was a comic monarch who rallied exuberant costumed citizens. Crowds paraded through torch-lined streets and created long processions in carts.

Lord of Misrule ordered the people to sing bawdy verses and drink to blind drunkenness. He commanded them to dance obscenely and for men to wear women's clothes. People freely gambled at the church altar.

This harlequin king had many names in many countries: King of the Bean in England, Abbas Stultorum in France (sic), the Abbot of Unreason in Scotland, the Abbe de la Malgouveme in France.

Under the Lord of Misrule, tradesmen gave gifts to their patrons. In Russia, peasants sang outside the houses of the lords and received gifts. But no grim death awaited this Lord as it did the martyr Saturnalia king.

The Catholic Church ended this bacchanal in the 16th Century as Reformation approached. But we still revel at Christmas. Businesses still give gifts to their customers. Caroling through the streets and singing to neighbors while standing on their doorsteps is still a contemporary custom. People in their warm homes at Christmas share hot chocolate, egg nog or hot brandied rum with carolers. "


http://www.shpm.com/articles/holidays/pagan5.html

[Sgeir]

Thanks, Mnemosyne!

I'll have a look at that webpage :)

Its just that I find the figure absolutely fascinating, and feel sort of drawn to him...I have a suspicion that my mother used to tell me stories about the Lord of Misrule when I was a kid or something. Mostly because I was watching The Wicker Man with her once (have you seen it), we saw the figure of the Fool, both said "thats the Lord of Misrule" at the same time, and figured out the ending :D

[Azure]

You might look at some more recent traditions. Check out two books by Ronald Hutton: "Stations of the Sun" and "The Rise and Fall of Merrie England: The Ritual Year 1450-1700" both of which deal with the Feasts of Fool at 12th Night/Epiphany, and other such Misrule figures in religious and secualr life from medieval to modern times in Great Britain.