Was gin a tonic for Cromwell?
QUESTION
Aldi sells a gin called Oliver Cromwell. But wasn’t he a teetotaller? Oliver CrOmwell (1599-1658) grew up as a gentleman farmer and all his life loved horses, dogs and country pursuits — which included drinking.
A persistent tradition (derived mainly from post-restoration royalist sources) has it that the young Cromwell was given to gambling, excessive drinking, boisterous behaviour and wenching.
Doubtless this had some basis in fact; he was an active young man. But in 1620, aged 21, he married elizabeth Bourchier, aged 23, the daughter of a wealthy london fur and leather merchant, at St Giles-without-Cripplegate in the City.
This marriage would not have gone ahead if he were the rake thus portrayed.
The notion that Cromwell was teetotal might be related to the popular notion that he banned Christmas. it was, in fact, down to Parliament, which also tightened drinking laws in 1645.
That January, a group of ministers appointed by Parliament produced a new Directory of Public worship, that stated Sundays were to be strictly observed as holy days, for the worship of God, but that there were to be no other holy days — ‘festival days, vulgarly called holy days, having no warrant in the word of God, are not to be continued’.
in June 1647 the long Parliament reiterated this by passing an Ordinance confirming the abolition of the feasts of Christmas, easter and whitsun.
There is, however, no evidence that Oliver Cromwell did anything other than enjoy an occasional drink. in a letter sent in 1643 to Samuel Squire, a subaltern in the ironsides regiment, he wrote: ‘Home at ely again; in want of various domestic requisites, a drop of mild brandy, for one’ — showing he was a casual drinker.
He was even prone to revelry: at the 1657 wedding of his daughter Frances, when he was lord Protector, Cromwell drank, threw wine over guests and danced.
The wedding feast scaled new heights of magnificence: not only were there 48 violins and 50 trumpets, but also ‘mixt dancing’ until 5am.
He carried out practical jokes on his guests and ‘dawbed all the stools where they were to sit with wet sweet-meates’ and repeatedly stole his daughter’s wig and hid it under his chair, according to contemporary reports.
The clearest statement as to his attitude to drink can be found in his 1650 letter to william Dundas, the Governor of edinburgh Castle: ‘Your pretended fear lest error should step in, is like the man that would keep all the wine out of the country lest men should be drunk. it will be found an unjust and unwise jealousy to deny a man the liberty he hath by nature upon a supposition that he may abuse it.’
Mr h. S. Bellman, hunstanton, Norfolk.
QUESTION
Is Gabriel the lowest ranked angel that appears in the Bible? AnGeliC ranking was a preoccupation of medieval theologians. The first to provide a hierarchy was Pseudo-Dionysius (On The Celestial Hierarchy) in the 5th century.
The 13th- century theologian Thomas Aquinas, The Angelic Doctor, was perhaps the most important and influential writer on all things angelic. in his Summa Theologica, he organised the angels into three spheres of three choirs of angels, making nine choirs in total.
The choirs are ranked in order of closeness to God. The word ‘angel’ itself is used both as a generic term to refer to all heavenly beings, and as a specific term to refer to the members of the third sphere, those closest to the physical.
The first sphere comprises angels who serve as heavenly counsellors. The highest ranked are:
1. Seraphim, guardians of Heaven, they serve as the caretakers of God’s throne and continuously shout his praises.
2. Cherubim, guard the way to the tree of life in the Garden of eden and the Throne of God. They are portrayed as great beings with four faces, not as babies.
3. Thrones are living symbols of God’s justice and authority.
The second sphere is charged with governing and ordering the laws of the created universe:
4. Dominions are the ‘divine bureaucrats’ regulating the duties of lower angels to combine the spiritual and material worlds.
5. virtues supervise the movements of the heavenly bodies to ensure the cosmos remains in order. Their appearance coincides with miracles.
6. Powers are conscience bearers, power distributors and history keepers.
The third sphere includes angels who act as heavenly messengers to humans.
7. Principalities guide and protect nations, or groups of peoples, and institutions such as the Church.
8. Archangels. The word comes from the Greek ( archaggelos), meaning chief angel. They are princes or rulers among groups of angels. Only the Archangel michael is mentioned by name in the new Testament.
9. Angels are the celestials most concerned with the affairs of humans. They are sent as messengers to humanity and act as guardian angels.
in most Christian traditions, Gabriel is considered an archangel, but there is no literal support for this assumption.
As a messenger angel he may, indeed, be classed in the lowest rank in the angelic firmament. Rosa Levy, London E14.
QUESTION
Did any of The Beatles do National Service? nATiOnAl Service ended gradually from 1957 and it was decided those born on or after October 1, 1939 would not be required to serve. none of The Beatles were required to don uniform as George was born in 1943, Paul in 1942 and John and ringo, 1940.
in a radio Times interview, Sir Paul recognised they were fortunate: ‘A couple of years earlier, we would have been in the Army, and it’s very doubtful that The Beatles would have formed. we would have been at Aldershot, or wherever, in various camps, and might not have even met.’
my biggest claim to fame is that i was introduced to John at my Aunty marjorie’s wedding with the words that still make me smile: ‘This is your uncle John. He’s in a group and they’ve made a record!’
A photo shows John standing behind me and Cynthia lennon as bridesmaid in Cynthia’s 2005 book John. i’m the little kid in short trousers.
Gareth Griffith, Blyth, Notts.
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