Hertage Days in Nottinghamshire

The United Kingdom is renowned for its long history and heritage. In fact, the largest of those United Kingdom’s England, celebrates its 1100th anniversary next year.

Until 20th September the whole UK is celebrating its heritage with the latest annual Heritage Open Days. This is a short period when museums, galleries, stately homes, castles, parks, private gardens and places of historical interest open free to the public. Many of these, especially churches, are open every day, but there are hundreds of places that are private and not accessible to the public that have been encouraged to open their doors for a few days to showcase their heritage.

Where I live in Nottinghamshire I am lucky to be surrounded by many places of historical interest, whether it’s Nottingham Castle and Sherwood Forest, or the birth place of the founder of the Salvation Army and the first road in the world that was covered in tarmac.

Today I want to present a few sites of lgbt heritage. Some of them you may know, but some you may not. I won’t dwell too much on the city of Nottingham itself because I covered quite a bit of its heritage in this City Pride article.

Above is a map of the UK, and in green is the county of Nottinghamshire. Below is a map of Nottinghamshire with a selection of places relevant to lgbt history.

1) All Saint’s parish church, Misterton: This church is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 and is very familiar to me because Misterton is where I call “home” (I’ve lived in Nottingham since 1998 but don’t call it home). LGBT Link: (Apart from myself!) In 1910 the vicar of Misterton, Rev. Thomas Philips, was convicted of homosexual acts against choirboys and was jailed. Speaking as the village historian for over 45 years I don’t know of another clergyman in Misterton of any denomination who have been identified who was gay.

2) Windmill at North Leverton with Habblesthorpe: This village with the longest name in England (and the second longest village name in Europe) has a working windmill that was built in 1813. It is usually open every Saturday and you buy flour that was milled there. LGBT Link: This is one of hundreds of windmills around the country that was painted or drawn by Karl Wood. He began a project he called Mühlendämmerung (Twilight of the Mills) in the 1920s in which he endeavoured to paint very surviving windmill in the UK at the time. North Leverton mill was one of them. I included Karl’s military career here in 2014, and a brief account of his imprisonment for homosexuality.

3) Retford Town Hall: Built in 1868. This market town is another place I know well, and an ancestor of mine was Bailiff of Retford in the 1600s. LGBT Link: Ian Campbell was elected Mayor of Retford 2010-11. At 23 he was the youngest mayor in the UK at the time (despite claims on the internet, he was not the first openly gay UK mayor). Being Mayor of Retford is quite unusual, because there is no Retford town council. In 1974, local government in the UK was reorganised, and Retford borough was abolished and its councillors transferred to the larger district council. However, district councillors elected to former Retford borough wards, including those currently elected, become Charter Trustees of the borough. The Charter, granted in 1246, allows the Trustees to elect a ceremonial mayor from their number. Ian Campbell was a Charter Trustee 2010-14. He later became Chair of the district council 2012-14.

4) Worksop Priory Church and Gatehouse: The only surviving remains of the former Augustinian priory founded in 1103 by William de Lovetot (another ancestor). Like all monastic establishments it fell victim to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, a campaign begun in 1536 by King Henry VIII after he declared himself Head of the Church of England. LGBT Link: Before the Dissolution all monastic establishments were visited by Henry VIII’s agents to ascertain their wealth, and to paint the reputation of all the monks, friars, nuns and canons in as bad a light as possible to justify their dissolution. The canons of Worksop Priory were among hundreds who were accused of sodomy, incontinence, adultery, and unnatural sin. While the first three terms could be applied to sex with either a man or woman, the fourth was usually reserved for homosexual activity. Four of the 13 canons at Worksop were accused of unnatural sin. Their names were not recorded.

5) Clumber Park: Only the park, stables and church remains of this once magnificent estate of the Dukes of Newcastle. The stately home was demolished by the Duke in 1938. The park is now owned by the National Trust. LGBT Link: Lord Arthur Pelham-Clinton was the son of the Duke of Newcastle and was elected MP for Newark 1865-8. He has a relationship with a famous Victorian cross-dresser and drag act Ernest Boulton, who billed himself as Lady Stella Clinton. Sadly, Lord Edward was dragged into the trial of Boulton and his fellow cross-dressing act Frederick Park who were arrested for appearing in female clothes in public in 1870. Rather than testify against them, Lord Edward mysteriously disappeared. It is said he either fled abroad or committed suicide (covered up by his family).

6) Thoresby Hall: A grand 17th century mansion and park, the former estate of the Pierrepont family. It is now a hotel. LGBT Link: This is the birthplace of Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (née Pierrepont). She has featured several times on this blog, especially in this Extraordinary Lives entry.

7) Holocaust Memorial Centre, Laxton: The only national centre dedicated to the victims of the Holocaust and other ethnic conflicts since World War II. LGBT Link: Thousands of lgbt victims of the Nazi regime are commemorated here. A memorial plaque to the lgbt victims was installed in 2005. The Holocaust is, of course, where the pink triangle was first used to signify gay men. The award-winning play “Bent” about the suffering of gay men under the Nazis, premiere in London in 1979 and starred Ian McKellen. The play was inspired by one written and produced by Nottingham’s Gay Sweatshop, as explained here.

8) Clipstone Castle, also called King John’s Palace: Once a fortified hunting lodge of the medieval kings of England, now reduced to a few crumbling walls. LGBT Link: The queer King Edward II was a frequent visitor to Nottinghamshire. When he wasn’t staying at Nottingham Castle he was here as Clipstone Castle, most often for a few weeks during the autumn and winter months.

9) Newstead Abbey: A former Augustinian priory that surrendered its property to King Henry VIII at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Unlike other monastic establishments in Nottinghamshire, no sexual activities were recorded by the Dissolution agents. It was bought by the Byron family. LGBT Link: It is therefore somewhat ironic that Newstead was the home of one of the UK’s most famous “sexual celebrities”, the poet Lord Byron. He inherited the estate at the age of 10 but spent little time there. His celebrity status was indicated by the thousands of local people who lined the route of his funeral cortege from Nottingham to the nearby parish church of Hucknall.

10) Flintham Hall: A mansion has been on this site since the 1600s. It has been the home of the Hildyard family since 1789. The present hall was remodelled in the 1850s. LGBT Link: Until his death in 2005 the Hall was owned by Myles Hildyard, a Captain in the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry. He served in Crete, Palestine and North Africa in World War II. He was taken a Prisoner of War in 1941 but managed to escape. He was even involved in the planning of the D-Day Landings. Throughout his army career he was not afraid to take his male partners to official military dinners and events. After the war he returned to Flintham where he became a champion of conservation and local history. At Flintham, Myles lived with two male companions.

11) Eastwood: a typical small Nottinghamshire town that went from being largely agricultural to a hub of coal mining and industry in the 19th century. LGBT Link: Eastwood is the birthplace of the novelist D. H. Lawrence. His home is now a museum dedicated to him. While some may question Lawrence’s place in the lgbt community, I gave my reasons for including him in this article about the connection between his famous (and infamous) novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” and Nottingham’s lgbt community. He once told a friends “I believe the nearest I’ve come to perfect love was with a coal-miner when I was about 16”.

12) Nottingham Castle: The castle made famous in the legends of Robin Hood, and about which I have written many times, having had the privilege of working there. While most of the original stone castle has gone, parts of the gatehouse, walls, tunnels and dry moat still survive. LGBT Link: Nottingham Castle has had three gay Constables (a sort of site manager appointed personally by the king). They are 1) Sir Piers Gaveston, Earl of Cornwall; 2) Sir William Neville; and 3) Sir George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham. All have been covered many times, so if you want to know more about one of them just type his name in the search box.

13) Granby: A small village that has expanded little since it was mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086.LGBT Link: It is the Domesday Book which links Granby to lgbt heritage. The lord of the manor in 1086 was Sir Robert d’Oilly, who is what we now call a Norman Baron. He may have fought with King William the Conqueror at the Battle of Hastings in 1066. In many grants and documents of the time his name is partnered with Sir Roger d’Ivry, another Norman Baron and Constable of Leicester Castle as few miles away. Historians have recently begun to interpret them as being a same-sex couple.

14) Thrumpton Hall: A 17th Jacobean building. It was owned by the Byron family (but not by the famous poet, he had died beforehand) between 1832 and 1948. It was then inherited by the Seymour family. LGBT Link: Until his death in 1994 Thrumpton Hall was owned by George Seymour. He was a bit of a snob, always eager to point out that he was a descendant of King Charles II. Later in life he acquired a passion for motorbikes…. and young male bikers who were invited to live at Thrumpton, despite him being married with children.  For 14 years Seymour was in a relationship with one biker in particular who sadly committed suicide. Seymour died of a broken heart soon afterwards.

15) Bunny Hall: Yes, there really is a place called Bunny. The Hall was originally Elizabethan and rebuilt in 1720. LGBT Link: Bunny Hall was owned by the Parykns family who held the title of Baron Rancliffe. The estate descended through the male line, so the 1st Baron’s daughter was passed over for her brother. However, her brother died without legitimate children so she became a coheir to her late father, but not to Bunny Hall. She married a French prince and was the mother of Prince Edmond de Polignac, a flamboyant and openly gay social climber and mediocre composer. His marriage to lesbian sewing machine heiress Winnaretta Singer fooled nobody. Everyone knew it was only to provide Winnaretta with a title and Prince Edmond with money.

And there you have it. Just a few of the sites of lgbt heritage in Nottinghamshire. The UK is smothered with such history and it is no surprise that there is too much for anyone to know about.

Extraordinary Life: Robert Culliford, Pirate Captain - Part 2

Yo, ho, ho my hearties! It’s back to the high seas for a bit more piracy with Robert Culliford, pirate captain extraordinary.

Last September, in the first half of my look at Robert Culliford, we ended with him leaving his life in the Americas and heading into the Indian Ocean in the 1690s.

The Indian Ocean trade routes were heavily policed by the European powers. The Dutch East India Company and the East India Company of Great Britain were in control of virtually the whole of the Asian continental coastline from the Philippines and down the east coast of Africa. These companies had their own militia and fleet and were treated as semi-independent nations in their own right. Together they provided a more diligent defence against piracy than any power controlling the Caribbean or American trade routes, where there was no unified anti-piracy strategy.

Things didn’t start well for Robert Culliford. The ship on which he was serving headed to Gujarat on the north western coast of the India. Anchoring the ship at the port of Mangrol, the crew began what can best be described as a wild rampage by drunken yobs. No doubt they were desperate to get off the ship after the long voyage from the Americas around the bottom of Africa (there was no Suez Canal until nearly 200 years later) and wanted to enjoy themselves as much as possible with lots of alcohol. The crew abused local women, attacked local men, and stole whatever they wanted.

Understandably, the locals were angry. So, one day a local boy swam out and cut the anchor free. The ship drifted ashore where the local Indians boarded easily and seized the crew. Culliford and eighteen others were on board and they were all put in shackles and taken before the local Indian authorities, who promptly locked them all up in jail.

They remained there for four years.

It was in jail that Robert Culliford met John Swann, another prisoner. Whether Swann was already a crewmember of Culliford’s, or a separate captive, I’m not sure, but the special relationship between them probably began in that Gujurati jail.

The behaviour of the prisoners must have instilled a degree of trust in the captives, because after a couple of years some of them, including Culliford, were allowed to do menial work on ships of the Indian Mughal Empire.

You don’t need to be a fortune teller to know what came next!

In 1696 Culliford and his fellow prisoners overpowered their too-trusting guards and made their escape. Rather than hijack a ship and sail off into the distance, the escapees made their way to Bombay (modern Mumbai), a distance of 600 miles (966 km). There, most of them signed on as crewmembers on board the ship “Josiah” belonging to the British East India Company.

After being cooped up in an Indian jail for four years, Robert Culliford decided it was time to get back to what he had sailed half way round the world for. So, as soon as the “Josiah” had got far enough away from Bombay and out to sea, Culliford, John Swann and their fellow ex-jailbirds hijacked the ship.

But Culliford should have thought this through. The majority of the “Joshua”s crew were the original East India Company crew. They had spent their careers fighting off pirates. They waited until the crew had put ashore on one of the Nicobar Islands just north of Sumatra to gather (or pillage for) provisions. Only two pirate crewmembers were left on board. It didn’t take long for the East India men to take ship and sail off, leaving Culliford and everyone else stranded.

A month later the marooned crew were picked up another pirate ship called the “Defence” (formerly an East India Company ship called the “Mocha”) and joined them. A few months after that, in May 1697, the “Defence” stopped off at Sumatra and a shore party went to collect fresh water. Here we encounter differing versions about the fate of the “Defence”s captain. Some documents say that he and the shore party were killed by local tribes, while others say that his own shipmates rebelled and killed him. Either way, the captain was gone and the crew elected Robert Culliford to take his place. Culliford renamed the ship “Resolution” and spent the next year sailing from one end of the Indian Ocean to the other plundering any ship that took his fancy.

In the summer of 1697 the “Resolution” encountered the East India Company ship “Dorrill” in the Straits of Malacca. This led to what was probably the biggest sea battle Culliford had ever fought. A cautious stand-off between the vessels on the first day of their encounter only built up tension and eagerness to fight among the pirates, despite Culliford’s order to wait, and it allowed the “Dorrill” to prepare to defend itself.

On day two, cannons started firing from both sides. Masts, sails and bulk heads were smashed, smoke and shouts filled the air, and there were many casualties. These included several teenage cabin boys on the “Dorrill”. One of the Master Gunner’s boys had his leg blown off and he died several days later in agony. Extensive damage to the “Resolution” forced Culliford to pull back and retreat, without capturing any prize.

By May 1698 the “Resolution” docked at the island of Sainte-Marie (now called Nosy Baraha) a couple of miles off the east coast of Madagascar. Sainte-Marie had recently become a haven for pirates and Culliford probably wanted to take stock of his vast wealth obtained from piracy. He and John Swann lived together, and this is where records of them being referred to as consorts is mentioned by contemporaries. This could mean that they were regarded as a same-sex couple, of course. But “consort” had another meaning at sea.

In sea-faring terms, a “consort” was a ship that sailed with or accompanied another. Culliford himself had used his ships as consort several times. So, you could say that John Swann was merely Culliford’s travelling companion, in naval terms. We’ll never know for sure what their relationship was, but it is generally believed that they were in some form of romantic same-sex relationship. Anyway, the couple had only just got settled on the island when a familiar face arrived – Captain Kidd.

As related in part one, there was an unpleasant rivalry between these two captains. This was heightened by the fact that that Captain Kidd was no longer a pirate. The king of England had recruited Kidd as a pirate-hunter, and Culliford knew this. Cautious courtesies were exchanged between Culliford and Kidd, but Kidd was not ready to capture Culliford, because he thought Culliford had a full crew and not just 20 men under his command. Kidd, however, had 150, but he waited until more ships had arrived from England, but this was a mistake.

The wait was to contribute to Kidd’s eventual downfall. On Sainte-Marie he set about sharing out the loot he captured from an Arabian vessel as few weeks earlier. Kidd’s crew looked at Culliford’s wealth and thought piracy was a better option, and for a second time most of Kidd’s crew, 97 men in all, abandoned him to join Culliford.

By September, “Resolution” sailed towards the Arabian Peninsula. It encountered an Arabian merchant ship heading for China called “Great Mahomet”. There was another great sea battle. Some reports say that 300 crew and passengers on “Great Mahomet” lost their lives, and Culliford’s crew was down to just 20 men. The reward for the pirates, however, was £800-worth from the defeated ship’s cargo – that’s around £150,000 in today’s money! Each!

In the meantime, Captain Kidd was having difficulty recruiting crewmembers on Sainte-Marie, and most of the remaining 40 crewmembers and some other pirates wanted to go back to the Americas. So Kidd limped off in a leaky ship and headed for New York. On arrival he was arrested – his attack on the Arabian ship was not authorised and he was declared a pirate once more.

In 1699 more visitors arrived at Sainte-Marie, four British man-of-war ships. The pirates expected the worst, but were surprised when they were offered a Royal Pardon to all British-born pirates if they returned home with them. They were probably offered death if they refused. Two dozen pirates accepted the offer, including Robert Culliford. It is unclear if John Swann was still on the island. He may have been one of the men who went with Captain Kidd to America. There’s no record of him after the references to him being Culliford’s consort.

Culliford’s return to England turned into a nightmare. There was indeed an Act of Parliament offering Royal Pardons to pirates, but there was a time limit. By the time Culliford and his comrades arrived back in England the time limit had expired, so as soon as they set foot on British soil they were all arrested for piracy and put on trial. All of them were hanged, as was Captain Kidd – except one. Culliford agreed to turn King’s Evidence against another pirate who had carried out a particularly nasty attack on a friendly ship, and in return Culliford’s Royal Pardon was reinstated. He was one of the few lucky ones, one of the traitors against the pirate community, depending on whose side you were on.

Like his partner Swann, Robert Culliford disappears from the records. Whether he settled down in England or went back to sea is unknown. It is unlikely that he was allowed to keep the massive fortune he made from piracy. We don’t even know if he was reunited with John Swann, or decided to settle down and get married and have children.

Believe it or not, all this is just the edited highlights. It amazes me that no-one has turned the life of Robert Culliford into an action film, or even a factual documentary. It would make “Pirates of the Caribbean” look as action-packed as the Teletubbies. There’s even very little on YouTube, except for the one video above (others are not particularly well made or detailed). So, until someone decides to make a full-length film or documentary, I hope you enjoyed my little look at the Extraordinary Life of Pirate Captain Robert Culliford.

80 Gays Around the World: Part 7) Death and Democracy

Last Time on “80 Gays”: 19) Adonis, although he had several male lovers, is most associated with 20) Aphrodite, a deity famous for her beauty and less well-known for her male form, 21) Aphroditus, a deity often confused with 22) Hermaphroditus, and in one of her other alternate persona called Aphrodite Urania, there was a statue in the agora of Athens near to those of 23) Harmodius and 24) Aristogeiton.

The story of 23) Harmodius and 24) Aristogeiton was featured on this blog in its first year way back in 2011. It formed part of my series on “The Gayest Games in Ancient Greece”, a brief history of the Panathenaic Games. You can read the relevant section here.

The Panathenaic, or Panthenaean, Games are currently believed to have lasted for eight days. Day 6 was the most spectacular and most eagerly anticipated of the whole festival, apart from the final day with its sacrifices, prize giving and partying. It began as night fell in the sacred olive grove in Akademia outside the city gate. Each of the ten demes, or “tribes”, of Athens has selected a team of four men to take part in this event, the Panathenaic torch relay to the Acropolis. In the Akademia was an altar to the god of love and guardian of same-sex male relationships, Eros.

The tangled sexual web into which Harmodius and Aristogeiton found themselves deserves going over again from the above-mentioned 2011 blog entry. Aristogeiton had a rival for the position of senior partner of Harmodius. That rival was 25) Hipparchus, but Harmodius rejected him. Just to point out what I’ve written before – same-sex relationships in Greece were not what we would call gay today. There were a traditional part of a young man’s passage into adulthood. Every young man who entered the gymnasium or army training academy expected to acquire an older man as a sexual partner. It was perfectly normal for a Greek man to have a young male lover and a wife, as Hipparchus had, at the same time.

Hipparchus’s wife was the daughter of 26) Charmus of Kolyttus, whose own young male lover in the gymnasium was Hipparchus’s brother, 27) Hippias. And, yes, Charmus had previously been the young partner of an older man, and guess who it was? It was the father of Hipparchus and Hippias, 28) Peisistratus.

I’m not surprised if you’re confused, so I’ll add this illustration from 2011 which may make it clearer.

The outcome of this web of relationships was the assassination of Hippias by Aristogeiton and Harmodius, followed by their own deaths, turning them into local heroes and inspiring the people of Athens to introduce a form of democracy, regarded as the birth of democracy in our modern world.

What is relevant for us in relation to this series of “80 Gays” is that all of those named today have some connection to the Panathenian torch relay. Aristogetion, Harmodiius, Hippias and Hipparchus were present at the relay during which three of them were killed, and Charmus and Peisistratus are both connected to the altar of Eros at which the relay torches were lit.

The torches were lit from the sacred flame at the altar of Eros. This altar and shrine were built be either Peisistratus or Charmus. It was most probably built by Peisistratus to honour his former lover Charmus.

Of course, we can’t think of a torch relay these days without thinking about the modern Olympics, introduced by Nazi Germany at the 1936 games. The ancient Olympics never had a torch relay, but there is a connection between those games and the Panathenian torch relay in the person of Phidias (No. 8 in the 2020 series of “80 Gays”). The Panathenian relay ended at the Acropolis, which features many of Phidias’s sculptures on the Parthenon. The modern Olympic torch relay begins at Olympia, the ancient site of the original games, where Phidias made one of the ancient Seven Wonders of the World, the gigantic statue of Zeus.

Even in the ancient world, this statute of Zeus was seen as a great wonder. If it had still existed in the early 20th century I’m sure the Nazis would have tried to add it to their stash of stolen art treasures in Berlin. It had definitely been ear-marked centuries earlier for transportation to Rome and have its head replaced with that of one of the most eccentric Roman emperors, 20) Caligula (12 AD-41 AD).

Next time on “80 Gays”: We ignore a prophecy and get written out of history, and end up being arrested at Moscow Pride.

Advent 4: Some Basil for the New Year

Of around a hundred Christmas gift-bringers I have researched over the past four years one of the more well-known is St. Basil (c.330-379). He is the gift-bringer to the Greek nation and the millions of people of Greek heritage around the world. Basil delivers his gifts on New Year’s Night, because his feast day is January 1st. Those of Greek heritage will know more about the traditions associated with him than I do.

Recently, historians has looked at Basil’s close relationship with St. Gregory Nazianzen (c.329-390). An increasing number suggest their relationship was homosexual but platonic. I’m very wary about adding people to my files just because someone said he or she was lgbt+. But, as with St. Francis of Assisi, there might be a grain of truth in this case.

A lot of people in the lgbt+ community, and elsewhere, don’t really understand the concept of Christian love and its written expression. Its not sex. With Saints Basil and Gregory it is pure Christian love – soul-mates without all the baggage of sex. Basil and Gregory may be the perfect patron saints of same-sex couples.

Both were born into wealthy families in what is now Turkey. St. Basil is variously named as Basil of Caesarea or Basil the Great. Many members of his family also became saints – his parents and all of his siblings. St. Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nazianzus, or Gregory the Theologian, was about the same age and, like Basil, both of his parents became saints.

Both were among the first generation of Christians to be born after the Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity in 312 and his decree of religious tolerance of all faiths. This meant that they grew up without the threat of persecution and murder.

Part of their privileged education took place in Caesarea in Cappadocia, now Kayseri in Turkey. It is there that the two saints are thought to have first met just about the time they were approaching 20 years old. They then continued their education in Constantinople, named by and after the emperor. After that they then went to Athens.

In 356 they went their separate ways for a while. Basil travelled around before returning to Caesarea to practice law. Gregory remained in Athens before returning to Nazianzen, the town near his birthplace, after which future historians named him.

Gregory’s father was Bishop of Nazianzen and he ordained his son. Gregory was rather reluctant to accept. It wasn’t because he wasn’t a Christian. Legend says that on the ship sailing to Athens a few years earlier a huge storm threatened to sink the vessel. Gregory prayed that if the ship reached Athens intact he would dedicate his whole life to God. What he had in mind was life as a solitary monk, not an ordained minister in the community. But now that he had accepted ordination his father was now his boss. Years later Gregory wrote that his father’s actions were an “act of tyranny”. Anyway, Gregory did what he thought was best. He ran away.

Meanwhile, Basil gave up the law and, like Gregory, decided on an ascetic, monastic life. However, he soon discovered that solitary living wasn’t for him. He gave away his inheritance and returned to his family estates at Annesi and gathered a few like-minded followers in a monastic commune, which included several members of his family. There Basil wrote extensively on monastic life which became the blueprint for monastic rules in the Greek Orthodox Church. It was to Annesi that Gregory retreated to after he ran away.

Basil attended the Council of Constantinople in 360. This is a significant event in Christian history because it was called to settle a dispute among theologians. Some said that Christ was similar to God the Father but was not God the Son (putting it oversimply). Basil agreed, but by the end of the council he had changed his mind. From this council the current Christian doctrine which developed into the Holy Trinity was formulated. St. Patrick famously illustrated the concept of the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit) by pointing out that a single shamrock leaf has three separate parts but is still one leaf.

The main supporters of the “losing” side at the council were called the Arians (nothing to do with Aryans and the Nazis) and they were declared heretics. The debate, however, didn’t go away. Both Basil and Gregory were to spend years opposing the Arian supporters. They even agreed to take part in a public debating contest against Arian theologians. They absolutely trashed the Aryans with their arguments and eloquence and were declared victors of the contest.

By 373 Basil had become Bishop of Caesarea and he consecrated Gregory as Bishop of Sasima. Gregory was, again, reluctant to accept and it led to some tension in their friendship. Gregory later told Basil that he was not to be used as a pawn in Basil’s own power play. Despite this, their close relationship remained intact. They had their separate lives, but they lived together on and off, collaborating on various theological treatises or living in communes.

St. Basil died in 329 or 330, on either 1st or 2nd January. No-one knows for certain. This is why both of these dates were chosen as his feast days. He also has several others throughout the year depending on the Christian denomination. In Greek culture his gift-giving day is January 1st.

St. Gregory preached at St. Basil’s funeral, in which he said: “We became everything to each other; we shared the same lodging, the same table, the same desires, the same goal. Our love for each other grew daily and deeper… We seemed to be two bodies with one spirit”.

I’ve read expressions of Christian love, but St. Gregory expressed it far deeper than many of them. Surely, there was more than just Christian love and a bromance between them.

St. Gregory died in January 390. Like Basil he has several feast days throughout the year. The first of these is on January 2nd, on which he is commemorated with St. Basil. Because of their important writings on Christian doctrine and monastic life, as well as their defence against the Aryans, Basil and Gregory were declared Doctors of the Church.

For all his importance as a Christmas-time gift-bringer I cannot find any image of anyone dressing up as St. Basil in the same way that people dress up as Santa Claus in shopping malls or waving at crowds in Christmas parades. I can’t find out why. Perhaps someone else knows and can tell us.

Above is a video which goes into Basil in more detail. I includes stories I haven’t had room to cover, like his influence on your own health – Basil invented hospitals (his hospital is one of the “7 Gay Wonders of the World”, an article I’m preparing for next year).

I’m taking a break in January and will be back on 1st February, so a Joyful Holiday, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year to you all.

Pirate Couples

Yo, ho, ho! Shiver mi timbers! And all that kind of stuff. Today is Talk Like a Pirate Day, an unofficial celebration of all things piratey, except all the plundering and scurvy. Talk Like a Pirate Day began in 1995 as a humorous idea by a couple of American friends and has been increasingly adopted by various people around the world since then.

I’ve written about pirates several times on this blog, whether is was about fighting Barbary pirates, someone with pirate ancestors, or debunking the alleged Pansy Pirate. Just type “pirate” into the search box on the left to find out more.

When we think of pirates our first image is probably of Long John Silver from “Treasure Island”, Captain Hook from “Peter Pan”, or Jack Sparrow from “Pirates of the Caribbean”. These are all highly stereotyped and romanticised versions of the real thing.

For our purpose we’ll look at pirates of the 17th to 19th centuries, the so-called Golden Age of piracy. We’ll see what kind of same-sex arrangements were practiced by them.

There was a form of same-sex “agreement” called matilotage. The word matilotage comes from the French word for “seamanship”. English sailors were often referred to as “matilots”. Basically, matilotage was an arrangement made between two male sailors whereby one would share the other’s possessions, property and “spoils of war” and inherit them if the other one died. This arrangement was especially important to pirates because they were less likely to have any family, or contact with them, and this would prevent other pirates fighting over whatever possessions were left behind.

There wasn’t any real homosexual connotation behind matilotage at the time. It should also be noted that matilotage also including sharing a bed. The prudish Victorians turned this into something that always implied something sexual, as is still vulgarly implied today. Sharing a bed with the same sex was common and had no sexual implication in the hundreds of years it had taken place before then. But it is obvious to see that any gay pirates might take advantage of this type of arrangement.

Modern scholarship on matilotage was influenced by “Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition” by B. Richard Burg (b.1938), currently Emeritus Professor of History at Arizona State University, published in 1995. Because this was the first major publication on the subject it received a lot of attention and praise. Since then, however, other researchers have pointed out that there was a lack of scholarly debate and criticism of Burg’s research at the time, and it was accepted virtually without question. Burg’s interpretations were his learned opinion, and not all of it was supported by documented evidence. Nevertheless, homosexual relationships are still an aspect of matilotage that cannot be ignored and Burg’s work remained a starting point for research that came later.

There are very few examples of matilotage that can be verified. Here are some that could be genuine.

One written matilotage agreement that does survive between pirates is that made between Francis Hood and John Beavis on 10th March 1699. The agreement was signed at Port Dauphin on Madagascar in the Indian Ocean. You may have thought that pirates only sailed in the Caribbean, but there were pirates in every sea and ocean. Madagascar is particularly associated with pirates. In fact, there is an alleged pirate colony called Libertatia that is said to have been founded on Madagascar at around that time. There’s no real evidence that Libertatia existed, but Madagascar was known as a pirate haven, and many pirates spent time there, more so than any Caribbean island.

Back to Francis Hood and John Beavis. Nothing is known about either of them. Their names suggest they were British, or American colonists. This may also suggest that they were active pirates in the Caribbean before seeking refuge on Madagascar. Their written agreement states that each would receive the other’s “gold, silver, and any other thing” should one of them die at sea.

Another couple for whom there is no evidence but are highly likely to have entered into a matilotage are Olauduh Equiano (c.1745-1797), who used the name Gustavus Vassa in adulthood, and Richard Baker. Although neither were pirates they were both shipmates in the British navy. Vassa was a former African slave in colonial America who became famous for his internationally best-selling memoir which was first published in 1789. It is claimed by some historians that this memoir was one of the most significant factors in Great Britain abolishing the slave trade.

In his memoir Vassa writes lovingly about Richard Baker. He describes how extremely fond of each other they were and inseparable. He describes how they shared a bed-space, laying in each others arms for comfort when they were going through periods of stress. Not once, however, is there any implication of physical sexual acts between them, but their relationship has led many historians to label Vassa as bisexual. Vassa married and had children after he left the navy. His memoir has inspired me to write an “Extraordinary Life” article about him next year.

This can also be said of Richard Culliford, an actual pirate captain, and his partner John Swann. Culliford and Swann met during the former’s pirate activity in the Indian Ocean, and they settles on Madagascar for a dew years before splitting up amicably. On Madagascar they were reported by other pirates to have been an open couple, with Swann being described as Culliford’s “consort”. They probably entered into a matilotage, but there’s no record of it.

Before I finish I have not forgotten the most famous pirate couple of all, Mary Read and Anne Bonney. They, too, deserves an article to themselves. This is also in the pipeline for next year.

It’s such a pity that there are not more matilotage agreement in existence, whether between pirates or ordinary sailors. Pirates have been very popular in recent decades and it is an aspect of their lifestyle that might change our image of pirates forever.

I Need a Hero!

Things seem to be going wrong all at once! If it was just the lockdown due to COVID-19 it wouldn’t be too bad, but in the past two weeks I’ve had technical problems with my laptop, problems accessing my blog account, concerns about whether I’ll have a job to go back to, and the death of my aunt all making it difficult to organise my time.

That is why the articles scheduled for the past week didn’t appear. Hopefully, I can get back on track soon.

I don’t want to leave you all without something to read, so I’m going to repeat an advertisement I made this time last year for my Kindle book “Robin Hood – Out of the Greenwood: His Gay Origins Revealed”.

I began researching this book long before I began this blog. At the time I was working as a tour guide at Nottingham Castle, and we were discouraged from mentioning Robin Hood. The city council who paid my wages insisted that someone who broke the law was not a good role model, and that he didn’t exist anyway. Even today the same council do next to nothing to promote Robin Hood. Even so, tourists were always wanting to know about Robin Hood and it was necessary to answer their questions.

Robin Hood has been mentioned on this blog a few times. A lot of these mentions have been in relation to the theory I expand in my book. Basically, I believe that Sir John Clanvowe, a poet and courtier, was the person most likely to have compiled the ballad which was later printed as “A Geste of Robyn Hode”. It is in this ballad that we get all of the most familiar stories about this world famous outlaw which have been retold in thousands of books, films and television programmes ever since (along with a few later additions, like Maid Marian, Friar Tuck, King Richard and Prince John, none of whom featured in the medieval ballads).

The theory is based on research I conducted into Sir John Clanvowe and the man acknowledged during his lifetime as the man he “married”. This partner was Sir William Neville, the Constable of Nottingham Castle from 1381 to his death in 1391. A lot of the characters and plot details in “A Geste of Robyn Hode” seem to be based on people, places and events in Sir William Neville’s family background. You can type “Clanvowe” into the search box at the side to find out more about this couple.

It was only after I left Nottingham Castle (not from choice) that I was able to do more extensive research, and eventually I put it all together in a display for Nottingham’s first celebration for LGBT History Month in 2008. From there I began writing the book, which has undergone several revisions since then.

My theory is too complex to be restricted to a few blog posts, so a fuller explanation in book form was the only way to go.

As my book is now published on Kindle Amazon here. I’m not expecting a huge response. All I expect is that people may get a new perspective on a familiar legend and, perhaps, realise that the medieval world wasn’t how it is often presented.

It is my hope that this will be the first in a series of books based on some of my blog articles and on other, non-lgbt, history research.

That’s enough advertising for now. If you’re interested, take a look and please buy a copy.

Golden Marriages

Historians over the past few decades have been beginning to discover and understand many versions of marriage and same-sex unions around the world. The most well-known of these is the adelphopoiesis rite in the medieval Byzantine Christian church. This included a religious ceremony in which two men could pledge to “adopt” each other as brothers. There are also some vague references to church ceremonies in other parts of Europe which echo this practice. In particular, I’d like to mention the same-sex relationship between Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe, about which I’ve written several times. They may have had a form of ceremonial union, which was recognised on their deaths.

Over in the Far East there was a similar practice of recognising same-sex unions. The one I’ll write about today was exclusively for women.

Golden Orchid societies or associations, called “chin-lan hui” in Chinese, were groups of women who included couples who had gone through a union ceremony. They were centred round the Guangdong province of southern China. The exact origin of the name has not been determined, though Professor James Liu (d.1986) of Stamford University in America, suggested that it may derive from a passage in the “I-Ching”, a 3,000 year-old Chinese text. The passage reads, “When two persons have the same heart its sharpness can cut gold; words from the same heart have a fragrance like the orchid”.

In a Golden Orchid relationship two women go through a kind of courtship. One woman would prepare a gift of peanut sweets and honey dates for her intended “bride”. If the gifts were accepted so too was the proposal and the women would go through a ceremony where contracts were signed. They took oaths before the shrines of the goddess Guan-yin saying that they would never marry a man. This deity has some transgender qualities, about which I’ll write later in the year.

No-one is sure where or when the Golden Orchid societies were first formed. Their existence is implied as being traditional in a book called “A Record of the Customs of China” by Hu Pu’an published in 1774.

In Chinese society during most of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) women had little power or influence in a heterosexual marriage. As in European marriages wives were the property of their husband and bound by duty to obey them. The existence of the Golden Orchid societies indicates a move towards female independence. There could be several reasons for this, but the one most frequently given is the change in the social status of women in the silk industry.

The majority of silk workers in China were women and as the industry expanded more women were employed. This gave more women an income that was not dependent on having a husband. Other developments within the Chinese economy also gave women more independence. The two-fold result was that women didn’t have to accept arranged marriages in order to acquire financial stability, and that some women, and lesbians (as we might recognise them in the West), were more likely to refuse to marry altogether.

When some women were compelled by their families to marry against their wishes they would refuse to have any sexual contact with the husband. Husbands would often be physically abusive to their defiant wives, and wives who defended themselves were deemed to be unmarriageable. Rather than return to their parents home these wives would live in groups. In this manner they became known as “self-combing women” or “comb sisters”, called “zishunu” in Chinese.

Young unmarried women in Chinese culture wore their hair in long plaits or braids. Upon marriage they would tied their hair in buns behind their head. It was a way in which possible male suitors could tell which women were “available” for marriage. The zishunu were women of marriageable age who defied the traditions of their culture by never tying their hair up. Those who chose to have a same-sex union with another zishunu were members of the Golden Orchid societies.

There were still some zishunu and Golden Orchid societies at the start of the 20th century. The Wall Street Crash of 1929 affected trade with the Far East, and the silk industry was one of the hardest hit. Many Golden Orchid members and zishunu moved to other eastern nations, such as Singapore and Hong Kong, to work as servants or nannies.

The old feudal system of China began to disintegrate in the 1930s and more women were able to become financially independent. They were no longer seen as rebels against society if they refused to marry. Gradually the Golden Orchid societies diminished. Eventually the Communist regime banned both practices.

There may still be some of the zishunu and Golden Orchid wives still alive today, there certainly was in 2014 when The Guardian newspaper interviewed a couple who were aged 85 and 90. It mentioned there were 8 others. All of them had lived in a building with the romantic name of the Hall of Ice and Jade in Jun’an, a town in Guangdong province. It’s last inhabitants moved out to live with nephews, nieces, or adopted daughters many years ago, but the walls of the Hall still display memorial plaques to past residents, because they were not allowed to be remembered on their family memorials.

Courtyard of the Hall of Ice and Jade, the museum of the “self-combing women” in Jun’an.

Even if the number of Golden Orchid couples and self-combing zishunu may be zero, the Hall of Ice and Jade was preserved as a museum in 2012 in memory of all those single women and lesbians who fought for their own independent life.

Here is a link to an article on the website of the British Journal of Photography about a photographer who produced an exhibition in 2019 of images about himself and his zishunu nanny. The exhibition and accompanying book were called “Combing For Ice and Jade”.

Out of the Greenwood

From day one I’ve resisted the temptation to include advertising on my blog. However, today I’m going to make an exception because I have just had my first Kindle book published. It’s called “Robin Hood – Out of the Greenwood: His Gay Origins Revealed”.

I began researching this book long before I began this blog. At the time I was working as a tour guide at Nottingham Castle, and we were discouraged from mentioning Robin Hood. The city council who paid my wages insisted that someone who broke the law was not a good role model, and that he didn’t exist anyway. Even today the same council do next to nothing to promote Robin Hood. Even so, tourists were always wanting to know about Robin Hood and it was necessary to answer their questions.

Robin Hood has been mentioned on this blog a few times. A lot of these mentions have been in relation to the theory I expand in my new book. Basically, I believe that Sir John Clanvowe, a poet and courtier, was the person most likely to have compiled the ballad which was later printed as “A Geste of Robyn Hode”. It is in this ballad that we get all of the most familiar stories about this world famous outlaw which have been retold in thousands of books, films and television programmes ever since (along with a few later additions, like Maid Marian, Friar Tuck and Prince John, none of whom featured in the medieval ballads).

The theory is based on research I conducted into Sir John Clanvowe and the man acknowledged during his lifetime as the man he “married”. This partner was Sir William Neville, the Constable of Nottingham Castle from 1381. A lot of the characters and plot details in “A Geste of Robyn Hode” seem to be based on people, places and events in Sir William Neville’s family background. You can type “Clanvowe” into the search box at the side to find out more about this couple.

It was only after I left Nottingham Castle (not from choice) that I was able to do more extensive research, and eventually I put it all together in a display for Nottingham’s first celebration for LGBT History Month in 2008. From there I began writing the book, which has undergone several revisions since then.

My theory is too complex to be restricted to a few blog posts, so a fuller explanation in book form was the only way to go.

As my book is now published on Kindle Amazon (on Amazon.co.uk here) I’m not expecting a huge response. All I expect is that people get a new perspective on a familiar legend and, perhaps, realise that the medieval world wasn’t how they might think.

It is my hope that this will be the first in a series of books based on some of my blog articles and on other, non-lgbt, history research.

That’s enough advertising for now. If you’re interested, take a look and buy a copy.

Around the World in Another 80 Gays: Part 34) Burning Desires

Previously on “Another 80 Gays” : 70) Count Francesco Algarotti (1712-1764) was involved in a love triangle with 71) Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (1689-1762) and 72) John Hervey, Lord Hervey (1696-1743), who was satirised as a Roman emperor’s boy husband called 73) Sporus (c.49-69).

When Alexander Pope satirised 72) John, Lord Hervey, in “An Epistle from Mr Pope to Dr. Arbuthnot” in 1735 he chose to identify him as 73) Sporus very deliberately because of Hervey’s openly effeminate, flamboyant, bisexual “macaroni” behaviour which made him an obvious target. In his turn Lord Hervey wrote insulting comments about Alexander Pope, mocking his physical deformities and his non-aristocratic background.

One of the reasons for the antagonism between the two is that Pope was jealous of Lord Hervey’s friendship with 71) Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu. In one of his letters Pope referred to Hervey and Lady Mary as “Lord Fanny” and “Sappho”.

Lord Hervey’s political career brought him into direct contact with the king and the royal family. Several modern government ministers are still hold of offices in the Royal Household. Lord Hervey was appointed Vice Chamberlain to King George II, a government appointment made by the Prime Minister. Hervey’s job was to report directly to the King on proceedings in the House of Commons every day. The current Vice Chamberlain is Andrew Stevenson, and openly gay Conservative MP, and his responsibilities are much the same. In 1740 Lord Hervey was “upgraded” to Lord Privy Seal, one of the highest offices of state in England, again a political government appointment, as it still is.

So, who was 73) Sporus? We don’t know much. What we do know comes from the last two years of his short life. He is said to have been about 20 years old when he died. Even his name isn’t his real one, but a nickname given to him by the man who married him, 74) Emperor Nero (37-68). Sporus is a name derived from the Greek word for “sowing a seed”, the inference of sex being deliberate.

Sporus may have been a freed slave. Whether Nero was his master isn’t known but Sporus certainly came to the emperor’s attention after the death of his wife Poppea.

Imperial politics was very complicated in Roman times. There was no properly defined laws on succession and many emperors died at the hands of their successors. One tactic was to marry into, or be adopted by, the reigning imperial family. That’s how Nero himself became emperor.

Although descended from several previous emperors himself Nero gained the throne through the machinations of his mother Agrippina, niece of Emperor Claudius. To ensure her son’s succession she married her uncle and, in due course, Nero became his successor.

Nero had several wives – and husbands. First was his step-sister, Claudius’s daughter. After executing her over false adultery charges Nero married his mistress Poppea in 62. In 64, the year of the Great Fire of Rome, Nero married Pythagoras (not the famous Greek mathematician), so now he had a wife and husband (Nero is known to have taken the passive role with Pythagoras). The following year Poppea died. It is usually said that Nero kicked her to death when she was pregnant, but historians now think she died in childbirth. Whatever the reason, Nero was devastated by her death. But with Sporus she could be with him forever.

Nero married Sporus in 65 because of his resemblance to Poppea. To give Sporus an unusually high profile in public life Nero had the boy castrated and demanded all citizens treat him as his empress. He was dressed in the empress’s royal regalia at public events. As for Pythagoras, non-one knows what happened to him. But Nero married yet again. In 66 he married Statilia Messalina, who wisely kept a low profile and outlived both Nero and Sporus.

Sporus seems to have actually loved Nero, even though there was a 12-year age gap. He was one of the few people who remained loyal to the emperor right up to Nero’s death in 68.

The Senate and the army eventually rebelled against Nero and he committed suicide. Sporus, however, was spared and treated as an imperial “wife” by two other Romans vying for the throne. However, when Vitellus became emperor in 69 Sporus was planned as the victim in a gladiatorial show. Thankfully, Sporus chose suicide was a less painful death.

Let’s go back to Nero and the Great Fire of Rome. In an earlier article on Nero I mentioned that he was in Antium when the fire took place. This is one of several locations where ancient writers place Nero at the time. One writer puts him in the Gardens of Maecenas. These were part of a villa on the Esquiline Hill in eastern Rome which came into the possession of the emperors after the death of the villa’s builder, a Roman statesman called 75) Gaius Maecenas (68 BC-8 BC).

Over the centuries Maecenas’s name has become a byword for a generous patron of the arts. He came from a wealthy, influential family and a glittering political career could have been his for the asking. Instead, he refused all invitations to become a Senator and spent his life and wealth in promoting the arts. He also built his villa which included the first heated swimming pool in Rome. It also had places where plays and songs were performed in a sort of theatre. It was from a temporary platform or stage that Nero is said to have watched Rome burn, dressed in his theatrical costume and singing of the destruction of Troy.

Maecenas was primarily a patron of the performing arts rather than the visual arts. He loved all types of performance, and he loved a pantomime performer called 76) Bathyllus (c.60 BC-pre 2 BC).

Next time : From Rome to Britain – the pantomime tradition gets an Oscar nomination.