"Literary Links" - Winchester Geese

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

Brothels were all part of Southwark’s entertainment facilities and surprisingly they were under the stewardship of the Bishops of Winchester whose palace once stood here.  

Remains of  Winchester Palace

The Bishop collected rents or a licensing fee from the pimps or stewhouses.  In 1161 you would have found 22 licensed brothels – Bankside was notorious as a den of vice – and the prostitutes became known as the Winchester Geese.   

Rose Window, Winchester Palace

Shakespeare refers to this unusual alliance in the play Henry VI.  The Duke of Gloucester confronts the Bishop of Winchester about the morality of the church profiting from prostitution. 

Gloucester:  “Thou that givest whores indulgences to sin,I’ll canvas thee in thy broad Cardinal’s Hat,If thou proceed in this, thy insolence…Under my feet I’ll stamp thy Cardinal’s Hat,In spite of Pope or dignities of Church,Here by thy cheeks I’ll drag thee up and down.”
Winchester:  “Gloucester thou wilt answer this before the Pope.”
Gloucester:   “Winchester goose  I cry, a rope! a rope!’…Thee I’ll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep’s array.Out, tawny coats! Out, scarlet hypocrite!

If you caught syphilis or other sexual diseases it would often be referred to as being “bit by a Winchester Goose” or “getting goose bumps”.   Shakespeare makes use of this threat of infection in his play Troilus and Cressida.  The following use of the word “galled” refers to a sore on the skin made very sore or uncomfortable by constant rubbing.

“… but that my fear is this, some galled goose of Winchester would hiss,Till then I’ll sweat and seek about for eases,And at that time, bequeath you my diseases.” 

To Shakespeare’s contemporary audience this reference would have made perfect sense.  

This is an excerpt from the tour London River Walks - South Bank which explores the southern bank of the River Thames.  The full tour is found on  www.obelisktours.co.uk

"Literary Links" - Oscar Wilde in Oxford

"Literary Links" is a series of posts celebrating Britain's wonderful links with great authors, dramatists and poets.

·         Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wils Wilde  (1854-1900) found a confidence in Oxford that ignited him.  He was a brilliant student but craved an audience to perform to.  Oxford’s ancient walls had served their preparatory purpose, but now he yearned to break out and please the world.  He became a playwright, novelist, essayist, poet and wit.  Some of his more well known works include The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891), An Ideal Husband (1895) and The Importance of Being Earnest (1895).  He was prone to shock, and was imprisoned for being homosexual (1895).  He said, “The two great turning points of my life were when my father sent me to Oxford, and when society sent me to prison.”   He continued to love Oxford:

“I envy you going to Oxford: it is the most flower-like time of one’s life.  One sees the shadow of things in silver mirrors.”

 “In spite of the roaring of the young lions at the Union, and the screaming of the rabbits in the home of the vivisect, in spite of Keble College, and the tramways, and the sporting prints, Oxford still remains the most beautiful thing in England, and nowhere else are life and art so exquisitely blended, so perfectly made one.”

This is an excerpt from the tour Oxford’s Noble and Great Ones - Part 1  which explores around the southern part of Oxford.  The full tour is found on www.obelisktours.co.uk