"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.
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| 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.
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| 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
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