Dear REED-Lers and PERFORMers--
I hope the members of the lists might be able to help Jane
Cowling and I to identify 'Saynte Harrys Merthe'--which
appears in a late fifteenth century chamberlain's account
for the city of Winchester. Minstrels were rewarded for
performing at St. Harry's Mirth, but we do
not know whether that phrase identifies the feast day on
which the performance occurred, or an obscure local festival
of some kind, or what. Can anyone identify St. Harry's
Mirth, or suggest which particular saint is referred to
here? We'd be very grateful.
Please reply to my temporary address at the
university of Southampton, rather than to the list, as I'm
not hooked into the list here--thanks. ([log in to unmask])
Peter Greenfield
Dept. of English
University of Puget Sound
(A visiting fellow this summer at the Hartley
Institute, University of Southampton)
