Curfew bell

The curfew bell was a bell rung in the evening in Medieval England as the curfew signal for everyone to go to bed.Wood/Peshall, p. 177

A bell was rung usually around eight o'clock in the evening which meant for them to cover their fires — deaden or cover up, not necessarily put out altogether.Andrews, pp. 228-9 The usual procedure was at the sound of the curfew bell the burning logs were removed from the centre of the hearth of a warming fire and the hot ashes swept to the back and sides. The cold ashes were then raked back over the fire so as to cover it. The ashes would then keep smoldering giving warmth without a live fire going. The fire could easily be reignited the next morning by merely adding logs back on and allowing air to vent through the ashes. A benefit of covering up the fire in the evening was the prevention of destructive conflagrations caused by unattended live fires, a major concern since at the time most structures were made of wood and burned easily. Voltaire, in his ''Universal History'', notes the curfew bell acted as an ancient police on fire prevention in towns of the northern hemisphere.Andrews, p. 232-3

History

The curfew bell with the associated curfew law is recorded by history as having been started by Alfred the Great. The law associated with the curfew bell is a custom that history records as being adopted by William I of England in the year 1068.Brand, p. 221Andrews, p. 232 The curfew law imposed upon the people was a compulsory duty they had to do or be punished like a criminal. Historians, poets, and lawyers speak of the Medieval law associated with the curfew bell as being levelled mostly against the conquered Anglo-Saxons. It was initially used as a repressive measure by William I to prevent rebellious meetings of the conquered English. He prohibited the use of live fires after the curfew bell was rung to prevent associations and conspiracies. The strict practice of this medieval tradition was pretty much observed during the reign of King William I and William II of England.Brand, p. 222 The law was eventually repealed by Henry I of England in 1103.Andrews, p. 233

A century later in England the curfew bell was associated more with a time of night rather than an enforced curfew law. The curfew bell was in later centuries rung but just associated with a tradition. In Medieval times the ringing of the curfew bell was of such importance that land was occasionally paid for by the service.Andrews, p. 236Andrews, p. 238 There are even recorded instances where the sound of the curfew bell sometimes saved the lives of lost travellers by safely guiding them back to town.

In Macaulay's ''History of Claybrook'', Claybrooke Magna, (1791), he says, "The custom of ringing curfew, which is still kept up in Claybrook, has probably obtained without intermission since the days of the Norman Conqueror."Brand, p. 223

In the Articles for the Sexton of Faversham in England it was written of the curfew bell,

The time of the curfew bell changed in later centuries after the Middle Ages to nine in the evening and sometimes even to ten. The custom of ringing the curfew bell continued in many British towns and cities, especially in the north of England, well into the 19th century, although by then it had ceased to have any legal status. The tradition is still practiced in the town of Sandwich, Kent, where a curfew bell known as the "Pig Bell" at St Peter's Church is rung at 8 pm every evening for ten minutes. At Ruthin in Denbighshire, the custom lapsed in the 1970s but was revived in 2020 after the bells of St Peter's Church were restored.

Etymology

The English word ''curfew'' is from old French ''carre-feu'' or ''cerre-feu''. These initial French words later derived into ''couvre-feu''. The word was again later turned into ''cover-feu'' in the Norman language after the conquering of the English. Each of these meant to cover the live flaming fire. There was even a metal utensil cover known as the "couvre-feu", normally only found in houses of the well-to-do. It resembled a shield and was used to be put over the live fire when the curfew bell rang. The curfew bell was known as ''ignitegium'' or ''peritegium bell'' in the medieval low Latin. Daines Barrington shows that in an old Scottish poem published in 1770 the word curfew is written ''curphour''.

At Penrith, Cumbria in the 19th century, the curfew was known as the "Taggy Bell", thought to be derived from the Old Norse ''tœkke'', "to cover".

Poetry

The tyranny of William I is described by the poet Francis Thompson,

Chaucer writes on the curfew bell as just as a time, not a law:

Shakespeare had unusual times for the curfew bell. In Romeo and Juliet, iv 4, he has Lord Capulet saying:

In Tempest, v. 1, Prospero says:

:In King Lear, iii. 4, Edgar speaks,

In the sixteenth century Bishop Joseph Hall's "Fourth Satire" it reads:

In the play ''The Merry Devil of Edmonton'' (published 1608), the curfew was at nine o'clock in the evening:

John Milton's put in his allegorical ''Il Penserosos mouth the words:

In Handel's ''L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato'' these words are accompanied by a pizzicato bass-line, representing a distant bell sound.

The most famous mention of the curfew in English poetry is in Thomas Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1750), whose opening lines are:

T. S. Eliot ''Gus the theater cat'' ("Old possum's book of practical cats")

Eleanor Farjeon and Herbert Farjeon, ''William I - 1066'' in ''Kings and Queens'' (1932). These poems were used to teach history to generations of British schoolchildren:

Notes

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Bibliography

* Andrews, William, ''Old Church Lore'', William Andrews & Company, The Hull Press; London, 1891
* Brand, John et al.,''Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain: Chiefly Illustrating the Origin of Our Vulgar and Provincial Customs, Ceremonies, and Superstitions'', George Bell and Sons, 1901
* Thomas, Michael Joseph, "Missing The Curfew: A Cultural History Case For Re-Reading Thomas Gray's Most Famous Line" (2016). Graduate College Dissertations and Theses. Paper 590.
* Anthony Wood and John Peshall, ''The Antient and Present State of the City of Oxford: Containing an Account of Its Foundation, Antiquity, Situation, Suburbs, Division by Wards, Walls, Castle, Fairs, Religious Houses, Abbeys, St. Frideswede's, Churches, as Well Those Destroyed as the Present, with Their Monumental Inscriptions'', J. and F. Rivington, 1773, Oxford University

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