The very first Anglo-Saxon toast?

Updated on October 13, 2015

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Brutus of Troy, descendant of Aeneas and first king of Britain according to Geoffrey of Monmouth

The source, the premiss

Geoffrey of Monmouth lived in the 12^th century. For a long time he was considered as one of the more notable historiographers for what concerned Britain. Nowadays, even though historians believe that his most famous work, the Historia regum Britanniae, is not a realiable source, this doesn't mean that we'd better ignore it. In fact, if the Historia should not be used to accurately retrace the history of Britain, it nonetheless features some of those tiny hints historians must seriously attend to. One of them is the description of what we may consider the first ever recorded case of a toast in England with its relative verbal formula. Curiously enough, that same formula echoes still today somehow or other.

Geoffrey's work follows the typical pattern of other famous medieval historiae: according to the author, Britain was settled by Trojans (led by Brutus, Aeneas' great-grandson), and in this way the cleric was linking its fate to that of the Romans. This background, along with other unverified facts, indicates that we are probably talking about a legendary myth rather than a proper historical account, but often many sources from the past contain credible details that we may not notice at first glance. It's just a matter of separating what it's fictional from what it could be part of the writer's cultural baggage. And, believe it or not, this latter is frequently an information-rich soil for food historians.

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Betrothal Goblet (Venice, 15th century)

Verba...manent

Medieval sources are seldom so meaningful when they deal with meals and banquets, at least until the 13^th-14^th century. The verbal formula that Geoffrey of Monmouth has passed down to us (or should I say, that he passed down to his peers) was not written down by chance: it did probably have the precise purpose of linking the identity of the Britons to a specific food ritual that he recognized to be basic for them. As a libation is not just an ordinary drink, the golden cup of Rowen doesn't simply stand for hospitality: there's more than just wine in it. «From that time to this» - Geoffrey writes - «it has been the custom in Britain, that he who drinks to anyone during a banquet says 'Wacht heil!' and he that pledges him answers 'Drinc heil!'». And for once, the famous latin adage "verba volant" hasn't exactly worked.

Proper formula, proper toast

In the sixth book of his Historia, Geoffrey of Monmouth describes the great feast Vortigern, king of the Britons, attended at Hengist's new house in A.D. 450. Hengist, chieftain of the Saxons, had recently fought as mercenary at Vortigern's side together with his army. The alliance between them was to be celebrated around the table of a rich banquet, but the occasion was also an unexpected chance for Vortigern to meet one of the more beautiful dames of the time: she was Rowen, Hengist's daughter, «cujus pulchritudo nulli secunda videbatur» («whose beauty was second to none»). Once the banquet was over, she exited her chamber, stepped into the hall bearing a golden cup of wine and, while bowing to Vortigern, said to him: «Lauerd King wacht heil!». Vortigern kept staring at her, captive of her beauty. His heart had already burst into flame before he could realize he didn't understand her words at all. He asked his interpreter what the lady had said, and how he was supposed to answer her. The interpreter replied: «She called you "Lord King" and offered to drink your health. Your answer must be "Drinc heil!"». Vortigern then nodded, turned to Rowen and exclaimed: «Drinc heil!», and bade her drink. Then he took her goblet, kissed her hand and drank himself.

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The First Meeting of Vortigern and Rowena (William Hamilton, 18th century)

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A modern wassail recipe: 7 pints of brown ale, 1 bottle of dry sherry, cinnamon stick, ground ginger, ground nutmeg, lemon slices

Here we come A-Wassailing

Wassail! Wassail! All Over The Town

The English band Blur performing "The Wassailing Song" (1992)

History is in details

As is common knowledge, the formula "Wacht heil" (Old English: "Wæs hæl") is at the origin of the practice of "wassailing", which refers to an ancient Anglo-Saxon tradition that only later was associated to Christmas. It developed in the cider-producing counties of southern England and was a ceremony aimed at bidding the apple trees be fruitful through toasts and chants. The central drink of the feast, called "wassail", was a hot, mulled punch topped with a sop. From orchard to orchard, this practice has survived for centuries: it changed its clothes, but this does not lessen the importance of Geoffrey's account. In some sense, the toast king Vortigern and Rowen drank served as an identity-making act for the Britons, and it doesn't really matter if they were aware of it: Geoffrey of Monmouth chose to set this circumstance on his parchment, and let history go its way.

The Christmas carol Here We Come A-Wassailing is just an example of how these kinds of historical traces are able to transform and perpetuate themselves:

Here we come a-wassailing
Among the leaves so green;
Here we come a-wand'ring
So fair to be seen.

Love and joy come to you,
And to you your wassail too;
And God bless you and send you a Happy New Year
And God send you a Happy New Year.

Our wassail cup is made
Of the rosemary tree,
And so is your beer
Of the best barley...

The carol Wassail! Wassail! All Over The Town recalls the same theme:

Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white and our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of the white maple tree;
With the wassailing bowl, we'll drink to thee...

Sometimes, time seems to never pass, and we should never forget that food and drinks are just like unsuspected waiters that everyday serve us hints from the past. It's up to us to sit at the table and...have them.

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