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Berner Nelkenmeister, Saints Crispin and Crispinian in Their Shop German, c. 1510 Zürich, Schweizerisches Landesmuseum
In this image, one brother is giving alms to the poor, while the other isdirecting the poor to his twin. |
“ This day is call'd the feast of
Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and comes safe
home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old
age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his
neighbours,
And say "To-morrow is Saint
Crispian."
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his
scars,
And say "These wounds I had on
Crispin's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,
What feats he did that day. Then shall our
names,
Familiar in his mouth as household words—
Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and
Gloucester—
Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered-
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were
not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any
speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's
day.”
William
Shakespeare, Henry V, Act IV,
Scene 3, 43-70
The battle
of Agincourt, one of the most important of the Hundred Years War, was fought on
October 25, 1415 between the French forces of King Charles VI and the invading
(and greatly outnumbered) English forces of King Henry V. Henry V won the battle, which proved to be a
particularly crushing defeat for the French.
In the ensuing peace deal Henry gained a wife, Princess Katherine of
Valois, Charles’ daughter, and, more importantly, the right to inherit the
crown of France at Charles' death.
The deal disinherited Katherine’s brother, Charles. The younger Charles would, however, regain his father’s
throne with the assistance of Saint Joan of Arc, eventually becoming King Charles
VII. Meanwhile, Henry would die young,
leaving his infant son, Henry VI, to lose France and to precipitate the civil war, known as the Wars of
the Roses, within England.
 |
| Anonymous, Saints Crispin and Crispinian at Work Spanish, c.1600-1633 Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado |
Nearly 200
years after the battle William Shakespeare wrote a play about it and the young
English king who won it. The play, Henry V, has been a favorite of
actors and audiences since its original performances around 1600. In addition, it has been filmed several
times, most notably in films starring Laurence Olivier (1944) and Kenneth
Branagh (1989). It has also been filmed
for television, particularly in the Age
of Kings series in 1960 and in the Hollow
Crown series in 2012 with Robert Hardy and Tom Hiddleston respectively in
the lead role.
One of the
highlights of the play is the speech which Shakespeare puts into the mouth of
the king just before the battle. In
response to the wish for more men expressed by his cousin, the Earl of
Westmoreland, the king plays on the theme of valiant brotherhood that the small
numbers of his troops imply. Through
this speech, the phrase “band of brothers” has entered common consciousness
(used to good effect in the World War II series that uses the phrase as its
title).
What makes
this speech highly interesting is that its play on the theme of brotherhood and
its several references to the saint of the day point directly to the date,
October 25. This date happens to be the
feast day of a pair of brothers, sometimes said to be twins, Saint Crispin and
Saint Crispinian.
According to the
accounts passed down by tradition, the brothers lived in the late 3rd
century and were Christian missionaries in Roman Gaul, choosing the town of
Soissons for their base. (Of course, the town wasn't called Soissons at that time. It was called Novidunum by the Romans and had been the capital of a Gallic tribe known as the Suessiones before the Romans arrived. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire to the barbarians in the fifth century, it apparently was renamed after that tribe.)
Like Saint Paul
they worked for their living, in their case as shoemakers. At the beginning of the 4th Century their missionary activity attracted the
attention of the Roman authorities, during the persecution of Diocletian, and
they were tortured. According to the
tradition, strips of skin were removed from their backs and awls were driven
under their fingernails (presumably as references to the processes of their
trade). In spite of the torture, they refused to
renounce Christianity or to sacrifice to the Roman gods and so were condemned
to death. The first attempt at murder was
to drown them. So, they were thrown into
the frozen river with millstones around their necks. However, they were able to swim to the far
side of the river and crawl out. Then
they were sentenced to be cast into burning oil. They were unharmed, although the cauldron
backfired and killed the magistrate who was their prosecutor. Finally, they were beheaded.1
 |
| Cantique de Saint Crepin et de Saint Crepinien, Patrons des Cordonniers French, c.1805-1821 Marseilles, Musée des civilisations de l'Europe et de la Méditerrané |
Their bodies
were claimed by pious citizens and buried in Soissons. At a later period, parts of their bodies were
removed and sent to the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna in Rome and to a
cathedral dedicated to them in Osnabruck, Germany.2 They are the patron saints
of shoemakers, saddlers, tanners and other leatherworkers.
I found
myself feeling very curious about whether there would be any visual material
concerning these two saints. I fully
expected that, due to the coincidence of their feast day being the date of a
notable English victory/French defeat in the Hundred Years War, many of the
images would be English. I was
wrong. Instead, most of the images I
found were French, Flemish or German in origin.
The
iconography of these saints almost always shows them together. It falls into two forms. The earliest and most frequent form shows
scenes from their martyrdom. The other
form shows them working as shoemakers and as missionaries, prior to their martyrdom.
The
martyrdom images are the earliest and most frequent. The focus is on the four forms in which they
were martyred.
 |
| Anonymous, Altarpiece of Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian French, c.1415 Saint-Omer, Musée de l'Hôtel Sandelin
This image indicates the work of the brothers and acts from their martyrdom in pictures that surround an image of the Crucifixion of Christ, a reminder of what their witness entailed.
|
In the first stage,
torture, the brothers were cruelly abused.
According to tradition, they were scourged, then strips were torn from the flesh of their backs
and awls were driven under their nails.
 |
| Pasquier Borman, Flagellation of Saints Crispin and Crispinian German, c. 1510-1536 Herentals, Saint Waldetrude Church |
 |
| Berner Nelkenmeister, Saints Crispin and Crispinian Tortured German, c. 1510 Zürich, Schweizerisches Landesmseum |
 |
| +Ambrosius Francken the Elder, Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian of Soissons Flemish, c.1600 Antwerp, Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten |
In the second phase, millstones were placed around their necks and they
were tossed into the frozen river, Aisne, which they survived.
 |
| +Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian From a Speculum historiale of Vincentius Bellavacensis French (Paris), 1335 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS 5080 reserve, fol. 272v Here the brothers are being thrown into the river. |
 |
| *Master of the Livre du Sacre and Workshop, Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian From a Speculum historiale by Vincent of Beauvais French (Paris), c. 1370-1380 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS NAF 15941, fol. 119r The illuminator of this copy of the Speculum historiale was clearly copying the earlier illustrator of this same scene. |
 |
| *Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian French, 1513 Montier-en-Der, Parish Church of Saint-Remi |
 |
| Flemish School, The Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian Flemish, 18th Century In this picture, the brothers are rescued by an angel. |
In the third phase, they were boiled in oil
and pitch. They also survived this, although their tormentor was killed by coming in contact with the burning
matter.
 |
| Aert van den Bossche, Saints Crispin and Crispinian Are Boiled and the Fire Catches the Magistrate Flemish, c. 1490-1505 Brussels, Musée de la Ville de Bruxelles Left wing of the Altarpiece of Sts. Crispin and Crispinian |
 |
| Aeart van den Bossche, Torture of Saints Crispin and Crispinian Flemish, c. 1490-1505 Warsaw, Muzeum Narodwe
The focus in the central panel is on the earlier torments visited on the brothers. Center of the Altarpiece of Saints Crispin and Crispinian
|
Finally, they were beheaded and
secretly buried by the faithful of Soissons.
 |
| *Jean le Noir and Workshop, Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian From the Breviary of Charles V French (Paris), c. 1364-1370 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 1025, fol. 546r |
 |
| +Beheading of Saints Crispin and Crispinian From a Speculum historiale of Vincentius Bellavacensis French (Paris), 1396 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Français 313, fol. 257v |
 |
| *Master of the Coronation of the Virgin and Workshop, Martyrdom of Saints Crispin, Crispinian and Quintan From a Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine French (Paris), c. 1402 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Francais 242, fol. 293v |
 |
| *Willem Vrelant, Martyrdom of Saints Crispin and Crispinian From a Legenda aurea by Jacobus de Voragine Flemish (Bruges), c. 1470 Maçon, Bibliotheque municipale MS 3, fol. 141r |
 |
| Aert van den Bossche, Beheading of Saints Crispin and Crispinian Flemish, c.1490 Brussels, Musée de la ville de Bruxelles Right wing of the Altarpiece of Saints Crispin and Crispinian |
 |
| Ghislain Vroyelinck, Beheading of Saints Crispin and Crispinian Flemish, 1613 Bruges, Groeninge Museum |
Often they are shown as triumphant martyrs.
 |
| +Saints Crispin and Crispinian from a Book of Hours French (Paris), c.1490-1500 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 76 F 14, fol. 121r |
Since there are two of them they are able
to carry both the instruments of their martyrdom, like most martyrs, and
the instruments and symbols of their trade.
So we see one of them carrying a martyr’s palm, or a book of Gospels, or
a sword, while the other will carry a boot or shoe, or one of the specialized
knives used by leatherworkers or that most specific tool of a shoemaker, the
last (foot shaped form on which shoes are fitted).
 |
| Anonymous Woodcut, Saints Crispin and Crispinian German, c. 1490-1510 London, British Museum |
 |
| Anonymous Southwestern German Painter, Saints Crispin and Crispinian German, c. 1850-1900 Unknown Location |
 |
| Kerstken von Ringenberch, Saints Crispin and Crispinian German, c.1510 Kalkar, Catholic Parish Church of St. Nicholas
In these two statues from the altarpiece below, which includes scenes from their martyrdom, the brother saints both carry the swords that killed them, while one carries the hammer of their trade and the other the Gospel Book for which they died.
|
 |
| Kerstken von Ringenberch and Collaborators, Altarpiece of Saints Crispin and Crispinian German, c.1510 Kalkar, Catholic Parish Church of St. Nicholas Here the two brothers are shown in their original places, at the center of the altarpiece. The wings record their sufferings. |
Frequently,
however, they are shown simply as the shoemakers that they were, at work at
their bench or in their shop. Many of the images of these saints, especially those that were commissioned as church decorations, such as altarpieces or statues, would have been commissioned by the leatherworkers guilds in honor of their patron saints.
 |
| +Saints Crispin and Crispinian at Work From a Fleurs des histoires of Jean Mansel Belgian (Bruges), c.1450-1475 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Français 298, fol. 106v |
 |
| Saint Crispin at Work French, c.1480-1500 Private Collection |
 |
| +Ceramic Plaque, Saints Crispin and Crispinian at Work French, c.1490 Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Objets d'art du Moyen Age, de la Renaissance et des temps modernes |
 |
| Anonymous, Saint Crispin French, c. 1500 Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art |
 |
| Francois Gentil, Arrest of Saints Crispin and Crispinian French, c. 1550 Troyes, Church of Saint-Pantaleon |
 |
| Jan van de Venne, Saints Crispin and Crispinian at Work Flemish, c.1640 Besançon, Musée des beaux-arts et d'archeologie |
Their
feast day was removed from the calendar of the universal Church in the pruning
of multiple saints’ days that followed the Second Vatican Council. Removal from
the calendar does not mean, as I have seen it asserted, that the Church has
decided that the saint never existed. It does means that a deliberate choice has been made about which saints’ days should be
celebrated universally, rather than in individual countries or dioceses. There are thousands of Catholic saints and
not all of them need to be celebrated by everyone all over the world. However, the feast days of "removed" saints may be celebrated by the local areas that have a special connection to them, such as the areas where they lived and died, the countries that have a special devotion to them or the diocese, parish or religious community of which they may be the patron.3
 |
| P. Cayeul, Saints Crispin and Crispinian in Prison French, 1683 Chaudes Aigues, Church of Saint Martin |
Their lives
and the traditions that grew around them remind us that anyone can be a witness
to the faith of Christ in whatever profession one finds oneself, whether it be
that of shoemaker or art historian. The
witness may be through how we live our lives, or explain the faith to others, or,
possibly, sacrifice our lives as did this “band” of two brothers.
©
M. Duffy, 2016. In 2024 selected images have been updated and new images have been added.
+ Indicates updated image.
* Indicates new image.
- The Golden Legend or Lives of the Saints. Compiled by Jacobus de Voragine, Archbishop of Genoa, 1275. First Edition Published 1470. Englished by William Caxton, First Edition 1483, Edited by F.S. Ellis, Temple Classics, 1900 (Reprinted 1922, 1931.), p. 33. <http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/basis/goldenlegend/GoldenLegend-Volume6.asp#Crisaunt>
- Meier, Gabriel. "Sts. Crispin and Crispinian." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 24 Oct. 2016. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/04491a.htm>
- “The saints have been traditionally honored in the Church and their authentic relics and images held in veneration. For the feasts of the saints proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in His servants, and display to the faithful fitting examples for their imitation.
Lest the feasts of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or family of religious; only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of universal importance.” (Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, Sacrosanctum Concilium, Solemnly Promulgated by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on December 4, 1963, Chapter IV, article 111. <http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19631204_sacrosanctum-concilium_en.html>
4. See
also, the Motu Proprio, Mysterii Paschalis
(The Paschal Mystery) of Pope
Paul VI, dated February 14, 1969, which implemented the changes, specifically
Part II, paragraph 3. <http://w2.vatican.va/content/paul-vi/en/motu_proprio/documents/hf_p-vi_motu-proprio_19690214_mysterii-paschalis.html>
