Prima Nocta

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The following is an Excerpt from the Basingstoke Star, a local newspaper published every Thursday, from the edition of the 31^st of March 2016.

Body found floating in The Whitewater River.

Last Sunday morning the body of a young man was found floating naked near the Mill House on the River Whitewater a few hundred yards from the site of Odiham Castle. He has been identified as John Smith a local blacksmith. He is thought to have entered the water sometime on Saturday evening. A witness who saw him shortly after he had been removed from the water said that Mr Smith had a look of pure joy on his face. Police do not suspect foul play. His bicycle was found at the castle by the Basingstoke Canal and his clothes by the side of the river. He is thought to have deliberately entered the water but his motive for this is unknown.

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The priest serving St Mary Church was a surprised and grateful man. He had just received a telephone call from a local solicitor. He had read of the young man found drowned in the river downstream from the church and prayers had been said for his soul the previous Sunday. Now he had learned that St Mary Church had been bequeathed all of Tom Smith's worldly goods including his house and forge; a sum of several hundred thousand pounds. There was one condition attached. Tom Smith wished to be buried in the churchyard at St Mary.

The old priest entered the Church of St Mary and thanked God for this gift before walking into the graveyard. Now the leaking church roof could finally be repaired. Once again he visited the patch of irises still flowering brightly against the edge of the church land. He had been informed of this miracle by the churchwarden. Now he wondered whether the flowers, the death of Tom Smith, and his bequeathment were somehow linked. Then he shrugged his shoulders and turned away. This was something only God could know.

Tom's will was dated the previous Good Friday and had been found in his home by police investigating his death. An elderly couple who lived down the lane from him confirmed they had witnessed the signing of his will. They did not know its contents. They told the police that they knew him only in passing and he was a quiet young man who kept himself to himself and appeared to have no friends. Nobody ever visited him at his home. He had appeared at their door in the early evening and asked them to witness his signature on the will. He appeared to be in a hurry to get it done, but had not said why except to say, "It was time it was done." His mood was good, and he had not appeared depressed or suicidal.

The police surgeon who examined the body could find no evidence of any disease, Before his death, he was a fit and healthy young man who had looked after his body. The only thing that he was at a loss to explain was the brand EXM clearly visible over Tom's left biceps.

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One month following his death Tom Smith was laid to rest. There were a surprising number of mourners at his funeral. Even though no friends in life nor relatives were present, the church congregation came to honour their benefactor. The priest had selected a grave site alongside the flowering irises. Something told him it was appropriate. Even though there was thought to be a possibility that Tom may have taken his own life there was no absolute proof and, in any case, the church no longer banned funeral services for those who had committed suicide.

After the service, the grave diggers filled in the grave and left for home. Later, unseen and in the dark, a carpet of yellow and white irises started to form amongst the freshly turned soil, and then slowly grew and merged with those that lay over the ancient grave of Judith.

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Endnote

Prima nocta is the abbreviated form of the Latin jus primae nocte. This was the legal right of any noble to sleep with any of his female subjects on their wedding night regardless of whether they were a virgin or consented. This "right of the first night" was known in medieval France as droit du seigneur or "lord's right." There are no specific instances of this custom ever being invoked and some historians argue that it is a myth whilst others have speculated that victims were too low-born for the events to have warranted historical documentation. Edward 1st has been described as invoking this law in the 13^th century to subdue the Scots but there is no evidence for this. What is clear, is that the Spanish King Ferdinand 2^nd of Aragon passed a law banning the custom in 1486.

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Following the Norman invasion of Anglo-Saxon England in 1066 the English ruling classes were almost entirely Normans whilst the peasantry remained Anglo-Saxon.

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Odiham Castle was one of only three castles built by King John and was reputed to be his favourite. The site of Odiham Castle was chosen because it lay halfway between Winchester and Windsor and was on the inside of a bend in the Whitewater River, the water from which was used to fill the moat. The castle was built between 1207 and 1214. King John stayed either here or in Windsor Castle the night before he signed Magna Carta. Later the castle was the home of Simon de Montford who, in 1265, called the first true English Parliament consisting of nobles and commoners, and which is considered the predecessor of modern parliament. In the 14^th century, Parliament sat at Odiham on at least one occasion.

The castle is reputed to be haunted by a minstrel who can be heard singing an ancient song accompanied by playing a lute.

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The Magna Carta was an agreement between King John and a group of rebellious barns who objected to his tyrannical rule. To try to avoid civil war with his barons John agreed to several rights laid out in The Great Charter and to which he attached his seal. The charter guaranteed and listed the rights of free men and declared that the King was not above the law. John never obeyed the terms of the charter and war with his Barons soon followed and he died a year later. The charter was reissued in 1216, 1217, and 1225 by which time it had become a statement of common law. More importantly, it had evolved into a symbol that was invoked in the battle against tyranny.

In Britain, the Act of Habeas Corpus and Petition of Right owe their existence to Magna Carta as do, in America, the Constitution of the United States of America, The Bill of Rights, and the Fourteenth Amendment.

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The crusade the lord mentioned was the 6^th Crusade which started in 1227 and finished in 1229.

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The letters EXM described as a brand in this story, are an abbreviation for Exilium, the Latin word for banished.

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In the Middle Ages, suicide was considered sinful and people who committed suicide were often buried at a crossroads sometimes with a wooden stake driven through the heart, and denied any religious ceremony. The custom of crossroad burial continued until the early 19^th century and was abolished by an act of the British Parliament in 1823.

The reason for crossroad burial remains unclear. It may have been that criminals were hanged or left on gibbets at crossroads and that suicide was also a criminal act. It has also been suggested that the crossroads provided a religious symbol for those denied any final blessing, or that the crossroads might confuse the ghost of the deceased.

The Protestant Churches' attitude to the burial of people who had committed suicide continued until the 19th century by refusing to offer funerals to anybody who had committed suicide with a "sound mind."

In 1823 an Act of Parliament allowed burial in a churchyard but only at night between 9 pm and midnight and with no religious rites.

In 1882, a further Act permitted priests to bury suicides during the day with a funeral service different from that of the service from the Book of Common Prayer.

By the mid-20th century as insight into mental health problems grew many priests no longer denied a standard funeral to suicide victims and in 2017 the Anglican Synod voted to end their official ban.

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