bacon custom awarding bacon married couples swear having regretted marriage year day old tradition remnants survive pockets england tradition maintained eighteenth century remains carving fireplace little essex similar ceremony survived eighteenth century tradition traced fourteenth century sites referred awarding sites rare event tradition revived victorian times largely inspired book bacon trials held modern times great counsel employed cross examine nominated couples attempt award evidence bacon tradition existed outside britain mainland europe push origins far saxon times associates origins bacon ceremony feast norse tradition meat eaten honour god manor hall near granted sir 10th year reign earl lancaster small fee condition kept ready times year lent bacon hanging hall given man woman demanded year day marriage swearing changed couple required produce neighbours witness oath true oath sworn couple reads hear sir lord bacon husband wife day changed richer descended sleeping waking time said wife sole sole good god flesh winning couple escorted away grand ceremony valuable prize claimed visited reported claimed thirty years real bacon longer kept ready manor replacement carved wood displayed mantle fireplace main hall presumably order continue meet conditions original land grant taken tradition mentions letters friends letter daughter 4th duke widow 4th earl 3rd earl stage married tongue firmly cheek having come claim ashamed claim year day married heard mention journey describing location explaining longer gets claimed writes little paradise like antique said married couples driven concludes love prospect bacon certainly come anonymous humorous piece appeared explain rarity awarded terms poor quality applicants writer claims source hall truth piece certainly entirely fictitious couple claim according account successful taken away began argue dressed couple failed husband reluctantly attended ears boxed wife questioning couple applied honeymoon finished passed questioning insufficient time awarded couples successful century tradition ship captain wife actually seen year marriage married couples bacon given men religious profession year day following retirement better known example awarding bacon married couples occurred essex generally held instituted family 13th century according notes fourteenth century vision william concerning piers present passage earliest known allusion singular custom known bacon custom pair come forward oath essex time quarrel regretted marriage open engagement exactly rewarded bacon referred way makes clear reference known reader continued awarded middle 18th century successful claim june ceremony award recorded artist present time sketches later images later source material novel bacon novel proved popular revived custom continued form present day held leap year oath taken similar year day sleeping waking marriage couple required sharp stones churchyard taking oath verse following taking oath couple town bacon noisy ceremony historical known successfully claimed total times unknown possible ones wife elizabeth known prior dissolution monasteries records house sir awards known records manor court long gap dissolution tradition revived sir thomas owner attempt claim june john couple given notice claim accompanied large crowd lord manor ordered ceremony place gates nailed shut prevent tradition definitely abolished attempt claim retired travelled wife reading claim refused trial october reported revived apparently merely distributed annual society dinner couple refused trial obtained people nearby great felt deserved modern trials trials revived victorian era publication novel proved popular aided revived ceremonies held form gap caused world wars ceremony world war held despite force modern trials held fourth year leap years planned event organised employ counsel cross examine applicants attempt save bacon sponsors donated trial decided jury revived original stones couple removed chair carried successful kept permanently replacements provided modern ceremony modern trials held town location original custom smaller nearby village claims location continued bacon custom 21st century older traditions ceremony generally held originated 13th century date earlier norman saxon times suggested date founding partly common knowledge early works prologue wife bath read passages possible bacon custom time widespread bacon tradition abbey brittany bacon said hung centuries claimed vienna similar tradition prize bacon hung city gate winner expected climb remove winner prize revoked winning inadvertently let slip wife coat bringing tradition traces ancient norse custom connected feast pagan festival modern times absorbed christmas primarily dedicated god important god rides wild eaten honour carved man reputation says patron harmony invoked married couples wished led custom married couples actually succeeded living harmony given period rewarded piece meat states tradition bacon custom converting meat bacon arts culture bacon subtitled custom tale english home novel published central plot story leading character awarded marrying succession women attempt find right description ceremony book partly based art eyewitness ceremony bacon public house protagonist novel exists little bacon comic opera sir heaven film starring married couple attempting win
Flitch of bacon custom