without giving something to St Erasmus light." As for SS. Crispin and
Crispian they were the patrons of the town and leapt into great fame
after the victory of Agincourt upon their feast day, October 25, when
the King had invoked them upon the field.

This day is called the feast of Crispian;
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a-tiptoe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we on it shall be remembered.


The two saints, Crispin and Crispian, are not less famous in France
than in England. They were indeed Rome's missionaries in Gaul about
the middle of the third century. They seem to have settled at
Soissons, where now a great church stands in their honour. There they
practiced the craft of cobblers and of all cobblers they are the
patrons. After some years the Emperor Maximian Hercules coming into
Gaul, a complaint concerning them was brought to him. They were tried
by that most inhuman judge Rictius Varno, the Governor, whom,
however, they contrived to escape by fleeing to England and to
Faversham, where, as some say they lived, but as others assert they
were shipwrecked. For us at any rate their names are secure from
oblivion, not so much by reason of the famous victory won upon their
day as because Shakespeare has gloriously recorded their names with
those familiar in our mouths as household words: