In days of yore, there was a little alleviation of the severities of Lent permitted to the faithful, in the shape of a cake called "Simnel." Two English towns claim the honour of its origin,—Shrewsbury and Devizes. The first makes its simnel in the form of a warden-pie, the crust being of saffron and very thick; the last has no crust, is star-shaped, and the saffron is mixed with a mass of currants, spice, and candied lemon. Bury, in Lancashire, is almost world-famous for its simnels and its bragot (or spiced sweet ale), on Mothering Sunday, or Mid-Lent. As to the name, Dr. Cowell, in his Law Directory or Interpreter (folio, 1727), derives simnell (Lat. siminellus), from the Latin simila, the finest part of the flour: "panis similageneus," simnel bread,—"still in use, especially in Lent." The English simnel was the purest white bread, as in the Book of Battle Abbey: "Panem regiæ mensæ apsum, qui simenel vulgo vocatur." (Bread fit for the royal table, which is commonly called simenel.) Dr. Cowell adds that it was sometimes called simnellus, as in the "Annals of the Church of Winchester," under the year 1042, "conventus centum simnellos" (the convent 100 simnels). He also quotes the statute of 51 Henry III. (1266-7), which enacts that "bread made into a simnel should weigh two shillings less than wastel bread;" and also an old manuscript of the customs of the House of Farendon (where it is called "bread of symenel"), to the same effect. Wastel was the finest sort of bread. Herrick, who was born in 1591, and died in 1674 (?) has the following in his Hesperides:—
TO DIANEME.
A Ceremony in Gloucester.
I'll to thee a Simnell bring
'Gainst thou go'st a mothering;
So that when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me.
Bailey, in his Dictionary (folio 1764), says simnel is probably derived from the Latin simila, fine flour, and means, "a sort of cake or bun, made of fine flour, spice, &c." It will thus appear that simnel cakes can boast a much higher antiquity than the reign of Henry VII. (Lambert Simnel probably taking his name from them, as a baker, and not giving his name to them), and that they were not originally confined to any particular time or place.[153]
In the Dictionarius of John de Garlande, compiled at Paris in the thirteenth century, the word simineus or simnels, is used as the equivalent to the Latin placentæ, which are described as cakes exposed in the windows of the hucksters, to sell to the scholars of the University and others.[154]
BURY.
There is an ancient celebration in Bury, on Mid-Lent Sunday, there called "Simblin Sunday," when large cakes called "simblins" (i.e., simnels), are sold generally in the town, and the shops are kept open the whole day, except during Divine Service, for the purpose of vending this mysterious aliment.[155] These cakes are a compound of currants, candied lemon, sugar, and spice, sandwich-wise, between crust of short or puff paste. They are in great request at the period, not only in Bury, but in Manchester and most of the surrounding towns. A still richer kind, approaching the bride-cake in character, are called "Almond Simnels."