Havoc

"Cry 'Havoc' and let slip the dogs of war" predicts Mark Antony in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. 

I always thought that 'havoc' meant chaos. But I now discover that "havoc is a military order permitting the seizure of spoil after a victory" (wikipedia Dogs of War). 

The Online Etymology Dictionary dates havoc to the early 15th Century:  "from Anglo-French havok in phrase crier havok "cry havoc" (late 14c.), a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French havot "pillaging, looting," related to haver "to seize, grasp," hef "hook," probably from a Germanic source ... or from Latin habere "to have, possess." 

The Phrase finder directs me to  'Ordinances of War of Richard II' in which is found "Item, qe nul soit si hardy de crier havok sur peine davoir la test coupe" which I translate as "Item: that no-one should be so bold as to raise the cry of havoc on penalty of being beheaded." Maurice Keen (Richard II's Ordniances of War of 1385 in Harriss, Archer and Walker 1995 Rulers and ruled in late mediaeval England (page 43)) explains that havoc "was the cry given as a sign that all might break ranks and make booty on their own account" and this could only be successfully allowed after the field had been won and it was therefore critical that only the commander shouted 'havoc'. Keen also points out that it was these 1385 ordinances that were used as the model for all the ordinances of the mediaeval period, for example those of Henry V. 

Of course Shakespeare wrote a play about Richard II and the events which led to his deposition by Henry Bolingbroke who became Henry IV. 1385, a mere 4 years after the Peasant's Revolt, was when Richard led an expedition into Scotland as part of a war against the French (wikipedia Richard II of England). The expedition never fought a battle; the mediaeval equivalent of a no-score-draw. 

Shakespeare for all time tells us that Shakespeare used the word havoc three times, once in Julius Caesar as above, once in King John (1595) Cry ‘havoc!’ kings; back to the stained field… and once in Coriolanus (1607) Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt with modest warrant

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The Spirit of London

Today I visited the City of London Distillery. This is two small rooms next to a large bar in a cellar in Bridewell Lane off Fleet Street. It makes the rather smooth citrus-flavoured gin shown in the picture (for which I must credit  twitter: @COLDistillery).

For £8 per head (which includes a large gin and tonic) the owner will explain the process. (On the website it is called a guided tour but this seems rather a grand description of moving from one room to the other.)

I was told that that this gin and Beefeater are the only gins still distilled in London ('London Gin' can be brewed anywhere in the world) although wikipedia names four others ("Thames Distillers, Sacred Microdistillery, The London Distillery Company and Sipsmith").  Gordon's Gin is now made in Scotland.

For the first time ever I understood the three hour long distilling process. The wheat-based 96% ABV alcohol is bought in and water is added to reduce it to 65% ABV; this is then repeatedly distilled in copper stills (the copper reacts with the spirit to remove impurities). The first fraction to come off is methanol: the distiller identifies this by scent (and sometimes by taste) and taps it off. Then comes the ethanol. This is collected and put into a second copper (and again mixed with purified water; this time to 50%). It is again heated and the vapour travels through the flavourings (predominantly juniper, but also other herbs and spices including angelica, licorice root, and fresh orange and lemon peel). Having picked up these flavourings the gin is diluted to the correct strength (40% ABV) and bottled. Uniquely the bottles are then moved from the production area (which is technically a bonded warehouse) next door into the bar; it is on this move that excise duty becomes payable.

In 1751 William Hogarth published this satirical cartoon which he called Gin Lane. It shows how gin had become 'mother's ruin', the curse of the English poor. You could be 'drunk for a penny; dead drunk for twopence' as the inscription over the arch in the bottom left of the engraving says. It is said that you could drink gin via slot machine. There was no tax on gin and no control on the quality of the product. Hence the misery depicted. 

It is probable that gin became popular in England after the invasion of William and Mary in 1688; gin had previously been invented (as a medicinal drink) in Holland as genever.