The birth anniversary was not always celebrated, and even less so according to a fixed ritual. In his essay, Jean-Claude Schmitt questions the “ rhythms of life » and the valorization of individual time in the Middle Ages. An original reflection on the genesis of modern individualism.
This book by medievalist Jean-Claude Schmitt is not a history of birthdays in the West and does not claim to be. In this regard, he does not rely on a broad archival investigation, which he also calls for ; he has no serial aim, preferring to develop at more or less length a few “ ego-documents » scattered from XIIIe century in XIXe century, testimonies on court rituals, mainly French, or even occasional information provided by colleagues specializing in the modern and contemporary eras. It presents itself more as an essay, brief and clear, on the representations of the rhythms of individual time, the “ rhythms of life », and, based on the question of the birth anniversary, on the deeper meaning of the developments identified at the end of the Middle Ages.
“ Our most sincere wishes »
Throughout the chapters which do not follow a chronological logic, a historical evolution in three stages emerges in broad strokes. In pagan antiquity, the day of birth was the subject of a regular celebration, in the form of a “ private and public religious rite “. Medieval Christianity completely rejected this practice, in particular excluding the possibility of a truly religious celebration taking place. However, the end of the Middle Ages is marked by a new consideration, attested by individual testimonies, of the anniversary day, which results subsequently and progressively in the establishment of forms of the anniversary celebration, secular and largely domestic, which we currently know.
This last ritual deployment, underlines Jean-Claude Schmitt, is surprisingly recent. The most famous birthday songs are barely a century old: “ Happy birthday, our most sincere wishes » was composed in 1951 and the music and lyrics of « Happy Birthday » date from 1893 and 1924 respectively. The cake with the candles is present from the 1780s in the birthday parties organized at the court of Saxe-Weimar in honor of Goethe, but it does not appear, apparently. he, at the same time in France among those of the children of the Orléans branch: we are still content with verses recited, flowers offered and kisses exchanged. This is already more than for Samuel Pepys at XVIIe century, who, if he mentions his birthday in his diarydoes not evoke any particular celebration, except to give thanks to God for the blessings of existence, or for the child Louis XIII who asks his adult entourage to mark this particular day with exceptional practices, but who only obtains a Te Deum and the possibility of not doing his school exercises: a minor concession, which will not last after his twelve years years, if we are to believe the Newspaper of Héroard.
What interests Jean-Claude Schmitt, however, is not this slow deployment. The heart of the book concerns the period from XIIIe at the beginning of XVIe century. It was then that a major change occurred, which the author illustrated by the contrast between the Venetian Marco Polo and the German merchant Matthaus Schwarz. Marco Polo, in the Motto of the Worldwas surprised in 1298 at the “ great celebration that the Grand Caan celebrates each year of his nativity » and described its profound exoticism for a European Christian of the time. Matthaus Schwarz, born in 1497 and became financial director of the famous Fugger trading firm of Augsburg, in his surprising and famous “ clothing autobiography », precisely describing the clothes he had worn in 137 particular circumstances from his birth to his old age (public festivals, stages of his professional or public career – he became fire captain –, or personal events, a stroke by example), dedicated no less than thirteen images to outfits worn on the anniversary of his birth. Even more, Matthaus Schwarz explained that he had started this original autobiographical approach on February 20, 1520 on the occasion of his 23e birthday, a sign not only of an excellent knowledge of his date of birth, but also of its importance in his conception of the scansion of his own life.
“ False ” And “ real birth »
Why this transformation, and what meaning to give it ? Jean-Claude Schmitt first returns to the reasons for the concealment of the anniversary of birth during most of the Middle Ages. The first is the difficulty, at the time, of knowing its exact date and of preserving its memory, especially since the year of birth was then a largely fluctuating concept, the limits of which were constantly shifting: this is evidenced by the uncertainties weighing on the dates of birth of individuals, including that of sovereigns, for example Saint-Louis, born in 1214 or 1215. Another necessity which was largely lacking among contemporaries before the late Middle Ages: the intellectual and material capacity to count the years that have passed and add them up, which explains the vagueness of medieval formulas when it comes to establishing a person’s age.
But theological conceptions are certainly more fundamental. Medieval Christianity rejects birth celebrations, which it links to paganism, and places more emphasis on the anniversary of death, because death marks the entry into the “ real life “, that of salvation, and therefore constitutes the “ real birth » of the individual. The feasts of the saints are also fixed on the supposed or proven day of their martyrdom. Only birth days (nativitates) of Christ, the Virgin and John the Baptist give rise to a celebration, the aim of which is in two out of three cases to divert solstice worship towards Christianity. The importance of the three figures concerned reinforces the exceptional character of this highlighting of the day of birth. In the case of the Virgin, it is particularly because she is born without a macule, and is thus assimilated to Christ, that it is possible to commemorate her nativity. On the other hand, for other men, as Saint Augustine points out, the perpetuation of original sin through carnal birth does not make this event worthy of celebration.
But Jean-Claude Schmitt goes further. He recalls that, following the medieval Christian spirit, we could conceive of three other days of celebration capable of replacing the birth anniversary: the feast of the saint on his day of birth ; the day of baptism, conceived as the entry into life “ spiritual » ; the feast of the saint whose name we have borne since baptism. However, it does not seem that these give rise to regular celebrations either. For Jean-Claude Schmitt, what is missing is “ the capacity of the individual, even a king, to appropriate for the benefit of his life terrestrial the rhythm of the liturgical calendar “. Taking up the writings of Guibert de Nogent, the historian fundamentally detects a depreciation of individual existence, the merits of which cannot be judged by God, neither at its beginning nor along the way, but indeed at its end. , at the time of death. In this conceptual framework, it makes little sense to celebrate the coming into the world or the intermediate stages of existence (birthdays), but it does to commemorate death, this central day of judgment.
The influence of the Reformation and the French Revolution
The new interest in birthdays in the late Middle Ages must therefore be understood as a profound mental transformation. Certainly Jean-Claude Schmitt, relying on the work of Emmanuel Poulle, points out the impact of astrology, a discipline which knows XIVe And XVe centuries a growing success in the princely courts (see the series of royal horoscopes then produced) and which presupposes precise knowledge of the date of birth. But the heart of the explanation is not there: it lies “ in a great shift from death to the benefit of life » (p. 62). Now, the second major conclusion, this shift in the religious field which begins to value for itself the life of the individual, its course, its own scansion, occurs at the end of the Middle Ages, before the Religious Reforms.
It is perhaps at this stage of the discussion that, without contesting the previous demonstration and its importance, we can find the approach a little hasty. Certainly Matthaus Schwarz, the great witness of the mutation, is Catholic ; certainly the ambition of the book is to identify a “ invention » and not to trace a history of the anniversary ; certainly Protestantism and its refusal of the cult of saints are noted. But the impact of the Reformation seems a little too easily dismissed. At XIXe century, many French codes of good manners of Catholic orientation, for example, still oppose the celebration of children’s birthdays and instead advocate the regular celebration of the patron saint’s day. Birthday stricto sensu is perceived as a Protestant tradition, and the long passage that Jean-Claude Schmitt devotes to Goethe’s birthdays in Saxony seems to go fully in this direction.
Likewise, we regret that the author dismisses in a few sentences the links with the “ progress of individualism ”, as with the French Revolution. However, we must remember that under the Revolution, particularly under the Directory, Republican parliamentarians, in particular Jean-Baptiste Leclerc, conceived a ritualization of the existence of citizens, intended to counter that of “ cultists » Christians, which placed emphasis on birth – to the point of giving rise to a public celebration at the Republican Temple – and looked favorably on the celebration of birthdays in the company of family, friends and witnesses of civil status ? Finally, if the birthday since modern times has given rise to a ceremony that is more secular and domestic than religious, should we not question further the link that this particular celebration has with a long history of the feast of family ? These are some avenues which were not part of Jean-Claude Schmitt’s initial project, obviously, but which reading his stimulating essay makes interesting to follow.