Many genealogists will be familiar with Midsummer being marked, on 24 June, as one of the traditional quarter days when our ancestors paid their rent and hired servants.
As a seasonal feast day, Midsummer dates back to before Christianity. It is typically stated in most cultures as being in the middle of the summer, and close to the summer solstice.
The undivided Christian Church also held June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian martyr St John the Baptist. The observance of St John’s Day begins the evening before, known as Saint John’s Eve or in Great Britain from the 13th century, Midsummer Eve. Thus Midsummer’s Eve dated in medieval Britain as St. John’s Eve, June 23. On this day, festivities included the lighting of bonfires, feasting, and merrymaking. Further feasting took place on St. Peter’s Eve (June 28).
Shakespeare famously celebrated Midsummer with his comedy A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Written around 1595, the play is set in Athens and is today one of Shakespeare’s most popular. Critics have noted, though, that the Midsummer aspect of the play is confused in parts. One section connects Midsummer’s Eve with May Day and Theseus comments on sleeping youths, stating that they ‘observe The rite of May’.
The main plot centres around the forthcoming marriage of Theseus, the Duke of Athens, and Hippolyta, legendary Queen of the Amazons. The two have been betrothed since Theseus defeated Hippolyta in battle.
Like all good weddings, this event prompted thoughts of the couple’s family tree. Of course, Midsummer Night’s Dream is fiction and its characters are mythical. But for genealogists, all kinds of occasions can provide an opportunity to practise our skills. Trying to construct a tree of such complex characters, with contradictory evidence and half tales, can be a useful exercise to build genealogy muscles.
For this occasion, I took a quick look into the complex families of the two main protagonists. In Greek mythology, Hippolyta was a daughter of Ares and Otrera, queen of the Amazons, and a sister of Antiope and Melanippe. The DC franchise film, Wonder Woman, gives Hippolyta an even more contorted tree, with her being described as the mother of Diana.
Shakespeare based Hippolyta and Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream on ancient biographical accounts found in Plutarch’s Parallel Lives, but the dramatic representation of Hippolyta and Theseus here was created by him.
There are varied stories of Theseus, which complicate his genealogy. Like an errant ancestor who travelled widely and had numerous liaisons inside and outside wedlock, it can be difficult to confirm all his relatives. He is sometimes described as the son of Aegeus, King of Athens, and sometimes as the son of the god Poseidon. His mother was Aethra. Through Aegeus, he had a stepmother in Medea, who was formerly married to Jason.. Theseus was also a consort of Ariadne, who later fled with Bacchus. Theseus’ second wife was Phaedra, the daughter of King Minos. By Phaedra, Theseus fathered two sons, Demophon and Acamas. Although Phaedra later fell in love with Hippolytus, Theseus’ son by his Midsummer bride, the Amazon queen Hippolyta.
Have you constructed a family tree for any fictional characters? Please share with us here or on our Facebook or Twitter pages, and we may feature your trees in a future edition of the newsletter!
Sources
- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
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