|
More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
|
warming-pan baby
|
|
Phrase applied in the 17C to James *Stuart, resulting from popular incredulity at his birth and survival. His mother had not had a child for five years; the previous ones had all died in infancy; and a male heir was precisely what *James II needed if he was to re-establish Roman Catholicism in Britain. The rumour quickly spread that a changeling had been smuggled into the queen's bed in a warming pan. It is discounted by modern historians.
|
|
|
|