We all know the story of the courting candle, a spiral, adjustable height candle holder: when the candle has burned to the top of the holder, it's time for the suitor to leave. I have perpetuated this story myself. Does anyone know of any actual historical documentation for thi practice? I have been researching this. There are a bunch of modern references to this practice but I can find none that are authenticated.

I know of no *good* documentation on the use of these for timing "courting"; however we know the use of candles for timing things goes way back. Alfred the Great came up with a set up to use marked candles to be able to accurately mark the canonical hours so he wouldn't miss any prayers in the middle of the night.

ISTR an example of this type of candlestick in one of my early american ironwork books. I will search tonight; however my wife goes in for surgery tomorrow and it may be a couple of days before I am back on line.

Thank you, sir. I have been browsing a couple of early american ironwork books I have but either it isn't there or I've overlooked it. My best wishes for your wife...I pray all goes well. bart

Prayers out for you and your wife, both, Thomas

I think the prospect of me driving her home has her more worried than the surgery...She's cooking up a storm today so we can coast a while before she has to eat my cooking...

Ok "Iron and Brass Implements of the English House" Lindsay, J. Seymour has an example shown and mentions it was a "common continental design" 18th century IIRC. *no* mention of it as a "courting" candle.

"Antique Ironwork American and English 15th-19th century" also has an example listed as "american" 'late 16th to early 17th century ' again no mention of the sobriquet "courting candle stick"

So the style was definitely in use but it looks like the "Courting" part is more of an urban legend.

I know if I had a daughter a birthday candle would be too big, but it's not a bad idea. When I start a family of my own, I would adopt this practice.

Candles were fairly expensive in earlier times if wax or smelled bad if tallow. I think I'd let the guy stay as long as he wanted too as long as he sat on a hackle/hatchel/etc used to process flax...(looks like a pillow for a bed of nails...)

If I was a young man courting a girl, I would have bought the slowest burning candles I could have got!

"Early American Ironwork", Sonn; has an example that he describes as Pennsylvania-German and mentions that that style of candleholder was common in Germany and the low countries. (plate 316 vol III IIRC)

Again no mention of the sobriquet "Courting Candle".

I'm getting the feeling that that name for it was pushed back on it by someone trying to sell their reproductions and wanting some "fluff" to pad out their description and other folks started using their fluff as "documentation".

"Early American Ironwork", Sonn; has an example that he describes as Pennsylvania-German and mentions that that style of candleholder was common in Germany and the low countries. (plate 316 vol III IIRC)

Again no mention of the sobriquet "Courting Candle".

I'm getting the feeling that that name for it was pushed back on it by someone trying to sell their reproductions and wanting some "fluff" to pad out their description and other folks started using their fluff as "documentation".

I'm getting that same feeling. I have some of the books you mention plus have recently been doing extensive web research. So far I can find no mention of "courting" candles contemporary with colonial America. One modern writer suggested that the so-called courting candle form may have been used to support tallow candles to keep them from drooping. Frankly that makes much more sense to me than the courting candle explanation. Is it possible that some father might haved used such a candle holder yo limit a suitor's time with his daughter? Yes! But until I can see some contemporary documentation, I don't think it was a common practice. Thanks for the comments...bart

"Spanish Decorative Ironwork", Luis Labarta, Dover;    has an example stating it was French 17th century.  (ran across it while eating breakfast...)

I always thought that the spiral height adjustment was used in conjunction with a mirror, water flask or other shiney reflector to maximise / direct the light to the work piece or book. As the candle burned down you wound it up the spiral to maintain the focus point/ sweet spot....or have I miss imagined the courting candle design from the description...haven't heard of it before.

Alan

ps just remembered that I have a copy of Lindsey's iron and brass implements so looked it up. Some of the brass ones have a notched lifting device as well. Could be a timing thing I suppose but I seem to remember a pin stuck in the side was effective, " could have heard a pin drop" ?

I designed and made a series of candleholders with spiral sconces a few years ago. There was no lifting mechanism. The idea behind those was that it was a method of forming a sconce by hammer and anvil alone without having to resort to rolling up sheet or cutting tubes. They were also self cleaning, the candle would drop out before it finished burning....and they looked much more interesting which is always a plus!

Alan

Edited May 14, 201511 yr by Alan Evans
added a ps

According to Lecoq ("Les objets de la vie domestique"),  there were three styles of candlesticks : female (with a cup), pinched with tongs and the male style where the candle is stuck on a point (these were expensive and mainly used in churches and chateaux).

The cup system (female) appeared in the 14th century. Some cups were fixed and some were mobile. Most often, the latter was of the spiral type the same as the so called "courting candle".

Wine makers in Burgundy especialy used these and still do claims Lecoq in 1979. They were used to detect the presence of toxic gases in wine barrels. Inserted in a barrel, the candle would die out in the presence of such gases.

In France at least, they seem to have been part of the wine making process rather than part of a family surveilance activity which is not mentioned by Lecoq .

snip

Wine makers in Burgundy especialy used these and still do claims Lecoq in 1979. They were used to detect the presence of toxic gases in wine barrels. Inserted in a barrel, the candle would die out in the presence of such gases.

That would make sense then to have the majority of the candle supported rather than just the end. If you are poking it into a barrel presumably through the bung hole and presumably horizontally.

Having most of the candle supported in a tube or spiral would generally make it more aerobatic, safer for carrying it around as a hand light. Whether under the influence of wine vapours or not.

Alan

Alan,

By the way, they were and maybe still are used in Champagne. Of course everyone knows that the gases released by the bubbles are not toxic in any way ...

I've always heard them called "courting" candles, but haven't found anything to substantiate the claim.  While I can certainly see them being used as a timing device after a fashion, it's important to remember that they are from a time when laws were rather lax and most fathers would have ready access to a firearm, cleaver or hatchet, and the knowledge to use them effectively.  Somehow, I don't think cutting off a suitor's visitation time would have been a problem.

It's real easy to motivate a suitor to head home when he knows you could always blame his demise on a roving band of brigands.....

I think I got the Courting Candle story from The Art of Blacksmithing (Bealer), can't remember if there was a great deal of supporting evidence to the claim there though.

I did find an old article discussing them:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1998-06-28/news/9806280125_1_candle-suitor-courting

This suggests that they may have been used as the folklore suggests, but were probably not designed in that way.

 

In any case, its an interesting story to have for a piece of ironwork. I wonder if there are other instances like it, where items have a possibly fictional back story?

Yes; almost everything!  I like the one about pattern welding being the western european response to seeing wootz swords in the crusades and not being able to replicate them and developed pattern welding trying to reproduce them.  Sounds great but the hay day of pattern welding was centuries before the first crusade and actually dates back to the piling of celtic weapons in roman times...

Welcome aboard Gumbatron, glad to have you. If you'll put your general location in the header you might be surprised how many IFI folk live within visiting distance.

The Chicago Trib. article you linked has an almost word for word copy of the "authority's" article as posted in the Myth Buster's "Historical Myths Debunked" site at an earlier date.

Humans have a need for a back story about everything, one almost as strong as needing to name and explain things. Every time a story gets told it grows.

Frosty The Lucky.

Edited July 15, 201510 yr by Frosty