Francis Bacon Research Trust

The Mystery of the Christmas Saturnalia and Knights of the Helmet
2026-12-20 17:00 - 18:30 (Europe/London)
A talk on Zoom by Peter Dawkins about midwinter’s Saturnalia and Twelve Days of Christmas, including that of 1594/5 when Gray’s Inn hosted a grand entertainment during which the Shakespeare play, Comedy of Errors, was enacted, followed by the masque, The Order of the Knights of the Helmet.
This “Gesta Grayorum”, as it was called in Latin, announced and made public many things previously kept secret, including the hint that the Knights of the Helmet are the true Spearshakers, or Shakespeares, who, like St George, shake their spears of inspiration at the dragons of ignorance, so that the dragons might come to know the truth.

Cost £15. To book, please contact the FBRT Secretary:
Email: sarah@fbrt.org.uk. Tel: 01295 678 623.
On receipt of payment, the Zoom link will be sent to you.
For those who attend this talk, there will be time for questions, answers and insights after the talk. This post-talk sharing is usually full of extra information.
A recording of the talk (but not of the sharing afterwards) can be made available for attendees if requested, as also for those who pay for the talk but do not attend it live on Zoom. Please contact the FBRT Secretary.
The displayed picture is a coloured version of the AA-Gemini-Spearshakers headpiece printed in Francis Bacon’s 1623 De Dignitate et Augmentis Scientiarum and in the 1627 Manes Verulamiani tributes to Francis Bacon.
