Merry Christmas greetings

For a phrase that is said by millions around the world, it originated many centuries ago, as a recent discovery shows.

Booth begins the letter with: “I praye God ye may be all in good charite and mery this Crystmas.” As conditions in jail were harsh, he wrote to Thomas Cromwell, the proponent to Henry VIII’s Reformation, to ask for some essentials, signing off with, “And this our Lord God send you a merry Christmas.” Interestingly, Cromwell, too, lost his head for daring to disagree with the tyrannical Henry VIII.