Eton Montem

Montem is first reported in William Malim's consuetudinarium (book of customs) of 1561, when it seems to have been an initiation ceremony for new boys, who were scattered with salt (which can mean 'wit' as well as 'salt') at the mound.

It professed to be written by a local worthy who was styled the "Montem Poet", but in reality it was the production of some youthful wags in the school.

Arrayed in a tunic and trousers of patchwork, an old military coat, and a chintz-covered conical head-dress, with rows of fringe on it like the crowns on a papal tiara, he drove about in a donkey-cart, reciting his Ode, and flourishing copies of it in the air to attract the attention of possible customers.

In view of this (and the much diminished profit to be made), headmaster Edward Craven Hawtrey and Provost Francis Hodgson abolished the custom before the 1847 Montem.

Gordon cites college statutes for the celebration of May Day and the autumnal equinox and suggests that these and the Montem ceremony were instigated by Henry to show his links back to Celtic kings.

It was a brilliant spectacle to see them defiling through the playing fields, those bowery meads; the river sparkling in the sun, the castled heights of Windsor, their glorious landscape; behind them, the pinnacles of their College.