The Red-Gold Hair of Geoffrey Plantagenet

I was recently watching a documentary on the BBC about the Plantagenets. In it the historian/presenter mentioned that Geoffrey of Anjou had reddish gold hair. Geoffrey of Anjou was the father of Henry II - founder of the Plantagenet line of English monarchs (also supposedly a redhead).

According to Wiki;

John of Marmoutier describes Geoffrey as handsome, red-headed, jovial, and a great warrior; however, Ralph of Diceto alleges that his charm camouflaged a cold and selfish character.

 This twelfth century image likewise shows a gingerish countenance.

Pumpkinhead: Red Hair and Halloween

In previous posts I've mentioned links between red hair and the Reformation - orange was the colour of Protestantism and many prominent Protestants had red hair. Anyway, I recently found out that the Beatle-esq bowl-cuts, associated in history with Puritans and Roundheads, were known as pumpkin shell cuts in America. In fact, one website I came across stated that pumpkin shells were used in the actual cutting.

According to an eighteenth-century book on the history of Connecticut, dried pumpkin shells gave the colonists a head start on haircuts. A pumpkin shell was placed on top of a colonist's shaggy noggin and used as a cutting guide. People with these hairstyles were called "pumpkin-heads." http://www.highlightskids.com/stories/great-pumpkin

It occurred to me that maybe there was a link between Protestantism and Halloween, and that maybe the term "pumpkin-head" was a name for Protestants and Puritans in general.

Was the orange pumpkin once a symbolic totem for the Protestant movement? And more interestingly, was the moniker also inspired by the predominance of red hair amongst the bowl-headed reformists?

The old wives tale stating that pumpkin can remove freckles also springs to mind.

In Britain turnips were used for Jack-o'-lanterns before the advent of the American pumpkin. Turnips are generally purple/reddish at the top and white towards the bottom. Did they also symbolise a ruddy head?

A Rouge-Haired Joan of Arc

Just came across this picture of Joan of Arc.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vigiles_du_roi_Charles_VII_10.jpg

It's from the 15th century and shows her with reddish hair.

Tycho Brahe Was A Redhead

I've just found out that the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe was a redhead. The information came courtesy of this red-hair website;
http://www.raising-redheads.com/famous-scientists.html

They state that he had blue eyes and very red hair.

Judas - The Hanged Man?

I recently came across this image in a book:

It's an image of the hanged man and supposedly comes from the oldest-known Tarot pack - thought to have been made for the French king Charles VI in 1392. The similarity to the medieval depiction of Judas is what struck me - namely the red hair of the character along with the bags he holds (moneybags?). The fact that Judas is thought to have hung himself also correlates - although I'm guessing he hung himself by the neck and not upside down by the ankle. Maybe the upside down portrayal is meant to indicate that he's an inversion of Christ.

Vampires 'n' Judas

On a recent episode of QI I saw the comedian Trevor Noah mention that silver is good for killing vampires as well as werewolves. The tradition being that Judas became the first vampire after his death and that the 30 pieces of silver he was given for betraying Jesus would burn him.

He didn't mention red hair, but Judas is often portrayed with it and I've read elsewhere that red hair has been associated with vampirism. Maybe there's a link. I'd never heard the Judas/vampire thing before, but it would be interesting to see if it's a genuine tradition, and if it is, how far it goes back.

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I've just had a quick ping round the Internet and came across this;

Summers' 1928 book The Vampire: His Kith and Kin mentions that in particular red-headed vampires are considered the most dangerous, and trace their red hair back to Judas (or even Cain). He gives some 13th-century Latin references for this myth. Notably he states that in Bulgaria, Serbia, and Romania, Vampires are called "Children of Judas".

http://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/14165/what-is-the-first-instance-of-using-descended-from-judas-vampire-lineage-idea

The Etymology of the Word "Ginger"

I recently received a really interesting email from a guy named Jeff Green regarding the etymology of the word ginger. He's kindly allowed me to share the email on here;

"I have been trying to research the origins of the word ginger as I am a redhead.  I have a theory that you may or may not find of interest.
Obviously, everybody refers to the ginger plant, with it’s red flower as the reason for calling redheads ginger.  The question that I can’t find a satisfactory answer to is how the plant got the name.
I’ve searched for any words that are similar to ginger and I came across an old Akkadian word – Gingira meaning Goddess or female creator.  The name Gingira can be used to refer to the various goddesses of ancient empires from Babylon to Egypt (Ishtar, Astarte, Innana, Isis etc).  My on-going studies will naturally go down the road of what colour hair these goddesses actually had.  I’ve seen a few of Madonna’s recent Goddess performances on Youtube and it caught my eye that she doesn’t use make-up to give a more melanin enriched appearance!  If these goddesses were readheads, then calling someone ginger haired would really mean that you were calling them goddess haired.  I think the plant is just a middle-man in the history of ginger/redhead.
Just a theory but more than plausible."

This is the first time I've ever heard anyone suggest this theory and it seems like a promising path to go down. If anyone has any information that would help it would be most appreciated.