All idioms have their backstories that can often reveal something interesting about the human condition. The Irish phrase “to chance your arm” (meaning – to take a risk) is a fascinating example. Its story features a very old door.
This is said to be the door that played a key role in the birth of the phrase “to chance your arm”. It is displayed at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, and dates to the 15th century. See that hole in the middle of the door? That hole is central to the story.
The curators who displayed this door at the cathedral called it a door of reconciliation. Here is what they say about its history:
“In 1492 two feuding families, the Butlers of Ormonde and the Fitzgeralds of Kildare, were engaged in battle. Sensing an impending defeat, the Butlers fled the battlefield and took sanctuary in the Cathedral’s Chapter House.
The Fitzgeralds followed in pursuit, but instead of fighting proposed a truce. Calling to the Butlers through the Chapter House door, Gerald Fitzgerald, head of the family, guaranteed them safe passage from Dublin. However, the Butlers refused this offer, believing it to be a trap.
To prove his sincerity, Gerald Fitzgerald ordered a hole be cut in the door. He thrust his arm through it, offering it in peace. Convinced, the Butlers shook his hand. Today, the story lives on in the famous expression, ‘to chance your arm’.”
Gerald Fitzgerald took a big risk. According to the legend that grew around the story (and who can prove that it’s not true!), when he thrust his arm through that hole you still see cut in the door, he said something along these lines: “Accept and shake it or cut it off!” It wasn’t just his arm that was at stake, it was his word, his honour.
How do I face a stranger? Do I turn to them as a friend or a foe? What influences my orientation towards the other as being hospitable or hostile? All these are the fundamental questions we grapple with when finding ourselves in a situation where we we face the unfamiliar, the stranger, the other. Will we chance our arm?
“The first act of civilization is wagering on whether to open the hand or reach for a weapon. Hostility or hospitality is at stake from the outset.”
Richard Kearney
keep exploring!
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Image credit: my photo, taken at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland
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