Medieval table manners

When you attend a feast at the lords castle, you will need to behave and show that you have table manners. One of the things was (and still is) that you had to wash your hands. From the 12th until the late 14th century, an aquamanile was used to hold and pour water (aqua) over the hands (manile), although the name aquamanile for the vessel was invented in the 19th century. The real name of the vessel was lavoratorium, and the bowl receiving the water was called manilia. The aquamanile was a heavily decorated vessel, often cast in bronze or brass in the form of animals like lions, griffins, stags, or men. They were a luxurious show-piece on the lords table. For more humble lords (or guild-masters) less expensive aquamaniles were made from baked clay. That aquamaniles were also used by medieval citizens is shown by the fact that they were mentioned in two (of sixty) inventories of the city of Deventer, the Netherlands. One of such a stoneware aquamanile we encountered during a visit to the Kolnischen Stadtmuseums in 2012.

The Kolner aquamanile is 16.2 cm high and 17.5 cm long. It has a light yellow glaze with orange-brown spots. The inside is also glazed orange-brown. Dated 13th century. 

Also in the Netherlands medieval stoneware aquamaniles were found: a very beautiful one in Castle Hoensbroek and two others are on display in the Booijmans van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam. These are shown below as well as some other from the Victoria and Albert museum in London.

Two aquamaniles from the Booijmans van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Left: An aquamanile dating around 1200-1300, made from white earthenware and glazed with a copper-oxide leadglaze. Size 18 cm. Right: A stoneware aquamanile dating from 1400-1500 with a saltglaze. Size 13 cm. Images from the museum database.

The aquamanile from Castle Hoensbroek which was found in the castle moat. 
The figure is supposed to be a ram. The aquamanile is dated mid 14th century and decorated with green-tin glaze. 
Image from internet.

Aquamanile of red earthenware in the form of a stag covered with a yellow glaze tinged with green. It has a tubular body and the antlers lie back to form the handle. The hind legs are missing. Found in Rye, UK and dated  around 1300-1399.  Sizes: Height: 24 cm, Length: 35.5 cm. Victoria and Albert museum, London, UK.

Late medieval / early renaissance aquamanile from Pesaro, Italy and dated 1490-1500. Tin-glazed earthenware, painted with colours. Height: 41.5 cm, Length: 36 cm - twice as large compared to the other ewers. 

Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK.

It may not come as a surprise that we  liked to have an aquamanile on our table as well, especially during visits to chic places, like castle halls. Anne has made a lion-shaped aquamanile from white baked clay and glazed it with a green glaze both in- and outside. The pouring spout is at the lion's mouth, while the vessel can be filled with water through a hole in the middle of its back.

 

The Lion aquamanile on the dressoir in the castle hall of Castle Loevestein.

And of course we (do have table manners and) used it at our dinner in the castle hall of Castle Loevestein a few weeks ago. In the 'Mesnagier de Paris', a 14th century cook- and housekeeping book, a description is given for the water used to wash the hands:

'Pour faire eaue a laver mains sur table, mectez bouillir de la sauge, puis coulez l'eaue et faictes reffroidier jusques a plus que tiede. Ou vous mectez comme dessus comomille et marjolaine, ou vous mectez du romarin, et cuire avec l'escorche d'orenge. Et aussi feuilles de lorier y sont bonnes.'

This has been translated into the following recipe:
Boil 1 litre water with 2 branches of sage or 1 branch chamomile and 1 branch of marjoram or 1 branch of rosemary and strips of untreated peel of two bitter oranges. Infuse, pass, and serve in an aquamanile over a washing basin.

 

Sources used:
Mittelalter in Koln - eine auswahl aus dem bestanden des Kolnischen stadtmuseums. W. Schafke and M. Trier (editors). Emons:, 2010. ISBN 978-3-89705-654-1.
Huusraet - het stedelijk woonhuis in de Bourgondische tijd. B. Dubbe. Uitgeverij Poldervonsten, 2012. ISBN 341-5688-943-1.
Fêtes gourmandes au moyen âge. J-L. Flandrin and C. Lambert. Imprimerie Nationale, 1998. ISBN 2-7433-0268-2.

Huusraet: a book on the late medieval household

A few weeks ago we went to the museum Boijmans van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Netherlands to visit the exhibition 'The road to van Eijck' (late medieval painting), but also to see the large collection of medieval artefacts donated by J.H.E. Van Beuningen to the museum. These artefacts can in fact better be viewed online, as the display is on metres high stacks behind chicken wire. You may take photos of  the collection (not the exhibition), but this is a useless exercise. Nevertheless, it was an interesting visit and the museum shop contained a pleasant surprise: a new book on house furnishings in the Burgundian time (roughly 1400-1550). 'Huusraet' [household items], written in Dutch by the late Berend Dubbe was published in 2012, five years after his death (ISBN 341-5688-943-1, 275 pages).
 

The contents bear a striking resemblence to another book, 'Thuis in the late Middeleeuwen - het Nederlands burgerinterieur 1400-1535', a catalogue of the exhibition in the Provinciaals Overijssels Museum, Zwolle, the Netherlands in 1980. Berend Dubbe was president of this museum at that time and co-author of many articles in the exhibition catalogue. So, it might come as no surprise that the new book is a rewritten and slightly updated version of the catalogue, both for text and images. The book is easier to read, text and images are presented alongside, instead of after each other in the catalogue. Another pre for the book is that it is full colour throughout, instead of partly black-and-white illustrated like the catalogue. The out-of-print paperback catalogue now costs around 120 Euro second-hand, while this new hardcover can be bought for only 50 Euro.

The first two chapters in the book deal with medieval furniture. The first chapter starts with some notes on furniture production and moves on to storage furniture (armoires, chests and dressoirs). The second chapter deals with tables, seating furniture, beds and chamber screens. These (and other) chapters are dressed with quotes from medieval legal documents and numbers of the different furniture items present in a household. Berend Dubbe presents an interesting example of a medieval round table or 'schive' [disk]. Also in castle Bergh ('s Heerenberg, the Netherlands) such a table exists according to the author. I have to check this some time, as the castle is nearby.

A round table or 'schive' dating from 1500 from the Museum fur Kunst- und Kulturgeschichte der Stadt Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany. The book erroneously states that this museum is in Schloss Cappenberg, but it has moved back to Dortmund in 1983.

I do not always agree with the author. Especially, on sleeping furniture he misses the point in my opinion. According to him a 'koetse' means a bedframe without posts and curtains. They were found behind the kitchen and in secondary rooms, while the main (fourposter) bed was found in the living room. However, in the German language we find a similar word 'Butze', which is used for a bed fixed onto or into the wall (see the book Schrank, Butze, Bett by Thosten Albrecht). These were also found in the secondary rooms, stables and behind kitchens. Also if you imagine to add four wheels to a 'Butze', it will look like a carriage or in Dutch a 'koets.

 Left: A 'koetse' according to B. Dubbe. 'The dying Adam sends Seth to paradise'  from the breviary of Catherine of Cleves, f.79. Right: A 'Butze' or 'koetse' according to me. Butze in a farm around 1800 from the Luneburger museum village in Hosseringen. The Butze is situated in the hall, next to the kitchen. A medieval chest (shown in a previous post) is seen next the bed.

The next chapters of the book deal with all kinds of household items, used for cooking, drinking, tableware, lighting, etc. Many of the examples of household items shown in the book are from the museum Boijmans van Beuningen. Glass tableware is far under represented, although a great variety existed in Burgundian times. It is also a pity that the last chapter (other items) is rather short and scarcely illustrated. Jewellery, games, writing materials, money are all part of the medieval burgess household and there are many (Dutch) examples available that could have been added to make the book more complete.

Despite these shortcomings, this book is a well-illustrated addition to our library. 

     

New costumes for some St. Thomasguild members

Children grow. Which means that we continuously have to make new costumes for them to fit their new size. While my youngest son benefits from the outgrown clothes of the eldest; the eldest profits from getting new clothes each time he has grown. This time he became old enough to have his own doublet in the 1370 style, with lots of woollen buttons.  For adults, such a doublet is closely fitting the body, however for growing children more space is allowed. This is also true for the sleeves, which are not tightly fitting and .thus do not need to be buttoned at the wrist.

 My oldest son in his new costume in castle Loevestein.

Below the black doublet he wears red trousers with a codpiece (hidden by the doublet). Underneath the trousers are the first pair of shoes made for him. The shoes are based on a 14th century find in Dordrecht, the Netherlands and described in the book "Stepping through time" by Olaf Goubitz. The shoes, made by master historic shoemaker Gert Buurman of the Gelderse Roos, are toggle fastened with an additional drawstring at the bending point.

Standing on an X-chair showing the new shoes.

But not only children get new clothes... I still needed a cloak to keep warm in the evening and I thought it was necessary for our visit to castle Loevestein in March as well.  So I did have a cloak, but the weather proved to be very sunny and warm. My cloak is made in the style that appeared around 1350 and continued into the early 15th century, which means that it is buttoned (mine with eight woollen buttons) at the right shoulder. Unfortunately, there is no good description or find of such cloaks. It appears only on period miniatures or funeral brasses.  I made it 7/12th of a circle. This extra 1/12th circle was in fact unnecessary, half a circle is more than enough to cover the body and have enough room for your arms. The cloak consists of two layers of wool, making it warm and heavy.

 

An apothecary with a blue buttoned cloak from Tacuinum Sanitatis 

(fol. 87v, 15th century, BNF Nouvelle acquisition latine 1673, Paris, France).

My cloak together with a loose hood. ...

 

The difference in shade of the dark grey inside and black outside of the woollen cloak is easily seen. 

The row of buttons is on my right shoulder.

Wood use in medieval Novgorod

Yesterday I received a new book on medieval woodworking by post: Wood use in medieval Novgorod. This very interesting 470 pages book is edited by Mark Brisbane and  John Hather and was published by Oxbow Books, Oxford, UK in 2007 (ISBN 978-1-84217-276-6). With the book also comes a cd containing around 500 images of archeological objects. For those interested, it is still available for only 19.9 UK pounds. 

 

Novgorod was the captital of a medieval Russian republic, with a govenor chosen among the aristocracy. The city served as a major trading post with Scandinavia and the Hanseatic League. The city is situated somewhat halfway between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, next to immense forests and Lake Ilmen. The availablility of vast amounts of wood made it the prime source of material for this town, from housing, roads, furniture, tools, daily utensils, etc. Combined with the watery surrounding this created an ideal anaerobic condition for preserving wooden artefacts, ranging from the 10th century till the 16th when water drainage became common. Excavations have taking place at various sites in Novgorod since 1933 onwards, and an unprecedented amount of medieval objects and structures have been found and preserved. Due to the fact that large wooden structures are found, precise dendrochronological dating of the objects can take place. Unfortunately the research results were published in Russian journals, books, unreadable and unobtainable for many of us. This book solves that problem. It provides a good summary of what has been found and describes the current state of research, including many line drawings and photos (highlights) of the actual wooden finds. As an extra, a cd is added with colour images of some finds.

 

Clawhammers and nailpullers from Novgorod. (a-c) 14th century, (d) 13th-14th century, (e) 13th-15th century, (f) 15th century (g) 13th century, (h) 11th century nailpuller, (i) undated nailpuller. Note that the clawhammer handles sometimes ends in a twisted bit.

 Two turned mallets from Novgorod from pine and ash.

Chapter 3 of the book is dedicated to medieval woodworking tools. This chapter gives a short description of the tools, along with line drawings. There are however some peculiarities among the finds. The axes discussed show only felling type axes. The typical broad axe or side axe, common for the western medieval woodworking trade is not mentioned.  The boring tools mentioned in the book are spoon bits that were fitted in wooden handles like augers and gimlets. No mention is made of wooden braces, which became common in Europe in the 15th century. If you take a careful look at the spoon bits, 'e' and 'f' could easily have fitted into a brace, though the former is dated too early. Another missing tool is the plane. There is no mention of plane blades or wooden plane bodies found. The tools shown which crudely can perform the same function as planes are adzes, inshaves and scorps. Most interesting in this chapter, however, is the find of a spokeshave dating from the 11th century. So far, the earliest mention of a spokeshave is from 1510 (W.L. Goodman, The history of woodworking tools).

 

Novgorod boring tools/ spoon bits. (a) 13th-14th century, (b-d and i) 12th century, (e and h) 13th century, 

(f) 14th century, (g) 12th-13th century.

The chapter on household objects includes a picture of the furniture used in medieval Novgorod. So far excavated furniture fragments show that it was only very basic. I will dedicate a future post to discuss the Russian medieval furniture. Other chapters deal with housing, agricultural and fishing tools, games (including the over 200 chess pieces found and several Nine Men's Morris or Merrill's game board), combs, tally sticks, musical instruments, turning and turned objects, lasts for shoe production, spinning and weaving, tribute collecting seals, barrels, transport devices, combs, toys, wax tablets, etc. All in all, the book gives a fine overview of what is found in medieval Novgorod. I wished I was able to read Russian and had access to the other works on wood use in this intriguing place.

 Nine Man's Morriss board, late 13th-14th century, made of spruce.

The back of the board, showing another game board.

Winter is coming ...

said Lord Stark of Winterfell  ...                                       (A song of ice and fire - George R.R. Martin).

Well, the Saint Thomasguild is prepared for winter with these three-fingered sheepskin mittens.

 A pair of split sheepskin mittens ready for a cold winter.

The three fingered mittens or split mittens are used in medieval times by workmen, farmers and falconers. They offer more flexibility in handling things and have better grip than normal mittens. Also, they are less expensive and easier to make than five-fingered gloves. 

We thank our mittens to the wool moths which infested our sheepskin. After we got rid of the evil insects, flocks of hair fell out of one of our skins and it became useless for display. However, it could still be used to make some mittens. We based our mittens on the pattern provided by Sarah Thursfield in her book "Medieval tailors assistant". First we tried the pattern on a piece of woollen cloth to find the exact place for the thumb, then enlarged it a little to allow for the thickness of the sheepskin. The wool of the skin was cut short, leaving 5-6 mm long hairs on the skin. Sewing the leather was done by hand using the 'oversewing' stitch and found to be very easy. One piece of advice: Don't forget to turn the pattern for the other hand, otherwise you end up with one spare mitten like us ...

Left: Shepherds from Nativity by Nikolaus Stürhofer, c. 1505-1515.

Right: Shepherds in The Nativity by Robert Campin, around 1419. Dijon, France, Musee des Beaux Arts.

                   

                                                                                                    
Left: Farmer wearing a split mitten in the Macclesfield Psalter (Fitzwilliam 1-2005, fol. 77r), c. 1330.
Right: The falconers is wearing a split mitten on which the falcon sits. The Month of January, Grimani Breviary, 1490-1510, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Venice, Italy. These images were found on internet using the site of Larsdatter.

 The left image shows the thickness of the sheep leather and wool. The middle photo shows the oversewing stitch used for the mitten. The photo on the right shows one finished thumb piece and the woollen test mitten..

 The finished three-fingered mittens shown at different angles. Left photo, both mittens at the inside of the hand. Middle photo, one mitten on the outside on on top. Right photo, both mittens on top, showing how the thumbs are set in the mitten and the extra strip for the split fingers..

 

Cape and mittens are ready for winter. 

A Saint Nicolas gift: the book Vivre au Moyen Age

I have got a nice book as a Saint Nicolas gift called "Vivre au Moyen Age - Archeologie du quotidien en Normandie, XIIe-XVe siecles" (ISBN 88-7439-00-9). This book contains some essays on medieval life in Normandy, France, as well as the illustrated catalogue of the exposition held in several museums in Normandy in 2002-2003. 

The amount of furniture shown inside is limited, but there are some beautiful excavated woodworking tools inside, including several clawhammers from the 14th century.  

Forging hammer, length 18 cm, width 4 cm.  Iron hammer without claw, length 10.3 cm, width 2.9 cm. Iron claw hammers, length 9.2 cm, width 3.2 cm and length 7.5 cm, width 1.4 cm, all from the Musee de Normandie Caen, France.

Claw hammer, length 11.7 cm, width 2.7 cm, and scissors (10 cm long)  from the Musee de Normandie, Caen, France.

Next to these tools, there are many artefacts shown of daily life. I found it interesting to see that 14th century pottery in France is different from that found in the Netherlands, where more Siegburg type stoneware is found. In Normandy, more earthenware is found which is decorated with typical floral designs and green or yellow-brown glazed.  

14th century drinking vessels and a jug found in Rouen, decorated with flowers and dots, and beige-yellowbrown glazed. 

Musee des Antiquites, Rouen, France.

The book also shown some jewellery dating from the 13th-15th century. The bronze rings shown in the background used to be bling-bling, but being buried in the ground for many centuries changes its former gold-like colour to a nice greenish patina. Stones are coloured glass. The three other rings are silver and gilded silver with an amethyst. Average size of the rings is 2-2.2 cm.

Nine finger rings in bronze, silver and gilded silver dating from the 13th-15th century. 

Musee de Normandie, Caen, France.