It has been a long while since I posted on the Deventer Burgerscap blog. But my participation in the latest DB event and the questions I got after my hood that I wore there have nudged me back to the writing table. The hood in question is one that I made years ago already and which is tight fitting, with a front button closure, a short and squarish shoulder mantle and with straps running under the armpits connecting front and back of the said mantle.


The tight fit enables the wearer to wear a mantle or other outer garment on top, such as was the (male) fashion in the 1360s and 1370s, without too much bulky fabric around the neck. The straps under the armpits enable the wearer to shift the mantle, from a position where the buttons are in front on the chest to or from one where they are on the right shoulder, while the hood stays in its proper place.This way of carrying your mantle was also fashionable in those days. Lastly, when worn without any outer garment on top, the armpit straps make this a very practical hood for use during outdoor activities since the hood-mantle can not be blown up into your face by the wind.


This hood is in fact a prototype but still needs replacing by a new and better one. You know how these things go. For the prototype we (Isis helped me out) made a pattern with a seam in the neck. This made for an unwelcome bunching up of fabric in the front where the buttons and buttonholes are. Since then we have learned that a tight fitting hood can also be made with the usual pattern of two large pieces that only get augmented by two inset gores on the shoulders. The new pattern in cheap fabric has already been made.

Now let us go to the sources, because, what is this!? young men wearing tight fitting buttoned hoods? It seems that the reenactment (and academic?) community has long believed that buttoned hoods were something that only women wore. In their book 'Textiles and Clothing' on the textile finds from London the authors write that 'this type of closely fitting hood is typical of the late 14th century and is to be seen in many manuscript illuminations and sculptural figures. It was worn mainly by women ... '. Luckily for us they write about this hood because they found one (of a type without armpit-straps):


The book also mentions the find of part of a buttoned hood from Dordrecht in the Netherlands from c. 1400, but alas does not give a photo or drawing of it.
When we look into textual sources from that era, we find evidence of men wearing hoods with front closures ánd armpit-straps! First there are the purchases made in 1362 and 1363 for his young lordship of the towns of Schoonhoven and Gouda: Jan van Blois (nephew of Charles de Blois, but unlike the rest of his family resident in the Netherlands and fluent in Dutch):

- Item om 9 vergulden cnoepkine caproen mede te cnoepen 18 s.
- Item van 12 zulveren caproenhake 8 s.
- Item om lint van gaerne caproen mede te binden onder den arm 16 d.
- Item om rebant miins joncheren caproen onder den arm mede te binden 14 d.
- Item om lint caproene mede te binden 2 sc. 8 d.

This translates as:
- Item, of 9 small gilded buttons to have the hood buttoned with, 18 shillings.
- Item, of 12 silver hood hooks, 8 shillings.
- Item, of ribbon of yarn, to bind the hood with under the arm, 16 pennies.
- Item, of ribbon, to bind my young lords hood with under the arm, 14 pennies.
- Item, of ribbon to bind the hood with, 2 shillings 8 pennies.

Here we see that one of Jan's hoods was closed with gilded (silver) buttons and the other with silver hooks. The near absence of other buttons and hooks mentioned with hoods in the accounts does not mean these hoods were not tight-fitting or closed. Buttons in this era were most of the time made of cloth so would not find their way into these purchase accounts.

What we also encounter in these accounts is the fact that Jan's hoods were often bordered with silver or gold ribbon:

- Item 7 ellen zulverboerts op caproene te legghen, delle 10 s.
- ... 4 ellen goudboerts tot 2 caproenen, coste d'elle 6 s. 8 d.

This practice may explain why the find from London is missing the border of its mantle and face opening. The most valuable parts would have been cut off before it was discarded of.

Next to the household accounts of Jan van Blois we have the Limburger Chronicle as a source. Written in the German town Limburg an der Lahn in the late 14th century, it mentions for the year 1362:

Unde di junge menner drugen alle meistlichen gekneufte kogeln als die frauwen, unde di kogeln werten bi drissig jar, da vurgingen si.

This translates as:
And the young men all wore mostly buttoned hoods like the women, and these (type of) hoods were worn for thirty years, after this it (the fashion) went away.

From this we can conclude that the hood with button or hook closure was worn both by (young) men and women from c. 1360 to c. 1390. Lastly we arrive at what they looked like in art and where this art originates from so that it can tell us in what area these hoods were worn. We encounter them in England (Warwickshire and East Anglia), France (Ile de France), the Northwest of the Holy Roman Empire (Low Countries, Westphalia), the West of said empire (Alsace), the South-East of said empire (Württemberg, Thuringia, Bavaria), Switzerland and lastly Northern Italy (Lombardy, Tuscany). So a quite large part of Europe.

On the 2nd and 3rd of August, 2014, the three of us, Nijso, Reinier and I, Laurens, went to participate in the Museumsfest in Meppen, Westfalen. We had been invited by Thorsten Witschen, whom we knew from the Tohopesate, and whom I last saw at the Tohopi-meeting at the house of Ronnie and Tanja in 2009. He is more into portraying 18th century now but as this was a multi-period event, all sorts of groups were present, from Roman soldiers and gladiatrices, Germanic foederati and migrating Franks, through vikings, crusaders, 13th and 14th century craftsmen, Landsknechte, 16th century musicians to the 18th century hunting display.



The weather was hot, it must have been up to 28 degrees Celsius, so we lay low and tried to keep out of the sun as much as possible. Reinier had taken his field forge for blacksmithing and together with Nijso's help forged a daggerblade for Nijso which he had started in Wisby in 2011 and two small knives, and reworked some hammerheads to make them look more medievalish. Nijso tested his cool new leather apron with sexy cleavage.

In the meantime, I took apart my maille haubergeon which I ordered but which did not fit. I found out why: the arm-holes were too far to the back so that the torso became too wide and it did not close well at the neck, as well as that the armpits were very wide and just had been gathered together by a few rings which probably would not last long. The sleeves, instead of the desired elbow hinge, were far too wide and were made straight but baggy at the elbow, and the collar was too wide as well. I took off sleeves and collar and opened up the shoulders, so I can insert trangles into the old arm-openings and cut out new smaller ones more to the front. I'm not entirely pleased with the way the makers interpreted my wishes.



We made some new friends, for example Martina of Die Blidenbauer (www.dieblidenbauer.de) who makes trebuchets together with her husband Jürgen, and crafts everything she uses very close to the originals, with lots of documentation. We also spent the saturday evening with the foederati (1st-3rd c.) who were old friends of Reinier, and I socialized with their neighbouring Franks (4th-6th c.), a 13th century chap named J.P. (Jan-Philipp or something, who invited me to come axe-throwing the next day) some vikings who called me 'Der Lorenz' and used me as an example of wisdom and courage, but mostly to taunt a fellow groupmember who succeeded in remaining silent when he was on the toilet when the museum was closed, thus being locked in and having to call for help afterwards. The drinks were free so as you can understand, saturday evening was hilarious.



We were also very enthousiastic about the excellent warm buffet which was composed of several grilled meats and sausages, tremendous salads, baked potatoes and some sort of macaroni salad which I think was glutenfree because it was quite yellowish, so probably made of corn. It was delicious and very much, and of course our eyes were larger than our stomachs.

 



Next to the museum grounds and the field we were camping on was a little stream and then a youth hostel where we could get breakfast for a reduced tariff, which was pleasant, because we could get bread and coffee and eat that in all ease, and also use the clean toilets. This is quite agreeable for when next year, when we will try and go again, Machteld and the children want to come too but not sleep in a tent, for one could also sleep in the hostel if desired. All the people were so nice and friendly, and we noticed that many of the vistors (among whom quite a lot of Dutch people) were genuinely interested and knew things to talk about and to ask that weren't all too obvious. The reenactors too were all well informed and well read about their own period and others as well, and really tried their best to show history as close to reality as possible.

Last weekend we've had a nice and sunny weekend in the 14th century tower of Dever in Lisse. We were there for the entire weekend because of 'open kastelendag', so many castles opened their doors to the general public. This wonderful tower was the home of the family of d'Ever. It was built in the 14th century and restored in the 1970's. We had some nice activities during the weekend. The tower still has its original oven and we were able to use it to bake bread. Our most capable bakers went to work to knead the finest dough. The temperature inside the oven is difficult to regulate and the first batch of bread unfortunately looked like they were found among the remains of Pompeii. The oven was slightly cooler during the second batch, and some wonderful breads were produced. In this side view of the tower, you can see the window of the kitchen in the cellar below. Many modern inventions have their roots in the middle ages, like wireless communication. Horizontal wireless communication already existed prior to the 14th century, but only after architectural changes led to the building of multi-story buildings did people realize the potential of vertical communication! These events are perfect for children to check out the equipment of a medieval soldier and to do a little bit of sparring. The real hard work however is making these wonderful fingerloop-braided cords. To conclude: we've had a wonderful time at a wonderful location and I hope that this is going to stay one of our traditional weekend-events.

Picture of a cow from the Holkham bible, so we are all clear on what we are talking about.

The poem of the cow is a German poem appearing in the Wurzburger Liederhandschrifte, also known as the 'Hausbuch of Michael de Leone, Band 2', written between 1345-1354 by someone known as 'Konig von Odenwald'. It describes all the products one could make from a cow. It is a very interesting poem because some of the items mentioned were never found during excavations and we know of no surviving examples. I have translated the poem to English and in this translation I tried to use the English words that are closest to the German original. If it is unclear what is meant, I will place a comment between square brackets [so this comment was not in the original poem].

Many a man will prize his heart's desire,
But I will complain in all voices,
That people toll bells for virtue-less people.
You toll [the bells] for old ladies, when they have died,
That is a big expenditure.

You should toll the bells for the good cows, eager and beautiful:
The cow gives white milk, which is pure and invigorating
And on which one can be proud.

Well salted, poured into shape,
You can also make good cheese out of it.
Thick and thin whey is the joy of the children.
From porridge of milk and millet [dutch:gierst] grows also a powerful scream. [you become strong and healthy]
When they yell: 'it is served', everybody will be pleased.
With it the fresh butter: between Bologna and Salerno surely
Never has a better food been found as this.
You need it to make delicacies.
Together with beets they form a medicine for us people.
With the tallow you make light.
From the head and the brain, you make sausages.

So that's what they used to keep those pieces of wood together!

With the tough sinews - these are also useful - you can thresh grain, clean as well as mixed.
He who has a good roasting pan for beef, can get a soup;
If you have a good piece, then you can have a delicacy, that is called marrow:
this will make people strong.


Falcon hoods,

Dog leashes,

Arm leather,

Leg attire,
Arms gloves of cow: everything from leather,
Delivered by the cow, like we have heard.

I mention here the cover, from skins you can make sacks,
That you can pull over your headgear and helmet,
So they are protected from dust and stay clean,
As well as keep away the rust.

You cover shield and buckler with sinew and cow skin,
This I tell the people.
The straps on the kettle hat are worn by all good knights and squire

A seat from skin is good for the behind.
Is the bishop seated on it, then he engages in wisdom.
I shall also not spare you this:
one has the skin for his pleasure. [Heh. Wait, what?]
And I want to tell you more:
In the hanging car [carriage] They put the cowhides,
On these sit the brides.




More I will tell you of the skin:
They make large precious books, from which you read and sing.

With tambourine and drums, which are made from hides, you cannot be sad.

They are not just dreams: whips, halters, bridles, stirrup leather, straps, ?backstraps [German: hinterreif, for the back of the horse], front gear, hand bags they make.
With ?leather [German: gegenleder] and belt you can joust better.
Nice saddles are made of only leather and bone.
This I give you effortless: the children play with knucklebones [a game also known as jacks].
Also the cushions on the benches, that have a cover of hide, you should think of.

From the bones large and small dice are made, that roll good on the board.
Many vicious men have gambled away everything, so they became furious with themselves.

From the horn you can make good combs. Especially small children should be groomed well with them, as you would do with good reason.
From horn they gladly make lanterns. When you place a light within, you can use it in the wind.

I will tell you more about the horn: When your back aches, they should be rubbed with them.
The hunters have a tradition that they have chosen themselves:
They wrap a belt around the horn, so they can blow on it.
If you want to raise birds, larks or finches, let them drink from it.
Also you enclose [hem about?] the front of your crossbow with cow horn.
thereupon they make vigorously from horn the handles of knives.
A writer rarely sees his horn empty; they [take ink from it and] write to the people.
From the skin, people that know how to handle leather make boots for the protection of your feet and soles. This you should believe.
Then there are wooden shoes [with leather parts, pattens] on which you can walk well, wide and tight shoes, short and long, that often creak.
From the hair you make padding or upholstery, rope and felt;
You can make bridle parts, and for children balls with hair,
That everybody runs after when they play back and forth with it.
The tail you nail to the door, with this you pull them open and close them.


Everything comes from the cow.

And still my praise has not ended, that has to be paid to the cow!
She births young, nice calf that grow into [?]bullocks and oxes.
When you eat the fat guts of the calf, they are very nourishing
And you still can get your head through your garment.
All this is not a lie: crossbow and horn bow are useless, yes they will break in two,
When we wouldn't have the tendons delivered by the cow.
With the ... [german: zerf, this is a part of a crossbow used to pull the cord under tension] you can tighten, for someone that runs away,
The shooting tendons over the crossbow.

It is a real joy.

So you can take the paws,
The blacks and the grays,
And turn them into paternoster beads
And send the devil a greeting.

You might think I only want to talk nicely and I almost forgot about the bladder, that can be used as a piper bag.
That everybody loves on the holidays.

"Martha, you are standing on my dress!

"How fortunate that you had them bladder-reinforced, dear!"

You cannot lie about it, that the seam of clothes are reinforced with it.

I cannot abstain from mentioning breast leather, funnels, and helmet horns.
Then you contain your spurs in leather.
I also would like to mention the wineskin, that is used to store wine. This one is also of bovine leather.
And first, the useful collars in which the horses pull, and the yoke belts with which the cows pull.
Nobody will deny: many tie themselves up with wide and narrow belts,that are worn everywhere.
The rings from bone are worn by men and women.
He who wears gloves or thimbles makes good use of them. Leather sacks and purses are made from skins, and bottles [flasks], funnels and pegs for storing of wine, knit-work [German: stricke, meaning knitting or knotting, so can also be a single knot] and scabbards for knives and swords, as well as clean nosebags for the cattle.

I can bring on more: the bellows can be named, which are desired by the blacksmiths.
Then there is the precious tail, that makes a nice whip. When the horses need to be shod, you can chastise them with it.
That the organs sound so loud and clear is thanks to the skin. From the tendons you can make cords for the bell-clapper.


If you want to chase away dogs, then tie a bladder to their tails, so they might think they are doomed, and they will howl terribly.
Boys, children definitely, and young people learn to swim with their help [of the bladder] when they are in the water.
People that don't have window glass do the following: They make a frame and stretch it with the good belly [german: flomen, nowadays means lard, which is the fat surrounding the belly] and cover with this their windows.
[This is described in detail in the Mappae Clavicula]

"Here, have some cow heart."

"Much obliged! You also have some rectum for me?"

Liver, kidneys, lungs, heart, gullet [german: schlund], tongue, spleen, brawn, feet, grind everything,
Many nice intestines, whiter than ermine, I couldn't stand it when I would have forgotten the stomach and the equally nice udder, br< That you can roast on the fire, just like the thick rectum [yummy... don't you just love a good rectum?].

You can also use a cow's head as a decorative headgear

The warm dung you can spread out over the ground.
If you want to fertilize bad fields, you should add manure to that.
You should sooner weep over the corpse of a cow than of an evil old hag.
That the young are cheerful has always bothered the old.
More uses of the cow, the king [of Odenwald] doesn't know.
Now the narrative of the cow ends.
This should not sadden you.

This egg custard from Wel ende Edelike Spijse (2nd half 15th century) has become one of my favourite medieval desserts. I've made it a few times at home, and brought it to Eindhoven to enjoy after dinner. And lucky me, Claudia from Mim made something similar at the Ronneburg last weekend! Claudia's 'Eiermus' recept comes from the Kochbuch von Meister Hannsen (ca 1460) and her interpretation goes as follows: 6 egg yolks per liter of milk/cream and sugar to taste. Whisk the eggs and sugar and in the mean time warm the cream. Add the egg mixture to the cream bit by bit while stirring continuously untill it starts to thicken. Don't overcook is because the egg will start to curdle or burn at the bottom of the pan.
The Flemish variation is slightly different, in that the custard is cooked 'au bain marie'.  The basic ingredients are the same: eggs and milk, and you can add some sugar/honey or spices if you like.

Moelgen te makene nemt scapin melc
in eenen pot ende dodere van eyeren daer
in ghewreuen ende tempert daer mede 
ende doeter toe soffraen ende sukers ghe
nouch dan nemt wit lijnwaet ende
doet vpden mont vanden potte twee
fout of drie ende bindet vaste omtrent
den hals vanden potte dan doet den pot
in eenen ketele vul wallens waters ende
latet lange zieden ende dan doet vercoelen
ende maect omtrent den pot twee gaetken
of drie recht met eenen lepele ende
bouen den scotelen soo doet dragie
ende sukers ghenouch

Translation:
To make lovely sweet stuff, put sheep milk in a pot and yolks of eggs ground into it and temper it with this. Add saffron and enough sugar. Then take a white linen cloth and put it [folded] two or three times over the mouth of the pot and tie it around the neck of the pot. Put the pot in a kettle full of boiling water and let it boil for a long time. Let it cool and make two or three small holes straight [down] with a spoon all around the pot. Finish off with enough spices and sugar.

I haven't tried the 'au bain marie' version on the fire, but in the oven. And I used cow's milk instead of goat milk. So, here are the modern directions:

For 4 persons

• 2 cups full fat milk
• 2 eggs + 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar/honey
• Saffron
• Some cinnamon and nutmeg

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 180° C. Mix the eggs, sugar/honey and saffron, and bit by bit add the milk. place a bowl in an ovenproof dish filled with water so that the bowl is halfway under water. Pour the egg mixture in the bowl and sprinkle some cinnamon and nutmeg on top. Bake during 30-40 minutes (depending on your type of oven) untill the egg mixture is stiff (it needs to have a pudding consistency). If you like you can add some extra sugar on top when it is still hot.

Enjoy!

I know I promised to share the recipes we made in Eindhoven earlier this summer, but I just didn't have the time to far. Here's the first one in a row (hopefully the rest will follow soon-ish).

The original recipe is from a Flemish cookbook that dates to c. 1560. A bit late for Deventer Burgerscap maybe, but all the ingredients are right for the 14th century and it is just such a nice and easy recipe I couldn't resist making it. Plus, since it is eaten cold it works really well for warm summer weather. I'd even make it in 'normal life' to use as a barbeque sauce.

The middle dutch text is as follows:

Om peeckel te maecken neempt wat pelmeye ende doter vat mosters toe met vat greyn poyers ende menght dese wel te samen.

 Translation:

To make mustard sauce Take some applesauce and add some mustard with ground grains of paradise. Mix this well together.

Really, it doesn't get much easier. That is exactly what I did. If you use homemade apple sauce squeeze it trough a seeve of cheese cloth first, to get rid om any lumps of apple. Add mild mustard to taste (I used about 1 tbsp of mustard to 3/4 à 1 cup of apple sauce). Than add freshly ground grains of paradise. This really makes the finishing touch. In emergencies you could substitute this by black pepper if you can't get hold of grains of paradise.

Enjoy it with sausages or roast meat (works really well with pork)!

I was in Lund for a conference. And next to the conference building was the historical museum of Lund. It was filled with late medieval archeological finds. I already knew about some interesting finds because of two books I have:

I actually found all of the objects from these books (from 1937 and 1938!) in the museum. And much, much more! Here are some highlights from the museum (I will focus on the leather because that is my primary interest, but they also have knives, swords, a big collection of wall candle sticks et cetera). The museum has conveniently placed identification numbers at every object so you are not immediately overwhelmed with useful information like the location of the find or the estimated age. Instead, you can look up some information in a database, which is in Swedish but not convenient(at least for me) to use. You can find all kinds of useful information in this database, like the catalogue number and when it was found and what the identification number of the dig site was. Swedish friends, if you know how to use the online database from Kulturen at http://carl.kulturen.com to extract something useful, please let me know.


This nice dagger scabbard is also described in Kulturen 1937. In this book, they don't show the gold coated chape, so I'm not sure if the one in the museum is original and belonging to the dagger. The leather is original, and decoratively pierced, probably with an awl, through vertical impressed lines. The dagger itself is described on a separate page in the same book, and was also found at a different location during the same excavation, so I'm not sure if the dagher and the scabbard belong together either. The dagger is estimated to be from 1275-1350.


Here is a classic pouch from the 14th and 15th century. It is a rectangular piece of leather, folded in half and sewn on the side edges. At the top, two leather tongs pass through a series of incisions. There are impressed folds between each incision. The harmonica folds don't occur naturally, you have to make them by wetting the leather, using a blunt object to press the lines into the leather and then folding the leather and letting it dry so the leather keeps the folds. This pouch is first sewn together and then turned inside out. in the top right, you can see that one of the ends of the leather thongs broadens and has some stitch holes. It's quite similar to one of the Schleswig pouches. There is also a small hole in the bottom middle of the pouch. Some of these pouches had decorative leather strings attached to the bottom (Schleswig), but it is not clear from this hole if it was made intentional or not.


Here are some nice leather gloves. The two top gloves are working mittens. They are quite large, covering a large part of your wrists. there is a small leather loop sewn in so you can hang them on your belt or on a hook. Very convenient.


This is a very interesting purse that originally had some metal mount and a decorative leather thong passing through a series of slits cut in a semicircle. I don't know from which period it is.


There were many, many shoes. Here is a nice detail of a shoe with an incision, probably deliberate because the shoe was too small for the wearer. Also notice the nice leather edge, very well preserved.


Here is a nice old shoe with the seam on top. This type started in the 9th century and was in that period a 1-piece shoe, so the sole and upper were one piece of leather. Here you can see that the sole is already a separate part, indicating that it's from a later period. This specific shoe isn't in Kulturen 1938, but a similar shoe in the book is dated to the 13th century.


A nice leather belt with gothic letters and a leather knife scabbard. The scabbard is for a broken back seax, so probably not after the 11th century, Kulturen (1937) mentions similarities with the hunting knife of Charles the great, which is from the 10th or 11th century.


Two nice knife handles carved in the shape of a female figure. The left is from ivory, from the 14th century. The right probably as well.


Left: a nice lantern made from copper-alloy sheet. Right: another purse, looks like goat leather, with a single leather tong passing through the slits. It doesn't have clear folds which makes sense when the leather is goat because goat leather doesn't hold impressions very well.


Some random shoemaker stuff, two lasts, some pegs, cutting tools, etc. Too bad that more information on these objects is missing as well, but that seems to be the trend these days in museums: don't give too much information or the visitor might be overwhelmed by it. Don't tell them where we found it, or from what period it is or visitors will get recurring nightmares where they wake up in the middle of the night, sweating and screaming: "1275-1325!!! Lund! Lund! Lund!", while their bodies contort by the violent muscular contractions that renowned scientists from Harvard and Yale have directly linked to unprotected museum visits where the unsuspecting visitor was ruthlessly exposed to extremely high doses of information, forever traumatizing these poor victims whose sole purpose in life now consists of nothing more than either to simply keep living until the next breath is produced by their pulsating bodies or to find a way of making the perfect chocolate topping for whipped cream pie (seen in 14 % of studied subjects).


Left: A large leather pouch. Note that the fold is on the left and it is sewn on the bottom and right. The diagonal line is probably because it was deposited while folded diagonally. The holes are very larges, indicating that it was probably sewn with a leather string. Right: These look like small round pouches.


A small leather pouch, again with a decorative outer seam.


Detail of one of the knife sheaths with fleur-de-lys stamps, which is a common late medieval motif in all of north-west europe. There was also a nice sword scabbard with fleur-de-lys stamps


Detail of the edge of a shoe, with decorative and reinforcing leather thong.


Some of the many shoes in the museum.