Do You Want to Be Truly Period Correct?

[Mission]

Hurricane suggested this fascinating book to me called Hubbub: Filth, Noise & Stench in England by Emily Cockayne. She took her doctorate thesis on noise during the 17th and 18th centuries and expanded into a book on all the irritations of that period. If you really want to create a period-correct campsite, here are some notes from her book for your consideration.

“The skin of seventeenth and eighteenth century citizens was irritated by disease and infestations and chafed by coarse fabrics and dirty linen.” (Cockayne, p. 83)

“Many conditions would have caused itching, including eczema, impetigo, ‘psorophthalmy’ (eyebrow dandruff), scabies, chilblains, chapped and rough skin, ‘tetters’ (spots and sores), ‘black morphew’ (leprous or scurvy skin) and ringworm. Few citizens enjoyed smooth unblemished skin. Cuts and grazes could lead to ugly and uncomfortable scabbing and unattractive scarring. In this pre-antibiotic era, skin eruptions in the forms of bulging pustules, lesions, acne and gout-induced ulcers could all have become infected, causing chronic wounds.’” (Cockayne, p. 54)

“Venereal disease was the secret epidemic that blighted the entire period. In addition to weeping sores on the lips, venereal diseases necessitated scratching in embarrassing places. Prostitutes and their clients were most frequently exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, and whores, strumpets, harlots and lechers were often given the sobriquets of ‘itchy’ and ‘pocky’.” (Cockayne, p. 55)

“Many bottoms would have itched with discomfort thanks to the presence of thread and tape worms in the digestive system. According to the numbers contemporary adverts, worms created a myriad of physical discomforts, including ‘pinching Pain in the Belly, when hungry, a stinking Breath’, vomiting, nightmares, pallidness, fever and teeth gnashing.” (Cockayne, p. 55)

“Fleas proliferated in sea ports. While lodging at the White Swan in Gravesend, William Schellinks discovered that ‘the English fleas are very aggressive’. Indeed, they were so aggressive that he forsook his bed for a hard bench.” (Cockayne, p. 56-7)

“[Thomas] Muffet remarked that fleas, whole troublesome to all, do not stink like ‘wall-lice’ (bed-bugs), and added that it is no ‘disgrace...to be troubled with them, as it is to be lowsie [lousy]’.” (Cockayne, p. 57)

“[Keith] Thomas acknowledges that full body immersion was rare, a fact partly attributable to the relative shortage of appropriate facilities. However, Thomas argues that body parts were cleaned, even if the whole body was rarely immersed. Cleaning was more often a dry process, with a rub down using a brush of pig’s hair to dislodge the lice. ‘Rub the Hair with a Napkin is to dry it from its swettiness and filth in the head’ was included among the descriptions of the barber’s work in Randle Holme’s The Academy of Amory (1688).”

“It is unlikely that soap featured much in the cleansing routine. Made from rancid fats and alkaline matter such as ashes, most cakes of soap would have been quite greasy and would have irritated the skin. The finest soaps were crafted from olive oil, and were kinder to the skin, but these were expensive and would not have been used widely.” (Cockayne, p. 60)

I'll post more of this as I get to entering it into my notes.

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

http://www.cleaning101.com/cleaning/history/soaphistory2.cfm

above is a link with a bit of soap history

Here is a link that discribes some of the oils that were used in some or cleaning

http://www.aussiesoapsupplies.com.au/Oil-P...rties-p-21.html

Here is a more concise writing on hygiene during the centuries.

http://www.scienceinthebox.com/en_UK/pdf/h...-of-washing.pdf

a bit of soap history from the caribbean/south america area

Da Costa Soap" used to be brought to Brazil by slaves who came from the African Coast, since around 1620, inform travelers and Portuguese chroniclers, of that time.

It used to come from an area between Ghana and Cameroon, and mainly from Nigeria, the Republic of Benin and Togo.

Although Brazil has always imported also other soaps, such as russian soap, american soap, Marseille soap (from France) or english soap - there are records in the Brazilian National Archive - the Da Costa Soap, has always been the favorite one among slaves and freedmen.

Among the iai�s, the success was not different. The texture of the skin of their mucamas was widely envied by them. They all wanted to use the same "savon" soap, in french - (after all "everything" was French - in Brazil, at the time) but they preferred a savonette, a "savon of toilette. " a toilette soapbar. And to do this the mucamas needed to change the scent of the original Da Costa Soap. How to do it? It was not that difficult.

Usually, during the night, gardens of Casa Grande (manor) in the coffe plantation farms - used to emanate diverse and delicious aromas of so different flowers. There were so many that it was difficult to pick: Jasmine? Manac�s? Rosemary? Or maybe Almecegueiras? Magnolias? Oh, ok; a few petals of patchouli .

And voil�! The mixture was then applied to the Da Costa Soap; that then yes, was appreciated by the nhanh�s. And the scented Da Costa Soap used to show up.

According to Gilberto Freyre in his universal work, "Master and Slaves", it was the Muslim slaves - due to their hygiene habits who introduced the custom of bathing in Brazil.

And after slavery abolition they began to sell such soap to the population of Brazil - in general. Traditional or scented ones. Initially, on the streets of Rio de Janeiro, then capital of the republic. And then throughout our country, Brazil.

here is another link that you might find interesting

http://www.springerlink.com/content/xhmx76pgea1b9ka8/

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

Ok, here is a bit of more information...(can you tell I am a bit bored at the moment?

Plentiful supplies of high quality olive oil and barilla ashes (from which they made their alkali) made regions like Castile in Spain and Marseilles in France renowned for the quality of the soap they produced. The method used throughout the Middle Ages and up to the 17th century consisted of boiling olive oil (in Mediterranean countries) or animal fats (in Northern Europe) with an extract of plant ashes and lime.

In the 16th century, three broad varieties of soap were available: coarse soap made from train oil (extracted from whale blubber), sweet soap from olive oil and speckled soap from tallow. For a while, the making of speckled soap was forbidden, not simply because it smelt so bad but because its manufacture would deplete the nation’s tallow reserves, thereby driving up the cost of candles beyond the reach of the poor.

As a result, soap was heavily taxed and became a luxury item only readily available to the rich. Eventually, market forces virtually eliminated sweet and speckled soaps, despite the difficulty of making an odourless coarse soap. Understandably, it wasn’t long before perfumed soaps were introduced from Italy.

In the early 17th century, chemists and soap manufacturers began to address the problems confronting the soap industry. Their combined efforts over the next 150 years produced an understanding of the chemistry involved, resulting in greater manufacturing efficiency, a wider variety of more fragrant and colourful solid (and liquid) soaps, and milder soaps for use on the finest lace and linens. The industry thrived.

Link to the website....http://www.open2.net/historyandthearts/discover_science/soapmaking.html

bit on soapmaking...http://www.whitestagandfox.org/temair/handouts/Soapmaking%20Handout%20Pennsic%202002.pdf

[Capt. Bo of the WTF co.]

Hmmm. All this also opens up that can of worms over shaving and beards. How would one shave a blemished face such as described here? Not likely I say. Any info in there on this?

Bo

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

Artist Unknown, Probably French, 17th Century

Object: Shaving Set (Secular Object).

Shaving set in tortoiseshell with silver mounts.

Dimensions: 25.9 x 11.5 x 8.1 cm

Acquisition: Bequeathed Mr. J Hunt, 1977

Reference: NGI.12060

Back to Provenance Research index

Provenance Research

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

1770 - French barber JEAN-JACQUES PERRET writes a treatise called The Art of Learning to Shave Oneself (La Pogonotomie), which gives men advice for using various shaving products and equipment. His book is also the first to originally propose the idea of a "safety razor."

LATE 1700s - The PERRET RAZOR is actually manufactured, which is an L-shaped wooden guard that holds a razor blade in place. This will prevent one from cutting too deeply into their skin. Still, it lacks the real "safety" capabilities that everyone wants and needs, and therefore is not considered to be the first true safety razor. This is, however, the beginning of the safety razor’s evolution.

Hey from another site found this...http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2007/03/11/botin11.xml

17th-century English life. Whether it is the techniques employed in building military earthworks, or the cost of renting a pensione in 1650s Rome, or the vogue among fashionable Restoration gentlemen for shaving their heads ('in the Turkish mode') before donning their full-bottomed wigs: cumulatively, this richness of quotidian detail provides an exhilarating sense of closeness to the past - almost of eavesdropping on the Verneys' conversations.

...so does that mean guys ya gotta shave yer heads too? ROFLMAO...

OK, did I mention I was bored....

from "Barber History" text ....http://books.google.com/books?id=nZ0cTwgjMIgC&pg=PA10&lpg=PA10&dq=shaving+17+th+century&source=web&ots=M6U0hU31b5&sig=nQrA9Jn6E2E_vgSqTJ-ssFpKmUE&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result

interesting fact on beard history....

Later on, in the 15th century most men in Europe were clean-shaven. But priests often used beards as a signal that they were convinced of the doctrines of Protestant Reformation. The longer the beard, the stronger the signal.

After the early 17th century beards were not in fashion anymore at all in Western Europe and America. In 1698 Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, ordere men to shave their beards and collected even a tax on beards, to bring Russia closer to modern Europe.

OHHH OHHHH, did you know that shaving was a cause of the Ottman empire collapsing...

Yep...at least according to a Mid eastern website...

http://www.inter-islam.org/Prohibitions/beard.html

(ok, it stated more that the moors were accepting the standards of the West by shaving their beard, then went on to say the empire then fell...the article is trying to get the Islamic men to let their beards grow)

YES, I am really REALLY bored..

Ok, back to the question...

In urban circles of Western Europe and the Americas, beards were out of fashion after the early 17th century; to such an extent that, in 1698, Peter the Great of Russia levied a tax on beards in order to bring Russian society more in line with contemporary Western Europe.

Edited October 12, 2008 by Lady Cassandra Seahawke

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

although shaving on a deck upon a rolling sea might be a bit of a challenge ey?

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

In the 15th century, the beard was worn long. Clergymen in 16th century England were usually clean shaven to indicate their celibacy. When a priest became convinced of the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation, also referred to as the Protestant Revolution, was a movement in the 1...

he would often signal this by allowing his beard to grow, showing that he rejected the tradition of the church and perhaps also its stance on clerical celibacy. The longer the beard, the more striking the statement. Sixteenth century beards were therefore suffered to grow to an amazing length .

Strangely, this trend was especially marked during Queen Mary's Mary I of England

Mary I , also known as Mary Tudor, was Queen of England and Queen of Ireland ...

reign, a time of reaction against protestant reform . At this time the beard was very often made use of as a tooth-pick case. Brantôme tells us that Admiral Coligny ... Gaspard de Coligny

Gaspard de Coligny, Seigneur de Chtillon, Admiral of France and Protestant leader, came of a nob ...

wore his tooth-pick in his beard. Queen Elizabeth Elizabeth I of England

Elizabeth I was Queen of England , Queen of France , and Queen of Ireland ...

, succeeding Mary, is said to have disliked beards and therefore established a tax on them.

here is an articles about the nature of beards...

http://books.google.com/books?id=d2IMAAAAY...8&ct=result

________________________________________________________________________________

_______

So it seems wearing a beard was a matter of style, where you lived, who was in power and yer finances.

Ummm..... are you learning more then ya ever wanted to know ta facial hairs???

Edited October 12, 2008 by Lady Cassandra Seahawke

[hurricane]

Glad you liked it Mission. Everyone should read that book and it is so well referenced and footnoted it will keep those who wish to pursue absolute accuracy busy for a long time.

I particularly liked the part about the painters of the period being the PhotoShoppers of their times. That people with clef palettes or part of a missing jaw or all blistery were fixed in the paintings so the artist could sell them. Kind of changes your view of what people actually looked like back then.

I encourage everyone to read this book. Damned fine work! And thanks Mission for posting excerpts from your notes.

-- Hurricane

[Jack Roberts]

Aye agree. Fantastic read for sure. Really puts you into the time frame and helps to get into the mind set of the time.

Highly recommended. (Not that it would account for much.)

[Lady Cassandra Seahawke]

ok, shuffling off...thought my quick research stuff was ok... dragg'n my cutlass behind me tip scratch'n a line in the dirt.... dejections...hanging head... ...rejections...sigh...going back to lurking.

[Mission]

Hmmm. All this also opens up that can of worms over shaving and beards. How would one shave a blemished face such as described here? Not likely I say. Any info in there on this?

Bo

Pepys says he shaved with pumice in his diary. (Think how much fun that would have been.) Still, if you can stand that, you would probably be conditioned to handle more wear on your face than we're used to. I have been trying to find a good reference for shaving implements from the period, but have not been satisfied with what I've come across so far. Still, I have two tortoiseshell handled straight razors in my barber-surgeon's kit. They are both flat handled, which I understand is period correct, but they also have thumb latches, which I understand may not be. (There are some websites on shaving instruments, but I've found most of them lacking in either the sort of information I want or proper authority to back them up. I am very wary of websites without proper footnotes. Note, my comments on websites are not directed at Lady Casandra, who has given us an overwhelming number of references to websites which I have not fully explored. Also note that Cockayne is restricting the subject of her book to 16th and (I believe) early/mid 17th century England and thus info on foreign soaps may not be applicable to the quotes.)

[Mission]

After the early 17th century beards were not in fashion anymore at all in Western Europe and America. In 1698 Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, ordere men to shave their beards and collected even a tax on beards, to bring Russia closer to modern Europe.

This agrees with a quote from the book I originally mentioned, which includes the Pepys/pumice reference.

"Male middling sorts and professionals usually displayed a smooth beard-free face. [samuel] Pepys used a pumice to remove facial hair in 1662." (Cockayne, p. 66)

[MadMike]

Soap is made from lye, not ashes. Water is poured through ashes to extract the lye, which is then boiled with rendered tallow, lard, etc. to make soap.

During the American Revolutionary War soap was part of the men's rations, equivalent to the size of a small bar.

Despite this, conditions were such that bathing was a low priority (go on a three day period trek and you'll see what I mean- I had to shower twice to get the stench of the camp fire off me).

Yours, Mike

[Mission]

I am certainly no expert on soap, so I looked it up. From the Wiki entry on Soap:

"Lye

Reacting fat with sodium hydroxide will produce a hard soap.

Reacting fat with potassium hydroxide will produce a soap that is either soft or liquid. Historically, the alkali used was potassium hydroxide made from the deliberate burning of vegetation such as bracken, or from wood ashes."

Unless I misunderstand it, it sounds like soap can be made from a chemical that comes from ashes. However, it also sounds as if the only component required was the alkali produced from the ashes -- although how this was used in the soap is not explicitly explained on the Wiki page.

[blackjohn]

While serving in the Royal Artillery I was at one point held as a prisoner of war in an American fort on the frontier. We were given the honors of war and were allowed to keep our bayonets. My sergeant made a point on maintaining military discipline, which included continually polishing the brass on the bayonet scabbards with ashes, water, and elbow grease.

[Graydog]

While serving in the Royal Artillery I was at one point held as a prisoner of war in an American fort on the frontier. We were given the honors of war and were allowed to keep our bayonets. My sergeant made a point on maintaining military discipline, which included continually polishing the brass on the bayonet scabbards with ashes, water, and elbow grease.

As long as the Sergeant didn't make you polish your bayonets in front of each other it shouldn't be much of an issue.

Edited October 17, 2008 by Graydog

[Capt. Sterling]

unattractive scarring.

Got that one covered and if I stick with Lilly, I am certain to cover a few of the others...

[LadyBarbossa]

LOL... Poor Sterling.

Mission! This is fantastic info! A couple of those "plagues" being caused by a poor immune system from lack of Vitamin C or something else! Would make sense if someone wasn't getting enough food or sun or something we today take for granted. I admit, been there, done that and can relate to some of those in a manner of speaking. One may go to great lengths to find a way to cover that troubled part of the body.

Thank ye for the info though.

~Lady B

[blackjohn]

While serving in the Royal Artillery I was at one point held as a prisoner of war in an American fort on the frontier. We were given the honors of war and were allowed to keep our bayonets. My sergeant made a point on maintaining military discipline, which included continually polishing the brass on the bayonet scabbards with ashes, water, and elbow grease.

As long as the Sergeant didn't make you polish your bayonets in front of each other it shouldn't be much of an issue.

Ho ho!

For that, you get one of these.

[blackjohn]

Fwiw, I've been "trying out" severe vitamin D deficiency to see what that is like.

Kids, don't do this at home.

Trust me on this one.

[Littleneckhalfshell]

wow, who knew I was already on the way to being truly period correct! I already have at times the ‘psorophthalmy’ (eyebrow dandruff) and now, since I do sport a beard, I hope the politicians are not students of history and don't get the idea to renew the tax on beards, after all, they seem to be ready to tax everything else! I guess that is why I turned pirate

[Animal]

Soap is made from lye, not ashes. Water is poured through ashes to extract the lye, which is then boiled with rendered tallow, lard, etc. to make soap.

During the American Revolutionary War soap was part of the men's rations, equivalent to the size of a small bar.

Despite this, conditions were such that bathing was a low priority (go on a three day period trek and you'll see what I mean- I had to shower twice to get the stench of the camp fire off me).

Yours, Mike

Hey, I like the smell of a campfire!!!! Of course, that's why they call me the Animal

Animal

[Mission]

I was at the Smithsonian Natural History museum on Thanksgiving and they had a special exhibit there called "Written in Bone" with a part focusing on early colonial forensics. (All of which I highly recommend.) Of particular interest was the condition of some of the bones they found and what the forensic experts had to say about them. I took loads of pics, so I thought I'd share some of the bits that connected with our hobby. (Those of you wishing to be truly PC can decide if you want to start modifying your bones or not based on this display.) This material is reprinted from the exhibit signs, gathered 11/26/09.

"The Pleasure of a Pipe?

Many activities can affect the skeleton, if repeated again and again. The wear and tear of growing tobacco bent the backs of colonists, while the habit of smoking tobacco in clay pipes damaged and stained their teeth. As they clenched the pipe between their teeth, the abrasive clay of the pipe stem wore facets in the enamel of the teeth around the pipe. Eventually these facets left holes in the bite.

Nearly everyone in colonial Chesapeake, young and old, men and women, was smoking - a fact that only skeletal evidence could reveal. All of these skulls from the Patuxent Point site show well-defined pipe facets, some so deep they caused abscessed teeth."

Now, I accidentally cut off the signs explaining these skulls, but I do know for certain that the one of the left is a youth and the one in the middle is a man. I believe the one on the right is a woman, but my memory could be playing tricks. Looks like the man had a two pipe at a time habit.

Some job-related bone modifications. (Imagine the what sailors might have for repeated bone alterations and proceed as you feel compelled. Or not.)

"Shoemaker's Femur

Repeated muscle damage from nailing a shoe or pounding leather braced against the thigh can cause chronic bleeding in the tissue around the femur. New bone growth in the region of the hemorrhaging can create a distinctive, ectopic (abnormal) formation."

From the descriptions in this pic:

"(below) Shoemaker's combination tool

17th century Peter Scott site, James City County, Virginia

this iron tool has pliers for stretching leather and a hammer for setting shoe nails or pegs, as the shoemaker held the shoe on his leg."

"(right) Femur with damage possibly from shoemaking

ca. 1600-1630s Statehouse Complex Burial Ground, Jamestown, Virginia

The first known shoemaker in Virginia was Christopher Nelms, in 1619, he left Bristol, England, to come to Jamestown, with a contract of two years' of wages paid in advance and the promise of 70 acres of land for the third year. By 1620, a muster roll of colonists showed his untimely death."

There was also a display on something called "tailor's notches" (in the teeth), which I would think might easily relate to sailmakers. Unfortunately, the pics are really bad and you can't even see the notches in the teeth they show very well (because the camera aperture opened for a long time in the dark room and I didn't hold the camera steady). However, I'll give you my best read on the fuzzy words in the photo and post it for reference anyhow.

"Maxillae and mandible of an adult female, with "tailor's notches"

ca. 16?? - 16?? ?? County Maryland

"Central maxillary incisor or a woman buried at ????? ???? plantation (?????'s Point cemetery), Virginia, ca. 1625."

And, lastly, an exploded skull, which has nothing whatsoever to do with period, but I thought was really cool, so I felt like sharing it.

[Brig]

You had me at "exploded skull".