In spite of the small numbers this year, the 1300-1600 Collegium was wonderful with a lot of really great workshops and activities! I took a few photos down by the lake, and on the jetty.
My activity centred around the Trotula and Hildegard von Bingen toothcare recipes and re-testing my little canvas stall which I made quite a few years ago to see whether it had any benefit or use these days and was delighted to find that it was very easy to erect and practical size-wise for future things! The toothcare recipes were a lot of fun to make and there were no shortage of willing testers. I'll be doing separate posts about each one of those with the procedures and the verdicts. We all had a lot of feelings about them.
Another very cool activity was the marital trial from a German manuscript, where the husband stands in a hole up to his chest with one arm behind his back and his wife hits him with a sack of rocks. He has a club to defend himself with. We recreated it with sacks of pillows (for insurance reasons and to make it less dangerous) but even with pillows, the rounds of battle were absolutely hilarious, and quite effective.
Dried olives are absolutely not easy to achieve. Because they are very olive-oily, it's been a real effort to get them to a state where they will powder for my Trotula tooth care recipe experiment this weekend!
Firstly, I squeezed them very thoroughly, then put them in a slow oven to dry. 8 hours on the first day. blot with paper towels. 6 hours the following day and there are crispy bits around the edges and some chunks definitely look like they could be powdered. The next morning, however, they still looked like they could use a little more drying out, so back into the oven. Eventually, I decided they'd have to do and that enough of it would powder down.
Fingers crossed. They still look pretty oily, even though they're a bit crispy.
Clearly, if you have a nice ass, you're all the better for getting pregnant. Actually, any ass will do. Don't be confused. The specific type of ass Trotula was writing about, is the donkey kind. It can be found in texts before the 12th century to describe a horse-like animal with long ears and a braying sound, and the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it thus:
Any of several hardy gregarious (see gregarioussense 1a) African or Asian perissodactyl mammals (genus Equus) smaller than the horse and having long ears especially: an African mammal (E. asinus) that is the ancestor of the donkey
Noun (1) Middle English, from Old English assa, probably from Old Irish asan, from Latin asinus
For reasons best known to herself, Trotula recommended this kind of milk specifically as promoting a quick pregnancy, but, as with some of her other remedies, I remain doubtful.
The search is on to find some Crab's Feet Tea, in a location somewhere I can find and at a price I can afford. I have contacted a local herbalist who makes teas and sells some other bits and pieces to ask. My next step is to take the bus into the heart of our own Chinatowns, both Fortitude Valley and Market Square for a rummage through their herbal shops. I don't speak Chinese and some of the old shop owners may not speak much English so it might be interesting. I will take the name written down in Chinese and hope I can find something.
I have a theory that the Pangxie Jiao may be the type of plant the Trotula was talking about in her recipe for the tooth powder. The fact that it's from China makes it a very expensive item, but the frankincense it also uses is not cheap either. I had concerns that the crabfoot she mentions may not be a plant at all since her glossary lists the botanic name for other plants she uses, but not this. However... drumroll please... if this was an imported item from China, she may not actually have known the name.
The plant itself is a relation to mistletoe, which is a plant known and used in the Trotula texts and thought to have all kinds of beneficial properties.
Further questions arise, like where Trota was studying, were goods imported from China? I feel that the answer is yes, at that time.
Of course, Trota being Trota, it could also just be dried and crushed actual crab foot. That would give the powder some grittiness and an abrasive quality which would be helpful. Again, the frankincense does that already, so would it be needed. The thinking continues.
I have to admit, when I was setting up for the Trotula Hair Powder, I was extremely grateful that I'd been hoarding little ceramic bowls in case I needed them for re-enacting. I really wish that I'd taken this photo without the cutting board underneath. The contrast of the grey timber of the old wood table is much nicer for photos.
Making a medieval hair powder using the recipe attributed to Trotula in On Cosmetics.
The Trotula, or the set of three texts attributed to Trotula, included a section called On Women's Cosmetics, and includes recipes for beauty. Among these, we find a hair powder, so that the hair remains sweetly scented. In the section about On Various Kinds of Adornments, it reads:
But when she combs her hair, let her have this powder.Take some dried roses, clove, nutmeg, watercress and galangal. Let all these, powdered, be mixed with rose water.With this water let her sprinkle her hair and comb it with a comb dipped in this same water so that [her hair] will smell better.And let her make furrows in her hair and sprinkle on the above-mentioned powder, and it will smell marvelously.
I have recreated this powder and the scented rosewater to use in my MEDIEVAL BATH DISPLAY and have included a step by step guide to my approach, including my expectations and how it really worked out.
The overall verdict? An absolute delight and one recipe where Trotula really comes through.
The expectation:
There were a number of things to think about before I started.
Drying the ingredients or buying them pre-powdered?
Can I buy galangal and watercress locally?
Air dry or oven dry the grown ingredients?
Watercress doesn't smell like anything in particular, so what does it bring to the mix?
Which roses should I use?
When I add the rosewater to the powder, do I need to let it dry again and re-powder it?
How much of the powder do I add to the rosewater for the combing water so it isn't gluggy?
How much of which ingredients should I use?
Will it actually make any real difference to actual hair?
How long will it last as a hair powder?
Do any of the spices and plants have benefits associated with them which makes them particularly useful for a hair powder other than that they smell nice?
The reality:
This was a journey of great discovery, where I discovered:
Less is more of some things.
Watercress has quite a sweet smell when dried.
Air-dried roses take forever and don't crumble well.
Watercress plants can be bought from supermarkets!
Galangal is available at all good Indian spice stores.
Kitchen things Spoon Bowl for mixing Jug for rosewater Mortar and pestle for powdering
Method:
My plan was to buy what I could already prepared, and dry the other herbs myself without the use of modern ovens or drying implements. I felt that this would give me (perhaps) a more honest attempt at what might be achieved by a medieval woman at home. That said, I did buy the rosewater already made and several of the spices pre-ground. Mostly the reason for this was because I was genuinely unsure what quantities I would need to achieve a goodly amount of ground spices to use.
I checked some of the properties attributed to the plants being used in the hair powder to see if they were chosen for beneficial reasons, and was interested to note that Hildegarde von Bingen pairs nutmeg with galingale (galangal) to cure palsy of the brain and nutmeg itself against bitterness of the heart. Roses, we already know, are tied to the emotion, love.
Roses
I bought regular roses from the supermarket and air dried them in a bunch in my kitchen. This was a terrible idea, as the rose heads took a really long time to dry. I had some in the cupboard which were quite old, but they still didn't powder well. For future rose powder, I would separate the petals and dry them on a tray in a really hot sun. These petals had some smell but like many modern roses, not a great deal, so for my next powder, I will use especially scented roses. I started with one spoon, but ended up adding a second one.
Watercress
After finding it powdered online expensively with added shipping, I was surprised to find it fresh at the supermarket. It smelled like wet plant when a few leaves were crushed but after drying, had a sweet meadow smell which was very nice. I dried this by blotting the excess moisture with paper towels and sun drying over several days. I would spread it thinner on the tray for drying next time. Initially, I used one spoon for the mix, but later added a second one.
Galangal (Galingale)
I bought this from an Indian Spice store but was able to find it afterwards in supermarkets. I will be planting in my garden for future fresh root but this was an easy option for me this time. It has a gingery smell which was very nice, and I used one spoon full.
Cloves
I bought this already powdered simply because I couldn't get hold of any whole ones at the moment, which was odd because it's usually very easy to get. The smell is quite strong, and I expected it to overpower everything else if I used an equal amount, but it was tempered by the other ingredients. Hildegarde recommends cloves to clear stuffiness of the head, although whether Trotula chose it to include for that reason, I do not know.
Nutmeg
I bought powdered nutmeg although I already had some in my cupboard because I wanted fresh. I expected the nutmeg to make the entire powder reminiscent of baked cookies so I felt it was a good inclusion. Because I needed a starting point, I used a single spoon full for the powder, and it seemed to work well at that level.
Rosewater
I was honestly going to have a go at making some but on discovering four different brands of it at cheap prices, I piked out and bought some. I feel that even without the addition of any of the powder, it would be successful as a hair perfume by itself. Whether or not the spices would ruin it or mix well with it was to be seen.
Method:
The roses and the watercress were not completely dry enough to get a fine powder in the quantity I needed, so in order to make a start, I fine chopped the rose petals and gave the watercress a really thorough crushing with my hands.
I used a single spoon of each of the dry ingredients as a starting point expecting the cloves to completely overpower everything else in the mix and was very surprised to find that not only was the mix extremely nice on a one-to-one basis, it was also quite strong, meaning a little would go a long way. This is particularly good as the price of spices in the middle ages was likely to be expensive depending on where one lived. It wasn't going to be cheap and some of the plants were unlikely to have been locally grown.
I then added a heaped teaspoon to about a cup (or two cups? I didn't measure it first before I poured it in the jug) and stirred it into the rosewater. The mix didn't blend in especially well which left me to wonder whether a finer powder would have worked better, whether a really good shake would have been better, or whether it ought be shaken then left for a day or two to infuse the rosewater and then strained before use.
I felt the spices NOT being strained out would be more likely to be more fragrant against the scalp as it warms with body heat over the day.
The results:
products 1: The hair powder. I really liked this made in a one-to-one ratio but decided to add extra roses and watercress as they had a far more subtle aroma. This changed the overall smell, but whether it improved it or not would be more of a personal choice. I expected the cloves to overpower everything else, and while it certainly was a strong smell, it wasn't overpowering in my mind.
When sprinkled in the hair along furrows as suggested by Trotula, it smelled very nice. After several hours of wear, the hair retained a really nice scent and I would say this absolutely works.
products 2: The scented rosewater. This would have smelled lovely without the additives, but with the additives, it was quite lovely, with a stronger rose smell. My liquid was a little full of flotsam due to my roses and watercress not being properly dried and powdered, but it worked quite well.
The test subject reported that it wasn't itchy or unpleasant to wear and after a day of wear, said perhaps her hair was nicer afterwards.
I used the remainder of the rosewater and spice liquid in my bath and soaked my hair in the water and didn't rinse it out and the following day it seemed a little less frizzy on the ends. This may have been the rosewater entirely, and I reserve judgement until I test that theory.
The "sniff test" audience results:
Being of a scientific mind, I asked both re-enactors and general members of the public to sniff the hair powder and choose a response from four choices. A diverse range of ages were polled, and of 40 people questioned, the responses were as follows:
OMG no! Get it away from me! (1 vote)
Meh. Not offensive or inoffensive. (2 votes)
Smells nice, but I would not use it on my person. (17 votes)
I would use this in my hair as a medieval person. (20 votes)
The following comments were spontaneously added:
Like cookies! (3 people)
MMm! Oh! Like a tea! (3 people)
That smells like mulled wine! Is that mulled wine? (1 person)
I can smell Star anise! (4 people)
As a general trend, younger people liked the smell more and would potentially use it as a medieval person, whereas older people liked the smell but not so much that they would wear it. Of the older persons who would wear it, all mentioned cookies or mulled wine at Christmas time, indicating that it invoked good feelings associated with the scent.
Another photo taken by my friend down at the jetty and the thing I love about this is the way the sky and the tents are reflected in the water.
I must admit, I did feel a little silly taking so many photos over the weekend, but now that I'm home, I'm extremely glad I did. No members of the public meant that it was easier to take photos without modern people and strollers in the background, but also that friends were available to photos. I also needed to get some photos of garments which weren't new, but that I had no decent photos of for my inventory. My friend, Michelle, from Cabinet of Medical Curiosity (who does a series of historical medical displays) also had no good photos of her outfits either, so I was able to take some for her.
I also took the opportunity to get some funny faces ones for future book posts, because I never seem to find facial expressions which match things sometimes.
I really wish I had this lake on the other photo with the buttons on the kirtle, so there might be a photoshop job for me to combine the two in my future.
The testing and experimenting of the Trotula hair powder recipe at the 1300-1600 Medieval Collegium Event was wildly successful and worked so much better than I expected. I learned quite a lot and certainly there were quite a few surprises along the way with not only the ingredients, but the methodology also. I'll be doing a post about what I expected and what happened in the next day or two.
There was an enthusiastic crowd of fellow history nerds, so I was able to think out load about my process and what I was expecting and things which worked and didn't. I was fortunate that I had a fearless friend who let me test out the powder and the comb dip liquid on her actual hair and then let people sniff her hair. The entire crowd all agreed that the recipe certainly did what it was supposed to, and it was fun playing around the the quantities.
I did manage to take photos along the way and over the next week, I'll edit them for the proper blog post, but this photo was taken by a member of the audience. Not for the first time, I was glad that I had accumulated a bunch of small, ceramic dishes that I didn't need because "someday I might want them" because they were PERFECT for the demonstration.
Tonight I poured the left over powder and hair comb dip into my bathwater and soaked myself and my hair in it and quite frankly, it was wonderful-smelling! The residual smell in my hair is very subtle since it was very dilluted in the bath water, but it is still there.
Photography can be hard, but sometimes, a little perseverance pays off. This photo from the weekend was taken with my phone, the camera itself propped up against a seat and with a 10 second timer so I can lean forwards, then hastily shuffle back into what I hope will be a good position before it clicks. Getting the tents in the background was the ideal.
To make things trickier, there was a bright blue portaloo to one side in the background and a farmhouse at the other side. Getting it framed just right was tricky. I took quite a few in the hopes that one of them would be good and I am so, so pleased with this one! It even shows the buttons all the way up my arm and I look for all the world like I've been sitting there contemplating something and not scrambling to arrange my dress in less than ten seconds.
I really love this photo. My definite favourite from the weekend!
My gosh didn't I have fun today! The Medieval Collegium event was great. More than anything, it gave a chance to try new things, test newer things and sit around and actually talk to the people that you promise you'll talk to at other events and don't get to talk to because everyone is busy. It was my first visit to the site, so it was good to see what the amenities were like and where and how I'd set up next time. The have a guild hall for workshops, a long house with a bar, an outdoor bar, a trebuchet, a lake and a jetty with a little shelter on the end of it and a really big fire-pit which could comfortably cook two entire pigs. Portaloos and tap water were a real bonus since it's held on a private property.
Here's the short version:
Venue was fantastic. lots of great spaces.
Did some sewing on the Ham Kirtle.
The Trotula hair powder experiment went really well.
I took lots of nice photos of the test.
Photo taking at the lake was really great.
Spent time with nice friend.
Put a bit more thought into a group name for myself.
Decided group name needs to be squirrelly.
I'm now utterly exhausted, but have a lot to think about and need to do and a bunch of photo editing from the day to make usable pics for blogs and social media. Also unpacking the chest of things I used for the Trotula experiment and eating things.
Attempting to recreate a medieval recipe can be tricky because the amounts given are often described as "some," "a little," "twice as much," and "enough." Some proportions can be gathered from this. Use twice as much rosewater and plain water, for instance. other times, one is flying blind. As part of my new medieval bath display, I hope to have a hair powder made from a medieval recipe. I'll be making it for the first time next weekend at an historical event and taking notes. At this point, I have the recipe and the ingredients, some grown and dried, others sourced from a local spice shop.
Medieval women were just as concerned with beauty products for their skin and hair as women are today. Many herbal preparations were used to cleanse, protect, lighten or dye the hair. Hair loss was also a concern which was attended to with herbal balms and tinctures. These recipes were found in manuscripts like the Tacuinum Sanitatus, which were copied and recopied.
Most recipes were herbal, but some had more exotic ingredients. The Trotula, or the texts attributed to Trotula, include On Women's Cosmetics, and include recipes for beauty including a beautiful-smelling hair powder, so that the hair remains sweetly scented. In the section about On Various Kinds of Adornments, it reads:
But when she combs her hair, let her have this powder. Take some dried roses, clove, nutmeg, watercress and galangal. Let all these, powdered, be mixed with rose water. With this water let her sprinkle her hair and comb it with a comb dipped in this same water so that [her hair] will smell better. And let her make furrows in her hair and sprinkle on the above-mentioned powder, and it will smell marvelously.
I had a heck of a time trying to buy galangal today but an even worse one trying to get watercress today. Only to discover that I could buy it fresh from either of our everyday supermarkets in the produce section. I've never even seen it there before, so it came as a rather large surprise.
Quite a few other spices I was able to buy in bulk from an Indian Spice Market, only a short bus detour on the way home from work.
I'm going to attempt to recreate a hair powder recipe from (attributed to) Trotula's 12th century manuscript on cosmetics. If I'm successful, I will have this at the bath display for people to smell and micro-test for themselves. I've seen a number of other people make it, so I'm reasonably confident I should be able to produce a good result and an interesting post on the steps as I go.
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