A continuation as the first blog post was too long for Live Journal!

CLVII
Dominus Ludovicu, pro dimid’ cendallo ad unum pallium, & pro cendallo ad unum capellum ad ag’. XV. s.
Lord Louis, for a half (a bolt?) of cendal for a hanging and for cendal for a cloak at ag. XV. s.

CLVII
Pro roba, de viridi forato de celdal, octo dies ante Magdalenum ( Read more... )

“Le Premiere Budget de la Monarchie Francaise, Le Compte Générale de 1202-1203” by Ferdinand Lot and Robert Fawtier (1932) features a complete transcription of the first French royal budgetary record still extant.  With this blog, I’ve read through and extracted the pertinent records that related to clothing.  Presented below is a table that ( Read more... )

I guess I am on a roll with this new cookbook.  Here's a new to me procedure to harvest yeast to use in yeast cakes.  I imagine that the rinsing process would remove the taste of barm and wine slurry to get a more delicate yeast flavor.  And though the recipe doesn't specify this, these types of fritters are often coated with sugar/cinnamon, which ( Read more... )

Also from the Nuremberg 1560 cookbook, Ein sehr Künstliches und fürtrefflichs Kochbuch von allerley Speysen, Auch wie man Latwergen und Zucker einmachen sol, und sonst von andern guten heimlichen Künsten : Einem jeden im Hauß sehr notwendig und nützlich zugebrauchen here: Read more... )

I am especially interested in this recipe as part of my own personal heritage.  The city of Zwickau is just a few miles from my mother's father's birthplace and ancestral family seat.  It seems to be a stewed chicken with a finished sauce of creamy milk, eggs, parsley and bacon.  I want to try it ( Read more... )

The Coronation of Anne Boleyn was held from Thursday to Sunday.  The source for this is "A History of the Coronation" by W. J. Passingham, pages 171 - 185. Every part of the ceremony is lavish, and I marvel at how Henry must have felt for Anne.

Part One – Thursday – The River Procession to the Tower

In the month of Maie (1533), THE Kinges ( Read more... )

I've been thinking strongly about finishing the Henry VIII style gown this year and I have been collecting images about clothing in 1530's England.  I ran across this description of Henry VIII's bed and wondered how imposing it might have been to the women who shared it.  I


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I took a little side trip to see how I am doing on being able to read cooking manuscripts.  Not too bad!  At first I was a thinking whoa, this is too hard, but then I remembered that I have to practice before I can read these things.  I started an index for this, and got through the first 25 pages and the manuscript came to life ( Read more... )

This is taken from Das Ackerwerk by Lucii Columellae and Palladii (1536) - an ancient Roman text.  It is clear that it is a translation of the Latin text "De Re Rustica", and there is some difficulty with the translator identifying the original plants.    One of the big problems is that looking up some of the plant names in 16th century herbals ( Read more... )

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