Archive for February, 2008
Golden Age Review
Monday, February 25th, 2008Last night, I finally got to see Golden Age. I’ve been dying to see it ever since it came out, but that’s the life of a parent, huh?
Because this was a historic film that was done around my favorite time in history and included phenomenal actors in beautiful wardrobes, I can’t hate this film. […]
Syphilis
Friday, February 22nd, 2008What better to follow up my posting on brothels and prostitutes than an piece on syphilis?
One of the articles I read indicated that proof of syphilis was found dating all the way back to the 13th century in the tombs of monks whose mutilated bones indicated issues caused by congenital syphilis. However, Syphilis’ first recorded […]
Brothels and Prostitutes
Thursday, February 21st, 2008As pious as the church ruled medieval times were, brothels were still in operation. In fact, they were in operation under consent of the church as they considered it a necessary evil to help fight the sins of rape and sodomy. Prostitutes were so welcomed in fact that they even were able to be absolved […]
The Downfall of Medieval Medicine
Wednesday, February 20th, 2008Medieval medicine was based on the research the ancient Greeks had performed and so followed the works of men, such as Galen, closely. While Galen made amazing discoveries in the human body like heart valves, spinal cord and muscle control, he also had some things very wrong like the placement of all the organs since […]
Fasting
Thursday, February 14th, 2008Contrary to popular belief, fasting during medieval times did not just occur on special occasions such as Lent and Advent, but every other day of the week. Gluttony was a sin much frowned upon and in an effort to keep gluttons at bay, the church ordained that Wednesdays and Fridays (Saturdays sometimes too) were the […]
Servants
Wednesday, February 13th, 2008The wealth of the upper class was often determined by the amount of property they had as well as the amount of servants they owned. The average upper class family owned anywhere from 100-200 servants. These servants performed specific tasks, such as the woman who cleaned the floors to the boys who hauled water to […]
Shoes
Friday, February 8th, 2008Shoes during the medieval days were very boring. They were often times made of plain leather that were either plain slide on slippers that required no fasteners or the fasteners were made of a plain toggle and loop. Men and women wore similar fashions and very little experimentation was done with stitching and decoration.
As the […]
Chains of Office
Thursday, February 7th, 2008The chains of office, or livery collars as they are sometimes referred to as, came into popularity in the 14th century when introduced by the trend setter, Charles V of France in the late 1300’s. Typically the livery collar was given by people of power to their friends and employees to denote their loyalty. The […]