All food experimentation regarding food is on hold until I recover from a nasty case of asthmatic bronchitis. I don’t want to alter my diet too much while my body is in a weakened state. Besides, Prednisone is making me cranky, and giving up processed food right now will probably push me over the edge and make me unbearable to live with.
So, in lieu of eating a medieval diet, I elected to see if I could find any more primary sources about what people used to wipe after defecating. This was one of the comments on my paper, and definitely something worthwhile to address.
I actually found the primary source I had been looking for while researching 15th century women’s lives. A comment in a book I had picked up referenced A Book of Nurture, written by John Russell, published in 1452. The quote had been modernized, but I now had a way to find the primary source. Eureka! I found this excerpt from “The office off a chamurlayne”, one of the chapters in A Boke of Nuture. I found the book from Project Gutenberg, but would like to find another copy to verify. I also need to translate the below for my paper, which will take some time, as I only understand about half of what is written in this section.
Se þe privehouse for esement be fayre, soote, & clene,
& þat þe bordes þer vppoñ / be keuered withe clothe feyre & grene,
& þe hoole / hym self, looke þer no borde be sene,
þeroñ a feire quoschyñ / þe ordoure no mañ to tene
looke þer be blanket / cotyñ / or lynyñ to wipe þe neþur ende;
and euer wheñ he clepithe, wayte redy & entende,
basoun and ewere, & oñ your shuldur a towelle, my frende;
In þis wise worship shalle ye wyñ / where þat euer ye wende
One of the annotations in this particular version of A Boke of Nurture references another potential primary source. I was able to find an English translation for this book, William of Malmesbury’s De Gestis Pontificum Anglorum, but I have not had the time to read it yet.
Progress is slower on the project than I would like and I am beginning to suspect that I have been too ambitious, as I have two other SCA related A&S projects that I am working on, and my duties as Diademe, and Head Nurse for the reign of Brennan II and Caoilfhionn II. I think that I may need to put the bobbin lace blog and my persona project on hold for a little so that I can focus on finishing the toilet paper project.