Well, I certainly am not in any position to debate the validity of
the "mini Ice Age" theory but, I have spent the weekend at an event
in an English castle and I can tell you they are still damp. As for
cold I still hold that it is a matter of perspective I grew up in
Ottawa, Canada and to me living in Manchester, England for a year was
delightfully warm! On the other hand, I currently live in Minnesota
and I'm constantly freezing. <G> The one thing I did learn growing
up with cold winters was lots of layers was the way to keep warm and
if you look at historical clothing the first thing you encounter
is...lots of layers.
Anyway, as other people of mentioned, menstruation and preparing for
it is something we no almost nothing about in any historical
period. It is a topic that belongs solely to women, and very few
women's voices survive the ages to reach us, and almost none on any
personal topics. This is knowledge that has always passed from
mother to daughter, and is usually viewed as an "unclean" topic by
men. I think that Stubbes is a perfect example of that. The only
reference I have ever encountered and he is using it to insult
someone by calling them a "menstrous clout". Either way, that does
give us at least a bit of information that our mother's or
grandmother's "rags" probably wasn't far off the mark.
Cheers,
Danielle
At 01:40 PM 1/10/2006, you wrote:
But Danielle, I was under the impression with reading and the
History Channel, that during the Medieval and Renaissance periods
Europe was going through what historians/scientists considered a
"mini Ice Age". Plus, my finace' who was stationed in Europe has
mentioned that when he was involved with Ren faires and the like
that the castles were quite chilly.
Since, I am a newbie when it comes to period underwear. What did
women do during their monthly cycles? And why was it more common
for men to wear underwear and not women?
I betcha I'm going to be quite embarassed by the obvious reasons. :-)
Roscelin
> Danielle Nunn-Weinberg <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote
> >Greetings!
> >
> >Welcome to the 16th century, a fun and exciting place. <G> Drawers
> >arrived in England during Elizabeth's reign but were considered
> >novelties and "foreign." They weren't adopted as regular wear until
> >later. I've lived in England (as well as Canada and the US) and didn't
> >find it that cold at all, so I think it is all a matter of perspective.
> >Certainly once you have all the correct layers on, drawers aren't going
> >to make much difference except for possibly during activities like
> >horseback riding. However, having seen 16th century sidesaddles
> >(rather odd looking contraptions - one was round and perfectly flat
> >with a peg sticking up for the leg to hook over) even then the drawers
> >would be rather immaterial.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Danielle
> >
> >At 11:53 PM 1/8/2006, you wrote:
> >>Um, I have a rank newbie question. I was always told that
ladies didn't wear
> >>drawers in this period. Is that a myth, or a regional thing, possibly? I
> >>usually do English.
> >>
> >>And I've always suspected that it couldn't be true. I've BEEN
to England. It
> >>gets COLD there.
> >>
> >>Thanks for your forbearance,
> >>Tea Rose
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