Dear Lacemakers Interested in Italian Renaissance, I sent Tamara's inquiry to Lori, Lacefairy, and she did research this afternoon. She sent the following reply to Tamara and myself. It may be of interest to others on this list. Devon, for example. To read about the sumptuary laws of Italy see this book: http://tinyurl.com/8nepg2 Lori Howe [email protected] --------------------------------------- I (Jeri) would add that the conditions under which women lived are well documented in "The Prospect Before Her - A History of Women in Western Europe - 1500-1800" by Olwen Hufton, ISBN 0-679-76818-1, Paperback, cover price $18. Several of us have recommended this book through the years since it was first published in 1995. It is best read in small doses. I'd recommend using InterLibrary Loan if it is available in your area. You'll be grateful you live in 2009! Jeri Ames
____________________________________ From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Sent: 1/19/2009 6:54:11 P.M. Eastern Standard Time Subj: [lace] Italian translation, please? Gentle Spiders, In the book I'm currently reading (The Dress of the Venetians, 1495-1525; by Stella Mary Newton), among the many untranslated Italian (and/or Venetian) words/phrases/sentences there's one, which I'd really, really would like to know the *exact* meaning of. It's: Provedadori sopra le pompe I learnt, from various contexts (the phrase keeps coming up again and again), what it *is*. It's a little committee of 3 people who are, in essence, "clothes police". They investigate the clothing transgressions of upper class women (mostly), bring them to the attention of the Grand Council, which then debates, legislates and issues new proclamations forbidding this, that or the other (dresses have to be of single colour only; no brocades. Sleeves have to be "straight and narrow"; none of the "ducal" or "bird's craw" excesses. Sleeves should use no more than 2 yards of fabric per pair, even on the undershirts. Etc). So, I do know what they *do*; what I don't know is what the committee's title means, literally. Do we have someone with fluent Italian who can translate the title for me? I can make a stab at the "le pompe" bit; I assume it's "pomp" in the sense of "pomp and circumstance". But, the other two words, in that particular configuration...? Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/ Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland) **************From Wall Street to Main Street and everywhere in between, stay up-to-date with the latest news. (http://aol.com?ncid=emlcntaolcom00000023) - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]
