I'm afraid I'm a bit late picking up this thread, but I've been doing some
research which might interest other historically-minded spiders.
On Sat, 2 Jun 2007, Jacquie wrote:
....are there for example, any ancient herbals (if that is the correct name
for the documents covering the use of plants) which pre date the development
of
lace so they referred to plant x as one thing, whereas later ones (at some
point in the 1500s presumably) started calling the same plant as lace
something....
I can only offer negative evidence. I have a reprint of Culpeper's Complete
Herbal (originally published 1653) which describes the Wild Carrot, but
doesn't give the alternative name. So it probably wasn't in general use at
that time. He does give the popular names for other plants.
I can't resist quoting some of his advice: "Wild Carrots belong to Mercury,
and therefore break wind, and remove stitches in the sides, provoke urine
and women's courses, and helps to break and expel the stone....being taken
in wine it helps conception. The leaves being applied with honey to runing
sores or ulcers do cleanse them ...."
Useful stuff, eh?
The Oxford English Dictionary (full edition) gives 1894 as the first
reference to Queen Anne's Lace in print - which leaves quite a wide gap. It
confirms that in America, the plant so named is DAUCUS CAROTA, the Wild
Carrot; whereas in England it usually refers to ANTHRISCUS SYLVESTRIS, aka
Cow Parsley.
I was also intrigued by the mention of Prince Edgar (in a message fro
RicTorr8
Sat, 02 Jun 2007) He can't have been the son of James I and Queen Anne as
they only had 3 surviving children: Elizabeth, who became Queen of Bohemia
( and ancestor of the present British royal family), Henry Prince of Wales,
who died young, leaving the youngest, Charles to succeed his father as
Charles I.
I knew nothing about Edgartown, so I googled - and I want to go there, it
looks so charming!
Though founded earlier, the town didn't get its name until 1671, which takes
us on a couple of generations. The likeliest Edgar was the son of James,
Duke of York and his first wife, Anne Hyde. He became James II, but she
never lived to become Queen, and Prince Edgar died young too - he was only 4
- leaving one of his sisters to become our next Queen Anne.
Now she wore lots of lace, though I never heard of her making any. Maybe
it was in her time that the plant got its name?
Bridget, in Watford, England, where the sun has finally broken through after
a grey day.
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