Arts and Music: Skin Art

By Elizabeth Lane

Love them? Hate them? Want one? Have one? Nobody seems to be neutral about tattoos. But there's one thing we can all agree on. Tattoos have been around since the beginning of human history, and they aren't going away anytime soon.

The word tattoo is derived from the Tahitian word "tatau" which means to mark something. The history of tattoos is as diverse as the people who wear them. The reasons for having a tattoo are just as varied. A tattoo can be a rite of passage, a sign of belonging to a clan or group, a status symbol, a token of bravery, a mark of beauty, uniqueness or self expression.

The usual method of tattooing involved piercing or cutting the skin with a sharp object, rubbing colored pigment into the wounds and letting them heal. There were many variations on this method. Even today's techniques use the same principle.

Tattooing was widespread among Native American tribes. For example, the Sioux believed that after death the spirit of a warrior mounts a horse and sets forth on its journey to the afterlife. Along the way, the warrior meets an old woman who demands to see his tattoos. If he has none, she turns him back to wander the world as a ghost.

Tattooing was practiced in many Asian cultures. Elaborate facial tattoos were especially prevalent among the Maoris of New Zealand. Even among modern Maoris, these tattoos are still a source of pride.

Tattooing was brought to Europe in the early 1800s by sailors who'd discovered it in the South Pacific. Over time it became a fad among the aristocracy. Even members of the British royal family sported tattoos. Inevitably, the practice of tattooing spread to America. The first permanent tattoo shop in New York City was set up in 1846. Most of the customers were military servicemen, and the tattoos tended to be patriotic or romantic in nature, especially with the onset of the civil war.

Getting a tattoo wasn't for the fainthearted. The needles were attached to a wooden handle. The tattoo artist dipped the needles in ink and moved his hand up and down rhythmically, puncturing the skin two or three times per second. The technique required great dexterity and took years of practice to perfect. Even for the best artists, the process was painfully slow.

After Samuel O'Reilly invented the electric tattoo needle in 1891, tattooing became easier, cheaper and more common. Even women began getting tattoos. A few people had their entire bodies covered with skin art--a guarantee of employment in traveling side shows. In the American West, most tattooing would have been done in the larger cities. A cowboy with a tattoo would probably have either been in the military or in prison, where inmates tattooed each other, often badly.

In today's society, tattoos are more popular than at any time in American history. With academically trained artists entering the profession, tattooing can rise to the level of fine art. These two examples were done by Teresa, an artist working in Santa Cruz, CA. She has a degree in art and a growing reputation as a painter. She also happens to be my daughter, and, yes, I have a sample of her early work, a little butterfly on my back. I wear it proudly. For me, it's a connection to someone I love.

Social Taboos: Brothels

By Jennifer Linforth

The brothel of the 19th century was place of relaxation--ordinary and commonplace. Though not blatantly labeled on any maps, their locations were well known. Controlled and efficient, the brothels of Paris were a well organized business venture both for the clients and the employees.

(Image: 1894, Toulouse-Latrec)

Brothel tokens jingled among coins in the pockets of many noblemen--young and old alike. Historically they catered to the rich, until all classes became involved and a department store attitude was developed. The quality of brothels differed to suit their clientele. The luxury brothels served the bourgeois offering plush and elaborate settings and equally exotic sexual experiences. These cost up to 100 franc a night. Opposite this was the common whorehouse. For 5-10 francs a gentleman could have his encounter and be on his way, perhaps even to the lowest of brothels--the low class whorehouse that cost a mere franc.

Running it like any well oiled business, the mistress of the brothel was the head of household. Meeting and greeting the clients, she chose the correct prostitute for those filling her pocket. These prostitutes were above their unregistered sisters—the mere streetwalkers--for they were treated far better. All those working in the brothels were registered with the Gendarmerie Royal and the prefecture of police. In 1850 Paris was estimated to have 34,000 prostitutes. The official brothel numbers in Paris: 1810=180; 1840=200; 1870=145; 1881=125; 1892=59; between 1871-1903 155,000 women were registered as prostitutes.

The public started to frown upon brothels and this social outcry resulted in the brothel being a scar on the landscape of society. Therefore the brothel, once obviously flaunted in Paris, was required to be inconspicuous come mid 1820s.

By the latter half of the century, while there was still sexual freedom, views of the moral standing on promiscuity became more prevalent. In a study in 1883 by Pierre Veron, adultery after marriage was inevitable. Men placed fidelity first as a quality sought in a wife, but 84% thought it was possible to deceive one's wife without ceasing to love her. Eighteen percent of women agreed. "I make love to my wife when I want a child... the rest of the time I make love with my mistresses," one industrialist was quoted in 1880. "Wives are to produce heirs. For pleasure men seek mistresses...

...and therefore seek the brothel...."

Social Taboos: Mary Anne Clarke

By Erastes

What was interesting about Mary-Anne was that it was "socially acceptable" to be a prince's mistress--but not to do the things she did while she was in that position!


Mary Anne married young, to a stonemason--who turned out to be a drunk and a ne'er-do-well. She left him, and set out to seek her own fortune, finding out soon enough that her wit and her beauty was going to be her fortune. She had a few lucrative liaisons, but drew attention to herself was "introduced" to the Duke of York (second son to George III), after which time she swiftly became his mistress.

However, running a royal household--even a royal mistress's household takes a great deal of money, and the Duke's promised allowance was not regular in its arrival. Mary struggled to keep herself in the style to which the Duke would expect, and she knew better than to constantly ask him for money personally. She therefore devised a method of making extra money on the side--and this led to her downfall--for she would take money for commissions, military, clerical, and civil. (the Regency equivalent of our modern day Cash for Honours scandal) and was eventually denounced. The Duke had to resign as Commander in Chief (although he was later exonerated and reinstated) but clever Mrs Clarke was sentenced to nine months in prison.

She did receive a pension from the Duke, however, as a surety against her publishing his letters... That didn't stop her from publishing other things though, including her memoirs.

After the scandal broke her and made her an outcast, she wrote and published "The Rival Princes" which set down her side of the whole affair to even more shock for the population.

"From the justice I owe to my own character and feelings, and the respect I feel for the good opinion of the public, this work derives its existence, which I hope will merit its approbation of those respectable persons who must feel pleased with a complete exposure of those political Impostors, who, under a mask of public virtue, have aimed at nothing but the subversion of that constitutional fabric, which has for ages afforded more freedom to the human character than any other nation in the entire Universe!"

The soldiers are saying, "What shall we play next, Jack? 'The Duke of York's March'?" and the other replies "No, let's play, 'She's Off With Another'."

Mary is saying, "Now gentlemen you'd better be quick. I have a few bargains to dissolve of as the partnership is dissolving," and she holds a list labelled, "List of prices at Clark & Co's Warehouse."

The fiddle player is saying, "If you want de commission you must owe me de note, den I go play de Fiddle to de white petticoat."

Mary Anne retired to France and lived to the ripe old age of 76. Her story was fictionalised by her great-great-granddaughter, Daphne du Maurier in the book Mary Anne.

Social Taboos: Cousins

By Penny Ash

In my own family's past there was at least one cousin marriage, and probably more, in the late 1700's to mid 1800's. When I was researching this for a book idea, I stopped for a moment and thought about my male cousins. Would I want to marry any of them? Would I want to marry into a family that I already knew, in some cases better than I wanted too? No. But apparently many people did in the past and still do now.

Today, if you ask most people, the thought of marrying a cousin gives them the shivers. And not the good kind. Most people look on it with horror and equate it with incest. But it was once very common in the past and is a lot more common today than most people think. Right now the US is split 50/50 on the legality of cousin marriage. It is legal in Canada and throughout Europe to marry your cousin. Other countries in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East prefer cousin marriage. South America I couldn't find statistics for.

There are lots of websites out there on both sides of the issue and I'm not going to list them here. The primary argument against the practice seems to be the genetic one but when you look at the studies most could be used for both pro and con. The chance of birth defect or illness does not appear to be any higher than for the general population.

From my own research into it cousin marriage, particularly in the past when people were much more stationary, was one way to assure a person found someone to marry. In other words people married who was available. They married to keep property in the family or consolidate power. And they married because they loved each other.

Some famous people who were romantically involved with their cousins:

Queen Victoria
Charles Darwin
Albert Einstein (they were first cousins on his mother's side and second cousins on his father's side)
Jerry Lee Lewis
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Sir John A. MacDonald (first Prime Minister of Canada)
Jesse James
Christopher Robin (yes, that Christopher Robin)
Rudi Giuliani
Edgar Allen Poe
Mary and Joseph (first cousins)
H.P. Lovecraft
Edvard Grieg
Karen Blixen (Isak Dineson)
Sergie Rachmaninov
Prophet Mohammad
Amelia Lanyer
Johann Sebastian Bach
H.G. Wells
Werner Von Braun
Thomas Jefferson
Igor Stravinsky
Carlo Gambino
Queen Elizabeth II
Marie Antoinette
Catherine the Great
Isaac and Rebekah
Jacob and Rachel and Leah
John Adams
Voltaire
Josiah Bartlett
Charles Bulfinch
John C. Calhoun
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.
Samuel F. B. Morse
Nicholas and Alexandra

And the list goes on to include several signers of the Declaration of Independence, all sorts of royalty, and many other lesser well known people. Maybe it's not so taboo after all!

Social Taboos: Golden Lotus

By Jacquie Rogers

The last factory that made shoes for Chinese women with bound feet stopped production of lotus shoes in November of 1999. For nearly a thousand years, bound feet, preferably no more than three inches long, were not only fashionable, but considered the ultimate in feminine beauty.

No one knows when the custom of San tsun gin lian or Golden Lotus began, but it first appears around 900AD in Northern China. Some say it began with the Latter Tang Dynasty (923-936 AD), when the emperor took a liking to a concubine who danced upon a lotus-shaped pedestal. Whatever started the practice is less important than the profound affect this custom had on the entire social fabric of Chinese culture.

A man who could keep a wife with bound feet showed his own financial power and prestige, so men of a certain social order refused to consider women with "clown feet" or unbound feet as brides. Besides, dainty feet covered with beautifully embroidered silk slippers called lotus shoes were considered highly sexually attractive. The smaller the woman's feet, the more likely she would be to attract a wealthy or well-positioned husband.

As the years passed, the custom filtered down to the lower social orders as well, although in some areas of China, foot-binding was never practiced. Some say foot-binding was a way to keep women subjugated, since a populace of women who could barely walk wouldn't pose a threat to the body politic. Women stayed close to home, and when they did venture out, they required assistance to stand and walk.

Toward the end, young girls of all classes had their feet bound. Zhang Ru-lian, an elderly Chinese woman with bound feet explains, "You see, when a girl became eligible for marriage a matchmaker would find a man for whom the young girl might be suitable. Then she would arrange a foot viewing. The man would come to the girl's house just to look at her feet. If he thought they were too large he would turn her down. This was a very embarrassing affair, should it happen, since the whole village would surely hear about it."

Mothers started their girls' foot-binding between the ages of two and ten (one lady said she started at 17). The four smaller toes on each foot were broken and turned under the sole. Then long strips of cloth tightly bound the broken toes in place and slowly broke the arch of the foot so the toes bent back to the heel. The initial shaping took about two to three years, but the feet were bound continuously for ten more years to make sure they didn't grow. It was a mother's responsibility to make sure the binding was done properly and tightly so her daughter would be considered high quality marriage material.

Infections were commonplace. Sometimes the toenails grew into the foot, often flesh would rot and fall off, and sometimes gangrene set in. One source said nearly 10% of all Chinese girls experienced either serious difficulties or sometimes even death. Then there are the lifelong problem associated with bound feet--pain, fungal infections, and crippling. It has been shown that women with bound feet have increased bone-density loss, as well a difficulties with daily duties because of problems associated with the foot-binding.

So why would the custom endure? Sex is always a strong allure. Jim's Asian Studies says, "It was believed that the way foot binding made a woman walk strengthened the vagina and made it more narrow. The girls' buttocks and 'jade gate' were believed to develop to such a degree that she could grip her husbands 'jade spear' more tightly. . . There was also a large number of pornographic paintings and engravings with scenes of men fondling women's feet. It's no wonder that men were so adamant about their wives having bound feet."

Wikipedia says, "Qing Dynasty sex manuals listed 48 different ways of playing with women's bound feet." Hence, an estimated 4 billion women over 1,000 years have suffered the pain of foot-binding.

Back to the factory . . . it was the Zhiqiang Shoe Factory and when did it START making shoes for bound-feet women? No, not a hundred years ago. It was in 1991 when the owners saw a niche market whose needs weren't being met. An estimated two million Chinese women, most over the age of 70, live with bound feet.

Sources:
The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco
Minnesota-China Connection
Universität Wien

Jacquie



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Social Taboos: Regency Etiquette Rules Quiz

By Lisa Marie Wilkinson

It is November 17, 2008. "You" are a young woman, unmarried and under the age of thirty. During the course of your day today, you have done the following:

1). You live on the second floor of an apartment complex. When you left your apartment this morning, you reached the stairs at the same moment as your hunky male neighbor. Wanting to display good manners and make a positive impression, you waved him on, indicating he should go ahead of you down the stairs.

What Regency rule did you break?

If you had been walking up the stairs, you should have let the man lead the way. When going down the stairs, the gentleman should always follow the lady in order to lessen the chance he’ll accidentally see a glimpse of your ankles.

2). You grabbed a Tall Café Mocha and a pastry from your local Starbucks and stopped by your friend Jason's apartment on your way to work.

What Regency rule did you break?

A lady never calls upon a gentleman. A lady is never with a man without a chaperone. And, moderation in all things! Books of the day would advise against gorging yourself.

3) It's a lovely day, so you decide to take a walk during your lunch break. The sun is shining and a walk is just the thing to help burn off some of those Starbucks calories.

What Regency rule did you break?

A lady never exercises when the sun is at its strongest. And where was your bonnet to protect your complexion? What were you thinking?

4). Today was casual day at work and you wore jeans and a nice blouse. You met friends for dinner and then went to see a movie after dinner, still wearing your comfy jeans and blouse.

What Regency rule did you break?

A Regency lady dresses for each occasion and often changes clothes up to six times a day. She spends hours in preparation for the dinner meal, and her selection of clothing is a statement of her social rank. And let's not even get started talking about the fact that you're wearing pants when riding a horse is not on the agenda.

5). After the movie, several people in your party commented that your friend Jason is probably a back gammon player. You blithely agreed he probably was.

What Regency rule did you break?

"Back Gammon Player" is Regency slang for sodomite. You may not have broken any rules, but your friendship with Jason might be over.

6). During the evening out, you and your friend Jason happened to meet Michael, a man with whom Jason works. When you were introduced, you and Michael shook hands.

What Regency rule did you break?

You and Michael both broke the rules. A lady never offers her hand for shaking, and a gentleman never offers his hand to a lady.

7). After the movie, you and your friends decided to stop by a local dance club for an hour. As you sat sipping your drink, a man came up and asked you to dance. There was something sort of creepy about him, so you declined. Fifteen minutes later your favorite song started to play, so Jason asked you to dance, and you accepted.

What Regency rule did you break?

You are obligated to dance with the first man who asks you, or you will not be allowed to dance at all. And Jason should have known better than to ask!

Social Taboos: Compromised During the Victorian Era

By Michelle Styles

It reads like the synopsis from a historical romance--witty vivacious beautiful twenty-one year caught in the arms of upcoming politician and experienced rake in a Hampshire summer-house.

The rake suffers no long term damage but the young woman is ruined and is hastily married off to a wealthy cousin twenty years her senior.

In a novel everyone would forget her early indiscretion, and the woman would be able to take part in everything, including all of society. Unfortunately, this was not the case for Lady Dorothy Nevill (1826-1913), daughter of Horatio Walpole, 3rd Earl of Oxford.

In 1847, Dorothy was compromised by experienced rake George Smythe. He suffered no long-term effects from the incident. But Queen Victoria refused to receive Dorothy at court. Marriage prospects ruined, Dorothy was married off to Mr Reginald Nevill, a wealthy cousin twenty years her senior. Still Queen Victoria refused to receive her.

At first Dorothy retired to the countryside and spent Reginald Nevill's money in a major way. Her passion became her garden at Dangstien, a neo-classical house near Petersfield. While there, Dorothy took up horticulture with 23 acres of gardens, 34 gardeners and 13 greenhouses to help her. The plant collection at Dangstien became famous. The great and good flocked there. Dorothy corresponded with Sir William Hooker and Charles Darwin. But still Queen Victoria did not relent. Lady Dorothy was not a fit person to be received at court because of her early indiscretion.

In 1878, Dorothy's husband died, and she was forced to sell Dangstien. (The Prince of Monaco bought the tropical palms). Her husband had noted her habit of spending money and had left most of his wealth (or that remained) in trust to his children, leaving her only a small annuity. Dorothy retired to London and became a noted political and social hostess. She was a close friend of Diserali's (rumoured to be the father of her youngest son) and was heavily involved in the promotion of Primrose Day. But still Queen Victoria did not forgive and Lady Dorothy Nevill was not considered a fit person to be received at court.

It was not until Queen Victoria died and Edward VII took the throne that her early indiscretion was forgiven and she was finally allowed back to court.

Being caught in flagrante in the summer house during the early Victorian period was a definite social taboo for Queen Victoria. But given that Lady Dorothy had such a glittering career in other ways, did Lady Dorothy truly mind?

Social Taboos: Single Women & Travel

By Christine Koehler

I remember the story of a Victorian woman who traveled to Arabia. There she met the son of a nomad leader, horse traders I believe, and even though she was older, they fell in love and married. They were together a long time, decades, and she traveled with him and his tribe. In several journal entries she lamented the fact that he seemed not to want her anymore, though as he was getting up there in age it could have something to do with that.

Can I remember where I read this? No. Can I remember her name? No. His name? No. Can I even remember the specific wheres and whens? Nope.

So I'll post a short bit on women traveling the world alone. Even with the advent of faster travel y trains and steam ships, it was still taboo for a woman to travel alone--not with her family or a travel group.

What was a curious woman, uninterested in the mores and standards of society, to do?

Go it alone. And alone they did.

They didn't travel in groups. Don't ask me why because I haven't a clue. I guess when you're breaking standards, you do it alone. Makes more of a statement. Here are some of the more famous women who broke gender bounds and made a name for themselves.

Harriet Martineau (1807-1876): Writing made her wealthy (woo-hoo!) and she decided to travel the US. She spent two years doing so, and at the end of her travels published Society in America, which critiqued America's failure to live up to its democratic principles. She was especially concerned about the treatment of women and called one chapter "The Political Non-existence of Women". Martineau argued for an improvement in women's education, so that "marriage need not be their only object in life."

Isabella Bird (1831-1904): Born into a well-to-do evangelical family, she accompanied her father on his clerical rounds through the English countryside. It was here that she began to love the outdoors and have a passion for traveling. What's a rich woman to do? Travel through the United States, Japan, China, Korea, Persia, and Tibet. She claims to have eaten "meals of rice and beans and to have spent far too many nights in flea-ridden inns." The first woman member of the Royal Geographical Society, she was a precursor to modern anthropologists/sociologists.

Gertrude Bell (1868-1926): Traveling through Europe, she completed two 'around the world' trips. While she stayed in Mesopotamia, "she studied Arabic and rode sidesaddle across the Arabian Desert." The Arabs pronounced her a "daughter of the desert." An experienced climber, her exploits in the Alps earned her the nickname as a mountaineer.

Mary Henrietta Kinsley (1862-1900): Born in London, she was the daughter of a medical doctor who traveled extensively. A British explorer of West and Central Africa, she conducted scientific research on fish, bugs and African religious practices. After sailing, traveling by steamboat, canoeing, trekking and climbing into the Great Forest Region, she reached territory that was then seldom visited by Europeans. There are several books about her experiences in Africa.

Can you imagine traveling months to reach your destination country only to then have to travel on horseback or train or...on foot! No tour guides, no tour books, no maps! And if the people of today don't stare enough, imagine what they'd do if you were the first person outside their country they’d ever seen, let alone a single woman!

Social Taboos: Birthing Rituals in the Middle Ages

By Lisa Yarde

Childbirth could be especially dangerous during the Middle Ages, especially for women with complications. But a safe delivery and a healthy child were cause for celebration, as well as imposing a few restrictions.

Whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish, the lying-in for the mother was a tradition that crisscrossed cultures and religions. The birthing room was the domain of women, where midwives assisted the delivery, and family and friends were on hand to encourage the mother. If some form of surgery was required, only then would a male physician intervene. In preparation for the child's arrival, women kept the birthing room warmed and clean, or purified with scented herbs. It appears many women used birthing stools or chairs in the delivery, supported by their female companions.

Medieval Christian Europe showed great concern about the spiritual well-being of mother and child. Many superstitions evolved about women before and after childbirth. The English believed that the newborn baby had to sneeze as soon as possible after its birth, to drive out any evil spirits lurking inside it. After birth, the churching took place, where the father, godparents and child went to church for the baby's baptism--the mother could not attend religious services until after 40 days. German folklore warned a woman recovering from childbirth may not look out of the window for six weeks, or else every wagon that passes will take a bit of luck with it. And, women could not draw water from any well for six weeks following childbirth, or the well would dry up for seven years.

In the Jewish quarters of European cities, women in childbirth had candles lit on their behalf. The men in the household recited various Psalms to ward of spirits and the evil eye, and her female companions brought the Scroll of the Torah to the birthing room. They also drew a sacred circle around the bed and inscribed the words, "Sanvi, Sansanvi, Semangalef, Adam and Eve, barring Lilit" on the walls and door of the room. After the birth of a son, Jewish mothers could not go outdoors until the rabbi circumcised their newborns, eight days after birth.

Muslim Spain evolved its own traditions. The birth of a daughter marked a muted celebration compared to the birth of a son. Midwives washed the baby's mouth with a piece of cotton dipped in a sacred potion. They also cleaned and wrapped the baby in a white linen cloth. After the highest-ranking male in the house whispered the profession of adherence to the Muslim religion into the child's ears, he returned to his mother's side. Salt scattered around the room warded off the evil eye. No one could pass between the child's bed and the fire lit in the room for three days. The mother lay confined to her bed, considered ritually impure for a period of forty days.

While some of these rituals may seem archaic, some were practical and beneficial for child and mother. Less exposure and handling for the child must have helped keep away transmissible diseases at a time when the newborn was vulnerable. And what new mother wouldn't have wanted to just rest after the ordeal of childbirth?

Social Taboos: English Death Rituals

By Anita Davison

Protestant doctrine in England, Wales and Scotland from the time of Elizabeth I, decreed the living could no longer assist departed souls by prayer and that the dead body is not a worthless thing and even if decayed, it will rise again.

For this reason, bodies should have a Christian burial, and the burial-places must have a fitting appearance and were therefore taken beneath the auspices of the church.

Undertaking as a profession was virtually unknown in Europe before the 17th century. Some European cities demanded funerals simply in the name of religion, while in others it was the name of sanitation, so to have someone in charge of the details of 'proper burials'.

Many funeral customs that have survived the Church's decrees have historical basis in pagan rituals.

--Mourning clothing was worn as a disguise so that returning spirits would fail to recognize mourners and thus confused, overlook them.
--Pagan tribes believed that the spirit of the deceased escaped through the mouth. They would often hold the mouth and nose of a sick person shut, hoping to retain the spirits and delay death. This may often have had the opposite effect.
--Wakes originated from the custom of keeping watch over the deceased in the hope that life would return.
--Feasting after a funeral began as offerings of food being made to appease spirits after a death.
--The ringing of bells and lighting of candles is to protect the living from returning spirits.
--The firing of a rifle volley over the deceased mirrors the tribal practice of throwing spears into the air to ward off spirits hovering over the deceased.
--Originally, holy water was sprinkled on the body to protect it from the demons.
--Floral offerings were originally intended to gain favour with the spirit of the deceased.

In the 17th Century, a passing bell was rung for the dead or dying: Nine rings for a man, six rings for a woman and three rings for a child--followed by one ring for each year of the deceased life.

A 'searcher' was summoned to decide the cause of death. These people weren't qualified in medicine, but employed provided they were 'of suitable moral standing', so many suspicious deaths must have gone unnoticed.

The details of the death, including the cause, such as it could be determined by a cursory inspection, were recorded in the Bills of Mortality published for public record. Post-mortems were considered taboo, that little could be determined from them and to cut up a body was merely to satisfy the morbid interests of physicians, who were often equally suspect.

The house where the deceased lay until the funeral was draped with heavy black mourning cloths. All windows, mirrors, even bowls of water, were concealed to prevent reflective surfaces from attracting the spirit of the dead and keeping him earthbound. Jewellery was hidden away and non shiny fabrics used for mourning clothes.

In 1660, King Charles II passed a law intending to promote the English wool trade that decreed all persons had to be buried in 'shifts, shrouds and winding sheets' made of woollen material, rather than linen, and free from 'flax, hemp, silk, hair, gold or silver or other than what is made of sheep's wool'. This act, strengthened in 1678, remained on the statute books until 1815, although the very wealthy would prefer to pay the £5.00 for default as it was considered ill-bred to 'bury in flannel'. Most people would buy highly-taxed Irish linen instead. The shroud or winding sheet had to be made in one piece of material and to be tied and knotted at the head and feet, but not sewn.

One effect of the act was to encourage the practice of grave clothes and coffin linings being supplied as sets by specialist workshops in Spitalfields.

Most coffins were of black painted oak, the interior covered with a thick layer of bran to soak up bodily fluids and to reduce the smell, especially in the summer. The deceased would lay in an open coffin, in a black draped room lit by candles. There was no specific time for this lying in state, this being determined by how long it took to arrange a funeral and summon the mourners. A family member would take turns to sit in vigil and friends and family would visit, often kissing the deceased, to pay their last respects.

Embalming was sometimes carried out, but this wasn't common practice and mostly among the rich. In the case of Queen Mary II, who died of smallpox on Christmas Eve 1694 at the age of 32, this would have been necessary as she wasn't interred in Westminster Abbey until March 6th 1695.

Funeral cards to inform friends and relatives of the time and place of the funeral were sent out. Made of pasteboard with black edges, they bore illustrations of gravestones, skeletons and other gruesome images. In the 17th Century, this was not intended to be morbid or grotesque, but to remind the living that this is what mankind comes to and that death was a serious business.

Wealthier families had mourning rings made up to distribute among friends and family. These bore the name of the deceased and the date of death engraved on them. Worn for up to a year after the death, these were usually fashioned from black enamel for the men and gold with a black band for the ladies.

On a mourning ring crafted as a memento of the Martyr King, Charles I, the inscription says, 'prepared be to follow me'.

Silk crepe scarves were handed out to the gentlemen to be worn on their hatbands for weeks after the funeral. Depending on the closeness of the deceased, some would tie these to their upper arms after a certain time had passed.

All members of a gentleman's household, including the servants, were expected to wear full mourning for at least three months, bought at the expense of the deceased’s family. Wives could change into purple and white after six months, but some liked to wait for a year.

Funerals

The funeral party tended to walk behind a cart bearing the coffin to the burial site. Even Queen Mary's mourners walked to the Abbey, apparently an uncomfortable journey as there was snow on the ground and Westminster Abbey was unheated.

The ceremony was often carried out at night, supposedly to emphasise the seriousness of death. The carrying of hundreds of torches gave the ritual a more solemn atmosphere. It also became an arena for the display of wealth, the larger the cortege and the more torches they had to line the walk, the richer the family.

Funeral accoutrements were very expensive and usually hired. A pall for the coffin, heavy silver candlesticks, the ornaments on the cart, even the handles on the coffin were rarely bought. Some of the torchbearers were not family at all, but security guards hired to protect these expensive items, there being a roaring trade in stolen palls and candlesticks.

If the family could afford it, the deceased had their own burial plot, even a tomb where other family members lay. In London cemeteries, space was at a premium and multiple burials were not uncommon. When the multiple plot was full, the grave would be covered and a new plot opened.

In Exeter, the area around the cathedral was used as a burial site. However by the 17th century, it was so overcrowded, the level of the graveyard almost reached the windows of the cathedral. The faithful started complaining about the smell during services, so a cemetery was opened outside the city walls and the coffins removed from the cathedral close.

Grave robbers were also a worry, so on occasion, guards would be employed to ensure no one dug up a newly buried coffin to steal the deceased's jewellery and clothes.

The tradition of returning to the deceased's home for refreshment is an old one, although in the 17th Century this was for 'wine and biscuits'. As with modern wakes, these sometimes deteriorated into drunken brawls when mourners imbibed too much of the free spirits on offer.

Plus ca change, plus le meme chose

Social Taboos: Interfaith Relations in Medieval Spain

By Carrie Lofty

In medieval Spain before the reign of Ferdinand III (1217-1252), relations between Christians, Muslims and Jews were strained but navigable. They even had a word for this unsteady commingling of society: convivencia. Rules existed to further the cause of Reconquista--the Christian reclamation of the Iberian Peninsula from the Islamic tribes--and those rules changed depending not on any set moral principle, but on the success of re-conquest.

For example, when Christian kings began to make substantial territorial advancements in the 11th century, they employed Jews as spies and advisers. Christians did not become spies because it was thought to be immoral, and also, because Jews had been in the Moorish-occupied territory throughout the Christian expulsion, they knew a great deal more about the Islamic tribes.

Jews had performed the same function in the 8th century when they advised the invading Moors about the habits and weaknesses of the conquered Visigoths. This pattern of adaptation--finding usefulness within an incoming regime--helped the Jews survive multiple invasions and re-conquests, but it added to the suspicions about their people and way of life.

More than 2,000 Jews (7% of the population) lived in Toledo under Alfonso VIII of Castile, and Jews were awarded juderias, or Jewish-controlled estates in the north of the Peninsula. Some were even awarded daughters as political alliances. Interfaith sexual relations were in no way forbidden at this time.

Although Jews enjoyed these advantages in the heyday of Reconquista, the need for their expertise waned as Christians began to re-occupy more and more land and become acquainted first-hand with their Moorish enemies. Eventually, in the early 13th century, Jews were expelled from their juderias, replaced in royal courts, and forced to wear identifying clothing. The taboo of marrying a Jew reappeared in good society, although their integration into Christian bloodlines in Spain was greater than in any other medieval kingdom.

Because the ultimate goal of Reconquista was to take back Iberian lands from the Moors, the most heinous crime a Christian could commit was sexual relations with a Muslim. Islamic women could be put to death for having sex with a Christian, and Christian women with a Muslim. Even prostitutes had to stay with men of their own religion. Men were generally given a warning--the removal of a hand, for example--but they were put to death as well after repeated transgressions.

However, because the need for heirs to secure new, tenuous Christian bloodlines was of paramount interest to the kings, and with Christian women so scarce on the frontier, certain provisions were made for mixed-race children. If a Christian man fathered a baby on a Muslim slave, and then that baby was baptized, the man could name the child as his heir--anything to continue at least nominal control over acquired lands.

This aspect of their society played a key role in the background of Gavriel, the hero of my 2009 release SCOUNDREL'S KISS:

Customary anger shot through Gavriel's limbs. "I learned, for example, that I was kept a slave illegally. For my entire youth I was told that my mother's fate was my own. Servitude. But I was baptized, Ada. I was not instructed in the ways of the Church, but I am Christian."

Ada gasped. "But slaves are freed if they convert. Isn't that true? You should have been raised a free man!"

"Yes, but I was not," he said with grim resolve. "Now I fear being free of this place. I would rejoin their ranks as a warrior, or I would kill the father who bound me."

And while maintaining a mistress was not a taboo--in fact, because frontier women were so sought after, mistresses could then go on to proper marriages without any lasting damage to their reputations--a married woman's adultery was an offense publishable by death. The last thing these Christian communities wanted were marriages made unstable by adultery. Unstable marriage meant divorce. Divorce meant bachelor knights--known for their unpredictability, violence, and lack of a "homestead" lifestyle. Itinerancy was not good for reconquest. Maintaining a mistress, although not ideal according to the Church, at least meant bachelors behaved as more stable guardians of frontier society.

I find it amusing that iron-clad rules about who can sleep with whom moved with the times, according to the kings in charge, their aims, and the status of their campaigns against an enemy. Some social taboos are not absolute.