From: vader@meryl.csd.uu.se ("]ke Eldberg")
Subject: English summer
Organization: The Internet
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1992 23:49:30 GMT

Greetings from William de Corbie!

Fiacha writes:

>I also find the equation of 'period life' to 'living in a clod, dark,
>dank, draughty castle' extremely irritating. A visit to Hampton Court
>reveals a light, warm, dry, virtually draught free home. (...)

Are you sure that the interior furnishings of Hampton Court belong in
its original period? Many medieval castles have been lived in for
centuries, and were made comfy in later times. Window glass was a
rare luxury in the middle ages, and usually they had wood shutters
instead. Windows were small (for defense) -- making the interior
dark. Heating was also expensive and the technology inefficient.

There is one example of an original-shape medieval castle in Sweden,
Glimmingehus. As I remember it, all the heating in the 6-story
building comes from a single chimney duct that goes from the kitchen
through the center of the house. Apart from that, there is only one
fireplace -- in the lords private chamber.

It also seems likely that medieval people spent much more time
outdoors than we do today. The interiors were too dark for working.
Tapestries were used, as you say, for insulation. People slept
together, often several in the same bed, not for orgies but for
warmth. Everything indicates that indoor temperatures were much
closer to outdoor ones than we are used to today.

(Of course, no matter what temperature the room is, it is always
room temperature... :-):-))
 
>... people learn their climate in their infancy. This becomes the
>climate that their body expects to live in with a normal amount of
>clothing. 

This may be true. In my experience, it is possible for your body to
adapt to different climates in a few days. I notice this whenever
I have been backpacking, working and sleeping outdoors for a few days;
when I get back indoors, my body produces more heat than before, and
it takes a couple of days before I am comfortable again. The seasonal
changes in Sweden produce a similar effect; in the autumn I often
feel cold, but when it really gets winter, my body has adapted and
the suffering is less.
 
>My point is that I do not believe that a medieval would have paid
>much attention to the season. Lighter weight clothes for summer
>are possible but are also likely to have been too expensive for
>all but the very wealthy. Most folk would have lived with their
>annual issue of a new outfit. That is, I do not believe that there
>is a medieval solution to the problem.

Even if many people could not afford lighter summer clothes, you
can rest assured that they did everything they could to regulate
temperatures. In the winter, they would stuff their clothes and
shoes with straw, wear furs and anything extra they could lay their
hands on. The need for very light summer clothes applies only on
hot days, and presuming that public morality prohibits taking all
off...

Cotton was relatively unusual, silk was expensive. In England,
most people probably wore wool. That means warm clothes, and you
really need such in England, even in the summer.
 
>I am firmly convinced that 90% of SCA costumes are made from fabric
>that is too coarse and too heavy for any self respecting medieval
>noble to consider touching.

I disagree. Those few period garments that remain do not suggest that
light weights were common. I would rather think that light clothes were
seen as a luxury, heavier garments being the norm. I see it as a problem
in the SCA, that so many places are too hot for real medieval clothes;
you really cannot wear anything more than a T-tunic. All those gorgeous
fur-trimmed doublets and such, would kill you in Trimaris.
 
William