From: schuldy@progress.COM (Mark Schuldenfrei)
Subject: Sir Kenelm Digby
Organization: Progress Software Corp.
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 15:53:00 GMT

I mentioned Digby in connection with brewing, and then
came across this information about him.  Since a few
people said "Digby who?", here it is.  This is taken
from "Take A Buttock of Beefe", which I gave all the
information about in the thread "Apples, Apples, Everywhere",
and another recipe from in the herbed vinegar thread.

As I mentioned in the apples thread, the author of this
treatise provides no footnotes or bibliography.  Pity.
The cookbook she focuses on was written for Henrietta
Maria, wife of Charles the first, and was printed in 1655.
This, and the politics of the time are her other interests
in this cookery book.


Page 164-166

There can have been few more interesting personalities in the Century
than Sir Kenelm Digby, for he was a courtier, naval commander, author,
chemist, cook and student of occult lore. He was the son of Sir
Everard Digby who suffered death on the scaffold for his complicity in
the Gun Powder Plot, but neither this nor his of profession of the
Catholic faith seemed to affect his advancement in life.

Kenelm Digby at the age of 19 was at the Court of Madrid when Prince
Charles and the Duke of Buckingham arrived to court the Infanta, and
he joined the Prince's retinue and returned home with him.  On his
return, James I, who had hanged his father, gave him a knighthood and
he was granted Letters-of-Marque so he raised a squadron and carried
out a very profitable naval expedition in the Mediterranean against the
Algerians. Charles I made him a Gentleman of the Bedchamber [1] and
later he was appointed Chancellor to Queen Henrietta Maria. The Long
Parliament clapped him into prison, but he was later released, banished
into exile and his estates confiscated.  He lived at the French Court
and returned to England at the Restoration.

On the foundation of the Royal Society Sir Kenelm was appointed one of
its first Council, and took a very active part in its management for he
had always been interested in the sciences. His discourse on the
_Vegetation_of_Plants_ was a sound contribution and he gave papers on
various topics.  He related that when in Spain he had met a young
nobleman who was born deaf, but had been taught by hs tutor to converse
by the movement of the lips (lip reading) but no one in London believed
that this could be possible.  He dabbled in alchemy and astrology,
cooked and brewed. He assembled recipes mostly of drinks, and had nearly
50 for making mead and almost as many for metheglin. [2]  He lived in
a house in Covent Garden which had capacious cellars which were much
needed for his brewing and distilling. One recipe reads: "Take sixty
gallons of water", so it was all done on a very large scale; one recipe
says take 1 gallon of honey to every 3 of water. Most of his wine and
all of his beer and ale were home-made.

When he died he left his money and possesions to his friends, with whom
he had shared Gargantuan meals; he died of a surfeit of good living,
overweight, gout and "the stone". His son John edited his collection
of recipes, added a final bitter comment to his readers: "Fall to,
therefore, and much good may it do thee". [3]

Sir Kenelm Digby was a close friend of the Queen and was about her
household in France for many years.  He was appointed her Chancellor
in 1645, and she sent him to Rome to raise funds for the royal cause.
He had many talks with Pope Innocent X and was given 20,000 crowns
from the papal curia.

When in France he expressed the wish to go home to England and live again
beneath "smiling English skies", and he made several journeys between
France and England during the Comonwealth period. His Library, which must
have been considerable, he left in Paris, and it was sold after his death
for 10,000 crowns. From his writings we have glimpses of the Queen's life
at this period. For instance we know what she had for breakfast for he says:

 "The Queen's ordinary Bouillion de saute in the morning was this: A
  Hen, a handful of parsley, a sprig of Thyme, three of Spear minth, a
  little balm, half a great onion, a little pepper and salt and a clove,
  as much water as will cover the Hen and this boiled to less than a pint,
  for one good porrenger full."

He also writes that "the Queen useth to baste meat with yolks of fresh
eggs". This would form a crust over the meat, and keep in the juices as
it would if you wrapped it in pastry, or kitchen foil. Or perhaps, he
means she poured whipped up egg yolks over the meat when it had been
carved as a sort of sauce.

Interest in food and cooking seems to have been something he shared with
the Queen, and he gives the following recipe which is rather like our
present day ginger beer:

  Hydromel as I make it for the Queen Mother.

  Take eighteen quarts of spring water and a quart of honey. When the
  water is warm put the honey into it. When it boileth up skim it well,
  and continue skimming it as long as any scum rise. Then put in one
  race of Ginger, slice in thin slices, 4 cloves and a little sprig of
  green Rosemary.  Let these boil in the Liquor so long till in all it
  hath been one hour. Then set it to cool till it be blood warm and then
  put to a teasponful of Ale yeast. When it is worked up, put it into a
  vessel of fit size and after two or three days bottle it up. You may
  drink it after six weeks or two months.

  This was the hydromel that I gave the Queen which was exceeding liked
  by Everybody.
-----------------------------
[Tibor's footnotes]

[1] This is not a prurient thing, but the mark of high honor, and a sign
    that he was a close confidant.

[2] I doubt this, but I haven't double checked.  Mead is just honey and
    water, and metheglins is spiced honey and water.  I don't think there
    are 50 mead recipes there, the author is confused by the terms.

[3] It doesn't sound that bitter to me...
-----------------------------

	schuldy (In the SCA, called Tibor)
--
Mark Schuldenfrei (schuldy@progress.com)