Holly West

The Cheapside Hoard - 17th Century English Jewelry

In 1912, workmen discovered a box of jewelry hidden under the floorboards of a house in Cheapside. The jewelry has been dated to between 1600-1650, and it was the work of a jeweler who supplied jewelry to wealthy merchants and their wives. This discovery, which included about 230 pieces of jewelry, is known as the Cheapside Hoard. If you're interested in the history of the discovery, I recommend you visit the link.

Many of the pieces are displayed at the Museum of London, which Mick and I visited when we were there in July. Having read about the Cheapside Hoard, I was excited to see these pieces. What struck me more than anything else is that they are so similar to pieces we wear today. Goes to show there's no such thing as an "original" design.

My apologies for the quality of the photos. They were taken of the jewelry in cabinets, and in a dark room, so they hardly show the color and quality of the gems.

The earring above is comprised of iolites, and the dangling gem is an amethyst. Like most of the pieces in the collection, gold is the primary metal used in the designs.

This is an especially striking piece. I'm not 100% sure what the gemstones are, but they look like aquamarines and pearls. They make me want to run out to my jewelry studio and create my own version of these beautiful earrings.

Many of the pieces in the Cheapside Hoard feature enamel over gold. These cross earrings are one of the more exquisite examples.

These rings are made with emerald cabochons. Like the earrings above, they make me want to try to recreate them. I have talked about the fact that my main character wears a ring her brother made for her and have even created sketches for it. However, after seeing these rings, I wonder if Isabel Wilde didn't wear one.

This is a simple pin that looks to be turquoise, or perhaps enamel, set in gold.

This ring was one of my favorite pieces because of its simplicity. It's a beautiful sapphire set in gold. Definitely something I could make for myself and similar to pieces I've already made.

More than anything, this collection of jewelry captures my imagination. It is an example of all the types of things my characters may have worn. My dream is to own a piece of jewelry made during this time period, but that will require the selling of an awful lot of books. In the meantime, maybe I'll get in the studio and make my own.

King Charles II: What's Not to Like?

Someone in my online class asked my why Charles II was my favorite English monarch and this is what I replied:

I suppose part of my liking for Charles II is based on childish romanticism. My first knowledge of him came from Forever Amber, which was a fictionalized and quite idealistic view of him. But even knowing what I know now about his backstairs dealings with France and his tendency toward absolutism, I think of him more as a pragmatist than a tyrant (not that the word tyrant applies in the least) and the English parliament had a much stronger role in his reign than in those of previous monarchs so he resorted to secret deals to get what he wanted on more than one occasion.

Charles was also deeply interested in science and learning and promoted it throughout his reign.

His religious tolerance is of interest but to be honest I think it goes back to his pragmatism, not his morality. His own religion, if he had it, ran mostly toward Catholicism but even in that, not too strongly. He converted to Catholicism on his deathbed but I think he would have done it a lot earlier if he truly believed religion to be an integral part of life. It may have ultimately been a means of salvation, but certainly not something to adhere to day-to-day so he waited until the last minute to convert. He kind of had a live and let live attitude, though critics would probably call him wishy-washy.

Finally, the restoration was a unique period in English history and I find the contrast between puritanism and the "merry" time that followed appealing. He was looked upon as a savior (from puritanism at least) of sorts by the English populace, and though he believed in the "Divine Right of Kings" and his rightful place on the throne, in the end, he was just a man who wanted to enjoy life and didn't mind so much if his subjects did too.

Curing What Ailed You in the 17th Century

Hannah Wolley was kind of the Martha Stewart of late the 17th century in England. She authored books like The Gentlewoman's Companion (1673) and The Queen-Like Closet (1672). The 17th century housewife went to her for advice on all manner of subjects, including recipes for the popular "medicinal" cures of the time.

What follows is a few of these "cures." I've transcribed them so they make sense to the modern reader, but I tried to keep the charm and rhythm of the original language.

The Plague Water:
Take three pints of muskadine, boil therein one handful of sage and one handful of rue until reduced to two pints. Strain it, and put it back on the fire.

Beat together a penny's worth of long pepper, a half ounce of ginger, and a quarter ounce of nutmeg and boil with the liquid covered with a cloth.

Add a penny's worth of mithridate, two penny's worth of Venice treacle, and one quarter pint of hot Angelica water.

Take one spoonful at a time, morning and evening, always warm if you are already diseased; if not, once a day is sufficient all the Plague time.

It is a most excellent medicine and never fails, if taken before the heart be utterly mortified with the disease, it is also good for the small pox and measles.

A Most Excellent Water for the Stone (kidney stones) or for the Wind Colic (gas)
Take two handfuls of saxifrage, one handful of thyme, two handfuls of perstons, two handfuls of philipendula, and an equal amount pellitory of the wall, two ounces of sweet fennel seeds, the roots of ten radishes, sliced, and steep all these in a gallon of milk warm from the cow. Then distill it in an ordinary still for four hours. Slice half an ounce of saxifrage stem and put it into the water bottle and keep it stopped with a cloth.

Take three spoonfuls at a time and fast from both eating and drinking for one hour after; you must make this water about midsummer; it is a very precious water and ought to be prized.

Walnut Water, or the Water of Life
Take green walnuts in the beginning of June, beat them in a mortar, and distill them in an ordinary still. Keep that water by itself.

About midsummer, gather some more, and distill hem as you did before. Keep that also by itself.

Take a quart of each and mix them together and distill them in a glass still and keep it for your use. The virtues are as follows:

It will help all manner of dropsies and palsies, drank with wine fasting; it is good for the eyes if you put one drop therein; it helps conception in women if they drink one spoonful at a time in a glass of wine once a day; it will make your skin fair if you wash with it; it is good for all the infirmities of the body and drives out all corruption, and inward bruises; if it be drunk with wine moderately, it kills worms in the body; whosoever drinks much of it shall live so long as nature shall continue in him.

Finally, if you have any wine that is turned, put it in a little vial or glass full of it, and keep it stopped with a cloth. Within four days it will come to itself again.

A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

I've collected a lot of great reference books in my research of Diary of Bedlam, but by far my favorite is A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue by Captain Francis Grose. First published in 1785, it is a collection of slang words from all corners of society.

Here are a few of the entertaining words and expressions found in this volume:

Bum fodder - toilet paper

To cast up one's accounts - to vomit

Beard splitter - A man given to "wenching"

Dog's soup - rain water

Fart catcher - a valet or footman, from his walking behind his master or mistress

Lazybones - an instrument like a pair of tongs, for old or very fat people, to take something from the ground without stooping

Mantrap - a woman's private parts

Queen Street - a man governed by his wife is said to live in Queen Street

Soul doctor - a parson

Thingumbobs - testicles

Wool gathering - Saying to an absent man, or one in reverie, as in "Your wits are gone a wool gathering."

One thing that's also interesting about the dictionary is to see how many of the words we still use whose meanings are more or less the same as they were over 200 years ago. Expressions like elbow grease, gift of gab, hodge podge, quack, ragamuffin, white lie, and ship shape all hail from this time.