[Sca-cooks] Re: "Period" candlesticks and chandeliers

[Stefan li Rous]

Mel replied to me with:
> >Correct, but I get the feeling such lamps were more used in southern
> >Europe than northern
>
> I only do England so whatever I've read about them would only be of value to
> me if it were from England, I think the MOL book of  Household equipent
> 'may' have been one. Certainly oil based a can't swear to the oil, and
> 12th-14th C.
>
> In any case I've not seen an indication of time or place for the question
> which makes it hard to answer in more detail.

My comments were in general. I'd like to have specific info to back my
supposition up or prove it wrong. The main thing I'm going on is that
in cooking, the northern countries tended to use butter whereas the
southern
ones used oils such as olive oil. Probably because butter keeps better
in
the north compared to the warmer south and because olive oil, at least,
would have to be imported to the north, and thus more expensive. If they
didn't use it for cooking because of this, I can't see why they would
import it for lamps. Apparently there was some friction over this
regional difference in the Church. The northerners were miffed that
their oil of choice (butter) was restricted on many fast days, whereas
the southern one (olive oil) wasn't.

I wish I had the MOL book of Household Equipment but it is a pretty
expensive book. By waiting, I've gotten all the rest of the HMSO books
as remainders.

I would love to hear more about this oil lamp. For instance where
was it found? Is there any evidence that it was actually used in
England? Perhaps it was a gift and was only used decoratively?

Or is there another oil which could have been used in it? I know there
were other oils in England such as Walnut? oil, but again I'm not sure
those would be cheap enough to use in a lamp.

--
THLord  Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris             Austin, Texas         stefan at texas.net
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****