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

[Elaine Koogler]

I don't have it down here with me, but I believe that there was a CA published
several years ago about household lighting.  If you're interested, you can
probably get a copy of it from the SCA Stock Clerk.....

Kiri

Stefan li Rous wrote:

> 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 ****
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