Pretzels was [Sca-cooks] Happy Assumption

[Susan Fox-Davis]

> > Apocryphal, AFAIK.  Although pretzels appear in some 15th Century (and
> > later) German woodcuts.  IIRC, you'll find one of them in Cindy Renfrow's
> > collection of food illustrations.
>
> They also appear in the border of one of the books of hours (but I can't
> remember if it's Anne of Cleeves' or Catherine of Cleeves'!)

Catherine.  According to an earlier post on this list, as kept and cherished in
the Flori-Thingie pretzel file:

Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1999 16:13:58 -0500
     From: "Gryphon's Moon" <kimberly at gryphonsmoon.com>
     Subject: SC - Period pretzels- Better late than never...
<snip>
"Look for "Hours of Catherine of Cleves", with an introduction
     and
     commentaries by John Plummer. This little book is a gem. The
     illuminations
     are gorgeous! The borders around several of the main figures
     are somewhat
     unusual-- such as the border for Saint Bartholomew Apostle--
     which is
     composed of pretzels and biscuits. There's no way to tell what
     size the
     pretzels would have been, because there is no way of telling
     what scale is
     used. I also don't know if the pretzels were soft or crunchy.
     But they are
     definitely pretzel shaped.

     Other things that can be found in various other places in the
     book--
     -big fish eating small fish eating eels, including a picture
     of fishooks
     -bows, crossbows, arrows and quivers
     -bird cages, including some used for training birds
     -coins
     -beehives
     -a rosary
     -a brick oven
     -paper gift boxes (the artist cleverly painted two of them
     folded,
     but not complete, so you can actually figure out how to make
     these yourself)
     -and so forth and so on...

     All the stuff I mentioned above is from the margins, which
     also contain
     plenty of flowers, angels, demons, and other more typical
     decorations. The
     main pictures themselves are also a rich source of ideas for
     neat things to
     make.

     The manuscript dates from approximately 1440.