[Sca-cooks] more on period asbestos

[Stefan li Rous]

Alys K. mentioned:
<<< Sorry to burst the bubble, but Nichola Fletcher, in her book
"Charlemagne's Tablecloth", did some extensive research on that fabled
tablecloth.  At the end of the book she details what was looked at,
researched, and checked.  Donal Bullough, Emeritus Professor of St
Andrews University finally confirmed: "Alas! Charlemagne's 'asbestos
tablecloth' is the purest of pure myths, one of the many that were added
to the ones inherited from the Middle Ages in the late eigthteenth
century and early nineteenth centuries, particularly in France -
by-products of the Enlightenment and its Napoleonic reflections, as the
'scientific' element in this one suggests." >>>

I haven't read this book, although I think I remember some SCA book merchants carrying it at Pennsic. (So many books to buy and read, so little time and money)

However here is another quote from the Florilegium p-asbestos-msg file mentioned earlier:
<<< 

Pliny the Elder, book 19

CHAP. 4.--LINEN MADE OF ASBESTOS.

There has been invented also a kind of linen which is incombustible by
flame. It is generally known as "live"1 linen, and I have seen, before
now, napkins2 that were made of it [p. 4137] thrown into a blazing
fire, in the room where the guests were at table, and after the stains
were burnt out, come forth from the flames whiter and cleaner than
they could possibly have been rendered by the aid of water. It is from
this material that the corpse-cloths of monarchs are made, to ensure
the separation of the ashes of the body from those of the pile. This
substance grows3 in the deserts of India,4 scorched by the burning
rays of the sun: here, where no rain is ever known to fall, and amid
multitudes of deadly serpents, it becomes habituated to resist the
action of fire. Rarely to be found, it presents considerable
difficulties in weaving it into a tissue, in consequence of its
shortness; its colour is naturally red, and it only becomes white
through the agency of fire. By those who find it, it is sold at prices
equal to those given for the finest pearls; by the Greeks it is called
"asbestinon,"5 a name which indicates its peculiar properties.
Anaxila?s6 makes a statement to the effect that if a tree is
surrounded with linen made of this substance, the noise of the blows
given by the axe will be deadened thereby, and that the tree may be
cut down without their being heard. For these qualities it is that
this linen occupies the very highest rank among all the kinds that are
known.

http://old.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.02.0137&query=head%3D%231153
>>>

I don't have a copy of the original text, but even if I did, I could read and interpret it. Is there anyone here who can? Of course even if asbestos was known and used, that doesn't mean Charlemange did. Even if Charlemange didn't, it doesn't say it wasn't used.

Stefan

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