birth-control-msg – 6/26/06
Period birth-control. Period abortifacients.
NOTE: See also the files: aphrodisiacs-msg, Sex-in-the-MA-art, p-hygiene-msg, p-sex-msg, perfumes-msg, bathing-msg, cosmetics-msg, Medvl-bathng-lnks.
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NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
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Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
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From: huff at silver.lcs.mit.EDU (Robert Huff)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: condoms and birth control
Date: 1 Apr 1993 19:40:24 -0500
Ave!
I remember reading in a book on Elizabethan women (no citation at hand)
that abortion was, at least in practice, condemned only if the soul had entered
the body. This was said to take place at the time of quickening ....
Diego mundoz
From: jeffs at math.bu.EDU (Jeff Suzuki)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: fetus as property
Date: 2 Apr 1993 17:24:59 -0500
Ah, found the reference: Exodus 21:22, right after the decalog.
Essentially, if two men get into a fight and hit a woman, causing a
miscarriage, the one responsible shall be fined a sum determined by
the woman's husband and the judges.
This assumes that the woman is not harmed physically. If she is
harmed physically, then the penalty is death.
Fujimoto
From: parr at acs.ucalgary.ca (Charles Parr)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: condoms and birth control, some discussion of sexuality.
Date: 7 Apr 93 18:22:51 GMT
Organization: The University of Calgary, Alberta
jeffs at math.bu.EDU (Jeff Suzuki) writes:
>Ken Mondschein writes:
>> Condoms were invented by a Dr. Condom (who soon changed his name) for
>> the court of the ribald Charles II (or was it James II?).
>
>I've heard arguments that this story is true, and other arguments that
>"Dr. Condom" never existed. Anyone out there want to sort out the
>mystery?
>
>Moreach writes:
>>I once read somewhere that there is some evidence that Renaissance women
>>used cervical caps made from half a lime rind, which lime "essence" is a
>>decent spermicide.
>
>Anything acidic (I'm assuming lime "essence" would be) acts as a
>decent spermicide; it's the principle behind douching. (It's why, in
>a pinch, coca cola will do -- eeyuk!)
>
>Anyone know about period abortifacients and want to comment on it?
>
>Incidentally, does anyone know when the idea that abortion is
>equivalent to murder got started? I'm inclined to believe it's a 20th
>century thing; certainly the Bible does not treat the unborn fetus as
>a human being but rather as a piece of property.
>
>Fujimoto
I remember reading, in a scholarly journal somewhere, that Olive
Oil makes a pretty decent spermicide, and that Greek Hetaira
used it as such...
Does anyone know of any detailed research on period birth control
techniques? I know that the church proscribed Oral and Rectal
sex *because* these techniques were used as birth control...
This might make a good subject for a TI article, or even a
Compleat Anachronist...I think I'd add a disclaimer, though,
just to avoid paternity suits;-) (well, carolus wrote that
in period they used a sock, and quoted this rhyme, and so I
tried it, and 9 months later came the twins...)
If anyone missed the warning in the header, and is offended
by this subject...Sorry...
Carolus Malvoix
Montengarde An Tir
From: donna at kwantlen.bc.CA (Donna Hrynkiw)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Bryn Mawr: Contraception and Abortion
Date: 25 Aug 1993 12:13:07 -0400
Another book of possible interest to the SCA from the
Bryn Mawr Medieval Review. The review is too long to post
here, but if you're interested drop me a note and I'll
mail it to you.
Riddle, John M. Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the
Renaissance. Cambridge, Mass./London: Harvard University Press 1992.
Pp. x, 245. ISBN 0-674-16875-5.
Reviewed by Paul T. Keyser -- University of Alberta
Elizabeth Braidwood
An Tir
[The following is the review that Elizabeth sent:
From bmmr-l at cc.brynmawr.edu Tue Aug 24 20:53:52 1993
Date: Tue, 24 Aug 93 23:56:59 -0400
Originator: bmmr-l at cc.brynmawr.edu
From: bmr at ccat.sas.upenn.edu (Bryn Mawr Reviews)
Subject: BMMR 93.8.8, Riddle, Contraception and Abortion
at at at at 93.8.8, Riddle, Contraception and Abortion
Riddle, John M. Contraception and Abortion from the Ancient World to the
Renaissance. Cambridge, Mass./London: Harvard University Press 1992.
Pp. x, 245. ISBN 0-674-16875-5.
Reviewed by Paul T. Keyser -- University of Alberta
A seminal and unique work of great importance. Riddle has
studied Dioskorides in a recent monograph, and now focusses on
one aspect of his drug lore, already broached in a valuable
article, "Oral Contraceptives and Early-term Abortifacients
during Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages," Past and Present
no. 132 (August 1991) 3-32. A frequent problem in attempting to
understand ancient medicine is the precise nature of the
condition described: e.g. the Athenian plague. Studies of
conception and its prevention have the advantage that diagnosis
('pregnant') is proven by birth. Riddle is firmly historicist--
the procedures described are taken as such and not as metaphors
symbols or signs (vii-viii). After all, pre-modern women had as
much or more interest as moderns in effective contraceptives and
abortion.
Riddle asks was it possible for pre-modern people to
regulate fertility by other than abortion, infanticide, or
abstinence (1-16)? He rightly concludes that evidence (literary
and archaeological) shows little recourse to such methods and a
birth rate too low to explain unless achieved by the use of
contraceptives. Restraint, delayed marriage, coitus interruptus,
non-fertile intercourse, rhythm, surgical abortion, infanticide:
it is clear that none was the method of choice. The point is
crucial and elsewhere thoughtlessly neglected. The best recent
survey of any other part of ancient medicine, R. Jackson, Doctors
and Diseases in the Roman Empire (1988) devotes only two shallow
pages (109-111) to the whole topic and is hesitant to credit the
use or efficacy of any contraceptives. Similarly two otherwise
excellent books concerned in part with ancient population growth
quickly dismiss any possibility with even less discussion: J.
Diamond, The Third Chimpanzee (1992) 189-90 and M. N. Cohen,
Health and the Rise of Civilization (1989) 103, 129.
Riddle then discusses at length the abundant but neglected
evidence in Dioskorides and Soranos (16-56) for herbal (oral)
contraceptives (ATO/KIA) and abortifacients (FQO/RIA). These
chapters ought to be required reading for those who believe that
the conceptual world of Greek medicine is wholly alien to and
disjoint from ours. First, laws and precepts from Plato to Talmud
show that ancient people believed that oral contraceptives worked
to reduce fertility (16-20), and they distinguished contraception
from abortion (20-24). Riddle evaluates the prescriptions of
Soranos 1.61-3 by reference to numerous modern pharmacologic
studies which show that nearly every plant claimed as
contraceptive by Soranos and which has been tested, in fact
works. For example, Soranos (and others) advise pomegranate rind,
which when fed to guinea pigs prevents pregnancy (25-6). SI/LFION
is prescribed, now usually thought extinct, but ferujol
(extracted from another ferula species, asafetida, which the
ancients thought an inferior substitute) is "nearly 100 %
successful in preventing pregnancy up to three days after coitus
at a low dose of 0.6 mg/kg in adult female rats" (28). A third
herb is rue (PH/GANON) now used to induce abortion in horses, in
humans in Latin America, and in rats (where it also prevents
implantation) in the lab (28-9). Modern tests validate such of
Dioskorides' prescriptions as have been tested as well. The point
is important: ancient doctors knew about working oral-route
contraceptives-- and knew they knew.
Riddle next asks how widespread were the knowledge and
agents (57-65)? Literary references and modern folklore parallels
show they were wide-spread indeed. E.g., the seeds of Queen
Anne's Lace (wild carrot) were prescribed post-coitally by Diosk.
3.72 and Scr. Larg. 121, and are still used in the Western part
of Riddle's home state, North Carolina, and in India, for the
purpose--a practice validated by modern bioassays (58-9). Jokes
in Aristophanes Pax 706-12 and Lys. 87-9 turn on audience
recognition that penny-royal (BLH/XWN) was an effective
contraceptive--and it is (53-4, 59).
In order to establish the continuity of the tradition of
knowledge and practice, Riddle returns to Egyptian papyri
(66-72). Already the Kahun papyrus of ca. 1850 B.C. contains
contraceptive pessaries, of doubtful efficacy, but the recipe of
the Ebers papyrus of ca. 1550 B.C., linen soaked with honey
steeped in acacia spikes (cp. the modern sponge and diaphragm)
was probably effective (69-70), and Soranos describes similar
devices (25-6, 30). At least one oral contraceptive is prescribed
in the Berlin papyrus, ca. 1300 B.C. (72-3), of uncertain
efficacy. I am surprised that there is no information from the
very potion-oriented Mesopotamian medicine: R. Campbell Thompson,
The Assyrian Herbal (London 1924). As Riddle notes, his "study
has a conspicuous omission," China and India (154): the texts are
very difficult of access (the Indian "herbal", Charaka Samhita,
so far as I know, is available in English only in a
privately-published, unindexed version by A. Ch. Kaviratna:
Calcutta 1897-1912).
From Hippokrates to Galen, Greek medical writings contain a
variety of contraceptive prescriptions, whose known ingredients
when tested show anti-fertility effects (74-86). Such knowledge
was acquired in the same way that we have learned over centuries
and millennia which plants are edible, cure headache or heart
trouble, etc. (87). Observations of low fertility in animals by
herders allowed further discoveries (88). In the Late Roman
Empire and Early Middle Ages the tradition survived, albeit
weakened, in standard medical texts (89-107). The difficulty was
the Roman Church's well-known opposition to abortion and
contraception: yet in Macer's influential XI-A.D. herbal,
pennyroyal is still given as a birth control herb (108-117).
Arabic medicine showed no such inhibition, and is replete with
contraceptive herbs, some ancient, some new (127-34). Riddle
brings his survey down to the Renaissance (135-57) and
investigates what happened thereafter: physicians banished the
long-preserved herbalists' knowledge to the realm of superstition
(159-60). Furthermore, much of this knowledge was probably
originally resident in the oral female culture of herbalists and
midwives, who were marginalised by the professionalisation of
medicine in the XVIIII A.D. (155-7). The increasing tendency to
criminalise abortion and even contraception contributed (158-9,
161-3).
In addition to showing the efficacy, prevalence, and
continuity of know-ledge and use of oral herbal contraceptives
and abortifacients, Riddle discusses the attitudes of the
ancients, pagan, Christian, and Jewish, toward abortion and the
status of the fetus (7-10, 17-24, 62-4, 109-112). Although Riddle
treats the famous prohibition of abortive pessaries in the
Hippokratic Oath (7-10) and cites Edelstein's magisterial study,
he does not note that Edelstein argues cogently that the oath
derives from IIII-B.C. neo-pythagoreans (see Edelstein Ancient
Medicine 18-20). Riddle and Edelstein come otherwise to the same
conclusion, that from Hippokrates and Plato through Aristotle to
Augustine and Gregory of Nyssa all Greek and Roman (and Jewish)
writers more or less agreed that aborting an unformed fetus
incurred no impurity or guilt (20-24). The lone exceptions are
Musonius Rufus and Basil of Caesarea, apparently.
Riddle however misses three documents relevant to abortion
of great importance and influence, which hamartia he shares with
many scholars (not Edelstein): none have ever yet been done into
any modern language. The latest is the earliest extant
anti-abortion pamphlet, which circulated for centuries in perhaps
the most influential corpus of ancient medicine, and collects
arguments against abortion still standard. An animal sit id quod
in utero est, formerly ascribed to Galen (19.158-81 Kuehn), is
clearly a late III-A.D. neo-pythagorean or neo-platonic work (by
Iamblichos?). [Galen] makes use of the same polar dichotomy which
inflames the modern debate, and argues since the embryo has all
the parts which make a living being, uses its organs in the womb,
and when born already knows how to eat, etc., it must therefore
be a living being and hence laws should and do exist to protect
it. The earlier PRO\S *GAU=RON PERI\ TOU= PW=S E)MYUXOU=TAI TA\
E)/MBRUA of Porphyry--see K. Kalbfleisch, Abh. Akad. Wiss.
Berlin: Philol.-Hist. Kl. (1895)--was one of [Galen]'s sources
but is more complex and aporetic. Galen's own views, in de Fet.
Form. (4.652-702 K.), are, he claims, based on anatomy (652.1-9,
664.9-13, 676.7-9.1, etc.) and he concludes the embryo has liver,
heart, and brain from an early date (663.2-17), formed properly
in that order (672.7-4.5). It is Galen's teleologic God who forms
the fetus, not FU/SIS, the soul itself, or anything else
(687.5-8.15), but he hesitates to declare when a fetus has a
rational human soul (665.3-6.3, 685.1-14, 701.7-2.4).
There are copious notes (171-210) and an extensive and
valuable bibliography (211-35). Although Riddle's focus is
herbal, he might have noted W. Krenkel, "Hyperthermia in Ancient
Rome," Arethusa 8 (1975) 381-6: the hot Roman baths reduced sperm
production, and Hippokrates may have known that heating the
testicles caused temporary sterility. With reference to abortion,
add Diethard Nickel Untersuchungen zur Embryologie Galens (Berlin
1989), W. Krenkel, "Der Abortus in der Antike," WZRost 20 (1971)
443-52, and idem, "Familienplanung und Familienpolitik in der
Antike," WJA 4 (1978) 197-203.
Although it is no longer common to study classics offering
blood to ghosts, here at least the ghosts (esp. of Dioskorides
and Soranos) seem to have blood for us. Society has moved beyond
the ancients in most areas of science, and fancies it has in
politics, but it seems that the Renaissance and Enlightenment
missed A)TO/KIA. Riddle repairs that lack. In a world of fifty
myriads of myriads of people, curtailing growth would alleviate
most of our most crucial problems. According to the Cypria (fr.
1) Zeus ordained the Trojan War because the Earth groaned with
too many people. Whether or not Riddle's book influences modern
medicine (as I hope), it should influence our views of ancient
social and medical history. The ancients did seek, find, and use
effective herbal oral contraceptives and abortifacients, and
probably did so extensively. That matters for our understanding
of ancient ethics, demography, science, and women.
From: STEWARTL%WOO1.LEA1 at leav-emh.ARmy.MIL (LOU STEWART)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Medieval Sexuality
Date: 17 Feb 1994 09:01:23 -0500
In my mailbox last night was the March/April issue of _Archaeology_
which has an article titled "Birth Control in the Ancient World."
The article discusses means of contraception used in classical times
and continues to explore the reasons why the techniques used by the
ancients faded from common use during the Renaissance.
" demographic profiles of the Middle Ages provide persuasive
evidence that women used oral contraceptives and early term
abortifacients. Such demographic research, laboratory studies, and
scrutiny of ancient texts have given us new hints concerning the
effacy of ancient 'family planning.'"
According to the article, the ancient Greeks and Romans used a
plant known as Silphium, which became extinct in the 3rd or 4th
century AD, because of overharvesting. The article also explores
alternate plants used after the extinction of Silphium.
Luigsech ni Ifearnain, Calanais Nuadh, Calontir
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: tbarnes at silver.ucs.indiana.edu (thomas wrentmore barnes)
Subject: A Book Review: The Medieval Health Handbook
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 1994 15:51:34 GMT
Greetings from Lothar,
As promised here is my review of the book I was raving about a
couple of days ago.
You real medievalists can laugh like donkeys at my poor attempt
at a scholarly style if you wish...
THE MEDIEVAL HEALTH HANDBOOK: Tacuinium Sanitas by Luisa
Cogliati Arano translated by Adele Westbrook and Oscar Ratti. George
Brazillier Press; New York. 1976. ISBN 0-8076-1277-4. US$20.00
10" x 6", 48 color plates, 243 black and white plates, 46 page
introduction, concordance, and bibliography.
Much of medieval medicine, like modern medicine focused on
preventive measures that would ward off illness. In some respects
medieval preventive medicine was more elaborate than modern preventive
medicine since the medicine of the High Middle Ages and Renaissance was
based on predicting and balancing astrological influences and the four
bodily humors of Galenic medicine. This lead medieval physicians, like
19th c. medical reformers, to prescribe not just medicines, but proper
diet, living conditions, and activities for their patients. By the 14th
and 15th c. working on the works of the Arab physician Dioscorodies,
medieval health writers had created a genre of "health manuals" that
expanded on medieval herbals. The "Tacuinium Sanitas" is a fine example
of this genre, and the George Brazillier edition is an excellent and
easily accessible source for this manuscript.
The book begins with a 46 page history of the genre of medieval
health manuals and a discussion of the history and origins of the six
texts from which the book is collated. The illustrations and
translations of the text which make up most of the book are taken from
the Tacuinums of Leige, Paris, Vienna, and Rouen, and the Theatrum of
the Casanatense Library, Rome. All of these works were executed by work
shops in Northern Italy and Berry from the last quarter of the 14th
century to the first quarter of the 15th century with illustrations of
contemporary scenes wedded to an earlier text.
Each color plate gives a full page illustration from a page of
one of the six texts (mostly the Rouen and Leige texts) with a
translation of the text that accompanied the illustration in the
original manuscript at the bottom of the page. Each entry describes
the virtues and dangers of the item in the picture, when it is optimum
from a medicinal point of view, the nature of the humors of the item,
and the way to neutralize the dangers of the item. Plates are arranged
in alphabetical order by the latin name for each item.
As an example, and also as documentation for the Medieval Sex
thread, here is the text of pl. IX Coitus.
IX. Coitus (Coytus)
Nature: It is the union of two for the purpose of introducing
the sperm. Optimum: That which lasts until the sperm has been completely
emitted. Usefulness: It preserves the species. Dangers: It is harmful to
those with cold and dry breathing. Neutralization of the Dangers: With
sperm-producing foods. (Paris, f. 100v)
The accompanying color illustration depicts a late 14th c.-
early 15th c. couple in bed having sex in the missionary position.
Other plates give similar information about various herbs,
spices, foods, textiles, seasons, winds, emotions, and activities. The
black and white plates are reproduced 6 to a page, but have the same
text format. In many cases, the text of a given illustration has been
taken from several of the other manuscripts to accompany an illustration
from a second manuscript. This means, that in some cases, there are
three or four slightly different versions of the same block of text,
each of which has more or less information, or different information.
This variation is very nice to have, since some texts include
information not given in others.
The text is fascinating, since it gives hints as to how foods
were to be prepared, what foods they were to be served with, and when
during the meal they were to be served. It also gives us a sense of what
medicinal values and dangers were associated with each food. Beyond that
the text serves as a list of medieval herbs, spices, fruits, vegetables,
condiments, and meats. Other activities, such as fencing and hunting,
are also described, giving an amateur medievalist a sense of what
medieval genry did for fun and what they thought of a given activity.
If, like most Anachronists, you find pictures to me more useful
than words, the book is even more valuable. The illustrations are done
in a late-Gothic, early-Naturalistic style. The figures are fairly
realistically drawn, but most of the interiors and plants are drawn out
of scale or out of perspective. While the artistic quality of any given
illustration is not high, illuminators will be impressed by the sheer
number of illuminations. There are literally hundreds of costumes,
tools, cooking utensils, pieces of furniture and other artifacts shown.
Costumers, illuminators, wood-workers, gardeners, vintners, and cooks
can spend many delightful hours looking through this book documenting
various materials, tools, and techniques.
In case you couldn't tell, I highly recommend this book. Run,
don't walk to your nearest bookstore to get it. I can't think of any
person in the SCA who would not be at least marginally interested in
this book, especially since the text was taken from earlier sources, and
was reprinted in different forms in later sources. If you have a 14th or
15th century persona, you will WANT this book. Given the increible
number of color and black and white plates, and the usefullness of the
text, this book represents a tremendous value for the money. This isn't
just another coffee-table book, it is a credible work of scholarship
that nicely integrates art with a translation of a historical source.
Lothar
From: "Decker, Terry D." <TerryD at Health.State.OK.US>
To: "'ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG'" <ansteorra at Ansteorra.ORG>
Subject: RE: Period Condoms (humour)
Date: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 08:06:41 -0500
>> All this talk about condoms reminds me of a little ditty I once heard:
>
>>In days of old when knights were bold
I don't know about knights, but the Three Musketeers had condoms
available, which means they are period or just beyond period. They were
made from very thin leather similar to parchment, stitched to the
appropriate size and shape, and the seam sealed with a small amount of
pitch or similar sealant.
You can occasionally find them as unlabeled oddities in European antique
shops. In the British antique trade they're referred to as French
purses.
Date: Sun, 05 Oct 1997 08:58:44 -0500
From: Maddie Teller-Kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: Re: SC - honey dormice recipe
Silphium was basically harvested to extinction. Along with its uses in
food, it was an excellent contraceptive product.....
meadhbh
Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 18:44:40 SAST-2
From: "Ian van Tets" <IVANTETS at botzoo.uct.ac.za>
Subject: SC - Re: hedgehogs & very OOP & OT
<snip>
2) for period documentation on conception and associated matters,
may I recommend Boccachio's decameron (particularly book 7 from
memory). Most English translations leave the more specific "recipes"
in Italian but I am sure there are those of you who would enjoy doing
the redaction.
Jan van Seist (mka Ian van Tets)
Adamastor (mka deepest darkest Africa), Drakenwald
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 17:41:17 +1000
From: "Glenda Robinson" <glendar at compassnet.com.au>
Subject: SC - Re: wooden cutting boards
Another (similar, but non-cookery) use of olive oil (sworn by in Roman
times) was as a spermicide! Kills the little blighters stone dead,
apparently.
Glenda
Date: Thu, 22 Oct 1998 10:06:15 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Par Leijonhufvud <parlei at algonet.se>
Subject: Re: SC - Re: wooden cutting boards
On Thu, 22 Oct 1998, Glenda Robinson wrote:
> Another (similar, but non-cookery) use of olive oil (sworn by in Roman
> times) was as a spermicide! Kills the little blighters stone dead,
> apparently.
I think the technical term for the outcome of this procedure is
"pregnancy". Lots of things are not ideal for spermatozoa, but if you
are going to use something as a contraceptive you need more than that.
Also, a search in Medline gave no hits indicating that any research had
been done on this effect.
/ulfR
(Who has written a thesis mainly on how the little blighters swim)
Date: Sun, 6 Feb 2000 10:28:47 -0800
From: "David Dendy" <ddendy at silk.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Apicius and Platina
>I am in the process of interpreting recipes for the cooks guild tomorrow
>night, and have come up with two questions. In Apicius, the recipe for Crane
>or Duck with Turnips lists "laser foot". It must be a spice, but I am unable
>to find it.
>Aldyth
As another respondent just pointed out, "laser foot" should read "laser
root"; laser is asafetida, a very smelly resin from a plant which grows in
Iran and other countries nearby. A little of it brings up other flavours
beautifully (just don't overdo it). Don't confuse laser with silphium, as an
earlier comment did. Silphium was the resin of a related plant which became
extinct due to overharvesting in the wild in the period of the early Roman
Empire (so, anyhow, if you have an Apician recipe calling for silphium,
your best substitute is the closely related asafetida).
Yours spicily,
Francesco Sirene
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2000 14:19:17 -0500
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Apicius and Platina
David Dendy wrote:
> Silphium was the resin of a related plant which became
> extinct due to overharvesting in the wild in the period of the early Roman
> Empire (so, anyhow, if you have an Apician recipe calling for silphium,
> your best substitute is the closely related asafetida).
And available in Indian groceries under the name "hing powder", although
I bet there are several SCAdian venues for purchase, too, including,
probably, Francesco. The whole extinct-silphium question is a major part
of the plot of Lindsey Davis's wonderful ancient-Roman-private-eye novel
"Two For the Lions".
Adamantius
Date: Sun, 06 Feb 2000 20:48:22 -0600
From: Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net>
Subject: SC - Silphium
> Don't confuse laser with silphium, as an
> earlier comment did. Silphium was the resin of a related plant which became
> extinct due to overharvesting in the wild in the period of the early Roman
> Empire (so, anyhow, if you have an Apician recipe calling for silphium,
> your best substitute is the closely related asafetida).
>
> Francesco Sirene
Yes, silphium is now extinct. It grew only in a rather small area of the
southern Mediterranean. But the demand for it was enormous. It was harvested
to extinction sometime in the 3rd or 4th C AD. But it was not primarily used
as a food ingredient. It was the Classical World's best birth control herb.
For more on this, see "Ever Since Eve..., Birth Control in the Ancient
World". March/April 1994 Archaeology.
- --
Lord Stefan li Rous Barony of Bryn Gwlad Kingdom of Ansteorra
Mark S. Harris Austin, Texas stefan at texas.net
Date: Mon, 24 Jul 2000 23:28:46 EDT
From: LrdRas at aol.com
Subject: SC - Aborticidal herbs-long
korrin.daardain at juno.com writes:
<< Could someone tell me what herbs cause abortions? I know there is
at least one, but I can't remember the name. I am putting on a small
medieval feast for some friends and one of them is pregnant and I do not
want to cause a miscarriage.
Thanks,
Korrin S. DaArdain >>
Rue (blocks, alters or interferes in the production of progesterone) is an
abortion causing agent although when used in the rather small quantities that
are necessary for cooking it is safe. No known cases of spontaneous abortion
can be found that are in anyway related to eating rue as a seasoning in food.
However, when used as a tea or in large amounts, it definitely will cause
spontaneous abortion as any midwife worth her salt can attest too. it is
still used today to produce commercial abortion pills used in the medical
field.
Since there is no known cases of abortion resulting from it's use as a
cooking herb, I really wouldn't worry about it. But if you are deeply
concerned simply avoid dishes that contain this herb.
Cloves and nutmeg supposedly are weak abortion agents also. Again no known
abortions have occurred from their use in cookery. And only studies of
animals fed massive amounts of these substances where used to 'prove' the
point.
Other herbs to avoid are:
Angelica (uterine stimulating)
Black Cohosh (uterine stimulating)
Blue Cohosh (stimulates uterine contractions)
Cotton Root Bark (blocks, alters or interferes in the production of
progesterone)
Evening Primrose (use in conjunction with other specific herbs listed top
stimulate blood flow for more success)
Ginger root (uterine stimulating)
Dried Ginger (uterine stimulating)
Parsley (use in conjunction with other specific herbs listed top stimulate
blood flow for more success)
Pennyroyal (stimulates uterine contractions)
Unripe Pineapple (use in conjunction with other specific herbs listed top
stimulate blood flow for more success)
Tansy (stimulate uterine contractions)
Vitamin C (blocks, alters or interferes in the production of progesterone)
Queen Anne's Lace and Carrot seeds; and, by extension carrots in general
(blocks, alters or interferes in the production of progesterone)
Black Pepper (use in conjunction with other specific herbs listed top
stimulate blood flow for more success)
Essential oils of any kind (all oils tested on animal subjects tended to
cause spontaneous abortion at rates statistically significant)
The above herbs should never be used to stimulate spontaneous abortion after
the 9th week of pregnancy because the mother's life could be put in jeopardy.
After that time clinical abortion should be sought if that is the choice of
the mother.
Combinations of the herbs listed above used frequently and in large amounts
are always more effective. Amounts used in culinary purposes have not been
shown to be in any way causative with regard to spontaneous abortion.
The above information should not be construed to indicate the writer's view
of the acceptance or nonacceptance of abortion in general but is given merely
for the purpose of education. Any use of this information for whatever
purposes is dependent on your personal views of women enslaved, religious and
ethical consideration and is not meant to convey my personal feelings on the
appropriateness or inappropriateness of the personal choices women have in
regard to their bodies.
Ras
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2001 07:41:43 -0400
From: margali <margali at 99main.com>
Subject: SC - Silphium Images from Coins
http://ancient-coins.com/articles/articles.htm
Neat site with an article about the representation of the herb
'silphium' on coins.
Another article I have seen online also claims that it might be
possible that the plant is not entirely extinct, but we cannot
access them because of the political problems in the area. Is
there any country that Kaddafi isn't pissed at who can get into
Libya to check?
- -margali
From: mary_m_haselbauer at yahoo.com (Slaine)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: 28 Sep 2004 10:08:33 -0700
I have a long term research project that I call "How to make a
medieval baby." There's a big section of my working bibliography
that's about unmaking them as well. I've included the "contraception"
section below. The easy answer to all things concerning medieval
sexuality is the "Church says no." Easy answers are never completely
true.
Most folks know that medieval medicine involved keeping the humors in
balance. For women this meant that she have a regular cycle. There are
lots of recipes for bringing on menstruation which would act as early
chemical abortions.
The Trotula a medieval mediecal manuel has a section called "For a
woman who does not wish to conceive." Some of the methods described to
avoid conception are downright silly (one involved a jet bead that I
could only imagine being used similarly to the "asprin pill".) but
some, chemically, could work.
In the various period texts I've seen there are many reasons given for
why a women might not want to get pregnant : narrow hips, previous
problems in giving birth and lack of funds to support a child. The
idea that a married couple would not engage in intercourse seemed more
unhealthy than avoiding it.
Obviously in the 1000 years of what SCA's time period there were many
medical texts and religious doctrines. It's not always known how well
some items in medical treaties applied out in the general public. So
Your millege may vary. Don't try this at home.
Oh, one more thing. For a medieval family, an imperfect form of birth
control could still be a boon. She'd might still be "mommy' but it
would be to 5 kids instead of 10.
Of the books and articles below I recommend the starred ones. These
are scholars who have written extensively on this topic. They are
through and stick with primary sources.
Cheers,
Slaine
Barony of Three Rivers, Calontir
St. Louis, Missouri
Mary_m_haselbauer at yahoo.com
Medieval Contraception Bibliography
**Biller PP. Birth-control in the west in the thirteenth and early
fourteenth centuries.
Past and Present. 1982;(94):3-26. No abstract available.
Biller, Peter "Confessors' manuals and the avoiding of offspring,"
Handling sin: confession in the Middle Ages, edited by Peter Biller
and A.J. Minnis, York studies in medieval theology; vol. 2, 165-187
(Boydell, 1998)
Connell EB. Contraception in the prepill era. Contraception. 1999
Jan;59(1 Suppl):7S-10S.
Crafts NF, Ireland NJ. Family limitation and the English demographic
revolution: a simulation approach.
J Econ Hist. 1976;36(3):598-623.
Dellapenna JW. The historical case against abortion.
Continuity. 1989;(13):59-83. No abstract available.
Gavigan S. The criminal sanction as it relates to human reproduction:
the genesis of the statutory prohibition of abortion. J Legal Hist.
1984;5(1):20-43. No abstract available.
Green M. Women's medical practice and health care in medieval Europe.
Signs (Chic). 1989;14(2):434-74. No abstract available.
Green M. Obstetrical and Gynecological Texts in Middle English Studies
in the Age of Chaucer 14 (1992), 53-88
Green MH. In search of an "Authenic" women's medicine: the strange
fates of Trota of Salerno and Hildegard of Bingen. Dynamis.
1999;19:25-54.
Green MH. Sex and the medieval physician. Essay reviews.
Pubbl Stn Zool Napoli II. 1991;13(2):287-93. No abstract available.
**Green, Monica edited and translated The Trotula: a medieval
compendium of women's medicine
Middle Ages series (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2001).
Green, Monica H. From `Diseases of Women' to `Secrets of Women': The
transformation of gynecological literature... Journal of Medieval &
Early Modern Studies; Winter2000, Vol. 30 Issue 1, p5, 35p available
online http://0-search.epnet.com.iii.slcl.org:80/direct.asp?an=2889184&db=afh
Jochle W. Mensus-inducing drugs: their role in antique, medieval and
renaissance gynecology and birth control. Contraception. 1974
Oct;10(4):425-39. No abstract available.
Kass N. Abortion in Jewish law. Korot. 1983 Aug;8(7-8):323-31.
Mohr JC. Sexuality, reproduction, contraception, and abortion: a
review of recent literature.
J Womens Hist. 1996 Spring;8(1):172-84. No abstract available.
Musallam BF. Why Islam permitted birth control. Arab Stud Q.
1981;3(2):181-97. No abstract available.
Nathan B, Mikhail M. Avicenna's recipe for contraception.
Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1991 Dec;98(12):1303. No abstract available.
Poulakou-Rebelakou E, Lascaratos J, Marketos SG. Abortions in
Byzantine times (325-1453 AD).
Vesalius. 1996;2(1):19-25.
Riddle JM. Oral contraceptives and early-term abortifacients during
classical antiquity and the Middle Ages. Past Present. 1991
Aug;(132):3-32. No abstract available.
Riddle, John Eve's herbs: a history of contraception and abortion in
the west
(Harvard University Press, 1997).
**Riddle, John M. "Manuscript sources for birth control," (Manuscript
sources of medieval medicine) edited by Margaret R. Schleissner,
Garland Medieval Casebooks (Garland, 1995), 145-158.
Schenker JG, Rabenou V. Family planning: cultural and religious
perspectives.
Hum Reprod. 1993 Jun;8(6):969-76.
Stieb EW. The Ortho Museum on the history of contraception.
Pharm Hist. 1989;31(4):182-3. No abstract available.
Tatum HJ, Connell-Tatum EB. Barrier contraception: a comprehensive
overview.
Fertil Steril. 1981 Jul;36(1):1-12. Review.
van de Walle E. Marvellous secrets: birth control in European short
fiction, 1150-1650.
Popul Stud (Camb). 2000 Nov;54(3):321-30.
Wrigley EA.
Family limitation in pre-industrial England. Econ Hist Rev.
1966;19:82-109. No abstract available.
From: bronwynmgn at aol.comnospam (Bronwynmgn)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Date: 27 Sep 2004 22:20:44 GMT
Subject: Re: Period contraception
> Another method is withdrawal, where the man does not ejaculate
>into the woman.
And rather frowned on by the period Catholic church, as if you aren't having
sex with the intent to make a baby (or at least without making effort not to
have a baby), then you are succumbing to lust, one of the deadly sins.
Sex just for fun really wasn't something that was supposed to happen in the
Middle Ages. Mind you, I'm not saying it didn't happen, just that the church
took a very dim view of it.
Brangwayna
From: Jenne <jahb at lehigh.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 12:54:06 -0400
Organization: Lehigh University
> One of the reason that Culpepper didn't talk about the uses of Basil,
> and in fact claimed that it caused "scorpions to grow in the head", was
> that it was a popular aborticant. Okay "emenogauge(sp?)", which
> "encouraged late menses".
Actually, emmenagogues equivalent to abortifacents, per se. Check a list
of what should be avoided in pregnancy and a list of what period doctors
thought would encourage menses and you'll find that some are
cross-listed, but not nearly all...
In the case of Culpeper, a number of different herbs are listed as
emmenagogues and/or expelling the dead child.
http://www.med.yale.edu/library/historical/culpeper/culpeper.htm
For instance, Sage is listed not only to encourage menses and to expell
the dead child, but in a recipe supposed to ENCOURAGE conception and
prevent miscarrage; Tansy is suggested in a decoction to bring down
women's courses but applied externally to hinder miscarriage.
If you go look at what Culpeper said, he did claim that Garden Basil was
an abortifacient, but admits that some experts disagree. Would the
multiparas in the audience tell us if they were encouraged to avoid
Basil in their pregnancies?
-- J.
From: "Jennifer A. Heise" <jahb at lehigh.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: Thu, 30 Sep 2004 18:38:52 -0400
Organization: Lehigh University
Allow me to correct my phrasing:
> Actually, emmenagogues ARE NOT equivalent to abortifacents, per se.
- J.
From: val_org at hotmail.com (Gunnora Hallakarva)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: 29 Sep 2004 13:00:57 -0700
"Cynthia Gee" <goldndog at earthlink.com> wrote in message news:<2vi6d.3267$ls6.1094 at newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>...
> And, one thing I forgot about.... nursing a baby tends to prevent ovulation
> in many women.
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Jeanne
Benidictow, Ole Jorgen. "The Milky Way in History: Breast Feeding,
Antagonism Between the Sexes, and Infant Mortality in Medieval
Norway," Scandinavian Journal of History. 10 (1985): 19-53. (All the
text below is quoted from this source):
However, it is erroneous to believe that prolonged breast feeding has
an unlimited or virtually unlimited contraceptive effect. Extensive
international research has shown that the lower and upper limits of
amenorrhea related to childbirth as 2 and 18 months respectively. The
average in poor, developing countries is about 10 months. Two of these
10 months follow automatically after childbirth irrespective of breast
feeding. The net effect of breast feeding in ordinary societies where
suboptimal (i.e. poor) conditions of nutrition prevail, is about 8
months.[41] Once ovulation has resumed, continued breast feeding has
no contraceptive effect.[42] An amenorrhea related to childbirth of 10
months (2 plus 8) produces an interval between births of about 29
months (menstruation 8,43 early miscarriages about 245 and pregnancy
9). There is little statistically based information on birth intervals
during the middle ages, but it can be usefully seen in the light of
the somewhat more extensive and more firmly based evidence available
for the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The medieval evidence
comes from France and Italy. The census taken in Reims in 1422
contains information which clearly suggests that the average birth
interval for the years around 1420 was 25-30 months.[46] Some material
from the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries can be derived
from the family journals ("livres de raison") kept continuously by
upper-class families in Limousin in south-central France. The average
birth interval was just over 21 months. It is clear from the sources
that the use of wet nurses was widespread within this well-to-do
group, but also that some women partly or exclusively suckled their
babies themselves, which increased the birth intervals.[47] Another
and more extensive source of the same type is the "ricordanze" kept by
families in the city of Florence. This source covers the period from
the last third of the fourteenth century to the end of the third
decade of the sixteenth century, although 70% of the information
relates to the fifteenth century. The data covers 115 couples who had
701 children between them. All the children were given to wet nurses
immediately after birth and baptism, and the birth intervals are
therefore uninfluenced by the contraceptive effects of breast feeding.
The average birth interval was 20.85 months. Fifty per cent of the
births occurred within 17 months of the previous delivery.[48] This
fact explains why a small material of the same kind kept by families
in Arras from about 1390 to about 1460 can show an average
intergenetic period of 16 months. The use of wet nurses was at least
common.49 The last piece of medieval evidence we have on birth
intervals comes from Cambrai in northern France for the period
1468-82. It provides an average of 29.7 months.[50]
If we turn to the evidence for the early modern period, the average
birth interval in Cambrai during the 1550s, when conditions were good,
was 25 months and in the period 1559-75 was 30.5 months. The birth
interval in the village of Terling in south-east England during the
period 1550-1724 was just under 30 months for women of around 20 years
of age who did not practise any form of birth control.[51] In the case
of Colyton in south-west England, the average birth interval was 27.5
months between 1560 and 1646 and 31.4 months between 1647 and
1719.[52] Studies of 3 rural parishes in Brittany reveal a very
similar picture: 31.36 months in Anetz (1568-1650), 29.1 months in la
Chapelle-des Fougerets (1566-1650) and 29.14 months in OssŽ
(1608-1668). Prolonged breast feeding was practised in Brittany. Four
rural parishes in Lorraine had an average birth interval of 27.8
months in the period 1578-1635 (the median interval is just under 26
months and the modal interval is 27 months). A number of studies
covering the following period produce similar results [53].
This information about birth intervals in the late medieval and early
modern periods produces the same picture as the results of modern
research in underdeveloped countries: The contraceptive effect of
breast feeding among poorly nourished peoples usually lasts for 6 to
10 months.
----
::GUNNVOR::
From: val_org at hotmail.com (Gunnora Hallakarva)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: 29 Sep 2004 07:08:50 -0700
I have not seen any evidence for contraception. The closest to it
would be infanticide via exposure.
Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu ch. 3 says:
Um sumariÝ bj—st Þ—rsteinn til ßings og m¾lti til J—fr’Ýar hœsfreyju
‡Ýur hann f—r heiman: "Svo er h‡ttaÝ," segir hann, "aÝ ßœ ert meÝ
barni og skal ßaÝ barn œt bera ef ßœ f¾Ýir meybarn en upp f¾Ýa ef
sveinn er." Og ßaÝ var ߇ siÝvandi nokkur er land var allt alheiÝiÝ aÝ
ßeir menn er fŽlitlir voru en st—Ý —megÝ mjšg til handa lŽtu œt bera
bšrn s’n og ß—tti ß— illa gert ‡vallt.
[The same summer Th—rsteinn made ready for the Assembly, and had this
to say to J—fr’Ýr, his wife, before leaving home. 'This is how matters
stand,' he told her. 'You are about to have a child. Now if you give
birth to a girl the child must be left to die of exposure, but if it
is a boy it shall be reared.' For when the land was still entirely
heathen, it was by way of being a custom that those men who had few
means and many dependents would have their children left to die of
exposure, though it was always reckoned a bad thing to do.]
Exposure of children was apparently practiced in heathen times in
Scandinavia. The sagas refer to it, and the oldest Norwegian laws
(written after the introduction of Christianity) make it permissable
in case of severe deformity. The Church frowned on exposure, but
infanticide did take place, with economic reasons apparently weighing
more heavily than the sex of the child according to the Old Norse
literature (as in the quote above), though scholars believe that
female infants were most likely to be exposed.
During the Viking Age, women suffered the consequences of female
infanticide as a regulatory mechanism of population control. A
variety of Old Norse literary and historical sources report that
exposure of female infants was practiced, and women are
underrepresented in grave material of the eighth through twelfth
centuries A.D. in Scandinavia. Though this dearth of women may be
partially attributed to different burial rites or biased
archaeological methods, it also seems that there were in reality fewer
women than men in these Scandinavian populations. Written sources, the
archaeological shortage of women, and finds of scattered infant bones,
all give probable evidence of exposure.
There is no firm evidence of how often female exposure was practiced,
yet there is good evidence for a gender imbalance during the Viking
Age much larger than that which would be expected due to childbirth
mortality for women. The laws reflect a limited amount of power for
women, yet the sagas show women having a large impact and much real
power, perhaps as a result of their relative scarcity.
See:
Damsholt, Nanna. "The Role of Icelandic Women in the Sagas and the
Production of Homespun Cloth," Scandinavian Journal of History. 9
(1984): 75-90.
Jacobsen, Grethe. "Pregnancy and Childbirth in the Medieval North: A
Typology of Sources and a Preliminary Study." Scandinavian Journal of
History 9:2 (1984), pp. 91-111.
Jacobsen, Grethe. "Pregnancy and Childbirth." in: Medieval
Scandinavia: An Encyclopedia. Phillip Pulsiano, et al., eds. Garland
Reference Library of the Humanities 934. New York: Garland. 1993. pp.
516-517.
Pentikainen, Juha. "Child Abandonment as an Indicator of
Christianization in the Nordic Countries." in: Old Norse and Finnish
Religions and Cultic Place-Names. ed. Tore AhlbŠck. bo. 1990. pp.
72-91.
Scott, Eleanor. The Archaeology of Infancy and Infant Death. BAR S819.
Oxford: Archaeopress. 1999.
Wicker, Nancy L. "Selective female infanticide as partial explanation
for the dearth of women in Viking Age Scandinavia" in: Violence and
Society in the Early Medieval West. ed. Guy Halsell. Woodbridge:
Boydell. 1998. pp. 205-221.
Wicker, Nancy L. "Violence against Women and Children: Infanticide in
Viking Period Scandinavia." Gender and Archaeology Across the
Millennia: Long Vistas and Multiple Viewpoints. Northern Arizona
University's Department of Anthropology and Women's Studies Program
Sixth Gender and Archaeology Conference, October 6-7, 2000.
::GUNNVOR::
From: val_org at hotmail.com (Gunnora Hallakarva)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: 29 Sep 2004 13:07:16 -0700
I had said:
>I have not seen any evidence for contraception.
Of course I *meant* to type, "I have not seen any evidence for
contraception among the Viking Age peoples".
Just thought I should clarify that!
Cynthia Virtue asked:
> Are there theories about why exposure was
> chosen for infanticide? It seems much more
> heartless than just killing the child outright
> as you'd do if you had to put an animal down,
> for example.
Just as occurs later in the story in Gunnlaugs saga ormstungu, there's
a strong current of belief - at least in the stories that recount
infant exposure - that some kindly person will happen along and adopt
the child before it dies, and in fact maybe even someone who has more
money/resources than the birth parent, and the child will be better
off.
::GUNNVOR::
From: val_org at hotmail.com (Gunnora Hallakarva)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: 30 Sep 2004 11:34:27 -0700
Cynthia Virtue said:
> Ok, there's an explaination. Are the sagas (and presumably real Viking
> life) full of people who were rescued and raised by others? Or was it a
> total denial of reality, to hope someone would take the child?
I expect that sometimes someone adopted some children. It is however
true that the arcaheology seems to confirm the custom of preferential
exposure of female infants:
GrŠslund, Anne-Sofie. "The Position of Iron Age Scandinavian Women."
Gender and the Archaeology of Death. Bettina Arnold & Nancy L. Wicker,
eds. Gender and Archaeology Series 2. New York: Altamira. 2001. pp.
81-102.
p. 84 "To a fairly high degree, women figure in the runic inscriptions
in the MŠlar area of central Sweden. In Uppland, the province in this
region that is richest in rune stones, women are mentioned in 39
percent of the inscriptions either as the erector of the stone or
commemorated by it, alone or together with men. The family pattern
showed that up to six sons were mentioned but not more than two
daughters. (There are very few exceptions: three daughters are
mentioned once in Uppland and twice in the contiguous province of
Sšdermanland). My hypothesis is that this is due to the fact that
female infanticide was practiced in the MŠlar area at this time."
---
Wicker, Nancy L. "Selective female infanticide as partial explanation
for the dearth of women in Viking Age Scandinavia" in: Violence and
Society in the Early Medieval West. ed. Guy Halsell. Woodbridge:
Boydell. 1998. pp. 205-221.
pp. 209-210 "Old Norse literary sources also mention fewer females
than should be the case according to natural sex ratios. A suspicious
preponderance of male children and a lack of female children, perhaps
indirectly reflecting selective female infanticide, has been noted by
Clover (1988: 167-68) in lists of household membership in the medieval
Icelandic Landn‡mab—k, a book detailing the tenth century settlement
of Iceland. The lists of household membership show that there were not
as many girls and women as would be expected. Clover estimates that
sons usually out-number daughters at a ratio of four or five to one,
occasionally even nine to one, perhaps indirectly reflecting the
effects of female infanticide. Swedish Upplandic runestones, as
counted by Anne-Sofie GrŠslund, display similar ratios of sons to
daughters. GrŠslund (1989: 233-40) suggests that female infanticide
may account for this scarcity of daughters."
p. 210 "Some scholars have attempted to discount evidence of
infanticide by explaining that women and girls only seem to be lacking
because they were not important enough to be mentioned as often. In
either case, 'hidden' practice contributes to the relative
invisibility of women. But even slaves were enumerated in Landn‡mab—k
(Karras 1988: 80), presumably because of their economic significance.
It would seem logical, therefore, that each girl should also be noted
due to the future negative economic impact that her dowry, the woman's
inheritance which was handed over by her father at marriage, would
represent (Frank 1973: 475-76). While the scarcity of women and girls
in written sources is not conclusive proof of infanticide, this
testimony supports the proposition of female infanticide when
considered alongside other evidence."
p. 212 "A relative shortage of adult female mortuary remains compared
to the expected sex ratio of nearly 1:1 has been noted in many regions
of Scandinavia for the late Iron Age. Norway's population seems to
diverge most markedly from average sex ratios. Dommasnes (1979; 1982;
1991) found a much smaller representation of women in studies of
burials in four regions of the country. The women's share of graves
identifiable by gender in the four areas of Sogn, Gloppen, Nordland,
and Upper Telemark varied from only 6% to 32%. Dommasnes (1979:
99-100) found ratios of eight males to one female in Sogn in the
seventh century and six to one in the eighth century. The ratios are
typical of graves throughout most of Norway in that period. For
instance, Ellen H¿igŒrd Hofseth (1988: fig. 11) found that women
represented only from 8% to 18% of the late Iron Age graves in
Hordaland. In another study, Trond L¿ken (1987) found three times as
many male as female graves in Iron Age material from Ostfold and
Vestfold in Norway.
In Denmark, sex ratios from cemetery analysis also are skewed toward
males. The study of all unburnt Danish Iron Age skeletal remains found
during the previous one hundred and fifty years identified 158
individuals of the Viking period for which sex could be determined by
skeletal analysis (Sellevold et al. 1984). Of these, 85 were found to
be males and 73 females. The numbers represented are small and reflect
quite a sampling problem in Denmark where preservation is poor, but
notably fewer women than men were identified and the sex imbalance is
even more pronounced in earlier Iron Age material. In addition, just
across the Danish-German border at Viking Hedeby, 62% of adult dead
(47 individuals) that could be sexed skeletally were men and only 38%
(29 individuals) women (Schaefer 1963).
For Sweden there has been no country-wide re-evaluation of Iron Age
skeletal material as completed for Denmark and in progress for Norway
(Sellevold & N¾ss 1987), though there is a project underway for the
medieval period (Iregren 1988: 25). The situation appears to differ
with a marked qualitative rather than quantitative difference between
women's and men's graves. Studies of Swedish material have
concentrated on extraordinary sites such as boat graves at ValsgŠrde,
as well as the large number of burials at Birka dating to Viking
times. At ValsgŠrde, men were inhumed in chamber graves and boat
graves, but women were cremated (Arwidsson 1942; 1954). At Birka where
more than 2,000 grave mounds are visible, sex has been determined for
only 415 burials. GrŠslund (1980) reports that women's graves there
actually outnumber men's, representing 58% of the inhumations (308
burials) and 61% of the cremations (107 burials). However, women were
buried in the generally richer chamber graves less frequently (44%)
than men, so there was at least a qualitative differentiation between
women's and men's graves."
p. 213 "Women also made up most (68%) of those interred without
coffins. Rather than indicating a preponderance of women at Birka,
GrŠslund has suggested that the greater number of women's graves there
may merely indicate that their graves are easier to identify because
of their contents, especially jewellery. However, Birka is anomalous;
the trading community there should not be considered representative
for the Viking period as a whole because of its unusual wealth and
early missionary activity; the relatively large number of women's
remains found at Birka might be explained by the missionaries'
success.
In her analyses of Norwegian material, Dommasnes (1982: 73) assumed
that there was a 1:1 ratio of men to women, but perhaps that was not
so. The sex ratio from cemetery analysis could be skewed if a portion
of the population died elsewhere, away from home (Ehrenberg 1989:
127). One might expect that many men of Viking-Age Scandinavia died in
foreign lands (GrŠslund 1989: 236-37), and at least some such deaths
are memorialized on runestones commemorating men, listing where they
travelled and who they fought (Morris, above: 149, 152). Warfare and
migration could have taken such a toll on men that their remains would
be scarce in cemeteries at home (perhaps such as at, Birka). However,
in many Scandinavian regions, men are not lacking: women are. Divale
and Harris have hypothesized that preferential female infanticide
compensates for the loss of adult males due to extra deaths in warfare
(Divale 1970; Divale & Harris 1976). Such a functionalist explanation
could explain the mirroring effects of public and private violence to
regulate Viking society, a population in which heavy male outward
migration and warfare might have led to an overabundance of women if
not for the levelling effect of female infanticide at home.
Perhaps because infanticide is so distasteful to us, some scholars
have attempted to discount the dearth of women's remains in
Scandinavia by explaining that women only seem to be lacking because
they were not memorialized as often with large grave mounds or visible
stone settings, so their graves go unnoticed. Dommasnes (1982), for
instance, assumes she has not dealt with a representative sample of
the Iron Age population. Women may have been given a different, less
ostentatious, burial rite, as at Birka and ValsgŠrde. Yet it is also
possible that men actually outnumbered women due to selective female
infanticide or other factors. We may be witnessing the results of
preferential female infanticide compounded by the relative
invisibility of low status female graves."
The items cited above are:
Arwidsson G. Die Graberfunde von Valsgard I. Valsgard 6. Acta Musei
Antiquitatum Septentrionalium Regiae Universitatis IV. 1942.
Arwidsson G. Die Graberfunde von Valsgard II. Valsgard 8. Acta Musei
Antiquitatum Septentrionalium Regiae Universitatis IV. 1954.
Clover, Carol J. "The Politics of Scarcity: Notes on the Sex Ratio in
Early Scandinavia." Scandinavian Studies 60 (1988) pp. 147-188.
Divale, William T. and Marvin Harris. "Population, Warfare, and the
Male Supremacist Complex". American Anthropologist 78 (1976) pp.
521-538.
Divale, William T. "An Explanation for Primitive Warfare: Population
Control and the Significance of Primitive Sex Ratios". New Scholar 2
(1970) pp. 172-193.
Dommasnes, L. H. "Et gravmateriale fra yngre jernalder brukt til a
belyse kvinners stilling". Viking 1978 (1979) pp. 95-114.
Dommasnes, L. H. "Late Iron Age in western Norway: female roles and
ranks as deduced from an analysis of burial customs". Norwegian
Archaeological Review 15 (1982) pp. 70-84.
Dommasnes, L. H. "Women, kinship, and the basis of power in the
Norwegian Viking Age", in R. Samson (ed.), Social Approaches to Viking
Studies (Glasgow). 1991. pp. 65-74.
Ehrenberg, Margaret. Women in Prehistory. Norman: University of
Oklahoma Press. 1989.
Frank, Roberta. "Marriage in Twelfth- and Thirteenth-Century Iceland."
Viator 4 (1973): pp. 473-484.
GrŠslund, Anne-Sofie: The burial customs: a study of the graves on
Bjšrkš. Birka: Untersuchungen und Studien. 1980. ISBN 91-7402-108-7
GrŠslund, Anne-Sofie. " 'Gud hjŠlpe nu vŠl hennes sjŠl': om
runstenskvinnorna, deras roll vid kristnandet och deras plats i
familij och samhŠlle." Tor 22 (1989) pp. 223-244,
Hofseth, Ellen H¿igŒrd. "Liten tue velter... problemer knyttet til
manns- og kvinnegravenes i fordeling i Nord-Rogaland."
Artikkel-samling II (AmS Skrifter 12). Stavanger. 1988. pp. 5-38.
Iregren, E. "Avbruten amning blev barnens dšd? - Ett fšrsšk til
tolkning av VŠsterhusmaterialet." PopulŠr Arkeologi 4 (1988) pp.
22-25.
L¿ken, Trond "The correlation between the shape of grave monuments and
sex in the Iron Age, based on material from ¯stfold and Vestfold', in
R. Bertelsen, A. Ullehammer, & J.-R. N¾ss (eds), Were They All Men?:
An Examination of Sex Roles in Prehistoric Society (Ams Varia, 17)
(Stavanger). 1987. pp. 53-63.
Morris, I. Burial and Ancient Society: The Rise of the Greek
City-State. Cambridge. 1987.
Schaefer, U. Anthropologische Untersuchung der Skelette von Haithabu
(Die Ausgrabungen in Haithabu, 4) NeumŸnster. 1963.
Sellevold, Berit J. and Jenny-Rita N¾ss. "Iron Age People of Norway".
Norwegian Archaeological Review 20:1 (1987) pp. 46-50. ISSN 0029-3652.
Sellevold, Berit J., Lund Hansen, U., & J¿rgensen, J.B. Iron Age Man
in Denmark (Nordiske Fortidsminder 138) Copenhagen. 1984.
---
::GUNNVOR::
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
From: djheydt at kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt)
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Organization: Kithrup Enterprises, Ltd.
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 19:16:55 GMT
Robert Uhl <ruhl at 4dv.net> wrote:
>Cynthia Virtue <cvirtue at thibault.org> writes:
>> Are there theories about why exposure was chosen for infanticide? It
>> seems much more heartless than just killing the child outright as
>> you'd do if you had to put an animal down, for example.
>
>I'd think it rather obvious: exposure kills by inaction while aught else
>would be by action. A mother who cannot strangle, or stab, or poison
>her baby might be very able to just have a servant take it out to the
>woods and leave it there. She might even fool herself that it'll be
>raised by wolves and found a city:-/
Or something.
In Ptolemaic Egypt, the child would be picked up by the King's
agents, brought up, and sold as a slave. My source is F. W.
Walbank, The Hellenistic World. Sussex: The Harvester
Press; New Jersey: Humanities Press, 1981.
Dorothea of Caer-Myrddin Dorothy J. Heydt
Mists/Mists/West Albany, California
PRO DEO ET REGE djheydt at kithrup.com
From: Chas <webmaster at NOSPAMhistoricgames.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Period contraception
Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2004 12:26:30 GMT
Cian ua'Lochain wrote:
> On Mon, 27 Sep 2004, Trish Liaoz wrote:
> Opinion: Latex, Spermicides and Hormones are far more reliable, and this
> in one place that period is NOT better. Bring the condoms.
It was an Italian anatomist, Gabriello Fallopio who claimed to be the
inventor of a linen sheath as a protection against venereal disease.
(1523-62. It was also his name that was adopted for the fallopian
tubes.) His invention first appeared in his posthumously published work
De Morbo Gallico (The "French disease," i.e. syphilis). A short time
later, a Hercules Saxonia described a larger linen sheath, soaked in a
chemical or herbal preparation, which covered the entire penis like a
modern condom.
The invention of such sheep-gut condoms has often been attributed to a
certain Dr. Condom, (sometimes spelled Cundum, or Quondam), during the
reign of England's King Charles II. However, there seems to be nothing
to confirm this story outside of hearsay. Archaeological evidence
suggests that these gut condoms were already available as early as the
period of the English Civil War. Fragments of shaped animal gut were
discovered during an excavation of the garderobe (privy) of the keep at
Dudley Castle, which had been filled in 1647. These prototype condoms,
known as baudruche, French letters, or capotes anglaises (English riding
coats), were primarily employed as protection against venereal disease,
although there is some literary evidence that their dual purpose as
contraceptives was also recognized.
-Excerpted from a pamphet I wrote: "A Short History of a Delicate
Subject: Condoms through the Centuries" available at the site below ;-)
Chas
--
Ellesh's Closet
Reproductions of historic naughty novelties
http://historicgames.com/elleshindex.html
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2006 13:44:56 -0400
From: "marilyn traber 011221" <phlip at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sausage
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Check out the book "The Savory Sausage; A Culinary Tour Around the World"
> By Linda Merinoff. 1987, Poseidon Press ISBN 0-671-62727-9 for
> lots of recipes, albeit modern ones, from all over the world.
>
> As side note regards the reference to 15 foot condoms, were not the original
> condoms used in late period sausage casings? Hmmm, if so I can
> picture a potential A/S project in my mind's eye, consider the
> possibilities. The mind boggles does it not?
>
> Daniel
As I recall, there was an article talking about using lamb intestines as
condoms, as found in some garderobe they excavated, but I don't believe I've
heard of any using the intestines of any other species.
Phlip
Date: Sun, 16 Apr 2006 15:30:27 -0400
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd at gate.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] A/S Entries and Experimental Design was Sausage
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Was written:
=====
But how would you prove to the judges that the condom actually works?
I have heard rumors that there is a RevWar reenactor who makes sheep bladder
condoms and will make the ribbons that hold the thing on in the appropriate
regimental colors. Truly the mind wobbles.
=====
In the case of "the hole" I did get some of the judges to test it for
comfort. Hypothetically one might offer the items, with period
instructions, to the judges for testing.
It should be noted that Consumer Report recently tested latex condoms. One
might use their methodology to determine loss of integrity. That being
said, purely as a hypothetical, I suggest that one would have to define the
item's original intended purpose(s) in period, i.e. contraception vs.
disease prevention, and also determine what was considered successful use in
period. Presumably success in the short term would be that "the raincoat"
stayed on in "the storm" and that it did not leak. One could make up a
batch of such reproductions, solicit their use by consenting adults at some
major war, Pennsic perhaps. Proper experimental methodology would be to
have the subjects of the experiment read a set of period instructions for
use, and then fill out before and after use surveys in order to quantify
short term failure rates for various designs. Long term success would be
harder to define. Perhaps if one had a sufficiently large experimental base
and the intend use was indeed contraception one could do a follow up the
next Pennsic as it would be 4 months past the gestation period. Of course
the experimental subjects would have to pledge to use the items throughout
the test period, i.e. the two weeks of Pennsic.
While I do not intent to do this hypothetical A/S project it does suggest to
me that an article regarding how such a project could be done might be of
interest. A "how to" article detailing documentation, experimental design,
construction, testing and results.
Daniel
<the end>