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mice-msg - 10/6/18

 

Medieval mice, dormice. Medieval thoughts about mice.

 

NOTE: See also the files: pets-msg, Pest-Control-art, ferrets-msg, dogs-msg,  cats-msg, livestock-msg, bees-msg, rabbits-msg.

 

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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.

 

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.

 

Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).

 

Thank you,

    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THLord Stefan li Rous

                                          Stefan at florilegium.org

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From: powers at woodstock.cis.ohio-state.edu (william thomas powers)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Attitude on mice in Renaissance Europe

Date: 12 Jan 1997 12:36:22 -0500

Organization: The Ohio State University, Department of Computer and Information Science

 

BlackCat (blackcat at blueneptune.com) wrote:

: Here's a wierd one:

: The attitude in various countries during the Renaissance to mice?

 

Its not the Renaissance; but you might check in "Le Menagier de Paris"

written from 1392-1394 and dealing in what a good housewife should know.

 

The excerpt I read had instructions on how to kill fleas, flies and mosquitoes

There is a good chance that mice would be dealt with too and perhaps some

discussions of their depredations and how they were viewed.

 

The Medici Aesop  contains a story "The Boar and the Mouse" which gives

some thoughts on how they were viewed. BTW this is a rather sobering little

tale for people with a rosey view of chilvary....

 

 

I would check some of the other texts like Tusser's poem on husbandry

and other sets of fables: One will indicate how they are viewed in

"reality" vs their "symbolic" representation.

 

wilelm the smith

 

 

From: UDSD007 at DSIBM.OKLADOT.STATE.OK.US (Mike.Andrews)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Attitude on mice in Renaissance Europe

Date: Mon, 13 Jan 1997 17:02

Organization: The University of Oklahoma (USA)

 

In article <32D7C2F0.3513 at SpiritOne.com>,

Aleq <aleq at SpiritOne.com> writes:

 

>   ...                    Didn't the Romans eat dormice and such?

 

But mice and dormice are different sorts of critters.

--

Mike.Andrews at dsibm.okladot.state.ok.us

Michael Fenwick of Fotheringhay, O.L. (Mike Andrews)  Namron, Ansteorra

 

 

From: mmaxwell at whsun1.whoi.edu (Michael Maxwell)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Attitude on mice in Renaissance Europe

Date: 13 Jan 1997 17:39:37 GMT

Organization: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

 

BlackCat (blackcat at blueneptune.com) wrote:

: Here's a wierd one:

: The attitude in various countries during the Renaissance to mice?

 

Not exactly Renaissance, but here goes.  Gerald of Wales regarded them as

pests.  In his "History and topography of Ireland" (written c. 1185), Gerald

says that mice are numerous in Ireland, and consume crops and garments.  He

notes Bede's comment that Ireland has two harmful beasts:  wolves and foxes

(though this latter might be bears, I don't remember exactly).  Gerald adds

mice to this list.

 

Mike

 

 

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From: shafer at spdcc.com (Mary Shafer)

Subject: Re: Attitude on mice in Renaissance Europe

Organization: S.P. Dyer Computer Consulting, Cambridge MA

Date: Tue, 14 Jan 1997 17:35:03 GMT

 

Katherine Penney  <katex at teleport.com> wrote:

 

>I have a broadside ballad extolling the rat catcher which dates from

>circa 1620.

 

The Pied Piper of Hamelin was piping for mice and rats.  It wasn't

until the town council cheated him of his pay that he switched to

children.  How old is that story?

 

Rats and mice are real problems for any society that depends on stored

food, particularly grain, to make it through the winter.  I'd think it

highly unlikely that anyone would view such vermin fondly.

--

Mary Shafer  DoD #0362 KotFR  shafer at ursa-major.spdcc.com

URL http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/People/Shafer/mary.html

 

 

From: salley at niktow.canisius.edu (David Salley)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Attitude on mice in Renaissance Europe

Date: 17 Jan 1997 01:10:41 GMT

Organization: Canisius College, Buffalo, NY 14208

 

Mike.Andrews wrote:

: > But mice and dormice are different sorts of critters.

Adellind le Quintain

: Dormice aren't rodents, then?  What are they?

 

According to my dictionary, "a small squirrel-like mammal"

 

                                                      - Dagonell

 

SCA Persona : Lord Dagonell Collingwood of Emerald Lake, CSC, CK, CTr

Habitat     : East Kingdom, AEthelmearc Principality, Rhydderich Hael Barony

Internet    : salley at cs.canisius.edu  (Please use this, reply may not work.)

USnail-net  : David P. Salley, 136 Shepard Street, Buffalo, NY 14212-2029

 

 

From: osmansks at emh1.pa.net (Mary Frey)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Attitude on mice in Renaissance Europe

Date: Sat, 18 Jan 1997 14:14:17 GMT

 

salley at niktow.canisius.edu (David Salley) wrote:

>According to my dictionary, "a small squirrel-like mammal"

 

>                                                      - Dagonell

 

According to my Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, a dormouse is an Old

World [European] rodent whose appearance and behavior are similar to a

squirrel's.

 

     Mary of Monetvale

 

 

From: vidumavi at swipnet.se (Ninni M Pettersson)

Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Subject: Re: Attitude on mice in Renaissance Europe

Date: Sun, 19 Jan 1997 13:55:24 +0100

 

Dormice belong to the family Gliridae that only exist in Europe,

sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia and Japan, and mice and rats to the

subfamily Murinae (Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia), that is part of

the *big* family Muridiae (all over the world), which includes most of

the ratlike rodents -  mice and rats, New World mice and rats, hamsters,

gerbils etc (more than 1000 species). The main differences between

dormice and most of the others are that dormice hibernate in winter (in

temperate climates) and are mainly tree-living.

 

/Widumawi

--

Writing from the Principality of Nordmark in the Kingdom of Drachenwald

vidumavi at swipnet.se

 

 

Date: Mon, 29 Sep 1997 22:49:45 -0400 (EDT)

From: Uduido at aol.com

Subject: SC - Mice

 

<< I also find that a sharp cheddar can be used for 1/3 to

1/2 of the cheese and improve the final result. YMMV;

I've been accused of being descended from mice... >>

 

When raising dormice for consumption do not feed them cheese. Their natural

foods are grains and insects (preferrably locusts (e.g. grasshoppers). When

properly fed dormice will in every case totally ignore the cheese if it is

offered. Cheese (or, indeed any dairy product) is not a natural food for

dormice under any circumstances.

 

FYI,

Lord Ras

 

 

Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2011 00:04:02 -0400

From: Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com>

To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>

Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] French Great Hamsters

 

I was always fascinated by the entry for the Hamster in Hildegard von

Bingen's Physica. She arranges her chapters by size, starting with the

largest of the category of animal she is addressing and going down.

She had the hamster listed between the squirrel and the marten. The

description stated that hamsters were fierce, like bears, and that

their fur made good clothing.

 

I cannot remember what she said about eating them.

--

Serena da Riva

 

On Fri, Jun 10, 2011 at 6:02 PM, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:

There must be recipes for these but I can't say I've ever seen any.

The European Union's highest court ruled Thursday that France could be fined

up to $24.6 million for its treatment of, wait for it, a hamster.

 

The Court of Justice in Luxembourg says that France has failed to adequately

protect the great hamster of Alsace, the New York Times reports.

 

It can grow to 10 inches.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/10/world/europe/10hamsters.html?_r=2

http://tinyurl.com/69tp9xg

 

Johnnae

 

 

Date: Sun, 12 Jun 2011 22:25:26 +0100 (BST)

From: emilio szabo <emilio_szabo at yahoo.it>

To: sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org

Subject: [Sca-cooks] Hildegard on Hamsters

 

<< I was always fascinated by the entry for the Hamster in Hildegard von

Bingen's Physica. She arranges her chapters by size, starting with the largest

of the category of animal she is addressing and going down. >>

 

What do you mean by "chapter" and what by "category of animal"?

 

The text is organized in "books" (i.e. something like main chapters),

each book/main chapter contains sections/secondary chapters on different plants,

animals etc.

 

The Lion (book 7, chapter 3) preceeds the horse (book 7, chapter 8).

 

<< The description stated that hamsters were fierce, like bears, and that their

fur made good clothing.  I cannot remember what she said about eating them. >>

 

No culinary uses are mentioned.

 

The liver of the hamster in a pulverized form is suggested to be eaten on bread

or in a broth for certain skin diseases. This indication is compared to eating

the flesh of mole for the same diseases.

 

The distinction between "(regular) food" and eating something for medical

purposes is mentioned explicitly in the chapter on mole (book 7, chapter 37).

 

E.

 

<the end>



Formatting copyright © Mark S. Harris (THLord Stefan li Rous).
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Comments to the Editor: stefan at florilegium.org