p-thts-animls-msg - 1/29/08
Period thoughts about animals. Period treatment of animals.
NOTE: See also the files: pets-msg, livestock-msg, ferrets-msg, horses-msg, cats-msg, dogs-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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Date: Tue, 20 May 1997 08:21:04 CST
From: "Katy Corey" <k_corey at WJHS.NWSC.K12.AR.US>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Chickens & eggs & thoughts on period practices
> Many medieval pastimes were brutal to animals - they thought a lot of really
> nasty things were funny. This is an area in which we are very different -
> like our hygiene. This is another area in which authenticity does not
> appeal to me.
I remember reading that Leonardo da Vinci was considered strange
as a young man because he hated the common entertainment of
throwing cats onto sharpened stakes to watch them struggle. The same
source - probably a National Geographic book on the Italian
Renaissance - said that he would buy caged birds in the marketplace
just to set them free.
Katherine
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 10:14:23 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rooscc at aol.com
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Chicken & eggs
While there were many cruel practices in the Middle Ages
(cock fighting and dog fighting still exist today), there
was also an understanding of humane treatment of farm
animals. (Not as pets, but as a kind regard for the animals'
well being.) Walter of Henley (13th century handbook for
running manors) gives several examples: providing
scratching posts, allowing ample "play" time outside
the stall in winter, etc. He also advises the lord to watch
how the animals behave around their keepers--if they
seem fearful or avoid the person then they are likely
being mistreated. This contrasts favorably I think
with the attitudes in modern large commercial production.
Alysoun
Middle
Date: Wed, 21 May 1997 19:58:47 -0400 (EDT)
From: Rooscc at aol.com
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Walter of Henley
>He also advises the lord to watch
>how the animals behave around their keepers--if they
>seem fearful or avoid the person then they are likely
>being mistreated.
This was in regard to sheep and oxen.
Overall the advice given in 13th-century manuals would
be considered micro-managing today. The lord should expect
a calf for every cow and at least a lamb for every ewe
(twinning was common). If this is not the case, the lord
should ask why: was a bull or ram not available and why not?
Every animal should be accounted for--if it died, he should
have the skin or fleece and a full account of what happened.
The business consideration is uppermost and yet there
is a sympathetic undertone in regard to the animals. I don't
own a copy of this work so I can't quote it for you.
Some of the same sentiments reoccur in Tusser in the
mid-sixteenth. They respect their beasts but don't make
pets of them.
Alysoun
Middle
From: "Trevor Barker" <barkert at delete.logica.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Stefan's Florilegium
Date: 30 Mar 1998 12:03:36 GMT
Organization: Logica UK Limited
Stefan li Rous <stefan at texas.net> wrote
> [snip]
> Hmm. Does anyone have in referances to what medieval people thought
> of lemmings? Were lemmings used for skins? Do they figure in any
> medieval literature?
I don't know about lemmings.
Geraldus Cambrensis (c1200) mentions Welsh beavers.
Apparently, beavers were hunted for their testicles. So, if a beaver was
persued and couldn't escape, it would bite off its bollocks (good English
word, that) thus rendering itself worthless to the hunters. Beavers that
had already emasculated themselves during a previous hunt would seek out
high ground, then present their rear quarters to show they weren't worth
chasing.
(Although Gerald doesn't mention it, I suppose female beavers could do the
same thing, if the hunters couldn't tell a male from a female.)
It's no wonder that beavers went extinct in Wales during the Middle Ages ;-)
Trevor.
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2004 06:07:32 -0600
From: Robert Downie <rdownie at mb.sympatico.ca>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Re: Cruel food
To: Susan Browning <daubrecicourt at earthlink.net>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Susan Browning wrote:
> Can't quote you the source, but I have seen a recipe on how to cook a
> chicken/goose? alive, and start to eat it while it is still living.
>
> Eleanor
Thesewere convieniently located on the Gode Cookery website:
Faerisa
A Goose roasted alive - from Magia Naturalis:
A Goose roasted alive. A little before our times, a Goose was wont to be
brought to the table of the King of Arragon, that was roasted alive, as I have
heard by old men of credit. And when I went to try it, my company were so
hasty, that we ate him up before he was quite roasted. He was alive, and the
upper part of him, on the outside, was excellent well roasted. The rule to do
it is thus. Take a Duck, or a Goose, or some such lusty creature, but the Goose
is best for this purpose. Pull all the Feathers from his body, leaving his
head and his neck. Then make a fire round about him, not too narrow, lest the
smoke choke him, or the fire should roast him too soon. Not too wide, lest he
escape unroasted. Inside set everywhere little pots full of water, and put Salt
and Meum to them. Let the Goose be smeared all over with Suet, and well Larded,
that he may be the better meat, and roast the better. Put the fire about, but
make not too much haste. When he begins to roast, he will walk about, and
cannot get forth, for the fire stops him. When he is weary, he quenches his
thirst by drinking the water, by cooling his heart, and the rest of his
internal parts. The force of the Medicament loosens and cleans his belly, so
that he grows empty. And when he is very hot, it roasts his inner parts.
Continually moisten his head and heart with a Sponge. But when you see him run
mad up and down, and to stumble (his heart then wants moisture), wherefore you
take him away, and set him on the table to your guests, who will cry as you
pull off his parts. And you shall eat him up before he is dead.
Porta, Giambattista della. Magia Naturalis.
<http://members.tscnet.com/pages/omard1/jportac14.html>; (June 9, 2001)
To make a Chicken be Served Roasted - from The Vivendier:
To make a Chicken be Served Roasted. Get a chicken or any other bird you want,
and pluck it alive cleanly in hot water. Then get the yolks of 2 or 3 eggs;
they should be beaten with powdered saffron and wheat flour, and distempered
with fat broth or with the grease that drips under a roast into the dripping
pan. By means of a feather glaze and paint your pullet carefully with this
mixture so that its colour looks like roast meat. With this done, and when it
is about to be served to the table, put the chicken's head under its wing, and
turn it in your hands, rotating it until it is fast asleep. Then set it down on
your platter with the other roast meat. When it is about to be carved it will
wake up and make off down the table upsetting jugs, goblets and whatnot.
Scully, Terence. The Vivendier. Devon: Prospect Books, 1997.
<the end>