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. ************************************************************************ 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 ************************************************************************ 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." To: "'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 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" Subject: SC - Re: hedgehogs & very OOP & OT 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" 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 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" 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 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 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 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 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" 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" 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 Ossé (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 sumari› bjóst fiórsteinn til flings og mælti til Jófrí›ar húsfreyju á›ur hann fór heiman: "Svo er hátta›," segir hann, "a› flú ert me› barni og skal fla› barn út bera ef flú fæ›ir meybarn en upp fæ›a ef sveinn er." Og fla› var flá si›vandi nokkur er land var allt alhei›i› a› fleir menn er félitlir voru en stó› ómeg› mjög til handa létu út bera börn sín og flótti fló illa gert ávallt. [The same summer Thórsteinn made ready for the Assembly, and had this to say to Jófrí›r, 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 Ahlbäck. Åbo. 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: Gräslund, 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 Mälar 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 Södermanland). My hypothesis is that this is due to the fact that female infanticide was practiced in the Mälar 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 Landnámabók, 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 Gräslund, display similar ratios of sons to daughters. Gräslund (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 Landnámabók (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 Høigård 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 Løken (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 & Næss 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 Valsgärde, as well as the large number of burials at Birka dating to Viking times. At Valsgärde, 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. Gräslund (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, Gräslund 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 (Gräslund 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 Valsgärde. 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. Gräslund, Anne-Sofie: The burial customs: a study of the graves on Björkö. Birka: Untersuchungen und Studien. 1980. ISBN 91-7402-108-7 Gräslund, Anne-Sofie. " 'Gud hjälpe nu väl hennes själ': om runstenskvinnorna, deras roll vid kristnandet och deras plats i familij och samhälle." Tor 22 (1989) pp. 223-244, Hofseth, Ellen Høigård. "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 död? - Ett försök til tolkning av Västerhusmaterialet." Populär Arkeologi 4 (1988) pp. 22-25. Løken, Trond "The correlation between the shape of grave monuments and sex in the Iron Age, based on material from Østfold and Vestfold', in R. Bertelsen, A. Ullehammer, & J.-R. Næss (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) Neumünster. 1963. Sellevold, Berit J. and Jenny-Rita Næss. "Iron Age People of Norway". Norwegian Archaeological Review 20:1 (1987) pp. 46-50. ISSN 0029-3652. Sellevold, Berit J., Lund Hansen, U., & Jørgensen, 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 wrote: >Cynthia Virtue 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 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" Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Sausage To: Cooks within the SCA > 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" Subject: [Sca-cooks] A/S Entries and Experimental Design was Sausage To: "Cooks within the SCA" 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 Edited by Mark S. Harris birth-control-msg