Puritans-msg - 2/22/02 The Puritan movement of the 16th and 17th centuries. The founding of the Plimoth Plantation. Their clothing, lifestyle and beliefs. NOTE: See also the files: religion-msg, heretics-msg, England-msg, p-bibles-msg, indulgences-msg, dyeing-msg. ************************************************************************ 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: XvLoverCrimvX at aol.com Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 10:27:47 EDT Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Canadian Friends To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org lcm at efn.org writes: > A challenge for you Misha- go to the library, and do some reading. See > if you can find 4 or 5 things about the Puritans that surprise you and > are different from what you'd expect. And see if you can draw a line of > thought that helps you understand their role in the formation of our > nation. Report back. I for one would be interested in seeing what you > think is important about the Puritans in 17th c. America. > > 'Lainie > frustrated history teacher strikes again... Well, from what I know of my English and History class the Puritans were a strict religious group in England that wanted to purify the Church of England to a more simplier style of worship than the more elaborate church of England. Their attempts to form and create a theocracy in Massachusetts was called the Puritan Experiment. William Bradford was their first leader I think both in England and the New World. To escape religious prosecution and intolerance, they fled to Holland and then to the United States where the caught the name:Pilgrim. The ship they fled on was no other than the Mayflower. On the Mayflower they formed a document called the Mayflower Compact which essentially outlined how they would be governed. This was the grandfather to our American Constitution. Many ministers and members of the "elect" had great influence in the government. The literature of the Puirtans was in a plain style which told about diaries and journals of self examination and the Bible. They believed that writing about anything else would lead to temptation and would lure them into the hands of the Devil. A Puritan woman was the first poet in America:Anne Bradstreet. In her poem "Here follow some verses upon the burning down of our house, July 10, 1666", she gives many allusions to the Bible such as Job 1:21 "The lord hath given, and the lord hath took. Blessed be the name of the lord". But her poetry did deal a lot about the Bible, love for her husband, public events, and her children. Her major source of influence of her poems was none other than William Shakespeare. The Scarlet letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne was about one of his ancesters that was convicted with adultry and therefore was made to wear the Scarlet letter A forever, unless she told who the father was. The religion of the Puritans was very strict and dealt heavily with self-examination to see if you were one of the "elect". They were Calvanists who believed in predestination. But to see God's work, you must repent of your sin and keep your mind and hands busy so the Devil wouldn't tempt you. They believed the Devil was all around you and always tempting you. They were a very susperstitious group of people. The quote I sort of sarcasitcally used was to represent a "hellfire and brimstone preacher" known as Jonathan Edwards. His most famous sermon was called "Sinners in the hands of an angry God" which compared a ship sinking in damned waters, a bow and arrow piercing a heart, and a lead weight pushing down on you to God's wrath. His sermons brought out fear of damnation to the people which took the religion out too far. The Salem Witch trials showed how the Puritan religion was pushed too far because of the oppression of women. Let me talk about the Salem Withc trials. The first convicted in the SWT was Sarah Osborne and Sarah Good, two unpopular women who did not go to church so they had to be witches, right? Well, both were hanged as well as 17 others. The Salem Witch trials slowly diminished when a Puritan Minister recited the Lords Prayer perfectly before being hanged. I'm not going to go but so in depth cause my hands are hurting. But you could say the influence of the Puritans gave us the American Constitution and many great literary works. Misha Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 15:02:03 -0700 From: "Laura C. Minnick" To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Puritans, was: Canadian Friends Etain1263 at aol.com wrote: > lcm at efn.org writes: > << The idea of a Puritan persona could be kinda cool, though I can see two > drawbacks: do you really want to wear very simple unrelieved black and > white for your SCA career? >> > > Actually..the Puritans wore many colors. All solids, and mostly > "neutrals"..but they ran the gamut from tan to dark brown...with yellows and > such. The sorts of dyes that we would find "naturally". (and the dyers know > what THAT means!) Simple styles in simple colors..but not "all black, all > the time". Ok, so I was overreaching for a point. But I don't think you'll find a Puritan in an Elizabethan with pearls and lace and... you know. I understand that they did have colored dyes, but that they were 'sad' colors- 'sad' dyes are a little muddier and deeper toned, IIRC from the addition of iron to the dyebath. I'm sure one of the dying folks on the list can elaborate. However, this is why their clothes were referred to as 'sad'- not because they were depressed. I wouldn't be able to take it- give me orange! and red! and bright yellow! None of these muted colors for me! Woo-hoo! 'Lainie Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 18:47:44 -0400 To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org From: Barbara Nostrand Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Canadian Friends Greetings from Solveig! I was once told that one of things that got the puritans kicked out of England was parading down the streets of London in the nude. You see, they were pure in mind and body and did not need the clothes of the impure or some such thing. Compacts governing colonies were actually pretty common. If I recall correctly, the Mayflower people were not the first to operate under a compact. Solveig Throndardottir Amateur Scholar +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Barbara Nostrand, Ph.D. | Solveig Throndardottir, CoM | | deMoivre Institute | Carolingia Statis Mentis Est | | mailto:nostrand at acm.org | mailto:bnostran at lynx.neu.edu | +---------------------------------------------------------------------+ Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2001 17:46:10 -0700 From: Morses3 at aol.com Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2001 21:01:37 EDT To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org As a researcher for my family genealogy society with a very long New England history, this is a topic I've read a lot on before. The web site above from the living history museum at Plimoth Plantation, widely regarded as one of the most accurate in the world at portraying the details of a certain historical time and place, details clothing worn by ordinary people of Plimoth Plantation, most of whom were not Puritans, but wore the same clothing that the Puritans wore as well. Most of the "black and white" Puritan stuff came from the 19th century writers and artists romanticizing their ancestors of "olden tymes", but remember that many European Puritans before emigrating wore black and white as a symbol of their wealth and fiscal soundness to prove they were the chosen ones in the eyes of God. It was more difficult to retain a deep black dye in an era without chemicals and thus more costly to be seen wearing black clothing highlighted with hard to care for-clean- white linens......even in that case though, it would have been for their "best" clothing, reserved for church and special occasions, not commonly for everyday wear. Since this is a food list and I don't want to be guilty of non-food content, there are also good links on the Plimoth Plantation web site for 17th century New World food, including some recipes, and of course these are only a few years out of our period. Gervase To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 19:51:18 -0400 Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Canadian Friends From: Elizabeth A Heckert On Sat, 6 Oct 2001 10:36:21 EDT XvLoverCrimvX at aol.com writes: > Therefore, could you have a Puritan persona >because it is in the limits of the SCA? > >Misha Misha, my late persona happens to be a Covenanter who floats about between London and Edinburgh, 'cause I can't decide which city I like better--and Covenenters are Scots. Jean Calvin (also John) was born in 1509 and died 1564. He preached in France and Switzerland. John Knox was a prominent Scottish minister. His dates are 1507-72. It's an entirely reasonable choice for a persona, as in being within the SCA period, altho' some folks might think it odd. Elizabeth To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 20:05:02 -0400 Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Puritans, was: Canadian Friends From: Elizabeth A Heckert On Sat, 06 Oct 2001 10:24:59 -0700 "Laura C. Minnick" writes: >The idea of a Puritan persona could be kinda cool, though I can see >two drawbacks: do you really want to wear very simple unrelieved black >and white for your SCA career? Lainie, I have a lovely colour photocopy of a painting of a Huguenot (ie. French Calvinists) church service. Lots of people are wearing black, but the latter half of the sixteenth century had a fashion vogue for dark colours. And almost as popular in that print are red and pink. I have it for precisely these moments (grin!). Sober dress does not necessarily refer to colour. Reference your paragraph about the rest of their lives--it does apply to the dress as well. The Protestants of the late sixteenth-early seventeenth century have a bad rep, I realize, but we tend to hear the extreme arguements, not the vast middle. Elizabeth To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Date: Fri, 5 Oct 2001 20:31:02 -0400 Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] The Puritans From: Elizabeth A Heckert On Sat, 06 Oct 2001 20:32:07 -0500 Stefan li Rous writes: >However, it could be limiting if you do it in an accurate way. I doubt >the Puritans would be partying or dancing as many wish to do at SCA >events. Did they make alcohol or drink it? There is a *lovely* book called *The Anatomy of Abuses* by a man whose last name is Stubbs, and I believe his first name is Phillip. In it he deplores everything that makes life fun, from cosmetics to clothes, and (I think) food. Stubbs was a conservative English Protestant, and the only way I've been able to find any of this work is in excerpt in other works, as the only available ILL editions are on microfilm, and the library I use doesn't have a reader. has some of his clothing comments. But the thing is, if he had to complain about everyone doing this, that and the other, that means *of course* Puritans were doing those things also. If all your brethern are good, holy and meek, then you don't need to chastise them. If the Puritans refused alcohol, what would they have drunk??? Water wasn't drunk much, and milk was still more important as cheese and butter. There were bad Puritans, and evil Puritans, but there were good Puritans as well. If we succumb to historical stereotypes, we're doing no good service to the truth of history. Elizabeth Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 15:21:06 -0400 From: johnna holloway To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Puritans and Pilgrims There are a number of differences between Puritans and Pilgrims. To summarize as given by 1620 Society website at http://www.sail1620.org/m2k/history/pnotp.htm (This is given as a comparison chart on the website so I've had to retype it. ) PILGRIMS Arrived 1620 under Governors Carver and Bradford. Founded Plymouth Colony. Friendly with Indians for 40 years. Paid Indians for land. Communal living for the first 7 years. Seized Indian lands. Democratic, consensus of the governed. Separated from the Church of England. Not a single prosecution of witchcraft. Representation and equal inheritance. Forerunner of US Constitution & Declaration of Independence. More tolerant than the Church of England. Puritans Arrived 1630 under Governor Winthrop, founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Indian problems from the outset. Seized Indian lands. Individual profit from the outset. Authoritarian. "Purified" the Church from within. Prosecuted and executed for witchcraft. Intolerant. If you will note on that website, the 1620 group went so far as to even draft a proclamation saying that the Pilgrims weren't Puritans back in 1960. See also: http://www.gospelcom.net/ligonier/tt/tt-11-96/logan.html for another discussion or run a google search on (pilgrams, puritans, differences) for a number of discussions. Johnna Holloway Johnnae llyn Lewis Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 16:01:51 -0400 From: johnna holloway To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org, Elizabeth A Heckert Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] The Puritans I am sorry that the libraries in your area have failed you, Elizabeth. As a librarian with an undergrad degree in history (my senior honors course was on Tudor/Stuart Women), I can see where you might like to read more from Stubbes than excerpts. Stubbes and his anatomie/anatomy should be available to you in a printed format. There have been a number of reprints in hardback, including one in-print 110.00 dollar one that is currently available by special order. Here are two editions. Philip Stubbes. THE ANATOMIE OF ABUSES. printed in London by R. Jones in 1583. New York : Walter J. Johnson Incorporated, in 1972 as part of the series titled English Experience Ser.; No. 489; ISBN: 9022104893 Trade Cloth; At least 100 libraries report owning this volume. Another edition is titled: The anatomy of abuses, by New York, Johnson Reprint Corp., 1972. at least 51 libraries report owning this edition. If you want to read it in full, I'd suggest the Walter Johnson edition. Johnna Holloway Johnnae llyn Lewis Date: Sun, 07 Oct 2001 16:50:11 -0400 From: Tara Sersen Boroson To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] The Puritans Elizabeth, University of Delaware's library has the Stubbes book, so you should be able to ILL it. If you can't, let me know and I can try to get ahold of it for you since you're fairly local. Are you going to Kingdom Crusades? It's listing is below. -Magdalena AUTHOR: Stubbes, Phillip. TITLE: The anatomie of abuses: contayning a discoverie, or briefe summarie of such notable vices and imperfections, as now raigne in many Christian countreyes of the worlde: but (especiallie) in a verie famous ilande called Ailgna: together, with most fearefull examples of Gods iudgementes, executed vpon the wicked for the same, aswell in Ailgna of late, as in other places, elsewhere... London, Printed by R. Iones, 1583. PUBLISHED: SUBJECTS: Theater--Moral and ethical aspects. England--Social life and customs--16th century. Edited by Mark S. Harris Puritans-msg Page 7 of 7