In researching 17th century maternity wear, I came upon a treasure-trove of information on 17th century daily life in Holland compiled by art historian Kees Kaldenbach. The facts of daily life were deducted in part from the detailed inventories of the Vermeer household and paintings.
a flat mattress filled with bedstraw, horse hair or sea grass.
a soft cover filled with feathers, down or “kapok” from silk-cotton trees. This is the layer a person would sleep on.
sheets and blankets
Every day the sheets and blankets were folded so that the head-end and the foot-end did not touch. The pillows had to be shaken and aired for one hour, to dry the feathers, which tended to lump.
pillows (pillows, ear cushion, sit cushion, tapestry cushion — there were no chairs for the children. They were to use pillows when the adults used the chairs.); blanket,
bed cover: fascinating! The Vermeer household of 3 or 4 adults and 11 children had few blankets. People slept sitting up, two to a bedstead, propped up by pillows. The children slept in wheeled drawers which slid under the bed.
Foot stove: “One placed an earthenware container within the foot stove and filled it with glowing coals or charcoal. One then placed the feet on it. If a large dress was then lowered over it, or a chamber coat, it warmed both feet and legs.”
Tapestry table rug: “Only the most wealthy of Dutch households put Turkish rugs on the floor.”
Since I first posted this in 2012, the site moved and none of the links worked. I despaired! However, I emailed Drs Kees Kaldenbach and he kindly provided me with the new sites. Relief! This is one of the most illuminating accounts of daily life in the 17th century. For a historical novelist, it’s a gold-mine.
In researching pregnancy in the 17th century, I came upon a treasure-trove of information on 17th century daily life in Holland compiled by art historian Kees Kaldenbach.
The facts of daily life are deducted in part from the detailed inventories of the Vermeer household and paintings.
I intend to go into more detail later, but one historical tidbit I found fascinating.
If a baby does not suck strongly, a mother’s milk can begin dry up. That’s as true today as it was 1000 years ago.
We remedy this problem today with the use of breast pumps. In the 17th century, however (at least in Holland), one could hire certain elderly ladies to suck. It’s not known if the milk was then given mouth-to-mouth to the baby or put into a pewter feeding bottle.
I just watched “Stage Beauty”—a wonderful movie about the changing world of 17th century theatre in London. I loved it. I believe I’ve found my perfect Petite in the actress Claire Danes.
There are a number of historical shifts and twists, nips and tucks, but all in the service of good drama. Somehow we forgive this in a movie, but wouldn’t in a novel. (Why is that?)
Although the movie captures the spirit of the theatre world of the time (I think), to have been perfectly accurate there would have been dandies with paid seats on the stage. This was distracting then, and it would have been distracting in this movie, as well.
I adored the representations of Nell Gwyn, Charles II (with all his dogs), Peyps. The costuming was terrific. Even though hats were not yet worn, I loved seeing them.
There are interesting differences between French and English theatre of this period, and the relatively late arrival of women on the English stage is one of them; women had long been on the stage in France. In France, male actors who played female roles did so for comic effect. Very different from the beautiful main character of this film.
To see the movie trailer: click here. I had the pleasure of buying it on iTunes and watching it on my iPad.
I was excited to get Life, Love & Laughter in the Reign of Louis XIV by Robert Challe (translated by A. W. Preston)—a novel written during and about the Court of the Sun King—but after 163 pages, I’m calling it quits.
There is something so often adolescent about the culture of the mid-17th century, an obsessive interest in “Does he love me?” “Does she not?” (and “How rich is her dowry?”) that I find wearing.
The novel is multi-layered, in the form of (long, tedious) stories revealed during a social gathering.
It opens in a traffic jam, 17th century style.
[blackquote] …a horseman…found himself caught up in one of those traffic congestions which at the time occurred daily at the end of the rue de Gesvres. …the carriages … were streaming in from all sides. [His] valet riding behind him was having the same trouble, and both were in danger of being crushed between the wheels of the carriages …
Getting from A to B is difficult for any novelist, but Challe gets his hero out of this fix by having people in various carriage offering him a seat. He stood, unsure which offer to choose, when someone called out more loudly than the others. Our hero dismounted and got in the carriage, managing, as well, to get his footman to climb in after him …
…preferring to risk his horses rather than leave the young fellow in danger.
This mark of a hero impressed onlookers, who call out to their drivers to avoid running down the two horses. (Not because they care about the horses, mind.) The valet then gets back on his horse and follows after his master and the rescuer, leading his master’s horse.
I did like some of the details of daily life in the novel, such as in the scene above. I knew carriages often came head-to-head on narrow streets, but I’d never considered that there could actually be a daily traffic congestion much like rush hour.
Other details I enjoyed:
an in-house tailor instantly making a suit of clothes.
a mailman who delivers door-to-door. (I’d be interested to know when, exactly, this began. I imagine his task was not an easy one, since there were no street addresses.)
a door weighted to close itself.
sending for a sedan chair.
I’m sure I would glean a handful more such details were I to persevere for another 424 pages, but no, I will resist.
This novel is described as a masterpiece: I beg to differ.
