I am working on a
redraft of my opinion/observations article on 12thc women’s hairstyling. I’ve been
looking on my own and I’m coming up empty,
except for Goddard, so I’m really desperate for help. What I
need to get from others are any reliable information they
might have on braid casings,
including articles you might have written, direction to good sources, etc. I’m also going to post this on
the SCA_Milliners and
SCA_Authenticity lists, so if you see this several times, I apologize.
I’m looking for resources on 12thc French hairdressing and
costume, though only sources I
consider well researched (i.e. not drawn completely from Peacock or Norris, etc) will be included in the list
of sources (webbed articles will be linked).
Unpublished articles are great
too, and I will not quote you unless I have your specific permission to do so.
I’ve been given recommendations to look in Goddard, several
times, but have not been able to
lay hands on a copy yet (in 2 years of looking), though I was given a long quote a while back to help
me along. Are there any other
sources for this idea, or is she the one from whom all others are drawn? I’ve been looking in translations of
period literature, but linguists
don’t seem to care about the significance of dress to characterization in romances. Grrr.
I am still not really convinced that stuffed, sewn casings,
as such, were real; even after
reading the quotes from Goddard (though it might be different if I could get a hold of the book and
actually read them
in context).
For those who are fortunate enough to have read Goddard’s
work: Does she give any
information on where the idea of a stuffed casing comes from, other than existing as a conclusion based on the
word usage in the poems cited? I
think that, in the context given (where words may have been chosen to rhyme as well as elicit mental
images) the words *may* have a
different intended meaning than she is reading into them:
** _fouriaus, fourreau_ (scabbard) might refer to an actual
casing (as for a sword) OR may refer to the
appearance of the hairdressing,
i.e. scabbard shaped, or looking like
a sword-scabbard. They really do, especially when weighted at the ends.
** _bourreaus, bourre_ (padding) might refer to the false
hair itself, as being false hair, made of
horsehair,
wool, thread, human hair, rags, whatever. Stuffing or
padding would also have been made of similar
items.
Assuming the above, it may be a case of one descriptive
meaning several things. A similar
issue exists with fabric terms and clothing terms. There does not seem to be mention of any separate
term meaning ‘Hair Extension’,
either, so I’m leaning toward this explanation.
Thanks in advance for any help you can give!
~ Marguerie de Jauncourt / Maura Folsom
Message #960, March 28, 2003
How about I scan the
references from Goddard and put them on the group page for you? (sometime this
weekend?)
You may want to broaden your search to look at cultures
further east to see if you can find any Byzantine/Russian/Eastern European
examples that may have been brought back west by crusaders?
~Katrine / Katherine Barich
Message #961, March 28, 2003
OOOO! Yes, please! <kisses feet> Your long typed quotes were a big help, though, given that that’s as close as I have yet come to seeing the book 🙂
You may want to broaden your search to look at cultures further east to see if you can find any Byzantine/Russian/Eastern European examples that may have been brought back west by crusaders?
Oddly, I think the braids may have come south and east, rather than from the other direction. my mom (yes, this costume history thing is hereditary) has references to weighted long braids being worn in Ireland in earlier centuries, though they were worn in threes, and ISTR an idea that the braids came from the Norse somehow, but that could just be a conflation of other ideas in my head. Hence the further research thing 🙂
Thanks again!
~ Marguerie de Jauncourt / Maura Folsom
Message #962, March 28, 2003
Voillet-le-duc has a pile of stuff on milinary and hair dressing, but as we’ve already noted he reliablity isn’t great.
~ Rowena le Sarjeant / Belinda Sibly
Message #963, March 28, 2003
Marguerie,
Have you tried searching through Orb or other online
collections of medieval literature for
references to
hair or braids? When I was researching teeth I found
some interesting quotes that way.
http://orb.rhodes.edu/library.html
– link broken
Also, have you looked at sermons of the time. There
might be one that rails against women who are so
vain that they add to their hair
or something.
As far as finding a copy of Goddard goes. Interlibrary
loan is usually the best way to go. However, do
you
know anyone in college? I got my little sister to
check it out for me. I had seen copies available
at
www.abebooks.com but it was a reprint.
~ Slaine / Mary Haselbauer
Message #964, March 31, 2003