A quest

[mmcnealy]

for information... Inspired by a convo with Skud in her journal, I am on a quest for info on soap, history of and usage in Elizabethian times. The sometimes chemists daughter in me along with the skeptic, is saying that if people could have used lye to clean their clothes and not disolve the clothes, they would have used it in pioneer America.


Anybody got good book ideas?

Scampering off to the libraries website.

Comments

[damned-colonial.livejournal.com]

There are a bunch of people who've done period soap stuff for A&S... you should be able to find something.

I'm pretty sure I had a 16th century soap recipe in one of hte books I was transcribing... lemme go see...

Yeah, here it is:

To make good sope:
First you must take halfe a strike of asshen Ashes, and a quarte of Lime, then you must mingle both these together, and then you must fil a pan full of water and seeth them well, so done, you must take foure pound of beastes tallow, and put it into the Lye, and seeth them together untill it be hard.

That's from Thomas Dawson's "The Good Huswifes Jewell", 1596.

Another place to look might be Le Menagier (15th century French household management book, IIRC).

Don't bother with Markham's "The English Housewife", I already checked there and found nothing :)

K.

[mmcnealy.livejournal.com]

Before I saw your message I checked Markham, he has lye being used to prepare linen fiber prior to it being spun, as part of its bleaching process.

I will keep up my search for soap and washing equipment, will look into washboards, I not do think that they are a recent occurance.
My father has had the audacity to take off camping in the wilds for two weeks without the benefit of modern communcations. However in speaking to my sister on soapmaking, the thing that activates the lye to bind to the oil is heat and several hours of boiling. In looking at recipes, it seems that a very little amount of lye or ashes is needed to the quantity of fats.

I'm thinking that this might be a good question for the Authentic SCA group archives, and if not found there posit to the group.

Though So many knowledgeable people are at Pennsic .... Might it be best to wait until all have returned?

{so ends my pittiable attempt at writting in persona}