"Dress, Diet and Discovery: Columbus Changed Them All" by: Mimi Kelly in: "Five Hundred Magazine", Volume 1/No. 1; May/June 1989, Coral Gables, FL 33146 U.S. Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Commission "Go West, young man" was the watch-word for the 1800's in America. It was also the tendency of many adventurous young men of the time of Columbus. Certainly, Columbus was an adventurous sort. Genoa, Columbus' hometown, was a great trade center, and competitor of Venice for port-town volume of business. Despite this and the tremendous drive of merchants to find new sources for spices (spices were a BIG dollar industry), Columbus was unsuccessful in finding funding in Genoa for a jaunt across the Atlantic. It was left to Queen Isabella of Spain to come to the rescue. (Isabella was willing to try most anything in 1490 to refill the State coffers: she had spent large sums of money fighting the Moors in southern Spain and desperately needed to replenish the Treasury.) What was it like for Columbus and his crew? In the past, ships had hugged the coasts of Europe and Africa when searching for riches. Food was stocked on board with each landing. But, with the design of the three-masted galleon, sailors could go farther, longer, in heavier weather. Now assured they could stay afloat, the great concern of captain and crew became a supply of food and water to last six months. Supplies for a long voyage were limited by space, and those foods and liquids that made it on board were restricted by lack of refrigeration and fire: there was no practical way to pre- serve food but salt, and no practical way to cook food without frequent use of fire, a danger aboard wood-made galleons. The sailor was reduced to eating the 15th century version of "con- venience foods," like salted beef and pork, dried peas, and rocklike ship's biscuits (used to absorb the excess salt). Sour beer washed the meal down. Obviously, what was convenient about "convenience food" was that it was there at all! If the life of the sailing man was lacking in comforts, what of his landlubber cousin? His work day began at 5 a.m. and continued to 8 p.m. between March and September. The other six months it was a bit shorter, since winter meant dusk came two hours earlier. Nine a.m. brought a half hour breakfast; an hour and a half was taken for dinner around 2 to 3 o'clock; supper was a 9 p.m. This landlubber cousin ate a bit better than the seaman. His meals included two mainstays: a frumenty or blanc- mange which was a stiffer version of a white sauce with spices added, and dried fish boiled with mustard or vinegar. (Wealthy folk added fruits or sauces to fish.) In spring and summer, fresh fruits and vegetables appeared. Occasionally beef, venison or mutton graced the table. Cheese and sweets were served as dessert--a custom we inherited. (Sugar grew more common by the 16th century and the Italians became the master chefs of it, often designing sugar sculptures as table decorations.) Basically, rich and poor alike ate this unbalanced diet, but only nobility escaped the grueling 15-hour workday. With such a demanding schedule, the average man discovered "on the town" at night by officers of the city had to have a convincing explana- tion for his eccentric behaviour. There was nothing to tempt the honest person to leave home after dark--no discos, restaurants, theaters. Public entertainment stopped with sunset. Most people went to bed when night fell. (Tallow candles were expensive and used sparingly.) Between supper and bed, if there was entertain- ment, it consisted of Bible reading (the recent printing press made Bibles available to whoever might be interested), music (usually flute or lute), song, and conversation. Clothes were another story. Everyone invested in dressing well. Men wore bobbed hair, usually shoulder length. Long slender legs and broad shoulders (created by using pleats) determined the silhouette of the day; hence, hosiery was in. However, no lycra here. Hosiery was made with thin cotton that initially bagged around the ankles; later, darts and pleats were introduced to take up the slack. (Hand embroidery covered the darts.) Atop this handsome figure was doublet or pourpoint-- jackets with or without sleeves. Fabrics were beautiful satins, velvets, damasks and wools, beautifully worked. Sleeves showed tailoring skill, also, often being the most ornate part of an outfit--double lined slits, ribbons, padding and jewels were used to create shape and tex- ture. Tailoring skills were used, in addition, to design leather footwear that actually fit the foot. These shoes, crackows as they were called, became so long in the toes that the toe had to be held up by a chain attached to a man's calf! The mud of the streets was dealt with by wearing pattens or chopines--soles made of wood with platforms sometimes attached. Italians of the 1400's rightfully earned a reputation as excellent textile manufacturers as well as tailors. Of both skills, women of Europe took full advantage. Velvet and satin robes, with three or four layers beneath, were fashionable. Busts were flattened to accommodate a deep square-necklined, high-waisted, voluminous gown. Sleeves were tied to bodice and interchangeable, a decorative adjunct. A protruding stomach was the popular profile. Hence, the underpinning of the full, richly fabricated robe was a bag of horsehair tied in front, just below the high waist, under the skirt. Since height was considered a mark of distinction, most women also wore wooden platform shoes with high heels. It's not hard to imagine why women preferred to sit carding wool or embroidering: to run up and down corridors and long stone stairways of a castle would have been a perilous workout. Accessories were many for both men and women. Gold was plentiful and large heavy gold chains around neck and waist were common. Both sexes carried purses, often hanging them from a belt around the waist. All wore hats. For women, the basic hat was a fullcap, fitted close to the head, with decorative additions made according to status and country. For men, hats began as practical protection in a pancake shape and evolved to two hats, one atop the other! Gloves were common, mostly made of soft leather with wide cuffs. Whole villages in France built their economies around the manufacture of gloves. Once dressed, where did our 15th century citizen go? Women stayed home, in that day and age, filling their 15-hour day organizing a household that had a staff from two to 200. They concerned themselves with the "manufacture" of food and clothing, including overseeing the cycle of production from raw stock to finished product. Men's lives centered about marketplace or university. Medieval trade essentially had been conducted from one European city to another: wine traveled from south to north, herring from north to south, and wool circulated from sheep farmer to weaver, from weaver to tailor, from tailor to customer, creating fortunes for individuals, cities and whole countries. But, by the 1490s, vigorous trade was conducted with the East. Merchants capitalized on articles that were small in bulk and high in value: silk, saffron, spices, wax from Russian honey bees, alum form the Balkans. Genoa and Venice monopolized the luxury trade from the East, picking up pepper, pearls and muslin in the Near East and sailing to one of the major European ports. The exotic goods of the East and more common ones of Europe met, eventually, at one of the great European fairs. Largest among these was Bruges in Flanders (Belgium). Fairs added a little excitement to life. A big gathering of people with money to spend brought out all kinds of characters willing to charm money away from the bearer: jugglers, singers, astrologers, thundering monks with messages from God, dexterous conjurors, strong men and thieves. Fairs, obviously, were appreciated for their entertainment as well as their economic value. Until 1492, a merchant's profitable livelihood centered around the Mediterranean and northern Europe. After 1492 things began to change. What Columbus did was alter the power base for trade. Now merchants had to be in one of the Atlantic cities--Lisbon, London, Antwerp, or Bristol. It was indeed a new world. It was a new world also for the scholar. The Catholic Church lost its authoritarian control on learning. Intellectuals began to ask questions in earnest. Greek studies were the basis for inquiry, and the presses of Europe--Sack of Mainz, the Alsi Printing Company in Venice, The Florentine Press, and Elzevir in Antwerp--made books available for study. Knowledge of not only geography, but medicine and astronomy grew by leaps. Geographic discoveries in the Americas produced new products. Gold, of course, was one; also, maize, potatoes, chocolate, peanuts, vanilla, tomatoes, pineapple, red and green peppers, tapioca and turkey. Columbus, in turn, introduced sugarcane, bananas, rice and citrus fruit to the New World. And the New World taught him about clambakes and barbecues. Medieval medicine had been pure sorcery. That began to change at the turn of the century when Paracelsus bet his money and career on the use of empirical evidence and experimentation. He argued that nature/man's body would give the answers to wellness and should be studied. He also promoted the healing use of herbs, thus advancing pharmacology. Despite Paracelsus rational approach to healing, surgery remained a free-for-all. The barber of these times, whose occupation was to shave and trim hair and beards, became the surgeon. He pulled teeth, removed corns, cupped, leeched (drew blood . . . a practice believed to be curative), administered enemas, dressed wounds, set fractures and performed surgery (gall stone operations and amputations mostly). All this was done without a clue about anatomy! Astronomy was a neophyte experimental science, too. Because instruments were primitive, scientists had tended to speculate about the heavens more than experiment. Copernicus' speculation, however, brought results. He confirmed mathematically that the earth moved on its own axis, and traveled around the sun. With this theory, he had repositioned thought on the basics of the earth. Grand as his idea was, Copernicus was no fool, however. He knew it pitted him against the power of the Catholic Church. So it was that he circulated his "hypothesis" among scholars for almost 50 years, publishing it as a theory just prior to his death in 1543. In all, the turn of the century at the time of Columbus was a momentous era. Growth and innovation were a part of the fabric of life. Not only was there a push to know the New World, but also a push to open the reaches of knowledge. Great things were happening. Permission to reprint this article was given by "Five Hundred" magazine. KELLY-01.ART