Have we refreshments for our visitors?
Have we refreshments for our visitors?
My Week 2 of #WolfCrawl
On the table in week 2
Monsieur Bonebreaker
On the table in week 2
Eggs hard at the shelf life limit and flour including weevils. Wolsey's supplies reflect his fall and collapse. But Cromwell is hard at work re-organising and orders: Apples, saffron, nutmeg, raisins, partrigdes and lemons1.
Eggs and Saffron
Cromwell himself prepares an egg dish for the cardinal while giving orders: ‘on the left hand he counts off the items: You do this, then this…’ This reminds me of ‘It didn’t take him many winters to get out of fighting and into supply’2 . He must have learned a lot during his time in supplying a fighting army, how to be quick, how to organize, how to negotiate, how not to do things.
Still life with fried eggs by George Flegel (1566-1638) between circa 1630 and circa 1638
Cromwell wants Saffron for the cardinal, he mentions this twice. That surprised me at first, a luxury gourmet ingredient important in this situation? But I learned that Saffron3 was indeed cultivated in England at that time and that it was believed to be mood-enhancing and good against depressive moods. Cromwell knows what the cardinal needs and I like him a lot for caring like that for Wolsey.
‘I will send some people,’ he says, ‘to sort out the kitchens.’
The Kitchen by Vincenzo Campi 1590/91. This is what the kitchens in Esher would look like in three weeks' time, if Cromwell had his way. Humming, sparkling clean, organized. You can see your reflection in the shiny copper pots. The cat needs to be fed, there are no more rats and mice.
Bella thinks the cat has to go.
3.45 a.m. in Esher, one night in late October 1529
George Cavendish laughs at a saint joke for the first time in his life and has no regrets. Painting by Judith Leyster, Jolly Troper 1629
How could it happen? How in the world could it?
Everything hangs in the balance with a king like Henry. The apples have now been delivered, but there's no telling what will be. Still life with apple, dates and cherries by Georg Flegel
Monsieur Bonebreaker
The first publicly known major outbreak of syphilis occurred in Naples in 1494: During the Italian campaign of the French King Charles VIII, his mercenary army recorded cases of syphilis; after the army was disbanded, the mercenaries carried the disease back to their home countries.
The following picture is considered as the first illustration of a syphilis patient and is attributed to Albrecht Dürer (1496). It was in a didactic poem by the Nuremberg physician Dietrich Ulsen from 1496: An unfavorable planetary constellation in 1484 was held responsible for the illness. (But by most it was seen as a punishment from God.)
‘And scant hope of lemons, I suppose’ Wolsey asked Cromwell about Yorkshire in chapter 2 of week one. I think Cromwell orders lemons for Wolsey this week to give the cardinal a feeling of normality, keeping his accustomed lifestyle as best as possible. To show him that yes, he has been sent away from court, but not as far away like Yorkshire.
chapter Austin Friars about his time as soldier in Italy
Link to a research project of the University of Cambidge about saffron cultivation
I love your image collections, thank you so much. You inspire me to explore other paintings of the era.
And as an aside, in 1484 there was a Saturn Jupiter conjunction in Scorpio, the first in the series of water signs. (These two planets conjunct every 20years, however they take around 200 years to travel through an ‘element’). These two outer planets were visible to stargazers and they applied significance and prophetic meaning to them coming into alignment. Interestingly, Martin Luther was born in 1484, and with him the seed of the Reformation.
Andrea your sumptuous images and accompanying notes are a wonderful side-dish to Mantel's work.
Thank you so much! I feel like I've feasted!