Invisible Ink - For Real

This is the actual project that I did for the 2013 Ice Dragon Pentathlon as both a research paper as as Other. I couldn't resist the previous post. I am disappointed that no one left a comment on my joke.

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Invisible Ink from Le Menagier de Paris

In 1393 a book was written providing instructions, for a young bride, on how to run a household. In between recipes, cleaning instructions, wedding plans and medicinal cures is the following statement: 

TO WRITE ON PAPER A LETTER NO-ONE CAN SEE UNTIL THE PAPER IS HEATED, take sal ammoniac and moisten and dissolve it in water: then write with this and let it dry. And it will last about eight days. [1]

While medieval invisible ink isn’t surprising; records of such can be dated back to the first century AD when "Pliny the Elder explained how the "milk" of the thithymallus plant could be used as an invisible ink". [2]

John Carey directs us to Ovid’s advice, in Ars Amatoria 3:627-28: "Tuta quoque est fallitque oculos e lacte recenti / Littera: carbonis pulvere tange, leges" [A letter too is safe and escapes the eye when written in "new milk": touch it with coal-dust and you will read]. G. P. Goold glosses the passage with references from Pliny and Ausonius on the "herba lactaria" used by the ancients as invisible ink (see the revised Loeb edition of Ars Amatoria, 162). Ovid adds, in 3:629-30, that writing with a stalk of wet flax works the same way as the milk plant. (Cowley, p243)

Susan Zimmerman wrote about the escape of John Arden and the Jesuit priest John Gerard from the Tower of London on the 5th of October, 1597; an escape that was planed with the help of secret messages written in orange juice. "Orange juice was the preferred form of invisible ink in the period because, as Gerard explains in his memoir, while characters written in lemon juice disappear again after the letter is moistened or exposed to heat, characters written in orange juice do not, making it a more secure form of writing, less subject to interference if intercepted." [3]

I cannot say thou writ’st instead of Ink

With juice of lemons, that’s too sharp a drink

And quick; but yet as that conceals what’s writ,

   writes well enough, but then

   Blots out as fast agen;

   And so by riddling play

   Brings Night in midst of Day,

   And none must hope to see

   What’s written, though there it be,

Just so thou jugglest, speak’st good sense and wit

Yet so obscure in every part of it

    As that it dissappears

   From all our eyes....

(Abraham Cowley, Upon The Author’s Mystery Of Babylon - sig C2) [4]

They all get Porta, for the sundry ways

    To write in cypher, and the several keys,

To ope the character.  They’ve found the slight

    With juice of lemons, onions, piss, to write;

To break up seals and close ’em.  And they know,

    If the states make peace, how it will go

With England.  All forbidden books they get,

    And of the powder-plot, they will talk yet. 

[Ben Jonson, Epigrams, 92, II 25-29] [5]

The amazing thing was that this one sentence, from Le Menagier de Paris, was actually written down between instructions on how to make salt white and how to make lime, [6] without a single word as to why the young bride might ever want to write a secret message. Was it included so that the bride could write secret love letters? Or hidden instructions on financial matters? It was important enough that the instruction was written down, but not important enough to explain why it was included. While I was aware of using the juice of lemons, onions, cabbages and artichokes, as well as some tree sap, vinegar and urine, as invisible ink, I was unaware of the use of sal ammoniac, [7] known today as NH4Cl: ammonium chloride. [8]

Sal ammoniac was also used as an insect bite treatment, a leather cleaner, a copper cleaner, as smelling salts, in ink and paint production, a soldering flux and to "age" bronze [9] (was used to give new bronze casting the appearance and patina of old bronze) and in much, much more. It appears to have been the universal ingredient in most household cleaning methods as well as a major staple in industrial work. [10] I searched through my resources looking for other references to sal ammoniac as an invisible ink. I found many references from the American Revolutionary War, and later, for invisible inks made with ammonium chloride and an additional chemical (e.g.: zinc powder, iron or cobalt sulfate), but few from the SCA time period... Until I came across an English translation of the 1653 edition of Gargantua And His Son Pantagruel, and discovered that I had found a gold mine.

A letter which a messenger brought to Pantagruel from a lady of Paris, together with the exposition of a posy written in a gold ring. When Pantagruel had read the superscription he was much amazed, and therefore demanded of the said messenger the name of her that had sent it. Then opened he the letter, and found nothing written in it, nor otherwise enclosed, but only a gold ring, with a square table diamond. Wondering at this, he called Panurge to him, and showed him the case. Whereupon Panurge told him that the leaf of paper was written upon, but with such cunning and artifice that no man could see the writing at the first sight. Therefore, to find it out, he set it by the fire to see if it was made with sal ammoniac soaked in water. Then put he it into the water, to see if the letter was written with the juice of tithymalle. After that he held it up against the candle, to see if it was written with the juice of white onions. 

Then he rubbed one part of it with oil of nuts, to see if it were not written with the lee of a fig-tree, and another part of it with the milk of a woman giving suck to her eldest daughter, to see if it was written with the blood of red toads or green earth-frogs. Afterwards he rubbed one corner with the ashes of a swallow’s nest, to see if it were not written with the dew that is found within the herb alcakengy, called the winter-cherry. He rubbed, after that, one end with ear-wax, to see if it were not written with the gall of a raven. Then did he dip it into vinegar, to try if it was not written with the juice of the garden spurge. After that he greased it with the fat of a bat or flittermouse, to see if it was not written with the sperm of a whale, which some call ambergris. Then put it very fairly into a basinful of fresh water, and forthwith took it out, to see whether it were written with stone-alum. But after all experiments, when he perceived that he could find out nothing, he called the messenger and asked him, Good fellow, the lady that sent thee hither, did she not give thee a staff to bring with thee? thinking that it had been according to the conceit whereof Aulus Gellius maketh mention. And the messenger answered him, No, sir. Then Panurge would have caused his head to be shaven, to see whether the lady had written upon his bald pate, with the hard lye whereof soap is made, that which she meant; but, perceiving that his hair was very long, he forbore, considering that it could not have grown to so great a length in so short a time. [11]

I was interested in seeing how effective sal ammoniac was as an invisible ink, and how long lasting it was. Le Menagier states that the ink is good for eight days. I remember using lemon juice, as a kid, and having hidden messages last for weeks. George Washington’s "Sympathetic Stain", which was used during the American Revolutionary War, could remain hidden for years; one such hidden message, from one of the Culper spies, was revealed in a book during the 1930s: all but invisible for over a century. [12]

The purpose of this project is to compare the effectiveness of sal ammoniac with that of ordinary lemon juice and of white onion juice. Solutions of sal ammoniac, of lemon juice and of onion juice will be applied to paper and then photographed every few days. The elapsed images will show if any of the chemicals becomes visible. Furthermore, additional hidden messages will be provided for the judges, along with a heat source, to show which chemical was more effective as invisible ink. I am using lemon juice because most of us has had some experience with using lemon juice as invisible ink, through the boy/girl scouts or through science classes in school. The white onion is being included as they were more common than lemons; and I am interested in the effectiveness of the juice when compared to that of lemons.

Procedure:

Sal amonic

While sal ammoniac, in period, was quarried or produced by the distillation of animal dung, hooves and horn, [13] I purchased a container of animal grade ammonium chloride. I had to use animal grade ammonium chloride, [14] which is 99.9% pure, because chemical grade ammonium chloride, 99.9999% pure, is a restricted product; one would have to work for a school, university or laboratory in order to purchase it. This is because the chemical can be used to make explosives. So, because of this, I was unable to purchase 50g of chemical grade NH4Cl, but, for the same price, I was able to purchase 1135g of the animal grade version of the same chemical. [15]

I was not too concerned with the purity of the chemical; for my purposes, there was no difference between chemical grade and animal grade ammonium chloride. What I secured was a more pure chemical than what was available via mining or from animal remains. I dissolved a tablespoon in just enough water to eliminate all traces of the crystals. The solution was left alone for a good twenty minutes while the other two solutions were produced. The test messages were written next to the number one.

Lemon Juice

One lemon was cut in half and the juice of each half was squeezed out into a glass. The juice was not watered down.

Onion Juice

I will freely admit that I had no clue on how to make onion juice. Jack LaLanne’s Juicing Machine might predate the SCA, but I was unable to find any period sources for electric juicers. A hand-held citrus reamer produced little to no juice from half of a white onion. Also, the onion was too solid to yield any juice when a potato masher was applied. In the end, I dropped half an onion into a food processor and converted it into a fine mush. I then squeezed the liquid out of the mush with my bare hands.

Inks, ready to be applied

Test Cards

Several cards were prepared, all from 100 pound, hot-pressed, cotton paper. [16] The Ammonium Chloride was written next to the number one; the lemon juice next to number two and the onion juice next to number three. Each chemical was written on each card with the same pen nib with the nib being cleaned between each chemical. The important thing to remember about invisible ink is that you cannot see it. [17] I need to point this out as it was very difficult to see what I was actually writing. I had to hold the paper at an extreme angle so that the ink would shine in the light. When viewed straight on, the ink was all but invisible: just a wet shine.

After each card was prepared, it was set aside and left to dry. The lemon juice and onion juice soaked into the paper and dried within a few minutes, while the ammonia chloride, after an hour, was still thick and wet. [18] Even after a few days, the thickness of the ammonium chloride ink could still be seen, and felt, on the paper. While the juices could not be felt (as either raised text or a different texture) and could only be seen as something shiny when held at an angle to bright light: the lemon juice far more visible than the onion juice.

Two cards are marked Age Test and were left alone to see if any of the chemicals would darken and reveal itself over time: Le Menagier said that the hidden, ammonium chloride message is good for eight days.

Age Test 1, after drying.

Two cards were marked Sunlight Test and each card was placed in two different windows in such a way that one would bask in the rays of the morning sun and the other in the afternoon sun. This is to see if plain sunlight could reveal the hidden messages.

Sunlight Test 1, after drying

Two card were marked Reveal Test. Each card was aged for three days and then exposed to heat to test which of the three chemicals could be read after different levels of heat. 

One card was marked Body Heat Test and was carried in my shirt pocket everyday at work. This was to test to simulate a message being carried within a doublet. I wish to see if any of the chemicals could be revealed by simple body heat.

Four days into the experiment, the three inks were visible (shiny) when held at the right angle to bright light and the Ammonia chloride was very tactile. A chance conversation about this project brought up the definition of the word "melt". I had used cold water to dissolve the ammonium chloride and only enough to dissolve the powder. Reproducing the same mixture in a clear glass, [19] I could see that not all of the ammonium chloride was dissolved, as I first thought. There was a thin film of wet powder on top of the solution. And it might be that the thick writing was due to the undissolved power sticking to the pen nib. Another possibility was that the solution had too much ammonium chloride. 

I prepared two additional paper cards, titled Consistency Test and Consistency Test 2. I also acquired a scrap of pergamenta to see if the invisible ink would hide better. I prepared a watered down solution of ammonium chloride (one tablespoon mixed in with a quarter cup of cold water), as well as a hot solution (one tablespoon of ammonium chloride mixed with about four tablespoons of hot, but not boiling, water). I also juiced another lemon to act as a control.

The cold solution was written down next to the number one, the hot solution next to the number two and the lemon juice next to the number three. I used lemon juice for the control as I had another lemon available and I did not want to gooify [20] another onion. The hot ammonium chloride solution dried faster than the cold solution (about a hour faster).

Results and Observations

Inks

In preparation, the lemon juice was the easiest to prepare. The ammonium chloride, both cold and hot methods, were the next easiest and the onion juice was the most difficult to prepare. For aroma, the onion juice had the strongest smell in the cup, followed by the lemon juice and then the ammonium chloride. However, once the inks were on paper, all odors disappeared within a few minutes. No detectable aroma could be discerned after the inks had dried. For the reveal test: the lemon juice and ammonium chloride were about equal darkness, after being heated, while the onion juice was not quite as dark: it required a longer exposure to heat to fully develop. The onion juice was the best in being invisible: it was not very detectable when the cards were held up to the light or when held at an angle to the light. The ink was detectable as a rough surface by one’s fingers, but could not be identified as text as could the ammonium chloride and the lemon juice. The ammonium chloride and the lemon juice could be seen as shiny text when held up at an angle to the light and almost read at this angle. The ammonium chloride could even detectable when the cards were held up with a bright light shining behind them.

Pergamenta vs. Paper

As I had noted above, the lemon and onion juices soaked into the paper, and dried, within minutes, while the ammonium chloride took over any hour before it dried and set up. While on the pergamenta, both ammonium chloride solutions caused the scrap of pergamenta to start to curl and bend where it was moistened. The lemon juice did the same, but not as severely. Plain water did not cause any similar reaction.

Within minutes, all three liquids had soaked into the pergamenta and were quite invisible, even when held up at an angle to bright light. While the hidden text on the paper had a certain shine to it, on the pergamenta, if one did not know that that was a hidden message, it would have been almost completely undetectable, particularly to the casual glance. In comparison, the hidden text on the paper might pass a casual glance, but would be detected with a detailed search. However, it was obvious that the pergamenta had gotten wet at some point.

Pergamenta Test, after drying

Age Test

This test was done to see what would happen after eight days; the original source gave a fixed time limit for the invisibility. However, after 20 plus days, there is no visible difference between the three inks. Comparing the cards with the photos taken at the start of the project, it does not appear that visible changes have taken place. I do not know why the author of Le Menagier de Paris stated that the ink would only last eight days, but since there is no context for the instructions, we might never know why it was listed as a temporary solution, [21] or, indeed, why the instruction was provided at all.

While I was finishing up this documentation, I lit a candle and held Age Test 2 to the flame. The hidden text was revealed with any problems, except for when I brought the card too close to the flame and burned a hole in the card.

Age Test 1, after two days

Age Test 1, after twenty days

Body Heat Test

I am ashamed to say that the body heat card was misplaced after only three days. However, judging by the length of time it took for a candle flame to reveal the hidden messages, I do not think that normal body heat would be capable of sparking the chemical changes necessary to darken the text.

Body Heat Test, after one day

Sunlight Test

Like the Age Test, there is no visible difference between the cards and their initial photos after three weeks of sitting in sunshine. The exposure to sunlight appears to have no effect on the ammonium chloride, lemon juice or the onion juice. Like Age Test 2, I also brought Sunlight Test 2 near a candle flame to see if age and light exposure would prevent the hidden messages from being revealed. However, this time I did not set the card on fire. The only noticeable difference was the the last two characters written in lemon juice did not fully appear. I will put that down to not enough lemon juice was in the pen nib.

Sunlight Test 1, after twenty days

Reveal Test

After four days, the two paper cards marked Reveal Test were exposed to fire. I acquired a candle and a lighter and sat down on the sofa, ready to reveal the hidden messages. I picked up the lighter and the candle and realized that paper is, potentially, flammable. I could set the paper on fire and ruin the experiment. And, more importantly, I could set the sofa on fire. [22]  I moved the candle, lighter and paper to the less flammable bathroom and cleaned off the counter; removing anything that could catch on fire. I then got the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and set it by the sink, just in case. There are no pictures of this portion of the experiment as I only had two hands, one for the paper and one to steady the candle.

For the test, I held one card at an angle to the candle flame (Reveal Test) and the other (Reveal Test 2) directly over the flame. This was a test to see which of the three chemicals appeared the fastest and the easiest to read.

Of the three chemicals, the ammonium chloride was the darkest, the lemon juice the next darkest and the onion juice the faintest. However, the onion juice was revealed the quickest, then the lemon juice and finally the ammonium chloride.

With the card held at an angle to the candle flame, I started at the bottom of the card, with the onion juice, and moved the card so that the lemon juice and finally the ammonium chloride was exposed to the flame. Even with added heat of exposure, as the heat moved up the card, the lemon juice took about twice as long as the onion juice to reveal (estimated two seconds for the onion juice and four seconds for the lemon juice). [23] It took an estimated nine seconds for the ammonium chloride to reveal, while I moved the paper back and forth to keep the paper from burning. As it was, the paper is darkened around the text, where the paper was held to the flame too long.

Reveal Test 1 and 2 after exposure to heat

With Reveal Test 2, with the paper held directly over the candle, the Onion Juice was revealed in one and a half Mississippis and the lemon juice in three. The ammonium chloride was revealed in four and a half seconds, but, the paper trapped the rising heat from the candle and darkened the paper considerable more than Reveal Test.

Reveal Test 2 twelve days after exposure to heat

Since I had the candle burning, and as I had a safe environment already prepared, I decided to test the pergamenta; I had another scrap that I could use for any further testing. I brought the pergamenta close to the candle flame and it almost instantly started to bubble, pop and then catch on fire. On the plus side: the heat of the fire did reveal the lemon juice and both ammonium chloride solutions. On the minus side: the sample was on fire!

Pergamenta Test after being set on fire

Dear readers, if you only take away one thing from this project, it should be that pergamenta is flammable and I highly recommend that you do not expose it to fire. There are plenty of other things one can do with pergamenta; setting it and your house on fire should be low on your list of priorities. So, remember, only you can prevent scroll fires.

Pergamenta Test four days after being set on fire

Fortunately, the fire was not very big and I was able to put it out without too much difficulty, and without losing too much of the pergamenta. However, due to the flammability of the material, I decided to discontinue testing with the pergamenta, other than observing if the charred remains of the ammonium chloride text would fade.

Consistency Test

The ammonium chloride applied to these cards were less visible than that applied to the previous cards. However, the text could be felt as raised text with one’s fingers. The lemon juice could also be felt on the card’s surface, although not as severe. Like the previous cards, all three could be detected by their sheen, when held up at an angle to the light and the two lines of ammonium chloride could be seen when held up to a bright light.

Consistency Test 1 after 17 days

Like the previous cards, no visible changes could be seen after three weeks of aging. One of the cards, from this test, was exposed to the heat of a candle. The warm and cold solutions of ammonium chloride were revealed in about the same amount of time (about nine seconds).

Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of any of the additional cards, after they were exposed to heat. I left them for the judges to experiment with. After Ice Dragon, I had packed the cards and paperwork away someplace safe. If I manage to find them, I will photograph them and update this blog.

Conclusion

Sal ammoniac appears to be as effective as an invisible ink as lemon juice and onion juice. In period, it would have been easier to acquire than lemon juice and, probably, easier to prepare than onion juice. [24]. I was pleasantly surprised at how effective it was and can easily see how messages can be secretly passed between two people: if not for bright light, and the knowledge that there was writing present, my hidden text would be easily overlooked by anyone who was not actively looking for invisible ink.

[1] Hinson, Other Odds and Ends

[2] Singh, p6 and Kahn, p522

[3] Zimmerman, p104

[4] Cowley; Calhoun, p242-3

[5] Ben Jonson, William Gifford, p203

[6] Not the fruit

[7] Salt of ammonia

[8] Eliade, p216; Cotnoir, Wasserman, p75, et al

[9] Vert Antique

[10] Hiscox, p137-9, 184, 206, 209; Coolet, Tuson, p68, 88, 255, 268, 270; Merrifield, p55-59; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, no page numbers

[11] Rabelais, Chapter 2.XXIV

[12] Allen, p170

[13] Myers p27

[14] Used to treat and prevent urinary tract infections in goats

[15] And they gave me free shipping.

[16] Bristol

[17] Duh.

[18] That’s what she said.

[19] I first used a ceramic mug

[20] Yes, it is a real word

[21] Pun intented.

[22] That would be bad.

[23] Using the Mississippi method.

[24] And most likely easier to find than the dew from alcakengy, the gall of a raven or ambergris.

Bibliography:

Agricola, Georgius. De Re Metallica, Translated From the First Latin Edition of 1556. Library of Alexandria, 1950. (Google eBook)

Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. National Geographic Books, Jan 2007.

Cooley, Arnold James; Tuson, Richard Vine. Cyclopaedia of practical receipts and collateral information. J. & A. Churchill, 1872. (Google eBook)

Cotnoir, Brian; Wasserman, James. The Weiser Concise Guide to Alchemy. Weiser Books, May 20, 2006. (Google eBook)

Cowley, Abraham; Calhoun, Thomas O. Collected works of Abraham Cowley: Poems (1656) ; Pt. 1 : The mistress, Volumes 1-2. University of Delaware Press, 1993. (Google eBook)

Eliade, Mircea. The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy. University of Chicago Press, Mar 15, 1979

Grant, Edward. A Source Book in Medieval Science. Harvard University Press, 1974

Hiscox, Gardner Dexter. Henley’s Twentieth Century Forrmulas, Recipes and Processes: Containing Ten Thousand Selected Household and Workshop Formulas, Recipes, Processes and Moneymaking Methods for the Practical Use of Manufacturers, Mechanics, Housekeepers and Home Workers. Norman W. Henley, 1914. (Google eBook)

Jonson, Ben; Gifford, William. The works of Ben Jonson...: with notes critical and explanatory, and a biographical memoir, Volume 8. G. and W. Nicol, 1816. (Google eBook)

Kahn, David. The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. Simon and Schuster, Dec 5, 1996. (Google eBook)

Le Menagier de Paris. Translated by Hinson, Janet. http://daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier_Contents.html

Merrifield, Mary Philadelphia. Medieval and Renaissance Treatises on the Arts of Painting: Original Texts With English Translations. Courier Dover Publications, 1999. (Google eBook)

Myers, Richard L. The 100 Most Important Chemical Compounds: A Reference Guide. ABC-CLIO, Aug 30, 2007. (Google eBook)

Rabelais, Francois. Five Books Of The Lives, Heroic Deeds And Sayings Of Gargantua And His Son Pantagruel: Translated into English by Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty and Peter Antony Motteux. The text of the first Two Books of Rabelais has been reprinted from the first edition (1653) of Urquhart’s translation. Footnotes initialled ‘M.’ are drawn from the Maitland Club edition (1838); other footnotes are by the translator. Urquhart’s translation of Book III. appeared posthumously in 1693, with a new edition of Books I. and II., under Motteux’s editorship. Motteux’s rendering of Books IV. and V. followed in 1708. Occasionally (as the footnotes indicate) passages omitted by Motteux have been restored from the 1738 copy edited by Ozell. (Project Gutenberg Ebook)

Rees, Abraham. The Cyclopædia: Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature, Volume 19. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1819. (Google eBook)

Rose, Alexander. Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring. Random House Digital, Inc., Dec 18, 2007

Singh, Simon. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Random House Digital, Inc., Jan 26, 2011. (Google eBook)

Zimmerman, Susan. Shakespeare Studies, Volume 34. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, Oct 1. 2006. (Google eBook)

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Observations from 2015:

I really enjoyed conducting this experiment. I like researching oddball things and this was a very odd ball. And, I got to go all "Mythbusters" on the cards. I only posted a small selection of the pictures: for most of the cards, I have between 20 and 40 pictures. I did not want to flood this post with almost identical photos. Once I find out where I stashed the cards, I'll post some "very after" pictures. I am willing to bet that the un-revealed cards will still be all but invisible.

This project started with me looking for a recipe and reading the line in Le Menagier about the ink. My first thought was, "That's weird." And then I spent a few weeks trying to think of why some old dude would be telling his young wife how to make spy ink. I went back and re-read the line and then had to do some research on what sal ammoniac was and what other invisible inks were available and by then, I was hooked. I had to try it.

Invisible Ink

This was a project that I did for the 2013 Ice Dragon Pentathlon as both a research paper as as Other

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Invisible Ink from Le Menagier de Paris

Bibliography:

Agricola, Georgius. De Re Metallica, Translated From the First Latin Edition of 1556. Library of Alexandria, 1950. (Google eBook)

Allen, Thomas B. George Washington, Spymaster: How the Americans Outspied the British and Won the Revolutionary War. National Geographic Books, Jan 2007.

Cooley, Arnold James; Tuson, Richard Vine. Cyclopaedia of practical receipts and collateral information. J. & A. Churchill, 1872. (Google eBook)

Cotnoir, Brian; Wasserman, James. The Weiser Concise Guide to Alchemy. Weiser Books, May 20, 2006. (Google eBook)

Cowley, Abraham; Calhoun, Thomas O. Collected works of Abraham Cowley: Poems (1656) ; Pt. 1 : The mistress, Volumes 1-2. University of Delaware Press, 1993. (Google eBook)

Eliade, Mircea. The Forge and the Crucible: The Origins and Structure of Alchemy. University of Chicago Press, Mar 15, 1979

Grant, Edward. A Source Book in Medieval Science. Harvard University Press, 1974

Hiscox, Gardner Dexter. Henley’s Twentieth Century Forrmulas, Recipes and Processes: Containing Ten Thousand Selected Household and Workshop Formulas, Recipes, Processes and Moneymaking Methods for the Practical Use of Manufacturers, Mechanics, Housekeepers and Home Workers. Norman W. Henley, 1914. (Google eBook)

Jonson, Ben; Gifford, William. The works of Ben Jonson...: with notes critical and explanatory, and a biographical memoir, Volume 8. G. and W. Nicol, 1816. (Google eBook)

Kahn, David. The Codebreakers: The Comprehensive History of Secret Communication from Ancient Times to the Internet. Simon and Schuster, Dec 5, 1996. (Google eBook)

Le Menagier de Paris. Translated by Hinson, Janet. http://daviddfriedman.com/Medieval/Cookbooks/Menagier/Menagier_Contents.html

Merrifield, Mary Philadelphia. Medieval and Renaissance Treatises on the Arts of Painting: Original Texts With English Translations. Courier Dover Publications, 1999. (Google eBook)

Myers, Richard L. The 100 Most Important Chemical Compounds: A Reference Guide. ABC-CLIO, Aug 30, 2007. (Google eBook)

Rabelais, Francois. Five Books Of The Lives, Heroic Deeds And Sayings Of Gargantua And His Son Pantagruel: Translated into English by Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromarty and Peter Antony Motteux. The text of the first Two Books of Rabelais has been reprinted from the first edition (1653) of Urquhart’s translation. Footnotes initialled ‘M.’ are drawn from the Maitland Club edition (1838); other footnotes are by the translator. Urquhart’s translation of Book III. appeared posthumously in 1693, with a new edition of Books I. and II., under Motteux’s editorship. Motteux’s rendering of Books IV. and V. followed in 1708. Occasionally (as the footnotes indicate) passages omitted by Motteux have been restored from the 1738 copy edited by Ozell. (Project Gutenberg Ebook)

Rees, Abraham. The Cyclopædia: Or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature, Volume 19. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme & Brown, 1819. (Google eBook)

Rose, Alexander. Washington’s Spies: The Story of America’s First Spy Ring. Random House Digital, Inc., Dec 18, 2007

Singh, Simon. The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography. Random House Digital, Inc., Jan 26, 2011. (Google eBook)

Zimmerman, Susan. Shakespeare Studies, Volume 34. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press, Oct 1. 2006. (Google eBook)

Dead as a Door Nail

Dead as a Door nail

Such an odd phrase, "dead as a door nail". It is one of those phrases that has been around so long that we hardly ever think about using it; even long after our doors no longer have nails in them. I place it in the same family as "to film someone", "blow off steam", "been through the wringer", and "dial the phone". Phrases that are ingrained in the English language so deep that we continue to use them long after their meanings are forgotten.

"Dead as a door nail" has been around a long time; since the days of the beginning of the English language. The oldest known written account is from the 14th century poem The Romance of William of Palerne, which is a translation of a 13th century Flemish poem called Guillaume de Palerne.

hurth the bold bodi he bar him to the erthe,
as ded as dornayl te deme the sothe. [1]

The anonymous 14th century poem The Parliament of the Three Ages contains "There he was crepyde into a krage and crouschede to the erthe. / Dede als a dore-nayle doun was he fallen" [2]   In William Langland's Piers Plowman, [1370-90] we find the phrase "Fey withouten fait is febelore then nought, And ded as a dore-nayl". [3]

William Shakespeare used it twice in Henry IV part 2:
Act V, Scene 3:
"Falstaff: What! is the old king dead? 
Pistol. As a nail in a door."

and again in Act IV, Scene 10:
Cade: 
Brave thee! ay, by the best blood that ever was
broached, and beard thee too. Look on me well: I
have eat no meat these five days; yet, come thou and
thy five men, and if I do not leave you all as dead
as a doornail, I pray God I may never eat grass more.

The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following:

door-nail 

A large-headed nail, with which doors were formerly studded for strength, protection, or ornamentation: now chiefly in the alliterative phr. as dead, deaf, dumb, dour, as a door-nail: see DEAD a. 32b., DEAF a. 1d., etc. (Conjectured by Todd to be "The nail on which in ancient doors the knocker struck." No evidence of this appears.) 

c1350 [see DEAD a. 32b]. 1350 in Riley Lond. Mem. (1868) 262, 3000 dornail..7200 dornail. a1400-50 Alexander 4747 Dom as a dore-nayle & defe was he bathe. 1593-1680 [see DEAD 32b.]. 1854 MRS. GASKELL North & S. xvii, Thornton is as dour as a doornail. 1866 ROGERS Agric. & Prices I. 497 Door-nails, floor and roof-nails. 

dead a., entry 32b. dead as a door-nail, dead as a herring: completely or certainly dead. Also, (as) dead as the (or a) dodo, (as) dead as mutton. 

c1350 Will. Palerne 628 For but ich haue bote of mi bale I am ded as dorenail. 1362 LANGL. P. Pl. A. I. 161 Fey withouten fait is febelore en nout, And ded as a dore- nayl. 1593 SHAKES. 2 Hen. VI, IV. x. 42 If I doe not leaue you all as dead as a doore naile. [1598 SHAKES. Merry W. II. iii. 12 By gar, de herring is no dead, so as I vill kill him.] 1664 BUTLER Hud. II. iii. 1148 Hudibras, to all appearing, Believ'd him to be dead as Herring. 1680 OTWAY Caius Marius 57 As dead as a Herring, Stock-fish, or Door- nail. 1792 I. BICKERSTAFFE Spoil'd Child II. ii. 32 Thus let me seize my tender bit of lambthere I think I had her as dead as mutton. 1838 [see MUTTON 7]. 1856 READE Never too late lx, Ugh! what, is he, is he Dead as a herring. 1884 Pall Mall G. 29 May 5/2 The Congo treaty may now be regarded as being as dead as a doornail. 1904 H. O. STURGIS Belchamber iv. 51 The Radicalism of Mill..is as dead as the dodo. 1919 W. S. MAUGHAM Moon & Sixpence ii. 10 Mr. Crabbe was as dead as mutton, but Mr. Crabbe continued to write moral stories in rhymed couplets. 1935 Ann. Reg. 1934 II. 305 References appearing in the London newspapers to the effect that "war debts are as dead as the Dodo" were cabled to the American press. 1960 Guardian 24 Mar. 11/1 Mr. Menzies..refused a request for a boycott..saying he had hoped this "was as dead as a dodo."


But, what does it mean? I do not know, but there are some theories.

The first among them is that the phrase refers to the method of attaching hinges to doors. The hinges were mounted on the outside of the door via straps and the nails were hammered into the door, through the straps, from the outside, and then bent around and driven back into the door from the inside, driving the life from the nails so that they could never be used again. While it make it almost impossible to pull the nails out of the door from the outside, I do not buy the idea that the nails could never be straightened out, once removed, and used again. They were iron; they could be heated and pounded straight. But, I will concede that for the average person (i.e.: not a blacksmith) once you remove a bent-over door nail, it was useless as a nail. But, how often were doors taken apart?

The second theory is that the door nail was the nail hammered into the door on which the door knocker would hit. Some sources indicate that after years of being hit, the door nail would loosen and fall out of the door. Apparently, when the nail hit the ground, it would make a "tink" sound instead of ringing like a new nail; thus, the door nail was dead. I don't like this idea either. If a knocker is pounding a nail into a door, it is not very likely to fall out of the door on the side to which it is being struck. Plus, I've visited houses and churches which have stood for a few hundred years that still have functioning door knockers. If a door knocker and strike nail can withstand a couple of centuries of abuse, I think that it is not very likely that the strike nail would fall out and "die" often enough for the phrase to enter the English language.

Another theory related to the door knocker is that the strike nail was hit on the head in the way royalty was struck on their heads to ensure that they were truly dead and not just sleeping. A: I cannot find any period confirmation of this practice. and B: it's stupid. "I'm sorry for hitting you in the head with a hammer, Your Majesty. I wanted to see if you were dead or just napping." Thank you Internet.

My thought is that the strike nail, when hit by the door knocker, sounds dead. Not a high pitch "ting" that one would get if you drop a nail on a flagstone, but a "thunk" noise that might sound more like a coffin being nailed shut then if you hit two pieces of metal together.

We might never know the true meaning of the phrase, but, since  English is the pack-rat of languages, I predict that "dead as a door nail" will be used  far into the future when everyone will have Star Trek style automatic, sliding doors.

[1] "and bears him down to the earth, as dead as a door nail."
[2] "He had crept into a cave and crouched to the earth / Dead as a door-nail down he had fallen."
[3] You are on your own with this one.

Bibliography 

Hulme, Frederick Edward. Proverb Lore: Many Sayings, Wise Or Otherwise, on Many Subjects, Gleaned from Many Sources. Elliot Stock, 1902

Langland, William; Economou, George. William Langland's Piers Plowman: The C Version : a Verse Translation. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996

The Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press

The Romance of William of Palerne: (otherwise Known as the Romance of "William and the Werwolf") Translated from the French at the Command of Sir Humphrey de Bohun, about A.D. 1350; to which is Added a Fragment of the Alliterative Romance of Alisaunder; Translated from the Latin by the Same Author, about A.D. 1340. Early English text society, 1867

Shakespeare, William. The Second part of King Henry the Fourth. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. The Tech, MIT

Skeat, Walter W. ed. The romance of William of Palerne: (otherwise known as the romance of "William and the werwolf") London, Pub. for the Early English Text Society, by N. Trubner & Co. 1867

Scroll Blank - Lion - Inhabited Initial - 2015

This was a project that I did for the 2015 Ice Dragon Pentathlon as Scribal Work - Illumination.

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Scroll Blank

Description:

Scroll of an inhabited initial P inspired by a 12th century English Psalter  Gouache and ink on pergamenta.

Details of the original image:

MS G.43 fol. 100v  Psalter (MS G.43). England, perhaps Canterbury, ca. 1180. Lion playing horn within decorated initial P. Beginning of Psalm 119:161 (Vulg., 118:161). From Corsair, the Morgan Library & Museum online image database. The website provided no other information about the Psalter. I will assume that the Psalter was made with vellum (or some other animal skin) with ink, paint and gold leaf.

Technique:

This scroll blank was to make a simple scroll on a 3x4" scrap of pergamenta that I had lying around. As I do not have much experience with pergamenta, I challenged myself to paint something on it.

I chose the P with the horn playing lion in it as I knew it would not be too difficult to produce. I did change the colors at bit. The P is, I am assuming, gold leaf; as I do not have the experience with gold leaf, I picked a dark red for the letter.

The lion (which I had thought looked more like a bear) I painted brown. I used a very watered down base coat all over, with three layers over each area; each layer thicker and thus, darker, than the previous one. I worked along the idea that the light source was coming from the upper left-hand corner of the page. Once the paint was dry, I inked the outlines and added the white work.

I decided to do something more complicated than a plain background: I chose to surround the lion with diapering. I picked dark blue and gold as my two colors; the blue to contrast with the red of the letter and the gold to give it some shine. Once the paint had dried, I outlined the squares in black ink and painted in the white lines. One the white had dried, I used my pen to place a black dot in the center of each intersection.

I used gouache: Reeves for colors and Winsor Newton for the gold. I went heavy on the gold to give it some texture. For the lion I used a very watered down base coat all over, with three layers over each area; each layer thicker and thus, darker, than the previous one. Once the paint was dry, I added the white work. I have found that with the Reeves gouache, the added white really makes the paint pop, especially the dark paints. I applied the paint so that if the virtual light source came from the upper, left-hand corner of the page, the darkest shades would fall into the right most corners, producing shadows. For the letter, I used a solid coat of red.

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Observations from 2015:

Correction: since I made the documentation, The Morgan Library & Museum has changed their website and has added some detail about the manuscript: it was printed on vellum.

The scroll did not win in its category (obviously: AEthelmearc has a metric ton of better scribes than myself) but I did receive a token from Her Majesty and one from the Kingdom A&S officers. And, fore more importantly, I was given some really nice comments. Mistress Matilda said that my "diapering is delicate and sparkly." Mistress Roberta gave me some advice on pergamenta and Mistress Alicia gave me some advice on the diapering.

The whole point of entering these high scale A&S competitions isn't just to win, but to get blind comments from judges who should know what they are looking at. Comments that can help in improving one's work. Guided by the comments I received, I would like to re-do this image, only larger and with a more complicated diapering. I think that I will make the lion/bear a lighter color so that it till stand out from the diapering better.

Since I posted this piece on my flikr page and today, it has attracted 752 views; more than any other scroll I have posted. I don't know why. This was done on, literally, a scrap of pergamenta that I had left over from testing out invisible ink. I did the initial just to see how it would look on the material: I normally work on Arches cotton paper. I had only entered in the competition because of how many views it had received.

The Dragon of London

This was a project that I did for the 2007 Ice Dragon Pentathlon as both as written work and as a performance piece.

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The Dragon of London

In 1314, the Knights of the Temple of Solomon were officially disbanded. Their order cast down; their lands and property confiscated; their titles revoked and their members either condemned to death or to exile. But at one time, their order, and their members, were considered the paramount knights in all of Europe: their deeds; legendary: their courage; unmatched. In their brief existence, from 1118 to 1314, they were called upon to defend Christendom from the forces of Saladin, Bailers and Genghis Khan. Legend also tells us that they were called on to fight monsters that ravaged the lands they called home. In 1217, a single Templar saved all of London from a dreadful dragon.

In the reign of Henry III, a mighty river dragon crept its way up the Thames to the very gates of London. Its massive claws tore apart half of the boats and ships that entered or left the city and its fiery breath burned the other half to their water lines. No raft was too small to escape notice; no ship was too large to stand up to the beast. Trade on the Thames ground to a halt as vessel after vessel was sunk. In 1217, five good monks, all with keen eyesight, did observe the dragon and record that it was over 40 feet in length and its jaws opened 15 feet wide. No amount of prayers from these and other holy men, as well as those of us who are more base of this earth, could drive the creature away.

Many attempts were made to fight the dragon: fireboats; the finest archers in the Kingdom; poison filled animal carcasses; holy relics; maiden sacrifices. Even the Archbishop of Canterbury himself attempted to drive the fell creature away. All failed, and the cost in human life will never be, exactly, known. When it wasn't terrorizing shipping, it ravaged the country side, leave vast swathes of death and destruction behind it. Templar records show that on June 12, the Grand Master of the order, William de Chartres, ordered a host of knights to travel to London and slay this monster, for the good of all man kind. A knight by the humble name of Amalric was given command of the host and ordered not to return until the dragon was dead.

Amalric, and his host of knights. traveled from their monastery in Anjou over the Channel towards London. So great was their desire to fight the beast, that none who looked upon them hindered them an any way, fearing their wrath. By August 23rd, the Templars arrived in London, and the city cheered at the coming, for all who saw them could see that no force upon this earth could stay them from their task. With only a moment to hand their horses over to stable hands, the Knights marched towards the Thames, right to the water’s edge, to view the dragon: few would go with them. Perhaps it is fair to say that the dragon was not from this earth, but from some netherworld, for all of the Templars took one sight of the beast and fled. All fled except for one: Amalric. No one stayed with him, so we do not know if he showed any fear or not, but long did he stay at the water’s edge, watching the dragon.

When he had filled his brain with the image of the dragon, he turned, and walked away from the water towards the woods. There he fasted and prayed and meditated for four days. On the fourth day, Amalric hunted down and killed, with his bare hands, a stag. With its flesh, he broke his fast. With its sinew, he lashed together logs into a raft and with its hide, he made the raft waterproof. With only his mail, his faith and his courage to protect him, he set the raft onto the Thames, taking with him only one weapon: a sword forged in Jerusalem for his father and passed down to him when he took orders and swore his oath to the Templars. Soon, as Amalric had hoped, the stink of the fresh hide brought the dragon. Soon, he felt the swell of the water disturb his raft as the monster rushed towards him. Did he stand unmoving, or was he shaking in fear? No witness was there to say which was true. In moments the dragon burst from the water and towered over the knight.

High above Amalric did the dread dragon rear it’s foul head. It’s breath teeming with the stench of death and decay. No man witnessed the battle, and not until his deathbed did Amalric confess to the details, of which I will now relay to you. As the dragon reared above the knight, he swung his sword at its exposed neck but the fine edge of the blade failed to so much as mark the scales. As the dragon snapped it’s jaws at him, Amalric cut at the monster’s lips, but this only served to anger the monster.

Soon, the bulk of the monster threatened to capsize the small raft, and with one desperate act, Amalric stabbed at one of the dragon's eyes: the blade piercing the red orb and lodging in the skull. The dragon jerked it’s mighty head back, pulling the knight off of his feet and, indeed, off of his raft. It was all Amalric could do to maintain his grip on his sword as the dragon shook his head from side to side, trying to free the mote of steel in it’s eye. Amalric later wrote that he was reminded of the first time he mounted a horse; far larger and meaner than a novice should ever have attempted. He mused that for all of that horse’s fury of being saddled by a child, for all it’s bucking, biting and shaking, it was nothing compared to the fury of the dragon.

Why the dragon did not use it’s mighty talons to pluck Amalric and his sword off is not known. Perhaps the pain was too much to allow it to think rationally. Or perhaps it had never felt pain before and did not know how to cope with it. Whatever the reason, Amalric managed to heave his body fully upon the snout of the dragon and away from its snapping and biting teeth. Using all of his strength, Amalric forced the sword deeper and deeper into the dragon’s eye socket and closer to it’s brain. Finally, with one mighty burst of strength, his sword punctured the monster’s brain, and with a last scream and shudder, the monster died and fell into the water.

Amalric, releasing his death grip on his sword, leapt from the falling carcass and into the water. He managed to swim towards shore, and with only the strength to pull himself halfway out of the water, he collapsed into slumber; alone and exhausted. There he was found and, not able to wake him, was carried into London. The streets were silent with onlookers who did not know whether to mourn or to cheer and so, did naught but stand in respect.

Three days passed while Amalric slumbered and once he woke and was told that he was victorious, he asked to be carried to a chapel so that he might pray to Him who gave him the strength and courage to be victorious. Now awake, the city did the city, indeed, the whole of England, rejoice and praise this foreign knight who risked his life and limb to save the inhabitants of London. The streets were thronged with people; children staged mocked battles against paper and straw dragons; every inn and tavern offered free drinks to Amalric, as did the brothels (this was London after all) and many honors and awards were granted but Amalric, true to his faith, refused all honors, awards titles or gifts, claiming that it was only his hand that held the sword, but it was a higher power that guided the blow.

As festive and energetic as the celebrations were, the fickle Londoners soon turned from cheers to jeers, as the monstrous hulk of the dragon still blocked the Thames; preventing any ships from entering or leaving the city. The city blamed Amalric, as if he chose the narrowest portion of the river to slay the beast. Amalric, a man of great humility and spirit, accepted the responsibility and organized every man and ship available. Every rope in London was commandeered and every free hand was drafted and with a Herculean effort, the carcass of the dragon was pulled to one shore and for the first time in months, ships were able to sail both up and down the Thames bringing their cargo to markets both near and far. The only casualty was Amalric’s sword. After beaching the dragon, he attempted to pull the sword from the skull. Either through rust from the water or some noxious liquid from the beast’s brain, the sword was weakened and snapped as it was pulled. Amalric stared at the remains of his father’s sword, it’s blade broken a hand length from the cross guard, and sighed. Witnesses said that they overheard the knight tell himself, "What greater use could your maker have envisioned."

Before Amalric had even returned to London, more complaints were raised in the streets: Some great knight, leaving a rotting corpse of that size. Why every scavenger in the whole of England will soon descend on the city. Amalric knew that he had to solve this problem if he was to return home to France. And so, with his much chastised fellow knights, Amalric cut a large section of meat from the dragon and ate nothing but that meat for half a fortnight with no ill effect.

As the knights were all from Anjou, they taught the English butchers how to use the dragon meat to make sausages of the Anjou variety: andouillettes, muscadets and rillauds. Fifty thousand links of sausages were made with the dragons own intestines. When the intestines ran out, there was still meat left over to feed all of London for a week. Amalric would take no payment for their work, but provisions and a ship bound for home for himself and his companions. But, Amalric’s fellow knights asked the butchers to wrap each sausage in paper printed with the story of the dragon’s death and Amalric’s role in it so that all will remember it. The butchers agreed and soon every printing house in the whole of London was printing out paper wrappers for the sausages.

Amalric died a few years later, not in battle, but after slipping on an icy patch and hitting his head. His death would have been forgotten, recorded only in the monastery’s daily journal, if not for the people of London. For they never forgot the knight who not only saved the city, but fed it as well. And in the Tower of London, under a glass case, lies not only the broken sword of Amalric, but the last, remaining sausage wrapper. On that old, fragile piece of paper is Amalric’s portrait under faded red ink, can still be read the motto created for that long gone knight: "It Was The Beast Of Thames, It Was The Wurst Of Thames."

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This is a rehash of an old, old joke, one that honestly hasn't gotten any funnier since it was first published in Punch Magazine in 1891. While this story is completely fictitious, there is a grain of truth behind it. The Knights Templar did exist and were in London. In 1155, under the reign of Henry II, the Grand Master of Knights Templars visited London to open their Temple, built in Fleet Street. In 1217 there was indeed a Beast that inhabited the Thames river: a sturgeon was caught downstream of London that probably weighed around 850 pounds. [1] Such a beast was the talk of London for years afterwards. There were also other "dragons" that ravaged London. The Dragon of Wantley was a poem about an evil landlord that ravaged his shire. That landlord is only remembered as a terrible beast:

All sorts of cattle this dragon did eat.

Some say he ate up trees,

And that the forests sure he would

Devour up by degrees:

For houses and churches were

to him geese and chickens

He ate all, and left none behind,

but some stones, dear Jack,

that he could not crack,

Which on the hills you will find. [2]

Another story, lost to legend:

Then a great dragon began to ravage the country-side with fire and alone did a single knight take arms against it, and in the end, was the victor. All night long did the raging flames swept o’er the land and the water, and all withered and burned at it’s touch. The dragon had burned up the people’s homes and fields. The city did burn as likewise did the ships and the water-skirted land was devastated. Not ‘til the touch of dawn did the dragon end it’s destruction and retreat to its lair. Great faith did it have in the safety of its hiding place, but it’s faith was to be futile. [3]

My resources do not tell me what this dragon was; was it a metaphor for some rampaging evil, or was it an animal, such as a feral bull that archived fame? We might never know. A third reference, albeit a 19th century one, is the The Lambton Worm. The tale originally was a farce about a left over piece of bait that was thrown down a well. The worm grew and grew until it became a menace:

But the worm got fat an’ growed an’ growed,

An’ growed an aaful size;

He’d greet big teeth, a greet big gob,

An’ greet big goggle eyes.

An’ when at neets he craaled aboot

To pick up bits o’news,

If he felt dry upon the road,

He milked a dozen coos.

[1] The accounts vary in both size and in types of measurements. One reference gives the weight as "xxx stone"; another gives it as "as much as a small horse."

[2] The Dragon of Wantley, quoted from Thomas Percy’s "Reliques of Ancient Poetry"

[3] Geoffrey Of Cambria, "The History of Britain" 1455 

Bibliography

Anonymous. The Dragon of Wantley, quoted in Thomas Percy’s Reliques of Ancient Poetry (17th Century)

Shorpe, L. Geoffrey of Cambria’s The History of Britain. London: Penguin Books Ltd. 1981

Anonymous. The London Worm? Punch Magazine. Unknown Volume. 1891.

Image Credits:

Anonymous. The London Worm? Punch Magazine. Unknown Volume. 1891.

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Observations from 2015:

This was a fun story to write and to perform. That year, I was running the fencing tourney and barely managed to make it to the judges before their deadline. I was the last performer of the day: I apologized and told them that my performance would be the worst they would hear all day. Since the judges had not done more than glance at my documentation, they did not get the joke until the end of my performance. I was well pleased that Michael Alewright (a master bard and a nice guy) resorted to not one, but two face palms. The first was from the bad pun the story ended with and the second was from my reminding the judges that I had warned them that my story would be the worst they hear that day. It's audience reactions like that that give me reason to get out of bed each morning.

Carved Leather Sheath - 2007

This was a project that I did for the 2007 Ice Dragon Pentathlon. As I had mentioned in the previous post, I had wanted a more period sheath for my knife and I wanted to prove that leather was carved and painted in period.

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Carved Leather Sheath

This project was to create a more authentic knife scabbard than what the owner was using. The bulk of the work is based off of illustrations from the book, Knives and Scabbards, which details finds from archaeological digs around London. More specifically, from catalog pieces 479 (excavated from site BWB83 in Billingsgate Lorry in 1982 and is dated to around 1250), 480 (excavated from site BC72 in Baynards Castle Dock in 1972 and 73 and is dated to mid to late 14th century) and 481 (excavated from site SH74 in Seal House in 1975 and is dated from late 11th to early 12th century) (Figures 1, 2 and 3).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Because of the sharpness of the blade, I chose to line the scabbard with a slightly thicker piece of scrap leather to prevent the blade from cutting through the scabbard (figure 4). Of the 120 scabbards detailed in this collection, 16 are lined. [1] The lining is basically a smaller version of the scabbard that is uncoated and only covers the blade. The scabbard itself was created in the described manner:

Figure 4

When the decoration was completed the leather was moulded into shape, stretching and rounding the upper section to accommodate the handle, and folding in the sides of the blade section to create the seam. ... The moulding was done when the leather was wet and elastic, probably using a wooden last of standard shape and size. The few scabbards that may have been commissioned to fit a specific knife ... may have been moulded around the knife itself. The seams were probably stitched while the scabbard was on the last. They vary in position bit are commonly down one side of the back.

I stitched the leather together around the blade and liner to insure a proper fit. The text details examples the variety of stitching used in the collection. I used a single thread flesh/grain stitch starting from the bottom of the scabbard, but unlike the examples, once I reached the top of the seam, I ran the thread down the seam, using the same holes. This method gave me the strength of a double thread stitch while maintaining the speed and flexibility of a single thread stitch. I personally find the double thread stitch to be difficult to do on uneven edges of leather and sometimes requires three hands to keep the seam together and stitch it with two needles.

I chose to stitch the leather on the side of the blade, as in pieces 479 and 481, instead of along the flat of the blade, as in piece 480. I find that working the flesh/grain is easier to work than making a butt seam along the flat of the blade. It is easier to tighten the thread, and the stitch, and there is no question about leaving in too much slack as there would be with the butt seam. I used modern waxed leather thread, of the hemp variety: It’s what I use on other projects; it’s easy to work with; it’s durable and it can be dyed.

Figure 5

The decoration used is from piece 480 (figure 2). Using a swivel-knife, I carved the designs into the leather on both the front and back of the scabbard. I did not use any additional tools to emboss the leather, keeping the decoration in the fashion of my examples, choosing to have the arms as the central focus of attention rather than the actual leather carving.

Figure 6

Engraving was the earliest and most common method of decoration during the medieval period. The depth of the engraving varied a great deal according to the pressure exerted, with a greater depth for the main outline and borders... The leather was first dampened for easier working and laid flat. The division of the scabbard into front and back zones, as well as handle and blade sections were first laid engraved, and then ruled out with a graver. [2] ... The decoration of the scabbard back was dealt with as a matter of secondary importance and was generally of inferior workmanship to that on the front. [3]

I deliberately kept the quality of the carving down to a "hand made" level, working everything free hand, rather than laying anything out with a guide and scale. The over all look I wanted to achieve was not a machine made item, but a man made scabbard that was customized for the owner.

Although there are exceptions, in general the quality of craftsmanship is not the highest, and does not achieve the standards of contemporary leather work on the Continent. One should not judge the quality of the decoration on the basis of examples such as No. 484. This crude engraving was probably executed, and should be regarded as graffiti. ...the scabbards were probably decorated in accordance with current styles and preferences, but not to the requirements of a particular client. [4]

I substituted the arms of the knife owner for the arms for the arms on the illustration. (Figures 5 and 6) It occurs to me that by the examples in this book, the scabbards, and the simple knives and daggers that held them, were probably not owned by the people who own arms that are engraved on the leather. It is more likely that these items were owned by people who worked for the arms owners. Perhaps the arms were carved into the scabbards as a kind of livery. Of the 120 examples in the catalog, 33 have some kind of heraldry embossed or engraved into the scabbard; 31 one of them have a distinctive "amateur" look to them. Perhaps this "graffiti" was used as a method of getting at least the scabbard back if the knife was lost. One would hardly wear the livery of a person, guild or household that one did not belong to.

Catalogue No. 480 shows one shield which is especially significant, featuring the fur vair. The implication of this is important, as to all intents this indicates the colour which should be applied to part of the arms, in turn suggesting that a specific coat is intended. ... It is likely that these are the arms of the Constable family of Flambourough during the early 14th century. [5]

It has been brought to my attention, on earlier A&S projects, that painting leather, particularly carved leather, is a wholly modern invention. I, for one, never accepted this statement, but was unable, up to now, to prove my case. Not only do we have the tantalizing hint in the above quote, and the red pigment detailed in Figure 1, but Margrethe de Neergaard wrote the following:

Perhaps it is also misleading to judge the decoration of the scabbards as it now appears to us, given that some were probably painted, and some enhanced by guilding (Russell 1939, 133). Some scabbards when found still bore traces of the original paint, eg Nos. 479 and 487, and examples have also been noted on the Continent (Baart 1977, 96, Fig.28 No. 3, 7, 1972). Analysis of the pigment on No. 479 showed this to be vermilion. Red and possibly blue colouring were noted on a scabbard from Austin Friars site at Leicester and were suggested to be either vegetable dye or iron oxide/red earth pigment (Allin 1981, 161). Black dye was also used throughout the medieval period, a combination of tannin and iron oxide. Other colours were achieved with a variety of vegetable dyes;; brazil for brown, indigo for blue and pomegranate for yellow (Waterer 1956, 156). [6]

Figure 7

This is collaborated by Marc Carlson work, Leatherworking in the Middle Ages:

Paint -- The acidic content of vegetable tanned leather doesn’t seem to be very friendly to a lot of the pigments and mediums used in period, especially over long time spans. There are few examples of painting on leather that have survived. A number of painted artifacts housed at the Cloisters, in NYC, etc.
Leather Cover (14th C.) -- Der Katalog des Deutsches Ledermuseums und Deutsches Schuhmuseums, color plate ("Tafel") III, (Universitätsdruckerei, H. Stürtz AG, Würzburg, 1967). The item is has figures of ladies and minnesingers cavorting about under four gothic arches.
Roman Scutum -- Waterer, J.W. Leather and the Warrior
The Scabbard of St. Maurice, c.1200-500 -- Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight
Tapestries -- Waterer, J. W. Spanish Leather. There are a few of these surviving that either show traces of paint, or were described in inventories as having been painted.

I could not find images of three of the preceding examples, but I do have Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight. Page 63 has a wonderful picture of the surviving scabbard (more like a travel case). One can clearly see that carved and embossed leather was painted (Figure 7). Swords and Hilt Weapons: A Visual History of Arms and Armor also have pictures of carved leather, but one cannot tell from the illustrations if the leather was painted (Figure 8). 

Figure 8

Instead of using period paints and dyes, I used their modern version. Not only did I have them on hand, but from past experiences, they will be less likely to react with the tanning chemicals and will retain their color longer.

One final note: the method of securing the scabbard to the belt. In keeping with the customized look of the 14th century, I chose to use a piece of rawhide run through the mouth of the scabbard rather than a more finished method, such as a ring or a leather loop.

The method of wearing the scabbard seems to have depended upon a combination of style and personal preference. The crude, almost haphazard insertion of slots for suspension, couples with the fact that the thongs passed across and were not integrated into the decoration suggest that the slots were cut after purchase by the owner. This the scabbards could be tucked behind the belt, suspended horizontally, vertically or diagonally using a leather thong or metal ring. .. Examination of the positioning of the extant slots suggest that the majority (on 44 scabbards) were cut so that the sheath hung vertically; 11 hung diagonally, and seven were suspended horizontally. Vertical suspension was the most common method in all periods. [7]

I chose to use the thong to hang the scabbard vertically from the belt, not only because it was the most common method, but because the location of the thong, and the lacing holes, will cause the weight of the knife to tighten around the mouth of the scabbard, thus securing the knife in the scabbard . Also, with the addition of a simple knot, the same thong can double as "peace-bonding" for demonstrations with the public. See Figure 9.

Figure 9

[1] Vince, p35

[2] Neergaard, p40

[3] Neergaard, p42

[4] Neergaard, p40

[5] Wilmott, p49

[6] Neergaard, p40

[7] Neergaard. p54

Bibliography:

Carlson, Marc. Leatherworking in the Middle Ages - Medieval Leather Working Techniques. 2001

http://www.personal.utulsa.edu/~marc-carlson/leather/plwt.html.

Coe, Michael D. (Editor). Swords and Hilt Weapons: A Visual History of Arms and Armor. Barnes & Noble Books. New York. 1993.

Cowgill, J., Neergaard, M. de, Griffiths, N., Grew, F. O., Vince, A. G., Wilmott, T. and Wilthew P. Knives and Scabbards: Medieval Finds From Excavations in London: 1. Museum of London. The Boydell Press. London. 2000.

Edge, Dave and Paddock, John Miles. Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight: An Illustrated History of Weaponry in the Middle Ages. Bison Books Corp. Greenwich, CT. 1993.

Regan, Paula (Editor). A Visual History of Arms and Armor. DK Publishing. New York. 2006.

Image Credits:

Title Image: Picture of the knife and sheath taken by myself on 8/2/15. Was taken to replace the lower resolution image taken in 2007.

Figure 1: Knives and Scabbards, page 161. (BWB83 [112] (3)). Calf leather, length 218mm, width 45mm. Side seam with edge/grain stitches. Decorating by incising. Design elements: Front handle: foliate and linear. Front blade: foliate and linear. Back: foliate and linear. Four suspension slots on the front and back, hung vertically by a thong. Patches of red pigment survive.

Figure 2: Knives and Scabbards, page 161. (BC72 [+] (2126)). Calf leather, lined. Centre-back seam with edge/grain stitches. Decorated by engraving. Design elements: Front handle: heraldic and linear. Back: linear.

Figure 3: Knives and Scabbards, page 161. (SH74 [436] (137)). Calf leather, length 170mm, width 35mm. Side seam with flesh/grain stitches. Decorated by engraving. Design elements: Front handle: heraldic and linear. Front blade: heraldic and linear. Back: linear. Two suspension slots on the front and back, hung by a thong.

Figure 4: Picture of the knife and sheath taken by myself on 8/2/15. Was taken to replace the lower resolution image taken in 2007.

Figure 5: Picture of the knife and sheath taken by myself on 8/2/15. Was taken to replace the lower resolution image taken in 2007.

Figure 6: Picture of the knife and sheath taken by myself on 8/2/15. Was taken to replace the lower resolution image taken in 2007.

Figure 7: Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight, page 63. Scabbard of St. Maurice, 1200-50.

Figure 8: A Visual History of Arms and Armor, Page 119. Sword scabbard and two small knives. Dated to Germany, 1662. Reddish marks could be the remains of pigment.

Figure 9: Knives and Scabbards, Page 55. Scabbard suspended vertically from thong looped over the belt. 14th century, from BL Add Ms 42130 f170.

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Observations from 2015:

I am quite pleased with this project. Not only was this a useful thing for me to carry around, but it satisfied some inner revenge against the anonymous judge who wrote that "carved and painted leather is not period". Since I never knew the name of the judge who dissed my earlier project, I could never be certain that the same judge would be working the 2007 Pent. Even if my incorrect judge never found out about my "revenge", he or she did inspire me to make a far superior sheath for my knife. I have been using it constantly and it has held up to the abuse I can dish out at events. There are three points that I did not cover in the original documentation:

1) I had used some glue at the top of the inner sheath to keep the "mouth" open. I do not remember what the glue was. It might have been contact cement.

2) I had clear coated the leather, after painting it, to protect the finish. I used Custom Lacquer System's Ultra Gloss Clearcoat sealant. I like using it because it stays flexible and doesn't flake off. The clearcoat is recommended for model trains and miniatures; items that will be handled and moved around. I use the same spray when I make award medallions. Once dry, the leather, and paint, become very shiny, durable and very water proof.

3) I stitched the inner sheath with the grain outwards. I did this knowing that the flesh side will soak up oil and protect the blade of the knife. I never intended to put oil into the sheath, but, instead, use the inner sheath to act as a sponge. Every few months I would apply a thin coat of oil (usually WD40) to the blade and put it into the sheath. The inner sheath will soak up the excess oil and retain enough keep moisture away from the blade and to reapply some oil back to the knife, whenever it is used and returned.

I am very happy with how this sheath turned out, especially since I made it with scraps of leather. I've never needed to touch up the paint or clearcoat or have to restitch the seams. It looks as good now as it did when I made it eight years ago, despite the abuse I put it through (banging into doorways, standing out in the rain on ranges, being thrown into garb bags).