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By E K Myerson
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
E. K. Myerson is a cultural critic, researcher and author.
By E K Myerson
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
E. K. Myerson is a cultural critic, researcher and author.
By E K Myerson
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
E. K. Myerson is a cultural critic, researcher and author.
By E K Myerson
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
A translation from the 14th century Trinity Encyclopaedist[i]
Another manner of making pearls there is in this manner.[ii]
Take the small pearls and crush them somewhat small in a mortar, then put them in the water of lemons in a glass vessel that is well sealed from the air. Then take that glass vessel with those pearls and set it under horse dung for the space of four days or more, that is, until they be dissolved into a white matter, like milk of a cow.[iii]
And when it is so, take out your glass with your matter, and set it on a few ashes, and dry up that white matter that is therein. And when it is dry, gather it clean out of the glass, and grind it on a clean stone to powder. Then mix that powder with water of snails in the manner of a paste, in which manner it will best hold together.
And then afterwards, take and make with your paste your pearls great or small, as you will have them. Then take and pierce them with a silver pin, or else with a pig’s bristle, then lay them on a fair table to dry against the shadow.[iv] And when they are well dried, make a loaf of clean barley meal. And in that loaf take and make many small holes, where you might couch your pearls. Then take your pearls and couch them one by one in the holes that you made before, in such a manner that no pearl touches another. Then make a covering for that same loaf of a paste made of clean barley meal (as I said before) in the manner of the covering of a paste. Then take and set your loaf in an oven. Anon after the bread is drawn out, stop your oven again. And so let it stand still in the same oven an hour or two, then take out the loaf and void away the covering above. And then take out all your pearls, and seethe them a little in clean sweet milk. And then take them out of the milk and give them to doves to eat, and let them be inside them the space of an hour.[v]
Then afterwards, take and slay your doves and gather out all your clean pearls. And then take and seethe them all again in fair sweet milk, and they shall be fine.
And then after all this, take and wash them in fair rose water,[vi] and then dry them up with a soft cloth – and it is done.[vii]
P.S.
Now you shall understand that lemons is a manner of apple from beyond the sea, of which apples Lombards make verjuice, at the right time of year – as we do here in England using crabs. And therefore who that will have them lemons, either he must speak to Lombards, or else to these galley men when they come from Venice. And some say these pome de Orenge that galley men bring have the same effect and will do the same thing that lemons do. But thereof I am not so certain as I am of the lemons (ever so well believe it, as I do, the lemons) but nevertheless diverse men say with both it will be done.
[i] Based on the text printed in The Crafte of Lymmyng and the Maner of Steynyng: Middle English recipes for painters, stainers, scribes, and illuminators, ed. by Mark Clarke (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), pp. 26-27.
[ii] Some say that the medieval European fashion for pearls began during the crusades, in the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Palestinian jewel merchants sold pearls to English royals, knights and pilgrims. Al-Yatīma [the Orphan], was a pearl world-renowned for its perfection. Associated with the holy shrines of Damascus, Al-Yatīma was printed on royal ’Abbasid stamps. The legend of the Orphan stone had reached medieval Europe by the twelfth century.
[iii] In the Middle Ages, pearls were included in bestiaries: animate beings. These milky counterfeits fake lives.
[iv] I own a handful of freshwater pearls, some of which are pierced. One evening I took a chain necklace and teased the metal open with nail clippers, since I did not have pliers, and refastened the circle around the pierced spot in one pearl. It hangs horizontal, like a bar, I am paranoid that I haven't closed the loop fully and that my pearl will fall from the chain, but so far so good.
[v] The time can be measured by chanting plainsong, or alternatively by repeating the following modern charm: eat taste scent vinegar mollusc bent chipped gravel wash foam froth sink sang / sails to no avail appeal assail salt / snails trailing wisteria mysterious / girl whorl deal curl mewl tall order mail order bride hide us all / demonstrate educate lavender scare wear pearls today.
[vi] The medieval surgeon Guy de Chauliac writes that when he contracted the Black Death, he cured himself using a concoction of pearls, coral, sapphire, emeralds, aloe, spices and sweetened roses.
[vii] In April 2023, hundreds of rare freshwater pearl mussels were released at a secret location in Wales. In photographs they look like the gentlest, frilly-edged rocks, soft moss growing on their shells. They like fast-flowing clean water, boulders and cobbles, and as juveniles they spend up to ten years buried in river gravel. Their buried youth: spent still. Later they can dislodge in the current. Perhaps that is why they like fast-flowing rivers, so that they can get from one place to another. They can live to a century old, and can grow to 14cm. It is rare to find a pearl mussel, and even rarer to find a pearl. Usually they do not produce stones.
Image: (Aberdeen MS 24, fol. 96r <https://www.abdn.ac.uk/bestiary/ms24/f96r>).
E. K. Myerson is a cultural critic, researcher and author.