Info Favorites Register Log in
myArmoury.com Discussion Forums

Forum index Memberlist Usergroups Spotlight Topics Search
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Uses for blood in the middle ages? Reply to topic
This is a standard topic  
Author Message
M. Eversberg II




Location: California, Maryland, USA
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Reading list: 3 books

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 1,435

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 3:40 am    Post subject: Uses for blood in the middle ages?         Reply with quote

So I've finally gotten around to watching The Name of the Rose. I noticed the abby had a huge culdron of blood (Which someone got drowned in later). What was that for?

M.

This space for rent or lease.
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number
Daniel Staberg




Location: Gothenburg/Sweden
Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Likes: 2 pages
Reading list: 2 books

Posts: 570

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 3:58 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Various forms of Black pudding probabaly http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_pudding Given the food situation in the period you used every eddible piece of slaughtered animals including the blood.
View user's profile Send private message
Lin Robinson




Location: NC
Joined: 15 Jun 2006
Likes: 6 pages
Reading list: 6 books

Posts: 1,241

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 4:50 am    Post subject: Re: Uses for blood in the middle ages?         Reply with quote

M. Eversberg II wrote:
So I've finally gotten around to watching The Name of the Rose. I noticed the abby had a huge culdron of blood (Which someone got drowned in later). What was that for?

M.


I thought that was wine, not blood.

Lin Robinson

"The best thing in life is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you and hear the lamentation of their women." Conan the Barbarian, 1982
View user's profile Send private message
Ian Hutchison




Location: Louisiana / Nordrhein-Westholland
Joined: 27 Nov 2007

Posts: 625

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 5:43 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Food has already been mentioned so I'm just throwing this out there:

Could it be for ink, dye or paint? A pretty big part of the story involved the monks working on manuscripts, presumably bibles.

'We are told that the pen is mightier than the sword, but I know which of these weapons I would choose.' - Adrian Carton de Wiart
View user's profile Send private message
Eric Meulemans
Industry Professional



Location: Southern Wisconsin
Joined: 30 Nov 2003
Reading list: 18 books

Posts: 163

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 12:50 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

In this particular instance, simply refer to the book of the same name by Umberto Eco:

"Outside the pigpens, swineherds were stirring a great jarful of the blood of the freshly slaughtered pigs, to keep it from coagulating. If it was stirred properly and promptly, it would remain liquid for the next few days, thanks to the cold climate, and then they would make blood puddings from it."
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
Ian Hutchison




Location: Louisiana / Nordrhein-Westholland
Joined: 27 Nov 2007

Posts: 625

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 2:17 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Eric Meulemans wrote:
In this particular instance, simply refer to the book of the same name by Umberto Eco:

"Outside the pigpens, swineherds were stirring a great jarful of the blood of the freshly slaughtered pigs, to keep it from coagulating. If it was stirred properly and promptly, it would remain liquid for the next few days, thanks to the cold climate, and then they would make blood puddings from it."


Haha, definitive answer then!

'We are told that the pen is mightier than the sword, but I know which of these weapons I would choose.' - Adrian Carton de Wiart
View user's profile Send private message
David Sutton




Location: Bolton, UK
Joined: 06 Mar 2007
Likes: 15 pages
Reading list: 39 books

Posts: 230

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 2:29 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Apart from the obvious use as a foodstuff, does blood have any uses in the tanning or treatment of leather perhaps? The making of dyes?

BTW some of the finest Black Puddings in the world come from a town called Bury which is only a few minutes drive from me.

'Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all'

'To teach superstitions as truth is a most terrible thing'

Hypatia of Alexandria, c400AD
View user's profile Send private message
Gert-Jan Beukers




Location: Voorhout, The Netherlands
Joined: 02 Mar 2009

Posts: 30

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 3:07 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

I read somewhere that Blacksmiths used blood to harden the steel and put in water... I don't know that's true...
Correct me if I'm wrong.... I'm dutch
View user's profile Send private message MSN Messenger
Steven H




Location: Boston
Joined: 10 May 2006

Posts: 545

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 5:45 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Ian Hutchison wrote:
Food has already been mentioned so I'm just throwing this out there:

Could it be for ink, dye or paint? A pretty big part of the story involved the monks working on manuscripts, presumably bibles.


Hello,

According to my art major GF blood doesn't work particularly as a pigment (for paint) but can work as a dye. However it isn't lightfast as a dye. Which means that it'll fade into nothing eventually.

(The difference between pigment and dye here is that you can put a dye into something, like leather or cloth, but pigment must be mixed with a fixative, like oil (paints), tempura, acrylic etc.)

Cheers,
Steven

P.S. Blood pudding is the only English food that I'm hesitant to eat.

Kunstbruder - Boston area Historical Combat Study
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
B. Stark
Industry Professional




Joined: 25 Jan 2004
Reading list: 11 books

Posts: 395

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 8:23 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Blood sausage(still is in parts of Europe) was popular as well and would keep for far longer.
"Wyrd bi∂ ful aræd"
View user's profile Send private message
Eric W. Norenberg





Joined: 18 Jul 2008

Posts: 271

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 9:23 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Blood (ox or cattle, usually) was often part of the "recipe" for interior building finishes. It was used as an elasticizing agent, if I recall correctly, mostly for beaten earth floors and, more rarely, for wall plaster. If you get the ratio of lime, manure, chopped straw (as a binder), clean earth, and ox blood correct, it can be tamped into a monolithic floor that wears like concrete, is fairly waterproof, and (amazingly) doesn't attract vermin. Supposedly. I've never knowingly seen one, but I have read that there are floors of this kind in England that date to the sixteenth century, and see fairly heavy tourist traffic daily with little upkeep.
View user's profile Send private message
Patrik Erik Lars Lindblom




Location: Göteborg Sweden
Joined: 07 Jul 2004
Reading list: 8 books

Posts: 411

PostPosted: Sun 22 Mar, 2009 9:40 pm    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Blodpudding! I eat it allot, because it's have good taste and is cheap, all you need to it is sugar or Lingonberry jam Big Grin
and No, it don't make you to a viking or something. Laughing Out Loud

pic from wiki

Frid o Fröjd!
Patrik
View user's profile Send private message
Juuso Kälviäinen




Location: Finland
Joined: 03 Nov 2006

Posts: 1

PostPosted: Mon 23 Mar, 2009 12:20 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

My grandfather used at least once blood to decorate a scabbard.
He was making a scabbard for a knife (puukko), when he accidentally cut himself. The scabbard was spilled on blood, and he couldn't get it of, so he decided to "paint" even coat of his own blood to that scabbard and applied varnish after that. I believe I have that scabbard somewhere.

In Finland we have thing what we call reilu meininki.
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Gabriele A. Pini




Location: Olgiate Comasco, Como
Joined: 02 Sep 2008

Posts: 239

PostPosted: Mon 23 Mar, 2009 12:58 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Here in Italy there is the "Sanguinaccio" a sausage of dried blood who was very popular some times ago. I don't know if was produced in the middle age, but it cheap and very simple to produce, so I think yes. It has a very strong flavour, and for this and hygenic reasons it isn't as diffuse as a some time ago.
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
M. Eversberg II




Location: California, Maryland, USA
Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Reading list: 3 books

Spotlight topics: 1
Posts: 1,435

PostPosted: Mon 23 Mar, 2009 6:34 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Patrik, I've eaten some nasty, nasty things in my life but that takes the cake.

...I shall have to try it some time.

M.

This space for rent or lease.
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address Yahoo Messenger MSN Messenger ICQ Number
Jean Thibodeau




Location: Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Joined: 15 Mar 2004
Likes: 50 pages
Reading list: 1 book

Spotlight topics: 5
Posts: 8,310

PostPosted: Mon 23 Mar, 2009 10:06 am    Post subject:         Reply with quote

Well here in Quebec there is " Boudin ", or blood sausage:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boudin

You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
View user's profile Send private message


Display posts from previous:   
Forum Index > Off-topic Talk > Uses for blood in the middle ages?
Page 1 of 1 Reply to topic
All times are GMT - 8 Hours

View previous topic :: View next topic
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You cannot attach files in this forum
You can download files in this forum






All contents © Copyright 2003-2024 myArmoury.com — All rights reserved
Discussion forums powered by phpBB © The phpBB Group
Switch to the Basic Low-bandwidth Version of the forum