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James Head
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 Posted: Thu 26 Aug, 2010 5:37 am Post subject: |
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| Elling Polden wrote: | | Honey was in relatively short supply, so Mead was ususally reserved for special, festive occations. There are accounts of riots breaking out at norwegian king Magnus Erlingson's court because he could not get hold of enough mead, so that the lower ranks had to drink the regular thin ale... |
Yeah, I agree. I don't think Mead was the staple drink of medieval warriors. Imagine how many beehives one would need to supply a marching army with enough Mead for a campaign. I'm still convinced that most cultures naturally adopted a preference for drinks that were fermented to the point of becoming like vinegar: it was readily available and naturally replenished electrolytes. Folks probably noticed the 'pick me up' that they got after swigging some vinegar drink while fatigued and took special note for the future.
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Christopher Treichel
Location: Metro D.C. Joined: 14 Jan 2010
Posts: 268
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| Posted: Thu 26 Aug, 2010 5:55 am Post subject: |
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I agree as far as a electrolyte replacing soft drink of choice back then... vinegar drinks such as a shrub... mixture of fruit juices, water and vinegar or other alcohol. sounds a bit strange by our standards these days but a shrub will last months and the taste is not all bad. I know that the term shrub only goes back to about the 1740s but there are other terms for it such as Posca (Roman Army), and in German... Sauerwein. Apparently just mixing a bit of vinegar into water will kill much of the bacteria rendering it fit to drink for long periods of time.
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Martin Whalen
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| Posted: Fri 27 Aug, 2010 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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Wow, awesome replies guys, great stuff.
The drawings/paintings/etc are really interesting... I assume beer or wine would have been inside of them instead of water, after reading the posts. Hmm, beer and wine had never occurred to me, fascinating.
I'm glad this thread will be around for future reference, I had used the search function and found no threads with similar subjects.
Heh, guess I'll stick with a bottle of water while working though, I don't think they would like it if I used beer.  
Luceo Non Uro.
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Jean Thibodeau
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| Posted: Fri 27 Aug, 2010 7:12 pm Post subject: |
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| Douglas S wrote: | I had a site up a while ago about how to make a flacket, or leathern bottel. When Geocities went south, so did the info.
In short, a container was made from leather (preferably belly hide) and soaked. Then the container was pounded with sand to expand it. After it dried and the sand completely removed, the interior was coated - we used a combination of pitch and beeswax for the best effect. |
EDITED: Deleted comment because I found out that the information about availability I had was in error.
You can easily give up your freedom. You have to fight hard to get it back!
Last edited by Jean Thibodeau on Sat 28 Aug, 2010 12:07 am; edited 1 time in total
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Scott Hrouda
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| Posted: Fri 27 Aug, 2010 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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Jason Pate of Tandy Leather, St. Paul has made some of these bottles. I've seen them in his shop before and he'd probably be willing to contract some more. The bottles are very nice at historical events because they can be documented, and you don't have to worry about dropping them after a few too many refills. 
...and that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana shaped. - Sir Bedevere
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Marc Blaydoe
Location: Maryland Joined: 29 Sep 2006
Posts: 72
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| Posted: Sat 28 Aug, 2010 5:22 am Post subject: Leather Canteen source |
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You might check out Clang Armoury. They have a nice collection.
Marc Blaydoe
An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
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Shahril Dzulkifli
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| Posted: Sat 04 Sep, 2010 10:52 am Post subject: How did ancient warriors drink water on the battlefield? |
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I agree that ancient warriors drink water, not wine, from gourds or horns even on the battlefield just like soldiers drink from canteens today. When they run out of water they will head to the nearest water source (if available).
“You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength”
- Marcus Aurelius
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Bjorn Hagstrom
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| Posted: Fri 29 Oct, 2010 1:29 pm Post subject: |
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This thread might be old, but I just let you know that practical field tests can be done!
I have finished my first attempt at a Mary Rose-style leather flask. It took a lot of time to stich up, I made a few mistakes along the line, but overall Im quite happy so far. The whole business of handling lots of hot wax and coating the inside was not nearly as hard as I imagined it to be. I still have 10 fingers and 2 eyes 
 Attachment: 26.42 KB
before moulding
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waxed and dyed
There is nothing quite as sad as a one man conga-line...
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This is a standard topic