The codpiece (from the Middle English cod, meaning scrotum) was an important article of men`s clothing for about two hundred years from 1400 to 1600 and were still worn in Shakespeare’s time (1564-1616) The codpiece did not just appear overnight, it evolved. In the late Middle Ages, when the rising …
In Chaucer`s Canterbury Tales, the Wife of Bath immediately fell in love with her fifth husband the moment she saw his legs “ so clene and faire” as he walked behind the funeral procession of her fourth husband. Lusting after a man`s leg was common practice in the middle Ages …
Taken from Jacob Grimm Deutsche Mythologie (1835) If a woman walks over a garden bed or a field within six weeks of giving birth, then nothing will grow on it in the next few years, or everything will perish. A pregnant woman should never crawl under a coach pole, …
Pythagarus viewed as either a Shamanistic shyster or intellectual innovator, is still one of the most important names in Western philosophy. He and his followers followed some rather strange rules such as not to stir fires with iron pokers or to eat meat or beans This was because he …
Nothing evoked more mystery and romance to Europeans in the nineteenth century than the veiled women of the sultan’s harem. Harems started as a way for Ottoman warriors to “protect” their women when away from home for long periodsthe system was then adopted by the Sultanate. The reality of …
The examination of the urine had always been an important diagnostic tool. As far back as the thirteenth century there was a textbook on the subject called De Urinas. By the sixteenth century this had developed into a full blown discipline known as uroscopy. Specialists known as “pisse-prophets” would …
In the sci-fi obsessed 1950s, for a short time chlorophyll was mooted as the new panacea for all things whiffy. It all started with a fellow called Benjamin Gruskin, , who in the 1930s developed a water-soluble form of chlorophyll, now known as chlorophyllin. Gruskin tested his chlorophyllin …
It seems hard to believe, but until the end of the 18th century, “decent” women had always gone knickerless. “Until the late 18th century, [women`s] underwear consisted only of smocks, shifts, stays and the highly important petticoats of all kinds” states the wonderfully named C. Willet Cunnington in his …
In 1926 Ireland, the Catholic Church was so concerned about saving souls that they established a committee to decide which publications should be deemed as “sordid” and “objectionable” The good fathers decided upon the following titles: Woman`s World Woman`s Realm The Sporting Life Girls Companion Home Companion News of …
