Hello all,
I've just subscribed to this list because I was hoping to find an anwser to
two questions that might have something to do with religion in the middle
ages.
Just to situate my interest in the middle ages: I am a member of a Belgian
14th century re-enactment group. We call ourselves "The Pynnock Knights",
and our group aims to recreate the life of our ancestors who would have
lived in the early years of the 14th century. Our research is practical &
experimental, but we are reliant on the opinion of both the academics and
other renenactors. Our major point of reference is the battle of Courtrai
of 1302.
(1) left handed people
We have been discussing left handed fighting on our re-enactment mailing
list. Some of us came up with the idea that this must have been discouraged
or even forbidden from a religious point of view. Maybe the use of the left
hand for certain actions might have been restricted. I now that in modern
muslim world there are rules that apply to this.
Would anyone be able to comment on this? Would 14th c Catholic religion
have restricted left handedness?
(2) food
I've been told that in 15th c Britain Wednesday, Friday and Saturday were
meatless days. Would anyone know if the same rules would have applied to
Flanders in the 1300s. It would have been the same religion, so I presume
that geography does not play a major part here, but maybe the 200 years of
difference did.
Which ingredients would have been forbidden on these days? Meat of course,
but how about eggs, milk and other dairy products?
If you have any books you would recommend, please do so. I've got access to
the Univeristy of Leuven libraries and interlibrary loan.
Thanks for your assistance,
Walter Van Opstal
"The Pynnock Knights" Medieval Re-enactors
Horst Castle, Belgium
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