Claviceps and Agrostemma have been no problems as long as the crops were
processed in the house. Grain was taken of the stock in the morning, was sieved,
handsorted and milled in the house mill ("quern").
The problem is the windmill / watermill of the Landlord. He forbid the house mills and
querns and all grain had to be milled in the new mill and this had to be paid. It is not
possible to pick out Agrostemma and Claviceps out of sacks of grain, only cleaning of
the daily portion is possible. In the Slavonic fairy tales there are some works that cannot
be done in one day or one night. And one of these tasks is to pick out all black grains
out of the wheat ("Wasilisa the fairy"). So people knew that Agrostemma and Claviceps
and other fungi should not be in grain for consumption.
There is one possibility to avoid this conflict: Growing Spelt. Spelt can be sieved in a
bean sieve and you get rid of as well Agrostemma as Claviceps (on rye as a weed in
Spelt). I think that is the reason for growing spelt in early medieval Oldenburg in
Holstein (H. Kroll / U. Willerding, Die Pflanzenfunde von Starigard / Oldenburg.
In: Starigard / Oldenburg. Hauptburg der Slawen in Wagrien 5.
Naturwissenschaftliche Beiträge. Offa-Bücher 82 [Neumünster 2004] S. 135-
184).
In bad times, when people hat not enough grain, sieving and sorting meant a big loss of
stock, people did not do that. Is "aint Anthony's fire" an effect of eating to much
Agrostemma and Claviceps? Some historians do believe so.
So, Otto, at first look at your famous dutch mills!
Not that ones pumping water, but that ones milling grain!
>
> Dear colleagues,
>
> Although I know the articles by Behre (1990: Rullstorf with nice
> photograph of Claviceps on p. 161) and by Behre & Kucan (1994:
> Flögeln-Eekhöltjen) dealing with Claviceps purpurea, I have three main
> questions that I cannot answer. Maybe some of you can help me a bit
> (again...).
>
> Did people around 1500 AD know that Claviceps was unhealthy?
> Did they take measures to prevent consumption of it?
> What are the health effects after consumption, and what quantities are
> needed to reach these effects?
>
> Many thanks in advance for your reactions.
>
> oTTo
>
> Dr. O. Brinkkemper
> Senior onderzoeker paleo-ecologie
> Afdeling Landschappelijk en Stedebouwkundig Erfgoed (LSE)
> RACM, Postbus 1600, 3800 BP Amersfoort
> tel: 033 - 42 27 557
> e-mail: [log in to unmask]
>
> LSE levert integrale kennis over de cultuurhistorie van stad en land
> en zet deze in voor het landschap van de toekomst.
>
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"-- "
Dr. Helmut Kroll
Institut für Ur- und Frühgeschichte der Universität, 24098 Kiel
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