Medieval “T” Doors

Aug18 by

A beautiful example of medieval creativity was the design of the shop door known today as a “T” door. When the door is closed, you can see the definite shape of the T.

But when the large upper doors are folded back, medieval shopkeepers had a wide ledge on which to display their goods. Imagine this shop without the glass.

The ingenious little bottom of the T was a separate door which kept dogs and pigs out of the shop and kept your toddler inside.

At night, when all was locked and barred, you could still see what might be going on in the street.

The images above are some I made in Arezzo in Tuscany. Searching the internet, I’ve found a few more pictures of “T” doors, though very few. Most have been lost in centuries of remodeling.

Here are some images from the blog Urbanistica in Italia. Though no longer T doors, they clearly were at one time.

And finally, an interesting variation on the style from Kotor in Montenegro from the blog gallivance.

“T” doors, a perfect example of medieval practicality still in use during the Renaissance and beyond.

Do You Sleep like Shakespeare?

Jan17 by

It’s 1:07 a.m. I woke up about fifteen minutes ago. Actually, I seemed to sort of snap awake in the middle of a thought. By the bed, I keep a legal pad and a little book light to make notes because this happens nearly every night.

I used to call this insomnia. I used to assume it was the result of my paternal family’s genetic nervousness, since some of us are wrapped tighter than mummies, with migraines, bouts of sleepwalking, and restless leg syndrome. Or, as my mother chooses to puts it, “one step ahead of a fit.” I preferred to think of it as a sign of creative genius.

Chateau du Clos Luce, Gregg's Blog, harpguitars.net

Renaissance Bed

Well no. It’s merely how people slept for centuries. It may, in fact, be the more natural rhythm for human sleep. In the sixteenth century, it was called “first sleep” and “second sleep.” Today, it’s called segmented sleep or a bi-modal sleep pattern.

The best historical study of this is a book called At Day’s Close: Night in Times Past by Virginia Tech history professor Roger Erich. Erich found more than 500 references to segmented sleep in diaries, court records, medical books and literature, from Homer’s Odyssey to Canterbury Tales. Apparently, this was the normal, accepted pattern of sleep for centuries.

The pattern seems to be that people slept for three to four hours, were awake for two to three hours, and then slept three to four more hours.

During their interval of wakefulness, they read or wrote, prayed or meditated, had sex, played cards, and after tobacco arrived in Europe, smoked. There are many prayer manuals from the late 15th Century that include special prayers for the hours in between sleeps.

All this changed with artificial lighting. We began staying up later to keep up with Khloe and Kourtney, buying sleep aids to help us cram all our sleep into one chunk, and fretting because we “just can’t sleep.”

From a scientific standpoint, studies have shown that a bi-modal routine creates a healthy pattern of prolactin, GnRH, and all those hormones and chemicals that are constantly sloshing around, causing us to be cranky and gain weight.

Creativity studies have shown the midnight hours of wakefulness are closer to our subconscious and a period of special creativity. (Notice how creative I am right now.)

Because I find actually getting out of bed to work in the night a little daunting, I have one of these lazy person’s laptop stands. I’m using it right now and it’s great.

According to Professor Russell Foster, Chair of Circadian Neuroscience at Oxford, “Many people wake up at night and panic. I tell them that what they are experiencing is a throwback to the bi-modal sleep pattern.”

So, if you wake up in the night, don’t fret. You’re just a Renaissance person.

Image #1: Renaissance bed, Chateau du Clos Luce, Gregg’s Blog, harpguitars.net Image #2: Closet bed, Museum Kastenbett

More 16th-Century Poodles with Jobs

Nov23 by

Poodles were originally bred as water retrievers. My first poodle of blessed memory, whose name was Payroll, was always trying to lure me to the creek because her favorite thing was to make a big, splashy jump into the water to retrieve a Coke can. She could do it all day.

Payroll in Action

The silly haircut so iconic to a poodle was originally designed for hunting. The dense, water-repellant coat could get caught in the brush, so it was clipped short except over the chest organs and joints, such as knees, ankles, and hips. This was to give those important areas protection from the cold water.

The tail was docked and left with a distinctive pompom on the end to help the animal be more easily sighted in dense brush or water. I have read that when a tail is docked and clipped correctly, it will stand up from the water like a flag. I’d have to see that.

But this was before the invention of guns, so how was the bird brought down that the retriever was retrieving? With a falcon, of course.

A medieval manuscript exists that gives you detailed instructions on how to train your falcon and your dog. One reason that noblemen (and women) carried their birds with them everywhere (including church) was to “imprint” them. The falcon is a wild bird and remains a wild bird. It was never a pet. But it could be programmed to see the human as the source of its food, forgetting that it could eat the prey it brought down. The falcon and the dog were paired together in a partnership that rewarded them both.

The falcon learned that the dog flushed the birds. The falcon was slipped and, if it were a peregrine, perhaps it performed its “stoop,” a downward dive of 200+ miles per hour, making it the fastest creature alive. Then, in an amazing act that defied more than one of its natural instincts, the falcon released the downed prey to the dog, who returned it to the man. After which, everyone had a nice snack together.

Deaux Rey of Deaux Rey Standard Poodles

The love of birds still exists in poodles today. My little toy poodle, Traveler, hates water, but she adores birds. She once brought in a decomposed goldfinch and scattered feathers all over the sunroom. And that was the end of the dog door. In a pet store, she ignores the mice, kittens, and ferrets. She wants to stare for hours at the parakeets.

We know of the important role that poodles played in falconry from the medieval tapestries that depict them in action.

Here is a much later painting. While the other dogs are being dogs, the poodle is seriously thoughtful.

Falconers Fleming of Barochan, Anderson and Harvey

The word poodle come from the German pudel, meaning puddle, because water was a big part of the life of a working poodle in the 16th century.

60-Second Renaissance

Roast Cats & Codpieces~~The Astonishing 16th Century

Category Archives: Renaissance Life

Medieval “T” Doors

More 16th-Century Poodles with Jobs