[Regia-NA] Alum

[Carolyn Priest-Dorman]

Hazel wrote:

>'For 'wreime' which is called moss: Let it be chopped up in an eggshell 
>and then add builder's lime. This is done until it is seen to be properly 
>matured. Then strain it through a cloth. Take the alum, place it in 
>water.....' I assume the 'alum' is the result of combining the moss and 
>the lime.
>
>This appears in 'Early Anglo-Norman Receipts for Colours.' as a method of 
>dyeing leather red with 'brasil'  Could the 'moss' be a type of clubmoss 
>and was this how it was used? I can't find any reference to 'wreime'  to 
>say what kind of moss it was.

What do you make of the fact that there is a change of scribal hand in the 
original between "strain it through a cloth" and "Take the 
alum"?  Everything from "take the alum" onward could easily be a 
stand-alone recipe for dyeing with alum and brazilwood.

I read this one differently, and assumed the wreime juice provided a 
dyestuff or pigment that perhaps (like madder) worked better in the 
presence of calcium, hence the lime.  (I was reminded of scribal recipes 
for iris where the juice is used.)


Carolyn Priest-Dorman              Þóra Sharptooth
  http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/thora.html