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"[The English Housewife] comes as close to a reconstruction of early modern English home life as scholars are likely to attain ... A splendid addition to the knowledge of early-17th-century life and labor." G.M. Straka, Choice
Product Description
In 1615 Englishman Gervase Markham published a handbook for housewives containing "all the virtuous knowledges and actions both of the mind and body, which ought to be in any complete housewife." Markham reveals the "pretty and curious secrets" of preparing everything from simple foods to such elaborate meals as a "humble feast" - an undertaking which entails preparing "no less than two and thirty dishes, which is as much as can stand on one table." He instructs the housewife on brewing beer and caring for wine, growing flax and hemp for thread, and spinning and dyeing. As a housewife was also responsible for the health and "soundness of body" of her family, he includes advice on the prevention of everything from the plague to baldness and bad breath.No other source from this period provides the same richness of information in such a readable style. Michael Best's introduction and his abundant notes make "The English Housewife" readily accessible to the contemporary reader. Michael R. Best is Professor of English, University of Victoria.
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This astonishing book lays out in detail the duties expected of a 17th century housewife. The first chapter deals with the housewife's duty to be the family doctor and chemist, with detailed recipes for cures for all manner of complaints from toothache to consumption. A restorative for the liver for instance is given as:
"Take fennel roots, and parsley roots, of each a like, wash them clean, and peel off the upper bark and cast away the pith within, then mince them small, then put them to three pints of water, and set them over the fire, then take figs, and shred them small, liquorice and break it small, and put them to the herbs, an dlet all boil very well, then take sorrel and stamp it and put it to the rest, and let it boil till some part be wasted, then take a good quantity of honey and put to it and boil a while, then take it from the fire and clarify it through a strainer into a glass vessel and stop it very close, then give the sick to drink thereof morning and evening." Modern chemists have it easy.
There are detailed chapters on cooking, brewing and baking, distilling perfumes, making beer, making sweet wines, and spinning, dyeing and weaving.
Reading this book will leave you filled with admiration for the multitude of skills expected of the housewives of past times, and relief that such exacting tasks are not required of us today.
"Take fennel roots, and parsley roots, of each a like, wash them clean, and peel off the upper bark and cast away the pith within, then mince them small, then put them to three pints of water, and set them over the fire, then take figs, and shred them small, liquorice and break it small, and put them to the herbs, an dlet all boil very well, then take sorrel and stamp it and put it to the rest, and let it boil till some part be wasted, then take a good quantity of honey and put to it and boil a while, then take it from the fire and clarify it through a strainer into a glass vessel and stop it very close, then give the sick to drink thereof morning and evening." Modern chemists have it easy.
There are detailed chapters on cooking, brewing and baking, distilling perfumes, making beer, making sweet wines, and spinning, dyeing and weaving.
Reading this book will leave you filled with admiration for the multitude of skills expected of the housewives of past times, and relief that such exacting tasks are not required of us today.
8 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
As an historical reenactor I find this book to be very useful. It has lots of interesting recipes and other useful information. The best part is that this was written in the period, so you get a much better perspective than a book of redactions.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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5 reviews
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Wonderful resource for historians and reenactors
26 July 1999
Format:Paperback
As an historical reenactor I find this book to be very useful. It has lots of interesting recipes and other useful information. The best part is that this was written in the period, so you get a much better perspective than a book of redactions.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Great Primary Source
17 Mar 2001
Format:Paperback
The English Housewife is the primary text from which many other books on Elizabethan Women derive much of their information. First written in 1615, it gives "a moste excellent account of the duties and knowledge of the husewyfe". Of interest to womens and renaissance history buffs, as well as re-enactors.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
A delightful compendium for scholars and the curious!
14 Oct 1999
Format:Hardcover
A truly splendid find, this well-edited edition of Gervase Markham's manual provides vivid insight into household management in the seventeenth century. Topics range from cookery and brewing to home remedies. Excellent introduction and notes. Enjoyable contemporary illustrations.
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