RUGA - Gleann Abhann

Herbal Cosmetics – HRB09A01

(Created by Rovena Bri Leith)

Level: Beginner

Class Description: This class is designed to provide students with a basic understanding of the standards of personal beauty for people in the Middle Ages. Terminology, ingredients, and application techniques – as well as their impact on the economy – will be discussed.

Learning Objectives - By the end of this class, students will know:

1. Standards of personal beauty for men and women in the Middle Ages.
2. How wealth has influenced our concepts of beauty both historically and in modern times.
3. Some period beauty techniques (while considering modern safety.)
4. Terminology.
5. Some sources for the making of “period” cosmetics.
6. How to apply this knowledge to further develop one’s own SCA persona for a more authentic (but safe) effect.

Suggested Teaching Resources:

The Trotula, Green, Monica H. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, PA. 2002.

Culpeper’s Herbal & English Physician, Culpeper, Nicholas. Meyerbooks, Glenwood, IL. 1990.

A Garden of Herbs, Rohde, Eleanour Sinclair. Dover Publications, New York, NY. 1969.

Herbs for the Medieval Household, Freeman, Margaret B. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. 1943.

Stefan's Florilegium. www. florulegium. org cosmetics-msg dental-care-art dental-care-msg

hair-msg hair-dyeing-msg handcream-msg medieval-hair-lnks perfumes-msg

shaving-msg

Compleat Anachronist #53: Cosmetics by Mistress Rosemounde of Mercia (from Barony of Thor's Mountain)
The Artifice of Beauty: A History and Practical Guide to Perfumes and Cosmetics, Sally Pointer. Sutton Publishing, 2005.

 Syllabus kindly made for RUGA by Rovena Bri Leith, 1/12/07.