Well, that went a little faster than expected. This is the Tudor monk, Brother Theobald. He is the infirmarian for the local monastery, and is going to the market to buy non-local herbs and imported medicinal plants for his work in the monastery sick-room. (I kind of ripped off Brother Cadfael!)
He is wearing a dark brown, homespun habit. The rope belt, with its three knots signifying the monk's promises of obedience, chastity and poverty, is new and white. He is wearing leather sandals with a chamois leather insole, brown garment leather straps, and a sole and heels of rough suede from an old elbow patch. You can get an awful lot of soles out of one single elbow patch! The suede helps the miniature monk to stand. He has his scrip over his shoulder, but has left his gathering basket with the inn keep, in order to have his hands free to check through the "foreign" medicaments.
Monastery infirmarians, besides looking after the health of the monks, were also used by the local people as physicians and apothecaries, especially the very poor who could not afford to purchase medicines or hire the services of a so-called doctor. Brother Theobald has a pudding bowl haircut, with a palm-sized tonsure on his crown. When I was a child in The Netherlands, priests still kept the tonsure, although they were no bigger than a silver dollar by that point. I don't believe religious orders use them any more, though.
His little suede shoulder bag was a Camp MiniHaHa tidbit in the Year of the Castle Room Box, finally put to good use! The monk's robe and cowl (which I lined for tidiness) were designed by Sue Harrington, for Dolls House World Magazine. As it was a photocopy from a friend, I don't know the date or issue number. His hair is silver grey viscose.
That leaves 2 additional men and 4 ladies....
I Really like your Tudor costumes! The little marketplace is going to look fantastic!
ReplyDelete