For reservations to experience “nkwiluntàmën: I long for it; I am lonesome for it (such as the sound of a drum)” by Indigenous artist Nathan Young, please go to https://nkwiluntamen.com/
In November of 1667, William Penn, a freshly converted Quaker, was arrested with18 other Quakers in County Cork, Ireland. Christopher Rye, the Mayor of Cork, was well-known for his persecution of Quakers. In a letter to The Earl of Orrery, one of the lords justice of Ireland, Penn requests that Rye not be encouraged in his persecution.
What is remarkable is that the 23-year old Quaker was already forming and articulating the beliefs that became such an important part of his Holy Experiment:
Religion which is at once my crime and my innocency makes me a prisoner to a mayors malice, but my own freeman, for being in the assembly of the people called Quakers there came several constables, backed with soldiers, rudely and arbitrarily requiring every man’s appearance before the mayor, and amongst many others violently haled me with them. Upon my coming before him he charged me for being present at a riotous and tumultuary assembly…
Penn describes the scene and questions the applicability of the law upon which the Mayor made his arrests. He then appeals to Lord Orrery:
But I presume my Lord the acquaintance you have had with other countries must needs have furnished you with this infallible observation that diversity of faith, and worships contribute not to the disturbance of any place where moral uniformity is barely requisite to preserve the peace… and conclude no way so effectual to improve advantage this country as to dispense with freedom in things relating to conscience.
An astonished Earl Orrery responded that he had already heard about the matter from Rye himself. Orrery wrote, “I confess I was surprised and sorry to see you thus associated ” with Quakers. Orrery forwarded the Mayor’s letter to Penn’s father the Admiral (who had at least twice previously demanded that Penn return to England immediately), and cautions Penn that “you cannot expect that I will hinder the Magistrates from doing their duty. I hope you will follow this friendly advice…”
Looks like young adults defying their parents is nothing new!
Pennsbury is pleased to welcome a new addition to our “Living Collections”: meet Romeo!
Romeo is a 26 year old white Arabian horse who moved in on Friday, January 6. He comes to us after a long and uncertain road. He worked as a school horse teaching children to ride, which explains his calmness and sweet nature. He spent some time at Special Equestrians in Warrington, then retired about a year ago.
His next owner was, unfortunately, not responsible in the care for Romeo. In October the staff at Special Equestrians learned that he was to be sent to slaughter. One hero in particular, Kaitlin, rushed over and literally took him off the truck and loaded him into her own trailer for a return to Special Equestrians. Kaitlin found that Romeo had lost 300-400 lbs. and that his ribs were showing. Furthermore, he had rain rot (from not being sheltered properly) and an (thankfully easily treatable) fungal infection that was out of control. Kaitlin nursed him back to health, and special equestrians offered use of a stall. But they could only offer the stall until the beginning of January. Romeo’s future was more uncertain than ever.
A Pennsbury volunteer who also spends time with Special Equestrians told us about Romeo. With time running out, we went over to meet Romeo and found a delightful, calm, and people-oriented gentleman. Some generous donors offered to help pay for his upkeep, Romeo’s health was cleared, volunteers worked overtime to ready his new stall, and everything came together for the big move. At first, as Romeo walked off the truck, Maraaca (our current horse), took off in fear. But she soon remembered her manners and the two horses were instant friends. We’ve never seen such a smooth introduction!
Romeo was selected not only for his temperament, but for his looks as well. Arabians are small horses, and our research indicates that many of the horses in early Pennsylvania were under-sized. Romeo is also white and a gelding (castrated male). Records show that William Penn had 2 white mares and a white gelding at Pennsbury Manor.
It is a truly remarkable accomplishment that so many people came together to save a horse, keep Pennsbury’s popular animal program running, and ultimately help our visitors understand the strong link between early settlers and horses. Please stop by this spring (we re-open in March) to meet Romeo and the other residents of Pennsbury’s stables!
I love portraits of people. I can’t help but wonder about the lives behind the faces. When I was new at Pennsbury, I was told that the portrait in the Common Parlor was of Penn’s grandfather, Giles Penn. I accepted that fact at face value (pun intended). But over time I began to question how we know it is Giles Penn, and further, what did the man do to warrant having his portrait painted?
This portrait surfaced in England in 1936. The owner obtained the painting from the Pennington Family. There is a type-written tag on the back of the portrait that identifies the subject as Admiral Penn. However, the man looks nothing like the other portraits of Admiral Penn. Furthermore, the style of clothing in the portrait and the date of 1625 makes this too early for Admiral Penn who was probably born in 1621.
A long tradition suggests that the painting depicts Giles Penn, father of Admiral Penn and grandfather to our own William Penn. That makes more sense, except that Giles would be approximately 24 years old at the time of this painting, and the sitter looks older than that. So maybe the portrait is of Giles, and maybe it isn’t.
So for fun, let’s pretend that it’s definitely Giles. Sitting for a portrait was not a common experience, so clearly he was “somebody.”
Sanish Men-of-War Engaging Barbary Corsairs, circa 1615
Giles was born in 1601. He became a seaman involved in the highly lucrative and dangerous trade along the Barbary Coast in North Africa. Attacks from pirates became increasingly bold as the 17th Century progressed. By the 1620s, Barbary Pirates were not only attacking ships but raiding settlements along the European coast as far as Iceland. Captives from these raids were sold as slaves in Africa, and tens of thousands Europeans were held. (St. Vincent de Paul and Miguel de Cervantes were among the small number of captives who managed to achieve freedom). Despite the risks, young William went to sea with his father starting at age 10-12.
In 1636, Giles Penn was commissioned by King Charles I to command an attack on Salé in modern day Morocco, where it was believed a thousand Englishmen were held. The attack and blockade was very successful as 339 captives were released. Giles was rewarded with the consulship of Salé where he arrived in 1637 with his 16 year-old son, William. William did not stay in Morocco, however, as we all know. In 1638 William became the captain of his own ship at age 17.
England’s persecution of the Quakers meant that William Penn spent a good deal of time in prison. He wrote a lot of pamphlets defending his beliefs, but also expressed his fervor in poetry. While in Newgate Prison in 1671, Penn wrote and sent this poem to Gulielma Springett. Despite the wording of this poem, Quakers were subjected to serious financial penalties, not the physical torture of the rack!
It is so easy to get caught up in creating the ULTIMATE historical ensemble. We worry about perfecting every detail, down to the smallest buttons and buckles. When costumiers get so caught up in recreating one outfit, it’s easy to forget just how diverse the clothing options actually were! We can’t just recreate one look (as we have done here) and think it will work for all people of all levels in society. Think about the modern world – we can tell a lot about a person’s job or life based on their clothing. Business men and women dress differently than artists or plumbers or teachers or politicians or… well, you get the picture.
So it’s our job as historians to research how those same clothing differences played out 300 years ago. We are developing job-specific costumes for the staff and volunteer interpreters recreating circa 1700 Pennsbury Manor, and working to increase our clothing collection with enough sizes to outfit everyone in the garments they need. Over the next few months, I’ll be posting in-depth tutorials for the different ensembles, but in the meantime I wanted to give you a sneak peak at our work…. enjoy!!
LEFT TO RIGHT: Gardener/Stablehand (Summer); Basic Tradesmen/Estate Worker or Gardener/Stablehand (Winter); Supervising Tradesmen or Estate Caretakers/Visiting BusinessmenLEFT TO RIGHT: Gardener/Stablehand/Cook (Extreme Heat Only - Otherwise with Short Gown worn also); Basic Craftswomen/Estate Workers; House Caretakers/Visiting Women
Continuing our series The Country Life, we feature a lovely and lesser-known herb in the Kitchen Garden. ‘Tis the season for apple cider, apple pie, apple butter… and Apple Mint!
Apple mint (Mentha suaveolens): Like other mints, apple mint was prized for its sweet scent and taste. Besides being a nice addition to any number of baked recipes and salads, it was used to flavor tea, which had a pleasing taste and also helped digestion.
Back in August, recently retired volunteer Penny held a workshop to talk about her favorite hobby: making soap! Penny has been a volunteer at Pennsbury Manor since 1982 – wow! She retired after almost 30 years of soap-making demonstrations, but graciously agreed to provide a soap-making workshop for her fellow volunteers and teach us about her techniques.
To provide a little background information, soap was a necessary all-purpose supply to keep in any 17th-century home. You used the same basic lye soap to wash yourself, your dishes, and your laundry. Alum could be mixed to make a specialty soap for removing laundry stains. Herbs like lavender and lemon balm could also be added for scent. Early Pennsylvanians could have purchased soap at the markets in Philadelphia (or Burlington, NJ which was just down the river from Pennsbury!). But if you had the time, making your own soap would be a good way to save some money.
It was made of two basic ingredients: tallow and lye. Both ingredients were easy to come by – tallow, or rendered animal fat, was regularly available from the kitchen. Penny taught us a modified version of the original Lye Soap process, which I’m happy to share with you now! **Click on images to enlarge**
Penny’s Castile Soap
1. Prepare the Suet
Tallow is made by rendering (melting) animal fat, otherwise known as “suet.” Penny recommends beef suet from around the kidneys, but other animal fats can also work. This would have been easy enough to acquire in the 17th Century, but in the modern world the best place to find suet is your local meat shop. This includes grocery store meat departments. To melt the suet, cut it into small pieces and place in cast-iron pot. I recommend you start with rendering about 1 lb. of suet, as you need 28 oz. of tallow for Penny’s recipe.
2. Render the Suet Add 2-4 inches of water and 2 Tbsp. salt to the suet and place pot on stove-top (or fire if you’re doing this at a historic site). Slowly bring to a boil – you don’t want to heat the pot too fast, or the suet will burn. Allow the tallow to melt off, then remove from the heat.
Place a larger clean pot on the ground and drape cheesecloth or piece of linen across the top. We learned that this works best if the cloth is strapped to the sides with some twine or rope. If working inside, cover the floor with washable cloth or newspapers to prevent any mess or damage.
Then take the pot of melted suet and pour onto cheesecloth. Allow to drain for several minutes, shifting mixture and even squeezing the cloth so all usable fat seeps through. Then remove the cheesecloth and toss the sifted mixture. Congratulations, you now have tallow! Now leave it to cool to 95°-100° F.
3. Making Lye: A Shortcut Penny strongly recommends a shortcut for making lye water, as the 17th-century method is time-consuming and messy. However, if you’re a stickler for authenticity (which we applaud!) and want to go through the original process, you will need to find/create a Leeching Barrel, like the ones you see here (engraving from unknown source).
The leeching barrel would be prepared with layers of straw and ash from the fireplace. By pouring boiling water into the barrel, the lye chemical would be stripped from the ashes and combine with the water, which would drip down into the pot at the bottom. But if you’d prefer to skip this process, Penny picked up some Lye Crystals at her local grocery store. The directions should be provided for specific measurements of hot water and crystals. But first make sure you have the right equipment: rubber gloves, wooden spoon, pitcher that can withstand 200° F, and large pot/bowl/container. Follow the instructions, allowing the crystals to dissolve fully and then leaving the mixture to cool to 100°.
4. Mixing the Soap
Heat 20 oz. olive oil and 16 oz. coconut oil to 95° F. Measure out 28 oz. of the tallow, which should now be the same temperature (if you are short, then repeat steps 1-2 until you have rendered enough tallow).
Combine oils in large pot, then SLOWLY pour lye water into the fats, stirring constantly but gently. The mixture will slowly become the consistency of applesauce. Depending on the tallow used, this could take anywhere from 15 minutes up to an hour.
5. Molding the Soap Gently pour or ladle mixture into mold(s).
You can use any size square or rectangular mold you want. To make an easy mold, find a wooden box (or shoe boxes work great) and line with linen or wax paper to prevent leaks. Depending on the weather and where the molds sit, soap could take a couple days or a week to harden. Warm weather will keep it slightly soft.
6. Milled Soap (optional) To make a more refined soap, you could mill (shave) the hardened soap and remelt and mold. Modern soap-makers often mill their specialty soaps and add in additional scented oils, herbs, and coloring.
**Caution, use fresh soap rather than old, hardened pieces – it won’t melt or dye properly and you could have a crazy time trying to make it behave!!**
Thanks again to Penny for her outstanding dedication to Pennsbury’s visitor programs and volunteer education!!
Many of you may not realize how much time and research goes into crafting the historical outfits worn by our Pennsbury Manor Interpreters. These reproductions are all based on original artifacts, paintings, and sketches in order to honor the people whose stories we tell. It’s a constant evolution, but we are working very hard to make sure each item (down to your pins and socks!) are as close as we can get to 17th-century originals. In many cases, we try to copy the same styles and silhouettes as real 17th-century people, as we have done here with this 1687 London strawberry seller:
In the third post for our new series The Country Life, we continue our look into the Kitchen Garden’s herb collection (check out our posts on Lemon Balm and Rosemary). Here is one of my favorites…
Lavender (Lavandula): Visitors will often recognize this herb’s soft, purple flowers and many will welcome the chance to smell it. Colonists also enjoyed lavender’s scent and used it as a perfume for clothing. They also recognized the value of aromatherapy. Lavender’s aroma was used to ease headaches and “giddiness.” The plant’s flowers, leaves, and seeds were also consumed to ward off fainting and joint pain.
Continuing our exploration of 17th-century maps (see my last featurette here), we look at yet another map in the Manor House:
Map of Buckinghamshire – by Danielle Straub
In the Manor House’s Withdrawing Room, there is a map on the far wall across from the rope. This map is small and hard to see from across the room, but up close one can see vibrant colors and beautiful ornamentation. I wanted to point this map out because not only is it beautiful, but also because it is an interesting specimen of maps from the 1600’s. Be sure and click on the images to open a larger view.
I mentioned in the last Featurette characteristics of older maps, if some may recall, which I will be using again in this article. Our map is of Buckinghamshire in England, from 1610. Since this map is 100 years older than our Pennsylvania map (also seen in the last Featurette, follow link above to view), we can see more decoration and the use of mythical creatures.
To begin, in the center of the map is the main map of Buckinghamshire. Noted on the map are man-made features such as towns, cites, and bridges. The towns and cites are marked by a symbol of small buildings with a red dot of watercolor over it. Our mapmaker seemed to use red and yellow watercolors more than the others! These colors are splashed across the crests, fleur de lis, and well-inked lions. Getting back to the central map, the natural features that we placed on the map include hills, mountains, trees, and rivers. The shape of the hills and mountains appear to be anywhere from a bump to a rounded peak, while rivers are a consistent bold line. The trees stand alone at places or are placed in clusters as well on the map.
At the top corners are inset boxes. The box on the left is of Buckinghamshire and on the right is Redding. These insets are like mini maps to important cities and include their own compass, distance scale, crest, and key. They show the roads, river, groups of buildings, fields, and is decorated with oversized farmers and their animals. The key is for the street names which each have a corresponding letter or number on the map. The inset of Redding also labels the South Giles Church and the school in Redding.
Lastly, in the bottom corners are arches. These arches have titles held up above them by two cupids. In the arch on the left is the King’s crest and below are crossed lances and flags with a crown. Across the lances is a banner which reads “UNION”. In the arch on the right are four crests with the title of “The Armes of thofe Honorable Families which have born ye Titles of Buckingha(m)”. The family crests include those of “Walter Gifford Earle, Richard Stanbowe E., Thomas of Wodftoke E., and Humfr. Stafforde Duke”. This map is beautiful and was a symbol of pride for these families to be from Buckinghamshire. If you ever get a chance to see it close up, please go view and enjoy it.
**A big THANK YOU to Danielle Straub for her work on these summer featurettes and helping our curator Todd with his work in Pennsbury’s archives!**
Place a larger clean pot on the ground and drape cheesecloth or piece of linen across the top. We learned that this works best if the cloth is strapped to the sides with some twine or rope. If working inside, cover the floor with washable cloth or newspapers to prevent any mess or damage. 
