One thing that I think really destroys an impression is getting close to the person and smelling the unmistakeable scents of Old Spice or Giorgio (or, worse still, Right Guard). I believe a well chosen fragrance would add one of those elements that make an impression seem like you just stepped from a time machine, instead of someone going to a high school play practice.

(Speaking of which, I recently went to the local Fazoli's with some friends after fighter practice, and was in down-to-the-undies 14thC clothing. When several folks asked about my clothes, I replied "I'm in a theatre group and we're doing Hamlet. I'm playing Ophelia". Not a glimmer. And I thought I was culturally deprived.)

First, I'm not sure perfumed gloves were used as early as the mid 14th C. The first references I can recall for that are mid 16th C.. If you have more info than me, I'd love to hear about it! Also, I think of rosewater as something more upper-class than what I'd be using as a middle class person, but I could be wrong about that. Seems like I'd need the time and ability to cultivate the roses to extract the scent, and that particular pastime doesn't fit into my schedule!

In the "Goodman of Paris" (mid-late 14th C.), the wife is councelled to keep her husband's clothing clean and neat by a variety of methods. Instructions are also given for washing clothes and keeping bed linen clean and pest-free. Herbs are packed with the clothing and put in the bed to keep the pests away, so it could be assumed that the clothing and body will smell faintly of herbs.

In the "Book of Nurture" (mid-late 15th C.), a body servant is given instructions on how to serve his lord properly- such as helping him bathe, maintaining his clothing and person, etc. Here again, herbs are used to keep clothing and the bed pest-free, so it can be assumed the clothing and body will smell faintly of herbs.

Based on this, I'd make the following extrapolation, based on personal experience:

At events, my husband Jeffrey smells like horses, leather, wood smoke, wool, clean linen, soap and herbs. Now, before you wrinkle your nose, I have to say that these smells are not in the least bit unpleasant, on the contrary, they are very nice.

I use fragrance-free laundry soap and softener, so we don't have that smell on us. I use fragrance free deodorant, but frankly, at events Jeff & I often go without. Something about linen and wool that breathes better than man-made fibres, and we just don't need it. We bathe in the tent before bed, and don clean undies to sleep in. We use a handmade soap with herbs and flowers like sage, rosemary and lavender, so we both smell like scented soap and clean linen. In the morning, Jeff smells faintly of wood smoke and horse, and mostly of clean linen and soap.

After he's been fighting and riding, he smells of horse, leather, and sweat. Maybe because at events we're not eating any modern processed foods, his sweat doesn't smell unpleasant. Also, we're not talking about a sweaty, unwashed body sort of smell, just a healthy man clean sweat. Jeff will strip off the dirty shirt and put a new one on and that generally takes care of the sweat smell. Then he just smells of horse, wool, leather and himself. Again, I don't find any of this is the least bit unpleasant. On the contrary, I really like the smell, and think it's rather sexy.

In addition to using fragrance-free laundry products, we keep our period clothing packed away in chests. My clothes are packed with some sort of scent, either spices like cloves or flowers like lavender. Jeff doesn't put anything in his, so the faint smell of wood smoke, horse and leather lingers.

Using fragrance-free products prevents us from smelling like a modern, hard-edged chemical perfume. Neither of us smoke cigarettes, so that modern smell does not cling to us, and we don't sweat it out through our pores. Same can be said for hard liquor-we don't drink hard liquor at events, so that modern smell does not cling to us, nor does it come out of our pores. What's left is what I believe must be pretty close to what our historical counterparts must have smelled like, and I don't find the smells in the least unpleasant or offensive.

Hope this helps-

_Aroma: The cultural history of smell_, Classen, C., Howes, D., and Synnott, A. Routledge, 1994, 0-415-11472-1 (hdbk) or 0-415-11473-X (pbk). Somewhat more scholarly than a popular-history type of book, it has a whole chapter on medieval perfumes, spices, incense, and other scent-related topics. There are also chapters on Roman/Greek and later periods. Not sure if it is in print.

I don't remember if it has a list of sources or not, and I'm a couple hundred miles from my notes right now (still on vacation) so I can't check for a few days.

I have to agree. I have a lot of friends that do American Civil War Cavalry and the combined scent of wool, wood smoke,horses, leather, fine cigars and bourbon are incredibly attractive.

I pack all of my garb for SCA events in lavender, rosemary and sweet basil. When combined with wood smoke it has an amazing outdoors fragrance that beats anything currently marketed as cologne. It just smells "right" somehow.