A lot would depend upon a persons station. I have no doubt that it you were to wander into the tents of the Marchal of Burgundy or his Grace the Duke, there would be candles aplenty. For most people on campaign a simple oil lamp would be more appropriate, and many soldiers would have to make due with the light generated from the campfires themselves.

Presumably if you represent the upper spectrum of the middle class, you might even have a couple of candles - but you would probably be sparing with them as they are expensive, and fragile on campaign.

Hope this helps.

In addition to what Bob said, the ususal question- what year, what country, what class?

There's a good deal of info available and we may be able to steer you to some if you could be more specific.

BTW, How did your event go? I've been dying to hear about it.

Just realized I had the wrong Duncan, so you can't answer my question about the event because you probably haven't a *clue* what I'm talking about.

Oh well, sorry for the mistake, but the first part of the post still holds!

Forgive my little self indulgence - light is too dear for a Scot you know. In the immortal words of the Goon Show (Peter Sellers, Spike Milligan, Harry Seacombe) - from Neddy Seagoons Scottish Uncle "Ah, Neddy me boy ! Come and warm yourself by this roaring candle!" Tee Hee!

OK - seriously. Scotland WAS a poor country, and you will be looking at the likelyhood of the lower end of the lighting spectrum. The light of a campfire for most folks, a brazier for a lords tent. For the upper end an oil lamp - I seriously doubt candles in a Military camp - Scottish armies notoriously traveled LIGHT and FAST. They had small baggage trains.

For primary (secondary really) source documentation of how a Scottish army traveled and fought, you MUST read the beginning of Froissarts Chronicles, as it deals with Edward III's early Scottish campaigns, and the enormous frustration they caused him. You learn all sorts of goodies such as ghillies driving along live cattle that were slaughtered to provide fresh meat - boiled in their own skins for kettles, with the raw hides used to provide cheap and nasty shoes for the footsoldiers for about three days - then its time to slaughter cattle again. The English army literaly did not have time to dismount to relieve themselves in attempting to pursue Douglases raiders from first hand veterans accounts.

Hope this helps.

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Originally posted by chef de chambre:
...snip...The light of a campfire for most folks, a brazier for a lords tent

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Dave Key responded with a list of objects from the Duke of Norfolk's household while he was traveling via ship. Please keep in mind that the list is from the late 15th c and is only offered to give an idea.

http://www.darkharvest.com/ubb/Forum7/HTML/000040.html

Braziers have been around for a loooong time, I guess finding a design for your time period would be the trick. The other thing to keep in mind is if you are doing this for SCA events, I am not sure what the "ordinances" are regarding "open flames/fires" in a tent. Though with braziers it's not so much open fire as smoldering coals. Still the stray ember comes into play.

The brazier is basically a 3' tall three legged stand with a metal bowl with stapwork above it. There's more to it than that, but that's the gist.

I shovel coals from the camp fire into it near bedtime and carry it into the tent. It takes the edge off of extreme cold (say 30 degrees), but our tent is 12 feet high, so most of the heat is at the top of the tent, not down at the bed. Smoke is not an issue; we have a roof vent, but never open it; it would let ALL the heat out. Canvas seems to breathe enough.

The biggest problem of the brazier is that it is on the floor and we're worried about knocking it over. With the furniture in the tent (bed, table, chests, chairs, dogs), we would prefer to have the brazier simplified, ie just a large metal bowl hanging from 3 chains from the ridge pole. We will probably try this for the next event and let the camp guards use the brazier to warm their hands.

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Cheers,

Oil lamps and candle lanterns are documented throughout the period. For examples, try the London Museum Medieval Catalogue 1940, p.182, and of course the MOL "The Medieval Household." We are currently working on a repro of one of the 14th c. lanterns.

Interesting note - at least some of these lanterns had a handle at the back, rather than (or in addition to) hanging from a loop. There's a good shot of a nun holding one in a South Bavarian painting of ca. 1480 in the Regensburg museum.

Since our tent has a very tall peak, Jeff made us a double-tier version which takes 8 candles instead of 4. When all 8 are lit, that baby throws enough light to read by. It also breaks down into easily packed pieces, and lives in its own little box. That box is the perfect size for a footrest, or place to sit while washing up at night before retiring.

I think they're great and everyone should have one!!!

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Originally posted by pilgrim:
I forgot to mention the chandelier shown in King Rene's tournament book - in the scene where the prize is presented - a simple cross-arm candle holder suspended by a rope from the top of the tent. AM will have one of these soon!

Colin

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happy dance! happy dance!
(hiya Colin! )