Tavern at the Royal Drum /Tavern aux tambour royal

 

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1861-1012-270

This is my holiday gift to all of you! When looking for something else I stumbled upon this absolute gem! 

This is a circa 1758, French etching published by Parvillé in Paris. It advertises the interior of the tavern of Monsieur Ramponneau. Please go to the above link at the British Museum and zoom in to see what the figures are up to! From finely dressed gentlemen and women to lowly vomiting fishmongers

it seems all were welcome at the Royal Drum! 

The walls are adorned with murals of lively characters captioned in French and Latin.

Pitchers line the walls and their contents flow freely from rather frazzled looking wait staff. 

A large hearth appears to be churning out fish as each table appears laden with food. 

I would love to jump into the page and have dinner at that tavern, but then I think about how it probably smelled and I’m glad it’s just an etching.  

The closest I’ve gotten to the Ramponneau´s experience was at Grandchamps Restaurent in recreated Fortress Louisbourg, Nova Scotia. The pictures on trip advisor show the same fairly small dining room with white washed walls and historical, graffiti-esque drawings scrawled on the walls that I do fondly remember. The reviews are unfortunately very poor but I disagree wholeheartedly. Grandchamps offers a uniquely authentic recreated experience unrivaled anywhere on this continent. And you can tell Josiah Chowning I said that.

In 2008 when I was there for the 250th commemoration of the Siege of Fortress Louisbourg, I was very impressed with the place. It was full of reenactors and I mean f u l l and it felt like I always imagined a colonial tavern would. I distinctly remember in particular a large drawing of Bacchus straddling a keg which I loved as a 19 year old in a foreign country able to drink alcohol legally for the first time.

So when I found this image of Ramponneau´s at the Royal Drum I was thrilled to see Bachus once again, which is what made me slide down this rabbit hole in the first place.

Proof of my cringy joy at Grandchamps in 2008.

For my similarly linguistically challenged friends I with the expert help of my authentically  Québécoise sister-in-law translated the captions from the murals on the walls from left to right and the text introducing the tavern on the bottom.

The doctor and Le polichinel (a clown like figure). Pulcinella (Italian pronunciation: [pultʃiˈnɛlla]; Neapolitan: Pulecenella) is a classical character that originated in commedia dell'arte of the 17th century and became a stock character in Neapolitan puppetry

gallus cantavit (the Latin) le coq a chanté (french) meaning the rooster crowed.

Prêt à boire - Ready to drink

suis j'ay soif- Am I thirsty 

I like that this guy is bringing his own pitcher. I’m not sure if that was normal or if it’s just a joke. Any insight would be appreciated.

Bachus -Dionysus (/daɪ.əˈnaɪsəs/; Ancient Greek: Διόνυσος Dionysos) is the god of the grape-harvest, winemaking, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, festivity, and theatre in ancient Greek religion and myth. He is also known as Bacchus (/ˈbækəs/ or /ˈbɑːkəs/; Ancient Greek: Βάκχος Bacchos) by the Greeks. This name was later adopted by the Romans;

My goose does everything, I don’t know if this was a saying that is lost on me or what it is referencing but it’s great!

 

Credit is dead- I love this one, this has great energy. I’m. It sure who the figure in the drawing is but perhaps someone Royal? Maybe Monsieur Ramponneau himself?

la camargot- Marie Anne de Cupis de Camargo (15 April 1710 in Brussels – 28 April 1770 in Paris), sometimes known simply as La Camargo, was a French dancer. The first woman to execute the entrechat quatre, Camargo was also allegedly responsible for two innovations in ballet as she was one of the first dancers to wear slippers instead of heeled shoes, and, while there is no evidence that she was the first woman to wear the short calf-length ballet skirt, the now standardized ballet tights she did help to popularize these. She is said to have been as strong as the male dancers.

And her dance partner Good mood!

The center of the print has a portrait of the tavern’s owner flanked by a descriptive advertisement.

The original French:

Au sein de la paix, gouter le plaisir / / Oû bien chez Magny s’aller divertir / C’etoit la vieille méthôde / a Paris rue S.te Hyachinthe dans la maison de M. Parvillée M.e Ecrivain

L’on voit aujourd’hui courir nos Badaux; / Sans les achever quitter leurs travaux; / Pourquoy? c’est qu ils vont chés Mons Ramponaux / Voila la Taverne a la mode / Avec Permission de M. le Lieutenant General de Police

Today we see our Badaux running; / Without completing them leave their work; / Why? it's that they go to Mons Ramponaux / Here is the fashionable tavern / With Permission from the Lieutenant General of Police

In the midst of peace, enjoy pleasure / At home have fun in a sweet leisure / Or go to Magny to have fun / It was the old method / in Paris rue S.te Hyachinthe in the house of M. Parvillée M.e Writer

Again, I’m not entirely sure what all of the references mean but I love the sentiment. This ad would have had ME running to Mons Ramponaux tavern!

I hope you enjoyed my deep dive into this etching as much as I did!

What did I learn this summer? /Qu'est-ce que j'ai appris cet été?

 I was very fortunate to participate in four Seven Years War in America re-enactments this summer. Fort de La Présentation in Ogensburg NY, Fort Niagara in Youngstown NY and Fort Carllion In Ticonderoga NY, and Fort St. Frederic in Crown Point NY. 

I’ll say the first thing I need to do is figure out how people in the 18th century dealt with bugs! I had a problem with mosquitos in Carllion and a problem with biting ants at Fort St. Frederic. If these senarios were real life moving to a more advantageous  place would have been the reality. I didn’t have much choice when I was in either of those places. So I learned that I need to find out how 18th century people dealt with bugs. I must admit I resorted to modern means in order to quell the onslaught.

The second thing I learned is the importance of shade. At fort Niagara wanting to be as historically correct as possible, traveling very light, and because I had access to an entire stone building I didn’t bring tent poles, just my prélart and some ropes and wooden tent pegs. The  building was hotter inside than outside because of poor to no ventilation. The outside was stifling because of a lack of shade.Attempts to suspend the tarp from the bars on the building’s windows and holding edges down with wooden stakes proved futile. The wind at that fort is quite stiff and whips violently across the totally open bowl shaped grounds of the fort.  Not being able to stand broiling in the sun any longer I vowed to never go without shade again and cut poles and ropes to suspend my prélart from when I returned home. 

At Carllion we had the pleasure of cutting poles. I went with a breezy lean to made of sticks lashed together in a rough grid. It’s real purpose was the provide shade which it did well during the event. Luckily we were encamped near the woods and when things got really sunny we could retreat to she shade of some trees. I also had the privilege of using plenty of rope and iron tent stakes. Had I needed to it could have been done without them but was much easier doing with them. 

At Fort St. Frederic I brought six poles, 8 ropes and 10 iron tent stakes. This provided me with a spacious breezy lean to with an over hang. It was fantastic to sit under and smoke my pipe while at the fort. My fellow milice and I had to chase the shade a bit but we were gifted a watermelon by “The Wolves of the English”,our native British allied enemies for the weekend, and I personally stayed quite refreshed.

The poles are unfortunately a necessary evil in our times. Except for those few events in my home county or where I can cut poles, I can’t in good conscience transport wood which may spread disease or parasites to other woodlands. 

The iron tent stakes are a modern luxury. I would never in a million years cart around that heavy canvas prélart and a bag of iron tent stakes. I simply wouldn’t do it. Cutting wooden tent stakes and a maul to pound them into the ground with is my next big project. My last foray into wooden tent stake making only really made kindling. 

I learned that the resources of time and natural space was much more plentiful in the 18th century. I’m at a site for a long weekend or sometimes just one day and an overnight. Even if every historic site allowed me to cut poles and erect shelters at every place in the woods I wouldn’t have enough time for demonstrations and battle reenactment scenarios and things like earrings and socializing. If I don’t erect some sort of shaded cover my health will suffer and I won’t participate in the event fully anyway. 

For the moment I’ll count the iron tent stakes as a modern luxury in need of correction. The poles (and potentially the rope) are questions of place, resources and time. Do I have the resources and time in the place I am in to cut poles and produce cordage? Usually the answer is no. 

Below are pictures of my learning curve in erecting a prelart as a shelter.

sac à plomb/A hunting bag

 In military reenacting circles the idea of the hunting bag is pervasive. In an English context which in my opinion skews all contexts in the US reenacting community a hunting bag is a leather bag usually slung over the shoulder but sometimes on a belt used to hold wadding and shot used along with a power horn. In a modern context one is generally required to keep paper cartrages in a leather bag sometimes with a wooden block with holes to keep the cartrages from jossiling around and leaking black powder. So for a modern Reenactor doing battle re-enactment a hunting bag is seen as an essential pice of equipment for militia and other soldiers  who wouldn’t be issued a cartdrage box. 

Let’s also face it, the average Canadian on campaign didn’t have a lot of pockets and we modern folks need a place for our phones, keys and wallets.

For the habitant of New France hunting was common place. Early on one New France the Peasantry lived life like in France where hunting was a sport relegated to the nobility. As time wore on Canadians became known for their ability to hunt and commonly used game to supplement their diets. “In fact, the French had consumed increasingly smaller quantities of meat since the mid-16th century, because the nobility had monopolized the forests and made them their private hunting grounds.”

The archeological record confirms that as the 1700’s went on New France colonists ate more game as firearms became more accessible to peasants. Game birds were abundant and relatively easy to get. 

https://www.historymuseum.ca/virtual-museum-of-new-france/daily-life/foodways/

Jean Baptist’s d alevracs mentions that “The Canadians are well-made, big, robust, adroit in the use of the fusil and the axe. This skill comes from their habitual hunting, making war, and cutting trees to clear land and build their homes.”

So my question is when these Canadians were hunting did they bring a “hunting bag” and if so what did those bags look like?

The pictorial record is scant and there are no images that I know of from the early 18th century showing Canadians hunting. 

 One candidate is this image 

Source unknown, estimated first half of the 18th century 

The fact that the man/men are armed and described as “coureures de bois” or “woods runners” in English may indicate that they were hunters but this is pure speculation on my part. Regardless the main function of the hunting bag in context was to keep ammunition and tools, extra flints, etc.

There is this image of a Canadian going to war. Hunting animals and hunting people are very different things but perhaps the items one would bring may be similar?

 

J.B. Scotin Canadian going to war on snowshoes 1700

Militia records of equipment mention lead shot, muskets, and powder but no bags for carrying this lead are mentioned. Does this mean that they provided their own?

My inspiration for these musings came from this article by Eric Bizet, translated by Isaac Walters 

https://frenchinwisconsin.couleetech.com/2016/10/08/a-french-hunting-pouch/

If we look to France my go to is the Diderot Encyclopedia 

We find on the Brousier plate, figure 5 described as a “Gibeciere de chasse” 

And other depictions of the French upper class show us this type of bag, a waist belted leather bag with a metal cantle, in use. 

Artist Jean-Marc Nattier Portrait of Alexander Kurakin 1728 Hermitage Museum collections

My question is, are there any records of the manufacture and/or sale of Gibeciere de chasse in New France? If Gibeciere de chasse were an old world item used by the upper class where does that leave the hunting habitant? Were they making use of indigenous style bags for hunting the same way they used native style hide tobacco pouches or did they have European style Gibeciere de chasse?

The great André Gousse summed up the terminology this way in a Facebook exchange: 

"I checked the French edition of our book on New France clothing. The drowned man had a « sac à plomb » on his body; a shot bag. « Plomb » in a shooting gear context means shot in English. The word « gibecière » refers originally to the bag used to stuff and carry the game you shot and some tools; it is therefore a hunting bag. ”

Sac à feu » is the bag you use to carry your tinder and lighter, your tobacco and your pipe. « Sac à plomb » and « sac à balles » are most likely interchangeable words to designate the bag in which you carry shot or musket balls (with possibly your tools and flints for your musket). In the military, you use a giberne (cartridge box or pouch) or a gargoussier (belly box) to carry your premade cartridges. Cartouchière is a more generic term to designate a container for cartridges.

All this is to say that the average French Canadian’s sac à plomb/sac à balles/ gibecière was likely what is now commonly referred to as a “slit pouch” or a drawstring pouch. Both  appear to have been commonly used by the Canadian musket user as each is seen in the only real images we have of them in the period detailed below

The archeological record shows us the form with fantastically elaborate examples:

Figure 12.

Slit pouch from the Messiter collection, possibly Western Great Lakes , c. 1750-1800, leather, porcupine quills, bras cones, red dyed deer hair. 18 15/16” long, 3 15/16” wide (48cmx10cm) courtesy of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Gatineau, Quebec. Cat. No. III-X-375, in Christian F. Feest, Slit Pouches of Eastern North America, American Indian Art Magazine, January 2006 31 (3):66-79,96-97. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/

Tobacco Bag, 1700–1721, Great Lakes, probably Ojibwa, Native-tanned leather, pigment, porcupine quills, metal cones, deer hair, Length: 20 1/2 in. (52.1 cm)
Width: 9 1/2 in. (24.1 cm), Musée du quai Branly, Paris (71.1878.32.128)

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/639994

Camp de Grasse- Fat Camp

 This is a comprehensive list of everything I brought for an overnight. Unsure how ambitious I would be and how much I may need I aired on the side of over packing and semi regretted it.

Fat camp list

Wearing 

• Toque

• 1shirt

• Leggings with belt and leg ties 

• 1 breechcloth

• Sleeved gilet

• Sash

• Soliers de beouf +chaussons 

• Hanky

• Cufflinks

• Breeches

• Saints medallion

• Devotional rings 

• Glasses

Fisher skin pipe bag

• Pipe

• Leather Tobacco pouch

• Cloth Tobacco pouch

• Tabac 

• Flint and steel tin

• Flint

• Striker

• Magnifying glass

• Tondre

• Tow

• Charcloth

Slit pouch 1

• Comb

• Needles and thread

• Pocket knife

• Compass

• Wheatstone

• Awl

• Jawharp

Slit pouch 2

• Sac à balles

• 6 flints in a bag

• Whisk and pick set 

• Screwdriver

• Wiping rag

• Cut paper on a brass ring

• Tow 

Tumpline 

• Tarp

• Rope 

• Blanket

• Bearskin

• capote

Bescase1

• Towels

• Soap

• Candles in a cloth bag with tin holder

• Spoon

• Bowl

• canoe cup

• Horn cup

• Ceramic cup

• Dice and counters

• Cards

• Fake money

• Mittens

• Breeches

• Mittens

• Moccicans+nippes

• Extra chassons

Bescase2

• Lead ladle

• Lead

• Scissor mold

• Shot mold 

• 1shirt

• Blue gilet

• Brown gilet

Fishing stuff

• Hooks

• Line

• Floats

• 
  

Linen pouch

• Tin spout cup

• Gourd with grease

• Match sticks 

• Tow

• Cloths

• leather pouch

• Spring vice

• Worms

• Leathers for jaw 

Leather pouch

• Char cloth tin

• Tow

• Tondre in a tin

• Fat wood 

• Candle nubs in a cloth bag

• Cloth cut up for char 

• First aid kit

• Fusil

• Gun case 

• Powderhorn

• Lock cover

• Ax

• Neck Knife

• Belt knife

• Leg knife 

• Gourd

  
  

• Ammo box 

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

  
  

Everything crossed out on the list are the rings I actually used.The biggest things I learned from the experience were to put way more leaves beneith me when I sleep, don’t bring accessories for activities you aren’t sure you’ll do, and make sure you plan out each meal and don’t bring too much food with you. 

Like one of our fellow campers said, it was good that I had certain things, I had extra candles and there wasn’t anything there I wished I’d brought but didn’t. 

After three hours in the canoe with one smoke break I was very happy to reach my destination finally. The fall colors beautifully framed Wild Hudson Valley’s picturesque tranquility. As soon as I was out of the canoe and my body stopped moving for a moment I knew that it was going to be a wonderfully peaceful experience. 

Unloading I began to realize that my big ideas of traveling light and making only one trip from the canoe were a pipe dream. Out of an abundance of caution I brought my Powderhorn and musketballs out in a metal “ammo box”. In retrospect that was quite unnecessary. I also brought the largest and most unwieldy equipment I could have for casting lead shot. Those items were the heaviest items I didn’t really need. My oilcloth tarp while a fantastic ground cloth was also quite unnecessary and very very heavy. 

Very quickly I was found and greeted by my gracious hosts Justin and Anna the Capitan of La Milice de Ste Anne and his lady wife. Their young daughter was asleep and no one could begrudge the gentlewoman for it was indeed a beautiful day to take a nap. My hosts assisted me to bing out my large baggage over some at times rocky but clear and scenic trails. They own the property and it is part of Wild Hudson Valley, an amazing eco camp and natural education center.

The main once we successfully brought our things to the camp out of the underbrush popped out our friend Mike and his dog whisper who rounded out our participants. Although as Mike pointed out we wanted for nothing partially because I brought everything I was jealous of mike’s austere set up. Other than the clothes on his back he brought a gourd for water, a loaf of home baked sourdough and a knife and pipe. 

Althoigh I liked very much the potential to do many things on the trip I learned that a little planning goes a long way. I underestimated my desire to slow down relax and take in nature. I over estimated the amount of time I actually had in camp and my desire to do things once it got dark.

Pictured above the bear fat pre and partially rendered.