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experimental
archaeology

the Trotula's
hair powder

Bancke's
tooth
powder

Hildegarde von Bingen's
mouthwash

the Trotula's
tooth powder

Gilbertus Anglicus's breath freshener

Experimental Archaeology
Richard Bancke's Tooth Powder
- UNDER CONSTRUCTION -

RYCHARDE BANCKES
A Boke of the propreties of herbes called an herball.
"Here begynnyth a newe mater, the whiche sheweth and treateth of ye vertues & proprytes of herbs, the whiche is called an herbal"
London. Date 25 March 1525
London: Printed by William Copland for Richard Kele, by 1552. (sig. A1r)

"Also take the timber thereof
[rosemary] and burn it to coals
and make powder thereof
and put it into a linen cloth
and rub thy teeth therewith,
and if there be
any worms therein,
it shall slay them
and keep thy teeth
from all evils."

The beIief that tooth problems and aches were caused by little worms living in the teeth was a wide-spread medieval belief, so the cure or preventative for this was a good idea.

I have recreated this powder to use in my MEDIEVAL BATH DISPLAY and have included a step by step guide to my approach, including my expectations and how it really worked out.

The overall verdict? A pretty good item which worked reasonably well.

The prep:

There were a number of things to think about before I started.

- Where can I get the ingrediants?
- Drying the ingredients or buying them pre-powdered or using them fresh?
- Air dry or oven dry the grown ingredients?
- How much of which ingredients should I use?
- Will it actually make any real difference?
- How long will it last?
- Do any of the plants have benefits associated with them which make them particularly useful?

What you need:

Ingrediants
Woody branches of rosemary
Loose weave linen cloth

Kitchen things
Charcoal-making burner container
Mortar and pestle
Spoon
Matches and a fire for charcoal making

 

	Rosemary The rosemary was extremely easy to source, since I grow it in my herb garden. I also had access to some woody stems from a years-old plant which had died and left the woody stems. Since the recipe called for "rosemary wood" I am assuming they don't mean the leaves, tips or the soft green wood. This also meant that I did not need to dry the wood to burn, since it was absolutely dry.
	Linen cloth I used a mid-weight linen cloth which was commercially bought, but in hindsight, I should have used a much looser weave.
	Mortar and pestle As with many medieval recipes, a solid mortar and pestle is needed to grind the ingredients up. This stone one works very well.

Method:

My plan was to use bought linen and make the charcoal myself, crush it up and assemble it together. This recipe seems very straightforward. It was slightly more tricky.

	The rosemary was very easy to source straight from my garden, and this is what the dried wood looked like. It is thick enough to make charcoal from, however my plan to just "burn it ad collect the charcoal" turned out to be a bad idea. My friend Mim, explained the properly made charcoal has a higher oxygen content and is made by heating the wood over a flame in an enclosed container which has a little hole to allow a small amount of smoke to escape.
	Before I had a chance to mull this over or try it myself, she made some from dried rosemary wood that she also had in her yard, so a huge thank you to Mim. I will be trying to make my own in the future, because it's very interesting and I may need more. If you're making it yourself, you'll need a small, metal container with a little hole and a fire or flame to put it over while it burns inside. Here's what Mim's charcoal looks like. At first glance, it looks fairly brittle because the wood is thin, and should grind down easily, which it did.
	Once the grinding was complete, all that remained was to cut the linen into little squares, spoon a small amount onto it and give it a test. The linen held the charcoal quite well without it seeping through straight away, and at that point I thought a looser weave might be better for the process.
	The original instructions don't say whether the charcoal-and-linen should be used wet or dry, so I did the first test dry.
	You can see here how exposure to the moisture of a mouth, the linen fabric gets damp all by itself. Eventually, little bits of charcoal made their way through the fabric and worked like a little abrasive on the teeth and gums, which, to be honest, the linen by itself was doing a reasonable job..

The results are in:

This was where I discovered:

• Charcoal-making is an art.
• The linen needs to have a very loose weave.
• Powdered charcoal gets everywhere.
  

I really feel this worked as far as getting muck off the teeth. The abrasive of the linen cloth alone worked, but the addition of charcoal also helped. Considering the number of charcoal-infused toothpastes available nowadays, it seems that it was an idea medieval people already had.

A recent study via a dental association has shown that charcoal toothpastes don't whiten teeth and more than others and after prolonged use, damages the tooth enamel.

The audience results:
Being of a scientific mind, I asked both re-enactors people questioned, the responses were as follows:

• to be added

As a general trend, no one had any objections to the proceedure, taste or aftertaste.