Saturday, 15 November 2025

Reinault Bodel's Upstairs Parlour

"Death And The Knight."

Boniface Reynaud from the twenty-second century is Reinault Bodel, wool dealer, and (secretly) Time Patrol agent in Harfleur, France, in 1307. His upstairs parlour contains:

a high stool;

a table cluttered with ledgers, quills, inkwell, knives, fanciful map, image of the Virgin etc;

luxurious chairs with hard backs, armrests and cushions;

a window admitting wavy light with no clear view.

Noises
street clamour;
mumbling, bustling work within the house;
cathedral bells.

Smells
wool;
smoke;
bodies;
unwashed clothes.

Three senses and a concrete setting for the conversation between Reynaud/Bodel and Everard. 

5 comments:

Jim Baerg said...

"a window admitting wavy light with no clear view."
It was centuries before a *cheap* way to do better was developed, but I would think it became a "type A" innovation well before it was actually done.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Float_glass

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Jim!

Yes, but this kind of "frosted" glass had the advantage of preventing eyes from peering in.

Ad astra! Sean

Jim Baerg said...

It sounded less like 'frosted' glass and more like a 'funhouse mirror' view of things.
I would prefer a good view, then I can draw a gauzy curtain to limit the view or a thick curtain to cut out light.

S.M. Stirling said...

Blown glass was actually clearer. One way to get clear window glass was to blow a cylinder, then cut it down one side and open it out, but that had limits on size.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Jim and Mr. Stirling!

Jim: Curtains would work too.

Mr. Stirling: Hence the mentions I've seen of glass windowpanes being small.

Ad astra! Sean