Henna in courtly love, Medieval Spain. .
Posted by Catherine Cartwright Jones on April 07, 2000 at 11:00:57:
On the ceiling of the Alhambra's Hall of the Kings, painted in the 13th century or so ..... a knight-lover is depicted as rescuing his lady from a Wild Man .... (same sort of tale as Launcelot in Le Mort d'Arthur) .. and two of the depictions of the lady absolutely, definitely have hennaed fingertips and fingernails. The lady is blonde and demure, and the context seems to indicate that she is a Christian women , but I'm not absolutely certain of that.
Henna was part of Spanish culture by early as 400 BCE (possibly much earlier) , but it was reintroduced by the Moors in the 8th c. CE.
In case you didn't already know this ....henna was used by Moorish, Christian and Jewish women through the middle ages, and there was a class of henna artisans listed on the tax rolls. Henna was grown and milled in Spain during this period ..... Use of henna was declared illegal by the Spaninsh Inquisition in the mid 16th century. Most of the women arrested during the Spanish inquisition has "use of henna" as one of the charges against them.
If you can get ahold of it, this painting is in "The Alhambra" Desmond Stewart, 1974.
- Re: Henna in courtly love, Medieval Spain. . Kenzi 21:45:14 4/07/00
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