a week without washing culminates in Pomander Day

Pomander day.  I had to take a pomander to work today because it was the end of my week following a Tudor personal hygiene regime: no bath or shower.  Or shampoo, toothpaste or deodorant.

The pomander was made according to George Cavendish’s description of Cardinal Wolsey’s: an orange with the meat removed, replaced with a sponge soaked in vinegar: the whole studded with cloves and tied with a red ribbon.  It SMELT gorgeous, and I have to say it also LOOKED better than the one carried by Sam Neill as Cardinal Wolsey in The Tudors.