nkle. Their
hair was parted in the middle and combed down each side in waving
ringlets. The beard was parted in the middle of the chin, so that
it ended in two points. The clergy did not wear beards. Great men
wore gold-embroidered clothes, gilt buckles and brooches, and
drank from drinking horns mounted in silver gilt or in gold. Well-
to-do women wore brightly colored robes with waist bands,
headbands, necklaces, gem bracelets, and rings. Their long hair
was in ringlets and they put rouge on their cheeks. They had
beads, pins, needles, tweezers of bronze, and workboxes of bronze,
some highly ornamented. They were often doing needlework. Silk was
affordable only by the wealthy.
Most families kept a pig and pork was the primary meat. There were
also sheep, goats, cows, deer, hare, and fowl. Fowl was obtained
by fowlers who trapped them. The inland waters yielded eels,
salmon, and trout. In the fall, meat was salted to preserve it for
winter meals. There were orchards growing figs, nuts, grapes,
almonds, pears, and apples. Also produced were beans, lentils,
onions, eggs, cheese, and butter. Pepper and cinnamon were
imported.
Fishing from the sea yielded herrings, sturgeon, porpoise,
oysters, crabs, and other fish. Sometimes a whale was driven into
an inlet by a group of boats. Whale skins were used to make ropes.
The roads were not much more than trails. They were often so
narrow that two pack horses could hardly pass each other. The pack
horses each carried two bales or two baskets slung over their
backs, which balanced each other. The soft soil was compacted into
a deep ditch which rains, floods, and tides, if near the sea, soon
turned into a river. Traveling a far distance was unsafe as there
were robbers on the roads. Traveling strangers were distrusted. It
was usual to wash one's feet in a hot tub after traveling and to
dry them with a rough wool cloth.
There were superstitions about the content of dreams, the events
of the moon, and the flights and voices of birds were often seen
as signs or omens of future events. Herbal mixtures were drunk for
sickness and maladies. From the witch hazel plant was made a mild
alcoholic astringent, which was probably used to clean cuts and
sooth abrasions.
In the peaceful latter part of the 600s, Theodore, who had been a
monk in Rome, was appointed archbishop and visited all the island
speaking about the right rule of life and ordaining bishops to
oversee the priests.
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