Woman beats husband with distaff!

Woman beats husband
with distaff.

Many years ago when I lived in London, I would regularly visit the library on my lunch break. It was a wonderful distraction from some fairly grim jobs, to pore over the pages of the library's facsimile Luttrell Psalter. I would try to immerse myself in the lives of the 14th century people decorating every page.

I didn't know then that I would be living so close to the village - Irnham - in which the psalter was commissioned.

Recently I've had cause to revisit the psalter and again, I am as engrossed as ever. I'm now a spinner, so this picture caught my eye. I wonder what misdemeanor this man is guilty of to illicit such wrath and beating with the distaff. I bet it involved another woman!

If you don't know the Luttrell Psalter, it's worth taking a look at the British Library pages.