Personna
I learned a few things about Adelheid this weekend. She is constantly revealing more of herself, much like a statue emerging from a block of marble.
Adelheid Wyss is German Swiss from early 16th century. She is from a small town in the Berner Overland but moved to Zurich as a young woman.
She married a wealthy man and had children. Her husband unfortunately passed away, and her sons are grown. She has a small house and lets out rooms, preferably to travellers visiting the Abby. Her children are nearby.
Her husband left her well off and she is shrewd and careful with her business. She is comfortable, eats well, and likes finer things but hates to part with her money. She prefers good quality and long lasting over flashy. She especially likes fancy little things her travellers leave - fabrics, spices, yarns... all sorts of things she might not otherwise have access to.
She is a little behind fashion and is quite conservative, being middle aged and raised in a village in the Alps. She likes to be a bit sneaky with incorporating fashion items into her every day wear. She can be covetous.
I learned this weekend that she's considered a Burgher and that she does bobbin lace for some money on the side. So now to learn bobbin lace.
I picture a silently judgmental, solid older woman in her conservative hemd (not too fancy), soft bits front laced tightly into her heavy grey linen kirtle, with her show-off white linen sleeves and apron, head bundled up into a wulsthaube/bundelein shape. She needs a cap for inside work, and a gown for going outside, which I'm still picturing as a Burgundian gown of blue and white (Tir Right colours).
I don't know what to do about her inside headwear. I like the Elizabethan (I think) caps/cauls/"muffin caps", and I like the kercheif on a band look, but I'm not sure what is appropriate. I think it might be a St. Birgitta's cap, which on brief research data to late 1400s. This could be a stretch even with her old fashion sense of style. I need to do more research or phone a friend to see if it's appropriate.
