East Kingdom Gazette
Covering the Eastern Realm of the SCA
Lord Richard Heyworth: https://wiki.eastkingdom.org/wiki/Richard_Heyworth
The Moneylender and his Wife (1514)
Continue reading “A&S Research Paper 36: Medieval and Renaissance Banking”
The EK Gazette’s 34th A&S research article comes from Agnes Marie de Caliais where she describes a two year project she engaged in over the pandemic to fuse research with performance to create a medieval moment.
To view a video of Agnes performing, or to find out more information about this project, please visit her website.
Interested in writing your own A&S research article for the Gazette, learn more here!
Continue reading “A&S Research Paper #34: Finding Enchanted Ground”
Our newest A&S research paper comes from Corotica merkka Senebelenae, currently queen of the East, but also a proud member of the East Kingdom Royal Foresters Guild. This paper is taken from her Forester Guild Masterwork Submission.
Corotica’s persona is a late 1st Century CE Briton of the Silures Tribe from what is now southwestern Wales. This paper describes the Fishing Kit that she has researched and recreated to reflect the technology that her persona would have carried with her while traveling.
Continue reading “A&S Research Paper #33: Early Period Fishing Kit”
Our 32nd research paper comes to us from Vindiorix Ordovix from the Shire of Mountain Freehold, written in honor of our current Majesty, Ryouko’jin Of-The Iron-Skies, and his Japanese Samurai persona. However, this paper is not about the Samurai military caste, but rather their “cultural opposites,” the Ninja. Dramatically featured in books, movies, and games, the historical Ninja is quite different than its counterpart found in modern popular culture.
The Historical Ninja: Casting Light on the Shadows
Vindiorix Ordovix (MKA Justin Davis)
To the modern person the word ninja conjures images of masked martial artists using supernatural powers to assassinate their targets. The ninja of modern fiction turns invisible, scales walls with incredible speed, and uses magic to accomplish their evil missions. The truth is far less fanciful, of course. In reality the ninja were members of certain Japanese clans who specialized in espionage, scouting, assassination and covert raiding. These clans were available for hire and came to prominence in fourteenth century CE feudal Japan.
The term ninja roughly translates to “stealer-in,” denoting someone skilled in stealth and concealment (Masaaki, 1988, pp. 1-2). Another proper term is shinobi, the difference being pronunciation. Much of the Japanese language is written using Chinese characters called kanji. When the characters are pronounced as the Chinese do it is ninja. When they are pronounced as the Japanese do, it is shinobi (Turnbull, 1992, pp. 10-11). Ninja are also referred to in a variety of period manuscripts by the types of actions they performed, such as kancho (spies), teisatsu (scouts), and the rather descriptive kagimono-hiki (sniffing and listening) (Turnbull, 1992, p. 11). Another nickname for them was kage (shadow) (Masaaki, 1988, p. 1). For the sake of this short paper the term ninja will be used throughout. The art the ninja practiced is called ninjutsu.
Origins
The original ninja of Japan in the 700s CE did not use the term. It was not until much later, around the 1400s CE, that the term was developed.
The people who were later referred to as ninja did not originally use that label for themselves. They considered themselves to be merely practitioners of political, religious, and military strategies that were cultural opposites of the conventional outlooks of the times. Ninjutsu developed as a highly illegal counterculture to the ruling samurai elite, and for this reason alone, the origins of the art were shrouded by centuries of mystery, concealment, and deliberate confusion of history (Masaaki, 1981, p. 7).
The ninja specialized in specific military functions requiring stealth and guile. To maintain a tactical advantage, to protect their identities, to keep their clans safe, and to foster an aura of the supernatural, the ninja purposefully remained mysterious.
The origin of the ninja is found in China, with the powerful Tang Dynasty in the early seventh century CE. Japanese leaders, artists, and monks visited China to learn from this dynasty, including its knowledge of warfare (Man, 2013, p. 7). Certain political dissidents fled their native China in the 700s CE and found sanctuary in Japan. They brought with them foreign knowledge including military strategies soon adopted by the Japanese (Masaaki, 1981, p. 8). The Chinese general Sun Tzu’s famous The Art of War is one such example of military knowledge introduced to Japan in this manner (Turnbull, 1992, pp. 12-13). Its chapter on spies served as inspiration for the later ninjutsu in Japan. A review of that chapter shows that the historical ninja took on a much wider variety of roles than their image in popular culture. Included below are descriptions of five different types of agents, listed here by their Japanese name (Sun Tzu, 2012, pp. 43-44):
Armed with such military strategies that were not familiar to Japanese culture the ninja were able to carve out a niche, providing various services unavailable elsewhere.
Belief System
Given the nature of their profession, it is easy to assume the ninja lacked honor or compassion. They spied, conducted sabotage, and assassinated people. Still, reconnaissance, espionage, and night attacks were (and remain) a necessary part of warfare. Ninja for hire provided Japanese feudal lords a way to accomplish these tasks without having to use their own people and risking dishonor.
Perhaps because ninja performed actions considered dishonorable by wider Japanese society ninjutsu included spiritual refinement as one of the skills to train. Someone who committed violence for a living and lived outside accepted societal standards needed a moral handrail to keep themselves centered. This short poem from the 1676 ninja manual the Bansenshukai provides an example of the moral lessons taught to ninja. “If a shinobi steals for his own interest, which is against common morals, how can the gods or Buddha protect him?” (Cummins & Minami, 2013, p. 33).
Ninja filled a niche within Japanese society, but true to wider Japanese culture maintained their sense of honor and justice. Killing an enemy was acceptable, but murder was not. Using your skills to benefit your clan and country was appropriate but using them for selfish reasons was met with severe penalties. Like any profession that walks close to death, the ninja balanced their deadly lifestyle with a spiritual and ethical code.
Structure and Training
There was a rigid structure within ninja clans, designed to maintain the secrecy needed for an organization conducting espionage. At the top was the jonin (high man) who ran the organization and decided what contracts the organization would accept. Below the jonin were chunin (middle man) who served as an intermediary between the jonin and those ninja who executed the missions. Chunin assigned individuals to contracts. The lowest level was the genin (low man). The genin were akin to the shokan as described by Sun Tzu, they were the trained field agents who conducted the organization’s clandestine operations (Hayes, 2001, pp. 24-25). Given the nature of their profession, secrecy was paramount. This cellular structure insulated the leadership from discovery. Chunin might never know they took orders from the same jonin. A genin certainly did not know the identity of a jonin and so could not betray their masters if captured.
The genin are what we think of when we imagine a ninja. They were the ones who spied, scouted, conducted ambushes or raids, and sometimes assassinated targets. A 1656 Japanese military manual lists the following requirements for those selected to be genin (Cummins, 2012, p. 16):
Those selected as field agents trained in the eighteen skills listed in the box to the right (Masaaki, 2004, p. 22). These skills provided the ninja a wide range of abilities ranging from spying or scouting to assassination and battlefield combat.
Translations of existing historical ninjutsu manuals provide specific examples of the types of techniques and tools ninja commonly used. The 1676 manual Bansenshukai includes instruction on lockpicking, maintaining a “correct mind” (remaining honorable, benevolent, and loyal), commanding, disguises, and infiltration (Cummins & Minami, 2013, pp. vii-viii). The same manual also has notes on a wide variety of tools, such as a section on ladders. Regardless of the topic, this and other such extant manuscripts are written for the initiated, not for the layperson. Given the secrecy of their art, and the advantages afforded them by secret techniques, it was important the casual reader be unable to learn a skill simply by reading a scroll. Take this explanation of a certain ladder for example: “The cloud ladder: This is not a ladder in its own right. For a place you cannot reach with a tied ladder or a flying ladder, secure a flying ladder onto a tied ladder as in the drawing and use it to climb. This is called the cloud ladder. There are further things to be orally transmitted here” (Cummins & Minami, 2013, p. 319).
The comment “further details are to be translated orally” is found throughout authentic ninjutsu books and scrolls. The knowledge was written down to catalogue and reference it, but it was assumed the reader understood the portions left out, similar to how someone might keep shorthand notes in a personal cookbook, for example. These trade secrets gave the ninja a tactical advantage.
Clothing
The image of a ninja clad in black, with a hood and mask, and with a sword strapped to their back is so iconic that it bears discussion. This is a modern interpretation and is not how the ninja routinely dressed when conducting their missions.
Ninja dressed for the mission at hand. If their mission included direct combat they wore mail armor, either overtly or hidden under clothing (Masaaki, 2004, p.93). If their mission required stealth, such as when scouting in the wilderness or at night, they wore dark and dull colors (Masaaki, 2004, p. 90). If conducting espionage, the ninja might dress in disguise. The Shoninki lists seven disguises one should use, including such things as traveling monks, merchants, and street performers (Cummins & Minami, 2011, pp. 53-54). The Shoninki also provides instruction on how to further disguise oneself by wearing a jacket or cape to change one’s shape, and by using various pigments to change one’s facial appearance (Cummins & Minami, 2011, p. 76). It is possible a ninja might wear black clothing, perhaps with a hood and mask if operating at night, but this is not well documented.
Conclusion
The historical ninja were not the superhuman invisible warriors of modern myth. They did not turn invisible and run up walls using magic. They were also not soulless, bloodthirsty killers. Instead, they were a necessary part of Japanese culture, especially during the warring period in the fourteenth century CE. They excelled at clandestine operations and maintained a strict secrecy. They purposefully obfuscated their structure, identities, and abilities for their own protection and to cultivate a mysterious and supernatural reputation.
References
Cummins, A. (2012). In Search of the Ninja. Glouchester, GB: The History Press.
Cummins, A. & Minami, Y. (2011). True Path of the Ninja. Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing.
Cummins, A. & Minami, Y. (2013). The Book of the Ninja. New York, NY: Osprey Publishing.
Hayes, S. (2001). The Ninja and Their Secret Fighting Art. Rutland, VT: Tuttle Publishing.
Man, J. (2013). Ninja: 1,000 Years of the Shadow Warrior. New York, NY: Harper Collins.
Masaaki, H. (1981). Ninjutsu: History and Tradition. Burbank, CA: Unique Publications.
Masaaki, H. (1988). The Grandmaster’s Book of Ninja Training. Chicago, IL: Contemporary Books.
Masaaki, H. (2004). The Way of the Ninja. Tokyo: Kodansha International.
Turnbull, S. (1992). Ninja: The True Story of Japan’s Secret Warrior Cult. New York, NY: Sterling Press.
Tzu, S. The Art of War. (2012). New York, NY: Barnes & Noble.
Our 31st research paper is a collaborative project from Amalie von Hohensee and Scolastica Capellaria.
It comes from entries that both artisans presented for a research challenge at the Laurel’s Challenge & Exhibition online event in May of 2021. This challenge asked artisans to explore one of those interesting “rabbit holes” that they often come across while doing research. Artisans were encouraged to take some time to find joy in pursuing an interesting or unexpected idea. Both of our artisans choose to research the different ways that late period European embroiders transferred designs onto fabric.
Amalie focused on the “prick and pounce” method while Scolastica spent her time investigating the use of ink for pattern transfer, even going so far as to experiment with different types of ink! Read more about Scolastica’s experiments on her A&S Blog. For a combined overview of the use of these two methods written by both artisans, please read on.
Continue reading “A&S Research Paper #31: “The Invisible Parts of Embroidery””
Our 30th A&S Research Paper comes to us from Tiffan Fairamay, who resides in the Province of Malagentia.
In this paper she takes us through the history of Pomanders, discussing the symbolism associated with them, as well as details about the time, location, and purpose of their use in period.
Tiffan also keeps an A&S blog where information about how to make a pomander can be found, along with detail and images of her own pomander creations.
Continue reading “A&S Research Paper #30: Warding Off Plague and Other Miasma with Pomanders”
Our 29th A&S Research Paper comes to us from THL John Kelton of Greyhorn. John is a journeyman with the EK Brewers Guild and the guildmaster of the Honourable Company of Fermenters of The Barony of Concordia of the Snows. In this paper he takes us through the long history of Hippocras, a simple drink of spiced, sweetened wine. Two redacted recepies for the drink are included at the end of his paper for those who are interested in trying to make some themselves.
If you are interested in submitting a research article to the EK Gazette please see our most recent Call for Papers for more information.
Our 28th A&S Research Paper comes to us from THL Ibrahim al-Rashid. Ibrahim currently lives in the Canton of Whyt Wey in the Crown Province of Ostgardr. In this paper he takes us deep into his research on naalbinding, providing evidence of nalbound socks from post-Roman Egypt, and ending his paper by discussing the availablity of evidence for nalbound socks elsewhere in the Roman empire.
Socks From Post Roman (Coptic) Egypt
Lord Ibrahim al-Rashid
Due to the climate in Egypt, the conditions there are very favorable for the preservation of textiles in archaeological contexts. There is therefore a huge number of textiles and textile fragments from various eras of Egyptian history extant in museums around the world. Many museums hold socks from Egypt dating to the post-Roman (sometimes called Coptic) period, roughly the 3rd to the 7th centuries of the Common Era.
Egypt became a part of the Roman empire in approximately 30 BCE. However, aside from some high-ranking imperial officials, the majority of the “Romanized” population in Egypt remained Greek-speaking and could more properly be described as “Hellenized”. When we speak of “post-Roman” Egypt, we are really speaking of the period following the division of the Roman empire into its Eastern and Western halves. Egypt remained under the rule of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) empire until it was conquered by the expanding Arab Muslim empire in the 7th century CE.
Culture within Egypt during this time, including fashions in dress, was a mixture of Hellenic, Roman, and native Egyptian practices. The period is characterized by the dominance of Christianity and the development of the Coptic church (a uniquely Egyptian sect which survives to this day). Most of the surviving socks come from Greek-speaking Christian sites within Egypt and should be understood in that context. While most of the surviving socks have been dated to the post-Roman era (3rd-7th centuries), more recent radio-carbon dating has confirmed that some may be from as early as the 1st century, CE. (Van Strydonck) . Even these earlier centuries in Egypt still represent a mixture of Hellenized Roman and native Egyptian culture, but without the dominant influence of Christianity.
Surviving socks
In order to understand the socks from Egypt, it is necessary to discuss briefly the types of shoes worn in this period. Archaeological finds include caligae (boots) and carbatinae (shoes). Either of these could be closed or formed from an open mesh of leather. In addition to these characteristically Roman styles, a more typically Byzantine style is also found in Egypt during this period, usually described as a slipper. These are slip-on shoes of a very basic form, whereas caligae and carbatinae seem to have typically been laced closed. Lastly, there were soleae (sandals). While soleae could get very elaborate, in their most basic form, they look like modern flip-flop style sandals. The Metropolitan Museum of Art indicates that “Written evidence suggests that sandals [soleae] were worn by government officials, slippers by monks and clergy, and boots [caligae] by soldiers and laborers; the poorest members of society would have gone barefoot.” (Metropolitan Museum of Art, display placard). Many varieties of socks can be worn with the carbatinae, caligae, and slippers. However, due to the presence of a leather thong between the first and second toes, soleae, if worn with socks, require a specially made sock with separate compartments for the first toe and the minor toes.
There are two main types of surviving socks from the Roman empire, including from Roman Egypt, and from post-Roman Egypt: socks made from woven cloth and socks made with the nalbinding technique. (Kostner) My focus here is on the socks made with nalbinding. These can be further divided into those employing the Coptic stitch (also referred to as “Coptic knitting”, crossed looping, and Tarim stitch) and those employing compound nalbinding structures.
Nalbinding
Nalbinding (also called needle-looping or knotless netting) is made using finite lengths of yarn on a needle with an eye using a technique similar to sewing or embroidery. The yarn is formed into a series of loops which form a flexible and stretchy fabric. The structure of the Coptic stitch is very basic. Each stitch is a simple loop that crosses behind (or in front of) itself. In forming each stitch, the needle passes behind a stitch in the previous row, specifically passing behind the part of the stitch where the yarn crosses itself. (Figure 1) This stitch is employed in the majority of surviving socks from Egypt. There is one child’s sock at the Victoria & Albert Museum which appears to employ a variant in which the connection to the previous row passes through the loop, rather than behind the crossing of the previous row’s stitch. (analysis mine) The Coptic stitch is found in nalbound items from outside of Egypt, as well. The phrase “compound stitch” in this context refers to any stitch structure other than the Coptic stitch. Specifically, in compound nalbinding stitches, each stitch connects through one or more stitches in the same row. In the Coptic stitch, as can be seen in Figure 1, each stitch only connects with stitches in the row above and the row below. There are many possible variants of the complex nalbinding stitches, and these are common in European contexts, especially Scandinavia. At least 9 different stitch structures have been documented in socks from post-Roman Egypt. (Bottcher) I will use Hansen’s notation for nalbinding structures to refer to specific stitches. (Hansen) In either case, the nature of nalbinding and the way the stitches and rows form makes it especially suited to creating tubular and bag-like structures. So, it is especially suited for making socks. The elastic nature of the resulting fabric helps create a close fit as well, which is very advantageous in a sock.
Socks in Coptic stitch
Nearly all of the surviving socks in the Coptic stitch have a division between the first toe and the lesser toes. This indicates use with soleae or a similar type of sandal. The scarcity of socks in the Coptic stitch with an undivided toe is quite striking. Even socks made to fit infants or toddlers exhibit the characteristic divided toe.
The overall structure of socks in the Coptic stitch is remarkably consistent. In addition to having a divided toe, the heel is shaped in essentially the same manner in all the surviving socks of this type. This structure was described by Dorothy Burnham in a study of the socks from two museum collections. (Burnham) Analysis of socks from other collections has so far not revealed any exceptions to the construction method she describes. (Kostner, 2017 and Decker) The two toe sections are worked separately, beginning with a small ring of stitches and working up from the tips. The lateral section is shaped by a series of increase stitches on the lateral edge. The two sections are then joined and the foot section is worked up to the instep. A heel flap is worked back and forth to create the heel part of the sole and the work is interrupted at the back of the heel. A square heel is formed by working back and forth to create the sides and back of the heel part. When the sides of the heel have reached the proper height, work resumes in the round, usually creating a welt across the top of the instep (continuous with a welt formed on either side of the heel). This welt, while serving as the functional connection between the foot section and the heel/ankle section, is also decorative and resembles a twisted cord. All of the socks worked in the Coptic stitch appear to be ankle-length.
The primary type of variation seen among these socks is in the way the top is finished. There are some socks which are simply worked up to the top edge in the same manner, forming a plain top. This pair in the Victoria & Albert Museum have a slit at the front of the ankle and remnants of cord (presumably used to tie around the ankle) at the top corners. This seems to be a common configuration. It is formed by working back-and-forth after doing several rows of the ankle section in the round.
This sock at the Royal Ontario Museum has a front slit with the two sides overlapping. However, plain-top socks with no slit also exist, as do socks with two slits that form a tongue between them. Some socks have ribbing, created by working some columns of stitches into the previous rows from the back to the front, rather than front to back (analagous to purling in knitted material). A very small number show more complex patterns created by combining ‘knit’ and ‘purl’ type stitches. There are even some surviving examples with a fringe around the top opening. (Santrot)
The adult size socks in Coptic stitch are almost universally monochrome, as can be seen from the above examples. The children’s socks are often formed of multicolored stripes. Some examples can be found in the British Museum, in the Manchester Museum, and in the Royal Ontario Museum. The surviving socks are dyed in bright and dark colors, and examples of every color in the spectrum can be found. However, there are hardly any examples in white or off-white colors. One of these socks has been subjected to multispectral dye analysis and included fibers dyed with madder, indigo, weld, and tannins as well as alum mordant. (Dyer) The socks in Coptic stitch that I have found are all made of wool. There are examples of S- and Z-spun yarns, and 2-ply, 3-ply, and 4-ply yarns have been described.
Socks in compound stitches
The socks worked in compound stitches are less common than those worked in Coptic stitch. There are many stitch types employed in the surviving examples. The Museum der Kulturen in Basel, Switzerland has an especially large collection of Egyptian socks in compound nalbinding stitches. There are 9 different stitch types represented in this collection. (Bottcher) There are 3 items using single-phase stitches (UU/OOO and UUU/OOOO) and over 20 items using 2-phase stitches (with the most common by far being UOO/UUOO, with two different types of connecting stitches). In addition, Bottcher includes one item with a very unusual stitch type, not easily described in Hansen’s notation. [Unfortunately, the Museum der Kulturen does not have publicly available photos of their amazing collection] I have not found any published analysis of the stitch types in socks from Egypt in other collections. However, my conclusion, based on photographs of the socks (such as this embroidered example in the British Museum and this especially large pair in the Museo Egidio in Florence) is that these are probably of the UOO/UUOO or UO/UOO stitch type (both of which are attested in Bottcher’s sample).
Socks in compound stitch types are more likely to have an undivided toe than those in Coptic stitch. Those with split toes and those with undivided toes are both common among the examples I have found (with undivided toes being slightly more common in this group). There are several reasons why this may be. Firstly, the compound stitches create a slightly thicker fabric (assuming the same thickness of the yarn) than the Coptic stitch does. Having additional thickness in between the toes would be less comfortable when wearing soleae type sandals. Second, because the compound stitches can produce a thicker fabric, they may have been used when a warmer foot covering was desired. This desire for warmth may or may not correlate with the use of closed shoes – especially in light of the cultural connotations associated with different types of shoes (as mentioned in the Metropolitan Museum’s description quoted above). There does not seem to be any correlation between the size of the socks (adult vs. child) and the use of split vs. undivided toes.
The heel construction of compound stitch socks is slightly different from that used for the Coptic stitch socks, but is also remarkably consistent throughout the samples. Whether or not the toe is split, the foot portion of the sock consists of a tube worked up to the instep. The heels of these socks are composed of a series of short rows forming a triangular or trapezoidal shape extending back from the sole of the foot portion. The steepness of the triangle sides varies somewhat, but the general shape is nearly universal. There are occasionally additional back-and-forth rows to enlarge the triangular heel flap. The stitching then resumes from the front/instep along the ends of the short rows and continues up into the ankle/leg portion.
The compound stitch socks vary in length as well. This is consistent with the variation in the types of closed-toe shoes worn in the Roman empire and Byzantine empire. Some of the socks are ankle length, like the Coptic stitch ones. But other socks appear to be mid-calf or calf length. With one exception, none of the complex stitch socks have structural variation at the cuff. However, some have decorative color patterns at the cuff.
These socks also display a wide range of colors. Most of them are made of wool. I have found very little information on the details of the yarn in these socks (thickness, spin direction, plies, etc.). However, some of the compound stitch socks are made of linen or cotton. The vegetable fiber socks are all primarily white or off-white; one has a small number of stripes in a blue color (probably from indigo) that are only one or two rows wide.
Conclusions and wider implications
There have not been any finds of complete or near-complete socks in the nalbinding technique from elsewhere in the Roman or Byzantine empires. It is clear from the large number of surviving Egyptian socks that they must have been a fairly common item there in the post-Roman era. The use of radio-carbon dating to establish that some of these socks date to the era of Roman rule in Egypt, plus their discovery mostly in Greek-speaking enclaves, suggest that they may have been a Roman (or Hellenized) fashion, rather than one developed in the Egyptian tradition. So, is there any evidence that nalbound socks were used elsewhere in the Roman empire?
There is textual evidence of the use of socks throughout the Roman empire. (Kostner) There are surviving socks sewn from woven cloth from the areas of modern-day France and Britain. (Kostner) However, none of the socks found outside of Egypt have a split toe, meaning they could not have been worn with soleae. Kostner includes in her article a photo of a funerary stele from southern Germany clearly depicting a woman wearing soleae with socks. If people in the northern and northwestern provinces were wearing soleae (which seems to have evidence from other sources as well – Kostner), then it seems likely that they would have seen the need for socks in the colder climate. There is evidence of contemporary use of nalbinding in northern Europe (Classen-Buttner) So, it is certainly possible that this technique, known in Roman Egypt and used elsewhere in northern Europe, could have been widely used in the Roman empire. However, this will have to remain speculation unless or until someone finds more definitive pictorial evidence or an extant example.
Sources and References
Bozsa, Isabella. Museum der Kulturen Basel, private communication, 2018.
Böttcher, Gudrun. “Nadelbindung – Koptische Textilien im Museum der Kulturen Basel und im Städtischen Museum Simeonstift, Trier” Archaeological Textiles Newsletter. No. 39, Autumn 2004.
Burandt, Boris. “Iron footed – hobnail patterns under Roman shoes and their functional meaning.” Small Finds & Ancient Social Practices in the Northwest Provinces of the Roman Empire. Ed. Stephanie Hoss & Alissa Whitmore, (Oxbow Books) 2016.
Burnham, Dorothy. “Coptic Knitting: an ancient technique.” Textile History. vol. 3, No. 1, Dec 1972. pp 116-124.
Claßen-Büttner, Ulrike. Nalbinding – What in the World Is That?, Books on Demand, 2012.
Collin, Maria. “Sydda Vantar.” Fataburen, Nordiska Museet Fataburen, 1917. pp 71-82
Decker, Anne Marie. private communication, 2017-2020.
Decker, Anne Marie. “Charting the Nalbinding of the Nile” Textile Archaeology of Egypt and Sudan seminar, “Current Research in Textile Archaeology along the Nile”, 21 January, 2019.https://uwtsd.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/ Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=59e82044-f078-4a7d-9b97-a9dc00a89ecb
Dyer J, Tamburini D, O’Connell ER, Harrison A (2018) A multispectral imaging approach integrated into the study of Late Antique textiles from Egypt. PLoS ONE 13(10): e0204699. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0204699
Hansen, Egon H. “Nalebinding: definition and description”. Textiles in Northern Archaeology, NESAT III: Textile Symposium In York, 1990.
Kendrick, AF. Catalogue of textiles from burying-grounds in Egypt, Victoria & Albert Museum, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1920-21.
Köstner, Barbara. “Roman and Late Roman nalbinding socks from Egypt: Bringing ‘Egyptian fashion’ to the North” Excavating, analyzing, reconstructing Textiles of the 1st millennium AD from Egypt and neighboring countries. Ed Antoine De Moor, Cacilia Fluck, and Petra Linscheid, (Lanoo Publishers) 2017.
Köstner, Barbara. “Wearing socks in sandals: The height of Roman fashion?” Small Finds & Ancient Social Practices in the Northwest Provinces of the Roman Empire. Ed. Stephanie Hoss & Alissa Whitmore, (Oxbow Books) 2016.
Leroux, Ernest, ec. Le costume en Egypte du IIIe au XIIIe siècle. Paris:Palais du Costume, 1900.
PFister, R and Bellinger, L. Excavations at Dura Europos, Part II: The Textiles, New Haven: Yale University Press, 1945.
Santrot, Jacques. Au fil du Nil, Couleurs de l’Egypte chrétienne, Paris: Somogy editions d’art, 2001.
Schinnerer, Luise. Antike Handarbeiten, Vienna, 1895.
Van Strydonck, Mary; DeMoor, A; Benazeth, D. “14C Dating Compared to Art Historical Dating of Roman and Coptic Textiles from Egypt”, Radiocarbon Vol 6, No 1, 2004. pp231-244.
Museum Catalogs
These are museums that have online, searchable databases of their collections, with photos of the objects. All of these have nalbound socks.
The British Museum – http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx
Global Egyptian Museum (collates collections from numerous museums worldwide) – http://globalegyptianmuseum.org/
The Manchester Museum – https://egyptmanchester.wordpress.com/2012/03/22/curators-diary-22312-of-sling-shots-and-coptic-socks/
The Metropolitan Museum of Art – https://metmuseum.org/
Royal Ontario Museum – https://collections.rom.on.ca/search/coptic%20socks#filters
Victoria & Albert Museum – https://www.vam.ac.uk/archives/
Our 27th paper comes from the author of our 26th research paper, Lady Agnes Marie de Calais (Brandy Whitney). This follow up piece chronicles the author’s continued research journey, as her inquisitive nature takes her beyond where many SCA artisans end their research process. This paper details Lady Agnes’s exploration into archival research, as she asks important questions about how information regarding extant items is formed by museum professionals. She shows how their information can sometimes be limited or incomplete, and how amateur researchers like us can step in to contribute to the scholarly record.
(Prospective future contributors, please check out our updated Call for Papers.)
The Quest for Understanding an Extant Work
Continue reading “Arts & Sciences Research Paper #27: The Quest for Understanding an Extant Work”
Our twenty-sixth Research Paper comes to us from Lady Agnes Marie de Calais. She begins by writing about a unique small ceramic item she came across in a museum one day, and this paper is evidence of the research she has begun to dive into related to that unique item.
(Prospective future contributors, please check out our updated Call for Papers.)
The Brief Experiment of Medici Porcelain
In the summer of 2018, while visiting the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, I stumbled upon an interesting piece of pottery and began to wonder about its origin. I had no idea at the time that this seemingly common piece of tableware actually represented a major manufacturing moment in late European Medieval history, the development of soft paste porcelain. A complex, scientific and secret history surrounds this one precious medieval material, often given as a gift to royalty. And, like most things owned by royalty, those around them sought a copy of the work they could afford.
The Importance of Porcelain in Medieval Western Europe
Our story begins in 1295 when a very small item arrived in Venice that changed an entire industry. This small white bottle from Qingbai province, China, had been carried by Marco Polo around the world and survived hazards unknown. It had a unique smooth texture, remarkable strength compared to its thinness, and a glaze that appeared almost as though it was a fine layer of glass. We know of it from writings, but the actual extant piece has been lost to history, as well as the knowledge of what it held.
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