04 Monday Mar 2019
Posted in A&S Research Papers, Arts and Sciences
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Our twenty-fifth Research Paper comes to us from Lady Astriðr Musa of the Barony of Concordia of the Snows. Her reconstruction of a late-period garment has led her into a deep look into the tools of Elizabethan clothing, which she is here to share with us! (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
The tools of Elizabethan clothing: Sheep to garment
A riding cloak made in the Spanish style by the author. Photo courtesy of Stephanie Miklacic.
26 Friday Oct 2018
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Our twenty-fourth Research Paper comes to us from the members of the Accademia della Danza, chiefly of the Barony of Carolingia and the Shire of Quintavia. It has been their mission these past two years to transcribe and decode an original fifteenth-century manuscript that may be a reference book? an archive? a mystery and a riddle of the terpsichorean arts? Look within and learn what they have discovered! (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
The Gresley Dance Collection
Two pages of the Gresley dance manuscript. Image courtesy the Derbyshire County Council.
12 Monday Feb 2018
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Our twenty-third A&S Research Paper comes to us from Baroness Ysabella de Draguignan, of the Barony of Dragonship Haven. She takes a closer look at the historical roots of a very public upcoming holiday – Valentines’ Day! (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
The Roots of Valentines’ Day
Venus presiding over a group of men and women, who are presenting their hearts to her. The Book of the Queen, by Christine de Pizan (1410), f100r, MS Harley 4431. Image courtesy The British Library,
01 Friday Sep 2017
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Our twenty-first Research Paper comes to us from Lady Elena Hylton of the Barony of Carolingia. She examines over 100 paintings to explore the question of how lacing holes on women’s gowns were arranged over the course of a century – and discovers a surprising difference from the conventional wisdom! (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
Symmetrical vs. Asymmetrical “Offset” Lacing on Front-Laced Women’s Gowns in Western Europe, 1450s-1550s
Style of Domenico Ghirlandaio. Costanza Caetani. 1480-90, London, The National Gallery.
15 Tuesday Aug 2017
Posted in Arts and Sciences, Pennsic
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The Gazette thanks the King’s Champion of Arts and Sciences, Lady Raziya bint Rusa, for this report.
The East Kingdom’s team of artisans displayed a wide array of fabulous skills at the Pennsic 46 Arts and Sciences War Point. Below, we are pleased to provide some highlights of their work.
A deliberately forged charter scroll for the College of Scribes of the East Kingdom, based on a 16th Century papal bull. Calligraphy and illumination by Duchess Thyra Eiriksdottir. The seal (not part of competition) was made by Master Aaron the Arrowsmith.
The reference document was a papal bull, and was chosen for its complexity and topic. The original has about 1850 words, and is the charter for St. Mary’s College. In addition to the reference material having clear parallels in use, the concept of a deliberate forgery is medieval.
Many medieval organizations would write up charters after they were established, because they needed a document to prove legitimacy. This was done despite the fact that the documents may not have been required when the organization was founded. The East Kingdom College of Scribes is in a similar situation, with no royal charter on record. This charter was not made to be an official charter, but instead to translate the concept of an official forgery to Society culture.
The charter itself is very similar to the original but not an exact copy. The scale is smaller because of the cost of parchment. The ink is walnut instead of black keeping with the ink of the original.
The text has undergone small changes in order to make the references to SCA culture, instead of the Roman Catholic Church. The beginning and ending lines have likewise been changed to note that the document is not official, and the date is written to society standards. Some of the changed lines now read (in translation): “By the order/request of the Signet, this document has absolutely no legal standing. In fact, this document should not be taken seriously.”
A lady’s red silk surcoat, circa 1350’s England. Dress created by Baroness Kathryn Fontayne.
This dress was made as an imitation of a wealthy noblewoman’s gown, and as such is fairly sumptuous. It is not as ornamented or as expensive as that of the queen. The garment is made of silk and linen and contains artificial pearls and metal accents.
The outer dress is red silk with white silk lining the tippets; linen lines the rest of the garment. The most expensive fabric is used on the most visible areas, and more utilitarian fabric is used elsewhere. This is an appropriate medieval practice that was deliberately duplicated here .
Internal non-visible seams were machine sewed to save time, due to time constraints. All visible seams were hand sewed, and can be seen in the felling of the body seams. The dress is covered in 36 “pearled” roses. Each rose took approximately a half hour to create.
16th century Italian reticello apron. Apron and lace by Lady Sofia Gianetta de Trieste.
The apron and samples of Reticello on display are based on 16th Century Italian lacemaking. This project was made more difficult to research because the all extant examples of the craft are later than 1600, despite confirmation that the craft occurred before 1600.
Reticello is the earliest documented form of needle lace. The process involves removing threads from the construction of the fabric and binding the remaining threads together into artistic patterns. The challenge arises from engineering the product to be both beautiful and structural.
The apron is made of 4.5 oz Barry weight weight linen with 60/2 linen thread for the lace. It has 23 2″ squares of reticello lace in a line through the lower part of the garment. Each square takes approximately 6-8 hours of work. Not including the sewing, or practive, this accounts for 138-184 hours of labor. There should be three additional vertical lines of lace on the apron to be more accurate to Italian aesthetics. The lacing was limited due to time constraints.
Viking silver spiral armring, Smithing by Duke Kenric aet Essex
This piece is made as a copy of an extant silver example from a Swedish museum. The armring was for a woman and likely dated to the 8th century.
The ring was constructed carefully because, due to cost of materials, there would not be an opportunity for a second chance at making the armring. 30″ (8.5 oz) of sterling silver bar were required to make the piece. Sterling was used instead of pure silver, because medieval silver was not very pure.
Practice for the final work was done in copper, although copper has significantly different properties when working. Silver melts quickly – a property which almost resulted in the loss of the piece.
The piece required forming by hammer, annealing, twisting, polishing, and stamping. The stamping was made with a tool that had two triangular shapes on it. The squares on the final product are the negative space left over between the stamped impressions.
Laurel headdress in the style of the 14th century. Metalwork by Master Stefan of Silverforge.
The laurel wreath was created in the style of wreaths seen in illustrations in the 14th Century. No surviving laurel wreaths from that time have been found, but older Greek and Roman versions exist. Given the context of one illustration – gold leaves, the brittle nature of real laurel, and the presence of the leaves upon an emperor – the assumption is that the illustration depicts a metal, rather than a real wreath made of the laurel plant.
The wreath was made of brass rather than gold, due to finanical concerns. Sheets of brass were soldered to wire in pairs; each pair was then attached to a spine. The brass pieces were so thin that several wore through during construction and had to be remade. Embossing veins on the leaves was done with fingernail and blunt pencil.
In period this kind of work would have been done with an alcohol blow lamp; this piece was made with a propane plumbers torch. A mix of ash, sand, and pumice in a matrix of wax and oil would have been used to clean up the marking and flux from construction. It would have been manipulated with sticks when applied to the metal; in this case a modern dremel with scouring pads was used because of time constraints.
NB: All photographs of the exhibition graciously provided by Mistress Anastasia Gutane.
19 Wednesday Jul 2017
Posted in A&S Research Papers, Arts and Sciences
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Our twentieth A&S Research Paper comes to us from Lady Tola knitýr, of the Shire of Quintavia. She examines the history and background of these beautiful small purses, and then demonstrates how they can be made by a skilled modern craftsperson. (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
Knit Purses in 14thC Switzerland
Detail of Lady Tola’s reconstruction of a fourteenth-century knitted purse.
19 Monday Jun 2017
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Our nineteenth A&S Research Paper comes to us from Lord John Kelton of Greyhorn, Guildmaster of the Honourable Company of Fermenters of the Barony of Concordia of the Snows. He considers the fascinating question of distilled spirits within our historical period – specifically the possibility of such spirits in SCA-period Mexico. (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
Tequila: Is it a Period Beverage? A Brief History of Agave Based Fermented and Distilled Beverages and the Origins of Distillation in West-Central Mexico
Mayahuel, the Aztec goddess of the maguey. From the Rios Codex via Wikimedia Commons.
03 Friday Mar 2017
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Our eighteenth A&S Research Paper comes to us from Mistress Sarah Davies of the Barony of Bergental, who introduces us to the surprising world of historical quilting, where we discover some familiar friends and some quite unfamiliar new ones! (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
Early Quilting and Patchwork: A Short Introduction
Silk quilt by Mistress Sarah Davies. Photo by Master Henry McQueen.
The word “quilt” summons a host of images:
The popular image of the quilt is of the quilt is modern, calico, and as all-American as an apple pie. If the word “medieval” ever comes up, it’s because someone made a Game of Thrones quilt with appliqued dire wolves in the border.
The problem with this familiar stereotype is thatit doesn’t begin to reflect reality. Patchwork and applique may be most associated the United States, but quilts themselves are anything but modern. Quilted carpets were prized on the steppes of Central Asia, quilted garments padded Crusader mail and protected Elizabethan fencers, quilted coverlets graced Tudor bed chambers, and quilted heraldic tapestries hung in Hungarian throne rooms. The evidence is scattered and sometimes hard to recognize, but quilting and patchwork were hardly alien to medieval Europe. Continue reading
08 Wednesday Feb 2017
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Our seventeenth A&S Research Paper takes a turn to the lighthearted, and comes to us from Mistress Aildreda de Tamworthe of the Barony of Carolingia. She offers a tabloids-eye view of some of the more ghastly deaths of the medieval period – not necessarily to be considered for our lunchtime readers! (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
You Won’t Believe How They Went! Five Strange and Terrible Medieval Ends
Who is this? Read on to find out the unbelievable truth!
Nothing in his life / Became him like the leaving it.
– Wm. Shakespeare, Macbeth (1605), I.iv.
A person can achieve historical notoriety in many ways; brave deeds, terrible deeds, happy or cruel accidents of birth and geography, or even a greatly distinctive appearance. But one certain way to be remembered for posterity is to die in some memorable fashion. Today, the East Kingdom Gazette brings you five tabloid stories from history, wherein we learn of some of the more notorious exits of the Middle Ages. Please note that some are quite gruesome!
(NB: Like all good stories, these have been embroidered in the telling and the recollection. We have endeavored to provide the true tale in every case.)
03 Tuesday Jan 2017
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Our sixteenth A&S Research Paper comes to us from Lord Drake Oranwood of the Shire of Rusted Woodlands, who examines the work of the Elizabethan songwriter Thomas Campion, and uses his texts as a way to look closely at the role of women in that complex society. (Prospective future contributors, please check out our original Call for Papers.)
The Double Bind: Thomas Campion and Elizabethan Women
Young Lady Aged 21, possibly Helena Snakenborg, later Marchioness of Northampton. By English School, 16th century [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
