Teffania's Stuff

Teffania was born on January 6th

2011-07-27T12:06:00.090+10:00

This post was written about a year ago.... but I think it still bears publishing.

A number of years ago I realised that my SCA persona was younger than me. I think what cemented this was reading of Constance of Sicily, who married at 28. 28 was considered rather old for marrying, but as an heiress of a kingdom, she was too powerful a political piece to marry off earlier. And indeed Constance had a difficult pregnancy because of this late marriage. I wanted to portray someone young enough still be unmarried, as the only choices I could find for your typical 12th C English minor nobleman's daughter was to marry or enter the church. And I didn't want a fantastical story to explain why Teffania was atypical. So realising that at the time my age was rapidly approaching Constance's, and that I commonly passed for younger, I decided that Teffania was younger than Tiffany. She was young enough to hope for a husband because as a wife she would have some power and position (and likely more power later as a widow) while as a daughter she was her father's property. But she is old enough that her father despairs of finding a match for her - he isn't rich enough to lure a fortune seeker, she isn't a great beauty, and he doesn't have enough connections to get her to court or to have people seeking political alliances with him cemented by marriage.

Teffania practises her skills with needle and weaving in the hope they might win her a position in court and to make her clothing seem richer than the small budget devoted to it. If she doesn't marry soon, her father might pay her way into a convent, but he cannot afford to pay much (nor would he gain much influence from this move), so she would have to live in a quite modest manner. The convent would appreciate her needlework skills though.

A more recent realisation is that my SCA persona Teffania, was born on a different day to Tiffany. Teffania is derived from the Greek Theophania, via the french Tephanie. The -ia ending is how the name would be spelt in official Latin documents, but in anglo-french it would probably be Teffanie or Tephanie. I believe it should be pronounced T(h)ephanie, although I must admit I actually prefer the sound of the way people naturally pronounce Teffania, but feel I try and pronounce it properly for authenticity's sake. Anyway, aside from the diversion, all these versions of the name are derived from the name of the feast now called Epithany, the day after 12th Night (epithany eve), and people named such until recently were usually born on this day. Why would Teffania be any different?

January 6th is epithany, in the middle of winter in the northern hemisphere, and this has a certain link to Tiffany, for her birthday is just after winter solstice and it often hails on her birthday, so some of her southern hemisphere experiences can resonate with Teffania's birthday experiences.

Since this has been written, I have been granted a court barony in the SCA. While I don't want to incorporate every detail of the modern SCA fantasy into my SCA persona, I think this is one that might be best to incorporate. And so I muse on how Teffania might become a baroness? The most likely route seems marriage. But how might she suddenly become a desirable asset and be quickly married? Well, should her remaining brothers (the ones who haven't died of childhood illnesses, riding or hunting accidents) die on the crusades (for her father was not rich enough to pay for extra knights to spare them from going personally, and besides they sought the adventure), she might become her father's heir. Of course her father was older than her mother (who has already died in childbirth), and is becoming frail, which is probably why has hasn't borne his new wife any children yet. A nasty ague might be the end of him, leaving Teffania a heiress. The daughter's portion of a property wasn't much (especially as her mother's marriage portion was small), but ownership of the whole estate is a tidier sum, for laws worked toward keeping the estate together as a larger property rather than dividing it. While it doesn't bring huge sums of money each year, is a solid investment in the future, a medieval interest bearing bank account. With no brothers to equip with expensive knightly chargers, she can afford to spend a little more on some nice clothes.

Of course the peace won't last long....the king has the right to marry off heiresses (and widows of marriageable age with holdings) if they don't marry by themselves within a year, for property management needs the guidance of a male. (not to mention a will to stamp out any old matrimonial ideas). Teffania might not think a political marriage is on her horizon, but once the king consults her holdings in the Domesday book, she might have an unexpected surprise in store. Let's hope her future husband at least carries a rank like baron that she can keep even after he dies, and that he prefers the company of his knightly companions and the pursuit of war, and is often away leaving her in charge of his holdings. If he's one of those new nobility that the king has been rewarding recently for their efforts in winning new lands, she might actually be in luck.

And as a married woman she might not be so constantly watched, and might be able to have a courtly lover that she's been reading so much about. (although the realities of her husband may rather dissuade her from anything but wistful looks and poems). But more importantly, she'll be actually able to make decisions, which being an heiress she has rather decided she quite likes. Of course she'll have to make decisions her husband would like, but that only makes sense, for he is a man and trained to govern, while she is a mere woman.

It's been a long time

2011-07-05T14:24:00.001+10:00

My goodness, It's been a long time since I posted anything. Appologies to any faithfull readers I still have left. Some of my writing efforts have been channelled towards essays for my current course in foresight - there is nothing like a course which is only essays and written or oral projects to make you rediscover how little you like writing. (even if you didn't dislike it before).

It also hasn't seemed like that long becuase I've still been writing blog posts when I feel inspired, but they have stayed in my draft folder because I needed to add just one picture, or to proofread the post or to post this other post first which explained the terms I used....

I'm going to try to do better, and turn my backlog of drafts into finished products and add a few new posts as well. Although, expect a dip in production around August-September when the next subject in my course happens. And I promise, it wont just be Seal tags and more seal tags, there is stuff about fingerloop braiding, pouches, turk's head knots, austrian dresses, german dresses, new chemises and old garments and even the odd person musing in that very large drafts folder. (have I teased you enough?)

great string controversies

2010-09-01T23:15:00.003+10:00

With all the posts about seal tags lately, I haven't been talking about my other two favourite things (after research) - string and 12th C clothing. Well let's fix the former (even though eventually I'll get to fibre seal tags), by talking about a few of the great controversies of narrowwares and string crafts. Sorry, this is a musing, not at informational article, just warning those who hope to find facts and figures today.

Is knitting medieval?
If you look at old books on knitting, you'll find a lot of objects identified as knitting in the medieval period. And then if you look at more recent investigations of these objects, you'll learn many of them are naalbinding. Or occasionally sprang. The writers of the old books did the best they could - they knew it wasn't sewing of even crochet, but never having knitted themselves nor having heard of naalbinding, they didn't think to see if it was a very similar technique.

There is some medieval knitting, in fact in the coptic areas there is even some pre-medieval knitting. But the vast majority of western European medieval items that look like knitting so far that I've heard of are naalbinding. New techniques like knitting take time to permeate to craftspeople, so both coexisted for a while. And even though knitting has a definite speed advantage over naalbinding, naalbinding doesn't unravel, so both have reasons for their use. To make things more complicated, the word knitting in English is not only used for the technique of making a fabric from string using 2 or more eyeless needles, it is also rarely (and increasingly less so over time) used for the process of making things sit together eg a wound knits together, knit fabric. In languages other than English, this happens even more so, so if a translation has occurred, the word knitted may simply mean anything which is in this family of construction via meshing strings together (eg crochet, knitting, naalbinding, sprang).

By the Renaissance, knitting had taken off, and there are a lot more examples. I'm really talking about the early days of knitting - the 11th to 13th Centuries.

Anyway, if I see an article identifying a piece as knitting in the medieval period, I can't be sure it truly is knitting unless it discusses the possibility that it could be in other similar techniques. (like this one) If I want to make something quickly, and wasn't aiming for museum replica quality, then knitting might be a good choice, but being a research person I'd probably be researchin a naalbinded article and trying to understand how I'd have to adjust for the difference in technique, and how that has minor effects on the finished result.

Was crochet used in the Renaissance?
No. probably not.

But surely someone would have thought up something so easy? All the things needed to do crochet were about (string + hooks).

There were already a number of techniques about that did this. Crochet takes more valuable thread than these. Why try inventing new things when what you want to do can be done with existing techniques? What piece of imagination sparks people to develop a new technique? The above articles suggest that crochet develops from tambor (chiefly used post Renaissance), crochet becoming fabric-less tambor.

If you wanted to make a good recreation, then without more evidence, you wouldn't be using crochet, except as discussed above as a quick way to mimic another technique.

Are lucet's used before the Renaissance?
Well, the most well known controversy of them all. And one that has had lots written about it. Were lucets used before the Renaissance, especially in "viking" times? The evidence I've heard cited consists of many objects which can successfully be used as lucets, but could also have some other use, and a single piece of string. Unfortunately for the advocates, the article concerning the piece of string doesn't consider the possibility that other braiding techniques might have been used and discount them. For me this isn't good evidence, so we can't prove pre-Renaissance usage of the lucet. And with a limited number of braided cords being found in securely dated contexts and even less of them analysed by braiding experts, I don't think it likely we will get the evidence needed anytime soon. Only a handful of positively identified examples of fingerloop braiding, finger weaving and plaiting exist from these eras.

The use of the lucet in the Renaissance is fairly well doccumentable in linguistic terms although I haven't heard of extant lucets, although again I've heard of no conclusively identified braids in the technique. The quantity of evidence for fingerloop braiding suggests to me that fingerloop braiding was more common, although the greater possible complexity of fingerloop braiding is likely to bias this sampling.

Structurally the internal structure of lucet is quite different to fingerloop braiding, plaiting and fingerweaving, but the external appearance is quite similar to these techniques. I have no problem substituting lucet cord for other techniques, only with those who firmly assert facts ("the vikings used lucets") that really aren't that firm.

Is Kumihimo period?
It seems to be taken for granted by people that Kumihimo is period, because modern craftbooks says it is (just like all the knitting ones did). "Everybody knows" samari armour was held together with kumihimo. By now we should know better than to make such assumptions, but perhaps the problem is that this is a japanese technique, so I expect there is a lot of scholarly research in Japanese, and not in English which we can research ourselves. This isn't a great controversy yet because very few people know of it, but I think it should be, and will be in times to come.

LMBRIC investigates a few fragments of braid from Xth Century Samari armour, and comes to an interesting conclusion - that they are loop manipulation not kumihimo (see n5, n7, n10, n9). The Japanese version of loop manipulation (fingerloop braiding) holds the loops on the hands/arms, producing some end results that are nearly indistinguishable from kumihimo. The authour of the article finds a few moves, however that are only possible by loop manipulation and not kumihimo. This to me throws all existing claims of ancient kumihimo open to suspicion. Just as for knitting, now all claims that an object is very old kumihimo now need to substantiate why they aren't loop manipulation.

As with knitting and lucet, this isn't about what you should and shouldn't do - to me if the desired result of recreation is the finished product, then the method only matters for the utmost highest levels of obsessive authenticity, and I'm very happy to make compromises and use structurally identical results. It's about not making historical claims that haven't been substantiated.

Was there really such a thing as viking whipcording?
Asfridr provides a nice run down of the evidence, or more accurately, general lack of evidence for this art form. Basically strings using this structure have been found, but no evidence they were made in this manner, rather than simple plaiting is shown.

It's a cool way to get people doing braiding, and the result is structurally identical, but I really regret that it's not actually provable because I've found it a cool way to get people to braid at demos, so I end up having to decide between authenticity and entusiasm, instead of being able to have both.

How old is macrame?
The problem with this question is that you have to define what is macrame. When does something cross the line from a few knots to being macrame? There are decorative fringes like this one that utilise decorative knotting, nets that use repeated knots, turk's head knots on pouches and various other usages. But I these don't necessarily constitute a structured art of knotting. I think they might be more like tying your shoelace - they are knots used, but fall into the category of something else (eg "what you need to know to get dressed", or the knot you put on the top of a tassel).

One of the origins of macrame is in sailor's knots being used for non-sailing decorative purposes. I suspect this practise increased greatly with the late Renaissance and later numbers of sailors away from shore for long periods stuck on a ship with nothing to do and a knowledge of knots. But you could mount a good counter argument regarding fishermen stuck in port in bad weather.

At any rate, I'm more comfortable with describing early pieces which have some knots on them as "decorative knotting" than macrame, because to me, the majority of pieces will be in combined techniques, not able to be made from knotting alone. And it's going to be hard work for anyone who wants to search for pre-modern examples of decorative knotting, because it'll be listed in the museum catalog as something else (pouch, tassel, cingulum, etc). Looking at he concept of pasimentarie might be useful though.

inkle looms
If you tabletweave, you probably know this one. An inkle is a Renaissance English term for a narrow woven band. The modern "inkleloom" is probably a 1930's invention, maybe up to 50 years earlier, so named because it can be used to make inkles.

All the evidence points to the common looms for making inkles in medieval and Renaissance times being band looms or box looms using either cards or a rigid heddle.

A modern inkle loom will produce structurally identical results, but please don't try and contort logic and linguistics to justify bringing it to a high authenticity demo.

Slit patterns on dependant parchement seal tags

2010-08-24T23:09:00.001+10:00

Having seen a few dependant or separate parchment seal tags, it's probably time to analyse the variety of slit patterns through which the seal tag was inserted. There are a number of variations, but while searching for these examples, I actually found that just two patterns of slits accounted for nearly all of the documents, and the few other slit patterns are rare differences.

One slit
The simplest slit pattern is to create a single slit in the parchment. The slit is standardly made in the folded up section (where the parchment is doubled), near the top of the folded section. That is the knife runs across the parchment once, but cuts both pieces of doubled parchment, ie one pair of slits. This is likely to be the strongest location for the slit, giving the most wear resistance. The example below shows both front and rear of a document, showing how simple the single slit is.

Feoffment by Thomas Stoteville and John Aston to William Cotton and others of lands in Saxton, Wood Ditton and elsewhere in Cambridgeshire.
Saxton, Wood Ditton, 1453
Seals: Red wax impression on front only
Tags: single piece of parchment passed through one pair of slits in doubled parchment
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 16)

Here's another example of the same slit pattern, this time with the tag removed and the paper unfolded, and laid flat. We see two slits as this single slit was made through two layers of parchment at once.

Quitclaim by John Judd to John Knight of the property of Motynnescroft in Tonbridge, Kent.
1449/50
Seal & Tag: missing
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 3)

In the final example of this pattern, the folded parchment has unfolded under the tag on the right (front - left on the back), and can be compared to the other tag which is threaded through the folded parchment. This shows the simple arrangement of tag and parchment and that there is no fixative or other fancy folding happening.

Instrument of sasine with charter by Robert Levingstoune to John Bog and Cristine Anderson of an annual rent of 12 merks. 1580/81.
Seals: Red wax impression on front only
Tags: single piece of parchment passed through one pair of slits in doubled parchment
McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 43)

You may have noticed in the previous example, the tag on the left (front left) was not pulled down as low as it could be, but rather had been pushed up like a pop up book. Both this and the unfolding of the parchment might have been encouragement for high class scribes to develop more complex slit patterns that would better hold all portions of the document in place, as discussed in the next section.

Three slits
A pattern of 3 slits (3 sets when folded) is the other most commonly used way of threading a dependant parchment seal. The example below shows the near ubiquitous arrangement - as in the one slit, the first slit is made in the folded section, as close to the top of it as possible, cutting through both layers of parchment. The second slit is made in the centre of the folded section, also through both layers. The final slit is made through one layer, located on the fold of the document.

Confirmation of grant
Before 1204
Richard II du Hommet confirms the grant at Langrune-sur-Mer made by his father William du Hommet, the constable of the king of England, to the monks of Aunay.
Slits: 3 slits, 2 through doubled parchment and one through fold
Tag: single piece of parchment
(Caen, AD Calvados, H 912)

While different threading patterns could be constructed with these slits, where the backs of the document can be seen, or details of where the rear portion of the tag emerges from the slits, the evidence I've seen all points to one pattern being in use. The tag begins inside the document at the top, threads out through both front and rear holes, then back in through the middle holes in front and rear, then emerges from the document through the slit on the fold. This sounds rather complicated, so I'll post a set of photos of how to do this soon. An example showing front and rear of a document in this folding pattern is below.

Quitclaim by Margery Addington to John Addington of the manors of Harlow and Alderbrook, Essex and other lands in Essex and London.
Essex, 1557/58
Tag: Folded tag passes through two slits in folded portion and one slit on fold of parchment
Seal: red wax seal, depicting a (woman's?) portrait, facing to the right.
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 49)

While this isn't as easy to construct as other possible patterns, this is much more resistant to tag movement, holding the tag more firmly in place, with the two sides of the document providing double reinforcement for the document.

3 slit variants
I mentioned at the start that a few variations on the slit patterns exist. The first is to move the top slit to above the fold in the parchment. This can be done with a single slit or a 3 slit pattern, examples of both below. I expect this to be weaker than passing through both layers of parchment, which probably accounts for the rarity of this variation.

Document
July1374 - 1375
Tags: two remnants of tags passing through a slit above the fold in parchment, a slit in the middle of the folded section of the parchment and a slit in the fold of the parchment.
(Swedish Archives DS8799)

Another stranger variation to the 3 slits is shown below - the top slit is made above the fold and two slits are made in the folded section - none on the fold. It seems to have worked fine as an attachment method.

Confirmation of cathedral chapter of episcopal grant,
1149 ?-1154
(DCM, 1.6.Spec.20)

Finally an example where the back is not symmetrical with the front - the back of the tag was not passed through either slits -right hand side of first picture (front), left hand side of second picture (back):

Document
July1374 - 1375
Tags: three seal tags on the front of parchment pass through 2 slits in the doubled parchment and one on the fold of the parchment and on hte back 2 pass through 3 slits while on passes through only one slit
Seals: 2 seals green or dark wax front and natural wax backing, one seal obscured by a seal bag
(Swedish archives DS8829)

Given that this is just one of 3 tags done this way on this document, lets assume it was a mistake, and the tag was intended to pass through all the slits.

The mythical 2 slit pattern
In theory various combinations with two pairs of slits (or simply two slits in an un-doubled parchment) ought to be possible. The example below at first looks like 2 slits , but look carefully - the doubled parchment has been smoothed down. Turn it back up again, in such a way that it ends just a nice distance below the words and this example is actually a single slit pattern.

Account of the commons of North Shorwell, Isle of Wight.
North Shorwell, Isle of Wight, 6 Oct. 1501
Manuscript: In Latin
Tag: passes through two slits
Seal: red wax seal, depicting a crown?
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 18)

Another 13th C example of this phenomenon can be found on the 13th century private charter of Alan de Witcherche (British Library, add. charter 20592) on the medieval writing site.

While I think a pattern with 2 pairs of slits should be possible, I still haven't found any examples yet, so I wouldn't be sealing any documents this way.

Other slit patterns
I'm yet to find any good evidence for any slit patterns not mentioned above. I'm sure if I find enough examples of sealed documents, something out of the ordinary, or some regional variant like the clever variations the Swedish made on integral tags will turn up, but the above certainly seems to cover the majority of examples. If you spot anything you think might be different, please let me know.

Examples of separate parchment seal tags

2010-08-07T18:40:00.001+10:00

As discussed a couple of posts ago, integral seal tags were a thoroughly useful tool, but the slit vellum, had a built in weakness - the small unslit portion could tear, as can be seen from a number of damaged period items. So new types of seal tags were developed, such as the separate seal tag. I've previously outlined the differences between integral seal tags and separate seal tags, today's post is to provide some examples of this type of sealing.

Examples are again, roughly chronological, with links to the full size image available by clicking the picture and links to the source by clicking the text. My (sparse) comments upon the tags are in italics. A few conclusions drawn about this type of seal tag are given at the end.

examples of separate parchment seal tags

Roger, Margery and Milo de Bray giving land to Priory of Haliwell.
Haliwell Priory, Middlesex, ca. 1181-1188
Manuscript: In Latin on vellum, 13x14 cm (including 3cm fold)
Seals: red wax, diameter 5 cm (Roger), 6x4 cm (Margery).
(Schoyen MS 1648)

Sealed charter of 'Count Robert son of Count John' (Count Robert of Alençon, d.1217) for the abbey of St-André-en-Gouffern
Caen, c1191-1200.
(AD Calvados H 6512, no. 4)

The "Clopton Charter"
13th C
Manuscript: Vellum, approx 11cm by 25 cm.
Text:Latin, records a grant of land by Robert de Clopton to his son, William.
Seal: image of a bird, approx 4cm diameter.

Letter patent of Henry III in favour of his half-brother William de Valence
13th C

Doccument
mid-late 13th C
Seals: Henry of Bishopthorpe and his wife Matilda, probably manufactured as a matched pair
(British Public Record Office DL 25/3089)

Inspeximus by Bishops of Durham, Ely & Coventry witnessing Edward I ending alliance with Guy of Flanders against Philip I of France.
Wasingham, England, 6 February 1297,
Manuscript: French and Latin on vellum, 36x51 cm (unfolded),
Seal: red wax seal bishop of Durham,
Tags: partial seal tag and slit for 3rd seal tag.
(Schoyen MS590/26)

An inspeximus is apparently essentially the medieval equivalent of a statutory declaration - these bishops of good standing bear witness that they saw the original document.

Deed of gift from John Morel to his son, William Morel, of an assart of land
Stafforshire, c1300
Manuscript: 175x145mm with elaborated initial.
Tag: original seal tag
Seal: loose fragment of a brittle white wax seal

Doccument
July1374 - 1375
(Swedish archives DS8682)

Document
Torun, Poland, 1364
Signatories: Earl of Northampton & four English knights
Seals: Central seal in English style, others manufactured in Poland in Polish style
(London Public Record Office DL 25/1639)

Document
1392
(British Public record Office E 329/228)

Robert Stewart, Governor of Scotland confirms land grant held by William de Crawfurde
Falkland, Scotland, 24 April 1417.
Manuscript: Vellum, 21x33 cm (unfolded)
Seal: Great Seal of Scotland, white wax, diam. 10 cm.
(Schoyen MS 1656)

Feoffment by Thomas Yates alias Parker to Elizabeth, his wife, and George, his son, of lands in Ditton Camoys, Cambridgeshire.
Ditton Camoys, Cambridgeshire 5 Feb. 1537/38
Manuscript: Deed poll.
Seal: red wax seal, cracked, depicting coat-of-arms
Tag: made from waste parchment, reading: “[...] del[..] ad qua[...] Gilbertus Randolph de [...] Gilbertus [...] relaxasse ac [...].”
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 31)

Note the tag made from waste parchment, with the writing mostly hidden on the inside - a fairly common practise. You can fairly clearly see the folding pattern of this document, and writing on the back, presumably an address or summary.

Feoffment by Margaret Maunge to John Gosling of a messuage and lands in [Winterton?,] Norfolk.
1550
Manuscript: Deed poll.
Seal: red wax, cracked, half missing.
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 65)

Adam Bothwell, Bishop of Orkney appoints Francis Bothwell to Chaplaincy of St Lawrence.
Kirkwall, Orkney, 3 April 1565
MS in Latin on vellum, 18x45 cm, (unfolded), episcopal seal of Adam Bothwell, (red wax diam. 6 cm)
(Schoyen MS 1676/1)

Who said nepotism was a new thing?

Indenture (title deed) to lands in Tenterden, Kent.
3rd of April 1574.
Vellum 14.5x30.2 cm. Mostly undamaged wax seal on original vellum tag.
(Griffin Manuscripts sale catalogue Number 24103)

Devise of land by John and Mabell Huntley to Hugh Huntley, their son
1 January 1577/8
Manuscript: Vellum, 15 5/8” x 10 3/4”.
Seals: Two pendant seals, one fragmentary.

King James VI of Scotland grants property to John Anderson.
1599
Manuscript: Ink on parchment, 45 cms. X 18.8 cms.
Seal tag: Parchment 21cm in total length.
Seal: Tan-colored wax double sided royal seal, approx 14cm original diameter, only upper right quarter remains.

Some conclusions on the style
From this very small sample we can see that this form of tag started to become common during the 12th C and continues throughout the medieval and Renaissance periods. The development of separate parchment tags was to quickly become the most common type of seal tag. As well as being stronger and more secure than the integral seal tag, this style also had the advantage of multiple seals being easier to add, a practise which reached ridiculous heights by the 13-14th C. This little slip of paper is the most common style of tag of all styles found - it has by far the most examples extant, far more than integral tags or all the styles of fibre seal tags put together.

Attempts to strengthen integral seal tags II

2010-08-07T18:35:00.002+10:00

Following on from part I, some Swedish examples. Why Swedish? Because the Swedish Archives have a lovely collection online, a snapshot of documents from 1374-1375.

Swedish slit tags

A number of Swedish integral seal tags show a characteristic which I think is another way to attempt to relieve stresses on integral seals tags. One of the weakest points on the seal tag is where the slit ends. This point is pulled and pushed around by the weight of the seal and by people pushing the seal to dangle below the document. The Swedish documents instead of a simple horizontal slit, start with a small diagonal cut before cutting the horizontal cut. I believe this is likely to relieve the stress of the end of the cut a bit.

Here's a few examples:

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8653)
The tag is folded up a little, but the 2nd image of the back shows the slit clearly.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8658)
You can see how the slit opens up a little to distribute the stress of the tag pulling away.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8712)
The seal has fallen off this document, but tag is intact - so the tag was stronger than the wax.

These still did break, even if they might have been a bit stronger:

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8866)
A tear is starting continuing the diagonal slit into the parchment. A second tear is seen a little further down the tag.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8783)
The point jsut a little further down the tag seems to be the main stress point for this style of tag.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8793)
The slit hasn't torn, but a tear is beginning to develop just below the slit.

This style of slit is very very common on integral tags in the Swedish archives collection of 1374/5, but was not universal - some integral tags with straight slits without a diagonal end still existed:

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8848)

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8822)

But some caution needs to be applied to identification, for example this document at first appears to not have the diagonal slit, but looking more closely, there are some fibres applied across the faint remains of a diagonal slit end, which I believe is a modern era restoration (although it could be earlier), perhaps a Victorian era conservator misidentifying the slit as a tear.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8832)

Swedish double tags
The following example slits the tag into two tags before twisting the two tags together and sealing the document.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8722)

It is difficult to tell if this is a deliberate attempt at strengthening or not, as I have only one example so far. It could also be a botched attempt to create a twist under the tag, or an example where the tag was split intended to hold two seals, then at the last moment only one was to be used so the seals were recombined. Or it might be a botched attempt at the Y shaped tails method of seal stress distribution.

These are all techniques I'll elaborate upon later. However, while the tags are narrower, now two tags have to tear before the seal becomes detached, so this might be a intentional method of strengthening a tag.

Many other examples with split tags have lost their wax making it hard to tell which of the above explanations might be correct - if many examples occurred, an explanation of a botched example of another method would seem very unlikely.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8712)

Swedish slit and fold integral tags
This is an ingenious hybrid of integral and separate parchment seals tags. A tag is created as for an integral tag, but the tag is then passed through a slit in the body of the parchment, just as separate tags are. Passing the end through the loop made by the tag, adds a second reinforcement. In this case the body of the parchment is not doubled over for strength as in a separate parchment tag though, through necessity of the design.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8865)

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8874)
Two pieces of tag pass through the slit here - perhaps two tags with one partially broken away? or a double tag as discussed above?

This is not a common method in the Swedish archives, as evidenced by the few examples (there are a couple more, but photographed confusingly), but I think it quite ingenious.

Conclusions
The above is not meant to be an exhaustive list, but rather a number of techniques that have stood out to me lately. I'm also not commenting on things done to the wax or the tag under the wax - those will be for later posts. I'm sure I'll find more things in this category later too - perhaps I'll even manage a second post eventually.

Not mentioned above is probably the most significant improvement to the integral seal tag was the development of the separate seal tag. Which leads nicely into my next post....

Attempts to strengthen integral seal tags I

2010-08-07T18:30:00.001+10:00

Following on from the last post regarding repairs to integral seal tags, this post concerns improvements to the design of the integral seal tag in order to make them stronger and less likely to break. I'll discuss some examples of minor changes I believe are attempts to improve the strength and resilience of integral seal tag below.

Before I do, it's probably worth reiterating just why it was so important for the seal to stay attached to the document. The seal while attached to the document was proof that the document was genuine and not a forgery. It was near impossible to put a seal onto a new document (period forgeries mainly go to the extreme effort of duplicating the seal die), so a document with a seal still attached in it's original manner held great weight. Think about receiving a modern legal document - if you received a copy with the signatures blanked out, could you ever be sure it was the genuine article?

As this post was rather long, I've divided this into two sections, this section is chiefly English examples, the next Swedish.

increased tag width
The earliest integral seal tags use quite thin seal tags, of equal thickness with the wrapping ties. While thin wrapping ties make sense as they are easier to tie, thin seal tags makes them easier to snap. If you look at the progression of 11th C broken integral seal tags, you will notice that in general the seal tags become thicker, but the ties remain thin, such that many of the examples by the end of the century have seal tags about 3-4 times thicker than the wrapping ties. I believe this is a gradual change to strengthen the seal tag. Of course it wasn't a universal change, just a gradual trend that more and more scribes knew about and used most of the time.

Below is two examples, one of this tags from the start of the century, and one of the thicker tags near the end.

Writ of Edward the Confessor
c. 8 September, 1062
Manuscript: In old English
Seal & Seal tag: no longer remains
Wrapping: Wrapping tie no longer remains.
(B.M. Add Ch. 19802)

Writ regarding Christ Church Canterbury
1089-93
Tag & Wrapping: seal missing, but seal tag and tie remain
(Canterbury D & C Library Ch. Ant. A. 48)

shorter tags
We've already seen a lot of the short stubby 16th C English tags, and I briefly mentioned the shorter length of the tags compared to earlier ones. I believe these shorter cuts - only halfway across the page, for the seal tag, should put the point of stress in the middle of the page and have less long tag to be broken. See in the example below that the wrapping tag cut is most of the way across the page, so the shorter cut on the seal tag is clearly deliberate.

Bond by Alice Bosworth and John Storey, white-baker of London, to William Peart, haberdasher of London, for debt
London, 1588
Tags: both seal tag ands wrapping tie have torn off
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 30)

Not only 16th C English tags show shorter tags, 14th Century Swedish integral seal tags are only cut approximately 2/3 of the way across the page, as in the example below. Probably other examples exists, but I haven't found many examples of integral tags from the periods between yet.

Document
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8842)

I believe another reason for not seeing this type of tag in the 11th C examples is that the shorter tag might not work very well with a larger heavier seal. A heavier seal would probably pull the velum into more contorted shapes, and there would be less length for the tag to equalise stresses over. I think, maybe?

folded parchment

Charter of Henry I
1109
(Durham Cathedral Manuscripts, 2.1.Reg.5)

The seal tag on this document has been folded over, presumably to provide double reinforcement of the tag where it passes through the seal. Note the writing on the top of the tag- probably the name of the person whose seal is attached. The seal tag below the seal should continue for the width of the page - it has been broken off. One possible disadvantage of this folded version is that it wasn't easy to use a wrapping tie - perhaps a reason why it isn't seen commonly?

More in part II.......

Attempts to repair integral seal tags

2010-05-01T22:43:00.000+10:00

In the last post, I promised a few examples of repaired and strengthened integral seal tags. Today, a few examples of repairs to integral seal tags.

Writ of William II concerning Billingham
c.1090
(DCM, 1.1.Reg.7)

This is An example where the vellum tags appear to have broken off and it looks like someone has tried to sew them back on, ultimately unsuccessfully.

Writ of Henry II ordering Cecilia de Muschamps and Thomas her son to give Heatherslaw back to the Durham monks.
1154-1173
(Durham Cathedral Manuscript, 2.1.Reg.2)

A couple of reinforcing stitches are visible at the end of the slit. The tag hasn't torn off at that point, instead it has torn off at a lower point, probably just above the point where the seal was.

Writ of Edward the Confessor Concerning Westminster
Between 28 December 1065 and 5 January 1066
Manuscript: In old English.
Seal: Great Seal, badly damaged, in unvarnished white wax. (reverse side displayed below)
Seal Tag: Still existing, although reinforcing stitches exist at the manuscript end of the tag.
Wrapping: Wrapping tie still attached. Folding pattern probably 3 vertical and 2 horizontal folds.
(Westminster Abbey Muniments, xii)

Stitches are visible across a tear in the right hand side of the document. In this case they appear to have worked, for the seal tag is still attached, and the tag has not simply torn at the next weakest point.

Writ of Edward the Confessor
1053-7
Manuscript: In old English. Formerly attached to another documents with stitching on right hand side, presumably the document the writ gives permission to draw up.
Seal: Great seal of Edward the Confessor in brown wax
(Archives Nationales, Paris K.19, no.6)

The seal on this writ had became detached, and the tag was stitched to the bottom of the diploma before modern restorative work. Even though the greatest value in a sealed document is if the seal is still attached in it's original unforgeable format, a reattached seal must still have been worth something, or else why conduct repair work, probably in period.

Sorry it's just a short post today, more soon....

The weakness of integral parchment seal tags

2010-04-26T12:23:00.000+10:00

Just having talked about integral parchment seal tags, it's worth I think talking about how they were easily damaged, and a few ways medeival scribes attempted to prevent this. As before, click on an image to see it full size, and the links in the text to find out more about the doccument. A number of these examples are from the excellent durham archives site, please note that you need to enable popups for the site if you wish to see transciptions of the text.

This post is for lots of examples of integral seal tags that have torn off, because the shape of the doccument and often where the seal had been can be seen (Again, order is roughly chronological). Next post I'll show a few exmples of attempts to repair or prevent this.

Writ of Henry II threatening consequences if Cecilia de Muschamps and Thomas because they didn't give Heatherslaw back to the Durham monks.
1154-1173
(Durham Cathedral Manuscript, 3.1.Reg.2)

This follows on from an earlier writ telling her to do so which will be shown in the next post. I find it interesting this is adressed to a women of power, presumably as regent for her son.

Writ of William II regarding Lincoln
After whitsunday, 1072
Tag: Seal tag has torn off
Wrapping: A thin tie survives. 3 vertical and 4 horizontal folds are visible.
(Lincoln D & library AI/I/I)

Writ of William II
Brigstock, 1095
Manuscript: In Latin
Tag:
Partly torn off.
Wrapping: partly torn off. 3 vertical and one horizontal folds.
(P.R.O. Duchy of Lancaster, Royal charters DL.10)

Writ of William II, regarding the bishop of Thetford & Norwich
Ceagewella 1095
Manuscript: In old English.
Tag: lost, looks like cut off to remove seal (by an early modern seal collecter perhaps?)
Wrapping: Part of wrapping tie remains.
(Norwich, D & C. Library)

Writ of William II, regarding Norwich Holy Trinity Church
Westminster 1096
Manuscript: In old English.
Tag: remains of seal tie visible, seal lost.
Wrapping: No renmains of a wrapping tie visible, but could have been removed. 3 vertical and 1 horizontal fold reported.
probably not drafted by te royal scriptorium - less use of formulaic phrases
(Norwich, D & C. Library)

Writ regarding Christ Church, Canterbury
Brampton, 1 May 1099
Tags: part of seal tag and wrapping tie remain
Folding: 3 vertical and 1 horiz fold
(Canterbury D & C Library Ch. Ant. C. 6)

Writ as title deed for Holy Trinity Church, Fecamp
Lillebonne, 1099 July-September
Tag: torn off.
Wrapping: Tie torn off. 3 vertical and 2 horizontal folds.
(Rouen, Archives Departmentales de la Seine-Maritime 7 H.12)

"letter patent of King John in favour of Robert earl of Leicester."
13thC

Doccument
Sweden, 1374-5
(Swedish National Archives DS8783)

Surrender at the Courts Baron of the Manor of Ersham Dubbells
Norfolk, Friday in the Vigil of Saint Luke the Evangelist, 1550
Manuscript: vellum, 100x250 mm.
(Griffin Manuscripts sale catalogue Number 23399)

Surrender at the Courts Baron of the Manor of Ersham Dubbells
Norfolk, Tuesday 14th May 1560
Manuscript: vellum, 85x295 mm.
(Griffin Manuscripts sale catalogue Number 23398)

Surrender at the Courts, Baron of the Manor of Ersham Dubbells of half an acre of land called Redfild Pightell
Norfolk, 1568
Manuscript: vellum, 280x80 mm, written in a typical Tudor scribal hand.
(Griffin Manuscripts sale catalogue Number 23387)

Indenture deeding a parcel of land in Morytton, England from Thomas Ladde to Robert Beane.
September 10, 1575
Manuscript: vellum, 105 x 265 mm, contains 10-lines of Latin script penned in a gothic cursive.
(Griffin Manuscripts sale catalogue Number 24104)

Surrender at the Courts Baron of the Manor of Ersham Dubbells of four pieces of meadow in Northmedowe in Ersham and two pieces in Prestes medowe
Norfolk, Sunday 4th November 1576
Manuscript: vellum, 150x310 mm
(Griffin Manuscripts sale catalogue Number 23393)

The surrenders are really transfers of property, but under the feudal system the baron has to approve of the transaction, even if it's a son inheriting.

There are many many more examples of broken off integral seal tags. Almost as many doccuments exist in archives today without their tags as with them, especially in this fragile style.

Suthmoot links list

2010-04-06T21:52:00.000+10:00

Hi,

Those of you who spent easter with me at Suthmoot may have had the 'pleasure' of me ranting about a favourite topic either in a class, or informally. And I probably said you could find out more about the topic on my blog. And now perhaps you're looking at my blog wondering where to go next? Look perplexed no longer, here's a list of links and status updates:

Wire rings - see this post
Wound wire broaches - see this post
Turks heads knots - nothing yet, soon I hope
Seal tags - I'm in the middle of publishing a series of posts on this
parsnip pie - I used this recipe, If i get time I'll post my version here.
sprang - the best book on the topic is this
needles - here is the expensive place to buy replica steel medieval needles, and here is a timely article about how your modern needles may be an appropriate shape.

happy crafting...

Closed letters and closed writs

2010-03-17T00:10:00.001+11:00

In the last post, you might have noticed mentions of "ties" or even seen that some examples have what appears to be a second seal tag. The example below is a fine example from the 11th Century.

Writ of William II
1095, King's Cliffe
Seal: Great Seal in white wax
Wrapping: Tie remains. 3 vertical and 1 horizontal fold
(Burgley House)

Below the text, the parchment is slit into two narrow tounges, one holds the seal and the other is used to tie the doccument closed. It's generally called in the literature by the highly technical term of "a tie". You can see many of the standard features exhibited by 11th C wrapping ties here - the tie is long (the width of the document) and narrow, even if the seal tag is wider. The tie is located lower on the parchment thatn the seal tag. The folds in the parchment probably date from when it was created, the doccument being folded up and tied closed with the tie before being sent to the person it is adressed to. In fact if you look at the back (second image) of the royal writ above, you can more clearly see the fold marks, and a person's name, presumably the recipient.

So how did this habbit of folding up a writ or other doccument develop? Well, actually, rather than develop, this is a relic of the wax sealed letter. Although the writ is not longer sealed closed, people were still used to the king's word arriving in a folded letter. The tie was simply a way of keeping the doccument closed when there was no longer a blob of wax to keep the doccumnet sealed. And actually keeping a writ folded up was probably a better way of preserving it in a easy to store form than a long scrappy piece of paper.

The ever informative medieval writing website delves more deeply and provides more examples of the sealed 'letters close' from which these habbits developed. She uses the term letter close only for letters which are sealed closed with wax (as I shall), but points out that any doccument presented folded in this manner (sealed shut or not) could be called so.

Here's annother 11th C example, still in the genesis era of using seal tags.

Royal writ of William II
1096-7
Seal: Great seal in white wax with light brown varnish.
Wrapping: Wrapping tie present. 3 vertical folds and one horizontal fold.
(Durham D and C Library, 1.1.Reg.8)

There's a bit of variation in where on the tag the seal is sealed, but the general format is adhered to.

Giles provides some excellent examples of medieval period letters, both open and tied closed. In the last post I talked about how I think integral tags became used for less and less important transactions. You can see that the examples he provides are no longer grand royal writs, but more everyday doccuments - personal transactions, beurocratic ones, but not at the level of official writs of royals, but still important, and not the type of transaction you expect to have to keep more than a couple of years (unlike some of the 11th C royal writs which are more like the deeds for your house). As the writs have grown longer, and the seals are smaller seals associated with lesser personages or private transactions, now the seal can be more safely tucked inside the closed letter. The short 11th C royal writs with the grand royal seal shown above, the writ would have folded up smaller than the seal itself.

If you go back to the previous post, you'll find plenty more examples of ties, and there will be a number more in the next post too.

I'd like to move forward in time to the 16th C now, and that other large cache of integral seal tags. Below are two examples of integral tags with a tie. Note how while the seal tags themselves of this period cut only a short way across the page, in many of the examples, the ties cut a long way across the page. In these two examples, one might think the tie was used to close a doccument, but these are actually used to "staple" two doccuments together. There is no particular structural differences between a tie used for wrapping and a tie used for fastening to other doccuments, so where the tie is not attached to anything and no deep folds in the doccument are present, we can't be sure in which manner and particular very late period doccument was used.

Bond by William Coulson to George Stainton for quiet possession.
Surrender with admittance by William Coulson and others to George Stainton of land in Armthorpe, Yorkshire.
1593 (bond) & 1597 (surrender)
Doccuments: A pair of doccuments, one a bond (morgage?) by a "tailor" to a "yeoman" and a surrender (handover of property to pay debt?) a few years later.
Seal: Bond has seal tag missing seal, surrender unsealed
Wrapping: Tie on Bond binding it to surrender.
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 33)

Bond by Robert Newnam to John Harvey for performance of covenants.
1592/93.
Seal: Seal of Robert Newham (farmer) red wax, worn smooth
Tag: Seal tag and tag used to bind to associated deed (now lacking)
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments Collection No. 61)

Finally, all the above examples are of integral seal tags with ties. Here's and example of a tie fastened through the slits of a seperate parchment seal tag...

Forged charter of Bishop William of St Calais
c.1160-70 (proports to be from 1080-96)
Seal: appears to be yellow wax with a brown varnish
Tag: 3 slit dependant parchment tag, folded double. Single layer thin tie for wrapping passes through top slit.
(DCM, 1.1.Pont.4a; Durham Episcopal Charters no. 4a)

And here's annother which might be a version of the same thing (or it might have been an accident):

Charter of Henry II confirming land grant
1166-1169
Seal: Appears to be great seal of state, brown wax
Tie: Parchment dependant tag and extra thin integral tie (for wrapping?) cut from turn up.
(DCM, 1.2.Reg.12)

Longer fibre tags could also be wrapped around a doccument, but I have no proof if this was actually done. I see less fold marks on later doccuments, which might mean folding became less important. Probably the need to fold the doccument up decreased as period progresed and more doccuments were stored in an establishment, so standard storage processes developed. But that's just speculation.

Examples of integral parchment tags

2010-03-10T23:58:00.002+11:00

Today I'm going to show a number of examples of what I'm calling (since I haven't found a proper technical name for it yet) the integral parchment seal tag. I've already outlined these basic types of tags earlier, today I want to show some of the diversity and breadth of use of this very simple tag type.

Click on the small preview image to link to the original source, and links to the full description of the item will be given in the brief item description. My comments upon the item are presented in italic. I've presented the tags in roughly chronological order. And have a few comments regarding the chronology of this style of tag's use at the end.

You'll notice I've written a number of pieces of information in the captions - anything that might be relevant to the process of recreating a sealed document. Don't worry if some of the terms are confusing, I'll be trying to explain these a few at a time in coming posts.

examples of integral seal tags

Royal writ of William I (the conqueror)
1087, before 9 Sept.
Seal: Double sided Great Seal of State in white wax.
Wrapping: Small tear bottom left corner probably was a tie.
(British Museum, Ms Cotton Ch. xvi 2)

Writ of William I
1087, before 9 Sept.
Seal: Double sided Great Seal of State in white wax.
Wrapping: Tie located below seal tag.
(Westminster Abbey Muniments, xxiv)

Writ of William I
1095.
Seal: Double sided Great Seal of State in yellowish white wax.
Wrapping: Small tear bottom left corner probably was a tie. 2 horizontal & 3 vertical folds
(Durham, Diocese and Cathedral Library, Misc. Ch 558)

writ of William II
Pont-de-l'Arche, 12 Nov 1098
Seal: Double sided Great Seal of State in white wax covered in light brown varnish.
Wrapping: Stub of wrapping tie visible. 3 vertical folds and possibly 2 horizontal folds.
(Burgley House)

Writ of William II
1099, after June 5.
Seal: Double sided Great Seal of State in white wax covered with light brown varnish.
Wrapping: Remnant of tie. 2 vertical & 2 horizontal folds.
(Durham, Diocese and Cathedral Library, 1.1.Reg.4)

Writ of William II in favour of canons of St Pauls Cathedral
Brockenhurst, 6 July 1099.
Seal: Double sided Great Seal of State in white wax covered with light brown varnish.
Wrapping: Wrapping tie. 3 vertical and 1 horizontal tie.
(St Pauls Diocese and Cathedral Library, A.59/4)

Writ of William II confirming grant of King Edgar
1095
Seal: Double sided Great Seal of State in white wax covered with light brown varnish.
Wrapping: Parchment wrapping tie. Two vertical and 2 horizontal folds
(DCM, Misc. Ch. 973)

Writ of Henry I

Wrapping: Thin parchment wrapping tie is visible.
(DCM, 2.1.Reg.17)

Document sealed by Adam de Clifton, knight, and his wife Margery
1363
(Public Record Office LR 14/26651)

Bond by Margery Addington to Christopher Addington for performance of covenants .
1554
Seal: Red wax seal, depicting a coat-of-arms, cracked, portion missing.
Wrapping: Step in parchment corresponds to likely location for a broken off wrapping tie.
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments collection No. 56)

Letter of attorney by Arthur Genter to William Genter to deliver sasine to Richard Kedon of lands called Cheverton in Shorwell, Isle of Wight.
20 May 1564.
Seal: Red wax, depicting coat-of-arms with hand.
Wrapping: Step in parchment corresponds to likely location for a broken off wrapping tie.
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments collection No. 62)

Bond by Walter West of Leasland to Andrew Ilman of Bowcombe, Isle of Wight for debt. (Deed poll).
1570
Seal: Red wax.
(McMaster University British Legal Instruments collection No. 69)

Some observations from the above examples

Based on these examples, and more examples to be shown in the next few posts, the examples start with royal writs with the great seal, and letters patent in the 11th - 13th Centuries. Then there is a large gap with few documents, followed by fairly minor 16th C documents - promises to pay a debt,etc sealed with small probably personal seals. It's probable that as new styles of seal tag were developed, this style, rather than falling out of use completely, simply became used on less and less significant documents. Such insignificant documents are seldom preserved, especially with seals on them, so the few 16th C examples of this style might simply represent the greater chances of more recent documents surviving. Indeed such minor transactions were probably a spoken, possibly witnessed, agreement in earlier times, and likely only increased in usage as literacy increased (I imagine the transactors need not be fully literate, but they must at least have quick and easy access to a cheap scribe for minor transactions to be customarily written down).

It is of course also possible that this style fell out of favour, but was revived in the 16th C, although the singular example from the 14th C argues against this. A stylistic difference between the early and late documents can be noted - early tags are much longer and often thinner, generally cutting off 3/4 of the page width, while most of the late seal tags are wide and often cut only 1/4 of the page width. Both eras frequently have evidence of a wrapping tie (in fact every example above except the last one where the photo is not large enough), which I'll discuss soon.

Introduction to seal tag varieties

2010-02-26T13:26:00.004+11:00

I recently spoke about medieval sealing practises. I'm now going to begin a series of posts that focus on seal tags. Seals on letters intended to be broken off as a simple security measure, but also acted as authentication of the sender. Seals affixed to the surface of a page of a public document as authentication of the writer had a tendency to fall off, which was a problem when the seal was the a major means used to prove a document was genuine, which was a concern in a rapidly bureaucratising society making the transition from verbal to written agreements.

Seal tags were a way to attach a seal to documents in a more secure way. That required that the seal was still firmly attached to the document (so that seals couldn't be swapped between documents), but would not be subjected to as bad a stresses as seals attached directly to the page were.

Today's aim is to introduce different varieties of seal tags. In later posts I'll give more examples of these, show you how to construct your own, and explore intricacies of construction.

In earliest form of seal tag, the spare parchment at base of the document was slit to form a long thin strip (like tearing up a minties wrapper), which the wax and seal was applied to. An example is shown below (click on the image to see it large, the links in the text for more provenance details). Like many other examples, there is a second strip of parchment, cut just like the seal tag, with which to tie the document closed when folded up. (which does suggest a possible origin for this method if it can be dated to before seal tags)

Charter with Seal of King Edward the Confessor
Seal in use 1042-1066, charter c1050. Diameter 70mm.
(London British Library, Campbell charter XXI.5)

Of course a long thin strip of parchment wasn’t very durable, and a seal didn’t authenticate a document it was no longer attached to, new ways of sealing were soon developed. This type of sealing was primarily used in the 11th Century, or on documents only expected to need to last a short time.

The most common form of seal tag by the 12th C is a strip of parchment which is a separate piece from the document. Any remaining parchment on the charter is folded up towards the writing so the edge of the parchment sits just below the end of the writing, permitting no space for additional words to be added. This turn-up is generally only a couple of cm wide - If large amounts of parchment remain at the end of writing a scribe could be expected to cut this off for other documents, and smaller portions for use as seal tags. One or three horizontal slits were cut in this doubled parchment, the width of the strip of parchment used as a seal tag. The seal tag was inserted through the slits with ends dangling below the parchment for the seal to attach to. The example below shows both front and rear of the document.

Feoffment by Thomas Yates alias Parker to Elizabeth, his wife, and Thomas Yates, Jr., his son, of a croft in Kirtling, Cambridgeshire.
1538/39
Tag with red wax seal, depicting a coat-of-arms (cracked, lacking portions).
Tag made from waste material, bearing inscription on inward side.
(McMaster University, British Legal Instruments Collection Ms. 51)

This parchment seal tag remained the most common variety of seal tag throughout the medieval and Renaissance periods. However, for some applications, a fancier document was desired. Just as fancier fonts and illuminated first letters could be used in the text, so could fancy seal tags be used. Such seal tags were normally made of fibres, braided or woven narrow strings. The earliest fibre seal tags I know of date from the late 12th Century, showing this technology developed quickly, although most documents stick with the utilitarian parchment seal tag.

The conceptually simplest forms of fibre seal tags (although often most decorated) are woven strips which replace the parchment seal tag in the same manner. Although the simplest seal tag to attach, these wider tags provide more space for more elaborate textile techniques, as seen in the example below.

William de Brus to Durham cathedral priory
c1194x1215. Double faced tabletweaving.
(Durham Dean and Chapter Muniments 4.8 Spec 2)

A form of fibre seal tag which uses a much simpler to make seal tag, but develops it's own method of attachment is the simple "twist" pattern. At it's simplest form the seal tag is a coarse piece of string (as exhibited on the papal bull below), at it's most complicated a narrow piece of braiding or weaving.

Mandate of Pope Martin IV for a case to be heard
1284
(DCM, 4.2.Pap.4)

One of the most complex forms of seal attachment is the "diamond" seal tag attachment. 2 braids or narrow cords are combined with a plait to make a pretty result, often with contrasting colours. The example below doesn't clearly show details, but you can see the diagnostic diamond pattern. This example appears to be a single coloured braid, but I'll explore the intricacies of the diamond pattern seal tag later.

Charter of Richard I, confirming to Alexander de Barentin, butler to Henry II, all his property fairly purchased or confirmed to him by Henry II.
12th Century
(London, Westminster Abbey Muniments no. 657).

A few much rarer fibre seal tag attachment patterns also exist, and I'll get to a discussion of these much later, when I've gathered more examples. (Please feel free to send me more, good photos of the tags rather than the seal or charter are hard to obtain, and with parchment seal tags the majority of tags, fibre tags are hard to find.)

Medeival Sealing Practises - An overview

2010-02-22T23:15:00.001+11:00

Seals were an early security measure, used much like a signature to verify the authenticity of a document. A blob of wax was applied to a document and a small carved object impressed into the wax, leaving an imprint. Confusingly, the word seal refers to both the seal die/matrix (for example a ring) used to create the impression as well as the wax seal impression placed on the document.

As a security measure seals functioned quite well - they were harder to forge than a simple written document, although some medieval forgeries definitely did occur. The pictorial nature of the seal was tailored to a semi-literate society who would have been unlikely to be able to spot differences in a signature. The pictures carved into the seals also allowed an individual to express themselves, and make strong statements about personality, rank and power through small alterations to standard depictions.

By the high medieval period in western Europe, two types of seal existed, the personal seal and the official seal. Personal seals were used to close rolled up letters to prove the letter is still private and unread upon arrival. This functions similar to the way modern envelopes do - it takes a lot of effort to open a letter undetected, and deters all but the most persistent intruder. Personal seals also began to be used like a signature on small business and credit transactions - probably similar to using a credit card or signing an interest free sale today.

Official seals developed out of the personal seal, but were used on documents intended to be consulted multiple times, where the aim was not to prevent the document being read but to authenticate it as genuinely from you, like a signature on a modern legal document. Seals used to seal a letter closed are designed to break upon opening the letter, so a change in technology to preserve the seal was developed. Various forms of attaching the seal to the parchment were tried, developing into the seal tag - a strip of parchment or braid that attached the seal to the document in a way that could not easily be tampered with.

Personal seals tended to be small objects that could be easily carried around, such as a ring or pendant. Official seals were larger, sometimes double sided, and used only on official documents. Official seals were more formulaic and represented a persons rank, role and sometimes allegiances. Like a modern business logo (and motto), they could tell you a certain amount about the person's business aims if you knew the art of interpreting them.

Lower ranked people might only have a personal seal to use on all documents, personal or official, the official seal was a marker of status and position. Surviving seals matrices and seal impressions are mostly of the official kind, as the kinds of uses of personal seals are rather ephemeral.

My favourite period, the 12th Century marks the genesis of widespread sealing in England, when conventions were being formed, and experiments with the practises and material objects of sealing common. It also marks a rapid increase in the formalisation of legal documents into charters and agreements - a transition that began in the 11th C to a culture which records increasing amounts of information in writing, flourishes in the 12th C. Seals represent an important part of that transition because they provided an authentication for documents, and a form of authentication that was not a written word for those who were still suspicious of the new literacy. Adding your seal to a document added a degree of ceremony to an agreement, just as signing a document in front of witnesses does today. Such a ceremony was necessary to give this proposed replacement for old ceremonial practises associated with verbal agreements the same weight of ceremony.

By 1200 almost every man (or independent woman) who owned property or was in business in England would have had a seal, although many would have only a small multipurpose private seal rather than separate private and official ones. Seals were used in everyday transactions like agreements with moneylenders or pawnbrokers, and transactions involving small amounts of money, however few documents of this kind of transaction have survived. This is a big contrast to earlier periods - in the 10th C official sealing seems to have mostly been the province of the king, while in the 11th it has extended to the upper nobles, and in the early 12th C it seems to have been a noble only activity. Before these times, in Anglo-Saxon England, agreements were largely verbal ("my word is my bond"), and did not require writing down.

I believe continental western European practises mirror this fairly well, although possibly with a slight time lag. Sealing practises appears to be one of these practises that actually did have major innovations in England that spread elsewhere, namely the heightened use of seals and the development of the seal tag. This doesn't appear to be a solely Anglo Saxon or Norman thing, but rather a development that stretched across the transition between cultures. One can only speculate that perhaps the mixing of cultures was a catalyst for this development.

However, while the official sealing culture and seal tags may be an English innovation, there was a continental tradition of sealing official documents directly onto parchment, which can be seen on some documents of Charlemagne and early Papal Bulls. And the tradition of sealing letters close, I've heard dates back to roman times. However as a textile enthusiast, and 12th C western European reenactor, my research focus is on the wonderful invention of the seal tag, and the social traditions of sealing in the 12th Century.

This is my introductory talk for a series of posts about seals and seal tags. I've been looking into this for a while, but have only escalated my research and writing up lately, prompted by the scribes guild of Lochac developing new writs for presentation of AOA's (the SCA's lowest ranking award). Due to the rapidity with which I'm writing this up there will be details which I will get wrong or make inferences that are misleading. I'm afraid I may sound more authoritative than I really am, and my referencing will not be all I wish it could be. Please forgive me, I hope that having this information more widely available will outweigh my small errors. I also encourage you dear readers to point out my errors, discuss anything you think I might be a little shortsighted on, and ask questions, etc. I really appreciate having people do so as a quality check on my work, and so that I can have an interesting discussion on these matters. I always love the chance to discuss research, and have discovered the most interesting things because someone asked a simple question.

If you wish to find more posts in this series, but not to hear about my other textile exploits, look for the overlapping tags of "seals" (about seal dies, imprints and extant examples), "seal tag" (about seal tags including extant examples and how to's), and "sealing practises" (why people used seals - the sociological aspect).

I also cook medieval/renaisance food...

2010-01-26T12:37:00.001+11:00

...and write about my results.

(the blog is a shared blog of local reenactor cooks in the sca region around me).

A sort of new broach

2010-01-16T12:16:00.000+11:00

I found a charming sketch of a broach in the Museum of London book "dress accesories", and just had to make a copy (following on from my other experiments with twisted wire from this book). There are actually 2 examples listed in the book:

#1339 c1150-c1200 diameter 26mm
gunmetal frame, silver pin
Slightly damaged - some of the fine loops are broken. Frame is a wire ring with ends joined by opposed loops. in has D shaped cross section and was added without a gap in the wound spirals.

#1340 c1150-c1250 or later 24x22.5mm
bronze frame
Spirals wound around frame 35 times, with each circit of the frame taking 7-8 small loops. Pin added at the small gap in the ends of the fine spirals.

A broach from Bedern St in York in this style is also mentioned.

I think the York broach is the broach shown on this page, mentioned as being of twisted wire. This same broach is shown slightly bigger on the york archeology photo library, direct links are not available, but click on 'medieval' and look at the broach at the bottom of the page, ref no 002359.

If anyone knows more about this, or can acess the report please let me know.:

Daniels, M, 1979, 'Bedern Site' in Interim 6/3, York Archeological Trust 19-27

(I keep getting the idea I should be able to acess it from the York archeological trust website, or find it on their gazeteer, but it's thwarted me so far)

How to make this annular

materials:

for the decoration: a very thin very flexible wire e.g. 26 gauge wire from my local art shop

for the pin: a thick sturdy wire, that will not easily bend under strain e.g. 1mm brass wire, or in desperation I used a hat pin that wasn't too bendy (difficult to bend with bare hands). Preferably of the same material as the decorative wire.

for the support: a moderately thick wire, that is at least moderately sturdy. This could be the same wire as the pin, so long as you have the means (eg pliers or hammer and anvil) to bend this into a circle, or a somewhat thinner wire (eg 0.5mm) could be wrapped around multiple times. As this will be hidden inside the broach, this doesn't really have to match the metal of the other wires. I used copper wire stripped from electrical cables, and found this a little weak. For best results it is important that this wire doesn't bend easily in your hands. A premade metal ring of suitable size (eg curtain ring, metal o-ring, cheap plain finger ring) is very likely to be suitable, maybe better, but I haven't tested this yet.

Step 1: Construct a support
Find a circular object the diameter of the desired broach. The archaeological examples are quite small - the size of a large finger ring, but you could make a larger one. The object must have a fixed diameter section, and no lips that protrude at the rim, so you can easily slide the object off. You could use a special jewellers ring form, or just a bottle lid, a fat pen, or any other mostly cylindrical household object, or if desperate you could try doing this step freehand.

Take the moderately thick wire and create a circle by bending it around the object. Grabbing the ends with pliers may help with this step, if it is a bit thick. If the wire is a bit thin (or a bit weak/too bendy), wrap the wire around several times instead of just once.

Finish by crossing the wires over, then sharply pulling the wire back in the opposite direction, creating a U bend which contains the other wire. This will be much easier by grasping the ends with pliers. For thicker wires, you may find it easier to use pliers (or a hammer) to shape the u-bend before you loop the two loops together.

Remove your support ring from your shaping form. It should hold it's shape, now squish the loops down so they don't stick out much more than the surrounding wire.

Step 2: Make a tiny spring
Find a long thin object of approximately 1-2mm diameter, with a nice even diameter, with at least one end (prefereably 2) finishing smoothly without a wider diameter at any point of the edge. I used a large darning needle. The interior ink case of a biro, thin knitting needles, stiff fat wire (like you might have used for your support) are also probably about the right size.

Leaving a few cm of unwound leader, start winding the very thin wire tightly around your object, creating a spring. If you start in the middle, and pull the needle (or other object) towards the end you are winding towards, you can make a spring many times the length of your needle.

Wind until you have a spring approx 5 times (I think - I need to test this more) the circumference of your supporting ring.

Step 3: decorate your support
Wind your leader tightly around the support, approx 3 times, ending at the start of the spring. Chop off the remainder of your leader. You will also need to cut your spring from any reels of wire.

expand slightly the first cm of the spring. Wind this expanded spring around the support, passing through the centre of the supporting ring. Keep expanding and winding until only approx 2mm of the supporting ring is uncovered. If your thickest wire is thicker than 2mm, make this 1mm wider than your thick wire. Tightly fasten the end of your spring in a similar fashion to the way the start was fastened, and clip off any remaining thin wire.

If you run out of spring, tightly fasten the end as above. Then wind a new spring and add this to the support as tightly to the first segment as possible. It should be possible to mostly hide the join, but write down how much extra was needed in case you plan to make another broach with the same materials.

Step 4: add a pin.
starting at the end of your thick wire, bend a U shaped curve, twice the thickness of your support. This is easiest by placing a pair of round nosed pliers where you wish the bend to be, and using another pair of pliers to bend the wire. This will be your pin.

Test that this U bend in your pin will slide onto your support. If it doesn't fit, adjust with pliers. Make sure there will be enough wire to bend and complete a circle around the support, but do not bend this yet. If there is more, cut the excess wire off, if less, unbend (or cut off bend portion) and try again.

With the pin still sitting on the support , mark the point where the pin just lies over the support on the opposite side to the bend. cut the wire at this point. If this is too short, the pin will pass through the decorative wire and fall off your clothes. If it is to long, the pin will be very difficult to fasten or release.

Remove the pin from the support, and sharpen the unbent end. Experiment with whatever objects you have to hand made for sharpening eg nail files, emery board, wood files, whetstones, sandpaper knife sharpening steel, etc, so long as the object is expendable. Don't break or ruin your best tools with this, unless you know this is the job they are designed for. If your file is coarse, it will be best to use a finer file to finish the job. Hold your pin so that it is at an approximately 15 degree angle from your sharpening surface (i.e., just enough space to almost fit a finger between it and the plane of the sharpener, and roll the pin along the sharpener, to create a pointy end.

Clean off your newly sharpened pin point on a rag or offcut of similar tightness of weave and thickness to the garments you will regularly wear the broach on. Test pushing the pin through the fabric, and make sure your pin moves freely through the fabric. If not, file some more, possibly with a finer file. If you plan to use your broach on white or very pale fabric, test your pin on a waste scrap of tightly woven pale fabric, poking it through the fabric to see if a dark mark is left. If so, such corrosion can be cleaned off your broach by rubbing it with a rag and tetsting by continuing to poke holes in your scrap (until it comes away without a mark), but note that if the broach is not used regularly, the corrosion is likely to return.

Attach your sharp pin to your broach support

With the pin still sitting on the support , mark the point where the pin just lies over the support on the opposite side to the bend. cut the wire at this point. If this is too short, the pin will pass through the decorative wire and fall off your clothes. If it is to long, the pin will be very difficult to fasten or release.

Remove the pin from the support, and sharpen the unbent end. Depending upon the composition of your wire, a number of substances may work: a metal file, sandpaper, a whetstone, knife sharpening stick, nailfile, emery board. Test carefully though - the wire may not be friendly to your sharpener, so best not use anything expensive unless you know it is the proper tool for the job. Sharpen by rolling your wire along the file, holding the wire at an approximately 10 degree angle from the file.

If you used a coarse file, be sure to finish the job with a finer file, so there are no sharp grooves or cuts in your metal that might catch on your clothing. Test and clean your point on your pin by pushing it through a rag of a similar weave to the garments you plan to wear it on.

Slip your pin back onto to the support again, as before, then tighten up the bent end so it now completes a circle around the support. This is best achieved by holding the flat portion of the pin with a pair of flat nosed pliers, and

Do not attach it so tightly that the pin cannot rotate freely about the support.

Step 4: Wear the pin

This takes a little practise. Attach your pin by placing the broach against your garment, with the pin's natural closing side on the outside (non garment) side, but open the pin so the circle of the broach is free. with two fingers, pinch a small bit of fabric within the ring of the broach. pull this through the ring, past where the pin normally sits, and to the side opposite the pin's hinge. Insert the pin into the pulled bit of fabric. Move the fabric to the middle of the pin, then release. Your pin should be in place, and ready to proudly show to your friends. Do the reverse to unfasten the pin.

If you still find inserting the pin a bit tricky after a few practises, your pin may be a little long - it needs to be long enough that it cannot fall through the ring, but no longer than this or it is awkward to fasten.

If you find your broach comes undone often, you (like me) may have used too weak/pliable support materials (either ring or pin - whichever bends out of shape). Ultimately this ammounts to a lesson learnt in what materials to use next time, but if your broach bends you can probably bend it back, and try to use it in a lower stress situation 9eg as a decoration rather than to hold a neckline in place) next time.

Note mine is nearly twice the size it should be compared to the historic examples - something to improve later.

folding calendars and almanacs

2009-11-03T13:58:00.000+11:00

Last year an exhibition of medieval books occurred at my state library. One piece piqued my interest especially, and I kept going back to see it. It was a few leaves of parchment folded and sewn together to form a medical almanac that could be hung from the belt.

I conducted a bit more research on the topic and found that such items were used primarily as medical references, astrological calendars, and more rarely for any other uses requiring a pocket reference (eg psalms, canon lore, etc). They go by various names: Vade Mecum, folding almanac, folding calendar, and a few other rarer descriptions - no single designator for these exists, although Vade Mecum comes closest, and a variety of terms are used, such that sometimes it is not possible to determine without a photo or very detailed description if an item is such a folding book or a simply a very small bound pocket book.

A variety of folding patterns were used. Here is an examples on the Internet (unfortunately not showing how it folds) and another example which is closer to the folding pattern I saw in the state library, and finally an example with multiple views showing how it folds.

I wish to write about these more, but my notes are not in order yet. Meanwhile, I've been experimenting with making quick and simple mockups of these in paper, and I've had a request to share the process of making these.

The aim was not to make a high authenticity copy of these medieval folded reference books, but to make a cheap and easy replacement for the kind of reference materials that people often carry around at events - notebooks, timetables, class descriptions. Made from paper these would not be as durable as from parchment, but they look a lot better than a sheet of white photocopied paper, and do work quite nicely in a pouch, and presumably on your belt. (I don't frequently wear a belt, except with outer garments - often in damp or darkness- so I haven't tested this yet)

A sheet of A4 paper actually makes a nice size for turning into a folding book, although given the diversity of styles used, other sizes would work too (letter is similar enough in dimensions to use in this way). I used A4 sheets of 200gsm fake parchment card - that's about twice the thickness of photocopy paper. But photocopy paper will work fine to test out the shape you want to make. The originals would have been in vellum, which would be much more durable than paper, but as we don't expect to make these last for decades, the paper will last long enough. I advise using a wooden or stiff plastic ruler or paper folding tool to carefully press the edges of your fold below. Use some care in how you fold the paper if you want a nice symmetrical end product.

Fold you sheet of paper in half along the long edge:

Leaving your sheet folded in half (unlike the above picture), now fold the paper in half along the new longest edge (in the opposite direction) and unfold. Then fold the sides in towards this centre line to create two more folds parallel to this centre fold:

Unfold all fold except the first large one. Fold down a line parallel to this 1st fold, approximately 2cm down the page (the exact distance doesn't matter, but it must be the same for all pages so choose a distance and measure it).

Open out your paper and it should look like this:

Now, cut out a section from the center of the page , cutting along your last folded line, and leaving one quarter of the centre section uncut, like this:

Refold your pages into their final arrangement (this should be simply following the already made fold lines), first one side:

then fold the other side too:

You have one completed pair of pages. Make some more:

When you have a number of pages you are happy with (I recommend using less than 5 pairs on your first try - the paper thickness gets a bit tricky), line them up together with the pages all opening in the same direction (bulldog clips help at this stage):

For a quick folding book, I stapled the top sections together at this stage. Medieval books would have been stitched, or I could have glued this, but I was aiming for speed and this section would be covered. I also punched holes in this section at this stage with a hole punch (again, speed over accuracy). (sorry there's only a blurry picture)

Next, I took some of my trimmed off pieces of paper and glued this over the staples on the front side of the book (bulldog clips help):

When the glue was dry I folded in the edges of this snippet, so they enclosed the pile of pages, then folded over the top to hide the seams, and glued all of this. Finally, when this was dry, I punched through the hole in the top in the same place it was in the pages underneath. A finished quick and cheaty folding book:
You can fairly easily setup a word processor to print to these pages, or make a blank one to use as a notebook (not a period usage, but more authentic feeling than a modern notebook if you're not quite ready for a wax tablet). In period examples, sometimes the folds are used as dividing lines for columns, and sometimes they are completely ignored - often in the same document, or even page - so don't feel too confined in your manner of writing.

Hortus deleciarum puppets

2009-07-07T14:23:00.000+10:00

I wanted something to enter into the local monthly summer picnic competition for toys. And being me, I couldn't help wondering if I could make a documentable 12th C toy.

I did some quick looking at medieval toys, and unearthed the following links:

But somehow none of these really inspired me. And then I was reminded of something I'd seen and been intrigued by several times before:

The Hortus deleciarum was a gloriously illustrated 12th Century german manuscript from Hohenbourg in Alsace, dated 1170-1200. Unfortunately it was destroyed by fire in the 19th Century. Fortunately several handdrawn copies were made before this happened, but unfortunately they were drawn by artists with strong preconceptions about what they would see in the pictures, and so many subtle errors have crept into the redrawings, for example women who look like they are wearing corsets. The above redrawing is by Engelhardt, the complete redrawings by this artist are online. Annother two Victorian era artist's redrawings of this scene can be seen here and here. While we cannot be sure of any fine details on these redrawings, the similarity between the various redrawings gives me confidence that the essentials of these pictures are correct.

This article gives a nice background to this drawing and points out that the people depicted are not children, but adults frivolously wasting time. This makes more sense to me, as the illustrations of this era do make some differentiation between adults and children, at least in terms of size, but often in the more naturalistic high quality german pieces of this era, also begin to show some of the proportion of children too.

At any rate, the picture depicts two people holding two ropes which manipulate two puppets, so I did a little research into medieval puppetry. This article and this article and this article are fascinating, but it looks like this is a very specialised topic, which would be challenging to research in greater detail.

The 1st reference refers to this kind of puppet as a "jiggling puppet", but I could not find any information on the web by searching for this kind of puppet - and my web searching skills are quite good. I briefly considered taking this research a step further and expanding my search to books, mailing lists and more in depth searches, but then decided to keep this a simple project.

Instead, I attempted to build a mock up version of how I believed the puppet might have worked. I was rather free in that all I had to recreate was the end effect, not a specific way of achieving it. It took a couple of pieces of cardboard, a rope, some twist ties and about 12 minutes. I cut the cardboard into a rough shape and used twist ties to attach one piece rope to each piece of cardboard.

Stunned by how simple this was to make something successful, I decided to make a fancy version of this. Wanting the puppet to have greater longevity, and to be able to be played with by rough children (even if the illustration is of adults, my version will go to children, in accordance with competition rules), I needed something sturdier than one sheet of cardboard. Multiple sheets of cardboard might work, but aren't very period. Leather would be harder to paint, and might bend if damp. Metal (thin sheets to keep it light) would be lovely, but metalwork is daunting to me, and I'd have to do a lot of work to finish rough edges. Wood seemed the right material for me.

A visit to my local harware store offered only balsewood (a bit weaker than I'd prefer) as a flat sheet of wood, not containing glue. Not containing glue was important since I had a new pyrography iron I'd like to test (the instructions with it contained instructions on stencil making), and I didn't want to burn glue and create noxious fumes. Also I don't think plywood was very common in medieval times, and I'm pretty sure no equivalent of craftwood and mdf (woodchips in glue) existed.

I did find a way to make the swords more study though - there was some very thin hardwood beading available, while looked quite like a sword from the correct orientation.

I traced out an image of fighting knights onto my balsawood, but I wanted a little more detail than was in the tiny Hortus deleciarum images. I'm fond of an image of knights fighting which is from an similar time and place, so I altered my traced images to look more like this image:

Middle Rhein, Allegorical battle scene, detached from a speculum Virginum, Inv no. 3984, Late 12th C, Hannover, Kestner Museum

The barrel helms also made drawing and cutting out the shapes easier, while the surcoat allows a more colourful image, which i hoped children would enjoy more (and so they could easily tell them apart - the red knight and the blue knight).

I proceeded to cut out my images with my pyrography iron, but that wasn’t working well, since the balsa wood was about 3 times thicker than it could easily burn through. If I had been able to get some hardwood sheets, I would have preferred about 1/3 of the thickness, so I think the pyrography iron would have worked well then.

Since pyrography was working so poorly, so I cut it out with a stanley knife instead. Since it was balsawood, instead of hardwood, it was easy to cut, except a few corners which split off and had to be glued back on again.

I carved/burnt the edges of the beading to form sword shapes, and glued these to he balsawood hands. I used superglue because it was quick. I think medieval people would not have used glue in such a crucial section (perhaps rivets, pins or good socketing), but then I expect the whole piece would have been stronger, so a stronger sword section is unlikely to have been a consideration.

Once I had cut out knights, I glued on strips of cardboard to hold the ropes. Perhaps I should have used strips of leather or shaped metal, and maybe should have pinned or rivetted it on, but I was running late and out of imagination at the time.

I painted the figures with acrylic paints because they were close at hand and non-toxic. I tried to paint in a 12th C manuscript cartoon style by outlining the image in black.

The knights run along their ropes quite well. The system I ended up using was to firmly attach one set of loops to the rope, and then use a loose second set of loops which were just to hold to rope loosely near the knight. The strip of cardboard was not tight enough, so used pins to hold the rope in place on the tight loop.

The toys turned out much better than I expected (especially the rush job of cutting and painting), and looked great. They were a hit with at least one of the boys, which luckily (for him) was the winner of the boffer tourney and had his pick of the toys to take home. I'm happy to see my toy where it will be appreciated, and I hope it won't break too easily.

Past constructions I: red linen cote

2009-04-27T23:36:00.000+10:00

This series of posts exists to record some of the cutting plans I have used for tunics in the past, and to save their dimensions for future use. It's mainly for me so I don't have to keep remeasuring and guessing, but you may find this useful to work out your own cutting plans, especially if you are a local who has tried on any of my tunics and can compare the fit.

My dark red (maybe even burgandy) linen cote was my first completely handsewn garment. The fabric was a thin (shirtweight) fairly evenly, but not very tightly woven fabric, which all my tests diagnosed as linen. As it was a bargain buy without labels, I'll never be able to be quite sure if my identification was correct. The fabric was a little thin for a dress, but it was cheap, available and not cotton. And I was having to wear garb on 40C days occasionally.

The thread was ordinary sewing thread - gutterman's polycotton machine thread. In retrospect this wasn't a good choice. The thread slips easily through the linen, possibly even cutting into it a little. Seams in running stitch on this garment form gaps easily, and even backstitch forms gaps easily. I don't think this was a problem with my sewing, as this happens on all the seams on the garment, but was instantly fixed when I made the next garment with linen thread that grips the fabric just a little. I also regret the choice to use black thread. It would have been difficult to dye any thread this black, and most linen thread would have been undyed I believe.

Seams were constructed by sewing running or backstitch and then flattening the seam allowance (with cut edge folded under) to both sides of the seam and sewing it down with running stitch . I didn't know that stronger and more period methods such as flat-felling to the same side existed when I did this. Again I'd fallen for the myth that this seam style, known from the back of a pair of London hose, was a common style.

The cutting plan used for this garment used simple rectangles and triangles as are seen in various period tunics. This garment was tighter on the body to follow the fashion for tightly fitted garments in the 12th C.

The garment ended up a little shorter than I had planned, because after sewing everything together, I discovered the gores started too low down the body. I ended up unpicking the sleeves and taking up the shoulders (by about 5cm?) to fix this, because I couldn't face unpicking and resewing all those long skirt seams. Originally the whole body (front and back) was one long piece, and the shoulder seams were flat.

The centre gore was not very easy to insert neatly, and I'm still not very fond of the look of centre gores. This was the last time I bothered inserting center gores for several garments, as side gores are so much simpler.

Originally I inserted fichets in the side seams of this dress so I could conceal a pouch beneath my skirts. I'd noticed very few pouches shown in pictures, and posited that a concealed pouch could explain this. Unlike the later garments I'd copied the fichets from, my fichets were very much to the side of the garment as they were placed in a seam rather than cut holes in the fabric (something I'm still scared of), and there were very few seams to choose from in my garment. My fichets were thus a little less practical than they might have been, but still worked fine.

However, having a pouch tangling in my skirts was a bother when dancing, and having a
gap through which my chemise showed was most improper.
That's not me acting strangely, the photographer has caught me mid galliard, and you can see my fichet quite clearly. Here's a photo showing that the fichet showed even when posed quite sedately:
Eventually I sewed up the fichets because I wasn't really using them anymore. I think having a fichet on the main dress layer, rather than an extra (overcoat equivalent) layer worn outdoors was silly, as my chemise showed, and a medieval lady would be more likely to carry a pouch outdoor than indoors when dancing. Unfortunately my mild climate seldom allows me the chance to wear an extra layer outdoors in summer.

Here's a shot with the simple yet elegant keyhole neckline showing clearly:
I normally fasten the neckline with a penannular or disc broach, but it sits quite happily and decently without one.

And a photo of the tunic laid flat - see how there really are no cures in the design, yet it does curve to the body. I really like the cut of this garment for an everyday garment.

Overall, this garment has served it's purpose very well indeed. This garment is so practical and comfortable that it has had 3 times the wear of any of my other dresses. It packs up small, washes easily, is cool in summer and hides wine stains quite well. (I don't drink wine that often, but I seem to always manage to spill some on me, even if it's only the sauce on the pears)

The only thing that I regret on this garment is the fabric and the seam finishing treatments. The linen is a bit more drab than wool or silk, not easily doccumentable (as a coloured fabric), a little cold when wet, it just doesn't have good drape, and the fabric is so weak that it will tear into rags soon. And thus was hatched my plan to make a really thin woolen dress cut to this pattern to replace this garment.

Pictures of Beds - 12th Century of course!

2009-02-23T22:30:00.002+11:00

Some pictures of 12th C beds, for Amalie, who made almost exactly the tent I want, so I'm hoping she'll make the bed I want and then I can find someone to make a copy of her prototype :-). The other pictures of people sleeping show what may be simple pallets on the ground, people just wrapped in cloaks of blankets, pictures which smudge out the details of what they are lying on, and people lying on beds that look like slabs with no upright features. These depictions of beds are all fairly similar in construction, and look lightweight enough to use for camping, indeed one is shown in a tent below. Notice how these beds often double as couches.

Bede "Life of St. Cuthbert" (British Library Yates Thompson 26)
Durham; last quarter of 12th century
Images online here and there, with lots of beds in it.
f21. The dying Boisil instructs St. Cuthbert, and prophesies things which were to come to him.

f.80 A paralytic is healed by contact with one of St. Cuthbert's shoes

f61. A sick man is healed with bread which St. Cuthbert had blessed

f33v. St. Cuthbert drives out a devil from the wife of Hildmaer, a prefect of King Ecgfrid

f54. After St. Cuthbert's election to the bishopric, an earl's servant is cured by water blessed by the saint

f58v. The wife of an earl is cured, after a monk sprinkles her with holy water sent by St. Cuthbert

Admont Bible (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien. Cod. ser. nov. 2701)
Salzberg early 12th C
I've rambled about this manuscript before.
f18. The story of Hoshea

Copenhagen Psalter (Kongelige Bibliotek Thott 143 2º)
England, 1175-1200.
f9v Nativity

Aberdeen Bestiary (Aberdeen University Library MS 24)
England around 1200
f57r The Caladrius looks at a sick person, takes the illness upon itself and flies away with the disease to the sun.
I quite like this one - a couch and bed combined, the rails at the back, as well as acting as backrests, could be used to hang clothing over. Although they may limit how close the bed can be placed to sloping tents walls.

Skylitz chonicles (Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid Bibl. Nac. vitr. 26-2)
mid-12th mid-13th century,
Look how large the bed is compared to the tent.

Winchester psalter (British Library MS Cotton Nero C.IV)
c1145-1155
f 29. The Death of the Virgin

Worchester Chronicle (Oxford, Corpus Christi Library, MS 157)
Worchester Cathedral Priory, England, c1130-40
The Visions of Henry I in Normandy
This bed is a different style - we can't see the legs properly, but the bed head is a solid piece, instead of two poles and a crossbar.

peasant shoes II - peasant shoes for royals too! part 1

2009-01-21T23:08:00.000+11:00

[pushed out early - please check in a week or two for updates]

While I was making the previous two prototypes I noticed this picture:

I have shown this before, but hadn't thought about how they were constructed.

So I tried to make my own copy:

I made these the same as the previous pair of peasant shoes, but with an initial higher cut at the ankle, which I then cut into tabs. There were less gathers at the front, due to the way the tabs pull. It might even be possible to remove the gathers completely for someone with a narrower foot than mine.

It wasn't much harder to make than the last pair, and looks more interesting. I didn't end up with an exact copy because I was working from memory and put too many tabs in.

Here's the pattern laid flat:

This didn't really look like the picture unfortunately. And something was not quite right to my mind about the fit of these too - there were stress lines the at ran along a diagonal over the outside of the heel. I began to wonder if instead of drawing on the curving tabs, I should just be making slashes, and letting them become their own tabs on my foot.

And then I found this, lurking in an article I'd looked at before and put away:

An extant shoe made in one piece! And one that looked quite similar to the ones I'd been making.

The Article: Gall, Günter. "Die Krönungsschule der deutschen Kaiser." Waffen- und Kostümkunde 15 (1973): p1-24

The caption to the above diagram says:
Die Schnittmuster für die Sandalia des 12. Jahrhundert, die aus einem Stück Brokat, wohl mit unterlegtem Leder, geschnitten wurde. Die Konstruktion dieser Sandalia zeigt die Nähte auf dem Rist und an der Ferse, die durch die Goldborte verdeckt wurden.

Roughly translated by me (corrections welcome) that is:
"Cutting diagram for the 12th Century sandals, from one piece of brocade, probably cut in one piece with the underlying leather. The construction of these sandals shows the stitches on the instep and heel, that were concealed with gold bands." (Note- I believe this should read vamp, instead of instep.)

The article talks about these shoes and 2 other existing and many post medieval lost pairs, one of which is the more famous "shoes of ". It notes that on this pair the gold bands are used to conceal the seams, but the other two pairs are made in a different fashion (a 2 piece construction similar to ordinary turnshoes of the day I believe), but still use this decoration placement. The article contains few details of the construction, but talks extensively regarding the historical provenance of the shoes. There are probably many more details I am missing in the translation.

I then enlarged the cutting diagram shown above to the width of my foot at the instep, and made a mock up shoe out of felt from this tracing.

[picture to be added]

Unsurprisingly, the shoe is too long for me - I do have wide toes, a narrow heel and high insteps, that mean few modern shoes fit well.

I decided to make a version that fitted my foot's peculiarities, adapting the above pattern to my measurements. A few adjustments and I had a shape I was happy with.

[picture to be added]

The next step will be to make a version in leather an brocade fabric, but that will be in the next episode I think. Just a warning - this project is being nudged aside by other projects that are more wearable at the event's I'm attending soon, so it might be a while to wait.

A Chemise for the Austrian Dresses III - Construction underway

2009-01-13T20:00:00.001+11:00

Well, everything was going so well with the new chemise. I've started sewing and my seams are much narrower than last time I sewed a chemise.

And my sewing is happening really fast. I'd forgotten how fast I could sew, since my last few projects have all experimented with tricky materials, curving seams, new seam types, or have used new cutting diagrams and a lot of picking.

And then tragedy struck. I'd been carrying my chemise bits in a bag to work and back, sewing on the train. And somewhere the gussets fell out and didn't get picked up again. And I don't have any more of this fabric. Thankfully my sleeves are so long that I can easily shorten them by a gusset length.

Here's the sizes of my pieces now:

And now back to construction. Maybe I can finish it within the week!

full length hose

2009-01-13T19:30:00.001+11:00

We're revisiting my 2008 creations here - I'm determined to get all my 2008 making things projects (the research projects will take too long) recorded before we get too far into 2009.

Here's my first foray into full length hose:

The fabric is linen, as is the thread (cheaper than wool, and friendlier on the thighs). The pattern for the bottom half is the same I've used previously, while the upper half is an attempted extension of this. seams are run and fell over the whole hose, since I can't work out just why the london hose open the back seam on their hose yet. It's weaker, I guess it could be more elastic, but is that really needed? The top of the hose fabric is turned over and a line of backstitch located about 3mm from the top edge to provide stiffness and reinforcement. The edge of the fabric turned over at the top is turned under and whipstiched to the rear of the inside. I have no historical justification for doing this, but it seems right given I'm not strengthening the portion by

This pair turned out fairly well for a prototype. The legs are possibly a little short, and maybe a little tight at the back of the knee. I discovered why so many period examples have a particular type of join at the top of the leg when my pattern exceeded the width of my fabric. This strange curving shape is in fact the straight line where a bias cut pattern meets the edge of the fabric at 45degrees. Here's another example in linen, although the seam is seems to be on the wrong side. I remember at least one more example in the latest patterns of fashion book. I wish I had used such a seam to give me extra room in these hose, but I'm reluctant to unpick a finished article.

I think the tightness at the back of the knee problem relates to me making this section moderately tightly fitted like the rest of the hose - I think this may be one of the places where a bit more looseness is needed. Experimentation with more wear and on later models will tell.

The top of the hose has an eyelet bound in buttonhole stitch, from which I used ribbon (a temporary measure) suspended from a band of ribbon at the waist. This mostly worked, which is surprising since I expected to need proper braes to make the suspension work properly. I don't think these hose will get a lot of wear until I have braes though.

That's about all I can think to say about these hose for now. In the interests of discretion, I'm not providing photos of me wearing them until I have braes.

Blue Wool Cote I: cutting plans

2009-01-12T20:00:00.007+11:00

The most frequently worn item in my wardrobe is my red linen cote. It's very practical, easy to move about in, quick to slip on, and I can even slip it over modern clothes. It's also quite cool, which helps on our hot days, and is easily worn under my thicker wool garments on the colder days. In fact it makes life easier to have a dress under garments such as my thick burgandy wool dress, since if I get warm I can remove the wool dress and still be respectably dressed.

I have two main problems with this dress. Firstly it's made from coloured linen, and I'm fairly confident that coloured linen was not at all common in the era I try to portray, especially not in garment which would need more cleaning. There are references to the white chainse, a form of linen dress in the 12th C, but the very fact that this linen garment is synonymus with the colour white makes me think coloured linens were unusual, and generally not worth the effort for clothing. The linen doesn't flow on the body like my wool dresses do (the aforementioned chainse incorporates pleats for a non-flowing look), and the colour is fading, and when the day cools down, or the garment gets wet, it's so much colder than wool.

The second problem is simply that the garment is getting old and wearing out. I made it in 2003, and wear it at least one day a month, often more. It gets washed at least 4 times a year. Servants were given one new set of clothing per year, so I guess this is a guide to how long a garment might be expected to last. My garment hasn't but it is getting laundered more than I'm sure most medieval garments do, and it is made from a noticeably thinner and weaker weight of linen than I would expect most medieval people to have had access to. The garment is pulling out fabric around stitches, developing wear patches and similar. While the points that are wearing out first do reflect weaknesses in my sewing a tailoring technique, the cloth of the whole garment is on the verge of unravelling.

Well the solution has been at hand for a while, I've had a nice bargain buy piece of navy wool suiting waiting in my stash for me to be ready to cut it up. It's a lovely thin suiting, so It should be nearly as cool as the linen on the hot days. (Well the navy colour may be a mistake if I'm in the sun, but as long as I stay in the shade it should be good). My inspiration to make this the time to cut up the fabric was two-fold - I'm going to canterbury faire, and want to look my best (and have clothing that reflects the state of my knowledge today, not 5 years ago) when I meet a lot of new people, and I'd just read a lovely ladies description of a 13th C dress, and detailed answers to my questions regarding seam treatments and this seemed the perfect place to try them out.

So this is the general shape I decided on:

It's a general shape that seems to be in line with what we know of 12th C tailoring. It doesn't incorporate any of the fancy features of bliauts, and it is very tight about the body, unlike the 13th Century fashions. In fact I may have made it a little too tight in the body compared to historical reality (although with so little in the way of extant female garments you'll find it difficult to prove me right or wrong), but let's just call me a fashionable young girl. I'm not going to try and explore proto set-in sleeves in this garment - being a cote, it is more likely to have been of a simpler older-fashioned cut with less technological innovations than the bliauts.

It's basically the same lines I used on my red linen and burgandy wool tunics, but with the following alterations:

the seam allowances will be smaller in line with the different sewing technique
the dress will be a little longer than the red linen dress - the dress was always intended to be longer, but I made an error in placement of the gores and was too heartbroken to resew everthing, so I moved the sleeves down and resewed the shoulder seam lower, thus reducing the whole height
the dress will have slightly longer sleeves. I would like to play with the concept of rucked up sleeves on an ovegarment, and if I don't like them, I can easily shorten the sleeves.
the dress will be slightly narrower in the body. I want to see how tight I can make the garment (in line with 12th C fashion), before lacing is required. If I can't pull this on easily then I will lace the sides.

And here are the pieces I need to cut out with measurements incorporating those changes:
And here's the way it fitted on the fabric (wastage/scrap in pale blue):

The exact length of the sleeves and width of the gores was determined by the fabric width. Likewise the choice to have a shoulder seam or continuous fabric was make by the fabric (too short, but wide).

A Chemise for the Austrian Dresses II - revised cutting plan

2009-01-11T15:44:00.002+11:00

Well my plans have hit their first hitch. I conducted burn and other tests on my suspected linens, and I'm not really sure what the larger piece is, but I'm no longer sure it's linen. The smaller piece though, that at least behaves more like linen, though in my more skeptical moments I'm not sure it's pure linen either.

The smaller piece is 4m long, but it's only 112cm wide, so it's just enough to cut out a chemise. But if I use a trapezoid shape for each piece that is originally a rectangle, I gain only the width of the rectangle added to the circumference of the chemise, while with triangular gores, I gain nearly twice the width of the rectangle, as the rectangle is cut diagonally and the other end added to the circumference.

Now I guess some of this is false economy, since wider skirts over the hips would be really useful to me, but since only the calf section of the chemise will be visible under the dress, and extra width at the hem should help me dance better, and well I just can't fit in the size of trapezoids I want, I'll make a non-shirred chemise now, and aim to make a shirred one later in the year.

How the styles look and hang under the same dress, cut to the same plan except the gores should be a great comparison to see.

So here's my planned layout for the chemise:

And here's the pieces I will require:
And how they fit on my fabric:
I'm quite happy with the efficiency of this. The only portion not used is a scrap in the corner next to a piece that had been cut off. If there hadn't been a piece cut off, I would have used this to make my sleeves longer.

A Chemise for the Austrian Dresses - initial planning

2009-01-11T15:20:00.001+11:00

The calf length Austrian dresses have revealed a deficiency in my wardrobe - all my chemises have hems that are well above the ankle, but the style requires a floor length chemise. So it's time to make a new chemise.

First I guess I need to analyse the style. Browsing through my posts on Germanic dress, and particularly Austrian dress, and looked at what was visible of the garment below the dress.
All were white or other pale colours likely to be meant to represent undyed or bleached linen. This could be a layer between the chemise (body layer) and the dress, but to me this seems superfluous - chemises were generally linen because this could be washed and bleached more often, with the chemise absorbing sweat and thus protecting the more expensive dress - why would an intermediate layer recreate these characteristics of the chemise? It could be a fashion that evolved out of visible chemises, making them more elaborate mock chemises, and adding areal chemise underneath, but I'm going to use Occam's razor and assume the visible layer is just a chemise.

So the chemise is visible in two places only - the hemline and the sleeves. The sleeves that are visible are quite tight to the forearm, ending at the wrist. Some are smooth, some wrinkled, and a few have a band of trim at the wrist. The hemlines are floor length or just a whisker above, and fall in many folds. No decoration is visible on the hem of the chemise.

My construction plans

This doesn't give many clues to go by, but if we assume that chemises followed the general lines of other garments of the day, particularly albs (which are a kind of clerical undergarment), then we have a couple of cuts that could be used. There is the version with a square body and gussets or there is the body that is slanted to allow sleeves to make self gussets. I choose the earlier version as I'm more accustomed to it.

Sleeves in this model are a long tube from the end of the gusset down. I'll fit the end to the forearm as I have done for earlier versions. I think I may make a modest wrinkle in the sleeves. A long wrinkly sleeve like on my old court chemise can be a little awkward to get in and out of, but I'd like to have a little wrinkling. So perhaps 1m long - halfway between an unwrinkled sleeve and the extent of wrinkles on my previous court chemise. Initially I'll leave the cuff untrimmed, but I may add trim later, especially to reinforce the stress point of the cuff - but I don't want to delay making the chemise to wait for appropriate trim to be made/acquired.

Several albs use methods of pleating in side gores into the body of the garment which creates sudden flaring at the hip. I think this will probably be needed to create enough fullness of the skirts to create the required number of folds. A couple of these albs use a technique called Italian shirring (I am told) to pleat gores into side seams. this creates a lovely pattern with the very small pleats, which should sit fairly flat. "The art of manipulating fabric" says that Italian shirring (shirred Italian smocking) shirring encourages the fabric to fall in very full folds - which is precisely the look I wish to achieve - the skirts on these Austrian chemises are actually quite tight to the body when you look closely, and the closer the chemise sits, the less fabric I require to make lots of folds. I would like to use Italian shirring to pleat in my gores if i have time to do so. I'm still not sure exactly what shape gores that are Italian shirred should be, but I plan to experiment and find out. I'm guessing a trapezoid.

If the side gores don't provide enough folds in the front, then I will add some front gores as well.

Here's how I envision it looking:

And a cutting plan for that:
I'm not yet sure what hte top width of the trapezoid should be - I need to try some test pleating.

Materials and seams
From what material should the garment be made? That's an easy answer - linen. That's what overwhelmingly all the high class undergarments are made of. I've got some mystery fabric that I think is linen, and I've had such trouble finding assured linen cheap that I'm desperate enough to use the "probably linen" fabric.

Thread? Again linen, for the same reasons, as well as practical one - wool is too weak and will snap, and silk too strong and will often snap the threads in the linen fabric (no the same does not apply to embroidery, where the fabric isn't under stress). I've some lace making thread, in 60/2 size, which has done nicely on previous chemises, and will do nicely on this one.

Finally seams. There is one technique which is used very commonly on linen textiles in the medieval period - the run and fell seam. It is much more common than other techniques, and for good reason - it is tough, easy, requires a smaller seam allowance, and is quick to sew by hand. Why would I want to use anything else?

So I guess it's time to wash and cut some fabric!

The old measures

2008-11-30T11:27:00.001+11:00

It's a funny thing to me that there was a person locally who after 3 months still knew me as a dancer and dance teacher, and not that I'm a mad keen costumer. Myself I identify primarily as costumer and crafter, and many people reading this probably don't even know I dance. But I do spend 2-4 hours a week doing or practising medieval dancing for much of the year. I dance because it's fun, but I also devote extra hours to this as a way to slow down my descent into very unfit. And like most of my other pursuits I find myself seeking authenticity in this too, and end up teaching because I want to pass the fruits of my knowledge on (rather than for any skill I possess at teaching).

Anyway, enough prelude, today's musings concern a particular genre of Dance, the Old Measures, danced in London Law Courts (Inns of Court) in the late 16th and 17th Century.

These dances range from extremely simple to approaching moderate in difficulty. That makes them excellent dances to teach beginners and also to warm up with at the beginning of a session. Quadran Pavanne is my favourite warm up dance - it's little more than walking, but introduces the concept of singles and doubles, and gives the participants a chance to chat to each other in greeting (it may be best to use non-hopped doubles if this is done before stretching). The basic number of moves needed for the Old Measures are small - it's easy to teach a new alman if the person knows a couple of others. And it is easy to arrange to teach the dances in an order which introduces one new concept per dance. (eg doubles & singles, then turns, then set & turn, etc)

Another attractive prospect of these dances is that they teach many of the basic moves needed for English country dance - singles, doubles and reverances, 4 beat doubles, set & turn, chorus & verse structure, etc. And I consider it likely that these moves were performed in the same manner for both aalmans and English country dance, as both were being danced in the same place by the same people. Think of English country dance as what you dance at the free dance after the formal set of the debutante ball, or maybe it was more the modern dances you danced at the after party.

Anyway, the very simplicity of the old measures may be one reason they are not danced very often. One possible solution lies in more period presentation of the dances. the old measures weren't the hip dances of the day, they were the compulsory dances at the start of the night. make them the dances that everyone knows, everyone (including the older and less fit members of your group) dance. Or dance a more period number of repeats - we generally dance 2-4 times the period preferred number of repeats, which makes it nicer for beginners, but the period 1-2 repeats avoids boredom by people who know the dance. Make things more interesting by dancing the old measures as a set of 6-10 dances (as was done in period), each danced back to back - make the experienced dancers work to remember the dances correct because they don't have 3 more repeats to get the dance right. (a nice dancemaster will however provide cheatsheets). Anyway, those are a few options to try to create more interest in the old measures.

But I think the most likely reasons some of the old measures are danced less than others is that while music and instructions are widely available for some (like the ubiquitous black alman), they are more difficult to find for most of the old measures. There are actually two good publications which cover the near complete collection of old measures. Practise for Dauncinge and Durham's "Dances from the Inn's of Court", and del's dance book also has a few allemande. Any of these are good starting points, Dances from the Inns of Court is my favourite, giving a good historical overview, comparisons of original sources, and a carefully thought out reconstruction accompanied by sheet music for a melody line and an optional CD. However it is not free, nor is it instantly available (order from here). Del's dance book provides well spelt out reconstructions, and I've always found del's a great source for showing beginners the dance they've just danced written down, and for helping intermediate dancers to teach their first dance from, however the historical background is very scanty, and the range of old measures supplied is limited. Practise for Dauncinge is also available online, with a large range of old measures, and good historical background, and gives original instructions as well as reconstructions. It's not quite as easy to follow as Del's, but it isn't difficult to interpret.

Here's a chart to show the historical trend of what was being danced (or at least recorded) when:

MS	Rawl Poet. 108	SRO DD/WO 55/7	Harleian 367	Douce 280	Rawlinson D.864	Inner Temple, vol 27	RCM 1119	RCM 1119 Fol. 2
year	c. 1570	1594	1575-1625 ?	1607	1630-1633	ca. 1640-1675	after 1640 ?	after 1640 ?
The Quadran Pavan	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Turkelone	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
The Earl of Essex Measure	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Tinternell	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
The Old Alman	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
The Queens Alman	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Madam Sosilia Alman	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
The Black Alman		yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes	yes
Other old measures	8			2		1		2

Interestingly, there is little variance between the sources. To me this reflects what Durham and Casazza have written about - this is a set of formal dances that everyone learned, and were quite old fashioned for most of the above manuscripts. The proliferation of other old measures in the first manuscript may reflect that it still lies in an era when the old measures are popular dances of the day, with what will become the classics still being chosen, and new dances created - or the author may just be a more avid dancer than his successors.

Here's a chart showing which reconstructions of old measures are available in each of the books I have mentioned:

	Practise for Dauncing	Del's dance book	Inns of Court
The Quadran Pavan	yes		yes
Turkelone	yes	yes	yes
The Earl of Essex Measure	yes	yes	yes
Tinternell	yes	yes	yes
The Old Alman	yes		yes
The Queens Alman	yes	yes	yes
Madam Sosilia Alman	yes	yes	yes
The Black Alman	yes	yes	yes
lorayne Allemayne	yes	yes	yes
Brownswycke	yes
The newe allemayne,	yes		yes

When it comes to sheet music for these dances, a much wider range of music is available, and yet little of it is easy to come by. Eric's music search engine can help greatly with finding music (both sheet and recorded, with a good collection of the quadran pavanne), but is not complete, and some dances are hard to fins due to the variety of spellings used in their names. Here is a chart linking to versions of sheet music available for the old measures, sorted by most easily available source:
(The names listed are the arranger/transcriber/composer of the version, where multiple names are listed, click on each for multiple versions. "Inns of court" is not available online.)

	Practise for Dauncing	Del's dance book	Inns of Court	other
The Quadran Pavan	Casazza		yes	Avatar, Phaedria
Turkelone	Casazza	Del	yes
The Earl of Essex Measure	Casazza	Hendricks	yes	Hendricks
Tinternell	Casazza	Casazza	yes
The Old Alman	Casazza		yes
The Queens Alman	Casazza	Smith	yes	Hendricks, Smith, Phaedria
Madam Sosilia Alman	Casazza	Phaedria	yes	Avatar, Hendricks, Phaedria
The Black Alman	Casazza	Yardley, Stockton, Ariana	yes	Exeter
lorayne Allemayne	Casazza	Phaedria, Smith	yes	Smith, Phaedria
Brownswycke	Casazza			Hendricks
The newe allemayne,	Casazza		yes	Smith

I'd love to make a later post describing which sheet music is better for which purposes (eg key suited to trumpets, this one good for a group playing, this one better for a virtuoso player, etc), and am handing music out to local musicians (let me know if you are local to me and haven't recieved any) but so far the only comment i've recieved is that 1 page versions are better than 2 page ones. So dear blog reading musicians, your comments are sought.

Aachen Cathedral Treasury - Part 3: Shrine with nice pictures (tents!)

2008-09-30T23:25:00.000+10:00

Following on from my previous posts concerning the Aachen Cathedral Treasury, here is another selected treasure.

Karlschrein
Karlsschrein (Charlemange shrine)- 1200-1215 Aachen , gilded silver and enameled copper.

This is a lovely piece of artistry. I read somewhere that 12th C german metalsmiths were copied by the manuscript artists because they were were considered the superior artists of the time. For a colour pictures of the shrine, a glimpse of colour scheme, search for 'Aachen' at this link, and look for the gold and silver metalwork. (sorry direct links not working) It's only a single colour image of the shrine, but it shows well how the colours are and how a few more details can be seen in colour (eg broaches clasping cloaks) than can be seen in the high resolution black and white photos linked to below. Ithink it might have been all gold originally, but the gilding wore off.

Now to talk about specific aspects of the shrine's artwork and how it relates to concrete objects of the era....

clothing
The clothing depicted on the shrine is mainly same as 1180, possibly with less droopy sleeves, although with so few women depicted, and then mainly only Mary, it is hard to tell with regards to sleeves.. Are silversmiths behind or conservative, or does fashion not feature the sudden changes seen in France at around 1200? I think it may be rather the characters on the shrine - saints are very often dressed conservatively in fashions a little out of date and lacking the excesses of fashion. But it's also possible German fashion doesn't have a big change from late 12th C to 13th C clothing -this would be a lovely project for someone else to follow up.

There are some really lovely depictions of braids on garments, and the ample stones reflect a period practice we mostly only read about, since extant garments generally have had these stolen, and in manuscripts we can't reliably distinguish these from braid with a blobby pattern.

shoes
The material and method used enables us to see a number of features not normally seen - for example crisp lines of applied braid on many of these shoes (almost in the same pattern as the extant shoes of Philip of Swabia of around this time). Manuscripts cannot show the difference between an applied raised braid and a flatter painted on sewn on decoration in this situation, while much sculpture has been weathered, obliterating the crisp lines that make such a distinction possible. The precious and religious nature of this shrine has resulted in excellent preservation.

About half the shoes are in this style with
Many others saints on this shrine have one piece of braid (less high, often wider), running up the vamp of the shoes and far up the calf - these are long boots, and remind me of this pair of hose/buskins.

accesories
The crowns shown match well with the extant crowns of this era (mostly german) that I have seen, especially the fleur-de-lis on top.

armour
There are a couple of nice pictures of armour, including details of Charlemagne putting on (or taking off?) his armour. The lines of where the chainmail stops (especially on the legs) are clearer than on many other pictures I've seen. And nice details of surcoats, haulberks without a concealing surcoat, and haulberks with built in hoods (I think).

tents
There are a lovely picture of tents from a fairly close perspective , and a second depiction with similar tents with an interesting feature I'll discuss at the end. I'm quite excited because tents are relatively rare in artwork of this era, and pictures with this level of detail even more so. They appear to be single bell tents, held up by a central pole and a network of guy ropes. The Central Pole is not visible, but I believe it is implied by the use of a ball and decorative caps on top of the centre of the tent. Charlemangne's tent is topped with the eagle (symbol of German royals), while the other tents are topped with crosses.

The section of tent immediately under the ball appears to be a separate piece from the tent roof below it, as clear seams (including textural differences) show on several tents but is probably still a fabric (cloth or leather) as it falls in a curve with gravity, rather than stiffly. This corresponds with stiffener panels used in recreations.

The roof of the tents appears to have been decorated with patterned fabric. Other tents show a pattern of radiating stripes that could be stripes (more accurately arcs), or could simply be tension lines from the guy ropes.

From the edge of the roof, several guy ropes are seen anchored to the ground. They attach to the roof of the tent via a triangular or y-shaped feature. The spacing between guy ropes is quite small, although guy ropes on the front of hte tent have been omitted. This may be to create a doorway, but more likely is for artistic reasons, to not block the view of the protagonists. (other guy ropes end at the edge of the tent to prevent overlapping other characters).

The walls of the tent descend from somewhere slightly inside of the edge of the roof, and descend fairly vertical until about halfway down, and then flare out to the ground. The way the walls flare is consistent with being pegged out (approx one peg per guy rope, so also at fairly regular intervals). I believe I can see a one of these pegs, but it is simply a tapered blob.

It is not clear if any additional structures such as internal wall poles are present or absent, but if the lines on the roof are stress lines, I would guess not.

A doorway opens from the front of the tent in a gentle curve, but the way this nicely frames the scene inside makes me believe this is likely to be an artistic cutaway, rather than a realistic doorway shape. Then again, it might be both a good artistic cutaway shape and a good door way shape.

On the second picture, one tent is depicted with a strange window in the roof. Maybe this is a skylight? Interestingly, the lines I previously identified as tension lines in the roof run through the "window" in the roof from centre pole to guy ropes. Perhaps this is a way the roof was reinforced?

This reminds me a great deal of the tents used by my sca neighbours.

other items
Also depicted on the reliquary are some nice lamps and pennons, which I've added to my forthcoming next post on the topic.

Peasant Shoes I

2008-09-23T20:25:00.000+10:00

My friend Asfridr has doccumentation for this type of really simple shoe, I hope she will upload it soon. In the meanwhile, this journal post of hers may be of interest.

These are very very simple shoes to make. They use only one piece of leather and put seams at the toe and heel to turn it into a rough bag shape. Gathering is then used to shape bag into a shoe.

Asfidr showed us how to make mockups out of felt. She described two main ways of making toes and two ways of making heels. I tried both on two mockups:

This first style has a slightly stubbed toe

The second a pointy toe

I decided I liked the second version of both toe and heel better, so made them up out of leather

I used thinnish alum tawed leather because of the simple expedient - cheap and available. Thicker leather would probably be better.

These were very easy to make, much easier and quicker than turnshoes. Only trouble was my code - I wanted to use a nice medieval waxed shoe thread (in preparation for more turnshoes), and I haven't got the right mix of wax yet. (that might be a blog post of it's own). If you want easy shoes, use a commercial pre-waxed thread.

I also would be happier if my stitches were tighter (again the wax probably isn't helping here), but this doesn't affect the usability of the shoes.

Here are 3 views of the shoe
top

side

bottom

detail of the stitching at heel and toe:

And what you've been waiting for - the shoes on:

I field tested them at Rowany Festival. Here's a report:
waterproofness:
they wet through slowly- but combined with wool hose wasn't unpleasant, slowed down moisture getting through and the hose were only damp, not dirty of muddy. Thicker leather might mean these shoe lasted hours before getting wet, and they dry relatively quickly for leather. Drying overnight alongside the fire (away from the direct heat) might work in a medieval hut.
Also I took my shoes off and went barefooted when it was dampest, which the canny medieval peasant probably did (the farmers sowing are sometimes shown barefooted), at least in more temperate weather. Having dry shoes to put my cold feet into on the cooler festival days after a while barefooted worked well enough for me.

I'd also like to try tallow on them - I think that might work wonders. But then I'd have to be more careful about transporting them As I'd rather not have tallow on my clothes. Shoes lined with dry straw or fleece might last most of the day if you didn't cross rivers in them. Or overshoes - I'm not sure if peasants would wear pattens, but some kind of cheap overshoe could have been used.

Comfort
I was comfortable. this leather is a bit thin, gravel paths, and sharp edges hurt. Thankfully these were really rare on the Glenworth site. I didn't have any trouble with my slight tendancy to roll my feet inwards. Seams did not rub. Shoes could be worn barefoot.
The lacings were the main adjustment. Too tight and walking normally was difficult, too loose and they fell off. The was a good spot in between. I was using cotton lacings (I've replaced them since with leather which shouldn't get/look a grotty), and over a long day they loosened off. Extra long lacings that looked around the ankle and tied at the front of the ankle might work better - one of my lacings was longer and I did this, and it stayed on a bit better, and Ii think the thong dragged in the mud less.

I replaced this with leather thonging (shoelaces I think - thanks op shop), and this looks cleaner, but knots in it do not stay done up as well as braid (yes i do always have some fingerloop braid handy). Also the ends dangle about, but I need them to tie the knots. I could move the knot tying place from the back to the side - but then they wouldn't fit either foot. I could sew them closed (I don't really need to loosen the lace to get in and out of the shoes), but I like the adjustability, for when my foot changes size, the lace swells when wet, stretches from use etc, and also it is a little easier to get off If I can untie it. Finally, bringing the laces over to the front and tying a second knot at the front of the ankle seems a better option, but my leather thongs are just a little too short for this unfortunately.

Dancing was no good in these - they fell off mid bransle- but maybe if I had had the lacing just right it might have been ok. They were also slippery on the dance floor, just like my turnshoes. I didn't break into a full run, but I suspect this would have been a problem, while a few jogged steps were not. I guess barefoot might have been an option for the frolicking peasant.

sturdiness:
They lasted more than 3 days worth of wear. And another 6 months of at least once a month. You can see one scrape on the back in the close up shot of the seam after 3 days, and they are only a bit dirtier after 6 months. Sturdier heavier leather would probably be sensible.

egg tempera

2008-09-22T22:22:00.000+10:00

What else have I been doing? I've playing with egg tempera at a workshop day. It was fun, and one day when I magically have more time I'll try again with a better idea of what technique to use. (sorry the second shot is so dark that you can't see detail easily - it reflects too much with the flash).

Timeline of construction of a pair of Hose

2008-09-22T22:17:00.001+10:00

Months ago in February, (I admit, I've been slack about posting) I decided I wanted lots of pairs of hose for Rowany festival, since that part of my wardrobe was lacking (only 2 pairs for 4 days! and one of those thick wool.) I'm getting pretty good at hose by now, given that I've been using the same pattern each time. So I decided to time how long it took to construct a pair. Or to be more precise I constructed one first to check the fit in the particular fabric (it changes slightly each time), and the exact way I was doing the hose, and then timed the second one of the pair.

Construction, Pattern, stitching technique
I've been making copies of the 14th Century Hose from MOL because I think they are the same pattern as 12thC ones for reasons I'll describe in a post soon.

I decide to experiment with a couple of things on this pair. Firstly, I've found the rear seam to be quite weak (running stitch as described on the London hose snapped on the second wear in linen on linen on another pair), and the transition around the seam at the heel difficult. I wondered why the seam used on the foot didn't simply extend up the back of the leg. I guess it would be inelegant in wool with raw edges showing, but in linen all my edges were contained anyway. I tried this method (see pictures to left), and in linen it works just as well, maybe slightly better than the other method. The transition at the heel is slightly tricky, but it's even trickier in linen with double folds changing from this seam to flat felled apart seams.

I chose to make a decorative hem using herringbone stitch on this pair of hose. The pictures to the right show the inside (decorative so it will look prettiest when turned over) and outside (plain) top hems. I have no evidence for this type of hem for this period, or on hose. It just is used on hems elsewhere and when and was pretty.

The last is a shot of how I handle the top of the vamp (top of the arch of the foot). This is a slight adaption for the linen versus a wool that doesn't need hemming. The picture is mostly there to show how I do this.

Timeline
These hose were constructed on my way to work, sitting at the bus stop, on the train, at the train station, and so there was a lot of stopping and starting and a little unpicking. I probably could have made these slightly quicker under optimum conditions.

So here is my construction progress in pictorial form:

I think the decorative hem took longer than a simple line of backstitching as seem in the London hose would have. But the white linen thread on purple linen fabric is pretty.

An apron

2008-05-31T19:15:00.002+10:00

Just for a change, I've made something not 12th C based.
But to be honest it's mainly because I have no evidence of what was used in the 12th Century as aprons, and I was a little inspired by some early 15th Century pictures I'd seen.

Here's a butcher and another trader (baker?) from the picture. The manuscript is a few added pages to a copy of Romance of Alexander, it's actually "Marco Polo, Li Livres du Graunt Caam, in French prose, with miniatures by Johannes and his school."England c. 1400 (MS. Bodl. 264). To see more (but not higher resolution unfortunately - these are really small): from the bodlein library index page select view all, and scroll down to folio 218 recto. Zoom in to the marketplace (big red blob on the left) and see the aprons worn by the traders in context, with the 3rd trader in an apron (partly concealed) too.

On reflection (I didn't have the pictures with me when constructing this) I think mine is much too large compared to the illustrations, but it does work quite nicely. There's a better reconstruction on the medcos forum. It's also possible these aprons don't have ties on them, that they simple sit under the belt. Somethign about the way the fabric gathers up a little suggests this to me.

If you are interested in apron designs in general, may I recommend karen larsdatter's aprons links page. You'll notice that nearly all the aprons are styles that are tied around the waist with nothing above the waist, but if you check out her blacksmith's aprons page, you'll find a few aprons like this, namely:

Nature at her forge, Roman de la Rose (Bibl. Sainte-Geneviève, MS 1126, fol. 115), c. 1350-1360

Some of the smiths in the Mendel Hausbuch, including a farrier (1467),

You can however wear this apron in that manner by simply tucking the small triangle above the ties in behind the rest of the apron like gwynfor did with this apron at festival. you'll also notice that nearly all the aprons are white - which I'm assuming means linen, easy to bleach. I'm substituting ramie which has a similar stiffness to linen, for a fraction of the price.

So making this up out of nowhere, here's the experimental cutting plan I tried:

The pattern is quite simple - square (as in equal length all sides) of fabric and some ties. The ties could be strips of fabric or something firmer (that needs no sewing) like twill tape. My ties are about 1m long each - mainly because this is the width of the fabric I had available. They are more than long enough for this job, but not so long they tangle or drag on the ground.

I've used letters rather than numbers for the measurements because I think of how I made this apron as a method, rather than a pattern - like T-tunics, I prefer to craft things to the wearers measurements. So measurement A is the width of material I had handy, in this case 105cm, the width I cut my square to. I then turned my square around 45 degrees until it resembled a diamond, and pinned one of the corners high on my chest (just below where I pin my keyhole necklines closed) using a pennanular broach. I marked out where just above my waist sat on this rectangle (B - 40cm for me). This is the point where I attached the ties, simply sewing them to the edges of the fabric at this point. The last step was to trim off the bottom point of the diamond. I chose to try my apron on, and get a friend to mark out my desired apron length (slightly longer than the sides, but shorter than my ankle length dress) with a pin in the centre (length C). I then turned this into a pleasing curve to cut off.

Because this was experimental and made the night before leaving for rowany festival (our big camping event), I didn't bother to neaten the edges, hem or in any way finish this garment, and hardly anyone noticed. The lack of finishing didn't detract from the garment's usefullness. Now that it has been washed, it is starting to fray, and i must choose to finish the edges or make a new one (maybe even to annother design). I say this because others may wish to quickly make an apron at some stage, or to make enough aprons for helpers at an event, and this seems a fairly quick way to make disposable aprons. Of course I'm sure that that isn't the medieval approach - they would have carefully finished edges to ensure the durability of the garment.

What have I been doing lately? beading

2008-01-01T16:23:00.000+11:00

Well I've discovered a fairly good way to do beading on the train. Couching pre-strung beads. And using fake parchment (real vellum donations welcome) provides a stiff base so you don't need a frame to keep a taut background.

I've discovered this also makes a good introductory or beginner project, as long as the person has basic stitching skills (anti tangling skills especially). I've done this at a demo now, and several people had fun with it - quick and colourful.

historical background:
Grizel's website has some great links to medieval beading. She unearthed the pieces that got me started on beading on parchment.
This set of pieces in particular, and this one are on parchment.

By contrast this cap is on a linen base.

Most pieces I do not know if they are on parchment, linen or some other background. Some pieces that might work well in parchment, but could equally well be on fabric are for example beaded chests, or boxes, or cups.

my first piece:
I chose the form of a decorative roundel as it is a shape that is used quite small, and one we see in period tapestries and embroideries particularly. The pattern is a simple geometric, in a style I'm sure I've seen in Romanesque art, but I can't point you to a picture today.

It sure looks impressive from here, and is a faster technique than many methods of embroidery. I think I've already said I did this on the train, but I'll just confirm, that once beads were strung, this was one of the most portable projects I've ever done. (The buttons being the only slightly more portable thing).

technique
I read somewhere (probably on Grizel's site or mailing list) that beads were generally couched in period, and that is why long strings of them fall off so easily. They also fall off when helped by humans, generally in order of their resale value, but that still would be unlikely to happen in the same way if each bead was individually sewn on in the way many of us would think to sew on beads otherwise.

I haven't he expertise to disagree with this statement (and reputable books that truly cover medieval beading are few and far between), and indeed what small evidence I've seen suggests a lot of the large scale beading was done this way. (I'm sorry if this sounds like doubting people, but I try to doubt everything including my own assumptions, so I'm noting this really to say I need to provide better evidence, not that others whose evidence I haven't seen isn't correct.)

fine points of technique
When I first started trying this I couched the beads down every 7th bead or so. And I was having trouble controlling the exact placement of the beads. Then I saw this fragment of a beading.
This piece has some beads removed -probably the more precious blue lapis based on the handful of remaining beads. I've reconstructed where beads might have sat based on the size of the lapis beads elsewhere on the piece. Based on this size there are generally 4, sometimes 3 beads between tie downs. But if this section wasn't lapis beads, and instead something as big as the coral beads, there might only be 2-3 beads per tie down.

Tieing down the beads every couple of beads in the tricky bits was much easier.

When I came to a corner in the pattern my instinct was to try and use smaller beads to better fill the gap. This meant that I was threading on only a few beads at a time before couching them down. But in the longer parts I was threading up long strings of beads before couching them and I could have used pre strung beads or a necklace as my string. I wonder how medieval beaders handled this? Did they pre-string all their beads (you loose less that way)? Did they individually thread beads as they couched? Did their beads have as much size variation as the cheap glass beads I was using? I doubt I can answer that question with certainty as it is likely some beaders worked one way and some another, but can I see any evidence for any of these questions in medieval beading works?

This piece is unravelling square by square, rather than by colour. But the inticate geometric pattern of the squares would make it difficult to fill in single beads of different colours, quite different style from the outlined large pieces that are more common. But it does argue for some pieces that are individually strung.
On this piece Jen/Grizel notes that "and the technique is more like cross stitch or Victorian needlepoint in the design NOT like the flowing couchwork of the Germans. Straight lines, not contoured ones." I think this is similar to the above piece, and both probably stitch down all colours with the same thread.
This piece has a diversity of bead sizes (within each colour) similar to my cheap seed beads. It also has one spot (pictured right) where a smaller blue bead has been squeezed into a corner, but nearly none of the other spots do this, so it could be a coincidence.

Finally the prevalence of small metal plaques - note the small gap with thread showing in the middle. I could have avoided it but it would have been difficult. But if I'd had a metal plaque to put in the middle, I could have been a fairly mediocre beader and you wouldn't have a gap in the middle.

Austrian Dress - a reality. Itteration 2.

2007-10-18T16:11:00.000+10:00

Note: This has been sitting in the drafts folder waiting for me to tidy a few edges on it. Please read it as written about a month ago.

Well I've sewn up all the construction seams on the garment and here's how it looks:
In fact I've worn it to it's first event (with safety pinned hem), and danced in it, so I got a feel for how comfortable it was to move in. Of course then I wore it over a chemise, not my mundane clothes. (please ignore the silly faces, I dislike photos, and haven't the knack of doing poses yet.)

Lessons learnt

fabric stiffness
This fabric is very stiff, much stiffer than anything I've worked with before. (even the pvc, but that's got nothing to do with medieval sewing). But that's good because I expect some of the gold brocades available in period were very stiff, and so this may be more accurate for this style. Maybe. Any readers care to comment?

Skirt width - with two gores was too wide. It was nice to dance in, but sat out quite stiffly, and as you can see in the photo, doesn't much look like the manuscripts.

They might have had flowier fabric, but perhaps they just had narrower skirts - after all it saves fabric that way.

So here two pictures with the skirts pinned in narrower. The first uses only one pair of side gores rather than two. The second uses only half the width of one of those gores.

I think what is portrayed in the manuscripts, while it vary's a bit, falls between these points in general. Except the odd really skinny shirt which does look more like the second photo. At any rate I hate cutting down perfectly good gores, so I'm going to convert the skirts to one gore each side for this weekends bal d'argent (I do want enough width to dance too), and make a final decision about narrower or not later, when I'm ready to put on the hem trim.

skirt length
I estimated skirt length based on the distance above the ground the hems appeared to sit in many illustrations, marked that on an existing garment and cut it that much shorter. And that is about the right length unbelted. But add a belt, flop the dress over the belt a bit, and it's much too high. I've seen one illustration this short, but only one (and I still think that one is a bit strange).

Investigating the manuscripts again, the majority are wearing belts , mostly with the dress flopped over the waist section of he belt, and only dangling ends showing or even just the fold in the dress showing. Look how much shorter the dress is. It's about twice the distance above the ground that I think is an average distance of a hem in this style. So if I had enough fabric to make this floor length, I'd expect the hem to sit where I want it when belted and puffed over the belt. This would be a very practical way of keeping your skirts clean (chemises would be easier to wash), so it's easy to see how this could originate as practical then transfer to fashion.

I do feel justified in using the shorter length dress though - there is at least one example that clearly is unbelted and has a dress that is shorter than the chemise and, annother that is less clear, but suggests no belt. And that was with just a quick check - I'm sure I'd find more in just the examples I've posted to this blog.

Sleeves
I'm not happy with the sleeves. Firstly the bicep seam sits a bit far down the bicep. The photo below shows how the sleeves look hitched up at the shoulder a bit, so the bicep sleeve sits higher up. Compare with the above photos. Actually I can't see the difference in the photos really, so I guess that makes me a perfectionist. No surprises there, but I'll shorten that upper sleeve panel when i get a chance.

The lower sleeves are also being a problem. I think the flare at the top of the sleeve is not working in such a stiff fabric. I experimented with halving the width of the flare, and I like the effect better in this stiff fabric(See photo with narrowest skirt). Maybe I'll play with belled sleeves again next time I use silk or fine wool.

postscript - after bal d'argent:
wear testing
Well the skirt width worked ok. The flared sleeves were occasionally awkward during the English country dances, but then flared sleeves always are - that's what happens when you wear clothing from 400 years earlier than the dances. The dress looked good, I felt more prettified up. I didn't get time to work on the sleeves, so I still have to do that.

Also decoration - others might not be able to see how the dress looks far too plain still without all it's trim, but I can. Compare with this picture, which is one of my main inspirations for decoration locations. It might be time to start sewing on some decoration now that I know the body panels aren't changing, even if the sleeves still need work. At least that is handsewing work - it might get done a lot earlier than macine sewing work with me, because I can just work on it for 10 minutes.

Austrian Dress - a reality. Iteration 1

2007-10-17T18:39:00.000+10:00

Note: This has been sitting in the drafts folder waiting for me to tidy a few edges on it. Please read it as written about a 5 weeks ago.

It's time to stop musing over what could be and start sewing. My old court dresses are falling apart, and I've had fabric waiting for me for a couple of years now I think. (12th Night Coldstream I won it at). A lovely purple cotton with yellow flower motif at regular intervals. Not bad for a first draft, and purple is my favourite colour, one I regret is rather difficult to obtain cheap fabric for garb in. The fabric is only cm by cm, rather smaller than I usually use for a dress, but it should be enough for the tighter shorter Austrian styles I've been looking at.

I'm going to machine sew this garment because:

it's cotton, not some particularly authentic fabric
it's very stiff and not easy to pierce
I want this finished for the bal d'Argent, which is real soon now.

Cutting plan
After much musing, I produced a layout and cutting plan for my fabric:

The slant of the sleeves is exaggerated a bit here, and my sense of proportion isn't perfect, but the layout is more about making my cutting ideas easily apparent than a realistic representation, where smaller angles may be missed. Where distances haven't been marked on the cutting plan, assume symmetry of distances and angles. The gore width was based on what I could fit from the fabric. I haven't reproduced how to fit this on the fabric as no-one else will have the same size piece of fabric as me anyway. Just for future interest though, my fabric was 136x227cm, and I had about enough for 4 pouches spare (probably would have had less if not for overmeasuring a piece, then correcting.)

Sleeve head - I wanted to try some ideas from many of the albs I've seen - using slanted body panel pieces where the sleeves meet instead of gussets to give freedom of movement.

Having cut out my shapes (and discovered I cut the lower sleeves wrong - the above is the corrected version), I wanted to check how it would work. I machine basted (tacked) together upper sleeves and body piece.

I basted down each side from the top of the shoulder, and by this method the slant of the sleeves (which changes direction at the shoulder) wasn't too hard to sew neatly. Then I basted the sleeves closed with nice straight lines.

I tried this on, and thought it left too much bulk around the underarm. So I then turned the garment inside out and pinned on my body (then basted) a curving section out on the front of the vertical seam attaching sleeve to body panel. I didn't do the same on the back, to allow more room to move my arms.

Below is a comparison of the modified (left) and unmodified (right) sleeve heads. Yes, the difference is rather slight, but the modified sleeve feels less bulky too.

I like the more fitted version better, so that's what I'll use on the final product. There should be a little less bulk when I finish all the seams and trim the excess fabric and sewn the seams down flat.

Bicep
I also narrowed the width at the bicep - I want this relatively tight.

This resulted in a more rapidly curving profile rather more like those on the Alb of St Benhard of Utterecht (note the subtle slant of the sleeve inset), and a little like those of the famous blue dalmatic of Roger II. (The fabric is rucking up a little and not making a graceful curve because I haven't trimmed all the seams inside yet.)

Now, only one easy way to test the dress - wear it.

Parma Tarts

2007-08-21T00:33:00.000+10:00

What do you do when friends get sick and can't run a feast? When you find out the menu is only half planned? Why take the worry off their hands, 50 hours before the first remove is due to be served. I think I did quite well, the food was only a bit late, I only ruined one dish, and the shopping was only slightly over budget. There was lots of food (in an emergency I'd rather err on the side of over catering), and judging from comments, I managed to make it all tasty. I'm blessed with living in a shire where every third person seems to be a cooking laurels or cook's guild master, so I had high standards in taste and authenticity, and also the best helpers on the planet. (There's no way the feast could have happened without so many selfless and experienced helpers).

If I'd had an extra 24 hours, I would have been able to draw up a detailed plan of what happened in the kitchen when, and a better list of equipment I wanted to borrow. And I would have been able to do more pre-prep than peel a few carrots and onions. I think then I'd have managed to get the second remove out the hour earlier that I'd intended. (It was still early enough to not be particularly noticed though I think)

Anyway, I'm going to call it a roaring success, especially at job interviews. Actually 2 weeks later I'm still feeling proud. And I'd still like to thank everyone, especially the Friday rescue crew, and a certain friend who managed without her partner while she was feeling miserable.

The feature dish of the first service was the Parma tarts. Since I had a request at the feast, and I'd like my notes to be available to me later (this is a recipe I'd like to try again) here is the recipe semi-redaction I made. The feature dish of the second remove - the cheese tarts- you'll have to ask Estienne for. (although I know it was much more popular than the parma tarts)

Parma Tarts At the feast
Gwir prepared the lovely parma tarts you tasted at the feast. It must have been quite a challenge working without the chance to taste to dish before it was served, nor to improve the dish with a second cooking. Several compromises had to made made in terms of cost, time and ingredient and cooking vessel availability. I'd love to try this recipe again, maybe with the gilding and wafers.

I do not claim this to be a full redaction - there are no exact quantities of spices or explanations of how to make pastry or how much is required. This is just a rendering of a medieval recipe into the type of notes I'd cook directly from. I cannot give you the exact recipe Gwir used, as I doubt she took the time to write down what she did. But I can give you the notes I made that she worked from. And given that each master cook cooks differently anyway, hopefully those notes will be enough for most of you.

The recipe
This recipe is mainly taken from "Du fait de cuisine" (Savoy, Burgandy 1420), from the online version translated by Elizabeth Cook. This seemed most appropriate as Savoy appears to have been part of Burgandy at this time, and it was quite close to the year of the feast 1453.

Scroll down a little from here to find the Parma tart recipe. Also from the same recipe book is parma tarts of fish and nurriz pastries, which are similar recipes.

The text of the original is quite long and unusually detailed for a medieval recipie. So first I transcribed Master Chiquart's original recipe into ingredients and method. (And he must have been able to teach me a few things about running a feast kitchen - what a big feast this must have been.)

ingredients:
salt pork from 3 or 4 pigs,
300 salted pigeons (salted as in boiled in salt water)
200 salted very young chickens or capons
600 salted small birds
lots of lard
6 pounds each figs, dates, pine nuts, prunes, diced (to raisin size)
8 pounds raisins
Large bowlful parsley with leaves torn up a bit, then chopped finely
sage, hyssop, marjoram "in measure", chopped finely
a quintail of best available Crampone or Brie Cheese, cut small,
600 eggs
spices (in mesure) - white ginger, fine powder, grains of paradise,
saffron (for colour), cloves
lots of sugar
2-3000 sugared wafers
washed leaves of spinach or white chard
banners with devices of lord present

method:
1. Saute birds and pork lightly in lard, keeping them separated. Finely chop pork and add herbs.
2. Bray cheese in a mortar, continue braying while gradually add eggs. (Bray: pound; rub; grind; pound in a mortar)
3. Over a hot fire, cook pork in the lard remaining from step 1
4. wash dried fruits & pine nuts in water then white wine, set to drain and dry
5. throw drained fruits into pork, stir well
6. add cheese & egg, while braying strongly, then remove from heat
7. stirring continuously, add spices then lots of sugar
8. grease ceramic pans or dishes with lard
9. put layer of wafers into base of dishes, 4-5 thick
10. put filling on top of wafers
11. put the various birds on top of the filling, distributing fairly evenly
12. put more filling on top of this, then another layer of wafers (same thickness as before)
13. cover top of tart (wafers) with cold lard
14. place tart in hot oven. If wafers begin to burn, place leaves of spinach or chard on top to prevent this.
15. remove tarts from oven and scrape off all burned bits
16. place on fine serving dishes and decorate with gold leaf in the pattern of a chessboard
17. sprinkle powdered sugar on top
18. serve with a small banner of the device of each lord to whom it will be served

Next I attempted to quantify the medieval weights and measures. I was in quite a hurry (remember those 50 hours) so I didn't reference what internet sources I used to translate the terms (and to estimate the weight of a pig). Given an assumption of 1 chicken per large tart, the following quantities per tart result (/200).

ingredients
650g salt pork
1.5 salted pigeons (salted as in boiled in salt water)
1 salted very young chickens or capons
3 salted small birds
lots of lard
14g each figs, dates, pine nuts, prunes, diced (to raisin size)
18g raisins
approx 1 cup parsley
a few leaves? sage, hyssop, marjoram (to taste)
225g of best available Crampone or Brie Cheese
3 eggs
spices to taste
lots of sugar
10-15 sugared wafers

Here are a few of my assumptions:

assuming figs are dried as accompanying other dried fruits
I think the raisins he talks so may be more like muscatels - sultana sized but closer to a raisin taste.
talk of powdering sugar - therefore expect it to be cone or loaf sugar, either brown sugar or more expensive white refined sugar. Since this isn't a confectionery use, I'll assume brown would suffice.
internet says quintail ="A hundredweight, either 112 or 100 pounds," but this is much later than this era, so may be different
internet suggests a marketable pig at 300-500pounds. guessing pork after removing fat, head, hocks, bones at say 70% of weight = 280 pounds, 130kg
cooking temperature and length - similar to you favourite way of doing ember day tart.

These quantities seem quite reasonable to me, judging from other medieval pies I've made. I think the method above combined with this ingredient list actually makes a fair recipie. Thankyou to Master Chiquart.

Finally I made a few alterations for the feast:

these quantities are for many tarts, scaled it down to one tart per table, although there was probably one tart per noble and retainers.
leaving out cheese, for cost, and allergy catering reasons
leaving out pigeons & small birds for cost and obtainability reasons, used extra chicken (ideally twice as much). The chicken used was breasts as modern people aren't used to bones in a pie, and are likely to choke. It would be nice to try the tarts with pigeon, capon and quail one day.
parma tarts of fish uses a pastry crust, but not wafers, so simpler versions are obviously possible. The wafer's didn't get bought, so pastry was used.
Our meat wasn't salted. As we moderns aren't used to such salty meat (we have fridges), I recommended to perhaps add only a little salt to mixture to compensate.

Comparison
After I had completed this, I found another recipe for Parma tarts, this time in
Le Viandier de Taillevent (France c1395). This one (which is earlier and a little less elaborate) uses less fruit, but also interestingly a pastry crust. I draw from these three recipies that the essential portions of a Parma tart are:

main ingredient = meat (unless it specifically states otherwise eg parma tart of fish)
shell should be decorative
it's decorated, often with banners and gilded
it's a smaller personal pie, rather than a large one
it's taller than average
there should be some layering of meats
it should be well spiced and may have added dried fruits

Interestingly as I look now (after the feast) I find more mentions of Parma Tarts. I'd be interested if anyone comes across any other versions of this tart in their travels.

buttons

2007-07-28T01:20:00.001+10:00

I was investigating how to make turk's head buttons, when I ran across this nice site that describes how to make some buttons in other techniques.
Here's my ribbed button (sorry the photos are so dark):

It's pretty simple to make, just time consuming. Take a bead, and some embroidery or perle coton threaded in a blunt tapestry needle. The hole needs to be moderately big, but I found the holes on these beads a little too big (about 3mm in a 9mm bead) making it harder for me to fill up the gap at the end. Tie a knot around the bead. Move the knot to the end of the bead, and then wrap around the bead 5 or so more times, from hole to hole. These are your ribs.Don't pull them too tight or too loose, or it will get difficult later.
Now work perpendicular to these ribs, slipping the needle under a rib, then pass the thread over the rib, and back under the rib lower down the rib. Pull this tight, and poke it as high up on the bead as possible. Do the same on the next rib, and so on until the bead is covered. You can save a step by passing under two ribs at a ime once you gt the hang of things. Make a few stitches freehand at the end to neaten up the end. If you have a large hole like me, you'll need more, with a smaller hole a simple knot (eg french knot) might suffice.

I found a different way to make the even weave button. Here's my finished product:

This version is woven. It sits tighter and neater than the other version (assuming both use a solid core). I don't think this is any harder to make than the ribbed button, and is slightly quicker too. I prefer the elegance of the single colour version, but the multi colour version displays where the threads go better for instruction purposes, and could be cute for some uses.
Start by making a lot of ribs around the bead, the same as the ribbed button, but many more ribs. I prefer enough ribs that the bead is mostly covered, without overlapping. Make sure you have a number of ribs that is a multiple of 3 for your first bead.
Now point your needle perpendicular (tangential) to the ribs and pass it under 3 adjacent ribs. Pass over the top of the next 3 ribs, under the next 3 and so on. When you return to the start, repeat this pattern over and under the same ribs for 3 more turns. Then the following turn, pass the thread under 6 ribs, before resuming this pattern of 3 over, 3 under. After 3 more circuits of the bead, pass the thread under 6 ribs again, and your stitches should be the same as in the first row. Continue until the bottom of the bead, then finish the end with a few stitches if needed.

This bead is worked as a 3 by 3 weave, I think this is a nice looking balance for the thread and bead size. It could be worked in other weaves eg 1 by 1, 2 by 2 , 5 by 5, 3 by 2, etc. Anyway, for the 3 by 3 weave, to look nicest you need a multiple of 3 ribs. Counting might work, but I find it easiest to begin weaving the first row and then if needed add an extra rib or two (using the other end of the string which I've left deliberately long) just before I finish my first lap of the bead, when it's easy to count how many ribs I have. Annother option is to simply have a group of 2 or 4 ribs that sits slightly unsymetrical, but barely noticeable.

tabletweaving equipement report

2007-07-18T20:06:00.000+10:00

Well I've finished a tubular threaded in tabletweaving project, and a flat threaded in piece (report soon) and I was trying a few new pieces of tabletweaving equipment, so a report on how well the various bits worked.

Silk thread
I used 60/2 silk from the Handweavers Studio. Actually I used 2 varieties of 60/2 silk and one of 90/3 silk. What do those numbers mean? Well the first number is a rating of how many km to the kg or some imperial equivalent, so bigger numbers mean smaller threads. Since different fibres are different, this number will only work to compare silk to silk, but suffice it to say 60/2 is very small, about the thickness of ordinary sewing machine thread. The second number is the number of plies - how many threads were combined together to make the thread. 2 is a common number now as in medieval times.

90/3 is roughly equivalent in size to 60/2, which is why I used it with the other threads. I really didn't like this thread. It didn't behave like the 60/2 threads, it snapped easier (a weft thread snapping!) and deplies easier and snarls easier when i try and embroider with it. It might be plied in a different direction to the others, or it might be individual thinner threads or something, but this one gave me the irrits.

The 60/2 threads worked like a dream on the tubular band. They didn't snap under the strain, they didn't abrade, snag or have lumpy bits. The fineness wasn't a big problem, just made overall weaving time take longer. The silk is harsher than other fibres, and harder on the hands. I almost got a blister from tugging the weft tight (I was tugging it tighter than normal because this project was tubular). On the second flat piece, the 60/2 silk snapped quite a few times. The snapping partially depended how high a tension I was working at. I think I'd prefer to work with thicker or stronger thread most of the time, but I'd be happy enough to do more work with this thread, especially at lower tension.

Parchment cards
I bought these last festival. These particular ones are octagonal shaped with 4 holes.

The octagonal shape didn't work well for 4 hole weaving. the cards would slip 1/8th of a turn out of alignment, and on such small cards it was hard to stop them doing so. Octagonal cards might be ok for 8 holed work, but are silly for 4 holed. I want some square holed cards now.

The size is much smaller than I've worked with before, but this wasn't much of a problem. The cards slipped around the edges more easily, but i think with square cards it would be manageable. The threads didn't get caught on the edges of the cards, nor flip over them. It was easier to turn the cards one handed, or with less help from the second hand. The shed was smaller, but manageable. Probably not very good for learners unless they are determined. I ended up keeping the cards closer to the weaving than I normally do, which made locating the shed easier. I was pleasantly surprised at how easily I worked with cards this size, since I'd previously preferred cards twice the size. I think the smaller cards were better for working with the finer materials. Things might be different if I go back to coarse fibres.

The parchment handled well. It was nicely stiff but flexible, subtly better than the cardboard I've used before. The silk didn't noticeably abrade the parchment, nor did the parchment noticeably abrade the silk. That's good - I want the cards to last a while, but I don't want the threads to be cut up. A couple of other people mentioned at the last monthly bash having cards from the same manufacturer and their cards warping in mild humidity. I haven't had this problem, but I haven't had my cards exposed to humidity either. I might also be at an advantage - working with a fine thread might strain the cards less - the others mentioned working with fatter threads and more cards and having the cards curl a bit from the bulk of thread.

Warp spreader
As far as I know, I have a unique warp spreader. It's an extremely simple idea I thought up and made based on what I'd seen in period illustrations of band looms. I'll write up the details real soon now. This is my warp spreader's first trial in it's job and it worked just fine. I was worried about the huge quantities of beeswax I poked into the holes, but they worked fine and the threads didn't get waxy feeling. The threads weren't abraded by the spreader either that I could see, even though I had it at pretty high tension occasionally. This still needs to be tested with a weaker thread than silk though.

The warp spreader sat upright on the threads by itself, as long as my tension was moderate. The warp spreader helped keep my cards separated from each other - they never flipped over each other once. The spreader did reduce the amount of space I could work when weaving - I need a longer loom to make this practical. When the weaving got too close to the spreader, the cards floated separate from each other, making them harder to turn as a pack. Partly to combat this I worked with my cards closer to the weaving than i normally do. I think this is more in line with how period manuscripts display weaving.

I found I could adjust tension a little by tilting my warp spreader from the vertical towards the horizontal in the plane of the weaving. But I also found I could tilt the whole warp up and down the loom on a gentle diagonal to adjust my overall tension too, and that this generally was more effective and easier to adjust.

The warp spreader worked nicely and I think it looks just like in the pictures. (and yes my feet are on top of the bottom support strut of my loom) A success!

KB76F21

The Hague, KB, 76 F 21

Book of Hours (use of Paris)

Paris; c. 1400-1410

Fol. 14r

Mary weaving in the temple

Looking at the large sword beaters in the above pictures has given me another idea that I've been considering. They could be just exaggerated size, but what if that is real size? Why would anyone want such a large and heavy cumbersome object when the small beater I have works fine? And why are they shown holding the beater in the warp as they drop the bobbin through. That could be artistic license too - showing all stages of weaving at once to give an impression rather than a snapshot. For that matter, why is the bobbin shown so large - it must be tricky to get through the shed.

My tentative hypothesis: If you have a narrow shed from small cards, and a wide sword beater, you can turn the sword beater sideways and make the shed as wide as your sword beater. Now you can drop bobbins through easily if they are bigger than your cards, as long as they are smaller than the width of your sword beater.

Opinions? Anyone tried this out? I need to make/obtain a wide sword beater and a fat bobbin to do so myself.

wire rings

2007-07-18T17:43:00.002+10:00

Some of you might have seen my wire rings by now. I'm fascinated by medieval wire jewelry because it's so simple to make with few tools, and looks cool. I've taught making these with stripped copper electrical wire, and was able to briefly explain the context, and get people to make rings and even the slowest was complete within 45 minutes. I can't think of many other medieval mini projects that can be taught on such a short timescale without the teacher doing a lot of preparation work.

Here's my latest collection (in silver so they could be donated as silver rondell tokens):
These are based on an brass wire example from late 13th- early 14th C London, as described in "Dress Accessories".

The original piece is rather carelessly made, with less care to where the wire sits than I now show. They did take care to make sure the ends of the wire pointed outwards, rather than into the finger though.

I've been playing with the subtle changes you can make to the pattern. Here are some closeups as examples.(Sorry the closeup photos are dark, otherwise the reflection off the wire is too much with my primitive photography setup).

With lots of twists close together:With one twist separated by wide gaps:
With two twists separated by gaps:With three twists separated by gaps:
Note that the one-two-three twists represent the first three passes of the neatest way to make these rings - by making multiple passes around the ring. At first I thought it would be better to make all the twists in one pass around the ring, but that doesn't work well in wire. The medieval example though, only makes one pass around the ring - it just doesn't add many twists.

And here's a few experiments (not at all based on medieval precedent), that I did just for fun:

A new tent picture!

2007-07-18T14:56:00.000+10:00

Great news - Bildindex now has an English option - click on the union jack flag on the front page

While I was looking on bildindex for a better copy of a 12th C manuscript I know has tents and lamps and sidesaddles and all manner of interesting stuff in it, I found an earlier single bell tent:

f45. Abraham and the 3 angels
Prudentius Manuscript
St Gallen Abbey, Switzerland, 10th C
(Bern Stadtsbibliothek, Cod.264)

Araham's wife has some snazzy clothes too.

As far as I can tell, It's not listed here or here or here, so I think I might have found a depiction hardly anyone knows about.

Here's what I was actually looking for (unfortunately only one page of many so far):
f143 - Biblical figures (Noah, Abraham, Moses, David), centre- Freidrich Barbarosa & sons, bottom - Freidrich on crusade
Petrus de Ebulo, "de rebus Sicilianis carmen"
Salerno, Sicily, c1195
(Bern Burgerbibliothek Cod.120)

I'd love to get my hands on a complete copy of the illustrations of this. Looks like latrobe uni might have something in German.

Other Tents also found while searching:
http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/ch00033f08a.jpg
A 15thC tent and annother from
Schilling's Bern Chronicles 1480's
For more pages (without tents), search bildindex - place Switzerland, Bern, Stadt, Geschicte, allgemeine.

Aachen Cathedral Treasury - Part 2: Stole with brickwork

2007-07-02T00:18:00.001+10:00

In the previous post, I've done a rough listing of medieval reenactor interesting contents of Aachen Cathedral, now to my first highlight from a 12th C perspective:

Stole
"stole, Germany? c1200. silk? (w 11cm, l 265cm)"
The stole and mantiple, I found about a year ago while looking for belts. The centre section is a lovely typical example of goldwork (underside couching I think) at it's best. But it's the ends that fascinate. Firstly both end with a fringe which passes through beads before hanging as a fringe. Simple, but very effective, and clearly shown in the photos. Secondly, the Stole has an end section of brickstitch. This is the earliest example of the style I've ever seen. It doesn't look like a later addition, and the rest of the piece looks very typical for 1200 (to my untutored eye), so maybe the labelling is correct, and it truly is a very early piece. It doesn't have the devices or non-geometric motifs of later pieces, but the piece is so small that they wouldn't fit easily. The pattern is geometric, but more complex to count out and stitch than it initially appears.

I've graphed it out. On the left is my interpretation of the overall pattern. On the right, I've overlaid it on the original photograph (over the section which sits flattest). I stretched the pattern a little to do so, but did not distort it in any other way. Below is my best guess at where the individual stitches might have been placed. It's based on the layouts of other brickstitch items given in "A Stitch out of Time" since I'm already squinting to see the pattern the colours make. (and I don't have a higher resolution photo). Be sure to click on the image to make it large enough to read. The sharp edges represent how I think the edges were stitched, the soft edges represent places where the pattern continues similarly.

Given the width of 11cm, and my estimate of 4x24=96 stitches we can also estimate stitch density as about 8.7 stitches per cm. I've left a little grid on a section of my pattern, and the squares of this grid would be 8.7stitches/cm or 1.1mm wide squares. I talk about stitch width because stitch length varies. Also the original fabric may not be woven completely evenly in warp and weft, but the embroiderer has compensated well, or it is quite good as there is no apparent elongation of the pattern.

Aachen Cathedral Treasury - Part 1: Catalogue

2007-06-29T15:32:00.001+10:00

Bildindex (more properly Marburg Photo Archive) now supports English language. Well sort of - there's still a of of german in there, but less than before. Look for union jack flag to the left to switch languges.

Thanks to a link elsewhere, I was made aware of the awesome stuff in the Aachen Cathedral treasury, so today's topic is a summary of the contents that bildindex has photos of. I'll post about a few of my highlights in subsequent posts.

To look at the photos, select 'places' from the top bar. Now on the left bar, select the following sequence of folders: Aachen > Öffentliche Sammlungen > Domschatz (cathedral)
and within that are subfolders. Below is a listing of what's there (I may have missed a piece of two, but nearly everything). You'll be sure to find something to facinate you.

I've also added links to webpages with colour photos of individual objects. One in particular worth mentioning, for it's high resolution and range is artserv and it's section for the cathedral treasury. (I find it works better under IE than mozilla).

Summary (by subcategory):
>Malerei (paintings)

Mary and child, Ungarn, before 1367
falkstein Portable altar, Aachen, 1401/1415,
Wenzel Portable altar, Prag, 1467/1500
Aachener Marientafeln, Meister der Aachener Marientafeln, c1485 (many pictures)
Der Aachener Altar / Passionstriptychon, Meister des Aachener Altars, 1515/1520 (many pictures)

>sculptur (sculpture)

crucifix, Nideggen, 1060/1070
statue of Mary, Aachen, c1280 [artserv1], [2], [3], [4]
statue of Mary and donor, Niederrhein, um 1330 [artserv1], [2], [3]

>Schreine (shrines)

Felixschrein - 14thC gilded silver & silversheets. (h23cm, l 50cm w22.5cm) . Pictures: mi00007c07a-mi00007c08a, mi03344f10a- mi03344f11a
Karlsschrein (Charlemange shrine)- 1200-1215 Aachen , gilded silver and enamelled copper. Pictures: mi00007c09a-mi00007c14a, mi00007d01a-mi00007d14a, mi00007e01a-mi00007e14a, mi00007f01a-mi00007f14a, mi00007g01a-mi00007g10a, mi03344f12a- mi03344f14a, mi03344g01a- mi03344g04a, mi09141i12a-mi09141i13a, [search for Aachen]
Marienschrien -1220-1238 Aachen. Oak, gilded silver and enamelled copper. (h 95 cm, w 54 cm, l 184 cm). Pictures: mi00007g11a-mi00007g14a, mi00008a01a-mi00008a14a, mi00008b01a-mi00008b14a, mi00008c01a-mi00008c14a, mi00008d01a-mi00008d14a, mi00008e01a-mi00008e14a, mi03344g05a- mi03344f14a, mi03345a01a- mi03345a05a, mi09141i14a, mi09141j01a-mi09141j04a

Reliquiare (reliquaries)

Reliquary of Anastasius Byzantine Emporer, 986/1015, [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9]
Crucifix & reliquary of charlemange, 1101/1200?, gilded silver
St Simeons reliquiary, Aachen 1330/1340 [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5]
disc Reliquiary for a flabellum (huge eclesiastical fan), Vienna?, c1350 [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5]
Bust figure reliquary of Charlemange 14thC [karl bust], [artserv1 ], [2], [3], [4]
crown, Aachen c1349
crown of Margaretha of York 15thC
cross relliquary, 14thC
Charlemagne reliquary, in the shape of a church, Aachen, 1346/1355, Restored: 1978, (lots of detailed photos)
3 tower reliquary, Aachen, um 1370/1390, Restored 1829, 1978
ciborium Relliquaries of the belt of Mary, flagellum-cord (or scourging?) of Christ & belt of christ, Prag?, um 1360
reliquary for King Stephen I, Deutschland, after 1370
ciborium reliquarys, 1386/1400, Köln 1401/1415,
reliquary with true cross and Agnus Dei, Hans von Reutlingen, 1501/1515 [artserv]
statue reliquary of Peter, Hans von Reutlingen, 1510
arm reliquary for Charlemange, Lyon, 1481 [arm reliquary]
monstrance, Hans von Reutlingen, 1520, [artserv1], [2]
19th C reliquary of true cross

>sonstiges edelmetall (miscellaneous precious metals)

goblets 1497-1522, 16th C and 16th-early 17th C.
paten (plate) c1200, engraved gilded silver. Pictures: MI00010c03a.jpg-MI00010c04a.jpg
18th C candle sticks
Lothair cross, Western Germany, c1000, with 19th & 20th C "restorations" [scroll down, 1st pic], [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14], [15]
"Breast cross of charlemange", 1101-1200, restoration 1871, (h 8.5cm) Pictures: MI00010e04a.jpg
dove staff?, 1201/1300 Pictures: MI03345e01a.jpg
eagle topped staff 15th C [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5]
clasp for a cope, c1180, reworked 1870, gilded silver (19x16cm). Pictures: MI00010e06a.jpg [artserv1], [2]
various very decorative (good closeups) clasps for copes, dated: 1371-1381, 1376-1400, 1401-1415, before 1520, 14thC, 14th C [artserv-16thC]
box for a crown (relquary?) England, 1475
beaker& case of the holy Elizabeth 15-16thC
carrying cross, Western Germany, 1146/1155, bronze & wood, hollowcast & gilded. Picture: MI00010f11a.jpg
coat of arms, Ungarn, 1371/1381
seal, Ungarn, 1528
Aquamanile in the form of a Bust, Aachen?, 1201/1215, bronze, hollowcast & gilded. (h 18.3cm). Pictures: MI09141j11a.jpg-MI09141j12a.jpg, mi03345f13a.jpg-mi03345f14a.jpg,MI00010g02a.jpg, MI00010f12a.jpg-MI00010f14a.jpg, MI00010g01a.jpg-
bookcover of the schatzkammer bible, Westdeutschland, um 1020 [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7]
19th C bishop's staff, 20th C pectoral pendant, 18th C waferbox?

>Elfenbein (ivory)

9th, 10th & 14thC carved panels [artserv- 10th C], [2]
bucket c1000 [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9], [10], [11], [12],
carved book decoration, Maas c1100. Pictures: MI03345g12a.jpg, mi04801g02 [artserv1], [2], [3], [4]
"hunting horn of Charlemagne" Unteritalien c1000, with shoulder strap (woven? with inscription made by belt mounts?) Lüttich, 1386/1400 [artserv -horn], [artserv -strap]

>textilen (textiles)

Many 6thC silk fragments, Antinoe, byzantium, Alexandria, sasanid, East Rome, Persia
more fragments, mostly silk: 7-8th C Persian, 8-9th C Persian, 8-9th C sasanid, 9thC? islamic or byzantine, 10-11th C byzantine
10thC byzantine elephant patterned fabric from the "Karlsschrein"
sicilian-arabic silk from the "Karlsschrein" c1200
"bernhardskastel" (Bernhardt's Cope) 1160-70. Probably beaded. Pictures: MI00011b05a.jpg-MI00011b06a.jpg [artserv1], [2]
stole & mantiple, Deutschland? c1200. silk? (w 11cm, l 265cm)Picture: MI00011b07a.jpg
13th C silk cope Picture: MI00011b08a.jpg
13th or 14thC Pluviale /cope (beadwork?) Picture:MI00011b09a.jpg-MI00011b011b.jpg [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5]
15th C Damatic
15thC chausible
15thC picture
16thC stole
16thC heavily embroidered cope (lots of closeups)
annother 16thC cope
clothing of the "gnadenbildes" 1627
several 17-18thC vestments

>handschrifte (manuscripts)

"Schatzkammer Bible" start of 9thC
"Silver book cover of the Otto Bible" c1020
Liutuar or Otto Bible, Reichenau c990 (very well illustrated) [artserv1], [2]

>sonstiges (other/miscellaneous)

"so called knife of charlemange" (in sheaf), England 700-1100 or maybe 10-11thC. Pictures: mi00011g14a, mi03346a08a [artserv ]
"so called armorial case of Richard von Cornwallis" Limoges, 1246/1255, Cedar (red stained), Copper & enamel, studded? & gilded. (h 38.5 cm, w 40 cm, l 79 cm). Pictures: mi00011g03a-mi00011g07a, mi03346a09a-mi03346a12 [scroll down, 2nd pic]

There is one major item that doen't appear on bildindex but does on artserv:

Book cover, metalwork upper Rhine area, c1170-80 with 10th C byzantine ivory plaques [artserv1], [2], [3], [4], [5]

I've also updated my German glossary post , with many of the new terms I've had to translate for the above.

[edit: more posts about the Aachen Cathedral treasury]

Admont Bible

2007-05-29T18:16:00.000+10:00

Admont bible, Salzberg early 12th C, (Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, Wien. Cod. ser. nov. 2701 and 2 pages in École Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris. PC 22788)

The Admont Bible was produced in Salzburg, Austria, c1140's or maybe earlier (it's a topic of debate). Most of the book ended up in Hungary by the mid 13th C (it was bought back by Austria in 1937), except two leaves which ended up in France.

There is a lovely website with pictures of the manuscript and a history of it. Also on that site are links to a 14th C (Hungarian Angevin is 14th C !) and 15th C manuscript.

Dodwell finds it one of the best productions of the thriving world leading Romanesque Salzburg manuscript school. He says it's highly byzantine influenced, which I find quite clear to see in some of the women's hairstyles, decorative motifs, draperies, and more subtle details.

Women in this manuscript
This manuscript is not the best source material as are biblical figures, but the women certainly appear to be wearing fashionable clothes, not old fashioned ones. The answered question is how much is reality and how much fantasy?

f11 Boaz and Ruth. Ruth's sacrifice

Ruth is a down on her luck noble, depicted as faithful to her family, and doing the right thing, not a slut like Salome. In the first picture, Ruth is begging from and later courting a noble relative. In the second she works in the fields to feed herself and her mother in law.
The two pictures show differences in dress that may correspond to that change in activity.
In the First picture her dress has trim at neck and hemline, in the second none is apparent.
The first dress is shorter (although not the mid calf I expected) to display her long chemise underneath, and keep the precious trim off the floor. The second chemise may or may not be quite short - we can't see under her dress.
The first chemise is trimmed at the wrists, the second is not.
The first dress has wide flared sleeves, the second has loose sleeves that stop at her elbow - out of her way.
All of these seem practical changes to a dress for doing work.
The hairstyle in the first picture is more elaborate (possibly a byzantine style?) whereas in the second picture her plaits are enclosed in a covering and she wears a hat. While covering the hair while working is practical, I am not convinced that this style is more practical or quicker than the first style. A nice veil would be better, but maybe this would clash with her status as an available widow, and object of romance.

f12 Hannah and Peninnah,

Hannah, the favoured wife of Elkhanah, can't get pregnant, while the second wife Peninnah can.

Both Hannah (I'm assuming she's the childless one) and Peninnah wear similarly cut dresses and veils. The dresses are floor length, probably moderately loose in the body, and have flared sleeves.
Hannah's dress is from a patterned fabric, perhaps this displays her favoured status. (patterned fabrics are likely to cost more)
Both dresses are trimmed at the cuffs and hem. Hannah's dress has more decoration depicted on her trim.
The cuffs of Hannah's chemise or whitish layer underneath is trimmed, Peninnah's in not visible. No wrinkle effect is depicted on these tight sleeves.
Both women wear similar veils. Interestingly both are coloured veils, whereas white veils are more common.
No belt is visible.

f12 Hannah's sacrifice.

Elkhanah didn't mind that Hannah was childless, and still gave Hannah a larger portion of the sacrifice.
Hannah's dress is cut similarly to the last picture.
A small white blob is visible at the bottom of her maunche. Looking backwards, I think it might be visible on both women in the last picture too. I think this is what I've seen earlier, and thought might be a sleeve lining.

f12 Eli and Hannah

Hannah pleads with a priest to give her a son. (and it works, and all ends happily)
Hannah wears a red dress, with bell shaped sleeves - these seem to flare above the arm as well as below.
The dress is decorated at the v-shaped neck and has a couple of subtle lines of decoration above the hem
The dress appears to have been belted in tight at the waist with a wide yellow fabric band. (A corsolet?!)
A chemise is visible at the wrists with decorated cuffs, but interestingly I can't see it at her neck despite the lower v-neck of the dress.
Her hair is parted in the middle and plaited, probably in a single plait.

f18 The story of Hoshea

Hosea was a prophet who married a prostitute supposedly on god's orders. She probably cheats on him, he divorces her, then he can't stay away and buys her back from a lover or client.
The second picture depicts Hosea's inconstant wife in bed. She wears a cute beanie cap, and in the full picture I can just see pale yellow shirts to her ankles.
The second figure holding the child might be a midwife or just Hosea's wife on a more formal occasion?
A fairly simple dress, full length, gently flared sleeves from the elbow.
Who said pink wasn't period? Well actually this doesn't prove anything - the artist might just have the colour on his palette, but the colours used do generally seem to be plausible.
I wonder how she gets such wonderful folds in her veil in the first picture?
Has that white bit peaking from the bottom of the sleeve again.
The headwear provides a contrast between the lady in bed and the lady nursing. The veil appears to be headwear for a mature lady, while a prostitute wears young fashion of a cap.

f24 The affliction of Job

God permits Satan to test Job's faith by afflicting him with bad stuff, like the boils pictured. 3 male friends and his wife try to get him to give up on God, but he refuses.
The lady in red is mostly likely Job's wife, who refutes god and dies. I'm not sure who the second lady is - she doesn't seem to fit the story.
Both ladies wear loose dresses with flared sleeves. The lady in pinks' sleeves are a more traditional shape, with trim. I think the lady in red's sleeves are supposed to be the same, just badly drawn.
The lady in pink's sleeve has the white blob at the bottom again.
White chemises show at the sleeves of both garments.
Both wear veils. the y have a similar drape about the head, showing some of the neck, but the lady in red's veil has a loose end over her shoulder. This may represent a (partially undone) veil in which ends are crossed over the neck and flipped behind the head. the lady in pink's veil shows strong fold lines in opposing directions at the neck. the loose end looks a lot to me like the shape made by tapered fabric, rather than square, for example the corner of a half circle.

f26 Bride and groom (not illustrated)

It's very hard to see this picture, but the bride must be the one dressed in pink.
The garment has flared sleeves, with some decoration at cuff and collar.
There are also two vertical lines. They could be plaits, but i think she is wearing a veil. I think they look more like two lines of decoration, along side seams or just inside of them.

Costume accessories - men's hats
Hats from folio 9 & folio 10

Also in the manuscript are a number of interesting men's hats. I'm used to phygian caps and beanie caps, these caps are a slight variation in exact shape. But what caught my notice especially is the vertical stripes on the hats. Hats can easily be made by naalbinding or sprang, and I've been speculating (along with others) if 12th C hats in these styles might be made so. So far there's been no evidence.

Could these vertical lines be an indication? Maybe, but another hat from the same manuscript is in a diamond pattern, which could still be sprang, but a very different representation of it, so maybe we are just seeing a decorative finish by the artist.

Hat from folio 14

sidesaddle

2007-05-26T19:04:00.000+10:00

Because Joanna piqued my curiosity....

What do images show of 12th C women riding? I think I remember only sidesaddles, but can I actually provide some proof so I can say this with confidence.

Before you do, check out this fantastic article on the construction of a replica from pictures and guesswork. Someone on the 12th C mailing list pointed out that I may be using the wrong terminology. Side chair might be the better term for what I am referring to.

A quick skim of the Museum of London Book "the medieval Horse and it's equipage" reveals nothing about riding on the side, although I could have missed something in the fine text. Holmes's "Daily living in the 12th C" names a sidesaddle as a sambue in 12thC french and says that Enide rides one through out her adventures in the medieval romance Erec und Enid. The sambue is also mentioned in Aoil and in Chanson de Guilamme, where it is used with stirrups. He also says it's unclear how often they were actually used by women.

from the artwork: (as always, click on pictures for a bigger version)

The flight into Egypt, roof mural Zillis, St Martin c1140-60
Mary rides a donkey (the ears!)

The flight into Egypt, Wall painting, Church of St Aignan, Brinay, mid 12th C.
It's hard to see in black and white, but Joseph is leading the donkey.

The flight into Egypt, Bib. Nat. Ms lat. 12117, fol 108, c1050
A smidge earlier - just to prove this wasn't a new phenomenon.

The whore of Babylon, horus delectarum f258, Hohenbourg, Alsace 1170-1200
(This is a 19th C copy, but unlikely to get these big details so wrong)
Look at the lovely demon horse monster! Obviously riding on the side is not limited to sedate ladies like Mother Mary, but is also practiced by scandalous women.

Superbia (allergorical figure) horus delectarum (unknown folio)
(I don't know if this is an original or copied page - if it's a copy it's certainly one of the better ones). Superbia is leading an army to attack here. It seems rather ridiculous for her to be doing so sitting sideways, but she is. Maybe riding sideways was more ingrained than I thought, after all allegorical figures are allowed to do things like throw spears that women can't but the still can't ride astride?
Her feet are at uneven heights, whereas the previous pictures have even feet. Perhaps the others have sidesaddles with footrests, but Superbia has stirrups?

Betrix of Reithel travelling (to wed) and Queen Constance travelling (to wed Henry VI, then to Sicily, then home), Berne Codex of Pietro of Eboli's poem in honour of Henry VI, Late 12/early 13th C?
These are horses, not more donkeys, and you can see two feet below the ladies skirts. Note how they are both travelling to their new home to wed. That seems to have been a very 12th C thing - a noble lady only made one big journey in her life, and that was when she left her father's house to go to her bridegroom's house. (Or at least according to my memories of what Holmes says in "Daily living in the 12th C").

Although Constance makes 2 big trips - From home (Sicily) to the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) then back to Sicily so Henry could claim Sicily through right of marriage to her, the only daughter of the last Sicilian King (with the help of an army and a kidnapped pope). Constance was so essential to this claim that she was dragged along even though she was pregnant with Henry's heir.

The last picture is the only one you can see clearly, (sorry,I'd love a better copy of this fascinating manuscript) and Constance is clearly riding a stallion. No sedate donkeys for the wife of the richest man in Europe.

Copenhagen psalter, England, 1175-1200
f10v 3 Magi/Kings, f12r the flight into Egypt, f13r The entry into Jerusalem

Three images of different types of riding. The three Kings show men riding horses in saddles which are high at front and back. Mother Mary sits sidesaddle on a donkey (or mule?) led by Joseph. Finally Jesus rides into Jerusalem on a donkey sitting sidesaddle but holding the reins himself. It's interesting that they portray Jesus doing this - I guess they extend the humbleness of riding a donkey one step further to riding a donkey like a woman does. I can't recall other depictions of this scene shown this way, but maybe I wasn't paying much attention. At any rate What Jesus is depicted as doing will have little relevance to ordinary men.

Picture bible, North-western France (Monastery St. Bertin ?); c. 1200, (The Hague, KB, 76 F 5)
Ah, here's a more conventional picture (I've found a few others the same now too) of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem. Humble on a donkey, but astride. Notice the apparent lack of saddles on donkeys, just a blanket. Interesting, although maybe the fabric is hiding the saddle. I guess maybe they didn't need a saddle if the donkey had a gentler gait and never went fast.

I'm not going to say that all women rode on the side, just that the illustrations give some good evidence that quite a few did - they weren't all riding astride. (No I haven't left out any illustrations of women astride, I didn't find any).

romanesque venice

2007-04-27T12:48:00.001+10:00

I was perusing the details for a local midwinter ball recently. It's set in renaissance Venice, and clothing to suit is encouraged. Except one of the fliers left off the word "renaissance". Which got me to thinking - what was worn in 12thC Venice? I'm not going to make up a dress specifically - It's a productive year when I make 2 full garments lately, and I've worn out chemises to replace and a half sewn woolen dress. This is just a though experiment and research jaunt. Let's see how much the Internet can tell me. I guess i might as well document how Ii search too, in case it helps others.

Firstly, I'm extremely unlikely to find anything about actual venetian costume - with all my 12th C costuming links I would likely have heard about any authoritative sites. Instead I'm going to look for artworks.

Well firstly to find something out about Venice. Wikipedia has a fairly good introductory article, that confirms Venice was around and not a tiny outback town in the era. It gives a list of churches and monuments, but it doesn't give any clues about the date of these.

So I'll try googling "romanesque venice", this will probably want to tell me about building built in the era, which might just have some original decorations. I find romanesque an indispensable search term when looking for 12th C artworks.

In the first few blurbs is one that tells me of 2 romanesque churches:

Romanesque church of SS. Maria and Donato in the region of Murano
Torcello: this little island has a seventh-century cathedral, the Romanesque church of S. Fosca

Wikipedia had a list of churches in Venice I noticed earlier, and it provides Italian spellings now I know these to be romanesque:

Basilica di Santi Maria e Donato
Santa Fosca

It also has a nice article about Torcello which mentions that the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta has a lot of 12th C building works and decorations, and even has a picture of a 12th C mosaic from there.

Next I google image search both the English and Italian versions of the names collected above.
I've developed a fair eye for what looks romanesque, jsut by looking at hundreds of romanesque artworks. I still need to check the likely ones, luckily the era of pictures is often labelled on Italian sites that have more than one entry - and it's fairly easy to find given the convention to use roman numerals that many European countries use. "(XVI sec.)" is 16th C and "un periodo antecedente al XII secolo" sounds like the period before the 12th C for example.

so notable results:

blurry pictures of torcello
a couple of good shots of the mosaics in "Basilica dei Santi Maria e Donato" - click to zoom.
something about the templars in Italian.
some details about the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, like dates various bits were built. and some more details with a better picture of that 1208 mosaic. And another with the floor mosaic.
the most complete site of mosaics I've ever seen. SO GORGEOUS! good closeups, unfortunately poorly labelled - which ones are which? Still If I can find blurry dated pictures on other sites, I can find closeups here.
making holograms of 15thC artworks and it's serious art restoration uses.
details about Venice landmarks and when they were built.
A close-up of that mosaic and a date at last - late 11th to 12thC. Even closer up on that mosaics site.

And after all that looking, still only one real picture to show for it.

So comments upon that last linked picture:

To the left of Jesus is a lady in red. She appears to have both cloak and veil. The rest is obscured.
In the middle row, the virgin Mary stands to Jesus's left. She's not a good one to base costumes upon because she dresses more conservatively and old fashioned.
In the bottom row, the kneeling woman right of centre is likely to be a patron - a real person. What we can see of her dress is that it is just above floor length, and has tight sleeves with a bit of decoration at the wrists. Her red cloak appears to be also used as veil. It looks like the virgin Mary's dress and cloak isn't a bad model for her garments.
All in all this is a pretty generic early 12th C look. No regional differences apparent in this picture. Maybe I'd find some with a wider range of pictures. If I could be bothered.