Parma Tarts

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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).