The Book of Margery Kempe – Free eBook at OpenLibrary
It is checked out at the moment, and you have to have an OpenLibrary account to borrow it – but still! Free books! Yay libraries!
Information and Musings on C&I and Research in the SCA
The Book of Margery Kempe – Free eBook at OpenLibrary
It is checked out at the moment, and you have to have an OpenLibrary account to borrow it – but still! Free books! Yay libraries!
FREE E-BOOK: Medieval Garments Reconstructed – Norse Clothing Patterns
By Lilli Fransen, Anna Nørgård and Else Østergård, translated by Shelly Nordtorp-Madson; from Aarhus University Press – free until the end of September 2014!
Description: Short introduction to the amazing finds of garments from the Norse settlement of Herjolfnes in Greenland by Else Østergård. Chapters on technique: production of the tread, dyeing, weaving techniques, cutting and sewing by Anna Nørgaard. Measurements and drawing of garments, hoods, and stockings with sewing instructions by Lilli Frandsen. A practical guide to making your own Norse Medieval garment!
Companion book to Woven into the Earth: Textile Finds in Norse Greenland.
Amazon Review (K. Duffy): While this book is missing a few things to stand alone, such as dates, It is the perfect companion to “Woven Into The Earth.” The garments are refereed to by their numbers, which makes cross refencing [sic] fairly easy. I can find a garment in this book, see the original, see the reporduction [sic], read the exact measurements of the original and it’s fabric content. I am then given a graphed pattern to follow which shows shaded which parts of the pattern are actual remnants of the original garment and which are the interpretations and filling in of missing fabric. It makes it easy to see exactly what I am looking at. I can then look the garment number up in “Woven Into The Earth” and find more informaiton [sic], such as when and where the garment was unearthed, and in some cases even the specific location on a map of Greenland where it was found. All in all this book is a real gem and it is detailed enough for true historic reproductions as well as easy enough to follow for the weekender reenactor [sic]. A great book!
The Nibelungenlied, translated by Margaret Armour
An epic poem, originally written in Middle High German (1050-1350). It is the story of Siegfried, a dragon-slayer, at the Burgundian court, his death, and his wife Kriemhild’s revenge.
Kingdom Song Links – SCA Bardic Arts Resource Page
This is a page to provide resources for those in the Society of Creative Anachronisms (SCA), interested in the Bardic and Performing arts around the SCA Known World. (*Bards = performers of traditional singer-songwriter-poets and instrumentalists, physical performers, and magicians; musicians, singers, poets, storytellers, jugglers, jongleurs, minstrels, skalds, troubadores, troveres, minnesangers, meistersangers, et cetera and so on and so forth!” ~ with thanks to Gorsedd and Northshield for the wording)~ So I can find this, later.
Looks like a great resource!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BomSiHEiuOU
I’m headed to the 7th Known World Cooks and Bards Collegium this weekend to hang out with these lovely Northshield librarians.
Also, I adore this song.
The following list of “44 Medieval Beasts That Cannot Even Handle it Right Now” comes from [this] BuzzFeed post, and completely made me fall off my chair laughing this morning 🙂
No less than four people (I lost count after awhile) wanted to make sure I saw this. Sharing here, because each has a lovely link to the source in the British Library’s collection.
Greetings, and welcome to the SCA!
Harley 6149, f. 30r, Mermaid with Mirror
Scotland, 1494
British Library
Because Heraldry and Names go together like Milk and Cookies.
The best resource for names that I have found is the Academy of St. Gabriel. You can submit a question to them, but they have been on vacation for some time. However, they have several articles as well as their past letters that you can consult.
They have a link to a primer on Scottish Names, [Scottish Names 101], as well as several other articles about both Gaelic (Highland) and lowland names [Link].
As for Moira MacDonald, here is what the Academy has spread across several of their archived letters:
<Moira> is an English phonetic spelling of <Ma/ire>, the Irish form of <Mary>. (The slash represents an accent over the previous letter). We haven’t found evidence that <Moira> was used during the Society’s period, so we recommend that you avoid it.
-1050, Academy of St. Gabriel [Link]
<Moira> is an Anglicization of <Ma/ire>, the Irish form of <Mary>. Unfortunately, this Anglicization appears to have been invented after the SCA period. We've found no evidence that it was used in period, and <Ma/ire> itself was extremely rare as a personal name in Ireland until the 17th century: there are a few examples from the
15th and 16th centuries, and the earliest known instance is an isolated 14th century example. The Irish considered the name too sacred for ordinary use; instead they used <Ma/el Muire> 'devotee of Mary'. [4] (The slash stands for an acute accent over the preceding vowel.) This was pronounced roughly MA VOOR-(y)eh, where the <y> in parentheses stands for a very, very lightly pronounced y as in <yes>. [5]-1440, Academy of St. Gabriel [Link]<Muirenn> is a fine Gaelic feminine name for your period [1]. It is pronounced somewhere between MOOR-en and MOOR-yen, where the OO is pronounced as in <moo>. This name is not related to <Moira>, a modern
English phonetic spelling of <Ma/ire>, which is the Gaelic form of <Mary> [2]. The slash in that name indicates an accent on the preceding letter.
-1709, Academy of St. Gabriel [Link]
For MacDonald, in period this simply meant “son of Donald,” not “part of the MacDonald clan” [Link – St. Gabriel]
The SCA Heraldry website also has an article on feminine Scottish names [Link].
I’d also encourage you to consult the herald’s table at an event, or get in touch with your local/regional/kingdom herald for help. There are “book heralds” and “court heralds” – you want one of the former for help with research. I’m not a herald – I’m just a librarian. 😀
You could also post to the SCA Heraldry Chat Facebook Group to get some guidance as well.
All of that being said, don’t feel too pressured to have a surname nailed down before you go to your first event. A first name is enough – I still haven’t submitted my paperwork for my “more period than locative” surname. People will generally call you by whatever you introduce yourself as, and first names are always easier to remember (at least in my experience).
Good luck to you, and welcome!
Hey peeps in the SCA I need a bit of advice! I’m going to be daytripping to my first event in a couple of days and I’m not quite sure what to bring with me. I know I’ll be having dinner on site with one of my friend’s household so I don’t have to worry about that. I have garb to wear. And I have…
Something to do with your hands – knitting, embroidery, some kind of hand-work.
Something to sit on. Something to drink out of (unless your friend is lending you a mug). A bag/basket to hold stuff.
The Barony of Marinus has a great guide, too – which has a section of “what to bring”: http://www.baronyofmarinus.com/going-to-your-1st-event.php
Have fun!