Information and Musings on C&I and Research in the SCA
Shining Light on Medieval Illuminations: Pigments through the Ages – Medievalists.net
Identifying the materials used in medieval illuminated manuscripts gives us an insight into the techniques and skills of the scribes and illuminators, as well as the sometimes complex trade routes of the times.
Spectroscopy + Illuminated Manuscripts = Super Fun Science Time!
One of the ways we librarians answer questions is by finding people who know the answer. People are resources too! So this answer was brought to you by the letter P and Master Owen Alun and Brendan O’Corraidhe.
Overview of Irish Poetry: [Link]
Side-by-Side English/Gaelic of Pangur Ban (a cat poem): [Link]
More side-by-side early Irish poetry: [Link]
Brendan’s Link Library for Irish Poetry, etc.: [Link]
Brenden’s Handout and Lecture notes for his Irish Myth and Legend class
[Handout][Lecture Notes]
Brenden’s notes and Redaction of Pangur Ban: [Link]
Silva Gadelica: A Collection of Tales in Irish With Extracts llustrating Persons and Places
by Srandish H O’Grady
Published 1892 (so take with salt)
Silva Gadelica is a collection of tales in Irish with extracts illustrating persons and places. In this edition, the English translations are to the front, while the Irish originals are at the back.O’Grady describes his work like a straw being tossed up to see how the wind blows. In other words, he was testing the judgment of those who urged for this book to be given a good reception. These popular English versions of the Irish tales earned him the title of “father of the Irish literary revival.”Standish Hayes O’Grady (1832 – 1915) learned Irish from the native speakers of his locality and was later educated at Rugby School and Trinity College Dublin. His profession was as a civil engineer, but he is best remembered for Silva Gadelica.After moving to America, he contributed to an essay on Anglo-Irish Aristocracy to a collection entitled Ideals in Ireland edited by Lady Augusta Gregory in 1901. O’Grady was unable to his finish his final work – Catalogue of the Irish Manuscripts in the British Museum – before his death, although it was later completed by Robin Flower.
[Archive.org][Forgotten Books]
Medieval Irish Lyrics with The Irish Bardic Poet
by James Carney
The text and translation of early Irish poems, both secular and religious. “"These translations…from the point of view of a telling economy and a regard for the original image, its absolute rightness, are far and away superior to anything else I have read”“ – Cork Examiner. ”“Carney has thrown light where there were shadows before, and for this he is, as scholar and poet, due our gratitude”“ – Dublin Magazine. Carney’s noted lecture `The Irish Bardic Poet’, is also included.
Hope these help! Let me know if you need more, and I can see if I can get more out of Owen and Brenden, or put you in touch with them.
The Art of Illumination: The Limbourg Brothers and the Belles Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry
Husband, Timothy Bates, with an essay by Margaret Lawson (2008)
Creative depictions of consorts from the Babenberg Family Tree, a triptych created by Hans Part between 1489 and 1492. See more images here.
I selected a couple of my favourites to see if I could identify them. Some were easy but others posed more of a challenge! Here was what discovered about this small selection:
Image #1: Constantia of Austria
Born 1212 – Died 1243
Margravine consort of Meissen
MoreImage #2: Agnes of Germany
Born 1072/3 – Died 1143
Duchess consort of Swabia and Margravine consort of Austria
MoreImage #3: Uncertain
Described as Mechthild (Matilda), wife of Ernst of Austria. However, Ernst’s two wives were called Adelaide and Swanhilde.
MoreImage #4: Helbirga Babenberg
Born ? – Died 1142
Duchess consort of Bohemia.
MoreImage #5: Judith of Babenberg
Born c.1120 – Died after 1168
Marchioness of Montferrat
MoreImage #6: Wives of Henry II
a) Gertrude of Süpplingenburg
Born 1115 – Died 1143
Margravine consort of Austria and Tuscany and Duchess consort of Saxony and Bavaria.
More
b) Theodora Komnene
Born ? – Died 1148
Duchess consort of Austria
More
Since you’re new, I’m going to start with garb. For me, garb is the stepping stone into more detailed research, such as names, or even other handcrafts or music.
The only reference I have handy is from my own research into 13th century Spanish clothing. Spain is really a melting pot of cultures at this point, with Muslims, Christians, and Jews living in relative peace and harmony.
I’ve been researching 13th Century Spanish Christian garb (because the various cultures wore different stuff), and you can see what I have collected here: [link]
Alfonso X’s book of games is a great place to start for this kind of research because it depicts both genders and various cultures. You can view it here: [link]
Does that help? Was there something more specific you were wanting to look into? Let me know! 😀
This is actually one of my FAVORITE Gothic manuscripts.
Also known as MS. Bold. 264 (parts 1 and 2), this manuscript of the Romance of Alexander is Flemish, originating in Tournai, Belgium.
This entire manuscript is available on the Bodelian Library’s “Luna” website. It has some pretty powerful zooming tools in its interface.
You will find fol. 059r here: [link]
The entirety of the manuscript is here: [link]
Enjoy!
British Library, Oriental 5024, f. 19r
Author: Isaiah of Trani the Younger
Title: Decisions of Isaiah of Trani the Younger (Pisqei Rabbi Yeshayah Aharon)
Origin: Italy, Central (Bologna or Rimini)
Date: 1374
Decorated initial-word panel accompanied with a partial foliate border in the outer margin inhabited by a deer. In the upper margin, illustration of a man lighting the Hanukkah lamp, at the beginning of the section on Hanukkah.
HAPPY HANUKKAH! 😀
No, but I can find some. I’m a librarian! 😀
(Sorry – I just did a binge-watch of all The Librarian movies to gear myself up for the TV show. Every time he announced, “I’m The Librarian,” I giggled.)
OKAY SO.
To start, how about the The Codex Assemanianus?
It was probably 10th century, but it’s still cool. You can read more about it here [link], and there are two pages of scans from it [link] [link]. Quite a few of these pages would be really easy to translate into SCA awards. I might do a few blanks myself for our current blank drive… Here are a couple of my favorites:
f. 157v
f. 10r
</p></But if we want to be firmly in the 11th Century, how about the Ostromir Gospels? These date to 1056-7. You can find more info at the National Library of Russia [link]. I’ve known scribes who have used this. That is, looking at it, I’m going “OH HEY. This is what so-and-so used!” Have a sample:
f. 2r
Lastly, there is the Arkhangelsk Gospel, also know as the Archangel Gospel, which dates to 1092, making it the fourth oldest Slavic manuscript we have. You can view the whole thing online at the Russia State Library [link].
Have fun browsing!
Have a Kindle? FREE EBOOK: Edward Plantagenet, The English Justinian
Edward Plantagenet, The English Justinian – Kindle edition by Edward Jenks. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Edward Plantagenet, The English Justinian.
Free if you have a Kindle.
Description from Publisher: Pyrrhus Press specializes in bringing books long out of date back to life, allowing today’s readers access to yesterday’s treasures. This is a concise but comprehensive biography of King Edward of the Plantagenet dynasty. From the preface:“IF ever there was a national hero, it was Edward of England. In his person, his character, his position, and his policy, are summed up the essential elements of that great English nation which came into existence during his lifetime. How far Edward was its creator, how far its creature, is a shrewd question, which each student of history must answer for himself; but I trust that this little book may help him to form a sound conclusion. Whatever be the answer, there can be little doubt, that it would be impossible to find a truer symbol of the English nation, in the days of its glorious youth, than the king whose life is sketched in the following pages.Perhaps it is necessary that I should offer a word of apology for the intrusion of a mere lawyer upon a scene so dominated by great historians. My explanation is, that I have long been unable to understand, how anyone but a lawyer can possibly appreciate the true inwardness of Edward’s reign. The Common Law which came into existence during his lifetime was, and is, the very picture of English national life, the concrete form into which the national spirit crystallises with the moving centuries.Some of Edward’s most brilliant achievements in legislation and statecraft are wholly missed by lay historians, simply because these achievements are expressed in highly technical language. If I have essayed the perilous task of striving to make technical matters clear to the general reader, as in Chapters IX. and XIII., I have done so because I have felt, that it was idle to attempt, in any other way, to bring out Edward’s real greatness. But, even with this conviction, I should hardly have ventured the task, had I not been encouraged, by those whose opinions are entitled to greater weight than my own, to hope that I might in some degree succeed in persuading my readers, that Law is a dull subject only to those who do not understand it.”
A while back, I asked the scareferencedesk for any illumination references with towers they knew of, and I promised to post them after they all got handed out. Well, it is definitely not in a timely manner, but they’ve all been handed out! I added some of the other designs I’ve done so it’s not so architecture heavy. I also added the Red Tower Rapier Champion scroll which was a group project. Mistress Adela did the calligraphy then curse because she left too much space (while the rest of us are laughing at how small she wrote), and then handed it to me and told me to draw a thing in the empty space. So, yay, weird little medieval person! I totally snagged the Knight Marshal on his way past the table and was like “SWORDS. HOW DOES THE HAND GUARD THINGY EVEN.” And luckily he spoke internet at 1am because he answered what I meant. The whole scroll totally was finished five minutes before evening Court, and we’re counting it as a major victory that it was dry. And then like a week later we had to ask if Wistric would send us pictures so we could keep track of the things we made. Veronica and I are still in the track our progress through photos of all the things we make stage.
Yay! So happy to see them! 😀 Also, Combat Scribing is awesome.