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And here I am over here like....

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Dressing up while we're unable to have events ❤

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Progress.

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Would you like fries with that?

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I think the dragon/wyvern debate doesn't really have a place to be. In heraldry, dragons with two legs and two wings are still called dragons, more precisely continental dragons. 4 legged dragons with wings are also dragons, english dragons.

Exhibit A: Flag of Trégor, featuring a continental dragon:

Exhibit B: Welsh flag, featuring an english dragon:

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Here, a cheater course on caring for natural fibers!

1. Wool. Treat it like it has the delicate constitution of a Victorian lady and the conviction that baths are evil of a 17th century noble. (If I get in WATER my PORES will OPEN and I will CATCH ILL AND DIE.)

2. Cotton; easygoing. Will shrink a bit if washed and dried hot.

3. Silk; people think it’s like wool and has the constitution of a fashionably dying of consumption Victorian lady, but actually it’s quite tough. Can be washed in an ordinary washer, and either tumbled dry without heat or hung to dry.

4. Linen; it doesn’t give a shit. Beat the hell out of it. Historically was laundered by dousing it in lye and beating the shit out of it with wooden paddles, which only makes it look better. The masochist of the natural fiber world. Beat the fuck out of it linen doesn’t care. Considerably stronger than cotton. Linen sheet sets can last literal decades in more or less pristine shape because of that strength.The most likely natural fiber to own a ball gag.

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Reconstructed 'Dark Age' House, Maelmin Heritage Trail, Milfield, nr. Wooler, Northumberland.

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The big project is down. Yes I made it, though I had help heh.

14g mildsteel helm for sca combat.

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Swedish SCA Safety Shenanigans (because you know someone HAD to do Safety Dance :) )

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Something I learned today, did you know that in Anglo-Saxon culture women had the right to own land and have some legal rights like men?

And then the Norman abolished those rights for women after 1066?

Do you know what? 🖕The Norman's can kiss my ass

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Practice “social distancing” by being exiled from the king’s court for your unseemly, debauched, and scandalous behaviour. 

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These coats of arms decorate the north walk of the cloister at Norwich Cathedral. They were painted in the 1930s to replace a similar series that  commemorated a visit by Queen Elizabeth I in 1578. Photos by Charles Reeza.

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Who was the Pied Piper? - The Missing Children of Hamelin

‘The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ is a beloved German folktale that has been passed down for generations throughout Europe since the Middle Ages. The story goes that the town of Hamelin in Northern Germany was infested with rats. The rats carried diseases that began to kill off the townsfolk, and the town despaired- until a strange man in bright clothing appeared, offering to rid the town of the rats for a price. The man used a musical pipe to control the rats with strange music, and lured them into the river. However, the mayor refused to pay the piper for his work- the piper returns that night and plays his flute in the street, leading all of the children of Hamelin out of their beds and into the woods, never to be seen again. This story appeared in the famous writings of The Brothers Grimm, the most beloved fairytale authors in all of Europe. However, this is more than just a story, as 1284 children did infact vanish from Hamelin.

Historians have long been baffled by this case, as the history of Hamelin was only recorded on paper in 1384 (up until that point events were rarely documented in poor areas). In 1384, the first thing to be recorded in Hamelin was the sentence ‘‘It is 100 years since our children left.’‘ It was then recorded that the event took place on June 26th, 1284, 100 years prior. Historians have questioned why so many children vanished, calling it a ‘mass abduction’. Up until those words were written, the only shred of evidence of the event was a stained glass window in the local church built in 1300, which depicted the Pied Piper and children (the window was destroyed, however it has been replicated based on old descriptions).

Then more evidence was found, when papers dating back to 1430 from a nearby town called Lunenberg were discovered.

‘’Here follows a marvellous wonder, which transpired in the town of Hamelin in the Year of Our Lord, 1284, on the Feast of Saints John and Paul. A certain young man thirty years of age, handsome and well-dressed, so that all who saw him admired him because of his appearance, crossed the bridges and entered the town by the West Gate. He then began to play all through the town a silver pipe of the most magnificent sort. All the children who heard his pipe followed him to the East Gate and out of the town to the so-called execution place or Calvary. There they proceeded to vanish, so that no trace of them could be found. The mothers of the children ran from town to town, but they found nothing. It is written: A voice was heard from on high, and a mother was bewailing her son.’’

More accounts began to surface and another report was found from 1553, also describing the same Piper. The account claimed that he had taken them to a cave in a mountain near the town, inside which was a tunnel- when they entered, it was sealed behind them. Two children supposedly escaped and returned, and told the townsfolk that the Piper would return in 300 years and take more children. Another report from 1565 surfaced that stated Hamelin had been infested with rats, and a strange man had come to get rid of them, and had gone up into the mountain afterwards. The Piper tale was taken so seriously that a new gate was built around Hamelin in 1556, with a sign that read ‘‘1556, 272 years after the magician led the children out of the town’‘.

Some theorise that the children were abducted and transported to Poland (which was then a German owned country) to form new settlements. This is supported by the fact that a lot of Polish settlers from that time had names that were commonly used in Hamelin. Others suggest that a disease outbreak, war or famine was the cause, however this doesn’t explain the countless stories of the Piper. Another theory also suggests that the children might have experienced an outbreak of ‘Dancing Mania’, a psychogenic illness which was common in the 13th century, however this theory doesn’t account for much of the evidence. It is unclear whether or not the truth will ever be discovered, but perhaps new evidence will arise that will one day explain what happened to the missing children of Hamelin in the year 1284, and who the man known only as the Pied Piper truly was.

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Someone: Why did you decide to study history?

Me who grew up getting caught by museum security: I want to touch the dusty stuff

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Day 11 of Medieval May

Combat

Since there hasn't been any shows, I have nothing to show for show combat but here are some pictures from a practice session we had where I had to sit it out.

Most people here are wearing their kit, though some of it is unfinished. It's good to practice in lot because there's no point practicing in really great sports clothes when on the day you're going to be wearing a tonne of wool, potentially a gambeson, helm, and maille.

Here, were practicing lines - where two line of spear and shield come together. There's a commander on each side, who will shout commands in French, Welsh, or Anglo-Saxon.

In a real show, we'll all have to know the specific commands and language for the battle that we're reenacting. If we were an army that had. Slot of Welsh troupes then it would be Welsh and so on.

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