books-msg - 6/1/92

Miscellaneous book reviews.

NOTE: See also the files: books2-msg, bibliog-msg, cookbooks-bib, Germany-bib,
p-falconry-bib, Islamic-bib, Norse-crafts-bib, Arthur-bib.

************************************************************************
NOTICE -

This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that
I  have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some
messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.

This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium.
These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

I  have done  a limited amount  of  editing. Messages having to do  with
seperate topics  were sometimes split into different files and sometimes
extraneous information was removed. For instance, the  message IDs  were
removed to save space and remove clutter.

The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I
make  no claims  as  to the accuracy  of  the information  given  by the
individual authors.

Please  respect the time  and  efforts of  those who have written  these
messages. The  copyright status  of these messages  is  unclear  at this
time. If  information  is  published  from  these  messages, please give
credit to the orignator(s).

Thank you,
    Mark S. Harris                  AKA:  THL Stefan li Rous
    mark.s.harris@motorola.com            stefan@florilegium.org
************************************************************************

Clans and Families of Ireland and Scotland
An Ethnography of the Gael, A.D. 500-1750
by C. Thomas Cairney

McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611
Jefferson, North Carolina 28640

ISBN 0-89950-362-4

        It starts with a look at the origins of the Celtic language
group, and the people that spoke it, and touches on such rarities as 
Pictish and the different branchs of the celtic languages that we
know of today, though not always in great detail.  I've only started
it, but it is interesting and reasonably well written.

Kwellend-Njal Kollskeggsson

-- 
Later Y'all,  Vnend 
SCA event list? Mail?  Send to:vnend@phoenix.princeton.edu or
vnend@pucc.bitnet   


From: lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin)
Date: 20 Nov 89 23:36:52 GMT
Organization: Unixsys (UK) Ltd

In article <8911151935.AA01787@limey.> valid!limey!lynn@SUN.COM (Lynn Meyer)
writes:
>David Herron <samsung!rex!ukma!david@cs.utexas.edu> (David le casse) writes:
>> could someone post a bibliography of useful and/or useless books on
>> doing calligraphy and/or illumination?  (the useless books so we'll
>> know what to avoid)

Sorry if some or all of these have already been posted -- I didn't see any
earlier articles.

The best source I have found for calligraphy, illumination, wrting, lettering
and inscribing (stone-carving) was written just after the turn of the century,
and is still very much in print.  It is
        Edward Johnston
        Writing And Illuminating And Lettering
Johnston designed the lettering that was until recently used in the London
Unbderground, but, more importantly, played a major part in the revival in
Britain of Calligraphy and Illumination as art forms.

The book contains many plates and illustrations, instructions on making quill
pens, on grinding Chinese Stick Ink (OK, I know it's not complex), on
preparing
vellum and parchment (expensive!), on gilding (illuminating with gold leaf),
and many, many other topics.

One of his pupils, Graily Hewitt (I don't think I have spelt that correctly)
also pubilshed books, which I still see from time to time.

This book is probably a `must' for people interested in mediaevel culture
and in calligraphy, as well as for those wanting to learn.
Note that his style looks a little dated now, as people would generally
use a larger x-height and simpler serifs in calligraphic writing, but
otherwise (and this is a very small point) the work still stands.

Lee

Liam R. Quin, Unixsys (UK) Ltd [note: not an employee of "sq" - a visitor!]
lee@sq.com (Whilst visiting Canada from England)
lee@anduk.co.uk (Upon my return to England at Christmas)


From: joshua@paul.rutgers.edu (Joshua Mittleman)
Date: 21 Nov 89 16:47:01 GMT
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Greetings unto the good folk of the Rialto. 
 
Mistress Rayah Blackstar has compiled a list of mailorder sources for
scribes.  These catalogs featurebooks, supplies, etc.  I have added a
few catalogs to the list and updated George Braziller's address. When
you get the catalogs, check the prices carefully.  I have seen books
go for $45 in one catalog, andthen $24 in another.  Another good
source for books can be your local library's weekend book sale
(getthere early) or the end of year inventory clearance sale at the
mall B. Dalton or Waldenbooks.  Often theyspecial order books for
people that don't ever pick the books up.  These books get dumped
(after a while)onto the cheap table.      
 
 
Center for the Calligraphic Arts 
PO Box 8005 
Wichita, KS 67208 
     Journal-bimonthly magazine. Research article on Calligraphy or
related arts in each issue.Subscriptions $15 a year US and Canada (US
currency). Back issues available.   
 
Barnes & Noble 
126 Fifth Ave 
New York, NY 10011 
     Receive color catalogs of current books published. Just send in
name and address and request forcatalog. Will find occasional books
that you can use in it. Updates always sent.   
 

The Scholar's Bookshelf 
51 Everett Dr 
Princeton Jct. NJ 08550 
     Oh, these catalogs are a dream find. They have the books of hours
and illumination you want. It's aheavy duty source for scribal art
books and other related arts. Sales and updates sent forever once
youorder (and you will). Prices range from $5 to $5000, we're talking
really heavy sources here. Everyone I have ever told and given a
catalog of this place to has said terrible things to me and then
gleefully thrust their latest purchase under my nose to see.   
 
John Neal, Bookseller 
1833 Spring Garden St. 
Greensboro, NC 27403 
     Another dream staple of every scribe. Catalog is $2.50 on
newsprint and worth every penny. Books onevery scribal topic WITH
commentaries. HONEST commentaries, not just to sell you the book.
Supplies,paper. Also has a lettering arts club that sends you the
catalog and you receive reduced membership priceson certain items
($7.50 US, Canada and others $8.50 for membership. "Canadian and
English customers maysend checks in their currency--please figure
exchange at current rate.") Super on delivery on items, even send you
quick notice if out of stock.         
 
Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller 
Falls Village, CT 06031-5000 
     Sigh. They deliver in record time. They have a newspaper catalog
WITH THOUSANDS OF BOOKS.Want something to read for the next 8 days?
And make yourself a list that goes on and on and on to buy.Write them
and ask for a catalog. Cash or check only. Which is why the prices ARE
LOW. Not a lot ofthe illumination books of hours, but you want
research in all categories? They've got it. EXCELLENT PRICES. I keep
trying to cross off all the items on my list and they keep sending me
catalogs with new items.  
 
Pendragon 
PO Box 25036 
Woodbury, MN 55125  Gold Leaf? Vellum? Quills? Penknives? Pendragon
has it all. They will also give you help if you havequestions about
what to use! Excellent and one of the only sources by mailorder that
I've uncovered forthose hard to find "period" materials. Catalog.
Again, excellent response by mail if out of stock.     
 
New York Central Supply 
62 Third Ave. 
New York, NY 10003  

    Ask for papers, they have them. Vellum, sheepskin etc. Higher
prices than other catalogs that I've listed.  
 
Thames and Hudson 
500 Fifth Ave 
New York, NY 10110 

     Send a name and a postcard to this address said the note on the
side of the bookcover and we willsend you news and forthcoming
publications. DO IT. Beautiful books. Three of them are the most
lovely ofsources I constantly use for illumination & calligraphy.
Hardcover. Expensive. But send for it anyway, theyare not all
expensive...just the perfect ones.      
 
George Braziller Inc. 
60 Madison Ave 
New York, NY 10010 

     This is the publisher. You can get the books from any of the
other sources that I have listed, andsometimes cheaper there, as you
pay full publisher price ordering direct. BOOKS ARE FOR THE
BUDGET MINDED SCRIBE. These have full color paperbacks at reasonable
prices-average $12 for a full paperback ofcolor photographed
manuscripts. Excellent. Get a list from them.      
 
Strand Book Store 
828 Broadway 
New York, NY 10003 

     They bill themselves as the Largest Used Book Store in the World,
and having been there, I believeit. The catalog lists new acquisitions
and specials, but if you write and ask for something special,
they'llcheck for you. Catalog has many types of books as well as art
books, but check it out. All major creditcards.     
 
Norman Levine's Editions 
Boiceville, NY 12412 

     Another big used book store. They list many types of books with
brief descriptions in teeny print. 64pages of books. All are hard
cover, all are original editions or the better reprints. They also
have booksnot listed in their catalog, so if you know what you want
you might be able to write and ask for it. They won't however, reserve
a book pending receipt of your check.       
 
Dover Publications 
31 East 2nd St. 
Mineola, NY 11501  

     They are the ones who are putting out Marc Drogin's book
_Medieval Calligraphy, its design andtechnique_ the bible of scribes
in the SCA. It is due in their bookstore at 180 Varick St, New York,
NYafter November 17, 1989, so it will probably be available by mail
now too. Ask for their catalogs ofPictorial Archive books (art which
can be reproduced freely in your local newsletters too!), Art
Instructionbooks, Art books in general, and I think they even have a
catalog of the 50 or so catalogs they put out!Cheap books, these are
usually reprints of sources that went out of print a while ago.   

   These sources are all mailorder. I have a hobby of finding out
mailorder catalogs in mundane life.These that I have listed for
scribes I have been using for about 5 years, and passing them onto
your pocketbook. Mine is empty, but the art flourishes. Write to them
all, and be oh so sorry... they have such lovely things you've been
looking for.      

                   Originally compiled by  
                   Mistress Rayah Blackstar 
                   reprinted and added to by 
                   Lady Fionnghuala Siobhan nic an Chlerich                   

 
From: FRENCHBC@CTRVX1.VANDERBILT.EDU
Date: 8 Jan 90 18:30:00 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Message-ID: <9001081329.aa15238@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

From Cait Gordon, greetings yet again . . .
  
Below are listed some addresses of books and materials for scribes.  If you
don
't already get these catalogs, get them. This list was provided for me
by Mistress Rayah Blackstar, and now I'm passing them on, with her
comments.
  
*************************************************************************

BOOKS

Center for the Calligraphic Arts
PO Box 8005
Wichita, KS 67208
      Journal, bi-monthly magazine.  Research article on calligraphy or 
related arts in each issue.  Subscriptions $15 a year US and Canada
(US funds).  Back issues available.
  
Barnes & Noble
126 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10011
     Free color book catalog.  Send name and address on a postcard; will
find occasional books that you can use.  Updates always sent.
  
The Scholar's Bookshelf
51 Everett Drive
Princeton Junction, NJ 08550
     Oh, these catalogs are a dream find!  They have Books of Hours and all

sorts of books of illumination that you could want.  It's a heavy-duty
source for scribal art books and related arts.  Sales and updates sent
forever after first order (and you will order!).  Prices range from five
to five thousand dollars -- we're talking really heavy sources here.
Everyone I have ever told and given a catalog of this place has said
terrible verbal things to me and then gleefully thrust their latest purchase
under my nose for me to see.
  
Edward R. Hamilton, Bookseller
Falls Village, CT 06031-5000
     Sigh.  They deliver in record time.  They have a newspaper catalog with
THOUSANDS OF BOOKS.  Want somethi
ng to read for the next eight days


?  Make
yourself a list that goes on and on and on to buy.  Write them and ask for
a catalog.  Cash or check ONLY -- which is why prices are LOW.  Not a lot
of illumination books of hours, but you want research in all catagories?
They've got it.  EXCELLENT PRICES.  I keep trying to cross off all the items
on my list and they keep sending me catalogs with new items . . . 
  
Thames and Hudson
500 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY  10110
    Send postcard for free catalog.  DO IT.  Beautiful books.  Three of them
are the most lovely sources I constantly use for illumination and 
calligraphy (Note:  They have a good paperback repro of the Book of Kells
that is a must-buy for all Celtic illuminators -Cait.)  Most are hardcover,
expensive.  But send for it anyway.  Not all are expensive . . . just the
perfect ones.
  
George Braziller, Inc.
One Park Avenue
New York, NY  10016
    This is the publisher.  You can get many of their books from other
sources,
and sometimes cheaper as you pay full publisher price ordering direct.  BOOKS
FOR THE BUDGET-MINDED SCRIBE.  These have full color paperbacks at
reasonable prices -- average twelve dollars for a full-color paperback of
color photographed manuscripts.  Excellent.  Get a list from them.
  
SUPPLIES AND BOOKS

PENDRAGON
PO BOX 25036
WOODBURY, MN  55125
    Gold leaf?  Vellum?  Quills?  Dry pigments?  Penknives?  Pendragon has it
all!  They will also give you help if you have questions about what to use
(phone (612) 739-9093).  Excellent, and one of the only sources by mail order
I have uncovered for those hard-to-find 'period' materials.  Excellent
response by mail if out of stock.  (GET THIS CATALOG . . . but your budget
will not love you for it -Cait).
  
John Neal, Bookseller
1833 Spring Garden Street
Greensboro, NC 27403
     Another dream staple of every scribe.  Catalog is $2.50 US funds on
newsprint and worth every penny.  Books on every scribal topic.  Supplies,
paper.  Also a lettering arts club that sends you the catalog and you
receive reduced membership-prices on certain items (membership $7.50 US,
$8.50 Canada and others, US funds).  Super on delivery time and notice if
out of stock.
  
New York Central Supply
62 Third Street
New York, NY
    Good papers.  Higher prices than other catalogs listed.
  
*****************************************************************************
...Lady Caitrin Gordon, Barony of Glaedenfeld, Meridies
FRENCHBC%CTRVAX.VANDERBILT.EDU


From: lisch@mentor.com (Ray Lischner)
Date: 17 Jan 90 22:14:29 GMT
Organization: Mentor Graphics Corp., Beaverton, OR
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

My lady wife, aoibhinn ni luan, recommends "A Weaver's Garden,"
by Rita Buchanan (1987, Interweave Press, ISBN 0-934026-28-9).
A Weaver's Garden covers the use of plants in fabric making,
including dyeing.  The time period covered includes the SCA period,
and more.  Included are some color pictures of the results, showing
that diverse, bright colors can be obtained from period dyes.

Not all natural dyes are period, and Ms. Buchanan mentions
the history of the plants and their uses.

There are also chapters on using plants for cleaning, plants
as used in tools (such as Fullers' Teasle for carding wool),
and making your own garden.

The references and suggested readings include technical articles
for those who are interested in chemistry.
-- 
Ray Lischner        UUCP: {uunet,decwrl}!mntgfx!lisch


From: DICKSNR%QUCDN.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU ("Ross M. Dickson") 
Date: 13 Feb 90 03:57:00 GMT 
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism 
Message-ID: <9002122258.aa00323@mintaka.lcs.mit.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

/* A preliminary note from Angus:  Sarra couldn't decide whether to make */
/* this a personal letter to Ciaran or a general posting, and left to me */
/* as owner of the account the decision whether or not to post.  I hope  */
/* some of you find some of it to be of general interest.                */

Unto the Rialto, does Sarra Graeham, Midrealm scribe, send greetings:

Milord Ciaran gently requests:

> Unto the subject of scribing:
> Anyone who could give me a list of books for beginning scribes would be
> greatly appreciated.  A list of necessary tools would be welcome, too.

I posted a brief list of books a few months ago, as did other people, but
that is a long time in Rialto generations (can you imagine a forum with
a turnover rate that makes the SCA generation look like the lifetime of
the gods? ;-), so here's a short recap.

The *BEST* book for a beginning scribe is, "Medieval Calligraphy:  Its
History and Technique," by Marc Drogin.  It is available in hardcover from
Allanheld and Schram in most large libraries, and there is a recent edi-
tion in paperback from Dover Books.  It has everything you need to know 
about medieval calligraphy, spanning the years from about 300 - 1450 AD, 
with careful instruction on how to form each of the letters, pictures of 
the actual manuscripts he worked from, and an entertaining and informative 
history of script.  There is also an extensive bibliography. 
 
Unfortunately, Drogin doesn't deal with illumination at all.  If you are
interested in Celtic (often called "Insular") illumination, the best book
for you to get is a book by George Bain, called "Celtic Art:  The Methods
of Construction," again from Dover Publications.  This book is the compi-
lation of six pamplets written for British schoolchildren in the 1940(?)'s
by the artist who first unravelled just what it was the Celts were *doing*
(I've often wondered myself :-), and the level is good for a beginner.

Other than that, I suggest you look at books of actual manuscripts, to
get a feeling for what is possible.  George Braziller publishes a series
of paperback colour picture books on period manuscripts covering most
periods and places of illumination.  These books tend to picture only the
fanciest of manuscripts, so try not to get lost in the detail while you
are still beginning, but try to get an overview instead.

With respect to tools and materials, you will need a pen and ink.  I re-
commend that you start with a dip pen.  Try Speedball C-series nibs, size
3 or 4, with a purchased holder; the nibs cost less than a dollar apiece.
A fountain pen is fine, but more expensive, and most ink made for foun-
tain pens is not suitable for scrolls.  For ink, I use Pelikan Fount India,
a permanent black ink that can also be used in fountain pens, but other
scribes swear by India ink, which CANNOT be used in fountain pens, and
must not be allowed to dry in a nib.  Avoid the Sheaffer inks, as they
are not permanent.  Plain bond paper with a liner underneath can be used
for practice, but for actual scrolls you want to look for 100% cotton rag
watercolour paper.  Arches or Fabriano are two good brands, and you want
90 or 140 weight paper.  Ask at your local art supply store, where the
staff should be able to help with anything I recommend.  Avoid, avoid,
avoid the stuff they sell as calligraphy "parchment" paper, as it is
treated with sulfuric acid to get that mottled effect, and the acid will
rise up and eat your scroll.  (I do not jest; ask some of the Carolin-
gian folk hereabouts about what is happening to their charter and some
of their valued early documents on this paper.)

For illumination, you need brushes, paint, and gold.  When looking for
brushes, you want them fairly small, from size 2 or 3 for large areas
down to size 000 or smaller for detail, in what is called a "teardrop"
shape.  Buy whatever you can afford (don't let the salespeople bully
you), and be prepared to experiment until you find ones you like.  For
paint, try watercolour paints or gouaches in tubes.  Both must be mixed
with water, but the gouache gives a more opaque and matte effect.  Start
with a small tube each of Lamp Black, Chinese or Zinc White, Cadmium Red
Medium, Cadmium Yellow Light, (French) Ultramarine Blue, and Viridian for
green.  You can mix or buy other colours as necessary.  Gold gouache can
be bought which looks quite nice, but I think the nicest gold colour is
to be got from Windsor Newton gold ink.  Both of these golds are painted
on; gold leafing is an expert technique.  I should note, however, that
the Celts didn't use gold in their artwork.

Most illumination consists of filling in colour between the black lines
you've drawn, so your first efforts with illumination should be rather
like painting in a glorified colouring book, perhaps overpainting with
white lines to make designs on otherwise rather flat colour.  If you need
more help with techniques than I've given here, or want to actually do
scrolls for the Middle Kingdom, you live fairly close to Master Ranthulfr,
who is the deputy Signet for Michigan.  Other scribes who wish to do like-
wise should contact the person who is listed in their Kingdom newsletter
as Kingdom Clerk of the Signet, or just Signet, and they should be able
to provide support, or even direct you to someone in your area who knows
what's going on.  Be patient, though; they are by definition busy people.

Hope this helps (and wasn't unutterably boring to everyone else).

     Sarra Graeham, Ealdormere Signet  |   Heather Fraser
     Canton of Greyfells, Midrealm     |   Kingston, Ontario, CANADA


From: kuijt@alv (David Kuijt)
Date: 14 Feb 90 15:02:54 GMT
Organization: Center for Automation Research, UMCP, MD 20742
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

As a supplement to my previous posting, here is the information on the
medieval footware book I mentioned:

"Shoes and Pattens" by Francis Grew and Margrethe de Neergaard (London:
Her Majesty's Stationery Office, 1988).

HMSO books are available from
        HMSO Publications Centre
        PO Box 276, London SW8-5DT

Telephone Orders 01-622-3316
General Inquiries 01-211-5656

The price listed on my copy is &11.95 (that is Pounds Sterling, NOT $US).

As I mentioned before, this book covers (in depth) the 2000-odd shoes
and pattens excavated from medieval london (12th-15th centuries).  I can
not rate this book too highly.

The London Museum has a companion volume called, I believe, "Daggers and
Scabbards" which is a similar volume on knives and scabbards from the
same period.  It is of less utility to the non-metalworking populace,
but of the same high quality as the shoes and pattens book.  It is also
available through HMSO.

        Earl Dafydd ap Gwystl                   David Kuijt
        Barony of Storvik                       kuijt@alv.umd.edu
        Kingdom of Atlantia                     (MD,DC,VA,NC,SC)


From: think!ames!decwrl!decvax!tinhat!meg@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Megan ni Laine)
Date: 25 Mar 90 03:01:00 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Message-ID: <9003250301.AA00117@tinhat.UUCP>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Unto the Honest and Courteous Gentles of the Rialto, 
Greetings from Megan ni Laine:

Golly, dictionaries!  I forgot about that.  Thanks all for the 
definitions...it made me realize that we have our own language and our
own SCA definitions of these words.  Also, shouldn't we consider the
ways in which these words were used in the Middle Ages?  We have the
option of redefining the words from 20th century usage to a more
medieval meaning within our scadian contexts.

The Babees Book, Medieval Manners for the Young, 1908 Ballentyne
Press, London, is an excellent source of medieval "Miss Manners" texts
which touch on the subject of courtesy, as taught from 1430-1619.

These instructions include how to eat neatly, how to serve tables, how
to walk (my physical therapist should read that one!) how to serve a
lord or lady in court, in the chamber, in business, etc, how to run a
household, how to behave at school and at church, in short, how to conduct 
oneself within polite medieval society.  Hmm...perhaps the SCA should 
reprint this book and make it mandatory reading for all members... 
 
Actually, I don't know if it is in reprint or not, my BIP is in the 
other room and I am flat on my back right now... 
 
I got my copy form Master El's bookshop. He or Esperanza  might find 
you a copy. I can't find Master El's address right now...he is in
Providence Rhode Island (Barony of the Bridge) but Esperanza can be
reached at The Tucker's Books, 2236 Murray Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15217.

Here's a question:  now that we know how the OED and Webster's define
courtesy, how have we in the SCA defined it?  How does our common usage
differ from that in the Great Outer World?

Courteously yours,

Honest Meg


From: CONS.ELF@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE ("]ke Eldberg")
Date: 4 Apr 90 23:35:37 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Greetings unto the gentle folk of the Rialto!

DENNIS CLARK refers to some books by Nigel Tranter, about Robert
the Bruce. I happen to own these books and do agree that they are
*very good*! The titles are: 
1. The steps to the empty throne
2. The path of the hero king
3. The price of the king's peace
The books are from around 1970, my edition is Hodder & Stoughton.
Anyone with English sympathies who reads these books will come
out converted to full scots allegiance... Read them! Do!

Yours, William de Corbie


From: FRENCHBC%ctrvx1.vanderbilt.edu@RELAY.CS.NET
Date: 4 Apr 90 23:21:38 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

To all of those who are interested, I recommend a book called "The Columbian
Exchange" by Alfred Crosby.  Crosby goes into a great deal of detail about
New World foods, where they caught on and when, etc.  I believe it's still
in print . . . it's got a terrible orange cover, and is an excellent
resource for this.
  
                                        ...Cait
  
Caitrin Gordon
Glaedenfeld/Meridies
  

WWIVNET: Artistic Licence [503-281-2376] - Node 5320

Name: Brenna 

BY: Synonomous Botch #1 @8356

  ... are available in libraries and museums, as well.  One good, relatively 
easy to find source is "The Book of Costume" by Millia Davenport.  Originally 
published in two volumes, it is also available in a single tome from Crown 
Publishers, Inc. of New York (my copy).  It sometimes pops up in used book 
stores, too.  It is seperated by century and then covers countries within that

century.  Its main drawback is that it covers North and West Europe pretty 
exclusively.  However, for 1266 in England, I think you will find it quite 
satisfactory.  It does not give patterns or the like but instead relies 
entirely on paintings, illuminations, statuary, et cetera contemporary with 
the period depicted for its documentation.  At that point, if you don't know 
how to sew, now's the time to learn.  Most of the clothes for you period were 
what is called rectangular construction.  It makes the most effecient use of 
the fabric (expensive stuff, remember; it takes a while to hand-weave it).
  (Sorry for forgetting to paragraph, I got carried away.)
  Anyway, all rectangular construction is just geometry on fabrics and bodies.

 You take the dimensions you need to cover and the width of the fabric 
available and make them fit each other.  This gives you the length you need if

you are purchasing after determining amounts.  If you are starting with a 
length already, well, that just makes it more challenging, but it can be done.
  Remember to use linen or linen-look-alike stuff for the under layer and 
either that or wool or wool-look-alike for the outer layer.  Try to avoid 
synthetics or synthetic/real blends, around camp-fires, they can be hazardous.
  As far as colors go, it's pretty wide open.  They liked color, too.  
Woven-in patterns are okay, but printed ones should be avoided for the most 
part at this stage. 
  For further information on fabrics and colors, see (appropriately enough) 
"Fabrics and Colors   c. 1150-1650 A.D." by Baroness Kathryn Goodwyn, O.L., 
O.F..  This is, obviously, an S.C.A. publication and somebody in your area 
should know where to find a copy. Probably through the costumers' guild in 
your area.  I'm afraid that's going to be your department.  
  Good luck on your search.  I hope I've helped some.  If I can be of further 
help, just holler.

                                        In service to Knowledge,
                                                       Brenna

P.S.  Don't forget to add 2 - 5 inches to your measurements for ease in 
movement.  Also, take a deep breath when you measure your chest for the most 
comfortable fit.  Leave enough room in the armpit, too.  Add 1 inch more to 
the outer tunic than you did to the under tunic so they won't bind together 
when you move.  (Alright, seamstress, shut up.)    (B)


From:    Allyn O'Dubhda 
To:      Sionnaichan Am Diolaimadh                Msg #363, 18-Apr-90 08:17am
Subject: Re: Two Part Question...

Your intended display seems like a good idea to me.  You might want to
consider tapering the pennon some, as well.  A very good source of information
about heraldic display is Gayre's _Heraldic Standards_ - it'salking about
flags and such, not rules and regulations.  You will probably need to obtain
it through inter-library loan since it is long out of print and not very
common anyway.
 
Yours,
      Allyn

From:    Stephen Goldschmidt 
To:      All                                      Msg #216, 10-Apr-90 07:01am
Subject: Free Trumpet Press (further info)

From: aluko@portia.Stanford.EDU (Stephen Goldschmidt)
Date: 9 Apr 90 19:48:58 GMT
Organization: Stanford University
Message-ID: <10972@portia.Stanford.EDU>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Greetings again!

I now have an official price list (dated April 1st) for publications of
Free Trumpet Press, including the SCA Armorial ($25) and Ordinary ($40)
now complete through April of Year 23, six-month updates ($5 each), 
proceedings of several heraldic symposia, _The Compleat Russian Name
Book_ ($10), and _The West Kingdom Heralds Handbook_ ($15).

If you get the O&A together, there is a $15 discount.  There is also
a consolidated update (May 22 to April 23) for $15.

As usual, I don't represent or work for FTP, but you can always ask 
me questions.

mka: STephen Goldschmidt 
aka: Iulstan Sigewealding
net: aluko@portia.Stanford.EDU 
geo: Palo Alto, California USA
phone: (415)494-1748


From: EXPOTECH@applelink.apple.com
Date: 11 Apr 90 16:10:00 GMT
Organization: Society for Creative Anachronism
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Unto the good gentles of the Rialto doth Catherine-Aimee leMoyne send
courteous
greetings!

Having received encouragement to expand on the subject of foods and camping, I
wish to recommend a book which I have found to be both philosophically and
practically helpful. It's called "The Hungry Hiker's Book of Good Cooking" by
Gretchen McHugh, A.A.Knopf, New York, copyright 1982, and has no pretention to
advocating period foods. It simply explains in straightforward terms methods
of
foodstuff preserving, menu planning, and packing which is so incredibly
applicable to the Pennsic experience that it has completely turned around my
lord's and my approach to eating at Pennsic and other camping events.

This began because my lord and I noticed that many of the most attractive
campsites are marred by the multitude of brightly-colored products of Madison
Avenue and Mr Tupp of Tupperware fame, which in the bustle of actual camp life
are likely to be far more in evidence than the camp owner intends! Add to this
for us the entropy factor of two small ones and the result is dismal indeed.
The cooler chests, uncovered, end up as seating; cardboard boxes are kept as
kindling and scatter in a wind storm; industrial-size cans of ravioli are
heated directly over a hibachi fire and the contents eaten directly therefrom
(no, I haven't done that last, but I've seen it more than I care to remember!)

Obviously a cooler chest is not likely to be along on a backpacking
expedition.
Therefore this book had promise. It was more than fulfilled: there are
instructions for building and using an inexpensive food dryer; drying fruits,
vegetables, *and meats*. Also, and very much to the point, it gives recipes -
anyone can buy a collection of dry vegetables, but it's a bit of a trick to
make them edible, much less appealing. These recipes are both. The food is
also
generally quick to prepare (it assumes you'd rather be hiking than cooking).

Above all, the book is practical. "It only takes a moment to jot down your own
shorthand version of my trail [food preparation] directions; and I advise you
to do so - or to Xerox the recipes, if that's convenient. Although you think
you may remember the details of a recipe, it's surprising how grateful you can
be for a few scrawled directions tucked in with the packets of ingredients.
And
sometimes you may want to turn over the cooking to someone less experienced."
There are tips on how to pack maple syrup (in film roll canisters) and other
suck awkward goods, recipes for breads and cakes to bake before departing, and
much else from someone who obviously has done it a lot.

Although as I said the book has no thought for authenticity - as indeed why
should it? - the food preparation and preservation methods are by far less
jarring in a "medieval" camp than the general run of commercial foods; thay do
taste good, and they are less likely to spoil or disgust than that packets of
cold cuts and cheese floating in the icy water of the cooler chest. I
recommend
looking up the book (you probably guessed that); it was in print last summer
when I ordered it.

Hoping you find this missive helpful and not outrageously long, I remain in
the
Service of the Society Yours -

Catherine-Aimee leMoyne

mka Aimee Moran
House PearHaven/Roaring Wastes
Detroit, MI
expotech@applelink.apple.com


From: bcdegopi@watserv1.waterloo.edu (bcdegopi)
Date: 13 Apr 90 20:46:40 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

In article <1930@zipeecs.umich.edu> charles@sparky.eecs.umich.edu (Charles
Jacob Cohen) writes:
>Greetings Lords and Ladies.  
>
>Is there anyone out there with information how to be a jester in the SCA.
>I have the juggling skills, the costume is being made, but it is very
>hard for me to find any information on this subject, and in the two
>events I've been to, I haven't seen an other performing jesters.  Any
>information or sources about style and performance would be most
>appreciated.  Thanks in advance!
>
>       - Midair, the Juggler of Cynnabar

  As it happens I happen to be in the midst of researching this very topic...
  Here are some of the books I have started reading on the topic, which
  you may be interested in.  I'm sorry to say I can only give you Author,
  Title, and Library of Congress Number, as I have aprint-out here, but the 
books themselves are elsewhere. 
  
  
Armin, Robert "Fools and Jesters: with a reprint of robert Armin's Nest of
ninnies"  Call Number: PR2417.N4 1842
 
Busby, Olive Mary "Studies in the development of the fool in the Elizabethan
drama" Call Number: PR658.F7B8 1923
 
Doran, John "The History of Court Fools"
    Call Number: Gt3670.d6
Swain, Barbara "Fools and folly during the middle ages and renaissance"
    Call Number: PN56.F6S8
Welsford, Enid "The Fool; his social and literary history."
    Call Number: GT3670.W4
Arden, Heather "Fool's plays: a study of satire in the sottie"
    Call Number: PQ514.A7 1980
Billington, Sandra "A Social History of the fool"
    Call Number: GT3670.B45 1984
Kaiser, Walter Jacob "Praisers of folly: Erasmus Rabelais, Shakespeare."
    Call Number: PA8515.K3
Lukens, Nancy "buchner's Valerio and teh theatrical fool tradition"
    Call Number: PT1828.BA7246

 
      There are many more, but these are  the one's which I have a list of
since the pretain more specifically to my topic.  You will find the comedy of
the fool is fairly varied, with many sub-types.
 
Foolishly,
 
Owain ap Emrys SAethydd,
Bcdegopi@watserv1.Waterloo.edu
Bryniau Tywnnog
Principality of Ealdormere.


From: jmike@asylum.SF.CA.US (J. Michael Hammond)
Date: 29 May 90 16:18:40 GMT
Organization: The Asylum; Belmont, CA
Message-ID: <11915@asylum.SF.CA.US>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Greetings to milady Awilda and all others interested in organizing
celebrations of the King of Games!  I crave your indulgence as I throw
in my two farthings' worth from my perspective as a certified
tournament director in the United States Chess Federation.

The first important question to resolve is what *exact* versions of
period chess do you want to support?  I have seen articles and spoken
with players who have some somewhat suspect opinions as to valid forms
of the game.  I recommend the source "A History of Chess" by Murray.
It is a great big 900-pager, copyright 1913, and is still available
through U.S. Chess.  Their catalog number is C905MH, their price is
$39.95 (but well worth it), and their phone number is (800) 388-KING.
I believe the book is also available through other mail-order houses
but do not have any other information at hand.  {I hope I'm not
breaking netiquette with this endorsement; I make no kickback
thereby.}

Damiano della Greccia

From:    Justin du Coeur MKA Mark Waks 
Date: 06-Jun-90 08:38pm
Subject: Branch Monarchs and Pleyn Delit

....

Re: Pleyn Delit

My personal favorite cookbook. Some of the reconstructions are a little funny
(mostly because of hard-to-get period ingredients or labor-intensive
processes being substituted for), but they're generally pretty good, and
you can always read the original, since it's provided. One of the two or
three "must-have" cookbooks for any SCAdian kitchen...

(In general, all of Hieatt and Butler's books are well worth the money; their
edition of Curye is another of my favorites. Of course, being able to read
middle English helps...)

                                -- Justin du Coeur
                                   Philosopher of Carolingia and
                                   Sometime Cook

 
Rebecca:  I am the possessor of the scroll in Norse runes.  I would be happy to
photocopy it for you if you will send me your snail mail address.  To find out
more about Viking/Norse runes, I reccomemend Futhark: A Handbook of Rune Magic,
by Edredd Thorsson ( sp ?)  > It is a thoroughly researched work that documents
many different aspects of rune use and traces a history of runic developments.
It steers carefully clear of the racism that some people read into runic
studies (like the Nazis) and he is very rational about what the runes mean,
and why they are significant for personal development.  There is a lot of
nonsense published on the runes, and various organizations that support runic
studies, beware of people with axes to grind.  Runes are a subtle and
mysterious art, and have been twisted to some truly ignoble ends. 

 The book covers the three different runic alphabets.  "Viking" can
 thus be understood to
mean that version of the runes used during the Viking Age.  Runes were used
both before and after the Viking period, and changed their forms and meanings
through time. Runes are still used today, albeit rarely, and usually debased.
For example, the "peace sign" is a runic symbol of protection known in period.
The heart is a period runic symbol of female fertility (it is a
respresentation of
female buttocks and genitalia as seen from the rear, wouldn't the Victorians
faint if they knew!) Needlesstosay, while our modern uses of these symbols
derives from the runic tradition, they serve very different purposes than our
ancestors had for them!  Runes are fun, as long as you avoid the cowpies along
the way.

Yours in service,
Awilda Halfdane
bright hills, atlantia
sgj%ctj.uucp@wb3ffv.ampr.org


From: PORTERG@RUBY.VCU.EDU (Greg Porter)
Date: 16 Jun 90 03:02:00 GMT

  As for information on birth in the middle ages (and earlier), I strongly
recommend the book 'Devils, Drugs, and Doctors; the story of the Science
of Healing from Medicine-Man to Doctor' by Howard W.Haggard, M.D. <c>1929
Harper and Brothers.  Cardinal edition (pb) 1953 USA.  It follows the advance
of medical science with emphasis on obstetrics.  Some of the earlier practices
by both midwife and doctor are ghastly.  After the fall of Greek and Roman
civilization, there was a great drop in the quality of care during birth.
This lasted until the 16thC.  

        Morgan Wolfsinger (Catherine DeMott, D.V.M.) by my lord's net access


From: CONS.ELF@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE (Ake Eldberg)
Date: 6 Jul 90 18:57:31 GMT

Greetings from William de Corbie!

Torvald Oscarson asked about a good Old English dictionary.
The most complete one in existence is probably "Bosworth and
Toller", a real brick of 1300+ pages. The original author was
Joseph Bosworth, and his work was edited and enlarged by 
Northcote Toller. The edition I have was printed in 1972, but
this is a book that keeps coming out in new editions so you
should be able to get it.
 
It is OE-modern only. I have long sought after a dictionary that
goes the other way (modern English-Old English), but they don't
seem to exist. The same goes for Latin.

P.S. The publishers for B & T is Oxford University Press.
William


From: michaelm@vax.SPD.3Com.Com (Michael McNeil) 
Date: 11 Jul 90 19:34:53 GMT
Organization: 3Com Corp., Santa Clara, CA 
 
Dan.Birchall@samba.acs.unc.edu (BBS Account) writes: 
>I have a small latin-english / english-latin dictionary... 
>Cassell's compact latin dictionary (Latin-english, English-latin) 
>compiled by DP Simpson, various neat numbers on it: 
>  
>0-440-31101-2 (ISBN) 
>and 674623 (something about the publishing company) 
>cost $3.95 or thereabouts. 
 
I've been using the *Collins Gem Latin Dictionary* (Latin-English, 
English-Latin), a mere 4-1/2" x 3" x 1" in size and with "more 
than 60,000 references," compiled by D. A. Kidd, M.A., Professor
of Classics at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, and
published by William Collins Sons Co. Ltd., London, originally
in 1957, the latest reprint in 1987, ISBN 0-00-458644-1, $4.95.
--
Michael McNeil                  michaelm@vax.DSD.3Com.COM (3comvax.UUCP)
3Com Corporation                ucbvax!hplabs!oliveb!3comvax!michaelm
Santa Clara, California         work telephone: (408) 492-1790 x 5-208


From:    Ciorstan Macamhlaidh 
To:      Brian "Seannach in 
Date: 07-Aug-90 05:19pm
Subject: Re: New Name

"trews" is another word, Scots Gaelic for the most part, for "trousers' or
"pants".  Most trews are skin tight, tartan and perhaps out-of-period since
the wearing of a bias-cut garment was limited to the rich or extremely
status-conscious...
 
Mary Black has this wonderful book, called "New Key to Weaving" that explains
a lot of the rationale for color choices and setts for tartans (pre-1800's and
the charlatan brothers who "classified and identified all true clan setts"): 
she's a MacPherson and so goes into great detail only into that particular
clan, but is still of great interest.  
 
ciorstan


From: timsmith@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (Smith)
Date: 28 Aug 90 14:33:56 GMT
Organization: David Taylor Research Center, Bethesda, MD
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca,trial.rec.metalworking

In article <7450@scolex.sco.COM> daveu@sco.COM (Dave Uebele) writes:
>I remember seeing some information about soaking cloth in some solution to
>make it fire resistant but I don't remember what. All that comes to mind is
>a boric acid solution. Is this correct or is there some other way to
>get fabric to not look high tech but not be a huge firehazard either?

From _The_Formula_Manual_ by Norman H. Stark [Stark Research Corp.,
Cedarburg, Wisconsin, 53012], p. 8-9:

Fireproofing Textiles
Ingredients:  1.  Ammonium Phosphate   1/2 cup
              2.  Ammonium Chloride      1 cup
              3.  Water                  3 pints
Mixing:  Stir 1 and 2 into 3.
Use:  Soak cloth in solution for a few minutes, wring out and hang up
to dry.  Cloth must be retreated after each exposure to water.

Fireproofing Synthetic Fabrics
Ingredients:  1.  Boric Acid   1 cup
              2.  Water        1 gal
Mixing:  Dissolve 1 into 2.
Use:  Soak fabric in mixture, wring out and hang up to dry.  Retreat
fabric after each laundering. This may be done by adding 1 to the final
rinse cycle of the washing machine.

Good luck, and keep a fire extinguisher handy just in case!
--  Tim Smith      timsmith@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil


From: SL195@cc.usu.edu (A banana is not a toy)
Date: 31 Aug 90 21:00:57 GMT 
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca 
 
In article <9008242300.AA00286@gizmo.frame.com>, jrd@gizmo.UUCP (James Drew) 
writes: 
> Sorry, but I'm shoving two topics together... 
>  
> 1) I happened to be going through my collection of old Scientific 
> Americans, and thought: "Gee, I wonder what was in the issue for 
> August, 1970 (20 years ago)?"  Wouldn't you know it, but the cover 
> feature was on Medieval Windmills and other uses of wind power "in 
> Period."  If there is interest, I'll post a summary of the article. 
> 
>[...]  
> Colyn... 


From: calhoun@m.cs.uiuc.edu 
Date: 10 Sep 90 21:20:00 GMT 
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca 
 
In response to the situation in Saudi Arabia, the Faculty/Staff newsletter 
at the University of Illinois, "Inside Illinois" printed two articles 
concerning the history of the role of women in combat (Sept 8 issue). 
 
The first article: "Women in combat nothinng new: cross-dressers bypassed 
rules" is from an interview with Prof. John Lynn, UI scholar of French 
military history, and an article he wrote for the spring issue of Military 
History Quarterly titled "The Strange Case of the Maiden Soldier of Picardy." 
 
"In sifting through 17th-century French War Archive documents, Lynn 
discovered the desertion record of Marie Magdelaine Mouron, a young 
woman from Desvres, near Boulogne on the English Channel."

"The details of Mouron's experience and other stories revealed that posing as
a man to enter the army was a way of gaining access to the broader horizons
enjoyed by men."

The second article: "Medieval Europe provides precedent for women in combat"
is from an interview with Megan McLaughlin and her article in the current
issue of the journal Women's Studies.  This article appears to cite many
instances of women in combat from the 10th to 13th centuries and attempts
to give some credit to a group of wariors that has benn largely overlooked
or dismissed.  The article in the journal is titled: "The Woman Warrior:
Gender, Warfare and Society in Medieval Europe."

Geoffrey Hoo            |       Jeff Calhoun
Barony of Wurm Wald     |       University of Illinois
Midrealm                |       Urbana-Champaign


From: bloch@thor.ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch)
Date: 14 Sep 90 19:32:47 GMT
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

0003498020@MCIMAIL.COM (Edie Almeleh) writes:
>I beg your
>assistance in locating books etc. that contain well-documented 
>period information in the following areas:
>    Lute Music - esp. for dance 

Not actually music for the lute,fascinating info, is a work by John
Playford (of _English_Dancing_Master_ fame) on how to play the various
sizes of lutes.  Also, Playford was apparently in some kind of running
feud with a contemporary (whose name I've forgotten) on the subject of
music notation -- the other guy was offended by the need for musicians
to learn four different clefs and the names for notes up and down the
Gam-ut, and proposed a cleaner, single-clef system with uniform
notation.  Playford pointed out all sorts of practical problems with
this, and incidentally cast no small aspersions upon the honesty and
morals of his rival, who returned the charges with interest...  All
this stuff is available in University Microfilms; I ran into the other
stuff while looking for various editions of the English Dancing
Master.
--
Stephen Bloch
Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
>sca>Caid>Calafia>St.Artemas
bloch@cs.ucsd.edu


From:    Tony Francovilla 
To:      Cadi
Date: 26-Oct-90 01:48pm
Subject: Hammered dulcimers

      I may be able to help somewhat.  If you would like, I can loan you
my copy of the cassette/book instruction set by Karen Ashbrook.  She is
anexcellent player/teacher from the D.C. area.  Much of my practice is
pickingup pieces by ear, so I don't have any need for it anytime soon.  A
goodsource to try would be The House of Musical Traditions in Takoma Park,
MD.Also try Dulcimer Players News at P.O.Box 2164 Winchester,VA; it is
amonthly magazine devoted to both hammered and fretted dulcimers.  BTW,I'm not
suprised that you have trouble tuning as R.M.E instruments aregood for the
buck, but are touchy.Yours in Service, Jared. 

 * Origin: Opera=Amorum, BaphoNet-At-Night -> (718) 499-9277 (1:107/666.0)


From: STEVE.BOYLAN@office.wang.com (Steve Boylan)
Date: 19 Nov 90 16:08:55 GMT
Organization: GNUs Not Usenet
Message-ID: <9011191614.AA09810@sununix.comm.wang.com>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca


Once again do I extend greetings to those upon the Rialto!

Is anybody out there familiar with the book "Tartan:  The Highland
Textile", by James D. Scarlett??  All I have is a brief description:

      "History of Tartan from 3d century AD.  Suggesting a Pictish
      rather than a Gaelic origin.  Second half is extensive
      revision of Stewart's 'Setts of the Scottish Tartan', with
      clan by clan description."

Is this a worthwhile book?  Is the information accurate?  Does the
author know what he's talking about?  The list of books I have has
a price of $60.00, which is much too steep for a "just for fun"
book.

Opinions, anyone??

                                - - Steve Boylan
                                    Visitor to Carolingia
                                    Kingdom of the East

                                    Internet: Steve.Boylan@office.wang.com

                  
From: L6PJDU%IRISHMVS.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (Cathy Lindsay 239-6679, 219)
Date: 26 Nov 90 21:42:00 GMT

Greetings from Katherine of Constantinople (mundanely Cathy
Lindsay the Library Technical Assistant - don't ask what that
means)
Our library just received a new book that may be of interest
to some readers on the Rialto:
The Ideals and practice of medieval knighthood. Ed. by C.
Harper-Bell and R. Harvey, Boydell Press, 1990.
It looks pretty good.  I don't have time to read it now, so
don't look to me for a review!  I'd be interested in hearing
from anyone who does read it!
 

From: L6PJDU%IRISHMVS.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU (Cathy Lindsay 239-6679, 219)
Date: 27 Nov 90 15:25:00 GMT

Greetings again from Katherine of Constantinople!
There was another book I recently ran across that some of you
may want to check out.  It is especially relevant to those of
you interested in period tourneys:
   Tournaments: jousts, chivalry, and pageants in the Middle
   Ages, by Richard Barber & Juliet Barker.  1st ed.  New York,
   Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1989.  225 p., some color illus.
   bibliographic ref. & index.
I assume this is a scholarly work as it is in our Medieval
Institute.

      
From: draggi@milton.u.washington.edu (Antony Ferrucci)
Date: 27 Dec 90 17:49:32 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle

   People were wondering about meanings of symbols, charges, etc,
especially for heraldry.  May I suggest and *-HIGHLY-* recommend:

       "An Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Traditional Symbols"
        by J.C.Cooper, Thames & Hudson Publishers, New York,
        1978 (reprinted in paperback 1988),
           ISBN 0-500-27125-9     $12.95

     This book covers a very wide range of topics and does very
well.  The author gives first the "common" meanings of the symbol
and then gives specifics under a subheading by culture.  (Even the
Japanese ones were correct!)  Many topics are cross-referenced to 
other entries.  The symbolic meanings of numbers, colors and metals
is also given.  Perhaps some examples will help:

   "LAUREL: Triumph; victory.  As evergreen it is eternity; immortality;
        as consecrated to vestal virgins it is chastity.  In Graeco-
        Roman symbolism it is victory, truce and peace and is sacred to
        Apollo, Dionysos, Juno, Diana and Silvanus and represents the
        nymph Daphne who was changed into a laurel.  In Christianity
        it is the crown of martyrdom."
   "COLOR, Silver: The moon; the feminine principle; virginity.  Gold and
        silver are the two aspects of the same cosmic reality. *Alchemic*:
        Luna, 'the affections purified'."
   "SPARROW: *Christian*: lowliness; insignificance; also lewdness and   
        lechery. *Greek*: an attribute of Aphrodite. Identified with
        Lesbia. *Japanese*: loyalty."

   A most interesting book for everyone, and not just heralds.  Enjoy!!

                 
From: DRS%UNCVX1.BITNET@MITVMA.MIT.EDU ("Dennis R. Sherman")
Date: 2 Jan 91 14:36:00 GMT

I've run across an interesting book other people are likely to be interested
in:

Platt, Hugh; The Jewell House of Art and Nature; London, Peter Short, 1594;
facsimile Amsterdam, Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, Ltd., 1979
Number 950 in the series "The English Experience: its record in early printed
books published in facsimile".
ISBN: 90 221 0950 X
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 79-84132

Subtitled "Conteining divers rare and profitable inventions, together with
sundry new experimentes in the Art of Husbandry, Distillation, and Moulding",
this volume is a compendium of ways to do things.  The first book is recipes
and techniques, each entry generally a page or less in length.  Some of the
topics included (there are 103) are "Sondry new and artificial waies
for the keeping of fruites and flowers, in their fresh hew, after they
are gathered from their stalks or branches"; "How to carrie gold in a most
secret manner"; "How to defend fresh water a long time from putrefaction";
"How to brew good and wholesome beere without any hops at al"; "How to roast
meat more speedilie and with lese fire, then wee doo in our common manner";
"Sweet cakes made without either spice or suger"; "Timber made to last long
in water workes"; "To write both blew and red letters at once"; "To make
parchment transparent"; "An excellent mixture to scoure pewter withal"; and
on and on across a broad range of topics.  The second book deals with
animal husbandry, and the improving of soil.  The third is a discussion of
the art of distillation, with topics such as "The maner of drawing, or
extracting of the oiles out of hearbes, or spices with all necessarie
circumstances"; "Wholesome and comfortable Manus Christi, for such as
have weake stomaches"; "Wormwood wine made very speedily, and in great
quantitie"; and "Ypocras made speedilie", to mention but a few.  The fourth
and last book is manual of molding and casting.
    I haven't had time yet to study this in detail, but the browsing I've
done suggests to me that this is a terrific primary source for lots of
different crafts.  And it is in English, in a typeface and spelling that
while a little peculiar are quite readable to the modern eye.

     Robyyan Torr d'Elandris                Dennis R. Sherman
     Kapellenberg, Windmaster's Hill        Chapel Hill, NC
     Atlantia                               drs@uncvx1.bitnet

                  
From: sharpwa!grendal!nam@nosun.west.sun.com (Nicholas Marcelja)
Date: 1 Jan 91 22:06:22 GMT

Here is the bibliograpy from my wife's class on color and fabrics
 
General References on Color and Fabrics:

Tailor's Pattern Book 1589 (facsimile) Juan de Alcega
Ruth Bean, Carlton, Bedford 1979

Hispanic Costume 1480-1530 Ruth Matilda Anderson
The Hispanic Society of America, NY 1979

A Handbook of Costume Janet Arnold
MacMillan Ltd., London 1973

'Lost from Her Majesties Back' Janet Arnold
Costume Society 1980 (Extra series No. 7)

Patterns of Fashion (1560-1620) Janet Arnold
Drama Books, NY 1985

Queen Elizabeth's Wardrobe Unlock'd Janet Arnold
W.S. Maney & Sons Ltd., Leeds 1988

Historic Costume for the Stage Lucy Barton
Walter H. Baker Co., Boston 1935

A History of Fashion J. Anderson Black and Madge Garland
William Morrow & Co., NY 1980

"Mary Tudor's Wardrobe" Alison J. Carter
Costume #18 1984

"Dress Fashion of the Italian Renaissance"   L.G. Deruisseau
Ciba Review Vol. 17 January 1939

Book of Costume Millia Davenport
Crown Publ., NY 1948

Renaissance Dress in Italy 1400-1500 Jacqueline Herald
Bell & Hyman, London 1981

The Borgias Marion Johnson
Holt, Rinehart and Winston, NY 1981

A History of Costume Carl Kohler
Dover Publ., NY 1963

Costume in the Drama of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries
M. Channing Linthicum, Russell & Russell, NY 1963

" 'Hir Rob Ryall': the Costume of Mary of Guise" 
Rosalind K. Marshall, Costume #12, 1978

Costume and Fashion Herbert Norris
(Several Volumes, different publ.)

History of Costume Blanche Payne
Harper & Row, NY 1965

Costumes and Festivals of Milanese Society Under Spanish Rule
F. Saxl, Oxford University Press 1936

The Golden Book of the Renaissance Irwin Shapiro
Golden Press and the American Heritage Publ. Co., NY 1962

The Medieval and Renaissance World Ed: Edward Wright
Hamlyn Publ. Group Ltd., NY 1979



Textile Bibliography

"Textiles in Biblical Times" Ciba Review 1968/#2

Historic Textile Fabrics Richard Glazier
Charles Scribner's Sons, NY 1923

The Final Steps Beverly Gordon
Interweave Press, Loveland, Colorado 1982

The History of the Silk Industry in the United States 
Ed: Albert Heusser, Silk Dyer's Assoc. of America.
Patterson, NJ 1927

"Ancient Egypt, the Land of Linen" Alfred Leix 
Ciba Review #12

"Babylon-Assur, the Land of Wool" Alfred Leix
Ciba Review #12

Early Decorative Textiles W. Fritz Vollbach
Paul Hamlyn Publ., London 1969

Dyes and Color Bibliography

Two Thousand Years of Textiles Adele Weibel
Pantheon Books, NY 1952

Lichens for Vegetable Dyeing Eileen Bolton
Robin & Russ Handweavers, McMinnville, Oregon 1960

A Weaver's Garden Rita Buchanan
Interweave Press, Loveland, Colorado 1987

The Art of Dyeing Franco Brunello
NerPozzi Editore, Vincenza 1973

Ciba Reviews:
        Sept 1937 #1    "Medieval Dyeing"
        Dec 1937 #4             "Purple"
        March 1938 #7   "Scarlet"
        May 1938 #9             "Dyeing and Tanning in Classical Antiquity"
        June 1938 #10   "Trade Routes and Dye Markets in the Middle Ages"
        Aug 1938 #12    "Weaving and Dyeing in Ancient Egypt and Babylon"
        Jan 1939 #17    "Colors in the (Italian) Renaissance"
        Oct 1939 #26    "Medieval Cloth Printing in Europe"
        May 1941 #39    "Madder and Turkey Red"
        Aug 1942 #44    "Ikats"
        July 1946 #51   "Fabrics and Colors in the Ceremonial of the
                               Court of Burgundy" by H. Wescher
        Nov 1947 #62    "Swiss Fairs and Markets in the Middle Ages"
        March 1948 #65  "The Cloth Trade and the Fairs of Champagne"
        June 1948 #68   "Dyeing Among Primitive Peoples"
        1961 Vol #5             "Alchemy, Dye and Colour"

Traditional Scottish Dyes Jean Fraser
Canongate Publ. Ltd., Edinburgh, Scotland 1985

"Medieval Fabrics and Colors" and "
A Brief Outline of Fabrics and Fashions" 
        Kateryne of Hindscroft
 From the Skin Out  Vol. 7 No. 2, July XXI

Cochineal and the Insect Dyes Frederick H. Gerber
SelfPublished, Ormand Beach, Florida 1978

The Investigative Method of Natural Dyes Frederick H. Gerber
Handweaver & Craftsman; Brooklyn Botanic Garden Record: 
Shuttle, Spindle and Dyepot 1968-1975

A Dyer's Manual Jill Goodwin
Pelham Books, Leicaster 1978

Dyes and Color Bibliography, continued.

Fabric and Colors Kathryn Goodwyn
Selfpublished, SCA Author

Nature's Colors: Dyes from Plants Ida Grae
MacMillan Publ. Co., NY 1974

The Color Cauldron Su Grierson
Oliver McPherson Ltd., Angus, Scotland 1986

"Vegetable Dyes of Scotland" Su Grierson
J S D C Vol 100: 209-211 July/Aug 1984

Natural Dyes Sallie Pease Kierstead
Brandon Press Publ., Boston 1959

The Complete Illustrated Book of Dyes from Natural Sources
Arnold & Connie Krockmal, Doubleday & Co., Garden City, NJ 1974

Ancient and Medieval Dyes William Leggett
Chemical Publ. Co., NY 1944

Vegetable Dyes Ethel Mairet
Faber & Faber, London 1916

Medieval English Gardens Teresa McLean
Viking Press, NY 1980

"Dyestuffs" Gwenydd ni Gelligaer (mka Gwennis nha-Jandria)
Compleat Anachronist #41, January 1989

Dyes from Plants Seonaid M. Robertson
Van Nostrand Reinhold, NY 1973

A History of Dyed Textiles Stuart Robinson
MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1969

A History of Printed Textile Stuart Robinson
MIT Press, Cambridge, Mass. 1969

Handbook on Dye Plants and Dyeing Ed: E. Schetky
Brooklyn Botanic Gardens, Brooklyn NY 1964

The Use of Vegetable Dyes Violetta Thurstan
Dryad Press, Leicaster 1968

Ancient Dyes for Modern Weavers Palmy Weigle
Watson-Guptill Publ., NY 1974

Nicholas Marcelja ....sun!nosun!sharpwa!grendal!nam
Grendal

                 
From: bloch@thor.ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch)
Date: 21 Jan 91 17:24:06 GMT

Ioseph.of.Locksley.@f29.n114.z1.fidonet.org gives a reading list.  I
would add:

THE BREHON LAWS: A LEGAL HANDBOOK
Laurence Ginnell 
 
"Brehon", a title Ioseph didn't mention in his discussion of various 
types of bards, describes a sort of poet cum lawyer cum judge; the 
brehon's job was to memorize the entire case law of Ireland, judge new
cases in light of it, and if the new case sets a precedent, to set 
new case to verse so he and other brehons could memorize it. 
When St. Patrick came to Ireland on a conversion mission, he hired a
couple of scribes to take dictation while the Ard-Righ's brehon recited
everything he knew; St. Patrick then went through the whole thing with
a red pen and line-item-vetoed everything that directly conflicted with
Christian practice.  The result is called the Seanchus Mor; I have
also seen it in our library, in facing-page translation.

Ginnell's book, written something like 80 years ago, is an analysis of
the principles of early Irish law through the mouths of the brehons,
enlivened by Ginnell's strong anti-English sentiments.
-- 
Stephen Bloch
Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
>sca>Caid>Calafia>St.Artemas
bloch@cs.ucsd.edu
              
   
From: 6790753%356_WEST_58TH_5TH_FL%NEW_YORK_NY%WNET_6790753@mcimail.COM 
("KATMAN.WNETS385")
Date: 26 Feb 91 12:13:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet
 
Greetings!
Working for a PBS affiliated station does have some advantages. I find out
about unusual resources. One can buy the videos of all kinds of neat-o programs
(including several movies/plays/tv programs we would be interested in and a
whole lot of other cool products) through two catalogs, WIRELESS and SIGNALS.
SIGNALS is a catalog of PBS related items, WIRELESS is a catalog of National
Public Radio related items. Be sure to request SIGNALS' video catalog as well.
The address is as follows:

SIGNALS   1-800-669-9696         WIRELESS  1-800-669-9999
PO Box 64428                     PO Box 64422
St. Paul, MN 55164-0428          St. Paul, MN 55164-0422

The SIGNALS catalog (I'm not sure about the other) is produced by WGBH in
Boston. No, I do not get a discount on any of this stuff. I can only get things
that we produce (Nature, Great Performances, MacNeil/Lehrer and such) at a
discount, and frankly, the discount is not that large.

Enjoy your viewing....
Lady Winifred de Schyppewallebotham
Lee Katman == Thirteen/WNET == New York, NY
=Do not= use REPLY or ANSWERBACK, it doesn't get to me.
INTERNET katman.wnets385%wnet_6790753@mcimail.com
MCIMAIL EMS: wnet 6790753  MBX: katman.wnets385


From: ddfr@quads.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Date: 27 Feb 91 06:30:28 GMT
Organization: University of Chicago
 
David Dowd asks about carrying capacity etc. for horses and wagons. I
recommend that he look at the book "Alexander the Great and the
Logistics of the Macedonian Army." (I forget the author). It is a
fascinating attempt to analyze Alexander's compaigns in terms of the
problems of keeping a large army from dying of hunger or thirst. To
take one obvious point that had not occurred to me: If Alexander had
camped someplace where the source of water was one well (or, for that
matter, 10 wells) his army would have died--you cannot draw water
from a well fast enough to feed 100,000 people (which I think is
about what the author thinks he had, including camp followers etc.).
One thing that makes the book possible is that the relevant
technology did not change much until the nineteenth century, so
relatively recent data are available. So the book's information would
be relevant to understanding medieval as well as classical warfare.

Cariadoc/David Friedman
DDFr@Midway.UChicago.Edu


From: PERKINS@MSUPA.BITNET
Date: 28 Feb 91 23:04:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet
 
Duke Sir Cariadoc writes:
> David Dowd asks about carrying capacity etc. for horses and wagons. I
> recommend that he look at the book "Alexander the Great and the
> Logistics of the Macedonian Army." (I forget the author). It is a

Its author is Donald W. Engels; its publisher: The University of California
Press,  Berkeley CA in 1978.  The Library of Congress Card Catalog number
is U168.E53,  for those whose libraries use that indexing system.
 ------------------------------------------------------------- Jeremy de 
Merstone       George J Perkins    perkins@msupa.pa.msu.edu
 North Woods, MidRealm    East Lansing, MI    perkins@msupa (Bitnet)
 -------------------------------------------------------------


From: EPSTEIN@ksuvm.ksu.EDU (Emily Epstein)
Date: 4 Mar 91 15:26:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Greeting from Alix Mont de fer.

For those who want to research the history of Universities, a good place to
start is Charles Homer Haskins _The_Rise_of_Universities_. Most academic
and many public libraries have it, and it's available in paperback ($4.95,
Cornell University Press, ISBN:0-8014-9015-4)

As I recall, there's also some information in Haskins' _The_Renaissance_of_
_the_12th_Century_ (pb, $10.95, Harvard University Press, ISBN:0-674-76075-1)
Also available in fine libraries everywhere. :-)

They're not the most recent scholarship; the first title was originally
published in 1923 & the second in 1927. As you might guess by the fact that
they're still in print and by who's publishing them though, they're basic
reading on the topic.

In service to information (or information services?)

                         <=========>
Alix Mont de fer          |=======|
    (Emily Epstein)       |* * * *|
Shire of Spinning Winds    XXXXXXX
    (Manhattan, KS)         VVVVV
                             YYY
epstein@ksuvm.ksu.edu         |
                             |||
                           XXXXXXX


From: FEENEYA@carleton.EDU (Jabberwocky)
Date: 10 Mar 91 21:41:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

        Most kindly gentles, Faoiltigerna greets you!

        For the guide to literary editions, 

Farrar, C. & Evan, A. Bibliography of English Translations from
    Medieval Sources. NY: Columbia U. Press, 1946.
Furguson, M.A. Bibliography of English Translations from
    Medieval Sources 1943-1968. NY: Columbia U. Press, 1973.

        These are available at most good reference libraries.

        They _are_ designed for scholars and teachers rather than browsers, in
that it's much easier to find an edition of a work whose title and author you
know than to find a good book from your persona's time period, and that it
lists more obscure works in preference to popular ones (ie. the 1973 additions
volume will not reference Morte D'Arthur because it is so well known and widely
available), but it can be used.

        My thanks to 

        Peregrine Payne     (Dragons' Mist)
        Ray Lischner        UUCP: {uunet,apollo,decwrl}!mntgfx!lisch

for first bringing it to my attention.

        There is also a book that catalogs companies that provide SCA stuff. 
Admittedly, not all SCA, and costume oriented, but still a very good source.

The Whole Costumer's Catalogue
1693 Peachwood Drive
San Jose, CA 95132

$12 + $1 postage.

Thanks to:
                                    Amoret of Dragonship Haven
                                      berdanj@yalevm.bitnet
for listing this.
        

From: DEGROFF@intellicorp.COM (Leslie DeGroff)
Date: 18 Mar 91 00:12:40 GMT
Organization: The Internet
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

   An author that should be on serious historical interests must read
list is Fernand Braudel;
  I am reading his three volume "Civilization and Capitalism, 15th -18th 
Centr  y  which is published in softcover by Harper and Row Publishers 
 The titles in this sequence are 
    The Structures of everyday life
    The wheels of commerce
    The perspective of the world.
I have not yet sought it out but he has another pair of books :The Mediterranean 
and the Mediterranean World in the age of Philip II which would cover earlier 
than the ones I am reading.  
   His approach is "gesalt" economic history and is not indexed for precise 
location of passages on some topics of interest to SCAdians but in the
C and C set for example he discusses that a major diet pattern (high and low 
table) was that the poor and middle ate oats, millet and rye, wheaten bread was
higher class.  He spends a page on such interesting minutia as social 
contreversy as forks were introduced (late period for those who look for details 
in atmosphere for feasts)  and a number of tables about transportation and 
communication
rates as improvements in roads, canals and shipping occured. The pictures in the
US paper edition are sparce but focus on people and trade so can be used for
a starting points for garb.   
  Note he is French and the edition I am reading are transltranslated by Sian 
Reynolds.


From: DRS@UNCVX1.BITNET ("Dennis R. Sherman")
Date: 15 Mar 91 14:04:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Riley, Henry Thomas, ed.; Memorials of London and London Life, in the
 XIIth, XIVth, and XVth Centuries, being A Series of Extracts, local,
 social, and political, from the Early Archives of the City of London.
 A.D. 1276-1419; London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1868

This is a fascinating book for browsing - almost 700 pages of translated
proclamations and laws from the Archives of London.  A selected few listings
of subjects, from the Table of Subjects (22 pages in itself):

Edward I

Regulation as to wearing Furs, and clearing the Streets
Theft of silver dishes belonging to Baroncin
Killers of Swine elected
Contract as to making a Chalice
Goods forfeited for violating the custom of the City
Importation of knives of foreign make

Edward II

Grand of the Small Beam for weighing Silk and Spiceries
Bread of Stratford seized, as being deficient in weight
Charge of using abusive language in the Mayor's court
Examination of false hats in the Guildhall
Ordinance of the Pepperers of Soperelane

Edward III

Charter granted to the Girdlers of London
Agreement made between the men of the trade of the Saddlers of London,
  of the one part, and the men of the trades of the Joiners, Painters,
  and Lorimers in copper and iron, of the same city, of the other part
Conveyance of a Dwelling-house in Bradestrete
Expenditure of moneys by the City Chamberlain
Ordinances of the Glovers
Transfer of debts and property belonging to Giles de Molyn, deceased,
  with the custody of his children

And on through Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V.  There is a lot of good
primary source material here on many, many topics, for just a little
searching.  And names!  There's an entire section of the introduction
devoted to an analysis of the names appearing in the articles cited.

The individual citations are labeled precisely as to date of enactment,
including not only year of reign and common era year, but identifying
the book and folio in which the original is recorded.  Each is identified
as to the original language - Latin, Norman French, Old English, and there
are many foot-notes of explanatory and cross-reference material.

I found it in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill library -
DA680 .L84.  You can probably get it via Interlibrary Loan, if it isn't
in a library near you.  Fascinating browsing, and good, hard-to-quibble-with
documentation.  Highly recommended.

     Robyyan Torr d'Elandris                Dennis R. Sherman
     Kapellenberg, Windmaster's Hill        Chapel Hill, NC
     Atlantia                               drs@uncvx1.bitnet


From: haslock@rust.zso.dec.com (Nigel Haslock)
Date: 19 Mar 91 23:14:14 GMT
Organization: DECwest, Digital Equipment Corp., Bellevue WA
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

I have now had two requests for the source of this data, so here it is.

A Baronial Household in the Thirteenth Century by Margaret Wade Labarge
published by Barnes & Noble 1980 ISBN 0-389-20034-4 (paperback)

The book is a description of the household of Eleanor de Montfort, sister to
King Henry III and wife to Simon de Montfort, based of the household accounts
for 7 months of the year 1258.

        Fiacha


From: EPSTEIN@ksuvm.ksu.EDU (Emily Epstein)
Date: 20 Mar 91 23:17:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet
Message-ID: <9103201840.aa21614@mc.lcs.mit.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

Greetings, Fishers of the Rialto, from Alix Mont de fer.

Yaakov HaMizrachi asked if Sir Thomas Elyot's book "The boke named the
governour" has been reprinted since its debut in 1531. Yes indeed, it has.

According to Books in Print, there's a 1967 edition available for $55.50.
However I also checked OCLC and found that it was part of Dent and Dutton's
Everyman's Library (spelling modernized, obsolete and archaic words retained
and glossed), and so should be available on the used book market for
considerably less than a new copy. There are a number of editions from
various other publishers that should be available at your library or through
interlibrary loan.

OCLC also indicates that there's a microform of the edition of 1531 from
University Microfilms Inc. UMI publishes on demand copies of old books as well
as theses. (Unsolicited plug: Lots of primary sources are edited as somebody's
dissertation. When you're doing research, don't overlook UMI's _Dissertation_
Abstracts_. It's well worth the effort.) The on demand editions are unfiltered
by an editor, and while the page will have the general look of a photoreprint,
the letterforms will be those of the old typeface. If they've sold a
microform copy, chances are it's still available in hard or softcover
xerox. I don't know about pricing. UMI theses are very reasonable for academic
institutions, their students and faculty, less so for non-affiliates. The
Acquisitions person at a library should be able to help you if you want to
purchase your own copy. Otherwise you should be able to get it through a
library. Depending on your purpose, it might be worth looking into.

To be brief (as if I could at this point), yes the book should be readily
available in many forms from many sources. Good hunting.

In service to research as easy as possible,

                         <=========>
Alix Mont de fer          |=======|
    (Emily Epstein)       |* * * *|
Shire of Spinning Winds    XXXXXXX
    (Manhattan, KS)         VVVVV
                             YYY
epstein@ksuvm.ksu.edu         |
                             |||
                           XXXXXXX


From: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk (Jack Campin)
Date: 9 Apr 91 12:05:35 GMT
Organization: COMANDOS Project, Glesga Yoonie, Unthank
Newsgroups: rec.arts.books,rec.org.sca,sci.med

fireflyte@oak.circa.ufl.edu wrote:
> AERE6909@Ryerson.CA (Chris Davis) writes:
>> If anyone knows were I can acquire a book that has examples of disease,
>> sicknesses and their cures from medieval times, it would be greatly
>> appreciated.

> A good idea would be to post a message to rec.org.sca [...] and ask the
> members there (of the Society for Creative Anachronism---a medieval
> recreationist group) for such a source...

A bit later than mediaeval, but probably useful for lots of SCA people:

   An Explanation of the Fashion and Use of Three and Fifty Instruments of
   Chirurgery: Gathered out of Ambrosius Pareus, the famous French
   Chirurgion, and done into English, for the behoofe of young Practitioners
   in Chirurgery, by H.C. [Helkiah Crooke]
    London  Printed for Michael Sparke, 1634

(facsimile reprint by West Port Books, 151 West Port, Edinburgh 3, phone
 +44 31 229 4431)

This is mostly devoted to military surgery, with lots of gruesome stuff
about skull wounds and gangrene; there are detailed engravings of each bit
of hardware described.  Here is Crooke's description of bullet wounds:

For the signes, there is one generall that the wound is orbicular or round:
the Colour of the part is also altered and becomes livid, blewish,
greenish, or betwixt both.  Adde hereto that the sense of the blow is
gravative, as if some huge weight had fallen upon the part, neither doth
the blood issue proportionably to the wound, for the parts being sore
brused, doe presently swell: in so much that you hardly insinuate a pledger
into it; for the lips of the wound being tumefied, hinder the issue of the
blood.  There is also in this kind of wound, a very great heate, caused
either by the swiftnesse of the motion, or by the vehement impulsion of the
ayre, or else because the the contused parts being driven one against
another, raise heate by attrition.  The reason why a Bullet makes so great
a contusion, is because it hath no corners to cut his entrance, but is
round, and therefore cannot enter without extreame force, and thence it is
that not the wound onely is blackish, but the neighbour parts also are
livid.  Hence also proceed those many ill symptomes of paine, fluxion of
humours, inflammation, aposthemation, convulsion, phrensie, palsie,
Gangrene, mortification, and at length death it selfe.  The contusion also
and the rending attrition and tearing of the the adjacent parts, makes the
sanies or matter of the wound which it belches out, to be of a noysome and
odious savour, and so much more plentifull because to a part so notably
offended many humours will flow out of the whole body, which at the part
affected cannot be governed by the weakened naturall heate thereof, and
therefore rot into corruption.  But if you add to this confluence of
humours, whereby naturall heate is suffocated, those other universall or
particular causes of putrefaction in the ayre, and in diseased bodyes, then
will the matter or _sanies_ be as neere a poyson as putrefaction can
attaine being exalted, and consequently the stench and other symptomes more
dangerous and mortall.

--  Jack Campin   Computing Science Department, Glasgow University, 17 Lilybank
Gardens, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland   041 339 8855 x6854 work  041 556 1878 home
JANET: jack@dcs.glasgow.ac.uk   BANG!net: via mcsun and ukc   FAX: 041 330 4913
INTERNET: via nsfnet-relay.ac.uk   BITNET: via UKACRL   UUCP: jack@glasgow.uucp


From: Chaz Butler                             
Subj: Ethiopic Medieval History                                               
Date: 16 May 91 17:35:00 

Reference book just leant to me by a friend of the palace at Addis Ababa.

A History of Ethiopa, by A.H.M. Jones and Elizabeth Monroe, Oxford Press, 
“original 1935, reprinted 1968, no ISBN number.

Part III is especially interesting for period.

i. Prester John, (the legend and its Abyssinian counterparts)
ii. The Medieval Civilization of Abyssinia (giving governor-ship titles and 
“priveleges, and some court customs (alas no heraldry)
iii. The Portuguese Embassy, including disputations on Catholic/Coptic “theology 
particular celibate clergy.
iv. The Moslem Invasions and the Portuguse Expedition (1516)
v. Jesuit Mission - Oviedo, 1557.
vi. Jesuit Mission - Paez, 1595
vii. Jesuit Mission - Mendez, 1625 

Fascinating history for anyone wishing to explore African explorer personas.


From: Ioseph of Locksley                  
Subj: Historical Dates                                                        
Date: 21 May 91 
  
   Only some of the Saints' Days are listed. For the rest, I refer you to  
   the best book on the subject that I have found, which includes a  
   brief biography of each Saint, a list of their attributes and  
   symbols, of what Nation they are the Patron, Feast Days, and a side- 
   by-side listing of Popes, and the Kings of the major nations:  
 
                         Dictionary of Saints 
                   John J. Delaney; Doubleday 1980 
 
   Some persons whose days of birth and/or death are included here are  
   not explained due to reasons of space. If you wish to know * why *  
   they are included, I suggest you do further research.  
 
   Some dates can only be explained as "traditional," such as the date 
   included on which Noah's flood ended.  
 
   I am always interested in more dates. If you have more for me, please 
   send them!!!!! INCLUDE YOUR REFERENCE (where you got the date.) You 
   can send it to my PO Box below, or e-mail to: 
     _____________________________________________________________ 
    |                         |                                   | 
    |  DEUS EX MACHINA BBS    |        Ioseph of Locksley         | 
    |  FidoNet 1:114/29       |  Rapier fighter, Old Used Herald, | 
    | "BBS Free Atenveldt"    |    Bard, and General Annoyance.   | 
    |  (602) 439-8070         |    OL, OP, Ct. Baron and cetera   | 
    |_________________________|____________________________


From: parsons@b.ee.engr.uky.edu (Greg Parsons)
Date: 12 Jul 91 15:49:03 GMT
Organization: University of Kentucky, Lexington

Greetings Gentles:
Just a quick note from a visitor to the Rialto.  I'm just learning how to do
this so is I make any mistakes or don't follow any appropriate conventions,
please ignore it.

In a previous letter on this subject it was stated "The Mabinogion talks of 'new
tribes' with their patrilineal ways as opposed to the 'old tribes' who were
matrilineal."

The Mabinogion doesn't actually speak of new or old tribes which were anything.
Evangeline Walton's contemporary retelling does indeed give this impression,
but a contemporary retelling isn't an adequate source of accurate
information about the book(s) even if it is as welldone as hers is.  I'm sorry
if this sounds presumptuous but friends and gentles have a tendancy to quote
her books and they are very readable but not accurate.

A translation of the Mabinogion itself is not all that hard to read, and there
are at least two good ones available.  The Mabinogion translated by Gwyn Jones
and Thomas Jones, illustrated by Alan Lee published by Dragon's Dream, 1982 is
a beautiful "coffeetable" book with wonderful illustrations and a very
accurate translation at the same time.  The Mabinogion translated and 
Introduced by Jeffrey Gantz, Dorset Press, 1976 is a another good translation
(it's nice to have 2 for comparison) but doesn't have any wonderful
illustrations.  I don't know if there is an original version of the Jones
translation without the illustrations - it was originally translated previously
to 1974 and updated in 1974 and published as an Everyman's Library book.

The Walton books attempt to keep the "feel" of the originals and do this very
well, but there are several additions to the story which are not in the
original and a few things which are "implied" by the original are stated as
fact in her books.  I also read hers first and often have to go look
something up in a translation to see if it is actually there as hers are so
memorable.
--
parsons@b.ee.engr.uky.edu


From: marten@rieska.oulu.fi (Lady  Dark)
Date: 17 Jul 91 18:35:18 GMT
Organization: University of Oulu, Finland

Unto the gentle who asked about finnish costume (I'm sorry I can't find
your posting anywhere from my files so I'll put this to the rialto).

It is surprising how few books in english there are of this subject.  From
the index I have, I could find only this one (but at least in Finland the
author is very respected in this area of study)

Lehtosalo-Hilander, P.-L., 1984a: Ancient Finnish Costumes.  Published by
        Suomen Arkeologinen Seura. Vammala.

There are, however, quite a few sources in Swedish, several in German and
lots (surpriese, surprise..:) in Finnish.  If you think that any of these
would be helpful, please drop me a note and I'll mail the sources to you.

        LapC (=Llwyd ap Cadwaladr)
========================================================================
# At office:    Atte Kinnula            # In the Current Middle Ages:  #
#               Rakentajantie 5 F/303   #       Llwyd ap Cadwaladr     #
#               90570 OULU, FINLAND     # (now try pronouncing that >;)#


From: pears@latcs1.lat.oz.au (Arnold N Pears)
Date: 5 Aug 91 12:17:51 GMT
Organization: Comp Sci, La Trobe Uni, Australia

In article <9107291159.AA23006@europa.asd.contel.com> 
shick@europa.asd.contel.COM (Steve Hick) writes:

>Did anyone see on A&E last night a show "Birth of Europe" or something of the

No I didn't, but it hasn't stopped me from commenting.

>sort.  There was a segment on the 100 years war which showed men-at-arms
>(pig-face bascinets, gauntlets, arm and leg armor, and gamboison) fighting
>on foot with sword & buckler (!!).
>
>Did anyone recognize the MSS, or know how to contact A&E?

You might be interested in a similar picture in 

"The Sword and the Centuries"
Alfred Hutton
ISBN 0-8048-0943-7
Charles E. Tuttle Co Publishers.
Japan

facing page 46. Titled "The `Coup de Jarnac' after Wulson de la Colombiere".

If you already have the book, then I appologise for wasting your time.
I find the book interresting, even as a secondary source, as it has some
translations of the Memoires of Olivier de la Marche which are not,
at least to my research, available in an English translation from
15th century French. A language which I struggle to read.

>Strykar

Arenwald von Hagenburg.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Arnold Pears.  
Computer Sci Dept                ACSNET : pears@latcs1.oz
La Trobe Uni, Bundoora 3083.                    "Well here we all are then."
    Ph (03) 479-1144                                            -ME


From: duncan@rti.rti.org (Stephen Duncan)
Date: 5 Aug 91 14:10:19 GMT
Organization: Research Triangle Institute, RTP, NC

I just saw a blurb from a British bookseller's catalog (HMSO) about
"Shoes and Pattens" by Francis Grewe and Margrethe de Neergaard.
Paraphrasing the blurb, a definitive account of a find of over a
thousand well-dated shoes from the 12th to the 15th centuries,
profusely illustrated with 166 photographs and line drawings.

The publisher is the Museum of London, ISBN 0 11 290443 2.
Paperback, 11.95 pounds sterling.

Steve Duncan
duncan@rti.rti.org


From: acapreol@watserv1.waterloo.edu (CAPREOL A - INDEPENDENT STUDIES )
Date: 7 Aug 91 19:23:06 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo
Newsgroups: rec.food.drink,rec.org.sca

While I don't know of any commercially available meads, I
do know several books with recipes and how to's.  I also
know several people who are currently attempting to make them.
For How To books, one of the best I've read is
:
MAKING MEAD: HISTORY, METHODS AND EQUIPTMENT by Roger A. Morse
Wiscas Press, NY, 1983.

Another one is: MAKING MEAD by Peter Acton and Peter Duncan
                Argus Books Ltd, 1984.

                If you are interested in the history ofr mead,
                an excellent book is WASSAIL, IN MAZERS OF MEAD
                although, I don't know the author or date offhand
                
                That should get you started.  There are a group of
                us in Waterloo, Ontario attempting recipes, and I for
                one would be very interested in hearing what is goin
                 On with other peoples mead projects.                


From: tperreau@zia.aoc.nrao.EDU (Grimmy)
Date: 18 Aug 91 19:52:01 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Greeting to all fellow Rialtians and all ships at sea!

        In this month's issue of _Archeology_ (Sept./Oct. 1991) there are
a couple of interesting articles.  I'm not going to re-post them here, due
to possible copyright infringement, plus the fact that one of them is also
long & with many pretty pictures.  For whoever is interested, here they are:

_The Civilizing Influence of Wine_ by Brian Fagan (pp 14 - 16, 87)

_Celtic Hoard_ - Paul G. Bahn (Under "Newsbriefs" pg. 18)

_The Vikings are Coming!_ by Angela M.H. Schuster (pp 22 - 30)
        w/ sidebox on "Leif Explores Vinland" from _The Vinland Sagas_
        translation 1965 by Magnus Magnusson and Herman Palsson

The last article is about a series of Viking ships that have been re-
constructed, one of which, _Gaia_ is crossing the Northern Atlantic
to visit the eastern coast of Canada & the U.S. Only _Gaia_ is crossing
on it's own "steam" - the other ships, _Oseberg, and _Saga Siglar_ -
will be brought over and all will sail down the coast.  The schedule is
(according to the author):

        Aug. 28  -  Arrival in Halifax, Nova Scotia
        Sept. 3  -  Departure from Halifax
        Sept. 11 -  Arrival in Boston, MA
        Sept. 17 -  Departure from Boston
        Sept. 20 -  Arrival Newport, RI
        Sept. 23 -  Departure from Newport
        Sept. 25 -  Arrival South Street Seaport Museum, New York City
        Oct. 3   -  Departure from New York
        Oct. 9   -  Arrival Washington, D.C.

Enjoy!
Torcail
******************************************************************************
        Torcail Ghilleghaolain                  Tony Perreault
        College of St. Golias                   NRAO - VLA
        Kingdom of the Outlands                 Socorro, NM  87801
                           tperreau@zia.aoc.nrao.edu
******************************************************************************


From: shick@europa.asd.contel.COM (Steve Hick)
Date: 22 Aug 91 18:48:50 GMT
Organization: The Internet

To the missive of  Henry Best, I'd like to add that Dr. Jackson's book is still
or again in print, at a cost of $75.

Many other period English manuals are available from Baron Patri of Carolingia.
 These include the 3 mentioned as part of Dr. Jackson's work as well as:

SWETNAM (JOSEPH).QThe Schoole of the Noble and Worthy
Science of Defence. 4!. 1617 . London . Printed by Nicholas Okes. 

and 

A.G. Gentleman; Pallas Armata,  4!. 1627 (?)

In addition, the following work is to be published in October:

Berry, Herbert; The noble science: a study and transcription of Sloane MS. 2530,
papers of the Masters of Defence of London, Temp. Henry VIII to 1590; Cranbury 
NJ, Univ of Del Press; 1991

His Excellency also has numerous other manuals, not in English from the period,
for a cost which essentially covers only copying and creation of the microfilms.

Strykar


From: mittle@watson.ibm.com (Josh Mittleman)
Date: 5 Sep 91 15:52:21 GMT
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research

> 5) Any good recommendations on a reference book?  I use Friar, but he is more
> of a dictionary than a "how-to" guide.

I originally learned blazonry from Julian Franklyn's "Shield and Crest."
It is out of print, but common in large libraries.  Like Fox-Davies and
Boutell, it is a primer on English heraldry, but unlike those books, its
illustrations are real armory, rather than just pictures of individual
charges.  It is also equipped with an appendix of blazons for each
illustration.  

There are many SCA references on blazonry.  Any of the kingdom heralds'
handbooks has an article on the subject.  I happen to like the appendix on
blazonry in the Compleat Anachronist "Heraldry," probably just because I
wrote it.  All the illustrations in that pamphlet are blazoned.

        Arval.


From: msharp@cs.ulowell.edu (Mike Sharp)
Date: 7 Sep 91 11:10:01 GMT
Organization: University of Lowell Computer Science, Lowell MA

In article <0094e19e.39cd1100.9810@msupa.pa.msu.edu> perkins@msupa.pa.msu.EDU 
("corpusculorum velocium perexiguorum speculator") writes:
>Jeremy de Merstone greets the folk of the Rialto and responds to Matheus
>Arcuarius,  who asks:
>
>>Has anyone else read _TOXOPHILVS__The_Schole_of_Shootinge_ written in 1545 by
>>Roger Ascham?  I just got done reading the version published in 1969, Number
>> 79
>>in _The_English_Experience_ series(?).  I was surprised at how easily I picked

On a related subject, and I hope you good gentles will bear with me, I've
come across a book that may assist in one's search for primary reference
material.  The book is _The_British_Manuscript_Project_ and was published
in 1968 by Greenwood Press (first & last printing I believe).  From the
forward:
        "The purpose of this checklist, ... is to make generally known the
        contents of the 2,652 reels of microfilm containing reproductions of
        nearly five million pages of manuscript and, in a few instances,
        rare printed materials found in some of the major public and
        private collections of England and Wales."
        "Copies of the films are available for purchase [$30!] at the cost
        of the positive prints, which may be ordered from the Photoduplication
        Service, Library of Congress, Washing 25, DC"
The following libraries are listed:
        Library of the Marquises of Bath, Library of the Dukes of bedford
        British Museum -- Department of Manuscripts, Cambridge U. Library
        Library of the Marquesses of Downshire, Eton College Library
        Public Record Office, Library of the Earls of Leicester (Holkham Hall)
        Lincoln Cathedral Library, Oxford University Library
        Library of the Barons of Middleton (Birdsall House)
        Library of the Dukes of Northumberland (Alnwick Castle)
        Library of the Barson of De l'Isle and Dudley (Penshurst)
        Library of the Barons of Sackville (Knole Park)
        Wales National Library

-=ALSO=-

I just found the following index:  (I don't know what I did to be so
lucky this year...)
        _Catalogues_of_the_Medieval_and_Renaissance_Manuscripts_of_the
        _University_of_Notre_Dame_ 
        Descriptions of the 64 codices in the collection, each is dated
        according to the available evidence, notes, publication histroy,
        size, material, number of pages, and supplies a table of
        incipits, or first lines.
Its unclear if these are available from Notre Dame.  I'll be checking into
that when my copy arrives.

If this peaks anyone's interest _please_ drop me some e-mail.  I'm going
to be cutting back on my reading of this newsgroup (life is become too busy..)


    | |  Wallace the Brewer         |  Michael D. Sharp      | "A watched pot
    | |  Canton of the Towers       |  Computer Science Dept.| never ferments."
   / M \ Carolingia, EK             |  University of Lowell  |    -me 
   | e |                            |  Lowell, MA            |    2/8/90
   | a | msharp@cs.ulowell.edu      |  (508)934-3649         |
   | d | ---------------------------+------------------------+-----------------
   -----


From: klier@iscsvax.uni.edu
Date: 18 Oct 91 06:38:58 GMT
Organization: University of Northern Iowa

In article <memo.1387582@lynx.northeastern.edu>, bnostrand@lynx.northeastern.EDU 
writes:
> As I recall, a few years ago there was a very nice article in
> Scientific American about where different plants originated, when
> they were introduced into Europe and how they influenced diet.
> Unfortunately, I do not have a copy of it here but, I recommend
> that anyone who is interested check back copies at their local
> library.  What this can of course do is help the period cook
> choose what kind of exotic things they can reasonably serve at
> a particular feast.
> 
>                                       Solveig Throndardottir

    Please forgive an interruption from a mere mundane, but I was so
delighted to run across this net!  Other people who know Latin!
Other people who like the history of cultivated plants!
    Three books that may be helpful in planning the menu:  
Beryl Simpson and Molly Conner-Ogorzaly, 1986.  Economic Botany:  
  Plants in our world.  McGraw-Hill.
Heiser, C.B.  1981.  Seeds to civilization: the story of food (3rd
  ed.)  WH Freeman
Sauer, C.O.  1952. Agricultural origins and dispersals.  American
  Geographic Society (NY).

    Many college and university libraries have, tucked away in the
rare book room, copies of many of the herbals -- marvelous fun
to examine them, esp. if you read dog-latin or medieval german.  
Fuch's _De historia stirpium_ and Gerard's _General history of
plants_ are my particular favorites of the moment.  These at
least have drawings -- but they are as fanciful as any 19th century
plant engraving from a seed catalog!

   Yes, there are still a few other latinists lurking in the under-
growth.  Botany retains the tradition that all new species of plants
must be described in Latin for the name to be officially recognized.
Alas, some are trying to get that clause revoked.  However, botanical
Latin is a dialect unto itself, although it is an offspring of the
Latin of the 1750-1800 period.  And when I ran into my high school
Latin teacher, she was delighted to hear that I was using my Latin
professionally -- the only student she had in 30 years who was doing
so.

   Enough!  You have brightened my evening considerably.
 
Kay Klier  Plant Taxonomist


From: ddfr@quads.uchicago.edu (david director friedman)
Date: 18 Oct 91 19:01:21 GMT
Organization: University of Chicago

"unfortuneately, if there is a dictionary of any sort from before
1500 I've never heard of it. " (Graydon) 

The Dictionarius of John de Garland was written c. 1225; the author
apparently invented the word Dictionarius. It is not quite a
dictionary in the modern sense, since it is not alphabetical and does
not have formal definitions. It is, in the translator's words, "a
collection of Latin vocables, arranged according to their subjects,
in sentences, for the use of learners."

The translation is by Barbara Blatt Rubin, and was published in 1981
by the Coronado Press, Lawrence Kansas. The dedication reads:

For Lady Marian of Edwinstowe and the Faculty of the University of
Carolingia, SCA. 

The translator is Mistress Marion's mother.

When trying to find the earliest X, it is often useful to start by
looking X up in the Oxford English Dictionary. In this case, that
would have been a successful strategy, since the Dictionarius is
listed under "Dictionary."

Cariadoc


From: c2p@stc06.ctd.ornl.GOV (PERKINS C C)
Date: 17 Oct 91 19:24:08 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Because of the importance (IMO) of the "Courtly Love" tradition
in the development of our notions of chivalry and right conduct,
I thought I'd share this with you.  It was originally posted on
the MEDTEXTL list, a usually serious scholarly discussion on
medieval texts and subjects relating to them.  It appears here
with the kind permission of the compiler, Stephen R. Reimer.

If you have discovered other useful works, I'd appreciate hearing
of them, as I would like to accumulate a set of biblios on 
various topics, for future reference.

I am reproducing Dr. Reimer's entire letter, prefixed by right
parens, so the mailer software doesn't get confused by the header.

Enjoy.
Jost.

Here it begins:
) From MEDTEXTL@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu Sat Oct 12 13:49:35 1991
) Date:         Fri, 11 Oct 1991 20:33:20 MDT
) From: "Stephen R. Reimer" <SREIMER%UALTAVM.bitnet@vmd.cso.uiuc.edu>
) Subject:      Juris's request for courtly literature and facsimiles
) To: "Cornelius C. Perkins" <c2p@STC06.CTD.ORNL.GOV>
) 
) In response to Juris's request, here's what my (rather unsystematic)
) bibliographical database came up with for courtly literature and for late
) Middle English manuscript facsimiles.
) 
)   Stephen Reimer             sreimer@vm.ucs.ualberta.ca
)   Department of English      sreimer@ualtavm.bitnet
)   University of Alberta
)   Edmonton
)    Canada
) 
) 
) Courtly literature:
) 
) Bennett, M. J.  "Courtly Literature and Northwest England in the Later Middle
)       Ages."  In _Court and Poet: Selected Proceedings of the International
)       Courtly Literature Society_.  Ed. Glyn S. Burgess, _et al_.  Arca:
)       Classical and Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs 5.  Liverpool:
)       Francis Cairns, 1981.  Pp. 69-78.
) 
) Benson, Larry D.  "Courtly Love and Chivalry in the Later Middle Ages."  In
)       _Fifteenth-Century Studies: Recent Essays_.  Ed. Robert F. Yeager.
)       Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1984.  Pp. 237-257.
) 
) Boffey, Julia.  _Manuscripts of English Courtly Love Lyrics in the Later
)       Middle Ages_.  Manuscript Studies 1.  Woodbridge, Suffolk: D. S. Brewer
)       / Boydell and Brewer, 1985.
) 
) Bumke, Joachim.  _Courtly Culture: Literature and Society in the High Middle
)       Ages_.  Trans. Thomas Dunlap.  Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
)       California Press, 1991.
) 
) Collins, Marie.  "Love, Nature and Law in the Poetry of Gower and Chaucer."
)       In _Court and Poet: Selected Proceedings of the International Courtly
)       Literature Society_.  Ed. Glyn S. Burgess, _et al_.  Arca: Classical and
)       Medieval Texts, Papers and Monographs 5.  Liverpool: Francis Cairns,
)       1981.  Pp. 113-128.
) 
) Gray, Douglas.  "Later Poetry: The Courtly Tradition."  In _The Middle Ages_.
)       Ed. W. F. Bolton.  Vol. 1 of _Sphere History of Literature in the
)       English Language_.  London: (?), 1970.  Pp. 312-370.
) 
) Green, Richard Firth.  _Poets and Princepleasers: Literature and the English
)       Court in the Late Middle Ages_.  Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
)       1980.
) 
) Jaeger, C. Stephen.  _The Origins of Courtliness: Civilizing Trends and the
)       Formation of Courtly Ideals 939-1210_.  The Middle Ages.  Philidelphia:
)       University of Pennsylvania Press, 1985.
) 
) Scattergood, V. J., and J. W. Sherborne, eds.  _English Court Culture in the
)       Later Middle Ages_.  London, 1983.
) 
) Smith, Nathaniel B., and Joseph T. Snow, eds.  _The Expansion and
)       Transformations of Courtly Literature_.  Athens, GA: University of
)       Georgia Press, 1980.
) 
) 
) Manuscript facsimiles:
) 
) _The Bannatyne Manuscript: National Library of Scotland Advocates' MS. 1.1.6_.
)       Introd. Denton Fox and William A. Ringler.  London: Scolar Press, in
)       Association with The National Library of Scotland, 1980.
) 
) _Bodleian Library MS Fairfax 16_.  Introd. John Norton-Smith.  London: Scolar
)       Press, 1979.
) 
) Chaucer, Geoffrey.  _The Canterbury Tales: A Facsimile and Transcription of
)       the Hengwrt Manuscript, with Variants from the Ellesmere Manuscript_.
)       Ed. Paul G. Ruggiers; Introd. Donald C. Baker, A. I. Doyle, and M. B.
)       Parkes.  A Variorum Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer 1.  Norman,
)       OK: University of Oklahoma Press; Folkestone: Wm. Dawson & Sons, 1979.
) 
) Chaucer, Geoffrey.  _The Ellesmere Chaucer, Reproduced in Facsimile_.  Pref.
)       Alix Egerton.  2 vols.  Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1911.
) 
) Chaucer, Geoffrey.  _Poetical Works: A Facsimile of Cambridge Library MS
)       Gg.4.27_.  Introd. Malcolm Parkes and Richard Beadle.  3 vols.
)       Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1979-1980.
) 
) Chaucer, Geoffrey.  _Troilus and Criseyde: A Facsimile of Corpus Christi
)       College, Cambridge, MS 61_.  Introd. M. B. Parkes and Elizabeth Salter.
)       Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1978.
) 
) _The Ellesmere Manuscript: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, A Working Facsimile_.
)       Introd. Ralph Hanna III.  Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1989.
) 
) _The Findern Manuscript (Cambridge University Library MS. Ff.1.6)_.  Introd.
)       Richard Beadle and A. E. B. Owen.  London: Scolar Press, 1977.
) 
) _Manuscript Bodley 638: A Facsimile (Bodleian Library, Oxford University)_.
)       Introd. Pamela Robinson.  Facsimile Series of the Works of Geoffrey
)       Chaucer 2.  Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, for A Variorium Edition of the
)       Works of Geoffrey Chaucer; Suffolk: Boydell-Brewer, 1982.
) 
) _Manuscript Pepys 2006: A Facsimile (Magdalene College, Cambridge)_.  Introd.
)       by A. S. G. Edwards.  Facsimile Series of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer
)       6.  Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, for A Variorium Edition of the Works of
)       Geoffrey Chaucer; Suffolk: Boydell Brewer, 1985.
) 
) _Manuscript Tanner 346: A Facsimile (Bodleian Library, Oxford University)_.
)       Introd. Pamela Robinson.  Facsimile Series of the Works of Geoffrey
)       Chaucer 1.  Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, for A Variorium Edition of the
)       Works of Geoffrey Chaucer; Suffolk: Boydell-Brewer, 1980.
) 
) _Manuscript Trinity R.3.19: A Facsimile (Trinity College, Cambridge
)       University)_.  Introd. Bradford Y. Fletcher.  Facsimile Series of the
)       Works of Geoffrey Chaucer 5.  Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, for A Variorium
)       Edition of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1987.
) 
) _The Pierpont Morgan Library Manuscript M.817: A Facsimile_.  Introd. Jeanne
)       Krochalis.  Facsimile Series of the Works of Geoffrey Chaucer 4.
)       Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, for A Variorum Edition of the Works of
)       Geoffrey Chaucer, 1986.
) 
) _St. John's College, Cambridge, Manuscript L.1: A Facsimile_.  Introd. Richard
)       Beadle and Jeremy Griffiths.  Facsimile Series of the Works of Geoffrey
)       Chaucer 3.  Norman, OK: Pilgrim Books, for A Variorum Edition of the
)       Works of Geoffrey Chaucer, 1983.
) 
) _The Thornton Manuscript (Lincoln Cathedral MS. 91)_.  Ed. D[erek] S. Brewer
)       and A. E. B. Owen.  London: Scolar Press, 1975.
) 
) _The Vernon Manuscript: A Facsimile of Bodleian Library, Oxford, MS. Eng.
)       poet. A.1_.  Introd. A. I. Doyle.  Cambridge: D. S. Brewer, 1987.
) 
) _The Winchester Anthology: A Facsimile of British Library Additional
)       Manuscript 60577 with an Introduction and List of Contents by Edward
)       Wilson and an Account of the Music by Iain Fenlan_.  Cambridge: D. S.
)       Brewer, 1981.
) 
) [There are also lots of reproductions of leaves from various Chaucer MSS among
) the volumes of the Chaucer Society Publications.]

And here it ends.


From: lisch@sun_dsdc.mentorg.com (Ray Lischner)
Date: 21 Oct 91 22:15:16 GMT
Organization: Mentor Graphics Corp., Wilsonville, OR

>       What sources can the good gentles of the Rialto suggest
>for descriptions of general forms of manners and social 
>behavior in northern/western Europe during the Middle Ages?  
>Specifically, I'm interested in how to treat royalty, members
>of the opposite sex and noble strangers.

I suggest starting with Ruth Kelso's works: Doctrine for the Lady
of the Renaissance (Urbana: U. of Illinois Press, 1956) and Doctrine
for the English Gentleman in the Sixteenth Century (1929).
Despite the titles, her work extends into the later Middle Ages.

She has done a lot of reading on the topic, and it is unfortunate that
she chose a format in which she does not give specific references.
Her bibliographies, however, are vastly more extensive than any you
can get in this forum.

If you want something quick and easy, then try Edith Rickert's "The
Babees' Book: Medieval manners for the young done into modern English
from Dr. Furnivall's texts." (NY: Cooper Square, 1966).  In her book
you can find primary sources from fifteenth century England, rendered
in modern English.

The work that she modernized is F. J. Furnivall's "Babee's Book,"
which is also published under the title "Early English Meals and
Manners."  (London: Early English Text Society, 1868).  Dr. Furnivall
edited a number of significant manuscripts, including John Russell's
Book of Nurture (c.  1460).  There is another volume, edited by the
same author, which includes more of the same, including works from
other countries, entitled "Queene Elizabethes Achademy" (London: EETS,
1869). Modern reprints are currently published for both books.
--
Peregrine Payne     Dragon's Mist, An Tir


From: gwilym@micor.ocunix.on.ca (Bill Sanderson)
Date: 18 Oct 91 21:47:47 GMT
Organization: M.B. Cormier INC.

Greetings from Gwilym

As a very good source and starting point for period foodstuffs I 
recommend Reay Tannahill's _Food in History_. She devotes an entire
chapter to the introduction of New World foods into Europe, including
some of the horror stories, like epidemics of deficiency diseases due
to wholesale acceptance of maize incertain parts of Europe & northern 
Africa.

G

Gwilym ap Alun                  Bill Sanderson
Skrealing Althing         South Mountain, Ontario
Ealdormere, Midrealm                      Canada
gwilym@micor.ocunix.on.ca


From: sbloch@euler.ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch)
Date: 20 Oct 91 00:02:28 GMT

kenm@maccs.dcss.mcmaster.ca (...Jose) writes:
>       What sources can the good gentles of the Rialto suggest
>for descriptions of general forms of manners and social 
>behavior in northern/western Europe during the Middle Ages?  
>Specifically, I'm interested in how to treat royalty, members
>of the opposite sex and noble strangers.

As this is an eminently period problem, let's look for period
solutions.  Lo! and behold, etiquette was a favorite subject of
medieval and Renaissance writers.  Perhaps the best single example is
the Book of the Courtier, essentially a manual of etiquette and
courtly "how-to"'s.  And now I've forgotten the author -- Castiglione?
and the date, which I think is c. 1500.  Arbeau's famous dance book,
Orchesography, includes quite a bit of discussion of the etiquette of
the dance floor.  And I found in a bookstore last month a 17th-c. book
(reprint!) on "The Eighth Liberall Science", being the Art of Flattery.
There are other primary-source examples, but I'm brain-dead today.

Another approach is to immerse yourself not so much in period
etiquette manuals as period fiction, which is more fun to read and
provides a wealth of dialogue upon which to model your own.
Boccaccio, Chaucer, Malory, and Chretien de Troyes spring to mind (but
keep in mind not only the divers social classes of the characters but
the circumstances of the writer -- e.g. a story presented in verse may
involve more stilted dialogue than would actually have occurred).
-- 
Stephen Bloch
mar-Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
>sca>Caid>Calafia>St.Artemas
sbloch@math.ucsd.edu


From: whheydt@PacBell.COM (Wilson Heydt)
Date: 21 Oct 91 22:49:58 GMT
Organization: Pacific * Bell, San Ramon, CA

In article <1991Oct21.163429.1250@bradley.bradley.edu> moonman@buhub.bradley.edu 
(Craig Levin) writes:
>I am interested in the study of medieval navigation techniques.
>However, the books I have found about astronomy of the time deal
>mainly with cosmological theory and not the scientific practices of
>the time. Does anyone else here have an interest in this as well?

One place to start would be the History of Navigation section of _The
American Practical Navigator_ by Nathaniel Bowditch.  The edition I
have is the 1967, but the work has been kept in print by the US Navy
since 1867 (the book--in it's original form--actually goes back to
1803).

        --Hal

        Hal Ravn, Province of the Mists, West Kingdom
        Wilson H. Heydt, Jr.,  Albany, CA 94706,  415/524-8321 (home)


From: shafer@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Mary Shafer OFA)
Date: 27 Oct 91 04:59:56 GMT
Organization: NASA Ames Res. Ctr. Mtn Vw CA 94035

gwilym@micor.ocunix.on.ca (Bill Sanderson) writes:

>As a very good source and starting point for period foodstuffs I 
>recommend Reay Tannahill's _Food in History_. She devotes an entire
>chapter to the introduction of New World foods into Europe, including
>some of the horror stories, like epidemics of deficiency diseases due
>to wholesale acceptance of maize incertain parts of Europe & northern 
>Africa.

I can also recommend Raymond Sokolov's "Why We Eat What We Eat: How
the Encounter Between the New World and the Old Changed the Way
Everyone on the Planet Eats" even though I'm only about half way 
through it.  Summit Books, 1991, $22.00.
--
Mary Shafer  DoD #0362  NASA Ames Dryden Flight Research Facility, Edwards, CA
         shafer@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov shafer@skipper.dfrf.nasa.gov


From: djheydt@garnet.berkeley.edu
Date: 1 Nov 91 03:08:36 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley

Somebody was asking a while back about the newly released _A Medieval
Home Companion._  I have recently acquired a copy and, yes, it is a
new translation of the Menagier de Paris, based on the good critical
edition of the French text (ed. Brereton and Ferrier, 1981) rather
than on the Pichon edition (1846) which was lacking by modern
standards and on which Eileen Power based her translation of 1928.

The problem is, the thing is _abridged._  The translator, Tania
Bayard, explains "I have concentrated, for the most part, on the
parts that deal with practical matters.... My translation comprises
less than one-quarter of the treatise: only small portions of the
author's lengthy discussions concerning worship, chastity, and
honor; a great deal of what he has to say about how a wife should
care for her husband's bodily comforts; all of his chapters on
gardening and the management of the household; most of his sugges-
tions about shopping, cooking, and other practical matters; and a
few of his recipes....  [The author] states in his prologue that
he considers the salvation of his wife's soul and the well-being
of her husband (either himself or his successor) more important
than anything else, and he treats these subjects at length in
chapters on worship, chastity, fidelity, and humility, reinforcing
his precepts with moralizing tales and biblical examples...."

Well--she was, after all, trying to achieve commercial publication.
The selection she's made will appeal to a lot more people than
earnest SCA-folk who would like to read the whole thing.  For us,
I guess, it's off to the library to find the critical French edition.

She goes on, "I have included only a few of his many recipes,
since most of them were taken from contemporaneous treatises
he had in his library."

Sure enough, practically the first recipes you encounter are "How
to take salt out of soups" and "How to remove the burnt taste
from soups", straight out of _Le Viandier de Taillevant._

Tania Bayard: A Medieval Home Companion: Housekeeping in the
Fourteenth Century.  New York: Harper-Collins Publishers,
1991.  ISBN 0-06-016654-1.  Library numbers (LoC) TX.17.M3913  1991
and (DD) 640'.944023--dc20.

Worth having.  But someday I'm going to hunt up the French edition
and see if my French is up to it....

Dorothea of Caer-Myrddin


From: Ioseph                                                               
Subject: Period rapier references available!
Date: 7 Nov 91 

The following texts on period rapier combat are available in xerox form 
for the prices listed from:

        Patri J. Pugliese
        39 Capen St
        Medford, MA 02155
        (617) 396-2870

I do -not- know if this person is SCA or not.....

Postage is $1.50 for the first item, and $0.50 each additional item.
Note: these are xerox copies of the -primary sources!-
 ----------------------------------------------------------------

 Achille Marozzo "Opera Nova" (Mutinae: 1536)....................$15.00
 Camillo Agrippa "Trattato di Scientia d'Arme" (Rome: 1533)......$15.00
 Angelo Viggani "Lo Shermo" Vinitia: 1575).......................$20.00
 Salvator Fabris "De Lo Schermo overo Scienza d'Arme"
                         (Copenhaven: 1606)......................$25.00
 Henry de St. Didier "Traicte...sur l'Epee Seule" (Paris: 1573)..$6.00
 Giacomo di Grassi "His True Art of Defense" (London: 1594)......$6.00
 Vincentio Saviolo "His Practice, In Two Books" (London: 1595)...$8.00
 George Silver "Paradoxes of Defense" (London: 1599).............$5.00
 G.A. "Pallas Armata, the Gentlemans Armorie" (London: 1639).....$4.00
 G.A.Lovino "Traite d'Escrime (circa 1580) (many illios!)........$7.00
 J. Swetnam "The School Of Defense" (London: 1617)...............$15.00

 -----------------------------------------------------------------

He also offers several more texts, but they are out of period for our use.
I have seen several of these, and they are GOOD!


From: PRIEST@vaxsar.vassar.EDU (THORA SHARPTOOTH)
Date: 8 Nov 91 13:28:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Unto the fishyfolk of the Rialto from Thora Sharptooth, greeting!

Brynjolfr asked:

> does anybody know of any decent references for 10th/11th century
> Scandinavian crafts? I've been looking but all I can find are political
> histories...

Start with the bibliographies of good books on Vikings, such as Gwyn Jones' THE
VIKINGS.  Read the bibliography and look up any books or articles on the things
that interest you.  When you find those references, read their footnotes and
bibliographies, and you'll probably discover more things that interest you. 
Look them up, too.  (Be careful, though; by then you'll be doing RESEARCH,
which can get you into a lot of trouble in some circles!)

A really good place to look for information on the handicrafts of an era is
journals that deal immediately with period artifacts--archaeological journals,
museum bulletins, and so on.  Articles in these kinds of journals frequently
describe an artifact better than any other source, and they often contain
information (or speculation) on how the artifact was produced.  Depending on
the art or craft you're interested in, you may be able to find a journal which
is explicitly devoted it.  If you do, then make a habit of reading it as often
as it comes out, checking through the back issues, or (if you're lucky and it
HAS them) reading the indices for subjects that interest you.

Some of my favorite sources include:

-- MEDIEVAL ARCHAEOLOGY (an annual journal on British Isles finds which often
has Anglo-Scandinavian information)

-- TEXTILE HISTORY (biannual; not always useful because it covers the last two
thousand years or more)

-- ANTIQUITY (easier to find than the previous two, and not always as
technical)

-- the ARCHAEOLOGY OF YORK series (which consists mainly of monographs, only a
few of which have been published so far--but the full set covers a wide variety
of Anglo-Scandinavian crafts)

These are just a few of the many journals/series out there which touch on
Viking issues).  Happy hunting!
****************************************************************************
Carolyn Priest-Dorman                   Thora Sharptooth
Poughkeepsie, NY                        Frosted Hills
priest@vassar.edu                       East Kingdom
****************************************************************************


From: rkister@lonestar.utsa.edu (Robert F. Kister)
Date: 12 Nov 91 21:14:08 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca

To Brynjolfr, greetings from Gunnora Hallakarva.

There are lots of sources for Viking Age/Medieval Scandinavian crafts,
but they are often difficult to find if you are not an archaeology student or
serious historian.  Bibliographies of Old English studies etc. may be useful,
for instance I know the Mitchell and Robinson Bibliography of Old English lists
an article which I read and found to be excellent on what exactly the Anglo-
Saxons (and presumably other Germanic peoples) meant by certain color terms
in the Middle Ages.

Some specific books are:

N.B. Harte & K.G. Ponting, eds. Cloth and Clothing in Medieval Europe: Essays
     in Memory of Professor E.M. Carus-Wilson. Pasold Studies in Textile
     History 2. London: Heinemann Educational Books. 1983.
     pp. 80-99 Agnes Geijer "The Textile Finds from Birka"
     pp. 100-107 Margareta Nockert "A Scandinavian Haberget?"
     pp. 316-350 Inga Hogg "Viking Women's Dress at Birka"
     pp. 351-367 Marta Hoffman "Beds and Bedclothes in Medieval Norway"

Marta Hoffman. The Warp-Weighted Loom: Studies in the History and Technology
     of an Ancient Implement. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. year??
     [Has everything you need to do Viking weaving... good diagrams of the
     looms, photos and descriptions of modern Lapps and Faroese using the
     loom (use has been continuous since the Viking Age...highly recommended.]

Margrethe Hald. Primitive Shoes: An Archaeological-Ethnological Study Based
     Upon Shoe Finds from the Jutland Peninsula. Archaeological-Historical
     Series I. Vol. 13. Copenhagen: National Museum Of Denmark. 1972.
     [Gives photos and line drawings of the flat pattern for virtually every
     shoe ever dug up in Denmark, also compares shoes from Celtic areas, modern
     handmade shoes from the Scandinavian countries etc. From the descriptions
     and diagrams, it's easy to make your own shoes (given a modicum of leather
     crafting ability). Very Highly Recommended.]

David M. Wilson and Ole Klindt-Jensen. Viking Art. London: George Allen & Unwin
     1966.
     [Along with a good art-history discussion, this book has lots of photos
     and line drawings of Viking art and artifacts. This is of invaluable
     assistance no matter what sort of craft you are doing. I tend to use this
     on connection with George Bain's Celtic Knotwork book. Highly recommended.

Nyelen. Swedish Handicraft.
     [Unfortunately, I don't have this one currently available as I'm in the
     process of moving.  This book covers modern (1700's to present) Swedish
     crafts, including many that are the same now as in the Viking Age such as
     working wood, horn and bone. While it doesn't get into methods much,
     there are so many large full color photos that it can serve as a great
     craftsman's "wish-list of stuff I want to make". Highly recommended.]

I hope you find this of help...

::GUNNORA::
Gunnora Hallakarva


From: rkister@lonestar.utsa.edu (Robert F. Kister)
Date: 14 Nov 91 22:58:52 GMT
Organization: University of Texas at San Antonio

Greetings from Gunnora Hallakarva (again):

I have finished rummaging my boxes, and here are the remaining books I'd
reccomend for those wanting sources for Viking crafts.

The full information on Swedish Handicraft is:

Anna-Maja Nylen. Swedish Handicraft. trans. Anne-Charlotte Hanes Harvey.
    New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold. 1968.

Others of interest are:

Marta Kashammar. Skapa Med Halm. Halmstad, Sweden: Bokforlaget Spektra. 1985
    [Yes, unfortunately this one is in Swedish. It's about weaving with straw,
    wheat, grasses, etc. Even if you don't read Swedish this book can be useful
    as it has copious diagrams. I'm currently preparing an English translation]

Venetia Newall. An Egg at Easter: A Folklore Study. London: Routledge & Kegan
    Paul. 1971.
    [Decorating Easter eggs is a period activity, most especially for the
    Germanic and Slavonic peoples, however evidence of decorated eggs goes back
    to prehistory.  While this book is largely devoted to the folklore of the
    Easter Egg, it does describe several period techniques for decorating eggs.
    I like this one because it's an inexpensive craft, if you mess up you can
    still eat the egg, and even children can have fun with it.]

If anyone else out there finds sources I don't know about, I'd also love to
hear from you!

Wassail!

::GUNNORA::

Gunnora Hallakarva
c/o Christie Ward
11711 Braesview #1504


From: cockburn@system.enet.dec.com (Craig Cockburn)
Date: 13 Nov 91 17:23:06 GMT
Organization: Digital Equipment Co. Ltd., Reading, England

--
I thought readers here might be interested in the following book which
I came across recently

From:   SYSTEM::COCKBURN "Craig Cockburn  11-Nov-1991 1243"
To:     GAELIC-L
Subj:   Recommended Gaidhlig/English folk tale book

Marion recommended this book on Gaelic-l several months ago, here's some
more details of it:

Tales until Dawn, the world of a Cape Breton Gaelic Story-teller

Published by Edinburgh University press
22 George Square
Edinburgh
EH8 9LF

by Joe Neil MacNeil
Translated and edited by John Shaw (currently Gaelic development officer
at Highlands and Islands Enterprise, Inverness, Scotland)

"A treasury of Gaelic lore unmatched - to my knowledge - by any recent
 collection in its scope and value... clearly to become one of the classics
 of Scottish Gaelic literature."  Charles Dunn, Harvard University

Joe Neil MacNeil knows a wealth of Gaelic folktales, learned in his youth
in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. John Shaw, a specialist in Celtic folklore,
has recorded and translated the tales and folklore into English. This
rich and entertaining collection is the result of their collaboration.

Folktales, anecdotes, proverbs, expressions, rhymes, superstitions and
games are presented in the original Gaelic and in English translation.
Joe MacNeil also describes his early years in a Gaelic speaking rural
community, and explains the customs and practices associated with the
tales. John Shaw's introduction outlines the informant's tradition and
its place in the world of the European Gaelic story teller. Their
commentaries and the folk material offer a unique perspective on the
Gaelic culture generally, and as it developed on Cape Breton Island
in particular

Published 1987  226 x 150 mm
Hardback, 0 85224 654 5   
25 pounds
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Craig Cockburn, Digital Equipment Co. Ltd, Reading, England.  
  ARPAnet: cockburn@system.enet.dec.com                         Suas leis 
  UUCP:..!decwrl!system.enet.dec.com!cockburn                   a' Gha\idhlig!


From: zebee@ucs.adelaide.edu.au (Zebee Johnstone)
Date: 16 Nov 91 00:07:25 GMT
Organization: Information Technology Division, The University of Adelaide, 
AUSTRALIA

grm+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gretchen Miller) writes:

>I've recently started looking into period games, both atheletic and
>otherwise.  Unfortunately, aside from "The Compleat Gamester", which is
>about 20 years out of period, and a few mentions of football, bowling,
>tennis, and various card and dice games, I have been able to find very
>little.

I have a translation of a Hungarian book.

Fun and Games in Old Europe, by W.Endrei and L.Zolnay.
published by Corvina.

ISBN 963 13 2386 2
C 1986
printed in Hungary 1988.  

Back flap has "orders to 
Kultura
Budapest 62
P.O.B 149
H-1389

I found it remaindered by who knows what devious route!

Selfran
----------------------------------------------------------------------
        Zebee Johnstone          |      
     Adelaide City Council       |  Motorcycles are like peanuts -
   zebee@itd.adelaide.edu.au     |   who can stop at just one?


From: cat@fgssu1.sinet.slb.COM (CoreDumps`R'Us)
Date: 16 Nov 91 01:39:12 GMT
Organization: The Internet

I subscribe to a list called MEDTEXTL, which is all about medieval
manuscripts and languages and literature and other erudite subjects,
80% of which is usually over my poor head, but I really enjoy this
list anyway.  The people who actively comment on the list are 
professional scholars at various universities around the world, and
I enjoy "eavesdropping" on them.  (I've taken to keeping my latin
dictionary in my desk at work because of this list, to try and keep
on top of at least the latin bits...)

Anyway, I found the following posting off of MEDTEXTL today.  I have
copied it here since it is about both a book which circulates in the
SCA, and about one of our usual posters (a nice implicit compliment
in fact).

Enjoy!
Tux

--------------------- MEDTEXTL posting follows --------------------

> A delightful book on eating customs in the Middle Ages is
> Fabulous Feasts:  Medieval Cookery and Ceremony by Madeleine
> Cosman, 1977 (ISBN 0-8076-0898-x).

I agree with the above statement.  It is a nice book.  In fact,
I own a copy.  However, my fiance dug up the following review:
        A truly beautiful book with some very interesting
        information about food and feasting in the first
        section.  It has, however, a regrettable lack of
        documentation, and many of the conclusions reached
        and rationalizations presented are suspect.  Includes,
        for example, recipes calling for cranberries, coconut,
        pineapple, and other unlikely ingredients, but offers
        no original sources to compare, or even recognition
        that these are original inclusions.
This was reviewed by Carol O'Leary and the article I'm referencing
was an extract from "To Serve Him Forth," originally prepared as
a text for a course on cookery.

Since this thread was originally about eating customs, this book
should be a perfectly adequate resource.  However, I would wonder,
as the review quoted above did, about the authenticity of the recipes
presented.  Anyone interested in real medieval cookbooks should
contact David Friedman, 4919 S. Dorchester Ave, Chicago, IL 60615.
He has been doing a lot of translation work & has privately published
a number of English, French and Arabic manuscripts.

        --Mike Sharp
------------------------------------------------------------------


From: rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.MIL ("Robert S. Dean")
Date: 18 Nov 91 14:15:30 GMT
Organization: The Internet

In your letter dated 17 Nov 91 04:10:47 GMT, you wrote:
>
> My main source for this is Ian Heath's _Armies of the Middle Ages, Vol 1_
> pub. Wargames Research Group. This and others of their books give lots of
> info in one package of SCA interest. Ex; 150+ line drawings of soldiers,
> 200+ devices of players in the 100 years war and War of the Roses, tactics,
> organization, pay scales.
> 
> In Service;
>   Bertrand d'Avignon
>   Barony al-Barran, the Outlands

An excellent book.  May I also recommend three of its companion volumes?
Armies of the Dark Ages, Armies of Feudal Europe, and Armies and Enemies of
the Crusades, all by Ian Heath, give you coverage of most of Europe from
the the loss of the western provinces of the Roman Empire to the barbarians
to the final expulsion of the barbarian Franks from the former Imperial
territories of Palestine.  (5th century to 1300).  Armies of the Dark Ages
includes very good coverage of the evolution and organization of our brave
defenders of the Imperial frontiers, the Roman theme and tagma system.

Basil the Near-sighted
rsdean@crdec8.apgea.army.mil

(I can recommend a few suppliers of these volumes if necessary...)


From: 00081503@ysub.ysu.edu
Date: 19 Nov 91 22:22:08 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State University

Greetings to all on the Rialto!

Re: Parodies of religions

Anyone who believes that the Church did not parody itself in our period is
referred to:  The Feast of Fools; A Theological Essay on Festivity and Fantasy,
by Harvey Cox, SBN 674-29525-0,  Published by Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1969.  The Feast of Fools is celebrated by at least
one group in either the Middle or the East, and is a thoroughly religious feast
so don't let anyone tell you that religious celebrations have no **official**
standing in the Society -- these are officially sanctioned events I speak of.
    And while we're on the subject, I believe that other official events
include St. Valentine's Day and Saint Swithian's Day **who IS Saint Swithian?**
Thus, the Society,and it's members, should keep in mind that when we speak of
religious ceremonies being offensive, we are OFTEN **I can certainly not speak
for all** speaking about non-Christian religions.

Vajk


From: 00081503@ysub.ysu.edu
Date: 19 Nov 91 23:16:20 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State University

Greetings to all on the Rialto, from Vajk.

Several items I thought might be of interest:

    PAPER AND PAPERMAKING:  Science and Civilization In China, Volume 5, is 
devoted entirely to history, science, technology, and art of paper in China.
It includes some on the spread to other areas. xxv + 485 pages, by Tsien Tsuen-
Hsuin; series edited by Joseph Needham; Cambridge University Press, New York,
1985. ISBN 0-521-08690-6. 67 pages of bibliography, in many languages.

    NAMES *Hungary and the Magyars*  I highly recommend The World of Names, A
Study in Hungarian Onomatology, by Bela Kalman, Akademiai Kiado, Budapest, 1978
Translated by Zsolt Viragos, revised by Michael Laming.  ISBN 963-05-1399-4.

    SEX:  Sex and the Penitentials; The Development of a Sexual Code, 550-1150.
By Pierre J. Payer. University of Toronto Press, Buffalo, 1984.  ISBN 0-8020-56
49-0.

Vajk


From: 00123646@ysub.ysu.edu
Date: 20 Nov 91 22:26:48 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State University

Greetings all !!!!

Greg Love asks concerning gay personas:

  I post this to all, since the Blue Feather has a rather wide following.
  There is in the Society a group known as the Blue Feather.  Someone on the
Rialto has posted as a member of the **Clan of the Blue Feather** but I don't
know if this is the same.  The Blue Feather can be reached via an address in
recent issues of TI, where non-official groups of some standing are described.

  In addition, I refer you to the following works with which I am familiar:
     Joyce E. Salisbury:  Medieval Sexuality; A Research Guide {New York:
        Garland Publishing, 1990}  ISBN 0-8240-7642-7

     Vern L. Bullough & James Brundage: Sexual Practices & the Medieval Church
         {New York: Prometheus Books, 1982} ISBN 0-87975-141-X; LC 80-85227

     Vern L. Bullough: Sexual Variance In Society and History {New York: John
        Wiley & Sons, 1976} ISBN 0-471-12080-4; LC 75-38911

  Bullough also has a work dedicated to homosexuality, but I do not have a copy
in front of me to give the specifics. I have found it in both local libraries,
so it is likely widely available.

I hope these can be of help many.

Vajk


From: 00123646@ysub.ysu.edu
Date: 21 Nov 91 01:57:21 GMT
Organization: Youngstown State University

Good gentles:

   Rather more quickly than anticipated have I found a reference to the
Luciferans {=Satanists????} of the 14th century. It is:
Robert E. Lerner,  The Heresy of the Free Spirit in the
           Later Middle Ages {Berkeley: University of California Press,
           1972}.  ISBN 0-520-01908-3;  LC 78-145790.
Chapter One, section 4 is entitled:  Adamites and Luciferans in the Fourteenth
Century {pages 25-34}.

Vajk


From: zbang@access.digex.com (Carl P. Zwanzig)
Date: 26 Nov 91 03:34:57 GMT
Organization: No, just look at the garage.

In article <91Nov10.114916ast.9794@cs.dal.ca> thompson@cs.dal.ca writes:
>       Unto the good gentles of the Rialto does Deormod send
>    greetings, I have a request for information from a friend who is
>    interested in building a Portative Organ, if you have any
>    information for me to pass on to my friend please mail it to me as
>    I donot get much of a chance to read the Rialto as of late.
>
>=============================================================================
>
>       I am looking for information on Portative Organs.  I wish to
>    build one and am having problems finding primary documentation.  I
>    have already consulted Theopholous (sp?) and Anon. of Berne as
>    well as several texts on the construction of church organs of the
>    period, but I have found no references to actual surviving
>    specimens of Portatives.

THE books to have for organ building are the two volume set _The_Art_of_
Organ_Building_  by George Ashdown Audsley  (Dover, of course, 
ISBN 0-486-21314-5).  Volume I is tonal information and design, volume
II is about the actual construction, including 8 pages just about types
of wood.  Volume I is 600 pages, Volume II is over 700.  The books were
originaly published in 1905, and have some of the best technical drawings
that I've ever seen.  When I purchased them the cover price was US$25 for
the set.

Corwyn O'Domhnaill - Somewhere in Atlantia
Carl Zwanzig - Bowie, Maryland, USA
zbang@digex.com - the end of a wire


From: DRS@UNCVX1.BITNET ("Dennis R. Sherman")
Date: 28 Nov 91 03:30:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Aleksander Yevsha recently mentioned _Bald's Leechbook_, a 10th
century manuscript, and gave some publication information.

It is also available as volume 2 of the three volume set,
_Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft, being a collection of
documents, for the most part never before printed, illustrating
the history of science in this country before the Norman conquest_;
collected and edited by the Rev. [Thomas] Oswald Cockayne.
London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green.  1865.
This is the copy currently in my hands - great stuff!  It was
also reprinted (in the USA) about 1961, if memory serves - check
online catalogs using an Author search for Cockayne, and it'll
show up.  (My favorite online catalog:  melvyl.ucop.edu - 6.5
million entries and still growing :-)

     Robyyan Torr d'Elandris                Dennis R. Sherman
     Kapellenberg, Windmaster's Hill        Chapel Hill, NC
     Atlantia                               drs@uncvx1.bitnet
                                            drs@uncvx1.oit.unc.edu

From: Jeffrey.L.Singman@um.cc.umich.EDU
Date: 26 Nov 91 19:48:20 GMT
Organization: The Internet

To all and singular unto whom these presents &c.
        This month witnesses the appearance of the first issue of *Skirmator*, a 
journal devoted to theoretical and practical research on medieval and re-
naissance close combat.  The first issue is 26pp., and includes an article by
Patri Pugliese on research strategies (including very useful data on weights
and measurements of late 16c rapiers in the Metropolitan Museum of Art);
bulletins on research in progress in various parts of North America;  an ex-
cellent bibliography including 14th and 15th manuscript sources, published
primary sources from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and secondary sources;
and a preliminary listing of suppliers of texts and equipment.  Copies may be
ordered by sending US$3 to Jeffrey L. Singman, 2244 St Francis Dr. Apt A107,
Ann Arbor MI 48104 USA.


From: KGANDEK@mitvmc.mit.EDU (Kathryn Gandek)
Date: 27 Nov 91 16:42:13 GMT
Organization: The Internet

Yaakov wrote:
"William de Corbie posts about the annual Drachenwald 'Feast of Fools.'  I
 would be very curious to see sources on such things, and anything else people
 have on foolery in period."

William replied with a quote from "A Distant Mirror" by Barbara Tuchman and
lists one of her sources as E.K. Chambers: "The Medieval Stage". London 1903.

Chambers has an entire chapter on the Feast of Fools and Foolery toward  the
end of the first volume of The Medieval Stage.  (It's a two volume work.)
Many libraries have one of the editions of this book or else the Columbia
University reprint.

The Medieval Stage is an excellent source for medium to long period quotes (as
opposed to short quotes of long period pieces to support theories, which I've
found to be the case in many current medieval theatre texts.) However, bear in
mind that there has been additional material discovered since this book was
written and some of Chambers' theories are considered out of date.  (Some of
his conclusions that I've read are now considered just plain wrong.  Things do
change in almost 90 years of academia after all :-)

Feast of Fools is a subject that I've also run into in several theatre texts.
I would imagine that information on it appears in both:

Tydeman, William.  _The_Theatre_in_the_Middle_Ages_. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1978.
Wickham, Glynne. _The_Medieval_Theatre_. 3rd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1987.

These last two should still be in print, and I actually bought my copies from
a bookseller from California at Pennsic a few years ago.  (The guy with On The
Field Armoury)  I'm pretty sure that all copies of Chambers are out of print -
I got my copy by having a used book search done.  Try libraries for that one.

Another possible source for information is Glynne Wickham's _Early_English_
_Stages_.  It's had a section on everything I've wanted to research so far, so
I imagine it would have one on Feast of Fools.  It's a four volume work with
*a lot* of detail.  It's a very serious work, not an overview.  Try a college
library or inter-library loan.  It's a bit harder to find.

Catrin o'r Rhyd For           Kathryn Gandek
Barony of Carolingia          Boston area
East Kingdom                  kgandek%mitvmc.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu


From: tip@lead.tmc.edu (Tom Perigrin)
Date: 27 Nov 91 19:21:26 GMT
Organization: A.I. Chem Lab, University of Arizona

Unto the Rialto doth Thomas Ignatius Perigrinus send his Pollonic Greetings...

        Some time ago,  a gentle requested information about brooms.  I am
doubly abashed that I have taken so long to respond, and that I have also
forgotten their name.   I hope they forgive me on both accounts.

        For pictures of brooms thou may find the following of interest;

(16'th century mode off)

In the book,  Durer,  by Knappe, Wellfleet Press, Secauscus NJ  ISBN
1 55521 260 3,  I found; 

p 298,  St. Jerome in his Cell, 1511.  On the back wall there are hanging a
bill, a broom, and shears.   The bill and shears are interesting since they
are probably used in broom making.  When I spent time learning how to thatch 
in East Anglia we used identical bills and shears on the thatching straw!

p 302,  The Mass of St. Gregory, 1511.  There is a broom hanging from a beam 
behind St. Gregory,  but unfortunately,  it is somewhat hidden behind a 
scourge.

p 385,  The Emblum of the Printer Joducus Badius,  1520,   there is a small
brush or a broom hanging ont he wall.

In the book,  Bruegel,  by Brown,  Phaedon Press,  St. Ebbes, Oxford, ISBN
0 7148 1663 9;

p11,  The Netherlandisch Proverbs, 1559,  in the upper left hand corner there 
is a 'twig' broom sticking out of the window.

p27,  Temperantia (1558?),   a 'twig' brush stuck in the belt of the teacher.

p55,  The Ass at School,  no date,  A teacher has a 'twig' brush tucked into
the band of his hat (!),  and a second broom is lodged in a pot in the lower
left.    This engraving has very good detail on the bindings!

p63,  Fides,  no date, there are two brroms in the lower left corner.


Note I am making a distinction between a 'twig' brush and broom,  and one
made from broom corn or other grain plants.   The twig broom is made from
small (1.0 to 1.5 mm) twigs,  and is much stiffer and less "dense"
than a corn broom.

An EXCELLENT picture of a corn-broom can be found in a hard to obtain
book;   The Medieval Woman,  Sally Fox,  Collins, 8 Grafton St, London,
W1,  1985.    There is a lovely illustration of a woman sweeping with
a long corn broom.  The details of the bindings are clearly seen,  and
some of the construction details can be seen or inferred.   The original
comes from   Barthelemy d'Anglais,   Livre des Proprietes des Choses,
MS FR 9140,  f107,  Bibliotech Nationale,  Paris.   There are also
two more sweeping illustrations,  and other fascinating illustrations
of women performing non-traditional roles such as blacksmithing, etc...

I havn't found any books on broom making in my library, yet.   But,  I did 
find the following books on straw work (apart from thatching);

Straw Plait,  Jean Davis, Shire Album 78,  Shire Pub,  Crmwell House,
Church St., Princes Risborough,  Aylesbury, Bucks,    ISBN 085263 580 X

Craft of Straw Decoration,  Alec Coker, Dryad Press,  Woodridge NJ  07075  
ISBN  085 219 0786

And as someone mentioned before;   Skapa Med Halm, M{rta Kashammar,
Bokf|rlaget, Spektra, Halmstad,  1983,  ISBN,  91 7136 346 7.

But if you can't read Swedish,  denna bok {r into s} bra!


I have ideas about broom making,  having seen brooms in the City of London
Museum, and having worked with straw while learning to thatch.  I have made
some rude brooms and can tell you what worked and what didn't.  If you want
me to send you some ideas,  please feel free to ask.  


(back to C 16)

It is my deepest desire that this information may be of some small service
to thee,  and I remain,

thy humble servant
Thomas Ignatius Perigrinus


From: sbloch@euler.ucsd.edu (Steve Bloch)
Date: 27 Nov 91 17:17:26 GMT

DICKSNR@qucdn.queensu.ca (Heather Fraser (Sarra Graeham)) writes:
>Get one or more of the following books (I will rank them in order of their
>usefulness to us in the past):
>     Hieatt and Butler, _Pleyn Delit_, U. of Toronto Press, 1976.
>     L. J. Sass, _To the King's Taste_, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.
>     David Friedman, _Miscellany_, private publication.
>     Katrine de Baille du Chat, _To Cook Forsoothly_, Raymond's Quiet
>        Press, 1979...

Gee, all of these are on my bookshelf.  I must be doing something right...

>Constance Hieatt has another book out, the name escapes me, but it is put
>together the same way as Pleyn Delit, and I am told it is as good.

_An Ordinance of Pottage_, Prospect Books 1988.  It's not QUITE the
same format as Pleyn Delit, but a sort of cross between that and
"scholarly edition": it's a complete, annotated edition of a 15th-
century English cookbook, followed by redactions in modern English
with modern quantities of SOME of the recipes.  A good way to make the
leap from working from other people's redactions to doing your own.

I also recommend Bridget Ann Henisch's _Fast and Feast: Food in
Medieval Society_.  This is not a cookbook per se, but a well-written
book ABOUT food, eating practices, table-setting, etc.  Not all books
on this subject are equally good: _Consuming Passions_, for example, I
felt was rather poorly written.
-- 
Stephen Bloch
Joshua ibn-Eleazar ha-Shalib
>sca>Caid>Calafia>St.Artemas
sbloch@math.ucsd.edu


From: jim@crom2.rn.com (James P. H. Fuller)
Date: 1 Dec 91 16:04:37 GMT
Organization: Abbey Technologies - Athens GA

badorion@watyew.uwaterloo.ca (Brian A. Dorion) writes:

> Greetings!  I am looking for advice on sources of information on copper -  
> smithing.  I am interested in trying my hand at making copper bowls (to start
> with at least) and was hoping that I could get some recomendations on 
> good books on basic copperworking.

     Absolutely unbeatable reference on metalworking of all kinds, including
copper:

           _Metal Techniques for Craftsmen_
            Oppi Untracht
            Doubleday & Co.
            Garden City, NY 1968


     Impress-your-friends-with-your-obscure-knowledge-of-things-metallic
reference:

           _De Re Metallica_
            Georgius Agricola
            Translated from Latin by Herbert Hoover (yes, that Herbert
              Hoover, he was a mining engineer before becoming Prez.
              Is any President since then even *suspected* of knowing
              any Latin?)
            Dover Publications
            New York, NY 1950

                                                   -- Geoffrey

| James P. H. Fuller, Research Coordinator      Soil Biology Laboratory |
|                                               Institute of Ecology    |
| work: fuller@athena.cs.uga.edu                University of Georgia   |
| home: <jim,root>@crom2.rn.com                 Athens, GA U.S.A.       |


From: jonesm@nic.cerf.net (Matthew Jones)
Date: 2 Dec 91 16:33:47 GMT
Organization: CERFnet

In article <1991Nov28.062050.23672@watdragon.waterloo.edu> 
badorion@watyew.uwaterloo.ca (Brian A. Dorion) writes:
>Greetings!  I am looking for advice on sources of information on copper -  
>smithing.  I am interested in trying my hand at making copper bowls (to start
>with at least) and was hoping that I could get some recomendations on 
>good books on basic copperworking.

Greetings Back! Yet another person in need of the Lindsay Technical
Book Catalog (no I am not affiliated with them in any
way, I just support anyone who publishes technical books especially 
on metalworking!), and they just came out with a new catalog.
They definitly have books on basic copperworking like bowls
for pretty cheap prices.

Lindsay Publications Inc.
P.O. Box 12 Bradley Il. USA
                60915-0012
Telephone (815)468-3668

Good Luck
Matthew Jones
jonesm@cerf.net


From: DRS@UNCVX1.BITNET ("Dennis R. Sherman")
Date: 3 Dec 91 03:32:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet

For further information on period construction techniques, see
if you can find (probably via interlibrary loan from a school with
a textiles specialty)

Flury-Lemberg, Mechthild; _Textile Conservation and Research, a
documentation of the textile department on the occasion of the
twentieth anniversary of the Abegg Foundation_; Bern: Abegg-Stiftung,
1988.

Its filled with pictures and drawings showing original articles and
the steps taken to preserve them - which often means taking them
apart to clean (giving good pattern examples - some are even
drafted to [metric] scale).  Lots of discussion of materials used.
Articles include tapestries, flags, embroidery, garments (including
knit gloves of the 15th century, if memory serves, and shoes with
cork soles) a full Landesknecht uniform - the color pictures are
glorious - 16th century shirts, and all kinds of neat stuff.
This is a fun book, especially if you are interested in clothing
construction.

     Robyyan Torr d'Elandris                Dennis R. Sherman
     Kapellenberg, Windmaster's Hill        Chapel Hill, NC
     Atlantia                               drs@uncvx1.bitnet
                                            drs@uncvx1.oit.unc.edu

From: DEGROFF@intellicorp.COM (Leslie DeGroff)
Date: 4 Dec 91 18:24:00 GMT
Organization: The Internet

My opinion of Metal Techniques for Craftsman by Oppi Untrachi is lower
that the recommenders, worth checking out from the library, NOT WORTH
buying.  It is greatly padded with relativly poor pictures including
many pages half filled with pictures extracted directly from tool
catalogs.  This leads to a useful point, you should be able to
get free or cheap catalogs of tools, gem and metal working supplies
that are educational as well as advertising.  Untrachi is over 50$ 
there are a number of summary/survey books that cover as much for
12 to 20$, try a rock/gem shop  most of which will order (with more
markup) specialized art metal tools for you.

  In  terms of personal library and research, metal working is another
area that I can recommend DOVER publishing, many titles of related
interest. 
Les
-------

From: cav@bmerh364.BNR.CA (Rick Cavasin)
Date: 5 Dec 91 21:56:01 GMT
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.

Unto Alison MacDermot does Lord Balderik send his greetings.

For some interesting info on personal communications, see 
Novgorod the Great, M.W. Thompson  Frederick A. Praeger, New York
A large volume of birch bark manuscripts (spanning the middle ages)
have been unearthed in Novgorod.  They are mostly 'spent' messages.
They include personal communication between family members, messages
from landowners to overseers, children's lessons and doodles, etc.
The script is an old form of cyrillic.

Regards,
Balderik


From: ds4p+@andrew.cmu.edu (David Schroeder)
Date: 7 Dec 91 22:22:57 GMT
Organization: Doctoral student, Industrial Administration, Carnegie Mellon, 
Pittsburgh, PA

Good gentles,

I've been enjoying the discussion (well, maybe not en_joy_ing)
I've been intrigued by the discussion on salmonella, botulism, etc.
in period and would like to share a delightful (if you have a
macabre sense of the delightful) book or two on the topic.

The first, a personal favorite, is:

  William H. McNeill's _Plagues and Peoples_, Anchor Books, 1976

It's a first class account of how interacting "disease pools" and
their varying levels of immunity to each others diseases have 
affected human history.

A second recommended volume is:

    _Rats, Lice, and History_ 

I'd pass along the details but my copy seems to have walked off
and I can only remember the title.

Both volumes strike hearty blows at the "great man" theory of
history, for little bacteria seem to have had a greater impact
on our development than hithertofore guessed.

I hope you find these volumes as intriguing as I did and
remember -- always practice safe food.

Much obliged,
  -- Bertram --
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bertram of Bearington                                      Dave Schroeder
Debateable Lands/AEthelmearc/East              Carnegie Mellon University
INTERNET: ds4p@andrew.cmu.edu                         412/731-3230 (Home)


From: bmorris@access.digex.com (Beth Morris)
Date: 9 Dec 91 05:06:22 GMT
Organization: Express Access Public Access Unix, Greenbelt, MD

Gentle company,

I would also recommend Paul Norlund Meddelelser Om Gronland (Copenhagen, 1924)
(or in English The Buried Norsemen at Herjolfsnes).  It has excellent patterns,
and comparisons of the different finds at Herjolfsnes (Greenland) and a good
discussion of fibers, seams, finishing, mending, etc.  There are flat
patterns as well as sketches of the garments, and illustrations from ms.
with similar garments.  Should be available through inter-library loan.

Enjoy!

Keilyn FitzWarin
Lochmere, Atlantia


From: mittle@watson.ibm.com (Josh Mittleman)
Date: 13 Dec 91 18:52:31 GMT
Organization: IBM T. J. Watson Research

Greetings from Arval!  I recommend to your attention "The Brothers of
Gwynedd Quartet," by Edith Pargeter.  This book, available in soft-cover,
is a collection of four novels recounting the life of Llywelyn ap Griffith,
Prince of Wales, and his wars with England, his involvement with the
Baron's Revolt, and his efforts to unify Wales.  It is a fictional account,
from the point of view of his personal secretary, but Pargeter has brought
the period to life with her normal skill and excellent research.  Pargeter
also writes as Ellis Peters, and is the author of the Brother Cadfael
mysteries.  

The four books in the quartet are available separately, but there's
something lovely about having them all in one volume, and being able to
read through without pause to find the next book.  

        Arval.


From: habura@vccsouth24.its.rpi.edu (Andrea Marie Habura)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

A good source for constructing knotwork and other Celtic decoration is 
George Bain's "Celtic Knotwork: Methods of Construction" (or a title similar.
The author's name is correct.) The book is a Dover paperback and will run
you about $7. I believe that there is an article on the topic in the Knowne 
Worlde Handbook as well, in the section on the scribal arts. 

Alison MacDermot


Date: 23 Jan 92 
From: Therion <HZS@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Penn State University

Greetings, folks.

You may have wondered why I stopped posting announcements of new books of
interest to SCAdians.  It wasn't because there weren't any coming out, or
because I didn't like you all anymore, but rather because there were *lots*
of new and nifty things coming out.  So I saved them up, to send out in big
batches for the edification of SCA bibliophiles everywhere.  I skipped typing
in reviews and jacket information, so if any of these sound interesting to you
you'll just have to go and search them out yourself.  Enjoy.


>>>>isbn 0863142184
Almqvist, Bo.
    Viking ale, studies on folklore contacts between the Northern and Western
  worlds. / by Bo Almqvist ; edited by Eilis Ni Dhuibhne-Almqvist and Seamas O
  Cathain. Aberystwyth, Wales, Boethius Press, c1991.
    xxx, 304 p. ill. 23 cm.
    "Presented to the author on the occasion of his 60th birthday".
    Includes bibliographical references.
    1. Folklore -- Europe. 2. Folk literature, Scandinavian -- Europe. 3. Folk
  literature, Celtic.

  //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0193161281
Harper, John.
    The forms and orders of Western liturgy from the tenth to the eighteenth
  century, a historical introduction and guide for students and musicians. /
  John Harper. Oxford, Clarendon Press; New York, Oxford University Press,
  1991.
    xiii, 337 p. 24 cm.
    Includes bibliographical references and index.
    1. Catholic Church -- Europe -- Liturgy. 2. Church of England -- Liturgy.
  3. Liturgics. 4. Church music -- Catholic Church -- History. 5. Church music
  -- Anglican Communion -- History. 6. Anglican Communion -- Liturgy.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0821218778
Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.).
    Metropolitan jewelry. / text by Sophie McConnell ; design by Alvin
  Grossman. 1st ed. New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art; Boston, Little,
  Brown and Co., c1991.
    111 p. col. ill. 29 cm.
    "A Bulfinch Press book".
    1. Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.) -- Catalogs. 2. Jewelry --
  New York (N.Y.) -- Catalogs.
                                 [note- nice garb pictures. T.]

 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0824043774
The new Arthurian encyclopedia. / edited by Norris J. Lacy ; associate
  editors, Geoffrey Ashe ... :et al.:. New York, Garland Pub., 1991.
    xxxvii, 577 p. ill. 29 cm.
    Series: Garland reference library of the humanities, v. 931.
    Includes index.
    1. Arthur, King -- Dictionaries, indexes, etc. 2. Arthur, King --
  Bibliography. 3. Arthurian romances -- Dictionaries. 4. Arthurian romances --
  Bibliography. 5. Britons -- Dictionaries. 6. Britons -- Bibliography.

  ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0708311075
The Arthur of the Welsh, the Arthurian legend in medieval Welsh literature. /
  edited by Rachel Bromwich, A.O.H. Jarman, Brynley F. Roberts. Cardiff,
  University of Wales Press, 1991.
    xiv, 310 p. 25 cm.

  ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0300048769
Swearer, Randolph.
    Beowulf : a likeness / Randolph Swearer, Raymond Oliver, Marijane Osborn ;
  introduction by Fred C. Robinson. New Haven : Yale University Press, c1990.
    127 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 31 cm.
    1. Beowulf Adaptations. 2. Epic poetry, English (Old) Modernized versions.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0819182567
Morris, Katherine.
    Sorceress or witch? : the image of gender in medieval Iceland and northern
  Europe / Katherine Morris. Lanham : University Press of America, c1991.
    xiii, 214 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 179-206) and index.
    1. Old Norse literature History and criticism. 2. Women in literature. 3.
  Witches in literature. 4. German literature Old High German, 750-1050
  History and criticism.

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0688094066
Cantor, Norman F.
    Inventing the Middle Ages : the lives, works, and ideas of the great
  medievalists of the twentieth century / Norman F. Cantor. New York : W.
  Morrow, c1991.
    p. cm.
    Includes bibliographical references (p.   ) and index.
    1. Middle Ages Historiography History 20th century.

  ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0897333497
Haasse, Hella S., 1918-
    Scharlaken stad. English
    The scarlet city : a novel of 16th-century Italy / Hella S. Haasse ;
  translated by Anita Miller. 1st ed. Chicago, Ill. : Academy Chicago
  Publishers, 1990.
    xiv, 367 p. : ill., map ; 24 cm.
    Translation of: De scharlaken stad.
    1. Italy History 1492-1559 Fiction.

  /////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

>>> isbn 0851152783
Jesch, Judith, 1954-.
    Women in the Viking age. / Judith Jesch. Woodbridge, Suffolk :England:;
  Rochester, NY, USA, Boydell Press, 1991.
    viii, 239 p. ill. 24 cm.
    Includes bibliographical references (p. 221-232) and index.
    1. Women, Viking -- History. 2. Inscriptions, Runic. 3. Old Norse
  literature -- History and criticism. 4. Women in literature. 5. Scandinavia
   -- Antiquities.

   ////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

                                                  Therion   
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
     internet:         |  Therion Calgate  SSS  |   I've been *good*.
 hzs@psuvm.psu.edu     |  Mountain Confederation|   Can I go sit in the corner
       GPtR            |  Shire of Nithgaard    |   with Therica?
     mea culpa         |  Prin. of AEthelmearc  |
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Good method for finding new books
Date: 29 Jan 92 
From: grm+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gretchen Miller)
Organization: Comp & Comm - Computer Operations, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

For those "research impaired" folks like myself (we WANT to research, we
TRY to research, but we just can't seem to locate good sources), I have
found a wonderful combination for finding new (as in recently published)
material.  To use this method you need access to a library that
subscribes to Burlington Magazine, and one that provides interlibrary
loan services.

Now, Burlington Magazine is a monthly journal about fine arts ; they
have articles about art history, artists, art works and objects, and
museums/collections.  It is an allround good research source due to a
combination of good quality pictures, well documented writing, exhibit
reviews, color and black and white advertisements from fine arts dealers
which often include period drawings, paintings, sculpture and manuscript
pages, and, best of all, approximately 15 book reviews in each issues. 
I find at least one book of interest for my own areas of SCA research in
almost every issue.  Naturally, my local library doesn't have all (or
for that matter any) of these books, but good old ILL has no trouble
finding them.

Good luck and enjoy!  
toodles, margaret macdubhsidhe


Re: Good method for finding new books
Date: 29 Jan 92 
From: habura@vccnorthd.its.rpi.edu (Andrea Marie Habura)
Organization: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy NY

More notes about libraries and finding sources:

Even if your library doesn't carry that wonderful publication referred to,
there are other ways of finding sources available through Interlibrary Loan.
I worked in the ILL department of my university library over this past summer,
while waiting to start grad school. Most libraries now have a CD-ROM search
system that will help find books in other libraries, even if you didn't know
the book existed; most have sorting by subject as well as author and title.
(I discovered yesterday, much to my delight, that a local library has a 
copy of Rietstap, an expensive and hard-to-find near-period book on heraldry.
Drool, drool. Now, if they'll let me borrow it...)
You can also check the Social Sciences index, in your friendly well-stocked
reference section. The articles listed are scholarly ones, and copies of the
articles described therein, if your library doesn't get the journal, can be
gotten for a moderate fee from other libraries. The index comes in sets, each
covering one year. It's updated every three months. You can also check
Current Contents, an on-line reference service that is generally no more
than a month out of date. It comes in several editions; I am most familiar
with the Biology and Agriculture edition, but I know that there is one for
the humanities. Ask the folks at Reference.

My. You can't tell that my second home-away-from-home is the library, can you? 
Naah.

Alison MacDermot
Library Addict


Short Title Catalogue
30 Jan 92 
From: Richard.Boyko@f43.n140.z1.fidonet.org (Richard Boyko)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: FidoNet node 1:140/43 - U of S Computing Se, Saskatoon Sask

 AM> More notes about libraries and finding sources: 
 
[all of which I deleted] 
 
 AM> Alison MacDermot 
 AM> Library Addict 
 
Alison, Alison, Alison, how could you forget the Short Title Catalogue? It is 
a roughly complete listing of every book published in england, or at between, 
oh, 1475 and 1600. Almost every title listed has been microfilmed. The Rolls 
Series is another set to look for. It is a series of reprints of primary 
source documents in such places as the British Museum Library. Lets see, 
there is also the Early English Text Society series, which numbers some 500 
volumes. It started as a way to provide printed texts of early english 
literature for the OED to use as sources. Then, of course, there are the Camden 
Text Society, and the Surtees Society serieses, the latter of which is an 
excellent series to document names in yorkshire and the north counties. Do 
you want to know which books were in the library of the first bishop of 
durham? You will find such a list in one of the surtees society books 
[apparently, the bishop's library still has some of those books]. There are 
several hundred wills transcribed in several of its over 100 volumes. 
the set called English Historical Documents is a good introduction to the 
intoxicating [hic!] pleasures [hic!] of primary research [hic!]. 
Lets not forget the various publications of the Charter Rolls, the Patent 
Rolls, and the Close Rolls, all published by, I think, the Public Record 
Office. I think the Pipe Rolls have also been published. 
Also, if you know what you are looking for, you can also use the Library 
of Congress Card Catalogue. Look in the Bibliography section for over 
800 folio-sized greenish hardcover books. There is an equivalent for the 
British Museum Library. If a book exists in a library is either England 
or the USA, it will likely be in one of those sets. 
The problem I have with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Index 
is that it is primarily a list of secondary sources. It is my opinion that 
unless you are rooting around in primary source documents, you are not doing 
research, you are doing a book review. 
Here you go, Lady Alison; this list should whet your appetite. 
 
Layamon le Vavasour 
--  
Richard Boyko - via FidoNet node 1:140/22
UUCP: ...!access.usask.ca!weyr!43!Richard.Boyko
Domain: Richard.Boyko@f43.n140.z1.fidonet.org


Date: 3 Feb 92 
From: grm+@andrew.cmu.edu (Gretchen Miller)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Comp & Comm - Computer Operations, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

---------- Forwarded message begins here ----------

Return-path: <COODY@NAUVAX.UCC.NAU.EDU>
From: "ROBERT A. COODY COLLECTIONS SPECIALIST SPECIAL COLLECTIONS AND
ARCHIVES ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++"
 <COODY@NAUVAX.UCC.NAU.EDU>
Subject: Information on books

I just read your contribution to REC.ORG.SCA relating to books
and research and I thought you may be interested in this additional
source of information.

There is a series which can be obtained at most libraries called
Books In Print, it is published on a yearly basis and is divided
into subject, author, and title.  There is also a supplement which
contains copies of various book dealer catalogs from which they get
their information.  Anyhow, I find it useful to search by subject
and it gives me a listing of books relating to my subject of interest.
It gives their titles, ordering information and price. Sometimes
when I look through it, I find that my current wage cannot support
the cost of all the books I see that I want.

Feel free to share this with the SCA network, our system is primitive
and we cannot post, only read. :(
          Northern        Arizona       University
**********************************************************
Robert A. Coody                    *  "The Past Lives
Collections Specialist             *        within the
Special Collections and Archives   *              Present"
Cline Library                      *                     Nemo
Internet Coody@ucc.nau.edu         *
************************************************************************
        
       
Re: Latin Lovers? 
3 Feb 92 
From: gorilla@cats.ucsc.edu (Joe Mama)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: University of California, Santa Cruz

Unto the good folk of the Rialto does John send his regards.

I have come across a piar of quaint books, entitled _Latin_For_All_Occasions
and _Latin_For_Even_More_Occasions which have all manner of obscure and
witty quotes in them, and their latin translations.

Wonderful stuff for .sigs

John
##################
John Ravenscroft of Glastonbury
Scribe of the College of St. David's            Chris Arnold
Barony of Darkwood,				gorilla@cats.ucsc.edu 
Principality of the Mists,
West Kingdom.


Period games and magic 
Date: 10 Feb 92 
From: salley@niktow.canisius.edu (David Salley)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Canisius College, Buffalo NY. 14208

Margaret Macdubhsidhe writes:
> I've recently started looking into period games, both atheletic and 
> otherwise.  Unfortunately, aside from "The Compleat Gamester", which is 
> about 20 years out of period, and a few mentions of football, bowling,
> tennis, and various card and dice games, I have been able to find very
> little.  Besides Master Samalluh's (please pardon the mangled spelling) book,
> does anyone know of any good secondary or primary sources for games
> descriptions?  Is anyone else researching card, dice and athletic games
> (outside of tourney/fencing/martial arts)?  Want to share 
> research/ideas/sources?

Duncan MacLeod writes:
> I am also looking for period sources for slight of hand magic, Both of these
> requests are for children who are trying their best to be patient, so 
> swiftness of response would be much appreciated!

Actual period sources are rare, I only know of one:
	_The Art of Iugling [Juggling] or Legerdemaine_ by Samuel Rid, to be
sold by him in his shop in London, 1612.  To get this manuscript, go to a
University with a _U.S. Govt. Doc. Microfilm Collection_ and ask for Reel 971,
Cat# 21027, Pr 1121.U6, MiU F63-378.  Grainy photocopies of microfilm of
nearly illegible blackletter calligraphy of Old English grammar and spelling
make this difficult reading, but it's worth the effort.

Some very scholarly secondary sources include:
	_Medieval Games_ by Salamallah the Corpulent, Raymond's Quiet Press
ISBN 0-943228-03-4,$10.00.  I've also managed to track down about 3/4 of the
books he lists in the Bibliography.  Among them, I'd recommend the following
two:

	_Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland_ by Alice Gomme,
pub. London 1894. in 2 vol.  Normally, I avoid Victorian books as the
scholarship usually tends to be nearly non-existant.  These books however,
are very well researched.  I can't quote a price or ISBN, because I don't
own them.  

	_Board and Table Games from Many Civilizations_ by Richard C. Bell,
Dover Pub., ISBN 0-486-23855-5, $6.50.  My edition is "revised edition - two 
volumes bound as one" which makes it a bit confusing as the sequence goes;
table of contents, text, bibliography, index, table of contents, text, biblio-
graphy, index.

Some additional books:
	_Games of the World: How to Make Them, How to Play Them, How They
Came to Be_  edited by Frederic V. Grunfeld, Holt Rinehart & Winston Pub,
ISBN 0-03-015261-5.  My copy doesn't have the price listed on it.  Richard
Bell (see listing above) is listed as one of the consultants for the book.
The book is documented to the nth degree with photographs of museum pieces
and medieval manuscripts.  Instructions on building boards and playing pieces
are well written, well diagrammed and often photographed in intermediate stages
of construction.  Games are categorized into: Board & Table Games, Street &
Playground Games, Field & Forest Games, Party & Festival Games, & Puzzles,
Tricks & Stunts.  Additionally the table of contents has cross-indexed each 
game for: Indoor or Outdoor; Solo, Pair or Group; Mental, Physical or Chance;
Playing Time - Short, Medium, Long & Prepartion Time - Short, Medium, Long.

	_The History of Playing Cards: with Anecdotes of Their Use in 
Conjuring, Fortune-Telling and Card-Sharping_ edited by Ed S. Taylor et al.
Originally pub. London 1865, my edition is pub. by Charles Tuttle Co 1973,
ISBN 0-8048-1026-5.  No price listed on my copy.  It doesn't have a biblio-
graphy :-(, but all of the direct quotes are adequately footnoted.  The
illustrations are all modern drawings of medieval cards :-(  I would have
preferred photographs, warts and all.

	_Juggling: The Art and Its Artists_ by Karl-Heinz Ziethen & Andrew
Allen, 1986, Rausch & Luft Pub., ISBN 3-9801140-1-5, $69.00.  Karl wrote
a book in French, which translates as _The Complete History of Juggling_.
Unfortunately :-( it's in French, 1,000+ pages, $200.00+, and only available
from France by custom order!  Andrew talked him into publishing the American
Coffee Table version listed here.  I'd suggest getting it from the library
as after the first ten pages of medieval history, it goes into 1940.
Additionally, the illustrations are simply labelled, "Greek Vase c240BC" or
"Danish Manuscript 1470" with no additional information.

	_Street Magic -- An Illustrated History of Wandering Magicians and 
Their Conjuring Arts_ by Edward Claflin and Jeff Sheridan, Doubleday and Co., 
ISBN 0-385-12864-9, $5.95.  Well written, well documented and lots of photo-
graphs of museum pieces and manuscripts.  Duncan, if you only use one book
from this list, it has to be this one!

Books strictly on techniques, or how to play:
	_The Juggler's Handbook_ by Bob Stone, Spiritwood Publishing, ISBN 
0-9611928-0-1, $12.95.  This one contains something I've never seen anywhere
else, Juggling Notation.  Juggling notation is to juggling what musical
notation is to music, a set of symbols for writing down how to do a sequence.

	_Juggling with Finesse_ by Kit Summers, Finesse Press, ISBN 
0-938981-00-5, $14.95.  An American success story, Kit Summers is two time
winner of the International Jugglers Association World Championship.  The
second time was AFTER he had been hit by a truck and told he would never
leave his hospital bed.

	_The Juggling Book_ by Carlo, Random House, ISBN 0-394-71956-5, $6.95.
Carlo is a juggler for Barnum and Bailey Circus, nuff said!

	_The Complete Juggler_ by Dave Finnigan, Random House, ISBN 
0-394-74678-3.  No price listed on my copy.  I'm normally sceptical of any
book that calls itself _The Complete "X"_.  In my opinion, "X" has to be
at least a dozen words to define a field of knowledge narrow enough to covered
completely in one book.  This one however, comes real close.  The author is
a former president of IJA and there's enough tricks here to keep a juggler
going for years.  For those who like to compare their performance against
others, the book contains the Official Rank Requirements of the IJA, ie, what 
you have to be able to do to earn the next rank. 

	_Hand Shadows_ & _Hand Shadows II_ I can't get my paws on these at
the moment, so I can't give you author, price or ISBN, but they're both
available from the Dover Pub. children's books catalog.  They're just what
they sound like, illustrated books on how to cast shadow pictures on the
wall.  Does anyone know if this is period??  By the by, I'd recommend getting
the Dover catalog, it's free.  Write to: Dover Pub., 180 Varick St., N.Y., N.Y.
10014.  Specify your fields of interest and ask for the general catalog as well.


	_The Boardgame Book_ by Richard C. Bell. Nothing spectacular, but
rules for most of common board games all conveniently in one volume.

Books which have been recommended to me, but I haven't yet read myself.
	_A History of Board Games Other Than Chess_ by H.J.R. Murray
	_Games Ancient and Oriental and How to Play Them_ by E. Falkener
	_A History of Playing Cards_ by Catherine P. Hargrave

                                                       - Dagonell

SCA Persona : Lord Dagonell Collingwood of Emerald Lake, CSC, CK, CTr
Habitat	    : East Kingdom, AEthelmearc Principality, Rhydderich Hael Barony
Disclaimer  : A society that needs disclaimers has too many lawyers.
Internet    : salley@klaatu.cs.canisius.edu
USnail-net  : David P. Salley, 136 Shepard Street, Buffalo, New York 14212-2029


Date: 21 May 92 
From: ag1v+@andrew.cmu.edu (Andrea B. Gansley-Ortiz)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Organization: Engineering Design Research Center, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, 
PA

Most worshipful company of people, I humbly greet you.

Branwen asks:
> Bertram, would you be so kind as to mail or post where you got the original
> ceremonies? I'm interested in Medieval ceremonies, and have found period
> ceremonies for knightings, but not much else.

I happened to find a copy of the Hastings & Montfort Indenture (1469) on
which Bertram based his Peer-Prote'ge'e Contract. From the bottom of this
script I find:

 This contract, an indenture for service, is taken from W.H. Dunham's
 _Lord Hastings' Indentured Retainers, 1461-1483_, (New Haven, 1955)
 as cited in Historical Problems: Studies and Documents, _Nobles and
 the Noble Life, 1295-1500_, by Joel T. Rosenthal, (New York: Harper
 & Row, 1976), ISBN: 0 04 942139 5

Bertram is on his way to visit a prote'ge'e in Canada. I don't know
when he'll be arriving home, but he probably has more sources that
will be of interest to Branwen and others.

Out of curiousity, I recently found an old article of mine on alternatives
to the word prote'ge'(e). Would anyone like to see it?

Esmeralda


<the end>
Edited by Mark S. Harris	books-msg