Reinhard wrote:
I've talked it over with my wife, a non-SCA and strictly practical girl, she's all for it as long as she gets the garden she wants

Oh, yeah! A big, walled garden! Thank-you for reminding me: your wife must be a pearl among women. Garden is good.

Woolery

Yeah, I think that many folks would like a castle to call their own. My dream home would just have a sort of great hall, (even daydreaming, I can't help being practical.) It would forego using stone altogether, except in the fireplace. Less fun, but cheaper. The main thing would be the oriel-type wi...

HG: Went to confession and worried about catching e-pox? Anyone got a decent source for vampire lore? I have this third-hand, prettied up source that mentions that in Hungary and Rumania, people believed that vampires were cannibals as well as blood drinkers, but they don't give _their_ source. This...

Bathhouses were common throughout continental Europe well before the Renaissance. People liked them. A LOT. Some churchmen denounced the ones that were really brothels masquerading as bathhouses. "Good, clean fun! Honest!" No one culture had the corner on enlightenment. No one culture had the corner...

Val - thanks for the link. I got a couple of cords and tried it: it is easy, and it looks much better than some old granny knot. Oh, and as far as the lady's point of view goes, if I made a favor to be worn outside of armor in battle, I would make it sturdy. If I spent a long time making a fine, del...

JT wrote: Actually Mrs W, it makes it sound like you live in a white house...here's where Dubya works, and over in the next room is where Mrs Dubya works. And it is posts like this one that make it such a good idea to avoid using your real name, JT http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/biggrin.gif Wooler...

I have to agree with Hushgirl about wanting to maintain a certain distance from some folks...those few. Don't take offense: as a whole, the Archive is a good crowd. I didn't even think about using my real name to post, but I did try not to pass myself off as something I'm not. (I am married and fema...

I have seen similar information in the book _Honey, Mud, Maggots, and Other Medical Marvels : The Science Behind Folk Remedies and Old Wives' Tales_ by Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein. Although the authors seem biased in favor of non-mainstream treatments, they present some intriguing information ...

Fire Stryker: thank you for the information. The site I like best for information on this is http://www.joyofhandspinning.com I know that urine was used in fleece preparation and dying, but there is no way that I will ever try it. My 15-month old son supplies me with enough messes of this kind, alre...

A friend of mine and I are going to try to process a fleece this summer. Her family raises sheep, and I guess this thing has been "out in the shed" for at least a year - unwashed, etc. It may get ugly, but we're going to give it a go. I have found instructions for washing out fleece in the bathtub (...

Amen, sister.

Woolery

I just got back from a coronet tourney event and saw several cute babies there. One little fellow who was about 3 months old had on a simple long, white tunic over dark, nondescript modern clothes. It served to disguise the modern stuff, but allowed for the convenience of letting the baby wear what ...

Peryton - everything I have ever read about clothing for Vikings, (only 3 or 4 sources,) indicates that tablet woven trim is authentic for the time and place. Le Brassey, et al, are right about commercial trim not having the right look. However, that spiffy trim on Le Brassey's outer tunic, the one ...

I think that the "oar" quote is my fave, too. http://www.armourarchive.org/ubb/biggrin.gif Thank-you, Pietro and Patroclus. You flatter me, alas, too much, for I cannot actually speak or read Latin. The quotations are from all over, some from a book by Will Bryant, _A Time for Heroes_ (very good!) M...

Every once in awhile, someone asks about cool latinisms to put on shields. Here are some that my husband and I have collected: Errare humanum est To err is human Contra bonos mores Against good morals Anguis in herba A snake in the grass Per angusta ad augusta Through difficulties to things worthy o...

Le Brassey points out:

Caution: 15th c. and 1500's does not mean the same thing!

Doh! You're so right. I knew that, sorry. No doughnut for me...

Woolery

Quote: "I have a copy (which I have been promising to xerox for what seems a decade) of a French book inventorying and giving patterns for Joan of Arc's wardrobe." Okay, does anyone know the title of said book? Author? Anything? I have a buddy over in France who keeps asking is there's anything I wa...

I'm with HushGirl on this one. Le Brassey, I have also considered the "monthly necessity" aspect of women's undergarments. I can tell you that, at least for a few days a month, they wore _something_. I just haven't found out what, yet. Even so, I think it highly unlikely that women wore no underpant...

For pics from the time period, look for stuff by Albrecht Durer, Mathias Grunewald, and Rogier van der Weyden. Ravensgard Costuming page has a link: http://www.costumegallery.com/fif.htm This link is supposed to have 1500's German costume. There are several color images, but the source isn't listed,...