Anybody Wanna Help a Lady?

[freiman the minstrel]

OK guys,

This is the situation I am bringing an setting down in front of you. I was asked for help this weekend, and I simply don't have the background to help without getting it wrong.

I have a friend, a Lady, who teaches Math at a local high school. She writes as a hobby, and she has been writing about a love story between two people in the thirteenth century in scotland.

I got together with her today and we just chatted. I was quite impressed with her desire to do this in a way that didn't get it too wrong.

She was very dissapointed with "braveheart". She believes that there is a lot of "romance" (her word, not mine) in the depiction of scotland in the middle ages, and she wants to get it right. She has left large section of the story "plotted" (whatever that means) because she doesn't feel like she has the knowledge to get the details right.

She wants to do something that involves the very late twelve hundreds and very early thirteen hundreds. She believes (and I do) that some things would be universal across the centuries (like love) but doesn't have the details.

I do not know if she means to deal with the highlands or the lowlands of scotland.

I am looking for;
sources, primary and "other", insights, anything else that might be useful.

I figured that this is the right place because 1)I have heard a lot of people decry the misrepresentation of the time period (especially in Scotland) and 2) authentic opportunities to be of service are actually pretty rare.

She asked me about Combat, I loaned her my Talhoffer Manual. I have the 1467 edition, translated by Mark Rector. I know that it's way too late for her selected period, but it seemed to be better to get the fifteenth century right than to get the thirteenth century wrong.

I will probably just print out this particular thread and give her the printout. Do not hesitate to address her directly.

I know this is weird. thank you for taking the time to read this message.

[This message has been edited by freiman the minstrel (edited 10-13-2002).]

[Fearghus Macildubh]

The biggest thing to remember about Scotland during the 13th and 14th century is that the Lowlanders were not that different in dress and attitude from the rest of Europe. sure there were local pecularities of dress and custom, but no, they didn't always wear plaid, didn't use targe and claymore, and certainly didn't wear a kilt. they were churchgoing folk, followed most of the precepts of the medieval church. Now if you are talking about Highlanders....they were considered near barbarians by the Lowlanders, a bunch of feuding barelegged cattle thieves. Think redneck hillbilly and you'd have the analagous attititude. Highlanders at the time would have more to do with Ireland than the south. there was lots of travel by galley between Ireland and the Highlands.
Fitzroy MacLean's Scottish History is a good place to start for a general history.
Slainte,
Fearghus

------------------
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[Yse]

Hello --

She may want to see if she can take a look through Rotuli Scotiae at an academic library. A ponderous collection of early Scots civil history, but cram-packed full of useful tidbits for the time-period. Now in and of itself such factoids are not generally romantic, but can surely be put to good use for accuracy's sake.

I wish her well with her project.

[Gaston de Clermont]

The closest fighting manual for her time period is probably I-33, which you can find on ARMA's web site. It's dated by some historians to around 1295. The Manesse Codex at U Heidelburg might be useful too, for images of dress, fighting, and romance. A lot of the German minnesingers would be helpful resource materials for 12th and 13th century German love poetry, though the Scots probably had an attitude closer to English or Irish ones.
Gaston de Clermont