Medieval Reenactment

art by Tracy Stear

I am a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, commonly referred to as the SCA. The SCA is a world-wide, not-for-profit organization dedicated to the reenactment of the best parts (we like our modern conviences, thank you) of the Middle Ages. We practice the gentler arts and sciences, such as embroidery and illumination, as well as the war-like. We generally cover the years from about 500 AD to 1600 AD, but there are people who stretch it on either end. For more information on the SCA itself, see the links I have below. I will soon be joining the Dominion of Myrkfaelinn, when Iget the time to attend a meeting. Please feel free to contact me; my emailaddress is at the bottom of this page.

Dyane of Arden

In the SCA, each person developes a persona, someone who could have lived in the middle ages. The persona is a made up person, not someone who actually lived in the Middle Ages. A persona can be as simple or complex as you like.

In the SCA, my name is Lady Dyane of Arden. I was born on March the fourth in the year 1333. Currently, it is the year 1352. I live in my father's household, Lord Garrath of Arden, in the Arden forest in England. My mother died when I was young, I know not why. Because of my mother's early death, I was fostered out to Mistress Brid to learn crafts and arts, such as embroidery and sewing. We are a family of archers and my father is a huntsmaster for the Baron of Warwick. On his travels in England I met the French merchant Marc. Marc and I were married on June the twenty-first of 1351. Although I am now married, I often spend much of my time living in my father's house since Marc's business keeps him away overseas.

But, Lord Crist! Whan that it remembreth me
Upon my yowthe, and on my jolitee,
It tikleth me about myn herte roote.
Unto this day it dooth myn herte boote
That I have had my world as in my tyme.

The Wife of Bath, lines 469 - 473
Geoffery Chaucer, Canterbury Tales

Current Project

I am working on a 14th century German counted embroidery belt pouch. The pattern is from Master Richard Wymarc whose webpage is listed in the embroidery section of this page.

For my materials I am using 28 count irish linen that I bought in a tube from JoAnn Fabrics. I think it is a bit too stiff but it is all I can afford at this point. For the thread I am using DMC cotton embroidery floss in red, green, blue, and white.

To work on this piece without damaging the fabric or the threads I have mounted the background fabric on a scroll style embroidery frame. In addition I have attached this frame to a floor stand that allows me to work with both hands. The embroidery goes a lot faster for me this way.

To make this pouch really period I will learn how to make a finger-loop braided cord for the top.

At this point I have a good portion of the main pattern completed. The pouch for myself will be 5 inches by 5 inches (where the original is 3 x 3). It will be big enough to allow me to carry the things I need at an event such as money, needle and thread, tissues, and pencil and paper.

Fiber Geek

My fiber arts related projects and essays are now available at my FiberGeek site:

http://www.fibergeek.net

Amaral

See and experience Defenders of Amaral from my point of view.

College Projects

The Use of Clothing in the Canterbury Tales	Chaucer made use of clothing in his writings to indicate characteristics of the people in the storied.
Introduction and collectionof SCA folk tales.	The SCA has been around long enough that it is often recognized as a legitimate American subculture. This is a collection of SCA folklore I made for an anthropology class.
Love and Heresy	Marriage traditions and practices of the heretical village of Montaillou, France.
Secular Reasons Behind Medieval Marriage	A paper written using primary sources. People in the Middle Ages had just as many reasons for getting married as we do. Maybe more.

SCA Links

The Incipient Shire of Couer de le Terre	The webpage of the SCA group in Cortland County, New York.
The SCA	This is the official Society for Creative Anachronism's webpage. Go here to find out more about this organization.
Tournaments Illuminated	The Arts and Science booklet that is received with membership.
The East Kingdom Webpage	This is one of the Kingdoms that make up the SCA. It is located in the northeast United States.
The Northern Outpost	This shire is the SCA branch, in Potsdam, NY, where I first got into the SCA.
The Kingdom of Aethelmearc	This is the webpage of the kingdom where I reside.
Myrkfaelinn	The Dominion of Myrkfaelinn is one of the closest SCA groups to Cortland, NY.
Orion's Gate	The Stronghold of Orion's Gate is up on the army base, Fort Drum.
Master Huen's Boke of Gode Coodery	I really just put this here because it has a number of medieval webrings at the bottom of the page. Good way to explore, especially SCA sites.
Dictionary of SCA Slang	Not official SCA but a really good site.

The 14th and 15th Centuries

The Age of King Charles V	He was the king of France from 1338 - 1380. This site explores the culture, politics, and history of that time. A lot of illuminated pictures.
The Avignon Papacy	In the 14th century the Papacy moved from Rome to Avignon, France.
Middle English Texts	This is at the University of Virginia electronic text center. These are untranslated texts from the 14th and 15th centuries.
Margery Kempe	Quite a woman from the 14th century. Commonly named an English mystic, she wrote her autobiography which we still have.
The Decameron	BymBoccaccio Giovanni. An insight into how people dealt with the Black Death.

Medieval Embroidery

Master Wymarc's Embroidery Page	This wonderful page, by Master Richard Wymarc, has pictures and descriptions of different types of medieval decorative needlework. Master Wymarc's homepage is really cool too.
Medieval/Renaissance Embroidery Page	This site contains links to other embroidery resources.
The Bayeux Tapestry	A wonderful example of medieval embroidery that also tells a story.
Blackwork Embroidery Achiives	Instructions, patterns, usage: everything about blackwork by Paula Marmor

Costume

Girdle Books	An accessory for the 13th Century Lady or Lord.
The Quick Costume Guide	Simple costume instructions, with pictures, for basic SCA garb.
Easy SCA Garb	Basic garb instructions for the beginner.
Milleux: Costume Site	Acres and acres of costuming links including museums.
Clothing of the Ancient Celts	What to make/get for your Celtic persona.
Skirts	Directions on how to make an easy skirt.

Castles

The Castles of Wales

This site by Jeff Thomas not only has pictures of castles in Wales, but also has a lot of historical information. The site is also available in Welsh.

Online Research Resources

Academy of St. Gabriel	They will research your SCA name for you and tell you if it is period and make suggestions if it is not.
ETHRN FEDERATION	European Templar Heritage Research Network
Library of Congress Vatican Exhibit	This site has some good images of medieval illuminates manuscripts.
WWW Medieval Resources	This site is a wonderful compilation of online historical databases, homepages, and texts.
the Rialto Archive	A collection of articles from the SCA's Rialto newsgroup.
Stefan's Florilegium Archive	A collection of Rialto articles arranged by subject.
Medieval History in the Movies	As the name says, medieval history in the movies.
On-Line Reference Book for Medieval Studies	This has a gigantic list of links to online promary source texts.
The Online Medieval and Classical Library	Primary source texts arranged by title, author, genre, and original language. All the texts are public domain in the United States.
Project Gutenberg	They are collecting and publishing literature as e-texts online. They have a number of medievaltexts, probably because they are not copywrited.
Cariadoc's Miscellany	Awesome articles on the SCA and personal development.