Kudrun's A&S 50 Challenge

Food - it's what's for dinner

2011-11-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

Rokeclif's A&S Night met at Java Vino, where we discussed which in a list of foods were early period, late period, and modern. By request, I posted a short bibliography of food books on Rokeclif's facebook page.

Herball with a Twist

2011-10-13T16:55:00.000-07:00

Kudrun is still working on her herbal, but this time she did a total herbal immersion at Rokeclif's A&S Night. We saw herbs from period herbals and from Kudrun's gardens, and we felt and tasted them as well. Nature provided oregano and dandelion, mullien and sage. Kudrun cooked up sage-filled pork, thyme-filled meatballs, and a rosemary-infused dipping oil. Sammy liked the mint sample best. Of course, dill seeds were provided to aid digestion.

Novices, Neophytes and Knaves

2011-10-10T09:38:00.000-07:00

As the title would suggest, this event, hosted by Turm an dem See on October 1, was intended as an introduction to the SCA. Special accommodations were made for first-timers, such as court with a play-by-play description of what was going on, and a relaxation of the rule for garb.

Kudrun's "Alphabeticall Bestiary" and "So you Want to Buy a Psalter" were my offerings, both taught from my 13th-century perspective.

The awe-full thing -- I was a site token (along with three other folks). What an honor!

Vexillology

2011-08-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

How many shires can boast a 5-year-old who knows about vexillology. Sammy can tell you all about flags, though he'd rather tell you about Iron Man. The Shire of Rokeclif was thinking about banners and flags, so I prepared an overview of such things in period (and 1000 years before). My research may be skewed, but the gonfanon (commonly called a 'banner' today) wasn't used much in period. I still think I should make one.

A source is a source, of course, of course

2011-07-15T16:25:00.000-07:00

Warriors and Warlords takes place in a huge city park in Boscobel, Wisconsin. The supply of electricity is limited, so I can't use my favorite period medium - PowerPoint. Still, I scored a few points for Wikipedia in a class on evaluating sources for SCA research. The most important question to be asked is, how much research is necessary for the task? For some questions, one source is sufficient. For other quests, the world is not enough.

Also, what, really, is the task? If I were researching appliqué to teach a class, for example -- "How to Spiff up a Campsite" and "Fifteenth-Century Needlework Techniques" would have very different requirements.

I hope I made it clear that a variety of independent sources were useful to bring one as close to the object of one's research as possible.

Morris

2011-05-01T12:33:00.000-07:00

April 30 was the date of Rokeclif's "Games People Played" event. I taught Merells (Mills, Morris... I've seen 29 names for the game.) The picture here is not of Morris, but of a chess set that I adapted. I haven't documented the use of rubber duckies for chess pieces, but this has to fall under the rubric, "if they'd had rubber duckies in the thirteenth century, they'd have played chess with them."

Magic Numbers at Bardic Madness

2011-05-01T11:57:00.000-07:00

Since this was Bardic Madness XXI, I thought I'd go with the magic numbers theme and prove that LXII is the answer to life, the universe, and everything. Kudrun explained some of the significance of numbers, with reference to Aristotle, Augustine, Plato, Fibonacci and Boethius. Of particular importance for this event was Pythagoras's observation that all musical harmonies could be expressed in simple ratios.

Bardic Madness is probably the only event I'd travel 700 miles (each way) for a one-day event -- it was worth it. Thank you, Schattentor.

Persona again

2011-03-07T10:31:00.000-08:00

Falcon's Gate invited me to reprise "Meeting your persona". This is a college group, so there are always new people coming in. What a delight to meet such enthusiastic kids, ready to learn all kinds of new stuff.

Publish or perish?

2011-02-07T08:14:00.000-08:00

No one has to worry about tenure in the SCA, but it's nice to be published anyway. I wrote a couple articles for Northshield's newsletter -- one on saintly heroes, and the other a review of the Luttrell Psalter film on YouTube.

A&S 50 get-together

2010-12-14T08:59:00.000-08:00

A handful of Northshield participants gathered in the presence of Jadwiga's magnificent "tapestry" at Boar's Head in Caer Anterth Mawr. (Milwaukee WI, for the geographically challenged.) It was inspiring, as always, to get together and share.

SUN Shines

2010-11-21T13:10:00.000-08:00

Half a foot of snow couldn't cast a shadow on the the Stellar University of Northshield, November 13 in Nordskogen. I offered two classes, both taught in persona. (Karyn did sneak in a few comments, but not many.) The Alphabeticall Bestiary came out of the vault with a few new pictures, and Kudrun's Herball was spiffed up and repeated. The Herball features pictures from period sources and from my own gardens juxtaposed with each other. It was fun testing Torch flower (mullien).

Their Majesties saw fit to invite me into Northshield's Order of Bridget's Flame, the grant-level arts and sciences award.

Research Day

2010-10-10T14:37:00.000-07:00

The Shire of Rokeclif enjoys occasional trips to the library for research. We met at Murphy Library at UW LaCrosse on Monday, October 4 for some persona research. The question was, "How do you choose a persona?" I provided a sheet of suggestions and some library reference service. Is this a class? Sure.

Kudrun's Herball

2010-10-03T19:52:00.000-07:00

Poor Kudrun. She has such ambitions to put together an herbal for northern climes, but she's befuddled by the enormity of the project. Kudrun shared her frustrations (and a good helping of information about pre-13th century herbals) with the folks at Novices, Neophytes and Knaves. This is a brand-new class, taught in persona.

Aristotle Joins the SCA

2010-10-03T06:38:00.000-07:00

Novices, Neophytes and Knaves was an excellent introduction to the SCA intended for... well... novices. There were lots of classes, an excellent period feast, and a court-with-commentary. I revamped the presentation that I did in April 2009 into a PowerPoint presentation. (This is the class that uses Aristotle's Poetics to explore SCA persona development. )

More heraldry

2010-09-14T06:15:00.000-07:00

I fixed up the heraldry class done without electricity at Poor Man's Pennsic and presented it in PowerPoint to the folks at Rokeclif's A&S Night.

Heraldry for Beginners

2010-08-15T12:57:00.000-07:00

I am not an official herald, nor do I play one on TV, but I thought it would be interesting to the modern visitors at Poor Man's Pennsic as well as newish SCA folk to learn enough about heraldry to appreciate some of the heraldic display that was visible at the event. I explained a little about the role of the herald (as battlefield CSI, among other things) and introduced a tiny bit of herald-speak. My primary hope, though, was to tell the story behind some of the displayed devices. Thanks to Anna z Pernstejna, Gerald Loosehelm, Toki Magnusson, Otes McKee, and Mechthild zur Drachenhöle for telling me about their arms.
About 7 SCA folk attended.

Digging it up...

2010-07-20T06:40:00.000-07:00

Warriors and Warlords XVII provided the venue for yet another take on persona, though any SCA research might benefit from it. On July 10, I presented "Digging it up, Dusting it off, and Putting it away." The purpose was to provide hints and tips for SCA research, from a quick look-up (Turkey is unsuitable for my 14th-century feast. I'd better serve peacock.) to an issue of Compleat Anachronist.
DIGGING IT UP --
The main resources for research are to ask an expert, check the library, or search the internet. All have advantages and disadvantages, and there are strategies to make the most of each source.
DUSTING IT OFF --
There's a bit of risk in each of those sources. How can you minimize the risk, to assure that your information is accurate and up-to-date?
PUTTING IT AWAY --
Once you've found good information, how can you retrieve it? More importantly, how can you remember where it came from in the first place? (Hint: "the blue book on the third shelf" is not a solid bibliographic citation.)

Trivium Pursuit

2010-05-03T06:22:00.000-07:00

Rokeclif held its third "Pie Snit" event on May first, and allowed me to host another round of Trivium Pursuit, which is a game in which teams of contestants answer questions in order to get pieces of pie. The pie pieces (purpure, argent, azure, gules, sable, vert, and or) represent the subjects in the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and the quadrivium (arithmetic, astronomy, geometry, music), all loosely defined. (Music includes all the arts; grammar includes all things literary; geometry encompasses all earth-bound science, including agriculture, nutrition, and anatomy; rhetoric includes all things political.)

Most questions include multiple-choice hints, which are offered only when no team can answer correctly without the hint. If a team wishes, it may "beg a boon", allowing it to ask a Laurel, poll the audience, use the library (the event was held in the public library of a village of 500 population), or hack the possible answers in twain.

Why do I include a game in my list of 50 classes taught? If you'd been there you wouldn't have to ask. Many times I heard, "I didn't know that!" from the audience. Other times, someone in the room might elaborate on the explanation offered.

Here are a few samples:

Grammar: Is there a recipe for ravioli in Bartolomeo Plantina's 1475 Latin cookbook?

Logic: What is a calamus?

Rhetoric: Piers Gaveston of Gascony was the real brains behind what English king's throne?

Arithmetic: What, other than his famous rider, sets Sleipner apart from other horses?

Astronomy: Hailstones inspired what University of Pisa medical student to question the writings of Aristotle?

Geometry: According to Isidore of Seville, elephants mate when a female gives the male... what?

Music: In western Europe in the 8th century, wind replaces water in ...what?

Let the catch go round

2010-03-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

Bardic Madness XX, which featured challenges on circles, cycles, returning, and remembrance, simply demanded a class on rounds, so I stepped up with Let the Catch Go Round: Canons, Catches, and Circular Songs. The subtitle tells it all.

Though the heyday of published rounds is slightly post-period, there is enough documentary evidence to make a pretty healthy list of period rounds. Sumer is icumen in is probably the most celebrated round of the era, but Three blinde mice and Hey, ho, nobody home were published in 1609, and were likely sung well before that date.

Though many 17th-18th century rounds were written for men's clubs. the Victorians turned rounds into a children's format. They should be for everybody, and I hope to hear more rounds at our bardic circles in the future.

ABGs revisited

2010-02-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

Rokeclif's chatelaine thought that having classes at our shire meetings would be fun. I got to be the first presenter, with "Now I know my ABGs". It's interesting presenting a formal class to people you know pretty well. Nobody fell asleep.

Kudrun goes Elizabethan

2010-01-11T04:27:00.000-08:00

"Much Ado About Twelfth Night" -- an Elizabethan-themed event. (Nordskogen, January 9, 2010) What on earth can a 13th century persona do with such modern times? Nothing. I needed a sixteenth-century persona.

Enter Katherine Stackhouse of Giggleswick, who was able to describe the life and times of Roger Ascham, the Cambridge Greek scholar who is best known for a book on Archery. Toxophilus, though intentionally written in English for Englishmen, is a Socratic dialog on the virtues of archery. It is, perhaps, the geekiest sports book in existence.
He also wrote a book called The Scholemaster, which outlines a method and a curriculum for teaching Latin without recourse to beating and berating the student.
Ascham managed to serve all three of Henry VIII's children when they came to the throne; a remarkable accomplishment considering how many others lost their heads in the transitions. He was a worthy subject for a class.

Hospitality as Art and Science

2009-11-20T16:13:00.000-08:00

Her Stellar Majesty, Elizabeth, asked me to provide some kind of A&S opportunities at the Tournament of Chivalry, held in Coille Stoirmeil on November 14. We had an A&S competition at last week's event (Stellar University of Northshield) so I didn't want a simple repetition of that, though I did provide space for display.
With permission of their Majesties and the event staff, I undertook to provide an opportunity for artisans to simply come together in the solar, where musicians might be practicing, ladies were spinning and embroidering, and merchants plied their wares. A herald was there for consultation, and many books were available to provide inspiration. There was ample opportunity for informal teaching, particularly in the domestic arts and in the history and culture of the SCA.
My thanks to all who participated in this gathering, and to Her Majesty, who inspired "outside the box" thought about period A&S.

Stellar University of Northshield

2009-11-11T11:58:00.001-08:00

November 7 was a big day. I planned to teach two classes, but ended up with three: numbers, ABCs, and colors -- a veritable kindergarten!

The Numb3rs class was a rerun from Bardic Madness in April of 2008. Karyn and Kudrun compare the way we use numbers in a typical day.

"Now I Know My ABGs" was a repeat from June 20, 2009. I assumed that the audience in Madison WI would be different from the one in Sioux Falls SD.

"A Rainbow of Rainbows" was originally conceived for Bardic Madness in 2006, but I completely revamped it, using PowerPoint instead of color slides (remember slides?). This is an exploration of color theory and uses of color in period, beginning before Aristotle.

Persona again

2009-10-08T12:56:00.000-07:00

Falcon's Gate was kind enough to invite me back for "Meeting your persona" on October 1. I didn't hear any snoring from the old-timers who heard most of the material last year. That was a good sign. Even better was a chance to chat with some new folks about using their college experience to begin forming a persona.
Think about an art history major who's thinking of an Italian persona turning herself into an apprentice or relative of Sofonisba Anguissola or Lavinia Fontana.
As usual, I suggested the A&S 50 Challenge as a resource.

Autumn Rose XV

2009-09-07T14:03:00.000-07:00

The feast steward for Autumn Rose (Rokeclif's fall event) wanted to do a middle eastern feast, so we made the theme of the event "Pilgrimage to Jerusalem".

I put signs on 15 places at the fairgrounds that served as the site, indicating the medieval city where a shrine might be found for a particular saint. At each location there was a poster offering more elaboration about the saintly person or persons and a pilgrim "badge" -- actually a piece of paper with instructions for finding the next location.

People had a tough time with St Martin's cloak, which I hung on a rack with other garments in the merchants' hall. St Anthony's shrine was at the (empty) swine barns. Cologne Cathedral was represented by the place we usually have A&S displays. (The clue made reference to works of art in the treasury and the scientific work of Albertus Magnus.) The big 4-H sign on the building where St Patrick's shrine was located was ascribed to a math-impaired painter. The big green pole-barn that we used as a feasthall was described as the magnificent green wall of Jerusalem.

People who were new to the event found the hunt a good wat to see the whole site. Those who knew the site learned a lot about the heroes of the medieval period.

Aristotle again

2009-07-13T16:21:00.000-07:00

I recycled the class that used Aristotle's Poetics as a foundation for persona development, and hence for improving the drama of SCA (see the April 13, 2009 post). I presented it to a couple dozen people at Warriors and Warlords, Northshield's "big event". I added some visuals using a flip chart. Projectors don't work as well as I'd like in a pavilion on a beautiful sunny afternoon.
Of course I plugged the Challenge -- especially the persona development track.

Now I know my A B G...

2009-07-02T17:56:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered why our alphabet begins A B C, when almost everybody else begins theirs with A B G? (That includes Hebrew, Greek, Arabic, and others.) That was the question that inspired a class on the history of the alphabet for Bardic Madness in Border Downs (Sioux Falls SD) on June 20. The theme of this year's Bardic Madness was "Letters" so the class fit right in.

I presented a history of alphabets from way before period (Egyptian hieroglyphics and Sumerian cuneiform) to well past period, when I and J became separate letters. Period inventions included punctuation, printing, and the use of small and capital letters.

I'd been working on this class since November, doing little else. It was so interesting, and I learned a LOT. I'll tag some of the books I used "letters" in LibraryThing, so you can have a look if you want to know more. (I also hope to do this class again.)

Aristotle at Darkstone

2009-04-13T05:21:00.000-07:00

I was asked to teach a class on persona at an event created to introduce and encourage the bardic arts in the Shire of Darkstone. I should mention that Northshield interprets the word "bardic" very loosely, including all performance arts, but particularly those that recall and bring to life "the Dream".
I used Aristotle's Poetics to structure the class. I thought this fitting, since our word "persona" was lifted directly from ancient Greek/Roman theatre. Aristotle lists six elements of present in any tragedy: plot, characters, diction, thought, spectacle, and melody. I suggested ways in which each of these elements could be used to enhance the drama that we create as we enact the drama of our modern middle ages.
Spectacle is the only part of the drama. Participants are required to wear garb, though we use other visual means to "dress the set" such as banners, tools, and the hiding of modernity. Diction includes the words we speak, both the subjects and the words themselves. (I warned of the dangers of immersing oneself in Norse poetics and then going to work.) Under the melody rubric I encouraged the use of medieval music, but allowed that even in period drama the time barrier was crossed. Plot is crucual for Aristotle. For us, plot might come up in a war scenario or a coronation, but our "action" tends to be the creation of A&S projects, and perhaps our learning a skill. Character is the soul of persona. I encouraged immersion in a particular time/place as similar to an academic major; as an opportunity to specialize. I also encouraged backstory as a way to round out a persona. Unfortunately, I ended up making my real-life persona, who actually does the work of sewing, spading and cooking, into the servant of my period persona, who has People to do that. That was a scary thought. Digging into character more deeply reveals thought, Aristotle's last category. I challenged folks to think as their persona; to interpret the world in medieval categories.
In short, I suggested that persona development was a way to enter into our medieval drama more fully, and to bring the drama alive for others.

Archery

2008-12-08T13:21:00.000-08:00

Teaching opportunities come up in the most interesting places. My cousin has a couple sons who are in love with the Victorian notion of the middle ages. They want to take up archery, so my cousin invited me over for lunch and a fast tutorial on archery. I strung a couple bows and introduced her to the equipment. I learned that Siamese kittens are fascinated by bowstrings.
I suppose some might question why I would include marital arts in an A&S Challenge. I'd answer that I'm exploring the art of teaching. The subject of the teaching is less important than its means of presentation. At least that's my story and I'm stickin' with it.
After seeing my canvas quiver (made of scraps 10 years ago) she was inspired to make similar quivers for her kids -- with embroidery! Hmmm. I might have to think about that idea.

Teaching ballads

2008-12-03T14:42:00.000-08:00

I didn't teach a class at Midrealm Bardic Madness, since I didn't want to commit to driving in Chicago in bad weather. (What a wimp!) Turns out the weather was great.
I did participate in the "Teaching ballads" challenge by writing a piece describing the signs of the zodiac and the labors of the months to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", one of our best-known teaching songs. (It was an acrostic, spelling ASTROLOGICAL!)
I'm not expecting a call from the Pulitzers for it, but it was an interesting challenge.
Can I remember the zodiac in order now? Mmmm... nope. Sigh!
Thanks to Master Cerian and the Barony of Tree-Girt-Sea for a wonderful event.

Another persona class

2008-11-01T10:35:00.000-07:00

October 18 was the day for "Creating the Creative" in Nordskogen. It was a day intended to introduce beginners to the SCA, and to encourage oldsters to try new things. I got to saw a rock in two for the first time.
I taught "Meeting your persona" again, using PowerPoint. There were more than 30 people there, ranging in SCA experience from an hour to 25 years. The response was great, and the folks who stayed after to chat were delightful.
Now I need a new subject. Letters? Plants? Or the one that's really needed -- how to evaluate sources for your SCA research? Boo0-ring! But necessary.

Meet your persona II

2008-10-05T12:27:00.000-07:00

Falcon's Gate, the SCA group at the University of Wisconsin at Stevens Point invited me to talk with them about persona development. The building at the university has electricity, so instead of lugging 30 books, I took my projector and showed pictures of the books and tools that I find useful for such research. I locked the doors so I could let my "heavy-handed teacher" persona push my research mantras: 1. Ask the right question and ask the question right; and 2. Write down where you got the information.

I wish I could say that I recite these mantras when I'm in the library doing the work. Usually I think about them when I reeeeally need to know where I got some little tidbit of information. Pulling this class together made me realize that a class on evaluating sources might be very useful. If I had a nickel for every rehashing of the old "medieval cooks used spices to hide the taste of bad meat" myth I could afford to take the time off work to develop such a class.

This class was just for UWSP folks. I put UWSP library call numbers on the bibliography, for heaven's sake. I also demonstrated WorldCat, which made that task simple. In a couple weeks I'll revise it for folks in the Twin Cities.

Fear not! I also made a big pitch (with the aid of Emelye and Amra) for the A&S 50 Challenge. What I could have done in the 13th century if I'd had a projector connected to the Internet!

Another one-on-one

2008-08-15T11:28:00.000-07:00

It's going to be a while before my next formal class, but sometimes a teaching opportunity just comes along.
The overdress I've been wearing for [mumble] years is based on pictures in the Maciejowski Bible. It has convertible sleeves, which may be worn on the arm or off, as the weather changes. All I've had for a pattern was the picture, but I managed to get a very functional garment by simply not sewing up the front of the sleeves. (I think I can do better, but this one works well, and looks like the pictures.)
At a recent event, I was asked about the dress by a lady who'd pretty well managed the headwear. We exchanged notes, so watch for another 13th-century Northshielder in a convertible gown.

Meet your persona

2008-07-16T07:41:00.000-07:00

Interlibrary Loan librarians, batten down your hatches and warm up your computers. Persona researchers are comin’ to town!
The class on “Meet your persona” at Warriors & Warlords drew about 17 people – some brand new and some with quite a bit of Society experience. That may not sound like many compared to a Pennsic class, but the enthusiasm level made up for the numbers. I’m so glad I made a handout, because people really wanted the books I recommended.

Have you explored Library Thing? It’s an online cataloging tool that’s been doing the public interface/community thing longer than WorldCat has. The books on my handout are tagged 'persona' in LibraryThing.
I started putting up only SCA-type books because I wanted to be able to access my catalog from any computer and maybe quit buying duplicates. (hah!) When I put up the first batch I discovered that I had books in common with a friend in Milwaukee (Hi, Merouda!) and one in LA. Some of the books have reviews (by SCA folk, not by people trying to sell you the book). I’ve tagged the ones I recommended for the class “persona”.

Of course I talked up the A&S 50 challenge. It’s just the sort of thing some were looking for – an opportunity to grow their persona.

Persona woes

2008-07-01T14:15:00.000-07:00

The Muses are toying with me as I plan this class. This will be held at Northshield's big camping event, Warriors and Warlords. There's no library handy, no internet connection (no electricity) so I'm on my own to make persona development come alive. And since poor old Kudrun has decidedly different ideas of what "persona" means than the SCA has, it'll be Karyn who teaches this class, using Kudrun as "Exhibit A".
They don't call it the A&S 50 Challenge for nothing! 8-)

A little one-on-one

2008-06-06T11:47:00.000-07:00

There's a new blog in town. Amata and I consulted about her A&S 50 project. She plans to read 50 books that will illuminate her persona's life and times. She'll be sharing the books and reviews at AmataCromwell.blogspot.com. Another Rokeclif participant has been doing some great persona research, but it hasn't resulted in a name yet. I also helped Pierre de Champagne find a name.
All this is good preparation for my next class, on July 12 at Warriors and Warlords. I plan to offer tips on finding and/or developing a persona. What happens there will depend on who takes the class, but I'll have lots of great questions to consider... including a few that I haven't answered for myself yet. There have been some wonderful ideas on the Yahoo listserv. Thank you for contributing.

Catching up

2008-05-27T08:26:00.000-07:00

It is time to catch up. It was almost a year between the time the challenge was issued and the time I learned of it and decided to join. In that time, I accomplished the following:

June – an article for Mead, Meat & More on the virtues of the dandelion.

August – an article on sage for Mead, Meat & More. This is the Kingdom of Northshield’s quarterly journal for cooks and brewers.

September – a book on the voyages of St Brendan. For Her coronation, Queen Eilis requested classes and A&S displays appropriate to early Irish culture, a time and place far removed from modern times (AD 1278). Wracking my brain, I could come up with only one thing old-fashioned enough to meet the Royal request. I wrote a version of the story of St Brendan’s voyage to the edge of Paradise, bound it into a book, read the story to interested persons at the event, and then presented the book to Her Majesty. It was delightful to study history rather than the present for a change.

December – a presentation called “Medieval Songs You Already Know”. Many times I have wished to call the Period Police to arrest people who bring modern music to bardic circles. There is an abundance of period music sung during the month of December, so I worked to document those pieces which had become familiar through seasonal repetition so that more people could knowingly enjoy songs from our time.

February – taught two related classes at the Hromnice Day celebration in Shattered Oak. The first was a celebration of contrafacta, both in period and in SCA. I (Karyn) celebrated our roots in the world of fandom and fantasy, as well as our roots in the historical middle ages. The second was a hands-on how-to class in doing contrafacta. And yes, I unabashedly called it “Filk”.

Also February – an article on the properties of thyme for Mead, Meat & More.

March 29 – a class called “So you want to buy a psalter?” Kudrun explained some of the features one might wish to include if one commissions a psalter, and some of the pitfalls of purchasing one ready-made. Copious illustrations accompanied the lecture.

April 26 – Karyn and Kudrun had to collaborate on this one – a comparison of the use of numbers in each of our worlds. This was for Bardic Madness XVIII, Northshield’s performance arts event, which had the theme “numbers”. Since I’ve always been reluctant to do mathematics without mechanical aids, this was quite a challenge. I had a wonderful learning experience, though I still can’t multiply well. I must do more with this material!

Also April 26 – Since I had called a meeting of the Northshield Choir, and its director was bogged down in college studies, I taught the choir a song (Quem Pastores Laudavere from a 1410 manuscript), and we performed it in Wechselgesänge style. This is the first time I’d ever led a choir, so it was tremendously exciting and scary. The Cambridge Singers are NOT threatened in any way.

May 3 – I dusted off “An Alphabeticall Bestiary”, in which Kudrun sets out to describe one animal for each of the 24 letters of the alphabet. That I mention 55 animals and a tree is further proof that numbers and I don’t get along well. This was not brand new material, so I only give myself partial credit for it.

May 25 – The Shires of Silfren Mere and Heraldshill collaborated on an event called “Ages of War”, which took as its theme the Great Italian Wars of 1494-1559. Using the science of humors, Kudrun speculated that these dreadful wars were probably caused be great excesses of choleric humors in the Sforza household. The whole bloody mess could probably have been prevented if Ludovico Sforza’s cook had fed him lampreys and lettuce instead of barbecue. How Kudrun (living in 1279) might have heard of these future wars was unanswered, but Karyn would never have made such wild speculations. Maybe.

2008-05-23T11:03:00.000-07:00

A challenge has been issued for artisans to create 50 new works or explore 50 new fields of endeavor before the 50th anniversary of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Since I have wanted to put together a summary of current scientific thought, I thought that this challenge would provide an opportunity to set things down in permanent form.

I do not fancy myself a crafter. Heaven knows, if I need something done I have People to do it. Singer sees to my wardrobe needs, and Hoover tries to keep things neat. Bette, the cook knows her job, though I do occasionally have consult with her. The Amana sisters who manage the laundry are quite competent. Though the stablemaster is not the neatest individual, my horses are well cared for, and the carriage and wagons are well greased. Neville is an excellent castellan, and Titivillus is learning to be a better steward, though I wonder if his fondness for salmon isn't rendering him less ambitious than he might be. His efforts to reduce the insect population of the manor have been slightly less than effective, and may be the subject for a separate post, once Hoover manages to repair the damage from his latest foray into catching flies.

My staff allows me to spend more time in researching material for this cyclopedia, and teaching it at various gatherings of interested folk. It is to that endeavor that I shall turn my attention in this forum.

It is my intention to present fifty classes or articles during this challenge. What shape this will take is uncertain. Mayhaps I can share a bit of information here about each subject. Since I have presented several classes already, before committing to the challenge, I will begin with those, and see how things go from there.

The next post must wait until I flog the gardener and bring in the current crop of hay.

The beginning

2008-05-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

Since blogging is the thing to do in both my real life (SCA) and my job life (my libraries) it's about time for me to get started.
As soon as I have an opportunity, I'll tell you about my plans for the A&S 50 Challenge. Until then, just think great things about the 13th century.