Knowing the Known World

Had I known that I was going to buy a house during the preparation time for this class, I might have considered something smaller. However, this was the Stellar University of Northshield, so I had free rein to be as geeky as possible in a two-hour session!

Knowing the Known World is an overview of many of the differences in perspective between the modern world and the medieval/renaissance world.  Time, space, nutrition, politics, art, philosophy... lots of stuff.  Some of the subjects, such as the post-period seven-color rainbow, the realist/nominalist debates, and the theory of the four humors were discussed in previous classes. Other topics, such as the heirarchy of minerals, and Charlemagne's observation on bilingualism were new.  Some, such as the changing role of the individual were barely touched on... stay tuned for further developments.

A day of science

The Stellar University of Northshield gathered in Rockhaven on February 9, 2013 for a day of classes, classes, and more classes.

For Science 101: Life, the Universe, and the Microcosm, Karyn had to take the reigns, since Kudrun would never have had reason to present a brief history of western scientific thought from the Babylonians to the printing press. (Especially since Kudrun lives in the thirteenth century.)  So Karyn ran through early astronomy, Eratosthenes, Plato & Aristotle, the "fall of Rome", Isidore, the translation mania that led to the twelfth-century renaissance, the scholastics, and the turn from science to other activities (art, music, the black plague) in the fourteenth century. Since the printing press changed everything, I left off there. That's another class.

Kudrun taught the afternoon class, which was an overview of humoral theory, with stern admonitions for everyone to consult their physician and astrologer, who understand the complexities of the effects of the stars, the seasons, diet, clothing, music, and exercise on the body.

Surprise!

Sometimes a class is completely unplanned. We offered tours of WW (our "big event") and a lady in my tour group asked about medieval medicine. I couldn't take the time to talk with her in depth, or I'd lose the rest of the group, but I asked her to email me with her request. This she did, and from the comfort of my own library I was able to recommend several books for her.

Catching up

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.