This is a post about the history of the Club’s presence on the web.  You are warned!
The history of the club’s webpage is long and varied.  It started out (as far as I can determine) in 1998 (at least) and was a static collection of HTML pages and photos.  It wasn’t the best page but it was rather cool that a BYU club had an active web presence back then.  Then I was asked by Ken to make a new page, which I did using Flash.  It looked… interesting, but it could at least be easily updated in the early days before CSS becamse big.

While I was on my mission Ted Maxwell (awesome guy; if you disagree let’s agree to disagree) rewrote the page using Perl.  The webpage was now fully updatable by users on the Internet (kinda like Wikipedia).  There were very few occasions of vandalism andit was good.

When I returned the page was rewritten to use PHP/MySQL and featured forums and user accounts.  The page was hacked once, but it was actually in a nice fashion where the hacker let me know where security was lacking.

When I was elected VP in 2005 I spent Winter Semester rewriting the backend code of the page again from scratch.  I got rid of the forums, which caused some short-term consternation, but the advent of the GoogleGroup quickly put an end to calls for a bulletin board.  In fact, the Google Group has quickly grown to become to largest Internet tool that the club uses.

Over the last year (2007-2008 ) it became very apparent that all of the needs fulfilled by the club web page were being filled by the GoogleGroup.  Since the hosting costs for the web page were phobitive against our small budget at the time, it was decided to move the page from paid hosting to free web alternatives.

And so here we are.  The club has ownership of the address “qands.org” for another 2-3 years (I don’t remember how long, to be honest), so I linked it up to a wordpress site.  I think the site looks rather swell, and it should provide everyone all the functionality that they’d need from a club website.

There have been a few questions about this move that I thought I’d answer, especially since I’m leaving and there isn’t a “web guy” or “web gal” to take my place (as far as I know).  (Let me just say right here that I unequivocally think that the web guy should NOT be the responsibility of a presidency member; instead it should be treated as a guild head – a guild head can be elected to the presidency, but a presidency member never “deserves” a guild because of their position in the club presidency).  It’s come up before, and it isn’t a good idea.)

Q. Why don’t we just get rid of the web page altogether?  It wasn’t being used over the past two years.
A. The past two years have seen a huge rise in the use of Facebook and other social networking sites.  Before those, the QandS site actually functioned in a similar fashion in keeping clubbies connected.  It can be argued that, through these social networking sites and the Google Group that there isn’t much need for clubbies to use the webpage.  I would say that one should be kept if only to have an informational web presence to put on official club advertising.

Q. Why not try to have all that the web page had before: forums, photo gallery, and other things?
A. With all of the free options available to us through Flickr, Yahoo!, Google, and others it would be easy to gather a collection of sites that would accomplish the same functions as the older sites.  However, there are problems with this approach.  Currently, nobody really used the club website for these activities; the GoogleGroup and Facebook in particular have taken of most of the functions for most club members.  Thus, the addition of further webpages adss further user accounts (and passwords), further URLs to remember/bookmark, and (most importantly) more websites to remember to visit often.  It has been often been shown in my occupational field (web design and programming) that if the average person is presented with too many options they tend to simply ingore all options instead of making choices.  In asking users to visit (often) qands.org, Facebook, email clients (for GoogleGroups), calendars, photo albums, and message boards I think we are asking far too much.  This page can link to further pages, but I would argue strongly that we do not need to reproduce the functionality of old sites because it will be wasted effort.

Q. Why can’t we have a message board? I hate blogs!
A. The blog functionality of this page is actually secondary to the reason I chose to settle us here.  The wordpress blogs can be made to look very professional (IMHO a bit better than the blogger blogs).  Our page can look professional even though it is, technically, a blogging page.

However, the blogging functionality of this page is similar to a message board, but an infrequently used message board poses its own problems, mostly that small, almost-secret conversations can be happening deep within the branching threads of a message board which can always lead to problems.  A blog keeps everything in the open, organized by topic and date so that it’s easier to find what people were talking about in the past.

Can the club have a message board?  Of course, there are free sites aplenty out there and no one will stop you.  Just keep in mind that the pendulum of club’s internet activity will be against anyone using it without being forced to, and why would you want to force anyone in the club to do something?  It will, currently, be wasted effort.  In the future that might change.  If you feel strongly against the blog format I challenge you to give it a try for a full month, and afterwards try to honestly answer the question: would anything really change if a message board were implemented?  If the answer is “Yes it would if I talked up the message board enough to club members,” then why not talk up the blog aspect to club members?  Keeping things simple is always better than making things more complicated.

Q. Can we go back to hosting our own site?
A. Sure, if you want to pay for it!  I have the old source code for the page I wrote, but the club would always be welcome to write a new one.  Just remember to find a good host, if not a free host–see if BYU would host you again, and make sure that the limitations BYUSA would place on your page and its contents is something you’d allow.  There’s nothing stopping you (apart from BYUSA saying you can’t, of course)!

I can’t think of any other questions.  So welcome to the site.  Anyone can make comments without logging in, and if you need help logging in just email me and I can help.

This blog will be a repository of the many ideas for the upcoming Corpus Cristi Festival 2008! If you have further ideas, or responses to ideas here, feel free to respond below!

• Dancing in-between the plays
• Informal skits between the plays
• We need to start advertising early this year (if you have ideas, please let them be known!) Newspaper press releases, fliers, posters, and many other things could be done.
• Auditions will probably be the second week of school in January. We need to get the word out about it! Talk to friends, professors, and family. Corpus Christi probably will fulfill something for class credit for most people.
• We need to also figure out ways to keep this fun for those participating because in the past the festival has been more stressful than fun for most people
• More banners would be nice
• Have a booth before we begin auditions; perhaps list examples of roles and plays involved – perhaps perform “The Feast of Saint Sabine”
• Could we wheel a wheelbarrow around for advertising?
• Get the Honor’s Program to say something about it in Honor’s classes
• Have a Corpus Christi quest? Perhaps it could involve the labyrinth?
• Things to work on:
  • Previous years were too empty and slow; a slow layout
  • Lack of Scheduling hampered previous years
  • Advertising was poor
  • In previous years many ideas were brushed off by those in authority; we need a way to ensure that people know that their ideas have been given serious consideration even if they aren’t used
• Foreign plays require a LOT of work (as anyone in the previous years can attest!) so be certain you have enough time and effort to make them work

Also, to quote a previous commentator:

“I think it is a good idea to have the plays chosen before Fall term ends: that way, the directors have at least an idea of what they want to do and what their needs are.

However I don’t think it’s necessary to have auditions before Winter semester starts. Remember that at whoever auditions needs to be able to commit to the day of CC, and before January or so it would be too soon for people to be able know what their plans are.

Knowing a little something about how to run rehearsals, I’ll provide some insight. The ideal amount of time a show should be rehearsed before either performance or technical rehearsals should be an hour for every minute of stage time. That means that before auditions take place, the directors need to actually *read* the plays, time them, and plan their rehearsals accordingly. It sounds like a lot but when you consider that most of the cycle plays are in fact quite short (15-20 min) and that a good evening rehearsal can be 2-3 hours, that’s just a few rehearsals a week for a few weeks.

At the beginning of Winter Semester there is a big Audition push. The later mainstage shows, and the advanced directing classes all start doing their auditions in January or February for shows that will go up from February to May. It would be expedient to lump the CC auditions with those, and if AT ALL possible to have them in the HFAC or at least the Wilk.

Remember that DEADLINES ARE IMPORTANT. DEADLINES WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE. Make a calendar, pick a date for CC (preferably not the Saturday right before Easter as people tend to be out of town). Make the date PERMANENT and UNCHANGING. If for some reason BYUSA hates you and won’t give you the JFSB courtyard plan a backup (the castle, anyone?), but EVERYTHING, from auditions to costumes to advertisements, will be easier if there is a definite date to work towards. Plan backwards from that blessed immovable date, and create deadlines based on what is needed. Have a deadline for directors to give scenic needs, costume needs, etc, pretty early on, then have deadlines for when those needs should be filled, when ads should start going out, when products to sell should be finished, etc. This prevents the mad late-night dash to get everything done by CC, and divides the work to make everything far less stressful on everyone involved.

Remember: All the ideas in the world will only be implemented if you actually put in the work and preparation to accomplish them.”

As a seasoned participant in feasts, I have a few suggestions that might be helpful, if I may. First of all, if you’re cooking make sure to bring food or money to order pizza with you. It’s easy to get too busy to eat, and then nine o’clock rolls around and we’re ready to clean up, but you’re feeling sick and exhausted and not having fun at all. Second, (I believe Laren has already covered this very thoroughly, but it’s worth mentioning again) it’s best to try and finish your garb by Thursday night. Cutting it closer can lead to stress and bad garb, not to mention taking you away from feast preparations. Third, people who have been cooking a lot, especially Amanda, do not do dishes. Everyone else does. Fourth, do we have dishes to transport all the food to the feast, and are those dishes sturdy? I’ll never forget the accident at my first feast that started with chicken and gravy in a large foil turkey roaster and ended with the roaster buckling and sloshing gravy down my garb. If you’re transporting hot food, do you have potholders and towels for it? Do you have lids for things that can spill out? Ladles and tongs to serve with? (Since Amanda’s done a feast before she’s probably thought of all this, but it doesn’t hurt to mention.) The cooks also need to allow themselves time to freshen up and change into garb before the feast. If this means they need more help wrapping things up from the rest of the club, the rest of the club needs to be there to give it. Cooks also need to make sure they have a few cars and extra help to get the food to the feast. There’s always help for afterwards, but sometimes we’re short before.

As for entertainment, well, if you don’t have your lines memorized by now… yeah. Do whatever the Guildmistress tells you to. Also, everyone has worked really hard, so make sure you allow everyone their time onstage. This advice is to audience members as well as fooles and other entertainers. Heckling and being the peanut gallery is fun, but sometimes we just need to shut up and let the players perform so we don’t risk stealing the spotlight or making people too nervous or what have you. Above all–it’s just a dinner. And this time, it’s only for us. Have fun. Relax. If something doesn’t turn out perfect, it’s ok. I hope these comments have been helpful and that I don’t just come off like Polonius or something.

(This is a paper I wrote for my ENGL 316 tech-writing class, and I’m just stuck up enough to think some clubbies might just be interested in reading it . Please forgive any errors, and any references to a certain Society that Cannot be Announced. My original plan was to include footnoted scans of all the artwork that I referenced, and I might still do that someday, but as it stands parts of it might be a little hard to follow — if you really want the juicy bits of my research, check out the books in my bibliography and follow along with the paper. I trust you all implicitly, but I still get to say that it’s copyright Ashley Lane, 2007, so don’t nobody try to say it’s theirs )

And here we go:

Of Past and Present: A guide to 16th century History Costume, by Ashley Lane

I have been thrilled to have the opportunity to play with and get to know members of the Society for Creative Anachronism (or SCA), an “international organization dedicated to researching and re-creating the arts and skills of pre-17th-century Europe” (sca.org). After becoming a member myself, I became enamored with the “Known World” of the organization—the camping events with period pavilions parked alongside modern tents, the demonstrations of historic arts and crafts, and helping put on huge medieval feasts. But I think the aspect of the SCA that I found most intriguing was the some beautiful 16th century women’s clothing or ‘garb’ that would surround me at events, made with beautiful fabrics reminiscent of a renaissance painting and painstaking detail that practically gave the gown a life of its own. Though I knew how to sew, such elaborate projects seemed beyond my skill level, and would probably be incredibly uncomfortable at the camping-centered events I tended to take part in the most. Both of these assumptions turned out to be false.

Though the high noble gowns that recreate the look of the courts of Henry VIII or Elizabeth I are ambitious (to say the least) for a novice sewer, if one goes lower down the social ladder the construction becomes significantly less ornate while still maintaining some of the same silhouette and features that contribute to the distinctive style of the time. After working on a lower-to-middle-class ensemble and developing an understanding of the different layers involved, the overlap between lower and upper-class styles becomes more apparent.

While this guide is not meant to take the sewer through every step involved in making 16th century women’s garb, it serves as a primer to describe the basics of the style, as well as ways it can be adapted for different looks within the period.

Background: Research
Because of the historical nature of this project, the research process is integral to creating clothing with any degree of accuracy, and so has a place in this guide. It can be easy to take shortcuts in the process and end up with an attractive but ultimately lacking final product.
The novice 16th century costumer is lucky enough to find several dedicated internet sources for 16th century clothing construction, run by members of the SCA, Renaissance festival workers, or simply hobbyists who enjoy making historical costumes. Drea Leed (elizabethancostume.net), Melissa Heischberg (sempstress.org), and Jen Thompson (festiveattyre.com) are just a few of the dedicated web mistresses who take the time not only to research and create their own historical costumes, but to share their knowledge with anyone savvy enough to seek them out. They and others have helped to create entire communities of like-minded individuals that would otherwise never be able to come together.
However, the information available on this medium, while useful, simply cannot rise to the level of proper research of published works via a library or other source. The smart researcher should not discount the internet as a source, but when that source is exhausted, they should realize there is much more to be had. Fortunately, many of these same web pages are also smart enough to include bibliographies and other sources of their inspiration. By starting with these titles, I was able to come up with my own individual research into 16th century working class clothing.

The research available divides roughly into three parts: examples of contemporary styles via artwork and clothing samples; research of published historical costumers; and guides written by re-enactors and others who attempt to reproduce period garments. They all have weaknesses, but using all three in tandem can give the best preparation for trying to create historical clothing. Portraits and sketches from the time period give an idea of the look you want to portray, historians of costume can say how they were constructed, and reproduction sources will give the best methods of doing it yourself with the help of modern tools and materials.

What They Wore
The ideal silhouette of the later 16th century was “rather like an hourglass…narrowing to a small waistline then a gradually-expanding cone-shaped skirt” (Tortoba, Eubank 136). Upper classes tended to enhance this ideal with a Spanish-style farthingale that was stiffened with “osiers, bents, or whalebones which supported the skirts in a stiff cones shape” (Arnold 7). The lower classes tried to emulate this style to a degree, but it is reasonable to assume that they were either unable (because of means) or unwilling (because of their work) to go to the extremes that the nobility tried to push.

The farthingale is nonexistent on the lower classes, and the lines from the waist down are much softer, as seen in the work of artists such as Pieter Brueghel the Elder (Davenport, 415-17, fig. 111) and Joris Hoefnagel (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies, 11). The Hoefnagel painting “The Fête at Bermondsey” in particular shows the difference between noble women who are obviously wearing hoopskirts, contrasting with the dancing peasant women whose skirts are pleated or gathered to add bulk at the hips but are otherwise unstructured (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies 2-3). Another example of this difference is shown in the Dutch engraving “Fleshly Disguises”, showing a much different structured skirt that, according to costume historian Millia Davenport, “widened straight out from the waist, over a sausage-shaped bolster tied high about the hips…this French fashion was intensified into a drum-shaped silhouette, by a pleated ruffle going horizontally from the waist to, or beyond, the circumference of the skirt” (442). The engraving shows two noble women in the padded style of skirt, but also shows two servants or workers helping tie them around their waists. The skirts on these women, while coming out slightly at the hip, do not have nearly the bulk at the waist that the doughnut-shaped rolls provide for their charges, and would probably be a great inconvenience to the woman kneeling on the ground to tie a roll onto her lady. If working class women had padded skirts at all, they would have to be diminished significantly from those of the nobility to keep from getting in the way of their work.

Bodices on the working class gowns could be worn loose, as shown by the folds of fabric shown on a woman’s over-gown in “Dance of the Peasants”, though there is a later example of a Pieter Cornelisz painting “Keukeninterieru Met De Gelijkenis van de Rijke Man en de Arme Lazarus” dated 1621 that shows a servant woman wearing a corset while doing kitchen chores (Joachim Beuckelaer 160 fig. 32) so it might have been in use by the late part of the 1500s, and would explain the tightly-fitting bodices of working women portrayed by Vincenzo Campi and Lukas van Valkenborch in the 1590s (Joachim Beuckelaer 147-149 fig 21-23).
As an outer layer, the vast majority of paintings from the time show women wearing a gown of a contrasting color that has a laced opening several inches wide, showing the fabric of a kirtle or other type of under-gown underneath. The skirt of this over-gown could be split down the center front, as seen in Brueghel’s “Dance of the Peasants” (Davenport 417 fig. 111) and “Countrywoman 1570” by Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies (12). This does not seem to be indicative of all styles, however; a Franco-Flemish tapestry from the early part of the 16th century shows a “Country Life” scene with two women, one of whom wears an over-gown with a V-necked opening in front that ends at about the waist, worn over a darker kirtle or shirt. The other woman wears an apron over a dark over-gown (Davenport 469 fig. 1240).

These gowns were usually sleeveless, worn with a long-sleeved linen smock or chemise that was worn against the skin (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies, 20). Separate sleeves either matching or coordinating with the outermost layer could be pinned on at the shoulder, or the linen sleeves could be rolled up, revealing the arm. Joachim Beuckelaer’s subjects with this treatment tended to have the smock visible under the arm. (Joachim Beuckelaer 99, 102). Though Mikhaila and Malcom-Davies point out that even poor women could afford a few metal objects such as pins (32), Beuckelaer’s portrayal of the sleeve treatment can point toward the frugalness of lower-class women who would only use one pin per arm to attach their sleeves.

Accessories were wide and varied for 16th century women, even of the working class. They tend to be devoid of jewelry that adorns so many of the Tudor and Elizabethan ladies of the time—Catherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, posed for a portrait wearing several rings on each hand, necklaces, and a jeweled girdle with 20 miniature portraits linked together (Contini, 138-39)—however women of all classes wore a partlet (also called a “shoulder cape” or a “yoke” by Davenport) that came around the back of the dress, tied under the arms, and served to protect the open necklines of the square-necked gown from the elements and as a sign of propriety (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies 30) . Partlets of the nobility would be made out of finer materials and could be embroidered in black, white, silver, or gold threads (44). Paintings of the lower class usually featured partlets in white or black, and both could be worn at once in cooler weather like in Pieter Aertsen’s “Marktvrouw aan een groentekraam” (Joachim Beuckelaer 18). Hats were important to those who regularly worked outside; they tended to be wide-brimmed and made from straw.

Materials
Clothing was a major investment in the 16th century. Fabric had to be manufactured entirely by hand, and would only be produced by skilled professionals. It would take a day’s wages for a laborer to afford one yard of even the cheapest fabric available (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies 35). Clothing “represented stored wealth for rich and poor. They were a source of ready cash in times of crisis. Frippers or pawnbrokers were happy to extend loans against pledged clothes” (45). As a result, clothing was made to last, used until completely worn out, and picked apart and re-sewn to fit a new person or a new style (44). Wool, linen, silk, hemp, and occasionally cotton provided the raw fiber for fabric, and there could be much difference between two cuts of wool or linen depending on how it was woven and processed. Though many of the names are unfamiliar – “Scarlet, Stammel, Kersey, Frizado…,” terms like “broadcloth”, “Flannel”, and “worsted” are still in use today, and more or less still describe the qualities of the fabric (36, 38). Fabric made with wool would be processed until the wool felted and made the fabric stronger and warmer.

Russet or grey, which both described the type of fabric and the color (which was naturally found on a sheep), were “perceived as standard wear for country people”, though other colors were mentioned in Elizabethan documents (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies 39). Natural dyestuffs available to 16th century dyers could produce a wide range of colors, including purples, blues, greens, and numerous shades of red and brown.

Leather and fur was available, though agricultural workers and husbandmen were banned from wearing any of it on their clothing by sumptuary law. Yeomen were permitted to wear ‘English lamb or rabbit” (Mikhaila and Malcolm-Davies 38). Even among the upper classes leather and fur tended to adorn men’s clothing more than women’s (39), so it is unlikely that leather and fur would have played any role in the construction of clothing for working class women.

Application to historical costuming
Getting back to my initial quandary with creating 16th century clothing for the purpose of historical re-enactment and recreation, my research has led me to believe several things:

1. The work required of lower-class women in the 16th century could be very similar in scope to the type of work that goes on at SCA camping events.

Setting up camp, cooking over camp stoves or open flames, working in outdoor conditions, and carrying supplies and other goods over various terrains are all things that need to be taken care of at events, especially if water does not happen to be nearby. Though it cannot compare to the strenuous work of agricultural workers of the 16th century, full physical capacity of the body to move around makes the work much easier and much more effective. Working-class garb had this requirement, and as such is a good choice to wear to events where you will be expected to move around and help with the work.

2. Working class clothing can be adapted to many different weather conditions

Linen breathes well and wicks sweat and moisture away from the body. Wool provides warmth even when wet. Minimal layers of simply a linen smock and a wool kirtle can be comfortable even in summer weather, and more wool layers can be added via the over-gown, wool sleeves, wool partlet, or even a waistcoat featured in some Beuckelaer paintings (Joachim Beuckelaer 94). This makes doing this kind of garb very economical – effectively you can have numerous different looks from one complete outfit.

3. Lower-class clothing can be adapted to upper-class clothing by changing only a few outer garments and details.
The layers that are worn closest to the body like the smock are identical to those worn by the upper-classes, and a lower-class kirtle could easily be worn under a fancier over-gown or sleeves to bring up the class of the person wearing it. Jewelry and fur can be added to further enhance the status of the wearer. This also makes doing 16th century upper-class clothing more economical, once you already have the pieces from the lower-class garb.

My research has also led me to a greater love and understanding of the life and struggles of people who lived in the 16th century. This is the love that fuels the “dream” that exists in the Society for Creative Anachronism. By being at an SCA event, away from electricity, highways, and other trappings of 2007, I can step into a new world of a time long past but not forgotten. By putting the effort into creating accurate historical clothing I can take on the lives of my early ancestors, literally carrying their stories on my back. The demonstrations that I enjoy watching or taking part in can tie me to the men and women of hundreds of years ago.

Bibliography:
Arnold, Janet. Patterns of Fashion: The cut and Construction of Clothes for Men and Women c.1560-1620. Macmillan, London, 1985.

Contini, Mila. Fashion From Ancient Egypt to the Present Day. Odyssey Press: New York, 1965.

Davenport, Millia. The Book of Costume. Vol. 1 and 2. Crown: New York, 1948.

Mikhaila, Ninya and Jane Malcolm-Davies. The Tudor Tailor: Techniques and Patterns for Making Historically Accurate Period Clothing. Costume and Fashion Press: Hollywood, 2006.

Museum voor Schone Kunsten Ghent. Joachim Beuckelaer: Het market—en keukenstuk in de Nederlanden 1550-1650. Gemeentakrediet, 1986.

Tortora, Phyllis and Keith Eubank. A Survery of Historic Costume. Fairchild: New York, 1989.
Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. http://www.sca.org

To His Majesty King Charles the Blue,

I am Yamanouchi no Daijirou no Eidou (山之中の大二郎の栄堂), also called Andrew Aedo. Though of the Sophomoric Status within the University system, I am an experienced member within the circles and guilds of the Quill and the Sword. I was originally brought into the fold of the Club and trained by His Late Majesty King Ramon de Javier, also Called Travis Schenck. I am well acquainted with the leadership of club and have been a supporter of club since my first introduction to it.
Having witnessed the organization and workings of club in my days, I see that there is a need that the doings of the Quill and the Sword be written down for the knowledge of they who come after us. To this end, I hereby and officially announce my intention to become the humble servant of the King as the Club Historian. Acting as the Recorder of events and meetings, and also of traditions, I shall endeavor to spare no effort. I shall do naught but his majesty’s will in this work and so bring glory and remembrance to the Reign of King Charles the Blue. I hope that I may be supported by the membership of the Quill and the Sword in this endeavor.

Sincerely,
Yamanouchi no Daijirou no Eidou

It’s no secret that I somewhat enjoy controversy. I don’t enjoy making people mad, of course, but I must admit that when people confront a controversial idea or situation they generally learn something—usually something about themselves. Please don’t imagine that I’m talking about any BIG controversies or politics; like I said, I do not enjoy seeing people get mad. Think of me as the annoying guy who yells at the screen about inaccuracies when watching “The Lord of the Rings”: merely annoying.

In the spirit then, of exploring controversies, I thought that I would explore a group of well-known aspects of Medieval history. The first are a list of ten items of history that are commonly believed, but that the majority of scholars don’t agree with. The second is a list of my own humility; it is a list of things that I was personally certain about and had to unlearn when I found out that I was wrong. If you find yourself disagreeing with these lists that’s fine—most people will find something they dislike in them. Just remember that if you want to be certain about anything here researching is the only way to resolve it.

So, without further ado, I present:

Top Ten Controversies of Middle Ages History

1.Ring a Ring O’Roses
Everyone is familiar with this children’s rhyme, usually known nowadays as “Ring Around the Rosies,” being a song derived from plague-ridden England. Specific words are pulled from the song and attached to some of the more horrible aspects of the bubonic plague pandemics. However, the majority of scholars reject this view.

The rhyme is first written in 1881, in the American Mother Goose or The Old Nursery Rhymes. There is some evidence, however, that the rhyme existed in 1790. However, there is nothing earlier. Also is the problem that there exist dozens of differing lyrics to the song (the lyrics we have today just got written down more through the 19th century), and most of them are nonsense words that have nothing to do with illness or sickness. The song is also in Modern English, so it cannot be older than 1500 or so. The idea is that the song would originate in Renaissance England, become so popular that it endures three hundred years and crosses the Atlantic, and is never written down throughout all this time. The song probably originates as an excuse for children to dance in early colonial America.

2.The “F” Word
I don’t want to get into too much detail, obviously, but sometimes swearing can be very interesting. One idea of the origin of the “F” word is that English longbowmen would have their pulling fingers removed when captured by French armies; the remaining uncaptured English began to show their two fingers (very bad in Europe) to the enemy showing that they could still “pluck yew”. Many other origin ideas relate the word to a variety of bizarre acronyms of (modern English) words describing the meaning of the “F” word.

The word descends from Old Germanic roots, and many linguists trace the word to a constructed Indo-European word that would have been spoken millennia ago (and meant exactly what it does today). Also, most scholars feel that the “backwards Victory sign” (don’t do it!) predates Roman times and has always been closely related in meaning to the “F” word.

If this entire section made little sense to you, I honor your innocence and hope that it never does.

3.Dirty People
Most people are learning that this one is false. Once upon a time the Middle Ages were viewed as a very dirty time. We laugh at Monty Python (“Dennis, there’s some lovely filth over here!”) but while farming is dirty work, we now know that people enjoyed baths and the feeling of being clean. We have no documentation that anybody ever thought that a layer of dirt kept one from getting sick – this idea about the Middle Ages in particular seems to be of Victorian origin, and is still popularly heard today in making fun of the Medieval approach to illness (based around miasmal airs and odors).

Bathing was popular throughout Europe, and was sometimes considered a social event and pleasure (in fact, the Papacy once considered telling people not to bathe because it could lead to sin). The accurate way to express it to someone would be that Medieval people kept themselves very clean; they were just horribly unsanitary because they lacked any understanding of microbes and disease mechanics.

4.Poofy Pants and Arabian Garb
Poofy pants are fun to make and are fun to wear. They look nice and can add a lot to an outfit. They are also very un-Medieval. European clothing was rather tight and form-fitting (if your form was the same as a cardboard box, I suppose). Near Eastern garb was looser, of course, but not as loose as our beloved poofy pants (also, there’d be no belly buttons showing; I Dream of Jeanie is completely modern). Also, coins were used as decoration for camels, curtains, and other such things, but not for decorating one’s face or… um, behind. That appears to have arisen during the 1920s and 1960s.

5.Kilts
The Scottish Great Kilt, in particular. If you’re wondering what a Great Kilt is then watch (an edited copy of) Braveheart. They are everywhere in that movie. The trouble is that they are not anywhere in Medieval Scotland. Scotland had kilts, it is true, but they were, by all contemporary descriptions and accounts, very simple kilts. Pants were common, as well. A Great Kilt is a kilt composed from many yards of fabric and are terribly expensive to produce in terms of sheep and man-hours required. The likelihood of their existence in the Medieval period is not high. Also, for fun, check out the idea that Clan Plaids originated in the Middle Ages—you’ll find that there isn’t much consensus from scholars about whether such patterns arose before, during, or after the Middle Ages.

In the case of the Great Kilt (and the constant curiosity about what might or might not be worn underneath one), however, most argue that it appears after the Middle Ages ended. You will find some historians who disagree, but the majority say, “No Great Kilts.”

6.Chivalry
“Courtly Love” is a term that is hotly debated even today, no pun intended. There is very little consensus on whether it even occurred or was simply an ideal that people imagined but never acted upon. (Basically, courtly love is the idea that the best kind of love was an impossible love, like that between two people married to two other people—some people might kill me for making such an over-simplification!) Whenever a discussion on courtly love comes up it’s fine to have a side or an opinion on its historicity, but bear in mind that the matter is far from closed, even today!

Also, Medieval chivalry was very much about being able to use horses in battle. Yes, you read that right—chivalry is about horses. In regards to how men and women treated each other, chivalry developed so that a man would show his masculinity by doing things towards women. Holding a door isn’t about who you’re holding it open for, it’s about the person holding open the door. It’s a way of saying to the world, “I am a manly man!”

7.The Inquisition
Spain had an Inquisition in an effort to re-establish the Catholic faith as the European monarchs slowly re-conquered land from the Islamic Moors of southern Spain. This was mostly just a firming up of the faith of the Christians and kicking the Jews out of Spain. Fewer people were killed and fewer people were tortured than modern people generally think. Torquemada existed, it is true, but his role has been greatly exaggerated. It is true that certain Inquisition leaders created some really twisted forms of torture to extract forced confessions of guilt, but many times the reasons behind such torture were political or economic in nature. One of the reasons that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition is that it doesn’t reach the levels of people’s expectations. You have almost as much chance of being burned at the stake anywhere else in Europe for having heretical ideas without the blessing of an influential political leader.

8.Absolute Monarch
There is no such thing as an absolute monarch in the Middle Ages. It didn’t matter where you fell in the social ladder: if you pushed your authority too far somebody was going to get on your case. The Magna Carta is a great example of what happens when a king decides to be an absolute monarch: he gets almost killed by those underneath him and gets stripped of some of his authority. The British parliament was in charge of taxes and they let the monarch know it occasionally by denying them to him. The feudal-esque systems throughout Europe kept the peace mostly through not upsetting those with responsibility above or below you. Nobody was exempt; even the popes learned through experience that they couldn’t rule with absolute authority. Wars and politics abound in Medieval Europe precisely because people were trying to gain as much power and influence as possible without getting themselves killed by other equally power-hungry monarchs and confederacies.

9.Beer
How many times have you heard it: Medieval people drank a lot more alcohol because that was the safest form of getting water? Don’t fall for it! There are many things wrong with this idea, the first of which being that alcohol consumptions actually contributes to dehydration!

Modern society is used to the idea of treating water for microbes. We’ve grown up with stories about giardia parasites (the “runs”) and other dangers of natural water. The simple fact is that people in the Middle Ages drank water, microbes and all. Some historians feel that people had better immunological responses to parasites back then because of the constant exposure; people drank from springs, wells, and rivers. Obviously, if water was found to cause illness it was avoided, but to say that such things drove people to drinking things like beer and wine is silly.

Most scholars feel that people in the Middle Ages consumed alcohol for exactly the same reasons they do today.

10.No Scientific Advancement
This is an unfortunate side effect of our public perception of the Renaissance: if there was such an explosion of learning and advancement during the Renaissance (there really wasn’t an explosion, per se) then whatever happened before must have been a dead period for advancement.

People have always been smart, and the Middle Ages were full of mini-Renaissances plenty. Art and writing flourished among the learned, and many scientific advancements were many in the fields of agriculture, architecture, irrigation, and health. Did you know that the wheelbarrow was invented during the Low Middle Ages? Imagine that: the Romans didn’t even have the wheelbarrow!

Scholars in the Middle Ages read Greek and Latin works just like in the Renaissance. In fact, the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance has become so blurred by further discoveries of Medieval advances that some historians question whether there should even be such a distinction between the two periods anymore. It appears that there wasn’t ever a “dead” period for the Renaissance to flourish out of: things had been flourishing, albeit a bit more slowly, ever since society recovered from the fall of the Roman Empire.

Top Five Things I Thought People Were Wrong About, Only to be Proven Wrong

The following list explains some ideas about the Middle Ages that I assume to be incorrect. It was only later after being presented with reach by others, or by doing my own, that I found out how wrong I was to disbelieve them. Maybe someday something from the list above will be transferred down here.

1.Expensive Salt
I thought that it strained credulity to believe that salt was once as expensive as a precious metal. Can’t you just mine it from the ground? Don’t animals enjoy licking natural salt licks? The surprising answer was that salt was not mined in Europe until the 1700s. Before this time salt had to be gathered from evaporated brine or from the ocean and was extremely difficult to obtain. The average person got the salt they needed from their natural diet.

2.Clean Vikings
Vikings! Pirates, pillagers, and all-around meanies! Hard to imagine that they, as a culture, valued a certain level of cleanliness, eh? Most Viking tribes and cultures kept their bodies washed and cleaned and often spent time in personal grooming. They were NOT sanitary in their conduct, but employed various means to keep their bodies, faces, nostrils, and ear canals clean and clear.

3.No Flat Earth
No intelligent person ever thought that the Earth was flat; there were a few in BC times, but nobody after the beginning of the Christian Era though it. Columbus’s troubles in talking to the courts of Portugal and Spain related not towards some belief that people would “sail off the edge” but rather that the distance by sea between Europe and Asia was too far to sail (imagine how far it would be without the Americas getting in the way). Columbus argued that the circumference of the Earth was far smaller than had previously been calculated. There is also no evidence that his sailors feared for their lives on the voyage—people had sailed beyond the horizon for years due to storms and curiosity—there just wasn’t anything out there, people thought.

4.The Gun
The joke goes, Those who live by the sword die by those who live by the gun. The sword represents ancient warfare and the gun modern. Except that the gun is a far older instrument that one might think. Canons had been used since at least the 13th Century, and the gun was soon developed as people tried to figure out how to make a canon that required fewer people to use and operate. Eventually by the end of the Middle Ages hand-held gunnes existed; they were notoriously dangerous to use, but the use of gunpowder, canon, and even guns, started to level the battlefield at a much earlier time than people are used to thinking.

If you want something really cool to research, look into the history of gunpowder in Medieval warfare. It’s rich with stories of hellfire, scientists, and people who paid farmers for animal urine.

5.Existence of Printing (Just not Movable Type)
Gutenberg’s press changed the world, and there is no question about it. However, the innovations wasn’t the press itself, but the creation of movable type. Presses have existed since antiquity, but required the entire page of the printing to be carved into a block of wood for inking (inking wood!). The idea of printing a book was absurd because each page would require a separate carved page. Movable type was just the idea that each letter was carved and could be shuffled as needed. However, printing of tracts, deeds, charters, and pamphlets existed throughout the Middle Ages.

So there are my lists of accurate and inaccurate ideas about the Middle Ages. Feel free to disagree with them as you will; you can probably find a historian or two to agree with you. Also, don’t let this dissuade you in creating and acting out a persona, if you want to do that. Personas are about both historical study and fun!

Well, they aren’t.

Does anyone else remember back when the Quill and the Sword was well-known enough that if you went to the computer lab in garb some people gave you weird looks, because they assumed you had something against technology? Did anyone ever have someone ask them if they were pagan? I had some kid ask me if I was Catholic once. I was wearing a maroon cote hardie. I’m not sure how that’s Catholic.

Anyway, I want to know people’s stories. The ones like when Catsie got called into the Honor Code office for wearing a cloak and joking about being one of the Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse (famine, of course). Or when some guy at IHOP tried to sell a bunch of us drugs because we were pretending to be Goth. Or when the sprinklers went off in the middle of the night during Club Week and me, Carol, and Emu had to spent the rest of the night damp and sleeping on the concrete. In the interest of club history, we should write these things down! For those of you who are new, enjoy reading, and think of all the stories you’ll be making now that you’re here! Maybe you already have one or two.

Apparently many of us have a bizarre urge to name ourselves and other people names that they did not start out with.

Emu, aka Emily
Disorder/Spaz, aka David
Bjorn (the Lost), aka Jessica
Snorri, aka Chris
Slater, aka Kevin
Catsie, aka Cassandra
Tabby, aka Tabbitha
Lolly, aka Alayna
Sarah the Red
Rebbecca the Purple
Mankind, aka Jeff

And this is just the starter list of people who frequently or always go by their nicknames. Many others have earned handles or personifications during their time here.

Death, aka Charlie
Panic, aka both Michele and Ruth
Pain, aka Heidi
Guilt, aka Tom
Famine, aka Catsie
War, aka Tammy
Pestilance, aka Rachael
Ian the Strange
Jefferson the Found

Thora never needed a nickname, because her real name sounds like it isn’t. Who have I left off? Will this be the future subject of some anthropology, linguistics, or psychology student’s final project? Seems like everything else we do has been. Who can explain this?

So, the Quill and the Sword is gone… until August, at least.

In the meantime, we have friends across the country and even across the globe (I think Snorri’s still in Europe right now?).

I don’t know about everyone else, but I usually find around this time of the year that I start to think about the beginning of Fall Semester and seeing friends again. Then I start to think about lectures, fire-lit bardics, feasts (kinda), Corpus Christi, Club Week, and all sorts of other stuff.

So I think it would be fun to sit back and daydream a little about what we might hope to expect in the Fall. Feel free to respond, but please keep it civil. I’m just wondering what you all would like to do; please no dull axes to grind.

See you all at the end of August!

Let’s face it. I’m rather lazy when it comes to research. Though the library ha a fair amount of books on historical costuming, I don’t have the wherewithal to actually look it up. But I have delved into the expansive Internet and found more than a few sources to assist in garb construction and styles. It’s mostly Tudor/Elizabethan, but a little earlier period as well.

Wikipedia’s History of Western Fashion links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Western_fashion
It only goes as far back as 1300, but it’s a great source of images and basic run-downs of fashions in period.

The Zen of Spiral Lacing:
http://www.festiveattyre.com/research/lacing/lacing.html
Just one more way to add authenticity to later period garb is Spiral lacing, as opposed to the crisscross method (like on a pair of shoes) that didn’t turn up until the Victorian era.

The Renaissance Tailor:
http://www.vertetsable.com/
The “Demonstrations” section is great for sewing techniques and information on specific pieces of garb. The “research” section also has some good book titles to look out for.

14th century Men’s and women’s clothing:
http://vieuxchamps.com/persona/wgarb2.php
http://vieuxchamps.com/persona/mgarb.php
Mostly images from period sources, it’s a good place for ideas.

Mode Historique:
http://www.modehistorique.com/
A fair amount of dress diaries, not just for Tudor/ Renaissance periods but 17th-early 20th century stuff as well. Also, it has a lot of good information on (sorry guys) making a corset.

Sempstress:
http://www.sempstress.org/
Dress diaries of a gal who regularly works at Renaissance festivals, which means her garb is well-researched, good in all weather conditions, and stinkin’ gorgeous. Her dress diaries take you through her process for making and fitting the garb (mostly through draping on a dress form) and also gives some good ideas for getting garb from untraditional sources.

The Elizabethan Costume Page
http://www.elizabethancostume.net/
Lots of links to various garb-making sites — a lot of them don’t work, but the ones that do are pretty good. Also has a custom smock pattern generator which gives good instructions for making an underdress or shirt (just make it shorter). Also has a pretty good custom corset pattern generator.

The Tudor Costume page
http://freespace.virgin.net/f.lea/index.htm
The lady who runs this site plays at Kentwell Hall, which is a *very* stringent Tudor Reenactment in the U.K. Good instructions for making an underdress/shirt, and other basic garb pieces (she seems to do mostly lower to middle class stuff).