The Thorny Truth
Shire of Rosenfeld
0 April 2020 A.S. LIV
able of Contents
Letter from the BOD 2 Missives from Ansteorra’s Seneschal 3-6 Rules for Virtual Meetings 5 Kingdom Calendar 6 Meetings & Practice Information 7 Guilds 7 Regnum 8 Officer Reports 9 Activities & Events Calendar 10 Announcements & Accolades 11 Known World Websites 12 Featured Groups from Facebook 13 Encouragement to Explore Geoffrey Chaucer 14-15 Bevy of BLOGS… 16-17 Historical Happenings 18 Down the Rabbit Hole 19 Jessimond’s Herbal Elements 20-21 Gamer’s Corner 22 Public Domain Books 23 Submitting Award Recommendations 24 Tyler Library Demo 24 Ansteorra Wiki Submissions 25 Credits & Acknowledgements 26 Disclaimer and Copyright 26
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ecent Board of Directors Letter to the Crowns and Kingdom Seneschals
March 17, 2020
To the Crowns and Kingdom Seneschals of the Known World
From the Board of Directors, Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc.
Good Greetings, The Board continues to monitor the COVID-19 (novel coronavirus) spread across the world. Given the suggestions by various health organizations, including the CDC and Public Health England the Board of Directors of the SCA, Inc. recommends that all Kingdoms cancel, suspend or postpone all events, practices, meetings, and other SCA sponsored in-person activities through April 30, 2020.*
The SCA is a Kingdom-based organization. The various Kingdoms have state, provincial and national governments either recommending or mandating responses to COVID-19. The Board asks that the Kingdom leadership follow the recommendations of the governments of the modern areas making up that Kingdom.
The Board recognizes that many Kingdoms have their Coronations and/or Crown tournaments in April and that canceling these events may cause a hardship. The Kingdom Seneschals should discuss this with the Society Seneschal for recommendations and suggestions. In addition, with every Kingdom being affected, the other Kingdom Seneschals may have advice and recommendations for you. The SCA may need to waive part of Corpora for these suggestions and recommendations to be put into place, and the Society Seneschal stands ready to issue waivers as necessary and appropriate, recognizing that some plans may need refining before a waiver could be issued. This is an unprecedented situation. The Board continues to monitor the responses and will assist Kingdoms as it can. At this time, the Board’s closure recommendations are just that, recommendations. It may be necessary in the future for the appropriate Corporate and Society officers to require postponing all SCA functions, but we are not there, yet.
*NOTE: Information within this letter and the following missives are changing rapidly and may not represent the most up-to-the minute information. Please contact your local or Kingdom Seneschal for updates!
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issives from Ansteorra’s Seneschal
March 16, 2020
Greetings Ansteorra from Master Avery Shaw, Kingdom Seneschal, This is not the message I want to send, but sometimes we have that choice taken away from us.
Yesterday, the Center for Disease Control issued new guidelines regarding gatherings. I have listed the link for this notification below. These guidelines state "for the next 8 weeks, organizers (whether groups or individuals) cancel or postpone in-person events that consist of 50 people or more throughout the United States." Having talked with The Crown and Heirs and getting their agreement, in order to comply with this request, as Kingdom Seneschal I am cancelling all Kingdom Calendar Events until at least April 30th, 2020. Please note, with the limit being 50 people, this does not include local gatherings such as fighter practices, guild meetings, and such. I am still stating that each group is free to decide what is proper for them regarding smaller gatherings. If your group feels comfortable having a practice or whatever, please do so. Permission is not required to cancel or continue small, local meetings. This cancellation only applies to those events on the Kingdom Calendar. I have contacted the Autocrats and/or Seneschals for each of the events affected, they are aware and have started plans accordingly.
So, a few things. First, yes, this means that Coronation will be postponed. I have sent a letter to the Society Seneschal requesting a variance to allow this, he has already approved several other Kingdom's request for the same, I do not see a problem with this request. The current plan is that we will try to have our first events back the weekend of May 1-3. That will be Namron Beltane and Coastal Grand Baronial. I say plan because this will technically be week 7 of the 8 weeks in the CDC guidelines. We are hoping that things will be good at this point, but please note that we cannot guarantee. The following weekend, May 8-10, 2020, would be the 8th week, currently that is Queen's Champion. Discussing with The Crown and Heirs, the idea as of now is that we will combine events and that weekend will be Coronation, Queen's Champion, and King's Champion. This is a lot, I know, but we have done this before (Kein and Alisha II as well as Romanius and Deanna). With the situation changing as rapidly as it is, again, I cannot guarantee this is what will happen, but this is what we are planning for.
Second, all events that have been cancelled, both The Crown and Heirs have stated that they would be happy for those events to be rescheduled once we are back to normal again. I would ask that we wait a couple of weeks to see where we are before we start that process, but please know, we want these events to happen if possible.
I ask all of you to please be careful. Take care of each other. For now, continue to meet and practice and work and play*. As the situation moves forward, I will be actively keeping all posted where we are and how things are progressing. If you have questions, please ask them, either of myself or the regional deputies. I may not have an immediate answer, but will do my best to respond as quickly as possible.
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This is not a missive I have ever thought I would have to pen. This is going to be difficult, I know. But we are Ansteorra. All of us. And we are strong. And we will help each other. And we will make this work. We love to use the phrase "Because that's what Heroes do!" and normally, we are referring to the bravery of those who stand in the center of battle and show the Knowne World the glory and prowess that is Ansteorra. But sometimes, the Heroes are the ones who simply make things work. Who check on their brothers and sisters and make sure they are ok. Who can be placed in front of a situation that is beyond reasonable and is not going to be easy or fun...and who straighten their shoulders, set their minds, and who then move forward and MAKE IT WORK. This is such a time.
We are Ansteorra. And we will be stronger than this. I know we will.
In Service to Ansteorra, always, Master Avery Shaw - MoD, Pel, WSA, Lion Kingdom Seneschal
*New CDC guidelines as of today. No gatherings over 10 people for next 14 days. Per this directive, as Kingdom Seneschal, I am cancelling ALL Official SCA activity in person for the next 2 weeks. That is until March 30th. No practices, guilds, meetings. This is per Federal Government guidelines.
This is changing quickly, I am sorry for the short notice. But til Monday, March 30*, please limit official functions to online communication only. Please feel free to forward as appropriate. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Avery Kingdom Seneschal
March 19, 2020
Greetings Ansteorra! Some good news! I have been in communication with the Society Seneschal, and we have been granted the OK to do virtual meetings as official things! Below are the rules we need to follow, please let the Kingdom Social Media Deputy and the Kingdom Webminister know if you have any questions. I see folks are already hosting some good classes and get togethers online, this is simply making it so they can be official activities.
Please note, if your group (Kingdom, Baronial, Province, Shire, Canton, Stronghold, or College) does hold a meeting, please follow the guidelines and PLEASE, include each on these in your monthly reports as virtual meetings. Society is wanting to keep track of these, so this will make things a lot easier. Please send requests for permission to the KSen email address:[email protected] Ansteorra is strong and we will make it through this. Thank you to everyone for helping each other. In Service, Avery, Kingdom Seneschal
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RULES FOR VIRUTAL MEETINGS
1. ALL official business meetings (populace meetings, baronial business meetings, etc.) and ANY official Courts MUST be pre-approved and scheduled with the Kingdom Seneschal prior to them being announced or held.
2. For a business meeting to be official, at least one B&B, a warranted Seneschal, and a witness/populace member must be present in the online forum or physically present on screen for the entire time the meeting is held.
3. For a Court to be official, at least one of the Crown and/or B&B, a herald, a warranted Seneschal, and a witness/populace member must be in the online forum or physically present on screen for the entire time the Court is held.
4. All meetings and courts are to be announced via the Social Media Officer to all of our Kingdom online groups. We will attempt to add them to the Kingdom Calendar as well, just to keep the populace informed. The announcement must include: Event Title, Date, Time, and weblink for populace to join the viewing.
5. Announcements must be made at least one week prior to the date of occurrence.
6. Court reports and/or business meeting minutes are still required. A copy of these MUST be sent to the Kingdom Seneschal. This is a requirement of Society and I must turn them in for my next quarterly report to ensure all business conducted and/or awards given are official!!!
7. We are asking that you use Google Hangouts or Zoom as your official web forums. These allow you to live stream with multiple participants logging into the chat AND record what is going on so you may post it to your FB groups and/or websites for those unable to attend. We are open to other web services that allow for the same services. Facebook live stream is not preferred as participants can't actively join other than to type comments and hope they are responded to. We are asking you use a service that allows folks to login with a mic/webcam to participate in active/live discussion AND messaging. Again, recording meetings if possible so you can post them later!
8. All other populace gatherings, A&S classes, or general meetings that are not conducting official business are not required to be pre-scheduled or announced. Folks may use whatever web service they have access to and may generally announce them as they see fit. Only official "gatherings" must follow the process above.
Variance granted for the duration of the COVID19 mundane law requirements for large gathering restrictions. Upon removal of said restrictions, this variance will no longer be valid. You must keep a list of all events/meetings that are affected by this variance. Please include all the events/meetings in your quarterly kingdom report that fall under this variance. 5 | P a g e
March 26, 2020 (UPDATE)
Greetings Ansteorra,
I hope all are well and finding ways to deal with our mutual isolation. Thank you to all who have been helping put out content for people to enjoy and to all the groups having virtual meetings. Connection is still needed, glad to see folks doing so.
Originally, we had announced that all SCA Official activities would not happen in Ansteorra until March 30. Given that the situation is what it is, and mostly that it is so fluid and not predictable, I, in agreement with the Crown, am going to change that statement to not include an end date. For now, we will continue the "no official activities" for as long as needed. We will wait and see how things are looking, we will comply with government directives. I will make sure to update as we move forward. Let me know if you have questions.
We are still planning on Coronation to happen, along with Queen's Champion and King's Champion, on May 9th. We have been given permission by Society to hold a Virtual Event for Coronation, if needed. This permission also includes the ability of the Crown to give awards at that time, up to and including Peerages. Hopefully, we will not have to do that, but it is good to already have permission if needed.
Take care of each other, stay safe. We are Ansteorra, we are stronger than anything this situation can throw at us. We will rise again.
Avery
Kingdom Seneschal
ingdom Calendar
As with all things right now, these dates might change… For more information please see the Official EVENTS listed at: ansteorra.org
MAY 01-03 COASTAL GRAND BARONIAL – Livingston, TX 01-03 NAMRON - BELTANE XXXIV – Oklahoma City, OK 08-10 SPRING QUEENS – TBD 15-17 GUARDIAN OF THE TOR – Stephenville, TX 15-17 NORTHKEEP CASTELLAN – Tulsa, OK 22-25 STEPPES WARLORD – Canton, TX
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eetings & Practices
1ST Sunday Joint Fighter Practice 2:00 p.m.* Bergfield Park – 1510 S College Ave. Tyler
3rd Sunday Arts and Sciences Gathering 1:00 p.m.* Populace Meeting 4:00 p.m.* Tyler Public Library – 201 S. College Ave. (3rd Floor Makerspace)
4th Sunday Ranged Weapons Practice (RWP) 1:00 p.m.* Rose Fields (Early College High School) – 2800 West Shaw Tyler
*PLEASE NOTE: Due to COVID-19 all local meetings and practices are currently not being held in-person. Monthly Populace Meetings will move on-line for the time being. More information can be found on the Rosenfeld Facebook Group.
Activities & meetings open to everyone wishing to participate.
No meetings or practices are scheduled during Holiday weekends. Changes in meeting or practice dates will be posted to the Rosenfeld Facebook Group and on the website.
For more information regarding meetings, please contact the Seneschal at [email protected]
For more information regarding fighter practices, please contact the Rapier Marshal [email protected]
Shire Website: http://rosenfeld.ansteorra.org
Shire Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/665546303554357/
Guilds Scribal Guild – (Honourable) Lady Emma Fairwyll: [email protected]
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egnum Seneschal Chief administrative officer and legal representative of the Shire.
(Honourable) Lady Calena di Rosa Nero [email protected]
Exchequer The officer who administers the finances of the Shire. Lord Adian McRay [email protected]
Exchequer – Deputy m’lady Lani George
Virtual Scribe and Deputy Seneschal The officer who oversees and maintains the Shire’s website. (Honourable) Lord Frederick von Dresen [email protected]
Minister of Arts and Sciences The officer responsible for fostering the study of period culture and technology, and methods for producing historically accurate artifacts & performances within the Shire. (Honourable) Lady Livia da Nicolosi [email protected]
Chronicler The officer who oversees monthly publishing of the Shire’s newsletter. (Honourable) Lady Jessimond of Emerickeskepe [email protected]
Chronicler – Deputies Lady Stormig av Sandkrok and Lord Tobias of Emerickeskepe
Knight Marshal - Open – Taking Applications The officer responsible for all heavy fighting related activities in the Shire.
Rapier Marshal The officer responsible for all rapier fighting related activities in the Shire. Mistress Rhiannon Ferch Cian [email protected]
Archery Marshal The officer responsible for all archery activities within the Shire. Lord Adian McRay
Thrown Weapons Marshal The officer responsible for all Thrown Weapons activities within the Shire. Lady Meg Sterling
Herald The officer who helps manage Shires heraldic needs. (Honourable) Lady Jessimond of Emerickeskepe [email protected]
Historian Lady Stormig av Sandkrok
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fficer Reports From the Seneschal: Please remember that the deadline for the submission of applications for both Hospitaler and Deputy Webminister positions is May 1, 2020. Interested individuals are requested to submit their application to the corresponding Central and Kingdom Officer, along with a copy of your membership card. You must also Cc your application to me. The PDF can be found here: http://seneschal.ansteorra.org/forms/ApplicationJan08.pdf
Stay safe, everyone! Soon this too shall pass. In the meantime, remember that I am available via private message through Facebook, by text/ phone, or by Email.
Your ever-striving Seneschal - HL Calena di Rosa Nero From the Chronicler: In this Special “Resource Sampler” Edition of The Thorny Truth, in addition to our regular featured articles, I have attempted to present a wide variety of online resources. These resources are by no means all-inclusive as the information available online is massive, as well as ever-changing. Rather this is merely my humble attempt to bring to the populace’s attention some useful venues that might be hitherto unknown to some. Recognizing that not everyone chooses to participate in social media sites, such as Facebook, only a small portion of such resources have been included herein. Likewise, because not everyone who reads the pages of The Thorny Truth is on Facebook, I chose to include recent important messages from both the Board of Directors and our Kingdom Seneschal in the beginning of this issue. Facebook can be fickle in the best of times, and so it is also possible that some who do subscribe to it may still not have seen these come across their newsfeed.
In Dedicated Service- HL Jessimond of Emerickeskepe From the Herald: I am honoured to be given this opportunity to support our Shire so that heraldic knowledge and display may continue to flourish. I am still but a humble “baby” Herald with much to learn. However, I pledge to do my utmost in service to Rosenfeld and the College of Heralds. Earlier this month I was able to attend the Heraldic Decision Meeting via Skype. As of the conclusion of that meeting, the Shire of Rosenfeld’s new (alternate) populace badge submission has been advanced from the Kingdom level to Society! Any who wish assistance with creating submissions for their name, device/arms, badges, or Heraldic Achievements are encouraged to please contact me.
In Honoured Service- HL Jessimond of Emerickeskepe
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Dies April Activities & Events I Wednesday II IIII NÕ Thursday III III NÕ Friday IIII II NÕ Saturday V NÕN Sunday VI VIII ID Monday VII VII ID Tuesday VIII VI ID Wednesday IX V ID Thursday X IIII ID Friday XI III ID Saturday XII II ID Sunday XIII IDVS Monday XIIII XVIII KL Tuesday XV XVII KL Wednesday XVI XVI KL Thursday XVII XV KL Friday XVIII XIIII KL Saturday XVIIII XIII KL Sunday Virtual Populace Meeting XX XII KL Monday XXI XI KL Tuesday XXII X KL Wednesday XXIII VIIII KL Thursday XXIIII VIII KL Friday XXV VII KL Saturday XXVI VI KL Sunday XXVII V KL Monday XXVIII IIII KL Tuesday XVVIIII II KL Wednesday XXX I KL Thursday
Calendar loosely based on the Psalter from Winchester (British Library, Arundel MS 60, f. 6r). Bull of Taurus rendered from the Liturgical calendar for Ravenna, Italy, 1386 THE MORGAN LIBRARY.
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nnouncements & Accolades
*PLEASE NOTE: Due to COVID-19 all local meetings and practices are currently not being held in-person at this time. Monthly Populace Meetings will move on-line for the time being. More information can be found on the Rosenfeld Facebook Group.
Our Known World keeps on growing with Kingdoms being born of great endeavours and that means we need to undertake the time old activity of cartography, redrawing the borders of the Known World to reflect our newest Kingdom, Avacal. Given that the Society has so many talented cartographers within our game who may be looking for a way to #SCAatHome, we thought a competition to draw the Known World was in order. The winner will receive a prize (details to be forthcoming) and honour and renown across all the Kingdoms of the SCA. Details: The Competition will run from 29 March 2020 to 28 April 2020. The winner will be announced on 1 May 2020 as we’d like to start the A.S LV (55) off with a bang. The artist will retain all rights to the map but allow use by the Society for Creative Anachronism (basically we’d like to borrow it on occasion). All usage will be credited. File Specifications: Samples as well as completed maps will be accepted. Preferred format eps or ai. 1 layer per kingdom to allow for maximum usage. Keep all typography to separate layers as well. If your file is larger than 4mb please contact [email protected] to ensure it will be received through our servers. The winner will be selected by the Board of Directors. Entries can be submitted to [email protected] Photo Credit: Society for Creative Anachronism
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Known World Websites This is the merest sampling of official SCA websites. These pages will most likely be familiar to most of you. However, if you have not visited or explored them recently now might be a good opportunity to perhaps do so. Many good gentles have put long hours into updating and revamping them. Also, your own interests may have changed direction since last you perused their pages, and so you may find they contain exciting items that are suddenly “new” to you! www.sca.org – This is the official website for the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). From here you can navigate your way to the official websites of every kingdom and local group within the SCA. Newcomers should especially explore this invaluable resource! Additionally, some of the pages everyone should consider exploring are: Member Services – Membership has privileges! “Use the links on this page to contact Member Services, manage your membership, read the Kingdom Newsletters, and access membership documents.” If you are not currently a paid member, please consider joining! “Your dues support the SCA’s infrastructure, helping to provide liability coverage for our chapters and to maintain rules and standards throughout the Society.” Marketplace – One of the many privileges of membership is access to The Black Star, Ansteorra’s Official Newsletter! At the Marketplace you can also purchase such amazing items as The Known World Handbook, as well as back issues of The Compleat Anachronist, or Tournaments Illuminated. www.sca.org/dei-office – This is the official webpage for the new Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. “The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Office is committed to promoting the values of inclusion throughout the SCA. The focus is equity, which is just and fair inclusion into an organization in which all can participate, prosper, benefit, and reach their full potential.” As this is a newly formed office, I would encourage all to please visit and familiarize yourself with its content! www.ansteorra.org – This is the official website for the Stellar Kingdom of Ansteorra. On this page you can navigate to the individual webpages for every local branch within the three regions of Ansteorra. You can also find information for events, activities, awards, officers (Kingdom and Regional), social media sites and an extensive library which includes forms and publications. Everyone should take time to routinely visit this website and familiarize yourself with the vast resources available within its pages! www.ansteorra.org/rosenfeld – This is the official website for the Shire of Rosenfeld. In compliance with a recent mandate, this is our shiny NEW Shire page proudly powered by WordPress. This site is intentionally designed to be clean and simple to navigate. Back issues of The Thorny Truth can be accessed via the “Newsletter” page to download the PDF’s!
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Featured Groups from Facebook If you choose to participate in on-line social media sites you are no doubt familiar with Facebook. As a result of its popularity, many of you will already be familiar with the most common pages and groups used to disseminate information to the populace of our kingdom and local branches. If you are not familiar with them, simply type the name of any SCA kingdom or local branch into the search bar and hit enter! For those of you who haven’t spent much time exploring Facebook, here is a short list of other interesting groups you may also wish to investigate:
SCA Virtual Classroom and Artisan Display – “This is a place where teachers and artisans can share virtual resources they have created to make them available SCA-wide to continue to foster a learning environment… This is an official Facebook group.”
The Honorable Clover – This group is a lively assortment of daily threads, craft fairs, spirited competitions, merchant's row, and extensive class list. Explore their posts and files, which include numerous video classes and class handouts!
Gulf Wars 29 Merchant Relief – This new and somewhat unique group was started shortly after the announcement to cancel Gulf Wars 29 was made. Many of the merchants rely on the sales of items from large events, such as Gulf Wars for their livelihood. This group was established to put shoppers directly in touch with their favorite merchants!
Laurel Hunt – Interesting enterprise of hunting laurels… “A way to meet Laurels you might not have talked to otherwise, learn about all different kinds of art, practice explaining your art to a whole lot of people, and get feedback to improve your art. "Art" is used in this description as shorthand for art, craft, science, skilled activity, research, etc. Anything that falls under the A & S umbrella!”
Sable Swap – “Think of this as an on-line secret swap!” This is a wonderful group for expanding your current Arts and Sciences projects while offering the opportunity to meet new friends from around the Kingdom of Ansteorra. Round #10 is just coming together, so now is a perfect time to join the group and watch how the process unfolds. There are also numerous inspirational photos from previous swaps located in the group!
Kingdom of Ansteorra ~ Repository of Class Handouts – This is a place for teachers to place their handouts used to teach any class, anywhere. Lastly, you can use the search function to look for groups with common interests to you. Include “SCA” if you want to limit the search criteria. Here is just a small sample:
Baby Heralds of the SCA (Unofficial) SCA Heraldry Unofficial Chat SCA 14th Century Kit Group. A Unofficial SCA Group Cooks of St. Martha Shenanigans and Discussion Middle English Latin for Medieval Re-enactors
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Encouragement to Explore Geoffrey Chaucer
Opening Lines of the Prologue of The Cantebury Tales
WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich 3 licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every holt 4 and heeth The tendre croppes, 5 and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen al the night with open ye, (So priketh hem nature in hir corages: Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, And palmers for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, couthe 10 in sondry londes; And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende,
The holy blisful martir for to seke, Geoffrey Chaucer, from the 15th-century That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke. Ellesmere Manuscript of The Canterbury Tales Huntington Library (EL 26 C 9) Photos.com/Jupiterimages
There are many avenues available by which to explore the works of Geoffrey Chaucer. With many of us currently cloistered, I would like to offer two in-depth websites by which you may lose yourself for a few hours, or perhaps even days.
Luminarium: Anthology of English Literature: www.luminarium.org This fantastic website contains many sections: Medieval, Renaissance, 17th Century, Restoration, Religious Writers, Ren Drama, Metaphysical Poets, and Cavalier Poets. For instance, the Anthology of Middle English Literature (1350-1485) section includes: Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, William Langland and Piers Plowman, Julian of Norwich, Margery Kempe, Thomas Malory, John Lydgate, Thomas Hoccleve, Paston Letters, Everyman, Medieval Plays, Middle English Lyrics, Essays and Articles, and Additional Medieval Sources. Within their Chaucer Page “you will find a Chaucer Biography, Chaucer's Works, Quotes, Essays and Articles, as well as links to study resources and a list of books helpful for further 14 | P a g e
study. All of these can be accessed from the red navigation bar at the top. The sidebar on the right has links to Medieval writers and works, historical persons and events, and concepts relevant to the study of Chaucer. Many of these links lead to the Luminarium Encyclopedia." They even have a "Chaucer Discussion Board" to chat and ask any questions that may crop up. A Chaucerian Cookery http://www.godecookery.com/chaucer/ccookery.htm
James L. Matterer is the founder of the Gode Cookery website (www.godecookery.com). He has written an extensive section dedicated to the Father of English Literature. “Geoffrey Chaucer, the great English poet and author of The Canterbury Tales, used food as a literary device to enrich the personalities of his characters. A Chaucerian Cookery examines the references to food and medieval dishes in all of Chaucer's writings, studies the dietary habits of his characters, and gives a complete list of all foods Chaucer refers to. Included is A Chaucerian Feast, which presents an authentic medieval feast based on the writings of Chaucer and 14 corresponding 14th c. recipes, as well as detailing the presentation and courses of a standard medieval feast.”
In addition to A Chaucerian Cookery and A Chaucerian Feast, there is a companion site one can access through the website above that is called Pilgrims Passing To and Fro. This site explores the lives and times of the Canterbury Tales Pilgrims. This four-part series was also written by James L. Matterer and includes the following introduction:
The pilgrims in Chaucer's Canterbury Tales are extremely well-known figures in literature, nearly as much so as the often studied and quoted characters of Shakespeare's plays. This is due, in part, to the historical importance of Squire Geoffrey's most famous work, but even more so to the fact that in his writings Chaucer tells us so much about these fictional travelers. The perfect, genteel Knight, the stout Miller, the white-bearded Franklin, and all the other pilgrims are introduced with such clarity and vivid descriptions that the reader is quick to feel that these people are alive and real. We know how they looked, how they dressed, what they did for a living, what made them happy or sad, how they wore their hair, and even what kind of horses they rode. We can easily picture the Prioress feeding her dogs in the convent, or the Wife of Bath having a good time brow-beating one of her husbands. In the pilgrims are traits that all of us recognize in ourselves or someone else, at one time or another. But, though he gives us details of the pilgrims themselves, there is much Chaucer does not tell us about. If the characters of Canterbury Tales had actually existed, what would their lives and this pilgrimage have been like?
Lastly, Pilgrims Passing To and Fro includes a Bibliography listing the three books used by James L. Matterer. all of which are worth exploring! My sincere hope is that you will use these resources to explore the writings and world of Geoffrey Chaucer as well as other poets and writers of antiquity.
~The Fretful Scribe
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Bevy of BLOGS to Beat Back Boredom!
As with many things in life, do remember to “consider the source” when accessing blogs. Absolutely anyone can write them and type whatever they like. Take a moment to review the “ABOUT” section that is accessed via a tab at the top of most blogs. The better blog posts will also list their references, and cite their sources, often providing links to lead you to extant manuscripts, museum websites, etc. Others are written more for entertainment purposes only but are still good to spark your imagination. Please be aware that it is common for bloggers to receive compensation based on sales of product ads that might appear on their website. Generally, they will announce if this is the case somewhere in the introduction to their blog.
By far some of the most useful blogs are ones that are full of “How-To” segments. These generally have recipes, patterns, and/or step-by-step photos of projects. The premise being for you to collect your supplies to recreate your own items based on their information. For NEWCOMERS, these are wonderful sources for learning the basics such as etiquette, simple garb, or beginning to explore personal development. Again, most blogs should simply be considered jumping off points. There are an endless number of blogs out there. For convenience, here are a few blogs that appear to base their posts on actual research:
http://periodpersonas.com/village/ “Welcome to the Un-Official SCA Village! Whether its textiles. music, blacksmithing or whatever. Share your passion here. Network and build communities together!” The Village is a “community based on medieval re-enactment groups. Chiefly the S.C.A. (Society for Creative Anachronism). “
https://itinerant-scribe.com/ “During my life’s journey I discovered a huge hobby collection and love of learning through historical recreation. Because of those in 2010 I was welcomed into the SCA‘s august Order of the Laurel mostly for my calligraphy and illumination skills. But I haven’t stopped growing. I’m still learning. If you look online, you’ll find me by my SCA name Jehanne Bening who lives in the Kingdom of Calontir. My persona is a 15th century manuscript illuminator working for Alexander Bening in Bruges.”
https://calligraphypen.wordpress.com/ “I am a calligrapher and digital artist with a B.F.A. in Printmaking and an M.F.A. in Intermedia (Digital Art). The majority of my calligraphy work is in the form of Illuminated Manuscripts incorporating calligraphy, painting and gilding using medieval-style materials and techniques. This includes grinding my own pigments from Lapis Lazuli, Malachite and Azurite and using commercially available dry pigments with traditional egg tempera painting. My preferred support material is genuine vellum although some of my commissioned work is on hot-pressed watercolour paper. I use a variety of gilding techniques including shell gold, patent and raised gesso gilding with gold, platinum and silver leaf. “
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https://medievalcookery.blogspot.com/ “This blog is a companion to the Medieval Cookery website. I generally only put stuff on the website that I feel is "reasonably" complete. Here I'll be posting thoughts and recent discoveries about medieval European cooking, as well as tangentially related subjects like calendars, language, and culture.” http://medievalcookery.com/
http://cottesimple.com/ “I discovered the joy of reverse-engineering medieval clothing in 1998. In some form or another, this passion has persisted and continues to exist digitally as La cotte simple. I started the site in 2003, putting my experience as a technical writer to work for my creative passion… Nothing quite scratches all my creative and intellectual itches like the study of medieval fashion history. I have never followed the crowd when choosing my interests, and I take special pleasure in leading others into new avenues of inquiry through my writings, diagrams, and photos.”
https://rosaliegilbert.com/ This blog “is mostly about medieval women, but there will be some book things here too- and lots of cool things I've learned about the very secret sex lives of medieval women while writing the book. Other times, I'll just be excited about things! I'm passionate about living history, experimental archaeology and women in the Middle Ages… Interests include: 14th century, artifacts, books, experimental archaeology, historic sewing, history, living history, manuscripts, medieval women, re-enactment.” On her FaceBook page, Rosalie's Medieval Woman, she recently shared two photo albums of FREE Medieval Colour-Me-In and Medieval Paper Dolls. Beginning with next month’s issue, The Thorny Truth will include one of these as an activities page!
http://herald.poore-house.com/ “Welcome to the Poore House Academy of Heraldry. The purpose of this online academy is to instruct the reader in the ways of heraldry in an easy-to-read format. The Academy hopes to offer articles covering all heraldic fields, from performance and protocol to armorial design and display.”
http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ “I originally wrote the oldest articles for the Bear Necessities, the newsletter of the Barony of Bjornsborg, an SCA branch. My Laurel made me do it... the chronicler needed submissions desperately, and Kemreth assigned a regular column to me as a way to help produce articles for the newsletter. ~ I first webbed my old articles around 1990, using my old back issues from the Bear Necessities for the content. Later, I did a major upgrade in 1998, but didn't touch the old content.”
http://www.dragonbear.com/ “DragonBear welcomes you to the home of fine (and usually free!) arts, crafts, history, literature and whatever else we decide to put here. ~ Custom graphics, needlework patterns, and web design are also available, though probably not for free unless for a good cause. The site is maintained by Carol Hanson (SCA: Mistress Caryl de Trecesson).
I hope you find inspiration among these blogs or do a quick search to find others that suite your personal interests! Mayhap you will even decide to start a blog of your own.
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April
Zodiac signs: Aries and Taurus
A glimpse at a few Medieval (European) Holy Days this month:
9th April – Passover Begins 10th April – Good Friday 12th April – Easter 23rd April – Feast of St George
April was originally the second month of the year in the Roman calendar and has 30 days. It is the fourth month of the year in both the Gregorian calendar and its predecessor, the Julian calendar. Its name is derived from Latin Aprilis or Aperit – ‘to open’, which means to open. It is considered that April is the month of the growing season and when trees and flowers begin to “open”. April remains a time of planting and spring cleaning. It is also believed that the month’s name is derived from the Greek goddess, Aphrodite (Aphros).
Significant Happenings:
April 2, 742 – Birthday of Charlemagne April 3, 1367 - The Battle of Navarrete, fought near Nájera; John of Gaunt, the Black Prince, & Pedro the Cruel defeated Henry II of Castile April 4, 1581 Francis Drake knighted by Queen Elizabeth I of England April 11, 145 – Birthday of Septimius Severus (Roman Emperor) April 11, 1512 - Battle of Ravenna, French forces under Gaston de Foix defeat the Holy League in a major battle of the Italian Wars April 15, 1452 – Birthday of Leonardo da Vinci April 19, 1587 - Sir Francis Drake sinks the French fleet in Cadiz harbor April 23, 1564 – Birthday of William Shakespeare April 25, 1284 – Birthday of Edward II (King of England) April 26, 121 – Birthday of Antonius Marcus Aurelius (Roman Emperor). April 29, 1429 - Joan of Arc leads a French force in relieving the siege of the city of Orleans besieged by the English since October April 30, 1492 - Columbus given royal commission by Isabella I and Ferdinand II to equip his fleet to the New World 18 | P a g e
Down the Rabbit Hole! Many museums and libraries offer amazing digitized manuscripts or photos of extant pieces. Again, this is a tiny sampling meant to be a jumping off point for exploration and discovery! Please be certain to respect copyright laws whenever using information or images found on any website. Each website should list their terms of use. Usually this is accessed through a tab at the top of the page or in a side bar. Do not assume items are copyright-free just because it was found on a museum or library’s site! https://digi.vatlib.it/ DigiVatLib is a digital library service that provides free access to the Vatican Library’s digitized collections: manuscripts, incunabula, archival materials and inventories as well as graphic materials, coins and medals, printed materials (special projects).” https://www.bl.uk/medieval-english-french-manuscripts British Library ~ Medieval England and France, 700–1200 “This curated selection explores medieval manuscripts that were digitized as part of The Polonsky Foundation England and France Project: Manuscripts from the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, 700–1200. Discover stunning highlights of illuminated manuscripts set in their cultural and historical context and explored in a range of articles.” http://collections.vam.ac.uk/ The Victoria and Albert Museum collections “is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The Museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewelry, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.” https://archive.org/ “Internet Archive is a non-profit library of millions of free books, movies, software, music, websites, and more. ~ The Internet Archive, a 501(c)(3) non-profit, is building a digital library of Internet sites and other cultural artifacts in digital form. Like a paper library, we provide free access to researchers, historians, scholars, the print disabled, and the general public. Our mission is to provide Universal Access to All Knowledge.” https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ “The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History pairs essays and works of art with chronologies, telling the story of art and global culture through the Museum’s collection.” https://www.si.edu/collections “The scope of objects in the Smithsonian collections is staggering—from ancient Chinese bronzes to the Star-Spangled Banner; from a 3.5 billion-year-old fossil to the Apollo lunar landing module; from the ruby slippers featured in The Wizard of Oz to presidential memorabilia. Scholars and scientific researchers at the Smithsonian—and around the world—use these vast collections in their research to expand human knowledge.”
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Sources for Heirloom Herb Seeds In carrying forth with the Special “Resource Sampler” Edition theme of this issue of The Thorny Truth, this installment of Jessimond’s Herbal Elements will primarily be a sampling of some of my favorite sources for procuring seeds! In preparing this list, I did notice that on their websites most of these companies are currently experiencing delays in shipping due to increased volume in purchases that coincides with reduced staff. Please read their updates carefully, communicate with them, and be patient. Many offer FREE catalogs! Additionally, under normal conditions, this time of year you can find packets of seeds for herbs alongside the vegetable seeds when you are making a necessary grocery and/or supply run. It is occassionally even possible to find some organic seeds available at Tractor Supply or (possibly) Walmart. Do not make a special trip, but remember to take a look for what is available if you are already out and doing your marketing. In the past I have even found a small assortment of inexpensive seeds at our local Dollar General. Make a list* ahead of time of which seeds you are looking for to reduce your time at the seed rack! www.rareseeds.com Baker Creek Heirloom Seed, located in Mansfield, MO offers, around 1200 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs - the largest selection of heirloom varieties in the USA. The company has become a tool to promote and preserve our agricultural and culinary heritage. If you ever find yourself taking a road trip sometime next year, add Baker Creek Village to your itinerary! In the meantime, please note that “until further notice, the Village, Seed store, Restaurants and phones will be closed. We will still be shipping orders as quickly as we can. Please contact us by email at [email protected] with any questions.” www.seedsavers.org Seed Savers Exchange “conserves biodiversity by maintaining a collection of over 20,000 different varieties of heirloom and open-pollinated plants, varieties with the ability to regenerate themselves year after year. These seeds (and tissue cultures or other plant materials, depending on how a plant reproduces) have the power to withstand unforeseen pestilence and plant disease, climate change, and limited habitat, and to stop dinnertime boredom forever.” I particularly like the vast amount of How-To information available on their website. If you are new to gardening, or newly returning to gardening, check out their First Time Gardener page that has everything to get you going, from starting seeds to saving seeds!
20 | P a g e www.monticelloshop.org Your purchase of heirloom seeds from the Thomas Jefferson Center for Historic Plants helps to support Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello (www.monticello.org). Granted, President Jefferson's stately 1769 mansion & slave plantation may seem like an unlikely source for seeds; however, they have a wide selection of vegetable and herb seeds, annual flower seeds, and seeds for perennial flowers. Many are unusual and hard to find. Their Seed Collections make excellent gifts for gardening friends as well as a great value for yourself having been “curated by the expert gardeners at Monticello, each collection is packaged in an attractive collectible tin.” Additionally, I personally also like some of their garden tools such as their Clay Thumb Pot Sprinkler and Dibbler/Dibblet. These items are virtually identical to ones seen in Medieval Manuscripts from the 14th and 15th centuries. www.victoryseeds.com “The primary reason for our existence as an organization is to help protect open-pollinated and heirloom seed varieties during a time when the diversity of plant life on our planet is quickly shrinking… We have therefore dedicated our efforts to preserving and promoting the use of open-pollinated varieties -- old commercial releases as well as family heirlooms -- and working towards the protection of our genetically diverse horticultural heritage. We truly believe in teaching these principals to all who have ears to learn.” All of the seeds at Victory Seeds are open-pollinated, non-hybrid, and not chemically treated. Many are rare, family heirlooms or endangered, and they will never knowingly offer genetically engineered, aka GMO, varieties. www.richters.com In addition to the procurement of seeds, this website is an invaluable resource for any herb enthusiast! “At Richters we live and breathe herbs. We love to grow them, and we love to use them. We believe in the power of herbs to heal and maintain health. We enjoy herbs in cooking, in tea, for fragrance and for body care. And we love to communicate our love of herbs to our customers.” The vast majority of Richters seeds are either traditional varieties or seeds collected from the wild. A few of their gourmet vegetables are hybrids; otherwise their seeds conform to what is commonly meant by "heirloom" and "heritage" seeds. In their Questions and Answers section, they have numerous categories to help you expand your herbal knowledge including: Culinary Herbs, Medicinal Herbs, Growing Herbs, Aromatic and other Herbs, Veterinary Herbs, and more! Lastly, not only do they sell seeds and potted herbs, live roots and bulbs, they also sell DRY HERBS that are either organic or wildcrafted. Their dry herbs are “never fumigated or irradiated, and they are never grown from genetically modified stock.” www.squarefootgardening.org Lastly, if you are planning to start a new garden this year, either for herbs or vegetables, I highly recommend The Square Foot Garden method. Yes, this method is a (mostly) modern, but it is also based on sound principles for gardening in small raised beds, not unlike our Medieval counterparts! Their website contains all the information you need, or you can purchase the book. Used versions are also often available online as well. It contains good information on storing your seeds from year to year!
*If there are no herbs in your current garden, then your first planting should consist of basic herbs such as Basil, Chamomile (Roman or German), Chives, Cilantro, Dill, Lavender, Marjoram, Oregano, Rosemary, Flat-leaf Parsley, Sage, and Thyme. This would result in garden that is not only edible, but lovely to look at.
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Bear Hunt History ~ Bear Hunt style game boards have been found throughout the old Roman Empire dating back to the 3rd century. There has been a board found engraved in a sandstone plaque in Augst Switzerland, another version found carved into stones in Piemonte Italy, as well as versions in Sologne France, Greece, and Didyma Turkey.
Goal ~ Bear Hunt is a fairly simple game. The goal is for the hunters to capture the bear by cornering in where it is unable to move.
Play ~ The hunter has 3 pieces and the bear is a single piece. The hunters and bear take turns moving a single piece to an adjoining vacant intersection. The best way to compete to get a true winner would be for each player to be hunter once and see who can capture the bear more quickly.
Photo by Lord Atli Karlsson
Stefan's Florilegium http://www.florilegium.org/
“This is a collection of files that I have assembled from various sources since I first joined the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) in 1989.The information in these files comes from the Rialto newsgroup (rec.org.sca), the old fidonet medieval echo conference area, various mail lists, messages from various Facebook groups and articles submitted to me by their authors.” ~ Honorable Lord Stefan li Rous
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Public Domain Books (Sites with FREE Ebooks)
Herein are gathered a short list of my top five Internet sites (in no particular order) that offer FREE public domain books in electronic and/or audio format. New publications enter public domain when their intellectual property rights have expired or are no longer applicable. For instance, if you wanted to find an eBook version of a classic literary work you should first check out the sites listed below:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ Project Gutenberg is a top destination for free eBooks on the web. It’s a first eBook initiative in the world, established by Michael S. Hart in 1971. Over 60,000 publications digitized by Project Gutenberg volunteers are available for download and/or to read online. There are also over 100,000 free eBooks available through Project Gutenberg’s partners and affiliates. The site offers a very convenient way to get complete works of selected authors in one file. These works mostly older literary titles published before 1924.
https://www.europeana.eu/en Europeana offers access to millions of digitized items from European museums, libraries, and archives! They have more than 2,000 European institutions contributing to the site, including the British Library and national libraries from numerous other countries. To find free public domain books simply search by author or title. They also several manuscripts from antiquity to the early print era available via their “Collections” tab.
https://openlibrary.org/ Open Library is a project of the Internet Archive and is “an open, editable library catalog, building towards a web page for every book ever published.” There are over 1,000,000 free eBooks available, most of which are in the public domain. Here you will also find a growing lending library of over 200,000 contemporary eBook titles. If the book is available in digital form, a “Read” button is shown next to its catalog listing.
https://classic-literature.co.uk/ Classic Literature Library includes public domain books organized into collections such as the complete literary works of William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, Thomas Kyd, or Francis Bacon, among many others!
https://www.jstor.org/ JSTOR, a digital library founded in 1995, originally containing digitized back issues of academic journals. It now encompasses access to more than 12 million academic journal articles, eBooks, and primary sources. Their partnerships with libraries and publishers help make content “discoverable and freely accessible worldwide” via their open access content. Thousands of eBooks are available from top scholarly publishers, including Brill, Cornell University Press, De Gruyter, and University of California Press.
Each of these sources are regularly adding to their archives. Accessing them is like having a portal to a hidden bookshelf right in your own home. I hope you take time to explore these invaluable online resources now, or in the future! ~ Rosenfeld Chronicler
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Submitting Award Recommendations
Awards are given by the King and Queen to recognize achievements in Arts and Sciences, Martial Arts, as well as for Service to local groups and/or the Kingdom. The Crown often base Their decisions on the recommendations submitted by the populace upon whom They rely to be Their eyes and ears.
Any member of the populace may submit an award recommendation by simply accessing the on-line fillable form at https://ansteorra.org/awards/
On this same website page, you will also find links to the 0n-line Order of Precedence, which is the listing of all awards and honors that have been given by the Crown. If you are unfamiliar with the Awards of Ansteorra, this page also contains a link to the Award Constitutions which will provide definitions “as to the purpose, precedence, insignia, and other details for all precedence-bearing Ansteorran awards and orders as well as Kingdom- level nonarmigerous awards.”
Additionally, a quick on-line search (via sca.org) can lead you to the award recommendation forms for OTHER kingdoms if the individual you wish to write an award recommendation for lives elsewhere! Perhaps you have enjoyed someone’s classes at one of the Great Wars or learned something via their Blog or a video class. The fact that you and they reside in different kingdoms should not be an obstacle to writing an award recommendation!
The Shire of Rosenfeld
will (hopefully) be holding a DEMO at the Tyler Public Library (201 S. College Ave., Tyler, TX, 75702) Monday June 1, 2020 between the hours of 10 AM – 2 PM
This demo is part of the Opening Day Celebration for their Summer Reading Challenge! They are inviting childcare centers as well as the general public to attend and are therefore expecting approximately 400+ children throughout the day!
We would like to invite our friends & neighbors from across Ansteorra to Please join us as we enhance the atmosphere of this year’s ‘Fairy Tale’ theme! Rapier and Chivalric fighting (outdoors in the front courtyard) Arts & Science demonstrations (indoors in the atrium) Heraldic display (shields and banners lining the courtyard)
Please contact the Demo-Steward for more information: HL Jessimond of Emerickeskepe - [email protected]
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To the Shire of Rosenfeld, greetings!
* Did you know that Ansteorra has its very own Wiki with over 800 articles? (Have you ever visited Wikipedia? Well, it's like that, but just for Ansteorra!) * Did you know that YOU can have your very own page on the Wiki? Nearly 300 Ansteorrans already do! (Visit http://historian.ansteorra.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:People to see just who has one.) * Did you know I would positively love the opportunity to assist you in either building a page on your own, or building one for you, complete with pictures, history, accomplishments, photos... whatever you want to share?
So much of the SCA is a shared, communal experience, but so much of our history is lost, because it is not recorded. There are so many stories to tell - and the Ansteorran Wiki is a beautiful place to share them and preserve them. Rosenfeld has a page on the wiki -- but only a tiny smidge of information about its rich history. (http://historian.ansteorra.org/wiki/index.php?title=Rosenfeld) Won't you share YOUR stories of Rosenfeld's history and events - large and small - with the rest of the Kingdom?
Contributing content to the wiki is much, much easier than you think. If you can type an email, you can contribute to the wiki. Content you could share can be as varied as snippets of information about those living or passed who have inspired you, "No (bleep), there I was!" stories, photographs, songs, poems... nearly anything you can imagine! Having your own page built on the wiki is as easy as filling out an online form (http://historian.ansteorra.org/submission.php ) and attaching a few photos (though please take a moment to ensure they are less than 1 MG in size first, or they won’t attach properly).
I invite you to contact me at [email protected] with any questions you might have about submitting information to the wiki – or how to set up your own user account and perhaps even build your first wiki page. Tell us your stories, Rosenfeld; we are waiting to hear them!! IMPORTANT UPDATE: Thanks to the thoughtful suggestions of Master Rene Damours, Ansteorra’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Officer, and the labors of Ansteorra’s Webminister, Lord John Buchanan, the Persona Page Submission form now has a spot for individuals to provide Special Needs information -- mobility restrictions, allergies, In-Case-Of-Court instructions, etc. We also have a spot to provide information on your preferred pronouns. If you already have a wiki page and would like to add either pronouns or Special Needs information, please fill out the first three fields on the online form, and then only fill in the additional sections you'd like added.
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redits & Acknowledgements
Cover Art (Honourable) Lady Jessimond of Emerickeskepe Calendar Art (Honourable) Lady Jessimond of Emerickeskepe Title Art (Honourable) Lady Jessimond of Emerickeskepe Additional Illuminations (Honourable) Lady Emma Fairwyll Additional Art (Honourable) Lady Jessimond of Emerickeskepe
This is the April 2020 issue of The Thorny Truth; a publication of the Shire of Rosenfeld of the SCA. The Thorny Truth is available from (Honourable) Lady Jessimond of Emerickeskepe: aka Patricia Emery, [email protected] It is not a corporate publication of the SCA Inc. and does not delineate SCA policies. Copyright 2020 SCA, Inc.
For information on reprinting articles and artwork from this publication, please contact the Chronicler, who will assist you in contacting the original creator of the piece. Please respect the legal rights of our contributors.
Submissions must be sent to the Chronicler by the 25th of the month and an SCA Creative Work Copyright Assignment/Grant of Use Form must be on file or accompany all submissions.
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