Mesterinde Karen Larsdatter
Elements of material culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance, including representations in period artwork

A rather grandiose title for what are essentially just pages of links to pictures that help give an understanding of the evolution of a sort of object within the medieval/Renaissance context, and what sorts of people used which sorts of things. Some of these are more costume history and surveys of occupational dress.

Most of these webpages use the SCA cut-off date of A.D. 1600.

New Year's Gifts for Queen Elizabeth
Detailed lists of gifts given to Queen Elizabeth as presents at New Year's celebrations, from The Progresses and Public Processions of Queen Elizabeth.

Garments and Armor in The Canterbury Tales
Chaucer's names for garments, accessories, and armor.

Garments in the Paston Letters
Terms for articles of clothing from the correspondence of the Paston family (1425-1500).

References to garments in the works of Robert Henryson
Terms for articles of clothing in Scots as written in the late 15th (and very early 16th) century.

Aprons

Aquamaniles

Archers

Banners
Extant heraldic banners from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Baths

Blackwork Gallery
Blackwork embroidery on 16th and early 17th century clothing; includes portraits and extant pieces of clothing.

Budgets
Bags carried around the waist, generally used by shepherds.

Candlesticks, Candelabras, and Chandeliers

Carpets

Caskets, Coffers, and Boxes

Chests

Children

Coifs for medieval men

Combs

Feast Gear
Tableware, drinking vessels, and eating utensils. Also includes links to online stores carrying reproductions of period artifacts and re-creations of the items in the artworks.

Fishing and Fishermen

Foolish Clothing
The clothing of jesters and dwarves, from the Middle Ages through to the early 17th century.

Games
Includes depictions of board games, dice games, and card games.

Hoods

Mirrors
Includes extant mirror cases and frames, as well as artistic representations of mirrors.

Musicians
Professional entertainers as well as individuals who play music as a pastime.

Particolor

Pattens
Mostly from 15th century works of art.

Pilgrims' Clothing and Scrips

Pouches and Purses

Romani in the 16th and early 17th centuries

Straw Hats

Sleeveless Surcoats
Includes sideless surcoats and examples of an Italian Renaissance surcoat, the giornea.

Toys and Playthings

Wagons, Carriages, and Carts

Waxed Tablets
Depictions in art from late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, as well as extant tablets (wooden or ivory) and stylii.

Wheelbarrows

Links to other sites
Similar pages of links to pictures relating to elements of material culture in the Middle Ages and Renaissance.


Articles on documentation-writing and research for the SCA

Documentation Is Not a Dirty Word

Ten Simple Things You Can Do To Impress the Judges at an Arts and Sciences Competition

Using the Internet for Research and Documentation


Embroidery

If you'd like to commission a custom embroidery pattern, visit Jordbaer Embroidery Design.

Cross Stitch Embroidery in the Middle Ages and Renaissance
A very brief outline of pre-17th century cross stitch embroidery, starting from the earliest crossed stitches in extant embroideries. This article was published in Tournaments Illuminated in the Summer 1998 issue.

Charts for the Atlantian Embroiderers' Guild
I've created over 100 patterns for the Guild over the years, including Kingdom populace badges and ensigns and SCA officers' badges, as well as Atlantian award badges. Find them here!

Fill-in Patterns from Sixteenth Century Blackwork Embroideries
Fill-in patterns for blackwork embroidery, taken from extant embroideries. (Some of these illustrations also appear in Compleat Anachronist #115, "Wrought with Flowers of Black Silk," by Prudence Catesby.)

Klosterstickerei
A technique used to create tapestry-like wallhangings in Germany in the 14th-16th centuries.

Designing Your Own Oxburgh-Style Embroidery
Using the general style of the panels of the Oxburgh hangings to create charted patterns for counted-work embroidery resembling these and other works of the 16th and 17th centuries.


Onomastic resources

An Index to the 1296 Lay Subsidy Rolls for Rutland, England

Bynames from 15th Century York

An Index to the 1523 Subsidy Roll for York and Ainsty, England

Basque Onomastics of the Eighth to Sixteenth Centuries


Other stuff

Recipes from a 16th Century Spanish Cookbook
A translation of most of the recipes, remedies, and cosmetics from the Manual de mugeres en el qual se contienen muchas y diversas re�eutas muy buenas, along with rough equivalents of the measurements used, and a table of some of the medicinal herbs and resins described in the text.

The Women of Love and War: The Roles of European Women at the Siege of Acre
The roles of the women who participated in one of the longest sieges in the Third Crusade. This article was published in the 13th issue of The Oak.


My SCA resume is also online. You can also read a list of my needlework books, and look at my LiveJournal, my photos on Photobucket and Flickr, or my Amazon Wish List.

Email
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