GET MEDIEVAL !!!!

Being a webpage on the joys of medieval recreation, living history and suchlike activities. 
This is my page about my research into the pre-modern world.  I've always been interested in castles, knights, fair maidens and armour.  It's only in the past ten years or so that I have been interested in how those people lived day to day.  What kind of clothes did they wear? What food did they eat? What did they do for work? What did they do for fun?  What did they believe?  That sort of thing.  I am also a fan of the Gothic Revival and Pre-Raphaelite movements, so I will include stuff about them as well.  Because I'm in the SCA, this will be a sort of SCAcentric page, but hopefully reenactors will find this page useful as well.
Forums of Interest
Places I go to talk with other people interested the pre-modern world

The Armour Archive   

The Arador Armour Library

Swordforum International

Firestryker Living History Forum - very dedicated reenactors
Getting started on a time-trip
         So you've decided that you want to get medieval. How do you get started?  Regardless of wether or not there is a group that does recreation/reenacting near you, the first steps are simple.  Figure out what inspires you to do this. Is it a book? A movie? A game? Family history? Fun? The local RenFaire? Your inspiration is your research starting point.  Research?  Yep, even if your research consists of looking at catalogs and websites, you must dig around a little to seriously get medieval.

      A few words of warning about movies, games and books; they are most often wrong about the middle ages, ancient world and Renaissance.  William Wallace never wore a kilt, Maximus didn't kill Commodus, Marie de Guise wasn't poisoned by Elizabeth, to point out a few.  Most illustrations on book covers and in games only existed in the artist's mind and combine elements that are separated by centuries.  So are you out of luck if you want to wear a kilt, for example?  No, you just have know that you won't be recreating the Scotland of Wallace and Bruce, but the Scotland of Mary Queen of Scots and her son James, since that is when kilts began to show up in artworks and commentaries. 

     In my opinion it's better to find an image that you want to pattern your clothes, tent, armour or whatnot (henceforth called kit) after and then build from there.  Especially in the SCA, people create their personna without regard to the material culture they like. Ehhhh, you say.  Lemme give you an example. Say someone decides they like the name Erkenbrand because they read it one of their favourite books.   So they go around for a long while introducing themselves as Erkenbrand.  Then they to do some research.  Erkenbrand is an Anglo-Saxon name dated from before the Norman conquest.  Ok, no worries, it's a real name at least. Well, problem is, this person is really into late Elizabethan England clothes and rapier fighting.  We're talking doublets, trunk hose and muffin caps. Someone named Erkenbrand would have never seen or worn such things, because they didn't exist when he would have been alive.  But if you wok in the opposite way, look around to find the kit you like, the name is fairly easy.  For example, a you decide you like to wear " angel wing" dresses, long braided hair, and not cover your hair with a wimple. Ok, you're a lady from France or England in the mid 1100s. Look for names from that time in those places and you're set.



           
   Good Research Sites on the Web
Hosted by www.Geocities.ws

1