Thursday 29 August 2019

PGC2019 Mistress katherine kerr's, small amulet





I have a small amulet to bring me luck and protect me from evil. It holds some little charms I have collected - pilgrim tokens, an elf-arrow, a petal from the first rose my consort won for me - as well as prayers and my favourite saints names. The priests, neither of the Old Faith nor the new Kirk, do not like these, so it stays hidden in a coffer, rather than worn around my neck as of old.

Amulets, talismans and charms -- yes they are different things -- have a very long history, it seems back as far as we can recognise humankind. In 16th-century Europe religious reforms and fervour had not succeeded in stamping out such practices.

One form which remained popular (versions can be found to this day) is that of the breverl, breve, or brevu relating to the short text and reminders it contained (surviving in this useage in the legal term brief). They typically consist of a couple of pages of folded written or printed text accompanied by woodcuts of saints or the Holy Family and a selection of tiny charms such as crosses, pilgrim tokens, pebbles or gems and the like. These were carefully folded together and housed in small bags of leather, silk or metal; later pasteboard slipcovers became common and Cellini drew designs for jewelled versions.

The text contained prayers, written charms or magic words aimed at protecting the wearer, initially from plague, but just as much from temptation and sin, and also from more mundane concerns like cramp or lightning strikes. Sometimes a small roll of paper or parchment would contain a list of saints or intercessionary prayers.

St Thomas Aquinas approved of some types of amulets and the witch-hunting tome Malleus Maleficarum recommended that the inquisitor wear one to protect against the spells of witches (Skemer, pg 66). Perhaps not surprisingly, Martin Luther railed against the practice in the late 1530s, saying it was "a frightful misuse and a piece of witchery to write the words In principio erat verbum on a slip of paper..as a charm against thunder and storm" (Skemer, pg 67). 

Although the Church in all its forms came to frown upon these, they remained a staple of religious markets, predominantly popular in Garmany, Italy and Austria. I was pleased to find a Scottish reference to their use, with John Ruthven (he of the Gowrie Conspiracy) wearing one, though it clearly didn't aid him in his attack on James VI (Skemer, pg 134, footnote).

There is mention of ensuring that the amulets were locked like letters to retain their ju-ju (Skemer, pg 145). Once opened, their divine powers were said to vanish; one rare extant version was opened to find the magic text page was blank!

Oddly enough, the text in these contain mnemonics for various prayers/devotions -- it's hard to see how useful they could be if the amulets weren't actually consulted....

My textual amulet (to use the technical academic term) contains inspirational quotes I like, the Baronial Oath, a list of virtues as well as some Biblical verses and prayers. For the Scots touch there are conversion units for money, weights and measures, and an extract from a 1541 church dedication record for Andrew Ker of Fernihirst (12 pounds donated to St Catherine's altar!).

The woodcut of the saints is a 1488 one by Domenec showing at top the 15 mysteries of the rosary and Christ's life; in the bottom half is (left) St Dominic, St Thomas Aquinas, and St Catherine of Alexandria, surrounding the Madonna and Child. The extant versions were backed with printed art papers which looked a little modern to my eye so I backed mine with some parchmenty paper.

The list of saints starts with ones that katherine venerates: St Jerome, St Barbara, St Katherine, St Dominic and St Thomas, along with others of interest. It also includes a reminder of the Hours.

The charms include a collection of event tokens: a St Thomas clover leaf from the Coronation I co-stewarded; a St Katherine wheel from an Ildhafn event; an Alan Garner-inspired flower-owl from one of the first quests I ever ran; and a lion from a Canterbury Faire feast, for St Jerome and my lord-husband Bartholomew. Also a milagros cross, a broken Kingdom award (Prix Jongleur), a flint arrowhead, some amber chips and a set of my Kingdom triple gems, a gold wooden tower crafted by my son Pippin when he was a wee lad. All these are backed by dried rose petals from the May Crown Rose Tourney where Sir Radbot fought for me. As with the extant examples, they have been glued to a card with four saints' names and scrap fabric in red and green across the corners.

The extant versions I have been able to track down thus far are from the 1650s-1720s. Period references mention silk or leather bags, rather than the pasteboard slip-cover of the later versions. I intend to make a small taffetta bag in "katherine green" to hold my amulet, but in the meantime I have tucked it together in a letter-locked style to hold things in place.

Let's hope it brings me luck!

Skemer, Don C: Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages; Pennsylvania State University Press, 2006

Amulets - "Breverl.", Entry 2, pg 3

Breverl 1690-1710


Breverl: folding paper amulet, 1650-1726:

Video of folding:

Monday 12 August 2019

PGC2019 Mistress katherine kerr's headroll, veil, and earrings



My mother Caterina Mocenigo was from a well-regarded Venetian family, and her wedding cassone houses a number of lovely items once hers. She wore this headware in honour of the Queen of Cyprus, whose funeral procession was one of the largest ever seen in La Serenissima.

I wanted to make a small head roll and veil, but I wasn't inspired until I saw a Bellini painting (ca 1500) of Caterina Cornaro, Queen of Cyprus. Rather than a plain roll, Caterina sports a black, white and gold one, variously described as brocade or damask or embroidered. The roll is securely shoved down over a closely fitted cap made up of what looks to me like alternating bands of lace, or possibly lacis in net. (Partridge, in the Art of Renaissance Venice, pg 96, describes it as damask, so take your pick!) A coronet crowns the whole ensemble. Underneath it all are two very fine gossamer black veils.

I liked the idea of a decorated roll, and of multiple parts to the headwear allowing different looks. Another, unattributed, painting of Caterina appears to show a similar roll (or possibly a cap?) worn much further back on her head with a different veil beneath. (One thing I learned when researching this was the assertion that women wore their ears covered by veils to maintain chastity, this being the route the Holy Ghost took to impregnate the Blessed Virgin Mary!) 

My head roll is in Sir Radbot's colours, being part of a consort ensemble of a black coat, tabbed bodice and Venetian brocade skirt. The black ribbon and pearl earrings I'm wearing are modelled off the ones worn by the Lady with Squirrel by Montemezzano. The roll bears one of our favour pins at centre. The remaining decorations came from long-stashed stuff; the wool was scored at one of Southron Gaard's beggar markets.

The accompanying veil is silk chiffon, chosen for its sheerness and drape. The edges were stabilised with starch; Master William de Wyk demonstrated how to extract starch by heavily kneading a flour and water dough, then washing the starch out of it; that makes a clearer solution than the common approach of boiling cornflour and water. Ironing a starch-dampened edge onto brown paper made it a lot easier to cut a straight line and to press a fold into this most uncooperative fabric.

Caterina Cornaro paintings:

Another Bellini depiction of Caterina (far left) wearing the same roll:

PGC2019 Mistress katherine kerr's bracelets


My father spent much of his life in Europe, as a member of the Scots Guard at the French court, then as a hired soldier and engineer-trader in Italy. I found this string of Baltic amber chips in his coffer after he died and had them made into bracelets. 

I had a very long string of Baltic amber chips waiting for a suitable project. I don't play Viking so didn't expect to use them, but a mention of amber bracelets in Shakespeare has inspired me into action. So I have strung on silk groups of the chips interspersed with freshwater pearls; this is a common style for the 16C in both Venice and Scotland. Bracelets were generally worn in matching sets, so I made two for me; an additional one was a tad long so it has been donated to Baronial largesse.

PGC2019 Mistress katherine kerr's bond of manrent, and amendments



The Bond of Manrent between Sir Radbot and me has been extended with an addendum to hold force unto May Crown ASLV. I have been recording Sir Radbot's tournament wins and losses at both Crown events and the Baronial monthly wappenshaws. To that I have  attached some momentos of the Rose Tourneys he has entered.

The on-going record of Sir Radbot's tournament standings, and any subsequent honours, is being recorded in the form of an Elizabethan-style jousting cheque, partially in Latin. The script is a secretary hand with sepia (squid-derived) ink using a dip pen.

I had surmised that period contracts would have extensions and assumed these would be cut and sealed onto the originals or sewn together; I have seen examples of manorial accounts and correspondence tied together for archving. More recently I came across an example of parchment and paper amendments sewn to an original indentured deed of conveyance concerning the sale of land in Stratford in 1611. 

Bargain and sale deed:

PGC2019 Mistress katherine kerr's pennants


It is important, when taking to the field in a tournament for the Crown, that people know who is contesting. These pennants identify my contract with Sir Radbot von Borg, bearing our arms and a shared sigil.

Matching heraldic pennants for tourney display have been upgraded from the vinyl stick-on rats we used at May Crown! Painted flags and pennants were commissionable items, as Cennini mentions in The Craftsman's Handbook. The cats are modelled on the 12-14C manuscript marginalia we used on our large tourney banner; the rat-chasing-cat-chasing-rat motif comes from a 1610 emblem book by Sebastián de Covarrubias Horozco, representing a world turned topsy-turvey:

Anda agora el mundo tal
que no se cual va tras cual

It’s upside-down!
Now, who can say
Who’s the chaser
And who the prey?

I prefer to think of a contemporaneous adage which warned that "when the cat and the rat join forces, the farmer should beware!"

PGC2019: Mistress katherine kerr's gifts to her consort





I have promised to be a generous consort to Sir Radbot von Borg and, on learning that he lacked suitable items to bring to table, I have begun work to rectify that.

I made a ratbag and ratkerchief, to go with a feast kit set (rat-marked market wallet, trencher, cutlery roll, bag and napkin) I presented to Sir Radbot at Coronation. The kerchief is of linen with a simple lace edging; the bag is linen with ties in his livery colours. Both bear an embroidered rat as a charge from Sir Radbot's arms.

Sunday 11 August 2019

PGC2019 Baronial Challenge

Nice Little Touches:the Southron Gaard “Persona Gubbins*” A&S Challenge

“The object of art is to give life a shape.”


We know that sometimes people find it hard to “use” their persona at events, or to make their persona relevant to their SCA “game play”.  In this challenge we invite you to use your persona (or someone else’s) to investigate that persona’s world, in order to create small items that you might carry to or use at events to enhance our SCA “game”.



*Gubbins, meaning small items, easily picked up and carried about (mid-16th century word, from the obsolete gobbon ‘piece, slice, gob’, from Old French; probably related to gobbet).  Not to be used in connection with live small animals.

Thanks to Shakespeare and others for the quotes used here throughout.



This Challenge is brought to you by Meisterin Christian Baier, Baroness Isabel Maria del Aguila, Lady Amabillia Threxton, under the gracious patronage of Her Excellency Baroness Ginevra.



We would like to thank Lady Cecily for the inspiration of her excellent and amusing A&S Pentathlon upon which we have shamelessly, but with permission, borrowed.

We would like to thank those Southron Gaard Laurels who have kindly offered to sponsor small prizes or tokens.

The Challenge:


What to enter:
You may enter the challenge by completing one (or more) small objects or items from the categories below.  New category added - scroll down for details
"Small" may be defined as you choose, and may include "medium", "large", and "gosh, look at the size of that thing" projects.
Entries should be new projects (i.e. not entered in previous competitions/challenges).
All items should be for use at an SCA event.
Items may be for your persona, or for the persona of the person for whom the item is intended.

Who can enter: Anyone!

Entries are welcomed from adults, children and youth. 

For any who are not members of the populace of Southron Gaard, please note that her Excellency has decided this Challenge is also open to entry from those not resident in our fair Barony, as it is not your fault that you are so disadvantaged.

Items may be made or performed by an individual, or by a group. 



How to enter:

Submit the following information to aandschallenge@sg.sca.org.nz

1) a photograph of the item, and

2) a few brief notes about the item and the persona that inspired it.  
OR 

You might find the form below useful as to suggested content of those notes.  
The form can be found here, as a google form, or requested via the above email address, or from the August 2019 edition of From the Tower https://sg.sca.org.nz/docs/ftt/
Formal documentation is not required, but is welcome (because we’re all curious people who want to read it).

Child and youth entries should be entered with assistance of parents.


When to enter: Enter now!
All projects must be completed by Baronial Anniversary 2020 Midwinter 2020.  Challenge Extended



Your recognition: All entrants will be awarded a special token at Baronial Anniversary 2020. 

Those entrants who complete three projects, and those who complete five projects, from at least two distinct categories listed below, will receive an additional token. 

Some of our local Southron Gaard Laurels have generously offered to award small prizes or tokens to the entry of their choice.

Categories:



1. Do you think because you are virtuous, that there shall be no more cakes and ale?

An item of food or drink your persona may have grown, prepared, consumed, or known of.



2. With silken coats, and caps, and golden rings, with ruffs, and cuffs, and farthingales, and things.

A garment your persona may have worn.



3. When I am forgotten, as I shall be, and sleep in dull cold marble, … Say, I taught thee.

The teaching or sharing of knowledge or skills that your persona would have had, for example, classes, published articles etc.



4. With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery.

An accessory your persona may have owned, made, used, or gifted.



5. All the world‘s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.

A performance of a persona-appropriate piece (song, poem, play, saga, tale, dance, etc); formal or informal, individual or group.



6. What revels are in hand? Is there no play, To ease the anguish of a torturing hour?

Games, toys, and other such entertainments.



7. 'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling and a rich.

Items your persona may have had in their home: housewares, furniture, feast gear, table wear, lighting, and such like.



8. This is the excellent foppery of the world

Develop a repertoire of vernacular language, appropriate to your persona, for use at events, e.g. oratory, witticism, oaths, braggery, vernacular phrases, boasts, etc.



9. To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet,…

At your toilette: hairstyling, make up, beauty products, skincare, ointments, unguents, perfumes, etc.  Also items associated with bathing, cleanliness, etc: e.g. soaps, cleaning tools or products, laundering, etc for people, houses, livestock etc.



10. Is this a dagger I see before me?

Items for self-defence or martial activities.

11. Get thee to a nunnery

Religious or spiritual items, e.g. momento mori, devotional items, etc.



12. A garish flag, to be the aim of every dangerous shot.

An item of heraldic display.



13. Throw physic to the dogs; I’ll have none of it.

Items associated with health, medicine, or wellbeing.



14. I do remember an apothecary…

And in his needy shop a tortoise hung,

An alligator stuff'd, and other skins

Of ill-shaped fishes; and about his shelves

A beggarly account of empty boxes,

Green earthen pots, bladders and musty seeds,

Remnants of packthread and old cakes of roses,

Were thinly scatter'd to make up a show.

An item used in an occupation, trade, or task, e.g. a tool, equipment, etc.



15. I'll note you in my book of memory

A written item or document of some kind, e.g. a letter, a piece of calligraphy and illumination, etc.

In particular, we would also encourage you to put together your own commonplace book or similar item relevant to your persona (a commonplace book is a collection of notable extracts from other works, and everyday handy knowledge for your personal use at events e.g. song lyrics, game instructions, recipes to share, etc).

16. Sweet are the uses of adversity”    NEW CATEGORY
Research or practice an art, craft or past time that your persona might have undertaken whilst whiling away a siege (or plague).  (Please note that we cannot support the mis-use of live chickens as a plague cure (probable true story)).


Southron Gaard “Persona Gubbins” Arts and Sciences Challenge Entry Form



Name(s) (SCA and/or Mundane): ………………………………………………………………………………...


If Child or Youth Entry (16 years and under), age:……………………………..………



For Child or Youth Entries, I ……………………………………………………………………………….. as guardian, give consent that the details, pictures and/or photos of this entry can be publicly displayed via the Southron Gaard A&S Challenge internet blog (note: personal mundane information will not be published).



Category (number(s)/name(s)): ............................................................................                                

Project (title and/or a brief description of the item)






Materials and techniques (how was the item made and what materials were used)





Persona Inspiration (when and where is the persona from, and how might they have used / experienced this item):



If you are presenting this item as a surprise gift, to avoid spoiling that surprise, please advise the date the gift we can safely publish this item in the blog: 






This was so much fun, I would also like to enter this item in the Southron Gaard Baronial Championship 2020 (please see also the entry criteria for that Championship): 

Yes please! / Not this time thanks