PGC2019: Meisterin Christian's Festa de Natale, Late 16th C Italian feast

Not just an item of food or drink your persona may have grown, prepared, consumed, or known of, Meistern Christian has entered a whole feast in the category "Do you think because you are virtuous, that there shall be no more cakes and ale?"

Final course on the sideboard
Photo by Isabel Maria

Persona period inspiration and use:

A friend wanted to host a Christmas event with a meal (Southron Gaard, Festa de Natale, December 2018).  He wanted a menu suitable for his Lady’s persona, i.e. late 1570’s Italian noblewoman.  I chose to follow Scappi, a chef to various cardinals and pope’s, whose Opera dell'arte del cucinare was published in 1570.

I used Scappi’s recipes and menus to construct a feasibly accurate light summer celebration meal for Italy in the 1570’s.

Design, Materials and Construction:

I reviewed all the translated menus from Scappi I could find, and established the appropriate number of courses and dishes for a light feast.  I reviewed the dishes on those menus, and arranged them as to the appropriate course in which they should appear (certain dishes appear only in certain courses).  From those lists I selected a long list of the dishes I preferred.  Christmas in Italy is obviously not in summer, so some flexibility was necessary in selecting recipes from both the summer and December menus.

Roast pork tenderloin presented
before being carved by Sir Tycho
Photo by Isabel Maria

I then narrowed down the long list of recipes balancing an authentic light Scappi summer menu with the modern constraints / considerations of the event: a menu of light dishes and salads appropriate for a warm summer evening, a balanced menu (for modern tastes), recipes I liked, available seasonal produce, preparation time and cooking facilities, recipes with a nod to Christmas (period or modern Christmas) and keeping a low ticket price in mind.


Here is the menu from the feast:

Primo servitio di credenza (First service from the sideboard):

• Uva fresca di piu sorte (Fresh grapes of various sorts)
• Formaggio (Cheese)
• Olive di piu sorte (Olives of various sorts)
• Insalata di citrioli et cipollette (Cucumber and onion salad)
• Insalate di cedro tagliate in fettoline, servite con zuccaro, sale & acqua rosa (Orange salad with sugar, salt, and rosewater)
• Prosciutto cotto in vino, tagliata, servitto freddo (Ham cooked in red wine, with a dressing of capers, currants, sugar, vinegar)
• Amaretti (Almond cookies)
• Pane con buttiro (Bread butter)

Primo et ultimo servito di cucina (First and last service from the kitchen)

• Polli arrostite (Roast chicken)
• Il lomboletto di porco domstico in piu modi (Roast pork tenderloin)
• Mostardo amabile (Sweet mustard)
• Sapore vino di melangranate (Pomegranate wine sauce)
• Minestra di tagliatelle (A thick soup of Tagliatelle)
• Bolognese tourte ((for vegetarians) Cheese and chard tart)
• Cuocere Broccoli asciutti et cauli (Broccoli and cauliflower with sour orange juice, oil and garlic)
• Insalata di misto (Mixed salad)

Secondo et ultimo servitio di credenza (Second and last service from the sideboard):

A closer look at the final course
Photo by Isabel Maria

• Mele et pere crudo di piu sorte (Raw pears and apples)
• Formaggio (Cheese)
• Grani di melegranate et Fragole (Pomegranate seeds and strawberries)
• Mandole (Almonds)
• Neve di latte(A dish of Snow)
• Per fare pizza a un’altro modo (A dried fruit tart: pastry)
• Ciambelle (Italian cookies)
• Gelo di cotogne (Quince paste)

Here is a link to an article in FTT with some recipes from the event: https://sg.lochac.sca.org/docs/ftt/FTT-2019-06.pdf

Final course from the sideboard. Photo by Isabel Maria del Aguila

Reference:

The Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi (1570): L'arte et prudenza d'un maestro cuoco (The Art and Craft of a Master Cook), Lorenzo Da Ponte Italian Library, University of Toronto Press, 2011, Terence Scully.

PGC2019: Meisterin Christian Baier's Double Dolphins Brustfleck

As a companion piece to the "M&M" dress, Meisterin Christian enters a beaded brustfleck as an accessory her persona may have owned, made, used, or gifted in the category “With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery.”

Persona period inspiration and use:

Christian is a woman of the court in early 16th C Saxony.  Clothing of women of this court are recorded in art of the time, most notably (but not exclusively) in the portraits of Lucas Cranach.
The Brustfleck (Breast piece) or Brusttuch (Breast cloth) is the decorated piece that covered the front openings of clothing, over the linen layer, found in many styles, in early to mid 16thC German women’s clothing, including the clothing of Saxony.

Brustflecks for Saxon court gowns of this period are generally made from brocade and are variously decorated with slashing, pearls, and embroidery.  Pearl embroidery could be in geometric or floral/pictorial designs.

Christian has a number of brustflecks, but not a floral/pictorial one.  I’ve been meaning to do one of these for ages, but I’m fairly inexpert at embroidery, and there were times in the past where obtaining small real pearls was difficult and expensive. This brustfleck was made for the M&M dress (one of the illustrated dresses has a floral/pictorial brustfleck, while the other has a geometric design).

Design, Materials and Construction:

Design: the particular design here is copied from the dress of Emilia in Lucas Cranach the Elder’s portrait of Sibylla, Emilia and Sidonia of Saxony, 1535.  This is a fairly common design, with scrolling flowers and two heraldic dolphins.  I am a member of the Order of the Dolphin of Caid, in fact I received two Dolphins, so this design seemed appropriate.

Materials: the Brustfleck is from made from a gold metal thread and black silk brocade (matching that of the dress guards), interlined with linen canvas, and is lined with fine linen.

Construction: the brocade was interlined with canvas.  The design was simplified and modified to fit the size of the brustfleck and the available pearls.  The design was transferred to the fabric, the embroidery is done in several sizes and shapes of freshwater pearls, and outlined in fine gold cord.  The whole was then lined with linen.

Reference:

• A number of brustflecks (and their value) are recorded in wills are included in Textiler Hausrat, Kleidung und Textilien von Nurnberg, 1500 – 1650 by Jutta Zander-Seidel, pages 149-150.
• Portrait of Sibylla, Emilia and Sidonia of Saxony, 1535, Lucas Cranach the Elder.
• Illustration of Maria and Margarete in the Saxony Stammbuch: Das Sächsische Stammbuch 1546, http://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/56803/1/cache.off

PGC2019: Meisterin Christian Baier's "M&M" dress

Meisterin Christian enters her stunning gown into the category “With silken coats, and caps, and golden rings, with ruffs, and cuffs, and farthingales, and things.”  She describes the garment her persona would have worn:

Persona period inspiration and use:

Christian is a woman of the court in early 16th C Saxony.  Clothing of women of this court are recorded in art of the time, most notably in the portraits of Lucas Cranach.

I had intended to make this gown originally for Midwinter Coronation in Cluain in 2017, but my modern work commitments became overwhelming and I did not get the dress finished at that time.  The gown then spent time in the “naughty corner” waiting on another event for which a velvet, high-necked court gown would be appropriate, which presented itself in the shape of Midwinter Coronation 2019 in Southron Gaard.  I had completed the bodice and skirt of the gown, so it was a fairly small job to assemble those, attach the fastenings, and make the brustfleck.  Sadly I was enjoying that event too much to get photographs, but I am told the play of firelight across the velvet and silk was lovely.

The dress is nicknamed the “M &M” dress, not only because the design comes from an illustration of ‘Maria and Margareta’, but also because there are 413 (or perhaps more) individual pattern pieces for the dress across the fabric, interlining, and lining.  (Why a nickname?  I have quite a few black and gold Saxon gowns, so it’s useful to have an easy way to identify each.)

The dress design comes from an illustration of Maria and Margareta, daughters of John the Steadfast, Elector of Saxony in the Das Sächsische Stammbuch (the Saxon family / friendship book) of 1546, in the Dresden archives, which features drawings of the extended families of the Dukes of Saxony and their ancestors.

The dowry of Magdalene of Saxony (daughter of Duke George the Bearded of Saxony, and his wife Elizabeth) from her wedding to Joachim Hektor II, the Margrave of Brandenburg (heir to the Electorate) in 1524 lists approximately two dozen gowns. As a peer of the realm, this seems like a useful sized wardrobe for Christian!  Magdalene’s dowry includes gowns of velvet and silk brocade, trimmed with pearls, similar to the M&M gown.

Design, Materials and Construction:

Design: the design is taken directly from the Stammbuch illustration of Maria and Margareta, although with the cuffs of one dress and the brustfleck design of the other.  The dresses in the Stammbuch are similar to Saxon court gowns seen in other portraits of this period, so can be assumed to be an accurate representation of clothing of noble women of the period.

Materials and construction: the gown is made of a natural fibre high quality velvet, which is about as close to period velvets as it is possible to get at an affordable price.  Of course the joke is on me, because the pile is very thick, which makes it fiddly to sew (hence the “naughty corner”).  The brocade is gold metal thread and black silk in a traditional brocade design.  The gown is interlined with linen canvas, and lined in linen.

Reference:

• 1526 Nürnberg wedding record:  H. Doege, "Das von Questzische Hochzeistbüchlein, 1526”, Waffen und Kostümkunde, 1922.  Also see Schulordnungen, schulbücher, und pädagogische miscellaneen aus den landen deutscher zunge: Im auftrage der Gesellschaft für deutsche erziehungs- und schulgeschichte, Band 34.  Translated here.
• Saxony Stammbuch: Das Sächsische Stammbuch 1546, http://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/56803/1/cache.off

PGC2019: Mistress katherine kerr's Acqua de Lavanda

Under the category of "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, To throw a perfume on the violet", Mistress katherine kerr shares her adventures in the arts of the stillroom.

"A lady of worth should smell sweet, so it is a pleasure to use plants from the garden and spices from the kitchen to make a tisane suitable for my hair, my face and my linens.

I like having a nice-smelling spray when I'm ironing my linen garb, but the recipes for Queen of Hungary Water always seem chockful of ingredients. As a starter, I decided to try Acqua de Lavenda, from Gioventura Rosetti's Notandissimi Secreti de l'Arte Profumatoria , a book of 30 cosmetic recipes published in Venice in 1555.

I poured 2/3C of acqua vitae (in this case plain vodka) over 1/2C of dried lavender flowers from my garden, and let the mix steep in a screw-top jar for three days. (Countdown had jars with my KK sigil on them!)

To the resulting dark brown solution, I then added 1/4C of rosewater, 3 sticks of cinnamon and 6 cloves. Rosetti has the liquid distilled in an alembic, which I didn't have. So I sealed the jar tightly and placed it in a pot of gently simmering water for around 15 minutes.

The jar's metal lid showed a pleasingly indented form, indicating it was sealed with a partial vacuum. From there it went into a dark cupboard for four weeks for more steepage.

The mess was strained to remove the soggy lavender and spices, producing a dark honey-coloured tincture. The scent is on the spicey, rather than lavendery side, much to my approval. I look forward to trying it as a hair rinse or ironing spray -- probably diluted with water 1:3 or 1:4 times, as seen in the smaller bottle.

I now have a jar of Queen of Hungary Water currently steeping away in the cupboard , but I think the liquid to plant matter ratio may be wrong. I'll know in a couple of weeks."

PGC2019: Mistress katherine kerr's Torse and Lambrequin (Mantling)

Mistress katherine kerr's latest entry falls into the category of "Is this a dagger I see before me?"

In her words:

"I felt it my duty to help my consort present a good-looking corpse..er..combatant on the Field of Mars and so decided to make him a torse and matching lambrequin to adorn his helm and make it easier to identify him, alive or dead.

The torse and mantling are commonly depicted in heraldic illustrations, the torse being a twisted roll of fabric holding the billowing drapery of the lambrequin or mantling.

German Wappenbuchs (rolls of arms) show the use of torse and mantling in heraldry; illustrated manuscripts like the Nuremberg Tournament and Parade Album show knights riding into tournaments with torse, mantling and crests.

Album: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/22.229/

Both torse and mantling reflect Sir Radbot's livery colours of argent and sable, with references to his rat charges in the form of a number of small metal rat charms on the torse and rat dagging on the mantling. The torse is a general match to my own consort head roll, and has a long tail of silk, as seen in the Schembert Carnivals."

 Schembert Carnival: https://publicdomainreview.org/collections/radical-fashion-from-the-schembart-carnival-1590/

https://www.lesenluminures.com/artworks/categories/4/9486-p-schembart-ldquo-hiding-beard-rdquo-carnival-book-p-c.-1540-1550/

PGC2019: Master Brian's Spoon

Master Brian's crafty wee spoon and case is entered under two categories: "With scarfs, and fans, and double change of bravery, With amber bracelets, beads, and all this knavery" as well as "'Fore God, you have here a goodly dwelling and a rich".

My persona's parents were Genoese traders.  Once we left the siege of Caffa in 1345, we traded around western Europe.  Accommodation varied a lot and it was handy to have my own cutlery.

  

PGC2019 Baronessa Ginevra's Candle making class

At Firey Knights II, and again at Golden Flight, Baronessa Ginevra taught how to make dipped beeswax candles.

Across most of the period we cover, beeswax is an appropriate and good option for candles.  It casts a brighter, clearer light then rushlights, so you can read or work by it, and it doesn't drip as much as the modern alternatives of paraffin wax or soy.  Dip candles use less wax than some other means of candle production, and are simple to produce - just ask the children who made their own!

(Thanks are due to Ladies Gisla and Vigdis for the photos of their candles, because Ginevra realised she forgot to take any during the classes)