Habit Forming Revisited

My "Woodvylle" hennin for the Fair Lady Aside.

This hennin was hand crafted by Kat of Kat's Hats in the UK. It is a lovely flowerpot hennin made of antique gold colored silk with goldwork and pearls. The edge is lined with black velvet and a lovely silk veil drapes over the wire supports.

The photo doesn't really do it justice, but it just another step closer to the proprely attired lady.

Medieval Cookery

This weekend, we had quite a few people descend on our house for our living history group's second drill of the summer. We've been making an effort to get people to our house or the stable at least once a month to do a group oriented activity that wasn't centered on the museum. So, we've gotten together for group activities for a march in May, and a drill in June and July.

The goal was to get my horse used to men in shiny armour and carrying medieval pole arms (glaives, bills, and spears). Phantom has had minimal close contact with these things and we figured it was about time that she "stepped up"...which she did admirably.

Part two of the Drill, was to be the Grill... and it was going to be medieval food. Yum. Bob and I had started earlier in the week picking through our medieval cookbooks and lighted on a few tasty entrées that would delight the modern palette. That Friday, we went shopping for the big items, but the market where we shopped was lacking some key ingredients: decent asparagus and leeks.

The next day started out with me out the door at 8:30 am on a Saturday to run to the grocery store to pick up a few food items that we didn't have a chance to pick up the day before. Once the grocery run was accomplished, I zipped across the river on a quest for Ale; Belgian Ale of the dessert variety. I was greatly saddened to find that our favorite place to pick up the ale was gone.

Coming round, I called Bob, who had just sat down to brekkers, and delivered the bad news and returned home with the food.

Stashing it in the fridge, Bob and I headed over to the stable to do some paddock cleaning and to say hello to the "babies". This was a quick job and hello, and we returned home to put some spit and polish on the house before our friends arrived.

After the house was tidied, Alex arrived with bread and sausage. He and Bob joined me in the kitchen and we began the prep work on the food. I diced and sliced onions, Alex chopped cabbage and leeks, and Bob whipped up a medieval wine marinade for the beef. I wanted to be sure that all the ingredients were ready when we returned so that we could get the grill started.

So here's the menu from Saturday:

• Redwine marinaded delmonico steaks
• Spiced mushrooms
• Boiled cabbage in a beef broth with leeks
• Boule bread and small rolls
• Imported German beer
• 2 kinds of German sausage (from a local butcher)
• Cheese
• Grapes

While it was on the menu, there was just so much food, that I never got around to cooking it.

• Asparagus with saffron

The food and the company must have been a real hit. We started cooking a 5:45pm and people didn't depart for their homes until 10:45pm.

Books used for this menu:

• The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban, Silvano Serventi, Edward Schneider (translator), ISBN: 0226706850, University of Chicago Press, (2000)
  
• Pleyn Delit: Medieval Cookery for Modern Cooks, Constance Hiatt, Sharon Butler, Brenda Hosingtom, ISBN: 0802076327, University of Toronto Press (1996)
• The Medieval Cookbook, Maggie Black, ISBN: 0500015481, Thames & Hudson (1996)

If you decide to buy any Medieval cookbooks, I will offer a word of caution, do not purchase "Fabulous Feasts", in this bloggers opinion (from experience), the recipes are not very palatable and have no documentation proving that they are medieval.

Two other cookbooks for the offering:

• Early French Cookery: Sources, History, Original Recipes and Modern Adaptations, Eleanor and Terance Scully, ISBN: 0472088777, University of Michigan Press (2002)
• The Original Mediterranean Cuisine: Medieval Recipes for Today, Barbara Santich, ISBN: 155652272X, Chicago Review Press (1996)

Bon appetite!

.

Reading for the 'Medieval' Horsewoman

This is a suggested reading list for those riders interested in historical (a.k.a.-"classical") horsemanship. Whilst several of the books pertain to the topic of 'side saddle', several others are about horsemanship in general or its equipment. There are also other books listed here regarding archaeological finds that are relevant to the rider and the accessories and textiles that might make up a medieval riding habit.

I have included two pattern books. The first, 'The Medieval Tailor's Assistant', with which I have personal experience. It is a good book and the author does a good job of providing contemporary images to back up her pattern designs. One of the caveats is that you will have to know something about sewing, and the making of muslins, and have the ability to tweak the patterns to fit your body. The other issue is that you have to be good at metric conversion or fluent in working with metrics patterns. (If not, try this conversion tool.)

The second is the 'Tudor Tailor' with which I have no practical experience. However, it seems to have very high reviews. I have provided it solely as a jump point for women seeking to ride in a Tudor Habit.

Side Saddle:

• Side-Saddle by Doreen Archer Houblon, London, Country Life (1938)*
• The Saddle of Queens by Lida Fleitmann Bloodgood, J.A. Allen & Company (1959)
• The Fair Lady Aside Her Saddles and Habits by Mary L. Thomas, Private Printing (1993)

* Mrs. Houblon's book has been reprinted, but I have been told that the later editions of this book are missing some key bits of information and that if the reader can obtain a copy of the 1938 printing, that it is the book that they should acquire before later editions.

Artifacts and Archaeology:

• Textiles and Clothing, 1150 - 1450
• Dress Accessories
• Shoes and Pattens

Horses and Horsemanship:

• The Medieval Horse and its Equipment, 1150 - 1450
• Livro da Ensinana de Bem Cavalgar Toda Sela by Dom Duarte, King of Portugal (1438)
• English Adaptation of Bem Cavalgar, by Antonio Franco Preto, (2006)
  

Pattern Books for Medieval and Renaissance Clothing:

• The Medieval Tailor's Assistant by Sarah Thursfield (2001)
  
• The Tudor Tailor by Ninya Mikhaila (2006)

Some of these books are exceptionally hard to find and their prices reflect this fact. I suggest inter-library loan or one of the following book search engines with which I have had tremendous success.

New and Used Book Search Engines:

• AbeBooks.com
• AddAll.com
  

Bon Chance!