Medieval Living

My apologies to regular readers – I’ve been absent due to once again being “whelmed” by life! Oh well – all is good! Daughter is moved into her new house and her youngest has begun the “homeschool” process. Son is back off to college (driving as I write this).
So . . . about Medieval Homeschooling . . . well I know there are some books out and about that discuss education in Medieval times, but my interest today concerns teaching Medieval history to homeschooled children. What’s out there? What has been done already?

My own fledgling organization, Medieval Living, will begin teaching some basic classes around the first of the year. I discovered an interesting blog (the more I read about homeschooling, the more I believe that homeschool parents are all avid bloggers!) where a homeschool parent/teacher had her students construct Medieval History Lapbooks. The author, Dawn, had put together a 10-week Medieval history class, with the lapbooks being the culminating project for each week’s topic. She provides some interesting pictures as well as details of the 10-week course. Some wonderful ideas!!! The photo here is from her blog

I’ve been playing Nine Man Morris online for the past week or two – although my computer opponent continually beats me, I have still enjoyed the challange! So what other Medieval era games are out there? I found an SCAdian’s website which has a very nice list of Medieval games along with their history, directions for play, and descriptions of the required equipment. Baron Modar Neznanich of the Kingdom of Calontir (essentially Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, and Missouri) discusses such games as Alquerque, Fierges, Fox and Geese, Nyout and Tablut just to name a few! So . . . which of these games do YOU enjoy?

A popular board game during the Medieval era is Nine Man Morris. It still has some popularity, especially among SCA types and other Medievalists. However, there are some Morris groups around the world, and you can even play it online. I saw some very interesting board designs online today and am thinking of making one to put on the auction site. Hope I get it done faster then the inkle loom!!! Depends on how fast I get through the “home” projects I have on the to-do list.

Well it certainly took longer than I had originally thought it would, but here it is – my little inkle loom! It is constructed from oak boards and dowels, measuring 16 inches long, 8 inches tall, and 6 inches wide. The loom will produce a usable “inkle” that is 6 feet long and 2 inches wide. I’ve placed on the Merchants Guild auction site but have included some pictures below.
I would appreciate anyone who might want to link the auction site to their blog or website! The linke for the auction is “http://www.merchants-guild.com/auctions/1012889.html” . I will donate all proceeds for the auction to my non-profit organization, Medieval Living.

Thank you in advance for your bids and support!!!

Having studies rapier fighting, I’m always in search of new resources for learning Medieval styles of swordsmanship. One of my favorite web sources is The Association for Renaissance Martial Arts.

On there website, I found a collection of images from the Codex Wallerstein – circa 1470. With nearly 200 images, the codex shows various armed and unarmed techniques. Anyone interested in Medieval martial arts will appreciate this collection of illustations.

Also included is an introduction to the Codex Wallerstein which provides explanations for the images.