Medieval Living

I found an interesting post on the history of Medieval arrows and the “English” longbow. From the Sagittarius Archery Club, this untitled article gives some nice historical references regarding the history and descriptions of the English archer’s equipment. Adding to the discussion by Steven Till, the author of this document seems to concur that the Anglo and Viking armies made little use of the bow as military weapon.

In discussing the English longbow, the article indicates that the commonly held belief that it was of Welsh origins is unfounded . . . that most likely, the longbow was from Scandenavian sources. The dating of the longbow seems to be somewhere in the pre-migration peoples – Celts and Vikings. So . . . if this is the case, I am curious why the Vikings did not make use of the longbow . . . or if they did, why does it not figure more prominently in Viking legend and literature? Looks like an interesting assignment – perhaps someone already has an answer, or perhaps I have misunderstood the information . . . as quoted from the wise old owl from the Tootsie Roll Pop commercial, “Let’s find out!”

Steven Till has a nice article about the history of Anglo-Saxon and Viking archery. I attempted to comment on it at his blog, but was caught in an anti-spam filter . . . seems that my school is a reputed source of spam in the world – hmmm. Anyway, the gist of his article was that the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings both used the bow mostly for hunting; its effectiveness in combat was minimized by the armor of their opponents. It wasn’t until the English longbow that Europeans began using the bow in combat with any degree of success. My comment to Steven was going to mostly be about the parallel development of the bow and its use in combat. For example, during the same era, the Mongolians and their use of the horsebow is well documented, as is the use of the horsebow by the Parthians throughout modern day Iran and Afghanistan. The Japanese also had some military successes with the Yumi until the arrival of the musket, which ended the use of the bow as a viable military weapon.

I enjoyed his article very much and would encourage other intersted readers to see what he has to say. Steven made a comment about the longbow being in a completely seperate discussion . . . so . . . Mr. Till? Is another article coming?

Oops – we have had a slight problem – the location will not be available as planned – due to “insurance” issues. Oh well . . . we will just have to work out some other arrangements. More to follow as soon as I know for sure!!!!!

The chainmail class scheduled for April 21 at the Cherry Hills Library is full! I intended on stopping it at 12 . . . but it grew to 17 before I had any idea!!! That’s ok – we have enough materials for that size of class, but the room at the library will be bursting at the rafters if we add anymore!!! I will schedule another class very soon – I have a new class space in Rio Rancho, so I will make that an option as well. If you are still interested in the chainmail class, send me an email and I will put you on the next list.

scott@medieval-living.com

Thanks for all your interest.

Hey – you can support us by using GoodSearch – a Yahoo! based search engine which sends donations to Medieval Living every time you perform an internet search! Just select Medieval Living (Rio Rancho) and search the web as usual.

GoodSearch.com

THANKS!!!!

As we prepare for summer and our archery program, I want to offer some different thoughts on being “authentic” in our archery activities. Now there is some degree of anachronism here . . . most of our archery shoots for beginners will involve rather traditional equipment: longbow or recurve bow (of manmade materials), cedar arrows with natural feather fletching and crimp-on tip, and a standard target to shoot at. However, we also want to offer some more advanced type activities which accurately reconstruct period equipment . . . bow making, arrow making and fletching, and bowsting making. Today, I’d like to offer a link to a very basic instructional site for making Medieval arrowheads. From a member of the British Federation of Historic Swordplay, is a brief instructional piece, Making Medieval Arrowheads. While rather rudimentary, I think it offers sufficient guidance for a moderately skilled craftsman to be successful at making some arrowheads. In my mind, any time I can make something rather then buy it is a good thing!!! I hope you enjoy!

Soon I hope to have photos of my “board” recurve bow that I have made – just waiting to get around to making the string and then doing a little “tillering” before I put a finish on it and test it on the archery field. I think it will be a good bow – probably between 35 and 40 pounds of pull. I’m also building some more inkle looms for some upcoming classes and fundraising activities, which are taking priority. I will see if I can take some pictures of arrowhead making also, rather then relying on drawings.

Well we’re finally on the map! We have been working very hard up to this point . . . lots of planning and preparing. If today’s inkle loom class is any indication of things to come, Medieval Living has a very bright future!!! The anticipated numbers bounced around over the past weeks, but what really matters is the number of students who participated – in all, we had 12 students, accompanied by 9 or 10 parents. As an educator, one of my concerns is keeping my students engaged . . . I think we succeeded, as students were working up until the last minute to finish their projects. They truly seemed to enjoy their projects and worked very diligently to complete them. As a testimony to that, four looms found their way home with the students!!!

Scott assisting students during the inkle loom class.

During the class, while I was busy working with individual students, my assistant, James, played cheerleader and encourager . . . and also as promoter, encouraging students to come to the chainmail class in April. He also chatted with the students and parents about other upcoming events, including archery, tile making, and additional weaving classes.
In all, I would say that the class went very well. I have had some positive feedback from parents involved, as well as from the students. I was a little concerned, as several of the students were rather young . . . but they did a commendable job on their weaving projects and I think they will take home some new ideas and experiences . . . and that’s what Medieval Living is all about!!!

I want to thank all of the students and their parents for a wonderful class . . . the students were all very well behaved and respectful . . . something I miss seeing in the public schools. Hey, and the parents were well behaved also!!! So . . . happy Saint Patrick’s Day . . . and happy weaving.

Cheers!!!

Added to the list of upcoming classes will be an introduction to the penny whistle. I can play some rudimentary pieces on the little six-hole hollow stick – I learned to play the modern concert flute some years back, so changing over to the penny whistle is rather natural I think. Anyway . . . I thought it appropriate to include some historical information on the penny whistle. Summarizing information from several websites, it appears that the penny whistle (which is also know as tin whistle, fipple flute, flageolet, and feadog stain, to name a few) came to us via China some 5,000 years ago. There is evidence that it was used by the Vikings around the 12th century and is among the artifacts found in archaeological digs around Dublin from that same era.

There are numerous websites and blogs which teach a little about playing the whistle. One that I found quite interesting is tinwhistlelessons.com . . . where not only can you hear songs being played, but you can record yourself playing those songs and then listen to the play back to guage your performance.

For those in the Albuquerque area (or if you’re going to be in town this summer), you might want to check out the Albuquerque Folk Festival, June 18 – 19, 2010. There are numerous musical activities going on, including free lessons and jam sessions, where you can get tips on playing the penny whistle and other folk instruments. It’s a fun event, even if you don’t play an instrument – I would encourage you to check it out!!! I hope to have a few classes taught by then so that our homeschoolers can go to the festival and join in the fun!!!

One of those “down-the-road” classes I’d like to teach is how to make paper. This is simple enough to do, but the several days it takes to dry the newly made sheet of paper precludes using a borrowed facility (like the local library meeting room)! Once Medieval Living has its own facility (whether temporary or permanent doesn’t matter), we can begin running some classes on paper making. It’s a fun project and it has true “cross-curricular” applications.

So how did paper begin? From what I’ve read, we have the Chinese to thank for that! A website from the Saint Louis Community College has a very nice history of paper making. Dr. Neathery Batsell Fuller has posted a “Brief History of Paper”. (I gather from her biographical sketch on her webpage that she is also a member of the SCA!) Her tidy essay includes numberous links and references for anyone wanting to research the history of paper and its various components.

I don’t even have the inkle loom weaving out of the starting block yet and someone starts asking about chainmail classes! Geesh! The date is set for the 21st of April from 3:00 to 5:00 pm at the Cherry Hills Library. I will post that to the homeschool forums – please, feel free to cross-post this information!

So what would I teach these homeschool kiddos? Well I don’t think I will force them into a full hour of cutting rings . . . maybe it would give them a true sense of how much work is involved in getting ready to “weave” mail . . . but I have a hunch that most of them would revolt long before the hour was up. Maybe five minutes at cutting rings will be sufficient. Of course, that means that I will be cutting rings for hours so that I have enough to teach the little darlings. That’s ok . . . I’m a glutton for punishment and I’ve been told that I have more patience then some saints. I probably will start them out with some nice, soft aluminum rings . . . easy to manipulate so as to avoid early frustration. We can move on to some good ol’ galvanized steel 16 guage rings . . . and I’ll have some 14 guage around just in case some of them are feeling like a challenge.

Every young lady should have a European 4-in-1 vest in her wardrobe!!!

As 14th century England is our Medieval focus, I would think European 4-in-1 would be the primary pattern for us to work on. Of course, having a few samples of European 6-in-1 and king’s mail will help to show some of the basic variations, along with a few of the “Japanese” patterns.

So . . . I don’t consider myself a sexist by any means, but I try to be aware of the sensitivities of the young ladies who might be in the class . . . and bending big rings of wire to make some silly armor pieces may not be of much interest. For them, I will offer a few chainmail-inspired jewelry projects to work on. While not Medieval in any shape or form, the projects would still teach the basics of chainmail weaving . . . and they might be alot more fun! Anyone who knows me also knows that I’ve probably produced a few hundered chainmail jewelry items over the years . . . so a few more won’t hurt! Actually, there’s a little gothic shop down the street – I’m hoping to convince them that chainmail jewelry might be something worth having in their display cases – Raven Blackwood. Once I get the first inkle loom class out of the way, I will spend a little more energy making some jewelry and cutting rings for the class. If you’re not doing anything, drop me a line . . . I’ll give you a ring-cutting assignment!!! I’m serious . . . if you’ve ever cut rings, you know what I’m facing . . . any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!

So the homeschoolers made me spend my day in the workshop building more inkle looms. (Darn!) With eight students, it should be a nice sized class – plus moms and dads hanging around. There are now twelve completed practice inkle looms sitting on the dining room table – just a little touch up with some steel wool to polish the urethane coating. The class can grow a couple more before I either have to put a limit to the class size or dash back into the workshop to make more looms.

Although I finished the “home projects” for Betty and Melissa, I never touched the archery bow – just not enough time. Maybe tomorrow afternoon I will head back out to the shop to begin tackling this new endeavor.

We had a brief team meeting – lots on the horizon for Medieval Living! Chainmail classes and more inkle loom and tablet loom weaving classes for April. James is working on archery, arrow making/fletching for June and July. If the bow making works as I am hoping it well, we might add that to the list. Melissa is working on the tile making process so that we can hold classes in May. A fundraising yard-sale probably some time in May or early June (see the Albuquerque Craigslist for more info on that). I am also hoping to get an introduction to tapestry weaving course set up in April or May. And then most of these classes will continue on monthly basis, as long as there is interest. (I’ve already been asked about the chainmail class, so I know some people are getting anxious for some of these offerings!) We are also hoping to start some dialogue with a local charter school – some of the things they are doing with their students may partner well with what we are offering. Yeah, the plate is getting full . . . and I like it that way! We met the challenge of the inkle loom homeschoolers – who else has something to challenge us with? Bring it on!