Hello yes hi I vanished again! I keep doing that! I think the main problem is that I am just chugging along on a lot of things right now (no, actually, a LOT of things) and I never feel like I have anything in particular to write about. Some of that will probably be detailed at the end of this post.
In the meantime, I finally discovered that there is an SCA Iberia group on Facebook for those of us with Spanish and Portuguese personas! So I joined, and started poking, and Mestressa Beatriz Aluares de la Oya (also known as The Spanish Seamstress) had posted a list of all of the documents she knows of with regards to Spanish clothing in our period. And I got excited, because I only know of a few of them, and I wanted to find more.
So I’m scrolling through the list and something catches my eye because
a) It’s on Cataluña (the northern part of Spain by Barcelona, which is SPECIFICALLY where my persona is supposed to be from) and
b) It’s on 14th Century Cataluña, and as you have probably noticed, I’m on a bit of a 14th C kick at the moment. I’ve mostly been doing generic 14th C, which leans more French than anything else, and I’d like to specifically learn more about Spain.
Unlike a lot of the books on slightly esoteric historical topics this one was not $75 or $150 or $200, but $30, so I figured what the heck. I’ll get the book. I’ll learn something!
Despite the fact that it clearly says on the Book Depository listing that the book is in Catalán, that somehow escaped my notice. So now I have a very good, interesting book, on a topic that I have had trouble finding information about, not in a language I read (although it’s RUSTY as HECK) but in a language I can’t read at all.
I am slowly working my way through it (no, literally, I am trying to do the entire book) typing it into Google Translate and then using my knowledge of Spanish and you know, grammar and sanity, to proofread and edit it.
(Before anyone gets into me– yes, I know there are more efficient ways to do this. My parents have already been on me about that. BUT actually typing it word for word makes me read all of it, and I’m already picking up some words in Catalán, which is pretty cool)
I’m not entirely sure how much of it I’ll be able to share, given copyright, fair use, etc. While I would LOVE to either get this formally published or be able to share the whole thing so that people actually have access to this information in a more global language than the one spoken in the North East of Spain, that seems unlikely. In the meantime I do have the information for my personal use, and I highly recommend this book. If you speak or read Spanish you’ll be able to get the gist of it, although Catalan still has too many freaking ‘x’s.
Here’s a short excerpt on a grave find I’d never heard of:
However, in July 1997, the opening of a tomb in the church of Santa Maria d’Agramunt brought to light a few pieces of clothing from the fourteenth century. Nothing rich in gold, velvet or silk fabrics: linen and cotton. The simple clothes correspond to a boy and a girl buried in the same tomb but at different times. The best preserved clothing corresponds to that of the woman with a cut tunica, a head wrap similar to a turban and the calces (CJ: hose?) or upper half of the left leg with its corresponding lligacama. A part of the cofia (cap) worn by the man is the only garment that remains undamaged by the action of the lime with which the body was covered.
TL:DR: Book! Good book! Get book!
In other news:
The lace for the MOD gloves is in progress (slow progress)
This is an old picture, there’s a fair bit more now. This precious metal thread from Tied to History is gorgeous.
I’ve been recruited to do some sewing for the incoming King and Queen, which is amazing and also terrifying. Trying to reign in my perfectionism on those.
My mom is coming to a couple events! Yay! I’m putting her in 10th C Norse because I can make it quickly and I think it’ll look good on her. There will be a complete post on that at some point– I’m not going for a ton of research on grave finds because I Do Not Need More Things, so we’re just going for SCA standard “vikings.”
Beltane is this weekend and I’m bringing my 14th C kit and probably the avoiding heatstroke dress, since it’s in Cloverdale and supposed to be warm. Then two weeks for sewing and it’s Mists Investiture, which is the first thing I’m taking my mom too. It looks like I might be going to the Known World Costume and Fiber Arts Symposium, which I am very excited about! We’re still working on logistics with that one, and if I can’t make it work I’ll do West-An Tir war, but I’m not going to both.
Not Another Costuming Blog 