ON THE COVER: Reconstruction of the "Baroque Master Carver" Post Headpiece from the
|
|
THE FINE PRINT! This is the Ironmonger, a publication of the Shire of Iron Bog of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. It is not a corporate publication of the SCA and does not delineate SCA policies. All articles are printed in good faith. The Ironmonger is available as a download from the Iron Bog web site [http://www.IronBog.EastKingdom.org] or from the Chronicler, Arden of Icomb (mundanely known as Paul Butler), 681 Haddon Ave., Collingswood, NJ 08108. Questions can be directed by mail, e-mailed to Chronicler@IronBog.EastKingdom.org, or phoned to (856) 869-2890. Submissions may be sent to either the above postal or e-mail address. The current subscription rate is $6.00 for 12 monthly issues; the subscription year runs pro-rated from January to December. Make check or money order payable to "SCA, Inc. - Shire of Iron Bog". Except where otherwise stated, all articles in this publication may be reprinted without special permission in newsletters and other publications of branches of the SCA, Inc., subject to the following conditions:
Unless otherwise stated, all graphics were generated by the Chronicler. Copyright 2004.
|
IN THIS ISSUE
|
Editor's GreetingGreetings and Salutations from the Editor!Welcome to the new Ironmonger. We have shifted format a bit, but still seek to offer the best we might from the Shire of Iron Bog. The Ironmonger is now a quarterly arts and sciences style newsletter, having articles and such relating to the SCA, and showcasing any artwork, poetry, music, stories, research or the like that anyone within the Shire would like to share. The primary means of distribution will be on the web, in both web format and in a printable PDF form. Hardcopies can still be obtained. A hardcopy subscription will be $6 for all four annual issues. If you want to subscribe for hardcopies, please contact Arden (aka Paul Butler) at pbutler@crab.rutgers.edu with your mailing address. Checks should be made out to SCA Shire of Iron Bog and can be brought to the board meeting or sent to my work address below. Anticipated publication times are May (Spring), July (Summer), November (Fall) and January (Winter). But there will be nothing to publish unless we get submissions! While I can fill this publication with my own ramblings and odd research, I'd prefer that it be more than just the Arden newsletter! So with this in mind, submit for the next issue! Research articles about what you are doing, crafting articles about what you are making, poetry, stories, artwork, songs, whatever strikes your fancy. Stuff should reach me by around June 15th or so for the Summer Issue. I can take any form of electronic or hardcopy submissions. Electronic stuff should be sent to my email address at pbutler@crab.rutgers.edu while hardcopy may be sent to my office at Paul Butler, Rutgers Summer Session, 321 Cooper St., Camden, NJ 08102 (since that's where my publication stuff is). Otherwise, welcome to the new 'monger, and enjoy!
In service,
|
The Swordfighter's Bookshelfby Lord Lorenzo Gorla“The history of the sword is the history of humanity.” Richard F. Burton. The Book of the Sword. I’ve begun to wonder if there’s a mandatory reading list for want-to-be sword-fighters playing in our Current Middle Ages. To answer this question, I’ve hit the bookshelves of a handful of fighters to see what’s out there. Training Manuals Thanks to the recent resurgence of interest in medieval and renaissance history and western martial arts, there have been a few manuals re-printed from their primary sources. The historical manuals do more than teach combat technique; they offer a glance into the culture of the combatants themselves. Mark Rector translated Hans Talhoffer’s 15th century fighting manual. It covers several different combat techniques, including swordfighting, pole-arms, and unarmed wrestling. It’s a fabulous look into late-medieval judicial combat, and provides an interesting overview of German-style sword use. In 1892, Sir Alfred Hutton wrote Old Sword-Play, a compilation of notes from various swordfighting manuals from Marozzo (1536) to Angelo’s folio of 1763. It’s a good beginning source of information on various fencing techniques, including two-sword, rapier-and-dagger, and small-sword duelling. A few manuals have been written in the modern age, as well. John Clements (of the Historical Armed Combat Association), wrote both Renaissance Swordsmanship and Medieval Swordsmanship. William E. Wilson (known in the SCA as Barwn Master Gwylym ab Owain, OL, OP, Premier White Scarf of Atenveldt) gave us Arte of Defence: An Introduction to the Use of the Rapier. All three have good historical background, philosophical musings on modern studies in sword-fighting, and practical pictures and diagrams to teach moves and technique. All three are worth keeping on your shelf (reviews will come in future months).. I haven’t found any bound copies of their manuals, but so a search on any powerful search-engine for diGrassi, George Silver, Achille Marozzo, or Henry Sainct Didier, and you’re likely to find at least fragments of their fencing manuals. In my research, I haven’t found many sites that have the complete, translated manuals. (Note: if you happen to find any, please feel free to contact me at lorenzootheduelist@yahoo.com. I’d love to see them.) Do I even have to say that its not a smart idea to practice stuff in these manuals without close supervision? Of course I don’t; you’re bright people. History and Sociology At the end of the 19th century, Sir Alfred Hutton wrote The Sword and the Centuries, a history of notable sword-fights, duels and battles, ranging from “The Age of Chivalry,” to the 19th century. Hutton discusses combat technique, the relevance of arms and armor chosen, and historical significance of many of the duels and battles. Miyamoto Mushahi’s Book of Five Rings was required reading when I was first learning heavy combat. It’s a beautiful study of the art and spirituality of combat. Read it. The Book of the Sword by Richard F. Burton is a fine history of arms across the world, from the supposed origins of bladed weapons, to “the old British swords.” The Book of the Tournament by Brian R. Price, in my opinion, should be required reading for all SCA combatants. It discusses tournament etiquette, displays of heraldry, fighting for a consort, and other areas of SCA battlefield conduct. Its certainly been an inspiration for me in my career as an SCA combatant. Fiction I’m just going to list all the good ones here: The Three Musketeers, Ten Years After, The Man in the Iron Mask by Alexandre Dumas, any of the Fafherd and the Grey Mouser stories by Fritz Leiber, The Song of Roland, Beowulf, Captain Blood, The Sea-Hawk, Scaramouche by Rafael Sabatini. Honorable Mention: The New SCA Fighters Handboke is a little dated, but a good reference to have, as is The Complete Light Weapons Fighter by Wulfe von der Russ. Heck, while you’re at it, check out Nick Hornby’s High Fidelity and The Real Frank Zappa Book by Frank Zappa. They have absolutely nothing to do with the SCA, but are worth reading. Have any good suggestions for book that belong on a sword-fighter’s shelf? How about reviews? Want to refute anything that was in this article? How about a discussion on whether the film adaptation of High Fidelity was any good? Drop us a line at chronicler@ironbog.eastkingdom.org.
|
In Our Fair Landby Lord DuncanWritten for Gwendolyn and David, on the occasion of their departure
In our fair land the evening shadows lengthen,
Yet do we all in one accord engender Duncan
|
Medieval Ships - The Viking Longshipby Arden of IcombeShips and seamanship are some of the more neglected areas of medieval life recreated in the SCA. The reasons could be considered fairly obvious. Ships are very expensive to construct (most modern replicas cost over a million dollars to build and almost as much to maintain), tend to be rather large and therefore difficult to store and transport, and the grand majority of SCA events do not take place at locations where a large ship would be able to be displayed or sailed. Nonetheless they remain an integral and fascinating part of the medieval world, and still worthy of study. My personal interest here is in ships of larger scale and general seaworthiness, rather than smaller boats and rivercraft. Thus, I will present here a yearlong series in four parts, each part covering a "type" ship of the medieval period. These four types will be: the Viking longship, the northern cog/hulk, the southern caravel, and the early full-rigged ship (which combined the best of what went before into what became the standard ship for practically 400 years). The goal here is not to write the ultimate treatise on ships, but just to give people a decent background on the construction, design, and terminology associated with these vessels. Ultimately I'd like to build models of all four to like scale, but realize that might be a bit ambitious for the moment.
THE VIKING LONGSHIP
HOW THEY WERE MADE The body of the ship is constructed in a style of building called "clinker." In more modern ships, a frame a built, and then the side planks are attached to the frames using different methods. The structural stability of the ship comes from the frame, and the "skin" attached to it merely encloses the space and makes it waterproof. In clinker style, the ship is built in reverse, skin inward. The ship is constructed by starting with a long, T-shaped centerboard called a keel, to which are attached at either end two upright boards. In the front this is the stempost, and in the rear the sternpost. The side planks are then added row by row, building out on either side from the keel. Each plank was made by splitting a full tree-trunk into various thinner and thinner pieces, and then the resultant eighths or so flattened by chipping with an axe to thicknesses around one or two inches. Oak was almost exclusively used. As each row of planks, called strakes, were added, the lower edge of the plank overlaps the plank below it. A hole is drilled through both planks using a large awl. An iron nail (rather thick - sometimes two or more inches) was then driven through the hole, point inward. A metal washer called a rove was then inserted over the nail point inside the ship, and the nail point hammered over to clench the two planks together. The strakes, were attached to the stem- and sternposts at each end. The plank ends were scarved together, the opening always pointing sternward soaps not to stress the joint or flood the ship under way. Internal support frames were added as the walls got higher, usually made of naturally curved pieces of wood. These were attached either with "treenails" or wooden pegs, or lashed to cleats at about three foot intervals. In some of the later, larger ships, there were crossbeams that joined the two side frames, especially amidships. The space between strakes was caulked with either animal hair, moss, or wool ropes soaked in tar and pressed between the planks before they were clenched. The number of strakes varied from ship to ship, the more "deep sea" vessels having 12 or more (thus higher walls to deal with rougher seas). The end result is a very lightweight ship with a shallow draft (how low it rides in the water). The overlapping strakes cause the ship to ride up the faster it goes, sort of like a modern hydrofoil though not as extreme, meaning that it creates less drag in the water. The lack of a rigid internal frame meant that the hull was slightly flexible, allowing it to take blows or rough seas better, and also allowing it to flex to create less turbulence as it moved. The shallow draft allowed even rather large ships to be sailed up shallow rivers or literally right up onto beaches. The iron nails tended to rust quickly, especially in seawater, and had to be replaced regularly, but otherwise the structure was quite sound. (see fig.2)
Originally all Viking boats were rowed. The top strake, called the gunwale, had oarlocks attached to its top. These were triangular shaped chunks of wood which had either a notch or a hole through them to accommodate the oar. These were spaced about every three or four feet. A specialized attachment was made for the rudder, which was a large flattened oar that was lashed to the right side of the ship. This steerboard (styri in old Norse) is remembered in the modern term for the right side of the ship, starboard. You didn't dock on the same side as the steerboard, as it would ram the dock, so the docking side was to the left, or "port" - where you ported, thus that modern term. There were ten to as many as thirty rowers to a side of the ship, and it could be propelled quite swiftly by oar. However, this meant shorter journeys, as the men did tire, and tired oarsmen made bad raiders. Sometime around the 7th century, the longship developed real sail and deep ocean capability. This resulted in a couple of changes and improvements. The strake at the waterline became more of an L shape in cross section, and became thicker and stronger. The crossbeams acquired "knees" that supported and strengthened them against the walls, and became more bench-like. The walls got higher. The oars were no longer attached to the top of the gunwale, but passed through holes in it - holes that could be closed over when the ship was under sail. Two or more strakes called freeboards were added above the oars to ward off rougher seas. The keel got deeper, and the hull got a more pronounced V shape in cross-section. The keelson, a large wooden support piece was added to the keel slightly forward of amidships. In some of the larger ships this could get quite large - in being 12-15 feet long. The keelson acted as the primary support for the mast. There was a single mast. It was wedged into the keelson, and supported by a "mastpartner" block attached to the adjacent crossbeam. The mast could be lowered under rowing or harsh conditions. It had a single sail made of oiled wool supported from a single top yard (the crosspiece that supports the sail). Rigging was kept very simple. The "standing rigging" or the rigging that structurally held the mast and yard together, consisted only a couple of stays. The forestay ran from the stempost to the top of the mast and kept it from tipping back. The backstays ran from the top of the mast to the gunwales at some point behind the mast. A pair of halyards lifted the yard, running from the yard through a hole at the top of the mast and down to cleats at the keelson. The shrouds run from the ends of the mast to the sides of the ship and support the mast side to side. The "running rigging" refers to the ropes that control the movement of the sail while the ship is under way. Also very simple on a Viking ship, these only consisted of a pair of sheets, which run from the bottom corners of the sail to rearward, and a pair of tacks which run from the bottom corners of the sail forward. There also were stetings, which ran from the yard corners fore and aft to control the angle of the yard arm. Ropes were made either from walrus hide or hemp. The sail itself was either rectangular or trapezoidal, and could be quite large, almost the length of the ship in width and at least half its length in height. It was woven out of fine wool cloth with the oils of the sheep left in to help preserve it against the damp, which still would have made it extraordinarily heavy by later canvas sails.
THE EVIDENCE The earliest true Viking ship is the Nydam boat, a oared ship dating from the early 4th century from Jutland found in the 1860's. Size was fairly large: 77 feet long, little over 12 feet wide (referred to as "beam"), with a midship depth of just under four feet. It had no mast, only five strakes, and fifteen oars to a side. There is some evidence that there was some planking in the center of the ship with four poles surrounding it, the holes in the poles suggesting that it might have supported a tent-like covering, but the remnants are still under debate. The ship's rather complete remains are in the Schleswig-Holstein Landesmuseum. Next is a find from 1939 England in the Anglo-Saxon burial mounds near Sutton Hoo. The large Mound 1 yielded a clean impression of a large ship just under 88 feet long with a beam of just under 15 feet (though it may have been flattened a bit in the burial). The wood had long since rotted away, and the iron nails were mostly rust marks, but the density of the sandy soil had made a clean cast of the ship, and its "mold" could be clearly made out in the burial mound. This one had nine strakes, and between 28-40 rowers (depending on whether there were supposed to be rowers amidships, where the burial chamber was laid). There was no evidence of a mast, and it is thought that the ship might have been built specifically for the burial. The effects of WWII training on the Sutton Hoo region have erased what remained of the ship save a few surviving iron scraps. Two of the most spectacular Viking ships surviving to today were from burial mounds found only a few miles apart. The Oseberg ship, dating from the early 9th century, was excavated in 1904 near the Oslo Fjord. The blue clay of the area perfectly preserved entire burial of the Viking Queen Aasa, including a wealth of wooden objects (including the staff head on the cover of this issue). By tree-ring dating, the ship had been built about twenty years before being buried, and had been repaired just before burial. Some have suggested that it might have been the royal yacht of the queen, buried with her along with the carriage and several horse-drawn sleds found in the mound. The ship was remarkably preserved in fine detail, about 72 feet long, 17 feet in beam and over five feet deep. Broader and deeper than the previous boats, she has twelve strakes and fifteen oar ports per side. There was a solid keelson and mastpartner set fairly far forward, but the mast itself was not found. The slightly larger Gokstad ship, dating from the very late 9th century, was found nearby at the turn of the century. Also very well preserved, she was 78 feet long, 17 feet in the beam, with a depth of seven feet. The hull had sixteen strakes, two above the oarports. There were sixteen oarports to a side, each with surviving lids! Again the mast settle was present, this time much more closely amidships, but the mast itself was not present. Both ships have been restored excellently and can be found in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo, along with the more fragmentary Tune ship. In addition to the burial mound ships, several ships have been found sunken in Roskilde Fjord in Skuldelev, apparently deliberately sunk to block the entrance. These 11th century ships are more differentiated than their predecessors. The two warships (one over 90 feet) were very long and narrow, while the three merchant vessels were significantly broader in beam and had no oarports. All were equipped with a single mast. The smaller of the two warships had been extensively repaired, suggesting it had been around for a while. The larger interestingly had been built with wood from Ireland. Their remnants (less complete than the Oseberg and Gokstad ships) are also in the Viking Ship Museum in Oslo. Our spare knowledge of the mast configuration of the Viking vessels comes mostly from illustrations of the time, found on stone monuments, manuscript illustrations, coinage, and even some tapestry pieces. All indicate a single rectangular sail mounted with minimal rigging on a single mast, which seems to match the hull evidence we do have. Textual descriptions do mention even larger ships. The Long Serpent of 1000 AD was said to have had 34 pairs of oars, which spacing them at a close 3 ft between rowers, give a minimum length of over 120 feet. Cnut's largest warship had supposedly 60 pair of oars, suggesting a length over 220 feet (assuming proportions similar to Gokstad), though this was probably an exaggeration. However King Alfred mentions in his fleet ships with 60 pairs of oars to turn back the Viking fleet, so perhaps they did exist. No specific finds have been found that large, but that does not rule out there existence.
MODERN RECONSTRUCTIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
|
DAWN SONGby Arden of IcombeIn going through the troubador and trouvere music lately with some of the Branslers and my wife, I came across this wonderful little poem. It falls in the tradition of dawn songs, as the lovers are lamenting having to leave one another as the dawn comes, and promising to be true and to return. It was a fairly common motif in the courtly love poetry and prose, and continued on even into such favorites as Romeo and Juliet. This particular song did not have any surviving music, so I wrote some in early polyphonic form that seemed appropriate to it. The sheet music is below.
To hear a midi of the music, click here.
DAWN SONG
A knight beside his sweet desire
Sweet, if day and dawn for ever
Sweet, be sure there is no smarting
Sweet, I go but leave thee knowing
Sweet, without you death would find me,
|
