ON THE COVER: In celebration of Pennsic, an aeriel view of Conwy Castle (in Wales) under siege. Drawing by Arden of Icombe (Paul Butler) based on an aeriel photograph of the present Conwy castle and walled town.
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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.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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Editor's GreetingGreetings and Salutations from the Editor!Welcome again to the Ironmonger and hope everybody had a good war! The Ironmonger is 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), August (Summer), November (Fall) and February (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 October 15th or so for the Fall 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). So far I’ve gotten some pretty nice stuff, but more is welcome and needed!
In service,
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BOOK REVIEWSTraditional Icelandic Embroidery, 2nd edition. Godjónsson, Elsa E. 2003.List Price: $35.00. Selling through the Barnes & Noble site at this time for $28.00. by Lady Prudence the Curious This book is more of a history then a how-to book, yet it still provides some excellent diagrams on how to execute historical embroidery stitches. The focus of the book is reviewing extent historical embroideries that were created in Iceland. The author has done extensive research on the subject and shares her knowledge on these embellished textiles that survive from the 15th century through the 19th century. She provides details on all of the still existing medieval embroideries and on most of the post-reformation embroideries. There are only a couple score of historical embroideries that were created in Iceland still in existence; through this book a reader will discover the present location, materials of creation, size of the item, and techniques used to create them. The only drawback is she tends to write about these items in an overview manner, grouped together by embroidery technique. To figure out exactly what materials, what colors and what techniques were used on each item, one has to go through a chapter and take extensive notes to reassemble the details on an individual item. Fortunately there is always less then a score of embroideries for each technique. If you are interested in the scholarly dissertation of each item and can read Icelandic, the author has published a number of articles covering the individual items she has studied; it is from this body of work, which is listed in the bibliography, that she has created this book for the general public. About half the book, illustrations and text, deal with information from SCA period. The best part of the book is the fifteen illustrations from eleven little-seen extent embroideries in beautiful color and focus. There are more illustrations than these, but only the fifteen mentioned deal with the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the back are twenty-four pages of designs the author has created based on historical embroideries. Unfortunately only one of them is from the SCA period, and it is for a piece not covered in the book. For SCA purposes, this book gives a good overview of the embroidery in Iceland, though not a clear progress from one embroidery and time period to the next. Overall the book is for more advanced embroiderers who want to look into the history of embroidery or for those gentles of Icelandic personas. It lacks coherence and detail for deep research, but it is a good start on the topic.
The Medieval Fortress: Castles, Forts and Walled Cities of the Middle Ages. If you are interested in castle history, military architecture, or the development of medieval seige warfare, then you need this book. It is an excellent discussion of the development of military architecture throughout medieval period, from the end of the Roman Empire to the rise of Renaissance (and the end of the castle). Lavish technical drawings give fine details to each castle feature (15 variants of arrow loop for example), and explain pictorially various defensive and architectural features such that anyone could understand them. Black and white photography supplements the drawings, showing the existing structures in situ. The book has five chapters and several appendices. The first section goes through the elements and definitions of fortications to establish a vocabulary to discuss development. The second section discusses different approaches to fortification in different parts of Europe in the early middle ages, including especially the oft-neglected eastern European regions. The third section presents the emerging castle and fortified city in the high middle ages, again through a large geography. The fourth section details the fall of the castle, especially to gunpower, including some specific examples (Constantinople and Rhodes). The final section is a survey of a large number of castles from all over Europe (East and West) and a several crusader and Near Eastern castles as well, including groundplans, history, photographs, and points of interest. General history, building techniques, seige weapons and some seige warfare techniques are discussed throughout. Appendices include a glossary of terms; names and titles of builders and architects (particularly of interest to heralds and SCAdians); a chronology chart (of seiges and important dates); and a summary of artillery and seige weapons. The text only very cursorily discusses castle life, the feudal system, economics and social organization. It is very much a military history, and approaches the castles almost exclusively from a military point of view (which does miss some of their point), so it is not the final word on the fortress or castle. But at the price, the quality is very exceptional, and the information presented very detailed and informative. The writing is a bit technical and can be a dry read (if read straight through) - this isn’t a rousing adventure or a fireside chat (like say the Gies’ Life in the Medieval Castle), but is a very good secondary source if you are interested in the topic. And what SCAdian isn’t?
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POEMSMy Beloved’s Voice By Lady Prudence the Curious
Merry, I hear my beloved’s voice
Melodious his talking enthralls me
I wish my dear could speak forever
The Archers Brave and Few
O Iron Bog,
First and foremost,
Stout Bowman Goyacle,
Faithful Rob
Good Master Arden,
And last and least,
So join our band,
The Pilgrim’s Quest
Helios now assumes the casque of Mars
To these all-hallowed hills, the sacred plains,
Why come ye here to the Gathering,
Do you follow a sovereign’s call to serve
Would ye seek to transmute all thy substance,
Or muses follow to a scholar’s bench
But as for me, no flag or trumpet call,
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ICELANDIC EMBROIDERYby Lady Prudence the CuriousFrom SCA period, Icelandic embroidery covered a wide range of techniques. The following is a brief overview.
GROUNDS Linen grounds were either white or a yellow-beige. The yellow-beige grounds are not a discolored white, as there is clearly white color threads used in the embroidery done upon the grounds; what the original color of these might have been is unknown but most likely something close to the color they are today – maybe a little brighter in yellow. Wool grounds tended to be in intense colors, such as red or dark blue. It looks as though if the embroiderer wanted a white ground, linen was used, if she wanted a colored ground, wool was used. (Please note that in Icelandic tradition, nearly all embroidery was done by females, hence the use of the female pronoun. pp. 55-62)
THREADS The color of the threads included white, black, blue, light blue, green, and orange as well as the very popular yellow and red. Within each embroidery, there tends to be only one color of red, one color of green, etc. – there is no variation of shades. It is similar to coloring in the lines with crayons from an eight-color box if that helps you visualize the results.
OBJECTS
TECHNIQUES Couching and laid work, called refilsaumur, is one of the earliest forms and continued to present times. A piece from 1450 is fairly unique in that it was done as a single color (gray) thread to create void work on a black wool ground. (pp. 6-7) All other surviving laid work was multi-color with the thread creating the picture. The most popular counted form was pattern darning or skakkaglit. Straight darning, cross-stitch and long-armed cross-stitch were also practiced. These forms were used either individually on an embroidered item or in merry combination. Counted work could also be combined with free embroidery and couched metal threads. Free embroidery stitches included stem, chain, split and long-armed cross stitch. There are a couple of extent embroideries that are executed solely in stem stitch. But in general the rule seemed to be whatever combination provided the results the embroiderer wanted. The Altar frontal from Kalfafell church contains a central figure done in free embroidery with silk and metal thread and the surrounding patterns done in counted form with wool thread. (pp. 24-25) Metal thread embroideries were mostly imported to Iceland, though there are a couple of surviving examples. In general, if metal thread was used, it was only a small portion of the embroidery. One exception is the Altar Curtain at Holar, done nearly completely in couched gold threads. (p. 52) Lacis or Sprang would be done on a knotted net or drawn thread ground. Cloth stitch was used almost exclusively; there are no surviving medieval pieces done in the weaving stitch from Iceland. Please note that lacis is done solely white linen thread on white linen net or drawn thread ground, or ivory on ivory. Colored lacis started in the 17th century. Finally, appliqué and padded work was done in Iceland during the SCA period. One spectacular piece previously mentioned in THREADS was worked on dark blue wool. (pp. 27-28) If you would like to read more about Icelandic embroidery, I would encourage you to read Traditional Icelandic Embroidery, 2nd edition. Gudjónsson, Elsa E. 2003. All page references refer to this book.
THREE DESIGNS FOR LACIS To recreate the piece exactly, you will need knotted linen netting at about 5 ½ squares per inch. The extent piece measures 7 ¼ inches by 10 ¼ inches. The thread used should be linen as well, matching in color and thickness to the netting. The original piece used a cloth stitch (an illustration can be found on page 39 of the book on how to execute this stitch). Please note that period Lacis is always executed white on white or ivory on ivory. If you look at the original, the only surviving bits are a lion, eagle and tree of life with the tree of life being incomplete. But there are bits of diamonds immediately above and to either side of the tree of life. These bits match up to the tree of life. What the full embroidery looked like is anyone’s guess, but I am willing to bet that the vertical and horizontal embroidery diamonds were the tree of life and the balance of the diamonds were a variety of traditional animals seen in Icelandic embroidery. Below are the individual sections as I have charted them out. I have the whole embroidery charted as is, as well as with a continuation of the missing parts of the designs based on what is known. If you would like either of these larger versions or just the network of flowers used to create the diamond frames, please contact me and I will be happy to provide them to you.
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HISTORIAN'S DIGby lady Siobhan inghean ui DhonnabhainIn this modern world we look back at the Kings of Europe and note how the history of each country is linked with the reigns of their Kings. The following is the East Kingdom Roll of Royalty from our very beginnings to the present day. Interesting Factoids: Six-month reigns were not usual practice until Aonghais and Alyson in 1973. Duke Lucan leads the number of reigns served at six, but no Queen has been on the Eastern throne more than four times (Luna). Duchess Diana, Queen of the East for the first time in 1972, is still active today in the Shire of Hartshorndale. In 1972 the Barony of Bhakail had existed nearly a year, and the Shire of Iron Bog was eleven years away from its inception. Atlantia became a principality under King Laeghaire and Queen Ysabeau in 1976. Drachenwald became a principality under King Gavin and Queen Tamera in 1980, and Aethelmearc became a principality in 1989 with King Horic and Queen Lea.
The First King and Queen of the East
Crown: 1968/06/02 in the Cloisters, New York City, NY
Stepped down: 1968/07/21 in Cloves Lake Park, Staten Island, NY From the Ealdormerean Royalty site www.ealdormere.sca.org/scaroyalty (remember, there will be a test!)
Maragorn and Adrienne 07/21/68 AS III
And lastly!
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REGNUM ORIENTALISby Arden of IcombeOriginally written for the Bardic Competition as a salute to the East. The chorus translates as “Kingdom of the East, rising into the sky; Kingdom of the East, rising forever” (punning on the Latin oriens meaning East and Rise). This arrangement includes chords and the four/three part harmony for madrigal style choir, though it has yet to be performed in public that way (no, that isn’t a hint). Free use granted within the SCA.. To hear a midi of the music, click here.
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