Greetings Gentle Readers,
We?re back from Blacktown Medieval Fair and would like to say thank you to all the lovely people who came over to say hello. The event was great fun in a beautiful location and the Blacktown Council crew were as amazing as ever.
It’s a terrible feeling?when you realise that you looked away from your delicious pottage for just a second and now it’s burnt. It’s too late to start another pot, and people are depending on this for their meal. We’ve compiled the list of medieval sources about removing the burnt taste from the pottage here.
The Midwinter cookbook
Assembled and Redacted by Lady Rosalind Beaufort
and Lady Safiya bint al-Shahid
Lady Rosalind and Lady Safiya did an excellent job at Midwinter AS51 and were kind enough to provide their receipes, scaled down to a normal portion serving. Here it is for everyone to enjoy the delicious receipes. The original source has been provided and then a modern redaction of how it was made, making it clear and easy to understand.
Pictures of the Salt dough serviced with the beef, pork and fish at Midwinter AS51
We’ve been offering Beeswax linen covers for pots, cups and jugs for a while now. With the heat of your hand, they can be gently pressed around the container, keeping the inside protected and making it easier for storage and transportation.
Were these extremely handy items a part of medieval life though, or just a ‘re-enactorism’ – one of those things everyone feels is very medieval, without any actual evidence?
We pride ourselves on offering only items which enhance the quality of your re-enactment portrayal and reflect the latest historical research. With no detailed resources available from our supplier, we’ve set out to document waxed linen covers for our readers.
Here are the documented resources that we have so far been able to track down which show what we believe to be linen beeswax covers over the jugs. Any other sources found will be added to this list so that future people don’t need to go nuts trying to track down original extant sources.
Greetings Gentle Readers,
Rowany Festival in Mittagong is only one week away! For those able to attend, we will be setting up our shingle in the kitchen hall on the Saturday market day, from 9.00am to 12.00pm. Pre-orders can be picked up from our stall during this time.
Do come and say hello and check out the latest arrivals we will have available for sale. These include the most recent Compleat Anachronists, the ?B? pendant from Steve Millingham, bejeweled ring brooches and the debut of the Queen of Hungary water 2017 vintage and Gentleman?s beard pomade from Medieval?Still Room.
Easter falling within this month, we suspend our study into appropriate medieval Saints. There is no doubt that this was and remains one of the greater holidays in the Christian world, even if there is a lot more chocolate in the modern world.
Until next time, we bid you good reading!
Loreena, Roxy, Paul and Elden
Greetings Gentle Readers,
Our sincere apologies – January slipped past and February is here. We have been busy rebuilding stocks, placing orders and researching new and interesting products from local Artisans. This year we hope to expand our library of instructional pdfs, as well as book and product reviews and more events.
This month in the medieval calendar one of the many martyrs celebrated is St Valentine on February 14th. Yet mystery still abounds; which St Valentine? There were no less than 3 Valentines martyred and celebrated for their heroic love to their fellow man and all three were celebrated on this date.Nor was the exchange of gifts between couples actually a part of the St Valentines celebration. From literary sources such as Chaucer and the Paston letters, we learn that showing love and affection on this particular date was almost co-incidental, and secular in nature. A common belief held in England and France throughout the period was that birds of every kind, began to pair on February 14th. Thus it was seen as an auspicious day for people to celebrate and show their love.Today we celebrate St Valentine?s day with cards, chocolates and flowers. Flowers and letters of affection also figured largely during the medieval period along with small tokens such as pewter badges depicting hearts, flowers and other symbols of earthly as well as divine love.
Should you wish to show your loved one a lasting token of your affection with something a little different, may we suggest our range of replica medieval pewter pins and badges? Order before Feb 7th and?these tokens will arrive beautifully presented in elegant white packaging, ready for the big day.
Until next time, we bid you good reading!
–Loreena, Roxy, Paul and Elden
Image:?Birds from De Artes Venandi Cum Avibus, Pal. lat. 1071?21v (Sicily, 1240’s) -?http://digi.vatlib.it/view/bav_pal_lat_1071/ Copyright Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana
Beautiful, thoughtful, unusual Christmas gift ideas;
Christmas is upon us with all the joy, excitement and ?perfect gift? search panic that it can create. Let us help you find that perfect gift, and more besides.
A book can bring so much pleasure to the bookworm in your life and we have a wide range; from Medieval Cat?s colouring book, to cooking and brewing recipe books. There are books for every budget including subjects such as gardening and philosophy, all the way to the magnificent leather-bound facsimiles such as In Service to the Duke.
To further help ease the search we have put together a variety of excellent value gift packs, beautifully presented and ready for the Christmas tree. These limited edition collections can be found under ?A Christmas Wish List? and include;
? Deluxe Pamper Pack ? from the lovely ladies at the Medieval Still Room, a sample collection containing the fragrance which graced the Queens of Europe, a velvety balm to indulge the skin, and a clear lip balm as sweet as honey for the lips;
? Dilettante?s Card Game set ? contained within a drawstring bag, a period replica card deck; a pouch containing 12 pewter jettons and a conveniently pouch sized book containing rules for the many popular card games played in period;
? Elegant personal wash set; snugly packed within a drawstring bag, a double sided timber comb, a tablet of nablis soap, and the softest of hand woven cotton white towel, edged with grey bands and fringing;
Please be advised that to ensure orders (within Australia) arrive before Christmas the last shipping date will be Friday the 16th of December. After this date, we cannot guarantee that orders will reach people in time.
From everyone here at Mainly Medieval, we wish you all a joyous festive season, and a safe and prosperous 2017.
Loreena, Roxy, Elden and Paul.
Greetings Gentle Readers,
St Ives has come and gone and October has arrived. Our heartfelt thanks to everyone who visited the shop and attended our lectures at St Ives. We hope you all had a wonderful a time; we certainly enjoyed the event, and look forward very much to going back next year.
With Christmas and the summer heat around the corner, its time to store those woollen finerys for another season. One of our non-period products is a boon for this time of year called Fresh Again, a spray designed for Sports mascots and delicate costumes that cannot be washed.
It?s also heading into the time of year where plans for new projects and research are being settled. In the coming weeks we will be adding a variety of new and classic products to help you in your endeavours along with snippets of useful information as we find them.
This year for Christmas keep your eye out for our new range of sample packs beautifully presented and likely contenders as useful and unusual gifts to loved ones.
Until next time, we bid you good reading!
Loreena, Roxy, Paul and Elden
Louise has generously allowed us to publish the 14th century menu for the 2016 St Ives 14th Century Village.
It’s not an accurate representation of how a 14th Century encampment would eat because it needs to take into consideration modern eating times, and the practicalities of cooking in a camp rather than a castle kitchen. But it did work as an excellent modern mediveal faire menu.
| ? | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday |
| Breakfast | Porridge | Porridge | ||
| ? | Scrambled eggs and ham (G/F) | Scrambled eggs and ham (G/F) | ||
| ? | Bread and honey | Bread and honey | ||
| ? | ||||
| Snacks | Fruit | Fruit | ||
| ? | Almonds | Almonds | ||
| ? | Boiled eggs | Boiled eggs | ||
| ? | ||||
| Lunch | Cold spread | Cold spread | ||
| ? | Chicken meatballs | Leach Lombard with sauce | ||
| ? | Broad beans yfried | Green Poree | ||
| ? | Lamb Ausoerre (Lamb cooked in green sauce) | Gele of Flesh (Chicken Jelly) | ||
| ? | Cheese fritters | Fenkel in Sops | ||
| ? | Salat | Salat | ||
| ? | Tarte in Ymbre day (Onion and Egg Pie) | Tarte in Ymbre day | ||
| ? | Fruit tarts | Fruit tarts | ||
| ? | ||||
| Afternoon snack | Cheese and herb ‘pizza’ | |||
| ? | Leftover cold spread | |||
| ? | ||||
| Dinner | Soup Kitchen: Vegetable soup or Chicken and vegetable soup |
Beef cooked as Venison, served with Frumenty | Pease Pottage | |
| ? | Lentil Pottage, served with pickled vegetables | Pease pottage with ham | ||
| ? | The Castle Subtelty from Forme of Curye with individual sambocade tarts | Applemoy | ||
| ? | Chamber spices | Chamber spices | ||
Louise is a member of Company of the Staple, a Living History 14th Century group which focuses on Calais in 1376. Company of the Staple were the host group of the 14th Century Village at St Ives 2016, and members from Company of the Staple did the majority of kitchen organisation and cooking for this event.
Greetings Gentle Readers,
Spring has arrived! Our thanks to everyone following our blog and facebook ? we love sharing bits of quirky research and interesting links with everyone.
A number of changes have also been implemented to the website, such as the stock lines being offered, along with a bundle of new stock and titles.
Of our home grown suppliers, the Medieval Still Room have increased their offerings of products including a Sleep salve, honey amber, and the 2016 release of the Queen of Hungary Water, and the 2016 Yule tide incense in cone form. Further, the popular clear lip balm is being released in modern lip balm twist tubes as well as the normal containers; so now you can take this gentle medieval lip balm with you everywhere.
Regards older stock lines; unfortunately, we have had to remove belt mounts from our catalogue due to difficulty with supply. Rest assured, we?re doing our best to ensure that orders already made are being completed. Once we can secure a reliable supply we will bring back a range of belt mounts.
Our next upcoming event is St Ives Medieval faire on the 24th and 25th of September. If you are near St Ives or travelling close by it?s well worth a visit, and we will be showcasing our latest products as well as the classics. Please note; for those wanting to collect orders at the Fair, your orders need to be in the by the 10th of September.
Until next time, we bid you good reading!
Loreena, Roxy, Paul and Elden
