Category: Newsflash

Posted on by

April 2017 News

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

Posted on by

February 2017 News

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.

 

Feast Day for February

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.

A Medieval Token of Affection for the Feast of St Valentine

Popinjay Badge

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

Posted on by

Christmas Blog

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.

Posted on by

Newsflash – October 2016

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

Posted on by

2016 St Ives Menu – 14th Century

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.

Posted on by

September Newsflash

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

Posted on by

14th Century English Feast Menu

This is an example menu of a 14th Century English (with French and German influences) done for 50 people, and oculd easily have done 100). This feast was held in 2011.

This feast was done in the “messes” style, with 6 to a mess, unless otherwise stated. There were 3 servers/pantlers bringing out the messes to the table. ?Each course had 2 removes (except for first course). As is common in 14th century feasts, the sweet and savoury are mixed between courses (because of the need to balance the humours).

On Table for the entire feast:

  • Fruit; apples, pears, citrus, dried fruit and nuts tray/platter/board
  • Bread, salt, oil, butter?
  • Green salat decorated with flowers

To be refreshed at the end of each course.

R = to be removed

1st course: on table with above. Mess of 8 x 5

1st remove
Sweet/fruit Savoury Vegetarian Sauce
Strawberyes with cr?me wastard (in a pastry shell) Chicken meatballs endored? Mushroom stuffed rolls Garlic and cheese sauce
*gyngre brede on plate with Tourtelete Allows de beef? Iflagun?
Tourteletes in frytour?

 

After first course, remove all dishes except permanents which should be refreshed.

 

2nd course: Mess of 8 x5:

1st remove
Sweet/fruit savoury Vegetarian/grain Sauces
R Applemoy and *biscuit? R Drechouns ? R Gourdes in potage *verde sawse
R Grete pyes Funges? *Iance sawce
Black porray Frumenty?
2nd remove
Sweet/fruit savoury Vegetarian/grain Sauces
Almond cream + Sr Plum preserve pud tartlets Rst boned stuffed joint of kid or Lamb Rstd garlic

 

 Piper?
Eggplant?

 

Complete removal except permanents ?

3rd course:

1st remove
Sweet/fruit Savoury Vegetarian Sauce
Candied walnuts and pine nuts R samon roste in sauce Spinach with, lemon & ricotta R verde sawse
syrosye and *biscuit *Duck liver flans Blamanger *Iance sawce
2nd remove
Sweet/fruit Savoury Vegetarian Sauce
* gyngre brede Citrus chicken?? Slyt soppes n/a
Tart de bray

 

The meal ended here but wafers and hippocras (spiced red wine) would be the traditional finish to the meal.

__________________________________________________

We heavily relied on Brears “Cooking and Dining in Medieval England” for this feast.

If you are interested in attending feasts, check out our guide for attending your first feast.

Posted on by

August Newsflash

Greetings Gentle readers,

Just a brief letter this month; The move into the new warehouse is finally complete and the great unpack has begun. While we are continuing to operate, sadly it is a little slower until the unpacking is finished and we apologise for any inconvenience.

During the interim, why not look through posts on the blog? This is where we have our latest reviews, post interesting and amusing snippets from the past, and links to useful resources and information on the maintenance of gear.

Until next time, we bid you all ? good reading!

Paul, Elden, Loreena and Roxy.

Posted on by

July 2016 Newsflash

Greetings Gentle readers,

Apologies ? a little late this month but we have been moving forward in leaps and bounds. First, the Abbey Stowe festival was a great success. Marvellous weather made for record crowds and great to see so many old friends as well as making so many new. Our new lines debuted and were very well received; they will be appearing on the website shortly.

At the same time, we are also moving into larger premises with all the attendant chaos that comes with any move. If all goes to plan, the new warehouse will have the space to conduct workshops as well as small niche events; but that is in the future. Meanwhile, we are all looking forward to having more space!
The next event for the Mainly Medieval stall will be St Ives Medieval Faire in September. We have also been asked to run a series of lectures on various domestic aspects of medieval life so drop through and have a chat. St Ives is a great event, growing every year and well worth a trip.
Until next time, we bid you all ? good reading!

Paul, Elden, Loreena and Roxy.

Posted on by — 2 Comments

Free Online Resources for Medieval Cooking

While a physical copy of a book is best, sometimes it’s jsut impossible to get your hands on that rare translation.

So here’s a collection of medieval cookbooks online.

Single Books / Translations

 

Forme of Curye

Forme of Curye – Ebook THE 14th century English cookbook.

Menagier de Paris

English translation of Menagier de Paris

I love Menagier de Paris. It’s a story written by an older man for his new young bride. It not only has several very good (and rather plain compared to the fancy dishes often seen) but also talks about basic household stuff – how to remove stains, how to handle the servants, how to tell which fruit is ripe.

 

Collections of Medieval Cookbooks

Medieval Cookery

Medieval Cookery
It’s got several translations of medieval cookbooks with Andalusia, French, Netherlands, Romania, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Russia, England, Italy, Portugal and Spanish texts available (NB: Not everything is translated into English, mostly it’s translated into the modern language)

They also have a statistic page where you can see how many times a food group/item appears in a text to see how common it actually was as an ingredient (for instance with Forme of Currye, fish/seafood is the most common meat at 22% of the 286 receipes while duck is in only 2 or less than 1%), onions are in 15%, salt is in 47% and butter is in just 2%.

Open Hearth Cooking

Open hearth Cooking

3000 vintage Cookbooks

http://www.openculture.com/2016/07/an-archive-of-3000-vintage-cookbooks-lets-you-travel-back-through-culinary-time.html

 

Redactions of Receipes

Roxy’s 20 person lunch – 14th Century
I wrote this document, it’s the receipes I normally use to feed about 20 people for a show event.