Mi Contra Fa

Arnegundis/Kentish Robe 2

I bought silk and linen something like six months ago.  Trying to scrounge up a few more resources to guide putting them together into something before I cut cloth.  I've become rather enamored of the open-fronted Frankish/Kentish robe, which - if it really is held shut with a pin suite - persists into the 7th-early 8th centuries.

SCA-Garb group discussing Arnegunde robe interpretations.  The whole "knee length undertunic" thing is interesting, and as far as I know, based entirely on the assumption that the expensive metal leg garter fittings were meant to be seen.  It's not a bad assumption, but I always think about the reverse of the Tara Brooch in those cases...

Saint-Denis website: "The deceased wore a violet-coloured silk skirt, held in place by a large leather belt that had a sumptuously decorated buckle plate and buckle counter-plate. Her reddish-brown silk tunic, decorated with gold braid, was fastened with a pair of round brooches with a garnet cloisonné decoration. Two small pins and a large garnet encrusted pin held her silk veil in place. Her stockings were held up by garters and the straps on her leather shoes were fitted with small buckles, counter-plates and strap-ends with animal motifs.

Two sphere-shaped earrings, in imitation of the then reigning fashion in the Byzantine world, completed the lady's rich gold and silver jewelry. On her thumb, a ring inscribed with a woman's given name, ARNEGUNDIS, surrounding a central monogramme that can be expanded to REGINE (queen). It was this same queen Arnegunde, wife of Clotaire I (511-561) and mother of Chilperic I, whom Gregory of Tours had described in the late sixth century. If we take into account historical data such as the birth of Chilperic around 537-539, and the dating of the most recent clothing items, the queen would have been buried sometime between 580 and 590, aged 70 to 80 years old."

French Wikipedia article on Aregonde, more detailed than the English one. "She was wearing a Chinese silk dyed purple, a veil of silk patterned yellow and red, shoes kid red, and gold and silver jewelry adorned with garnets from Asia"  (Google Translate)  Good references on the page, too (although they appear to also be in French...)

Interesting that it says the shoes were red; reminds me of the red-dyed furs/leathers Aldhelm was telling nuns not to adorn their shoes with.

Forum post with pictures, including the knee-length original Fleury reconstruction, and the new, modern one I saw in someone's set of pictures taken at the museum. Also includes the original sketch showing the disposition of the artifacts in the sarcophagus.

Discussion on the medieval-leather list about Arnegune's gilded belt.  Mentions some of the references commonly cited.

Queens of the Merovingians exhibit in Frankfurt, featuring Wisigarde, Arnegune, and Bathilde. Nice reconstruction art, hoping there will be a catalogue or other information forthcoming.

Not sure what this is, but the right-hand linkset is chock full of huge hi-res pictures of some of the 'Queens of the Merovingians' artifacts, and a PDF of information on the exhibit (in German).

Reconstruction of the shoes and garters for the museum.

Werner, J (1964): "Frankish Royal Tombs in the Cathedrals of Cologne and Saint-Denis". _Antiquity_ Vol 38, 1964, pp. 201-216. - ""Over a fine linen shift [later discovered to be wool, btw], she wore a tunic of violet silk which just covered her knees, and was pulled in at the hips by a gilded openwork leather girdle whose ends probably hung down to the calves and were finished off with the large silver strap-tongues with boar- and bird-head ornaments."  (Link to purchase article)

_Les Tresors Merovingiens de la Basilique De Saint-Denis_, by Michel Fleury and Albert France-Lanord
(1998)

"La fouille en laboratoire: méthodes et résultats," Dossiers de l'Archéologie 32 (1979), pp. 69-91. (Technical analysis of the leatherwork and references to the fittings and metalwork of Tomb 49.).

Martin, Max 1991: "Zur frühmittelalterlichen Gürteltracht der Frau in der Burgundia, Francia und Aquitania." In: _L'art des invasions en Hongrie et en Wallonie. Actes du colloque tenu au Musee royal de Mariemont du 9 au 11 avril 1979_. pp. 31-84.

Laporte, J-P, Boyer, R. 1991. _Tresors de Chelles: Sepultures et Reliques de la Reine Bathilde et de
L'Abbesse Bertille._ (Societe Archeologique st Historique les amis du musee:  Ville de Chelles.)  (Probably source for this picture of Bathilde's funeral garments) (Information on Bathilde's garments and burial.)

Patrick Périn et al. 2008 Le costume d'Arégonde revisité. _Histoire et images Médiévales_ 20. (This issue of the magazine is sold out, no back copies available)

PERIN (Patrick), "La datation de la tombe d'Arégonde, épouse de Clotaire Ier, découverte en 1959 dans la basilique de Saint-Denis" in Archéologie médiévale, 1991, 21, pp. 21-50.

LA RECONSTITUTION DU COSTUME D'ARÉGONDE NOUVELLES PROPOSITIONS, PERIN Patrick ; BAYARD Didier (Editor) ; NICE Alain (Editor) ; Journées Internationales d'Archéologie Mérovingiennes, 29, Marle (Aisne), FRA, 2008-09-26; in French, order here.

Linked Pin Sets

I want to send a brief note to KASF on my linked pin findings.

Owen-Crocker:

"this woman evidently wore a circle of beads at the neck and below it, probably attached to the costume by means of a small silver pin at each end, a festoon of beads and pendants."  (p. 101-102, referencing Kentish Finglesham Grave 203, date not given but appearing in the 5th-6th century section).

"The excavator, Sonia Hawkes, suggested to me that the brooches [of Finglesham Grave 203], which were small square-headed ones, had been used to pin down the two sides of an open robe." (p. 99)

"An open over-gown is more often associated with the Renaissance than with the Dark Ages, but the 'Arnegundis' robe was of this kind, and it is in fact a feature of folk costumes of various nations that one garment is worn over another in such a way that there is only partial overlap. In the context of folk costume, the style may arise from necessity - if skins or the available pieces of woven cloth were not sufficiently large to cover the body it may have been essential to overlap more than one. At a higher social level, the open robe would show off another luxury garment beneath it, and it would eliminate the awkward bulk which the straight peplos-type gown must have had round the narrower parts of the body, but it would not need elaborate tailoring..." (p 99)

"The seventh-century 'pin suites' normally consisted of two pins, usually of precious metal, their heads usually ornamented by garnets, and linked by a chain. There is a more elaborate example from Roundway Down, Wiltshire, in which two garnet-headed pins flank a roundel set with blue glass placed at the centre of the chain." (141)

"exclusively female jewellry and have been found in the graves of both adults and children" (141)

"They appear to have been worn at the neck. They are dainty little things; the pins are only about 4 cm long and they could have only fastened light fabrics."

"It is possible to interpret this costume as an open overdress, with decorated edges, over a pleated underdress" (referencing fig 110, Mary and Elisabeth on the Genoels-Elderen Diptych - the source of "the only possible depictions in English or Anglo-Saxon-influenced art" (p 150)) (p 150)

"We have already seen that dainty pin suites are a feature of the richer female graves of the conversion period, and it has been suggested that these, and also the matching (but not conjoined) pairs of pins found in contemporary graves, were fasteners for veils." (157)

Gail Drinkall, Martin Foreman. "Anglo-Saxon Cemetery at Castledyke South, Barton-on-Humber." Continuum International Publishing Group, 1998. Accessed at http://books.google.com/books?id=4OzoLMVVnxUC

"Three pins, those from Graves 15, 46 and 183, belong to the group of linked pins; the classic example came from Roundway Down, near Devises, Wiltshire [references]. Two 43mm gold pins are linked by a 140mm long gold chain with a central roundel decorated with a moulded glass cross. Another gold parallel came from Bateman's excavations at Cow Lowe in Derbyshire [references]. Silver garnet-set parallels came from Butler's Field, Lechlade, Oxfordshire, graves 14 and 138. The pin from Grave 138, like the grave-group as a whole, is closely paralleled by grave 39 at Chamberlain's Barn, Bedfordshire [ref]. Grave 55 there also included a pair [ref]. Less ornate examples have been recovered [ref]." (268)

"The silver pin from Grave 183 is a variant fo the type (LXIV i.e.). This pin with its raised boss and fastening loop attached to the back of its head can be paralleled by finds from Winnall, Hampshire and Kemble, Gloucestershire. The pin from grave 10 at Winnall II was originally part of a suite, but its partner has been lost. This 50mm long pin with a suspension loop at the back of the head-plate probably had a garnet setting fixed on its face [ref]. Below the head three lines formed a double incised ring collar. A 53mm pin from grave 1 at Kemble [ref] has a small garnet set on its face and a loop behind and was recovered near the left clavicle.  Other parallels came fromgrave 79 at Ozingell, Kent [ref] and Bidford-on-Avon [ref]." (268-269)

 

 

Or - 2" long pins connected by 5.5" of chain, worn at the neck/throat area.  May have fastened veil or gown/robe, but probably not thick cloak.  Gown/robe hypothesis field tested and approved. Veil hypothesis as yet untested.

KASF Smackdown 2

In years past, as much as I am aware, the 'smackdowns' have generally been good-humored take-downs, either of good friends present (who knew it was in jest) or else of historical figures that no one really cared if they got smacked down or not.

I actually have a topic I wouldn't mind writing a genuine satire on.  I should probably check and see if that'll fly.  Don't want to harsh the mellow.

But here's my linkarama:

Cairpre Mac Edaine's Satire upon Bres Mac Eladain, "the first satire in Ireland."

(book chapter) 'Irish Satire' in A Companion to Satire: Ancient and Modern.

The Land of Cockaygne, a 14th century Middle English satire written down in Ireland.

Satirical Narrative in Early Irish Literation, link goes to a PDF of a PhD thesis.

Definitely an interesting exercise.  Early Irish satire isn't much like Jonathan Swift.  It's more like curses.  The PhD thesis is purporting to show that there is an unexamined narrative tradition, one that sets out a tale of general outrage rather than just saying how stingy some dude is, so I'll be interested to see what I can glean from it.

If the Irish don't pan out, there's the Romans.  But I've been meaning to get a grip on Irish satire for a while.

 

KASF Smackdown 1

I am not quite ready to commit yet - give me a day or two - but it looks like Kingdom Arts and Sciences is in my future!  This means I need to get something together for the Duke Gyrth Oldcastle Memorial Poetry Smackdown ready post-haste.

A Gyrth-inspired Poem from 1492-1600
Form: Shakespearian Sonnet
What I learned: The volta isn't always the final couplet!

First Draft

Our loss as deeply felt as yester joys
How can we smile with tears in our eyes?
We weep, we mourn, o sorrowful noise
When one so loved, dear friend, grows sick and dies.
How bright his life, how glad his laughter loud
His mind, as sharp as pointed quill, ink-dipp'd,
To scribe his poems for grateful crowds
His heart that loved, til laid in darkened crypt.
But smile we do, when think on him we can
His japes, his jests, and all his kindness did
Philosophy he's left us, life-long plan.
Remember well these words, Sir Gyrth has bid:
“Say I: A little song, a little dance,
And then a little seltzer down my pants.”

Five-Minute Documentation

Like everyone else in the US school system, I studied a few Shakespearian sonnets in school.  From that, and from hanging around a sonneteer in the SCA, I picked up the idea that a Shakespearian sonnet developed a single idea, which the final couplet then added a reversal or 'zinger' to.  "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" was the usual example.

I can't claim that a trip to Sonnets.org is anything like in-depth research, but it  has brought me one tiny spoonful of dirt deeper into the subject.  Their page on the basic sonnet forms (http://www.sonnets.org/basicforms.htm) discusses the volta, or turn, present in the original Italian form.  The rhyme words change, and with them, the thrust of the poem.

A Shakespearian sonnet, with its less restrictive rhyme scheme, doesn't insist on three turns to match the three changes.  The volta *can* occur in the couplet, but it can also occur elsewhere.  The ninth line is the traditional location in the Italian form, and Shakespeare puts it there sometimes, too.  Sonnets.org gives Sonnet XXIX ("When in disgrace with Fortune and men's eyes") as an example.  The first eight lines have the poet lamenting his bad fortune in talent, connections and money.  At the ninth line, be begins to remember how happy his love makes him, until he would 'scorn to change his state with kings.'

I regret that I did not know Sir Gyrth, so I based my sonnet off of the eulogy by Starulf Haraldson of Ravenspur, posted to the Clan Oldcastle website (http://www.clanoldcastle.com/wordpress/?page_id=16).  He said that Gyrth once requested the words of 'Chuckles,' whom I am guessing was a clown character on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, be read at his funeral:  "A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down my pants.”  The iambic tetrameter couplet jumped out at me, and I thought that (with a few syllables of padding) it could serve as the final couplet of a Shakespearean sonnet.

The two themes of the sonnet are "Loss and Grief" followed by "Celebration," with the volta coming at line 9.

Lap harp chair

So: gravity.

When I sit to play my small Ardival Kilcoy harp, I usually sit it in my lap. It's that small.  But because I am rather short, and chairs are rather tall, my thighs always slope toward the ground.  This results in the harp always slowly edging its way closer and closer to my knees, until I have to interrupt what I'm doing to haul it back up.  Not great in the middle of a piece.

I have tried footstools, and they help - but usually too far in the other direction for comfort.  If I can wrangle a bench to perform on, I can also put the harp on it, between my legs as I straddle the bench.  Then it and I are on the same plane, and stay in the same place.  But I have wanted a chair I could perform in, without stacking books and magazines under my feet, as if I were a wobbly table.

Behold: MAMMUT!

IKEA's MAMMUT children's chair seems, at first blush, to be almost perfect (comical shape aside).  The seat is just under 12" from the ground, 6" lower than most chairs.  That's a tidge too low for me, so I lean back a little as the harp creeps higher in my lap - but the chair has a back, so that's okay!  My main worry is that I am something like 4-5 times heavier than a small child, and I cannot find a weight rating for MAMMUT.  One day, the harp and I may go sprawling.  But for $15, I'm willing to throw a drape over it and give it a shot.

I have had a 12" porter's stool for a while:

It's the same height as MAMMUT, and looks much more SCA-appropriate (even if I can't say that the design is historical), but it doesn't have that back.  I've taken it to events as a seat, and I can use it to play my larger 25-string harp (harp on ground, me on stool), but my abs can't quite handle it with the lap harp.

X-frame stools are period for me.  Maybe one day I'll determine my ideal sitting height and follow these DIY instructions to make one.  (There are wooden camp stools for sale, but at 18", it's back to being too high.)  This stool is rather fancy; I have somewhere a source for an archaeological find of a folding Roman camp stool of wrought iron and leather... but it may still be too tall at just over 16" high, and 21 lbs is definitely not in-line with my current desire to travel light.