Picture Book

Suburban Knights: A Return to the Middle Ages

E. F. Kitchen

July 2010 from powerHouse Books

$35.00

This is a book of full-page photographs in black and white of SCA members posing in their armor (or one page, in garb). The photos are accompanied by text with quotes from many of the recreationists depicted. There is a photo leading off the book of Sir Ranthulfr Asparlundr of the MidRealm (he also gets a photo in Medieval Fantasy as Performance). The book closes with our Baroness Dulcinea Maria Magdalena von Muhlberg y Aguilar. Most of the pictures are of fairly prominent members, many from the western kingdoms, it appears.

The book itself is handsomely mounted and well bound. It's a pleasure to handle and examine, although it is a little light on content, and I'm not sure that all of the members depicted are necessarily coming off as well as they might hope. The black and white works better in some photos than others... one misses the bright colors of heraldry and some of the scenes seem bleak or melodramatic. Some are great photos, to be sure: Duke John Fitzgerald de Clare on p. 39, Sir Gaston Bonneville de la Croix at p. 47 and Sir Tristan Pfalzgraf von Eisig at p. 53 all look particularly sharp.

The black and white photos seem like an odd choice to me. It gives the book an old-fashioned air, to be sure, but an air of the 19th or early 20th century. Color would have been better for the Middle Ages... they didn't have photography anyway. But perhaps others would disagree. Certainly it's all interesting to look at. It also seems to me that the similarity of the poses fails to capture all the possibilities. There are no group scenes, no indoor depictions. Each photo has one subject, usually dramatically posed with a sword or other weapon (Duke John has an attendant with his banner, one of the reasons his image seems more interesting.) This makes the images seem more stiff... they aren't naturalistically depicted. The kind of photos taken for, for example, Embleton and Howe's Medieval Soldier, are a good deal more pleasing and even inspiring.

I'm guessing that the imagery will please and intrigue some other readers. The fact that it doesn't do much for me is perhaps a personal matter.

My principal objection to the text is the author's interest in one of the major motivations for people joining the SCA. Master Waldryk the Firedryk is quoted on p. 12:

"I killed Frank Renn 12 years ago. I didn't like Frank Renn. I killed him and I made Waldryk." The speaker notes his inability to find fulfillment in other ways, name-checking Christianity with disfavor (a frequent and highly ironic motivation for wanting to emulate medieval European figures, I always thought), and concludes that his identity as Master Waldryk is the person he wants to be.

I have never met Master Waldryk and am not knocking him. When I say this, I'm using him as a stand-in for a view of the world that I'm usually sorry to hear about in the SCA. It makes me uncomfortable and puzzles me. And maybe that's my problem, not his, or that of others for whom his comments might seem resonant.

But I just never got this business of using the SCA as an escape from modern society for more than an entertaining weekend. I suppose that's because I'm happy enough with who I am in the 21st century world. I find fulfillment in my profession and other hobbies and interests. My real identity is that person. Balian de Brionne is what, then? A mask, a pose, a role to play? A whimsy on the weekend? Well, not exactly. It is a powerful thing to choose a new identity for yourself, a new name and a new set of allegiances. One can be a new person. There is a great appeal in that. But it has always seemed to me like a momentary escape into another identity, not one that is actually preferable.

Candidly, Suburban Knights is a little pricey for what it is... I'm not even sure SCA members are the target audience. I bought it suspecting from the description it would disappoint; but it is my custom to buy books about the SCA. It's not like there are many, after all. So I recommend it mildly. It's amusing and has some interesting commentary by members of the organization.

Thrusting Tips

I am reliably informed that all the cool kids have thrusting tips from Master Eirik Dweorgaex's Munition Grade Arms these days. Not wishing to be laughed at and pointed at when I reenter the lists, I have ordered a bunch. I recommend Master Eirik's wares; his postage calculator was a little funky, but he considerately refunded half the postage, which was very thoughtful of him. He also has very good shaved rattan; I haven't ordered any yet but Geirmundr has, and I was very impressed with his.

The thrusting tips arrived with alacrity, and I hope to have my new swords assembled over the weekend. Siloflex this time; I propose to move entirely into the 21st century this time. Or no, the 14th century... oh, you know what I mean.

From the Department of Much-Delayed Projects

Some time ago, mentioned in the dim past of the blog, I may have mentioned the notion of refurbishing my armor, in order to do some serious heavy combat once again.

Over the weekend, I unearthed all my armor and equipment, went over it with my partner in carnage, Lord Geirmundr, and made various plans. He's going to kindly cut out some shield blanks for me to paint, edge and strap (I already had a few bent); I'm going to completely refurbish the helmet and build new swords; I just ordered some thrusting tips; and tomorrow a check for a much-needed new gorget goes in the mail.

So some progress is being made at last.

Update: Oh, and photos will follow as equipment is completed.

New Acquisitions

Well, if I didn't get to go to Pennsic, I did some satisfying medieval shopping here at home.

The Flint area is not well supplied with used bookstores. There are two Jellybean stores; together with a third in Owosso, a locally-owned chain. The one to the south of town concentrates on mass media stuff; I can't recall ever finding anything on the Middle Ages other than things that get assigned in history classes. Not complaining, they are the place to go for used music, mystery and science fiction paperbacks, DVDs, that sort of thing. The one closer to the center of town is more interesting, although the management have a sometimes exalted notion of how to price some of their collectibles. They get people to pay it, I guess. They have easily the most extensive collection of used books of a more serious type than anywhere this side of one of the university towns in Michigan, but it is a curiously neglected side room; the main action with paperbacks, records and so forth is in the main room. I don't think there's ever been another customer in the side room on the rare occasions I go in - about once a year or less. Awkwardly, the clerk decides on a price at the counter for these books, after performing a brief check on the Internet. ABEbooks.com, I'm guessing? They don't say. I've actually gotten some good deals, once a spectacular deal, so they're not being unreasonable on price; I just wonder if they realize how discouraging a browsing experience this mysterious method induces. If they just marked the prices in the books, I'd go in more often.

At any rate, on a rare visit this week, I found two books on Western martial arts. Sydney Anglo's authoritative The Martial Arts of Renaissance Europe. I've checked it out from academic libraries, and it seemed well worth having. Author John Clement claims it is the most important work on the subject in a century; while my interests tend more to the political and strategic levels, particularly about the Hundred Years War, I'm willing to agree with Clement, as far as I can tell. The second book was the Codex Wallerstein, a 15th century fighting manual with reproductions of the illustrations and translations of the text into several languages. Want to know how to rob a peasant by making him think you've slit his throat, but without actually doing so? No problem, the Codex Wallerstein explains the method. I'm hoping I don't have occasion to use that one, myself. But it's good to know these things, right?

Both volumes were in hardcover, in good shape with a little shelf wear, and I certainly wanted them both. The clerk wanted $40 for each, and I left them there. At the very least, I wanted to make sure I couldn't do better on the Internet. But $40 was about right, I found, and after giving it some thought, I realized I would just regret it if I didn't go back for them. Both books are out of print; I didn't go to Pennsic and spend lots of money there; I haven't been keeping up with the literature on my hobby for years now; so the next day I went back and bought both.

So that was fun, but I had already been thinking this week about a Saturday visit to John K. King Books in Detroit (check out the YouTube videos at the link). I tried to persuade Skalla-Geirmundr to go with me, but he was busy being responsible or something. John K. King is the biggest bookseller in Michigan, advertising 900,000 books. It is a spectacular experience, quite like visiting an academic library but being able to buy the books (well, an academic library with a somewhat haphazard collection, but still...). Five or six floors of an old factory building right downtown on W. Lafayette, just what you'd want a big city used bookstore to be. I knew from experience that they have excellent sections on history, cooking and art, just to note some of my interests. Strangely enough, I haven't been there in about ten years, although my infrequent visits always produced wonderful results back in the 90s. It's not really that much fun, getting to that spot in downtown Detroit all the way from Flint. No, it's not a safety issue, downtown Detroit is perfectly fine with me. It's the traffic, construction and accident backups. I've driven in a lot of big cities, but Detroit's the only one I really try to avoid - things are never going smoothly, the way they do on the average visit to Chicago. Half the place is always torn up for construction, because Michigan can't be bothered to build the roads to proper tolerances to begin with; we'd rather repair them every other other year. I mean, Washington DC is less annoying, even with very much heavier traffic and much more aggressive drivers.

Sure enough, I 75 was backed up, so I found myself on a tedious crawl on surface streets to M 10, the Lodge Freeway. That went quickly, thankfully.

I had originally meant to get there early and spend all day visiting each floor, but my local medievalist extravagance suggested a more disciplined approach. The cooking section for cocktail books and medieval cookery; the medieval and English and French history sections; the military section for medieval items were my targets. So I never made it above the 2nd floor, but I had one of the more productive bookstore visits I've ever had. I found (pertinent to the topic of this blog, anyway):

Food and Feast in Tudor England by Alison Sims.
Art, Culture and Cuisine; Ancient and Medieval Gastronomy by Phyllis Pray Bober.

I'd read both but didn't own them. Both are beautiful hardcovers with dustcovers, both were very attractively priced, much better than I could've done on eBay or Amazon.

The Medieval Soldier; 15th Century Campaign Life Recreated in Colour Photographs by Gerry Embleton and John Howe.
Crecy 1346; Anatomy of a Battle by Henri de Wailly.

The price for these two I can only describe as derisory. $18 for the pair. Both are immaculate; the Embleton and Howe book looks brand new and still bears a sticker for $65 on the back cover. I had never even seen the book outside of libraries, and had little hope of finding it for a reasonable price. I'm unfamiliar with the Crecy 1346 book, although I've read a good deal of more recent books on the topic, so I'm not sure about it, but it looks good. I don't know if it was written in English by the author, all of whose other books I can find are clearly French language texts, or if it is translated, but the translator is not named. We'll see. By the way, there are several books on the Battle of Crecy with almost identical titles; this one was published in 1987. I'm hoping for a strong French point of view, as most books on the topic are written from an English perspective.

On another occasion, comments on other good bookstores in Michigan.

Jousting as a Sport

The Wall Street Journal has a front page story today on the revival of jousting as a genuine competitive sport, which they describe as "A far cry from the mock re-enactments at Renaissance fairs..." The story profiles Belgian jouster Fred Piraux, who seems to have quite the attitude. There is video at the link.

MidRealm Humor

Unlike most April 1 posts, this one is actually quite funny on several levels.

1381 The Peel Affinity

I have been eyeing this prospective book, which was due to be published in February, for some time. Remembering to check on it last week, I found that while Amazon has a page for the book, it doesn't have any copies. Windrose Armoury had six copies, though with a breathtaking amount for shipping, so I anted up. The volume arrived today.

The Peel Affinity does not disappoint. From a physical point of view, it is nicely bound with a handsome dust cover, a silk ribbon and slick paper with color photos on almost every page. The introduction says:

The book is divided into three sections. The first is a brief introduction to the world in which our characters live. In the central part, we take you through a year in the life of our fictional English knight and the people around him. The last part presents a more generalized view of campaign life and war as they might be experienced by our characters. Throughout you will find sidebars highlighting important aspects of medieval English life which affect the lives of our characters.

The book is provided by a historical recreation group called La Belle Compagnie, and depicts the band's impression of a late 14th century knightly family, that of Sir Geoffrey Peel. The photos are gorgeous, in places stunning (some interior room scenes at spots like pp. 40-1, for example). I haven't had time to read the book, but at a glance the text seems quite serious and accurate.

I'll have more comments later, after I've had more time with the book, but I'm delighted with the purchase.

Update: Oops, I missed the link to buy on this page, too.

Nuremberg Tournament Book

Amazon emails me (because I bought Prof. Muhlberger's Deeds of Arms) that the Nuremberg Tournament Book is available at this link. No pictures and little detail, but the book apparently has reproductions of some or all of the original manuscript illustrations plus modern commentary. The Metropolitian Museum of Art (which owns the manuscript) has a little detail and an illo here.

25th Anniversary Combat Pt. 3

L to R: Skalla-Geirmundr Ulfsson and Tsunamei Kenjiro Torashi

25th Anniversary Combat Pt. 2

L to R: Tsunamei Kenjiro Torashi and Nagatatsu Satto.

25th Anniversary Combat Pt. 1

L to R: Tsunamei Kenjiro Torashi and Erevon FitzGerald.

Lots of News

Lots of bloggy goodness over at Skalla's Steading. This link is also over in my links column to the left. Skalla Geirmundr has been keeping track of local activities at the artisan's guild workshops and fighting practices.

English Longbow Site

This is a very nice and informative site on the English longbow, or "warbow". I found this via the wonderful SCA Today site.

Artisan's Guild Again

On Tuesday, I was able to attend the local Artisan's Guild again. I've had Tuesday night classes for many months, but I should be free to attend regularly until next April.

There was a good turnout, with lots of youngsters doing youth combat, and adults busy with various projects, especially stained glass. I worked on my somewhat ragged aventail and completely repaired it. In fact, I plan to replace it entirely with a new aventail with a brass ring edge, but simple repairs will do for now.

More on armor shortly.

September Arms Practice

Lord Skalla Geirmundr Ulfsson is hosting arms practice for heavy and light weapons. Everyone in the mid-Michigan/Thumb area is welcome to attend.

Here's the schedule for September:

Practice is on Sunday afternoon from 2 pm to 5 pm at 5481 N. State Rd. north of Davison. Each practice will feature a class and then a general activity. Armoring will go on concurrently, especially in bad weather.

Sept. 2. Basic sword and shield work. Open sparring.
Sept. 9. Slow work and targeting. Open sparring.
Sept. 16. No practice.
Sept. 23. Melee conventions/differences. Open sparring.
Oct. 7. Melee shield work/teams (numbers permitting). Team combat.

Pennsic Update

Here is Geirmundr's report on his late visit to the Pennsic War, complete with a photo of all the Stormvale soldiers. From left to right: Lord Tsunamei Kenjiro Torashi in the Stormvale Champion tabard, Nagatatsu Satto, Lady Juana de Leon in the Cynnabar tabard and Lord Skalla Geirmundr Ulfsson in the (Mark III) Stormvale Militia tabard.

Update: Link added.

Pennsic 36 News

Well, we won. Not sure of the final score, but the Middle was up by enough points as of Friday that no combination of additional scoring could result in a surprise win for the East and its allies. So Hoobah! to my fellow Midrealmers!

I kept up on a daily basis by subscribing to the web edition of the Pennsic Independent, which I heartily endorse. Only $6 and one can read the daily newspaper of Pennsic town in the comfort of one's home that same day - or in moments at work, to be sure.

Melisande made some wistful remarks during the war about how she rather misses going, and my father has expressed a wish to go next year, likely basing his operation out of a trailer in a nearby campground and visiting during the day. Melisande's allergies are much worse than they were years ago when we camped at Pennsic more frequently, so a hotel room or perhaps in my parent's trailer would seem indicated.

My own situation is problematic. I have had the curious misfortune (in this regard, anyway) to first study and then teach at two different institutions with unusual academic schedules. Pennsic was scheduled for early August in order to make it easier for college students to attend. This has never worked for me, alas. I had a narrow window of opportunity in the late 80s and early 90s during which I regularly attended for the second week, but the last time I was able to spend a whole week at Pennsic was in 1997. I've only been able to visit for a day or two a couple of times since.

It would take some arranging. I will likely have three classes to teach, and I can't just blithely wander off on vacation during the term. I might be able to arrange substitutes or something of the kind. At any rate, I am presently planning to attend for - well, as much of the second week as possible, let's say. Let's say long enough to set up camp and fight in as many battles as possible. 51 weeks away! I'm looking forward to raising my banner in Aethelmarc again.

Armor Update

My effort to get my kit back up to par is proceeding - slowly, very slowly. However, some progress has been made recently. Geirmundr and I bent a shield blank last night. I'm going to take it off the press tonight and put another on. I propose to have three blanks this week. The plywood I like to use for shields is quite light, so I want to have spares ready for use.

My gambeson arrived on Saturday, and it is beautiful. It fits nicely, and I'm looking forward to wearing it. Revival Clothing is the vendor.

Gambeson

They said I was crazy to wait! Why not black, or red? No, I said it had to be blue. Revival Clothing just emailed me to tell me that my medium blue linen gambeson is being sent Priority Mail this week. I can't wait. The one I ordered that was too small was beautiful. I hope that by the end of June, I can be back in something resembling a decent looking kit. Much work to do.

Armor Project So Far

My plan to completely refurbish my harness and kit is in the early stages.

1. The cuisses. Haven't been able to get back to the repair project again. However, bought a new set of leg harness from James River Armoury. Within two weeks, that problem should be completely solved. I will still finish repairing the old set, which will be used for loaners.

2. My half gauntlets are a disgrace. Battered, rusty and the straps are failing. I resorted to the brute force method here, too. Bought new ones from Sussen Armory.

3. Helm, full gauntlets, leather vambraces and segmented breastplate are all fine. I even have an old spare breastplate for practice. Some polishing and general upkeep will be sufficient here, although a new mail aventail is needed, and I will at some point have to do something about a more period padding system for the helm, which deserves better than the foam lining it has.

4. New dressy arm and leg harness have been on order for some time from a custom armorer. Hope to hear about that soon. These will get worn for tournaments only.

That's it so far. I need new fighting surcoats or tabards, the swords need retaping, etc., and I mentioned the arming doublet problem which will have to get prioritized. When will I fight at a tournament again? I'm thinking the Ides of March event in Iron Oak in March, considering the calendar, the list of things I need to do and the degree with which work and other concerns tend to delay matters.