some of the good stuff

Well, some of the good news is seeing Thomas Flamanc elevated to Master of the Laurel, primarily for cookery.

Robert (as herald) and I (as scribe) had some inkling, and were enormously pleased - we've been eating like kings, and better than kings sometimes! for years thanks to his efforts and those of edith_hedingham. Charmingly, it was Master Paul and Master Alaric, both cooks, who had the duty to escort Thomas to his vigil.

Fine medieval snacks were laid on in the vigil, and Master Cernac and Mistress Melisende arrived in time to contribute their thoughts to the vigil on the Friday evening.

Unrelated to his elevation, Thomas served as herald for Master Paul and aryanhwy, boasting them into court in the tourney procession, and his boast was one of the finest I've heard - calling on the tradition of trial by combat, to defend the entrants' rights to claim the succession. I hope he posts it somewhere!

For those interested, Robert has posted the scroll text (superbly read by Robert) and Thomas' own oath, modelled on 15th c example on his Forsooth wiki. I'll post a picture when I get one to Dragon scribes.

Personally, I wasn't happy with the scroll. My previous efforts with parchment had been excellent, but this piece felt like it fought me the whole way - it felt like I was writng on foolscap with a magic marker, the way the ink bled and spread!

I pounced it a second time, after my first sentence, in an effort to smooth and 'firm up' the surface, but just had to keep slogging with it - patches were fine, and others simply sucked ink like a sponge.

Thomas is happy with it, but I now know that even parchment isn't always perfect. Sigh.

Anyway: as a gift, Robert and I put together a green wool hood with square dagged edge - something Thomas can wear around camp, but is also fit for court. Robert finished the sewing when I was running out of hours in the day, and powdered one shoulder with pewter laurels.

The square dags are taken from Gaston Phoebus' book of the hunt - square dags appear fashionable for both nobles and simple huntsmen both, and are quicker to do than oak leaves.

I don't have a pic of the finished work, but here's one of the hood in process, with work being carefully supervised by our household retainer. Nothing escapes her sharp eyes.

How cool are these??

Robert and I spent a relaxed day today - first visiting the Tudor house within walking distance of us(!) that we'd never visited, then braving the hordes at Camden market for clothes from Braintree. I typically try to avoid the market on weekends and holidays, but we're pressed for leisure time between now and when my mum visits post-Easter.

We also stopped at my favourite running shop and scored with these - are they cool or what?

I'll be the envy of the runners in the park!



The best part is - I didn't even ask for them in purple. That's the only colour they had in this style. Awesome.