British Museum "Object Video" Collection

First a quick word of thanks to Daniel of the SCA Apprentice List at groups.yahoo.com for making me aware of this amazing resource.

Current Welcome Screen for the British Museum's Video Channel

The British Museum has an online video channel where you can watch videos about Exhibitions, Events, Object Stories, or the WCEC.  I was particularly impressed by the video on the Holy Thorn Reliquary, from France, around 1410.

Normally I'm not a big fan of reliquaries because (cynic that I am) I suspect that most of the objects contained within must be frauds.  How many pieces of the cross can there actually still be?  And the idea of saving bits of human bone just seems icky to me.

Yet when I heard the curator's explanation of each part of the reliquary and its role as an object of meditation, I found myself marveling over the beauty of the piece, the intricacy of its workmanship, and its complex symbolism.  For the first time, I was really seeing a reliquary as something significant and worthy of my attention.

http://www.britishmuseum.org/channel/object_stories/video_holy_thorn_reliquary.aspx

Don't just think about these videos in terms of your own viewing pleasure; you can also use them as teaching aids or discussion prompts in a A&S class, or as documentation for an A&S project.

Imagine what might be considered a relic in the SCA, and how we might house it.  What techniques would we incorporate, and what symbols?  Could reliquary design be adapted into a three-dimensional SCA award scroll?  And are these questions valid, or merely sacrilegious?

Medieval MS Collection at the Free Library of Philadelphia

Welcome Page from the Free Library of Philadelphia's digital manuscript collection

Sometimes I wish I lived on the East Coast, so I could visit collections like these in person.  However, even online, you will drool over this collection of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts.

http://www.library.phila.gov/medievalman/

Within This Site

 "Manuscript Basics" is an informative introduction to the types of medieval manuscripts, and how they were created.  The Glossary section has detailed entries for a variety of important terms.  Both of these are great for new scribes!

The "Tour of Our Collections" allows you to view individual manuscripts, page by page, and zoom in on the details.   Inspiration for drop-dead gorgeous scrolls abounds.

Also contained within this site are links to online resources and a bibliography with suggestions for further reading.  Anyone working on documentation for A&S will truly appreciate this.

The link to the "Leaves of Gold" exhibit on this site is a dead link; however, you can still access the Philadelphia Museum of Art exhibit at:

http://www.philamuseum.org/micro_sites/exhibitions/leavesofgold/gallery/boh/guide.html

Scribal Resource: Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Images

Sample MS page from SCETI

Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text & Images

from the University of Pennsylvania Libraries

http://sceti.library.upenn.edu/index.cfm

Today's link is to an amazing collection containing nearly "nearly five hundred catalogued manuscripts and early printed books" from the University of Pennsylvania Libraries online collection.  Navigating and using the site takes requires a bit of experimentation, but with a little practice you can view, zoom and print these wonderful images. 

On the home page, you'll want to choose "Quick links to the individual collection home pages," and choose one of the collections.  For example, select:

• Option 1: "Lawrence J. Schoenberg Manuscripts, Catalog and Database";
• then " Medieval and Early Modern Works"; and 
• "Browse the list of online facsimiles" to view a list of 65 digitized manuscripts.

I really like being able to zoom in and print images.  You can also bookmark individual manuscripts for future reference.

Medieval Art Links from Caer Anterth Mawr

Welcome Page from the British Library

This is another wonderful set of finds from http://caeranterth.northshield.org/Links/artworks.html, published and maintained by the Barony of Caer Anterth Mawr in the Kingdom of Northshield.

For a scribe, this is a little bit like crack.  Really.

The Caer Anterth Mawr "Art and Clip Art Page"

http://caeranterth.northshield.org/Links/artworks.html

Clicking on "Medieval Art Links" <http://www.netserf.org/Art/> takes you to

http://www.netserf.org/Art/

with links to (this is an incredible list!):  Art Journals, Artists, Brasses, By Civilization, By Period, Clip Art, Early Printing, Manuscript Illumination, Murals and Frescos, Paintings, Sculpture, Stained Glass, and Tapestries.

"Turning the Pages" from the British Libary

If you can resist long enough to scroll down without clicking, you will see one of my favorite links, "Turning the Pages" from the British Library - "works available online for you to read just like you were sitting there holding them in your hands."  This includes the Lindisfarne Gospels, Lutterell Psalter, and the Sherbourne Missal.  Oh, and some "sumptuous Arabic calligraphy" as well.

http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html

If that doesn't make you break out the parchmentine and the gouache, nothing will!

Viking Embroidery Stitches & Motifs

© 1997 C. Priest-Dorma

 

 

While I was poking about on http://caeranterth.northshield.org, which is the website for The Barony of Caer Anterth Mawr in the Kingdom of Northshield, I found a link to "Viking Embroidery Stitches and Motifs" by  Þóra Sharptooth MKA Carolyn Priest-Dorma.

The images of the motifs are charming, and there's a nice discussion of Viking textiles, threads, and embroideries from tenth-century grave sites.  I especially enjoyed reading about Viking ornamentation on seams. 

The bibliography is an excellent resource for locating photographs of extant embroidery samples.

http://www.cs.vassar.edu/~capriest/vikembroid.html

Today's offering is somewhat intellectual, but even if you just scroll through and look at the maps, you will have a much clearer picture of medieval Europe, how it was organized politically and how our current map of Europe evolved.

The second link, also on the same site, covers the history of philosophy from the Greeks on, with a considerable amount of information about medieval and Renaissance philosophical ideas and movements.  These ideas would have influenced art, literature, and music, and so are of interest to artisans as well as those of us who want to really grasp how people thought and lived in period.

Two Interesting Links from www.fresian.com

• SUCCESSORS OF ROME:  FRANCIA, 447-Present
• History of Philosophy

Note:  The Proceedings of the Friesian School, Fourth Series, which produced these pages, is  a "non-peer-reviewed electronic journal and archive of philosophy" based on the ideas of Leonard Nelson.

Fingerloop Braiding for the Masses

http://fingerloop.org from Mistress Rhiannon y Bwa (Lois Swales) & Mistress Azza al-Shirazi (Zoe Kuhn Williams)

Many of us like little things - projects that we can take with us when we travel, which we can do meetings, at SCA events or in front of the television in the evening.  We also love crafts which allow us to use up leftover bits of cloth, or which keep older children quiet and busy.

Fingerloop braiding may turn out to be that new craft for you, and http://fingerloop.org/ is a great site to visit.  It has links, a description of period uses, braid patterns, step-by-step instructions with a video (videos make learning so much easier!), and even a bibliography organized into primary and secondary sources.  What fun!

http://fingerloop.org/

Lots of fingerloop videos:  http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=fingerloop+braiding

If you want to do more research on anything textile related, here's another useful link:

Elizabeth Peters' Anglo-Saxon Textile Bibliography