Routine Maintenance and Upkeep
The website has been checked for bad links; pruned and tuned so to speak. Everything on site is in working order, to include a dead image which I removed from an old article. This is a good reminder to continue to develop my own media. However entertaining and convenient it is to take photos (with credit) from the internet, they may not be there forever. The website is fuller now, too, as I have added a number of new items to many of the lists including new groups, a smattering of new events, etc.
From Neep Manor
Guiding Principles
In conversations about living history, especially when it comes to developing an impression, there are lots of opinions regarding (both) the ways to and not to incorporate elements into an ensemble. This is confounded by a living history community constituted of individual reenactors and individual groups with different comfort levels and standards when it comes…
Guest Appearance
I had the distinct pleasure of being a guest on The Stallion Podcast. While Kolten and I talked about medieval living history, and reenactment as is no surprise, with an entire season off of public events, it was both refreshing and grounding to spend some time interpreting what we do to someone who has no exposure to the hobby again. It is a perishable skill, and sometimes it is easy to forget just how much people on the outside don’t know. Stay humble, keep teaching.
Pilgrim Progress Challenge Year 2 Begins
As of tomorrow, April 1st, the 2nd annual Agincourt Soldier – Turnip of Terror Pilgrim Progress Challenge will begin! Start logging those miles pilgrims, we’ve to get to Canterbury!
News Bulletin
These are the articles and videos which I shared in March which I think are beneficial to the medieval living history community. To see them in real time, follow on Facebook.
- An article from the St. Thomas Guild on dying substances other than fabric with madder.
- An article from Triskele Heritage titled Mediaeval Mythbusting Blog #5: The Tintern Tunnels.
- An article from YorkshireLive about 20 long lost North Yorkshire castles which have disappeared forever.
- A study from the University of Cambridge investigating Medieval injuries: Skeletal trauma as an indicator of past living conditions and hazard risk in Cambridge, England.
- An article from The Doctor Weighs In discussing the idea of Did Medieval Medicine Pave the Way for Value-Based Payment?
- An article from USCNews examining what today’s conspiracy theories have in common with ancient ones.
- An article from CNN Style (though it’s been all over the place) about a recent material culture find of a neat little snail badge.
- An article about TSU using machine learning to evaluate historical documents.
- An article from the Museum of Artifacts about gold in dentistry.
- An article from the Medieval Manuscripts Blog titled Fascinating Beasts (and where to find them).
Meme Machine
The wheels of the meme machine turn, and out comes another meme!
Podcasting
How Two Medieval released two episodes and a mini episode this month.
- Episode 21 (58:01 in length): A Review of the Art of the Sword conference, including a segment from before and then after!
- Episode 22 (56:38 in length): Martial vs. Civilian Impressions, where we discuss the various nuances and differences in approaching and executing martial and civilian living history impressions.
- Mini Episode (8:31 in length): Impressions where I gives my thoughts on the specificity of impressions, and how they should (or rather shouldn’t) necessarily interact with each other.
Community Conversations
The crux of the question was, what happened to a knight or lord if they lose their land, do they lose their title or status? The answer seems to be no, not really. I did learn about a process I had not heard of before called degradation, which is a formal stripping of someone’s knighthood. It’s pretty horrifying the way they did it, too.
March Hall of Fame
A highlight of some of the most popular things on the Turnip Network. Do you have content you think is a candidate next month? Tag me on Facebook or use the hashtag #turnippicks on Instagram for a chance to be featured on the page, and if you make the top, a mention in the newsletter!
#turnippicks
In the past I did a collage of the top 9. I don’t really know why. A top three make more sense, and is what I do for Facebook posts. So here are the top three #turnippicks photos posted in March and receiving the most likes.
@rhuantavan
the_lonely_landsknecht
@vrouwenmaereFacebook Fun
The top three most liked posts on Facebook in March were:
- A comic poking fun at Hollywood’s treatment of medieval topics.
- The article previously mentioned about the snail shell artifact.
- The announcement I made about Kult of Athena’s new look.
- An spotlight of Katafalk’s tutorials website.
Future Projects
Every month I release some sort of project for the community, be it a long form written article, an audio episode, or a video, or some blend of the above. The items below are the projects I have in various stages of completion, which are at a stage where they are candidates as the headlining topic for next month. Esquires and Knights of the household on Patreon have access to a monthly poll where they can choose which topic I will work on for the next month. If you want to cast your voice, become a Patron!
- A “Behind the Metal” interview featuring Trevor Clemons of the Kansas City Sword Guild, focusing on his considerable expertise and success with creating a crossover HEMA and living history group.
- I have a simple, slender belt from Lorifactor I could review. Anything I wear I could review. Do you want more product reviews?
- More tent diagrams, from other companies or from more tent styles of the companies I already have worked on. Maybe re-do the hand drawn one in CAD like the new one is. These drawings are very time consuming though, and with how many size/shape variations exist among the preeminent manufacturers of medieval tents, it will take me years to work through them all (or sufficient support to work on the website full time.) Also, the dead computer doesn’t help.
- I went on a mission to find fixes to a persistent wardrobe malfunction where my hosen would bunch up on my feet and bind with the rough leather of my boots when putting shoes on over my footed hosen. I received a list of possible solutions, some of which I have tried and some of which remain candidates for experimentation. An article on the subject would include trying and documenting my experiments with all the suggestions.
- I am collecting old, dead tents to re-purpose their fabric for an “Archer Lean-To.” This project would be to benefit any group or encampment portrayal. The idea: unlike the Knight himself who would purchase a proper tent, the commoners who joined him on campaign might opt instead to take an old cast off tent which could be purchased for cheap or salvaged for free and use it to erect a shelter for themselves while on campaign. Hanging a rectangular swath of canvas, as a tarp, can allows a variety of options as a shelter. It could ornamented with cheap mattresses and other excess material culture to give the impression of three or four men (representing a few archers and camp servant in their absence) and provide a contrast in quality to my tent. I need to research, however, is if this is a speculative construction, a reenactorism I have seen others do without any primary documentation. Part of the project and the article would be doing said research.
- Can you portray an Atheist or Godless medieval impression?
- How to tie an arming point? (Video and/or print guide.)
- How to use a fibula style brooch? (Video and/or print guide.)
- Practical example against cutting corners, using tent stakes and hammers as a reference. (Video)
- An article/video on medieval camping and comparing/contrasting slavishly accurate camping vs. modern reenactment “glamping.”
- Knotwork / ropework guide, either as a single large video/article or in a series (knots, bends, splices, marlinespike skills, etc.)
