The Museum of Old Techniques…won't have to sell any SCAdians on this place. "Evolution doesn't necessarily mean progress, what we consider to be primitive solutions are often not primitive at all" Refer to Treehugger's excellent post here… Continue reading The Museum of Old Techniques

Uh oh. Europe is thinking big and has launched Europeana.eu, a huge digital library inspired by nothing less than the ancient library of Alexandria. Users will have direct access to some 2 million digital objects, including film material, photos, paintings, sounds, maps, manuscripts, books, newspapers and archival papers selected from that which is already digitized and available in Europe’s museums, libraries, archives and audio-visual collections. europeana.eu Continue reading Europeana.eu

Magdalena and Balthasar: An Intimate Portrait of Life in 16th Century Europe Revealed in the Letters of a Nuremberg Husband & Wife, and Illuminated by Steven Ozment, c. 1986 This entertaining little book is quite the peek into the private lives of a well-to-do merchant and his wife, who are routinely separated for periods of two months up to four, as Balthasar visits the Italian fairs from Germany. It’s more fit for the armchair historian – the sort of person who wonders if the “nasty, brutish and short” rumors are really true, given all the lovely depictions left behind in … Continue reading Book Review – Magdalena and Balthasar

I'm having fits with TypePad – they're doing upgrades, and I never seem to find a good time to upload pictures.  While I struggle with that, check out In Our Time's current podcast download: The Arab Conquests. Melvyn Bragg discusses the mighty Arab conquests of the 7th century with his guests Hugh Kennedy, Professor of Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; Amira Bennison, Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the University of Cambridge; and Robert Hoyland, Professor in Arabic and Middle East Studies at the University of St Andrews. Continue reading The Arab Conquests

Hi all – sorry for the hiatus in posts.  I’ve put myself on a new schedule, am tremendously productive…but haven’t been taking the time to blog.  However, I’m presently on vacay visiting family, so… Here’s a bit of Black Death to entertain you while I figure out what to do with myself.  Get thyself to In Our Time, and download the audio sometime this week, because when the new one’s up, the last one’s gone. Hopefully it’ll still be there when I get home to my laptop. Continue reading Still alive – here’s the Black Death.

A Greet’s Guy’s Garb client has asked for garb resembling something out of Kenneth Branagh’s Henry V. See, this is why I wanted to start this initiative – I’m gonna learn stuff.  I hadn’t yet seen H5, and am having a wonderful time watching (and screen capturing) my way through it.  Great speeches Kenny gave himself.  I swear, the "This is not that day" speech delivered at the end of LOTR is seriously ripped off of the Saint Crispin’s Day speech.    Love the all-French scene splendidly romped through by Emma Thompson.  (I especially love that my French is not … Continue reading Branagh’s Henry V

Go quick, because "In Our Time" doesn’t provide archives of their podcast, but "Dissolution of the Monasteries" (Henry VIII) is available here. Continue reading Dissolution of the Monasteries