![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
In attempting to break down into digestible pieces what I took away from the Medieval Congress, I'm reminded that a repeating theme was the importance of context.
I first became aware of this at last year's congress, but the fact that nothing happens and nothing exists in a void was driven home in the first session I attended this year, which was a collection of papers about the values and pitfalls of reenacting and recreation as a means of "getting at" historical truths, particularly dancing and fencing for which manuals and descriptions survive, but given the dearth of A/V equipment in the Middle Ages, we don't really have any motion picture of what people were actually doing :P
More than one of the speakers pointed out that using an old fencing manual as a "how to" guide is a very modern approach because many of the older fechtbuchs were meant to be used as "tips and tricks" for someone who was already an accomplished swordsman and under the tutelage of a master (who learned from his master, who learned from his on back to whenever).
Combined with the lack of master are the problems of learning period movement while unencumbered (or not, depending on your perspective) by period correct clothes and shoes, and I started to realize that there's more to "getting at it" just imitating the pictures (which are kind of iffy in terms of accuracy anyway).
In terms of my costume research, I'm thinking that I've got plenty of background in what people wore but I seriously lack in how and why they were wearing it. As such I'm going to resist the urge for more pretty pictures and pick up this heaping plate of costume context, at the recommendation of E., a fellow attendee who exulted more than once about this book.
Can't wait until I pass on the message at historic fencing club that the manuals we use aren't adequate on their own - I'm gonna feel like a real stinker, but if the ambition is the Total Period Experience(TM) they're just the beginning :/
I first became aware of this at last year's congress, but the fact that nothing happens and nothing exists in a void was driven home in the first session I attended this year, which was a collection of papers about the values and pitfalls of reenacting and recreation as a means of "getting at" historical truths, particularly dancing and fencing for which manuals and descriptions survive, but given the dearth of A/V equipment in the Middle Ages, we don't really have any motion picture of what people were actually doing :P
More than one of the speakers pointed out that using an old fencing manual as a "how to" guide is a very modern approach because many of the older fechtbuchs were meant to be used as "tips and tricks" for someone who was already an accomplished swordsman and under the tutelage of a master (who learned from his master, who learned from his on back to whenever).
Combined with the lack of master are the problems of learning period movement while unencumbered (or not, depending on your perspective) by period correct clothes and shoes, and I started to realize that there's more to "getting at it" just imitating the pictures (which are kind of iffy in terms of accuracy anyway).
In terms of my costume research, I'm thinking that I've got plenty of background in what people wore but I seriously lack in how and why they were wearing it. As such I'm going to resist the urge for more pretty pictures and pick up this heaping plate of costume context, at the recommendation of E., a fellow attendee who exulted more than once about this book.
Can't wait until I pass on the message at historic fencing club that the manuals we use aren't adequate on their own - I'm gonna feel like a real stinker, but if the ambition is the Total Period Experience(TM) they're just the beginning :/
