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anotheranonIn 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 :/
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out of context...
Date: 2007-05-16 10:55 pm (UTC)Re: out of context...
Date: 2007-05-17 04:27 am (UTC)But we do have to face the possibility that, three or four thousand years from now, Canadologists will be digging us up to see what sort of civilization we had, if any. I'm afraid we're going to be a pretty dull lot, just row after row of gents in blue serge suits and ladies in print dresses. Not a solid gold pickle fork in the bunch. They're going to think we were a crowd of cheapskates.
I think it would be fun to be buried in a tomb with, say, the chassis of an old Essex or maybe a hand-operated coffee-grinder, and let them try to figure that out.
Come to think of it, the Pharaohs may have had the same idea. I can hear the Pharaoh chuckling as he puts down the evening paper, and saying to Mrs. Pharaoh:
"I just got a terrific idea for a gag. I get all wrapped up in bandages and have them bury me beside a fool boat. And I'll build a big statue in the middle of the desert, half cat, half me. What a riddle for the Egyptologists, eh, honey?"
"Fresh Out of Pharaohs" (excerpt), from Shall We Join the Ladies?, by Eric Nicol.