Review of Lauren Groff's Matrix

This is my recent book review of Lauren Groff's novel Matrix, about the life of Marie de France. This is part of my research into the lives of women who were a key part of the Twelfth Century Renaissance, my biggest current focus in the SCA world of arts and sciences. After Adela of Blois, Hildegund, and Christina of Markyate, this would be influential woman number four. It is exciting to continue adding important women from the Twelfth Century Renaissance to my list as my research develops. 

Please click on the image to read the book review, which I also published in our canton newsletter The Jousting Squirrel.  

Imitating Duhrer's Renaissance Watercolors

I have always loved the paintings and engravings of Albrecht Duhrer, the German artist who was part of the Northern Renaissance during the 15th and 16th centuries. This past month I attempted to copy one of his watercolors--View of the Arco Valley in the Tyrol, 1495--but with a modern and updated twist for the Pacific Northwest. The closest example to his painting I could think of was Haystack Rock on Cannon Beach in Oregon. I used a very small canvas, part of a watercolor kit I was gifted for Christmas, and aimed to keep the same perspective and landscape view as Duhrer, but with an obvious focus on the water as well, which is absent in his art. While his rocky Italian hilltop featured a castle, mine had soaring bald eagles circling it and tourist families below it. I plan on continuing a small series of watercolors of things and places in my own life, but inspired by Duhrer's works.  

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

It's been cold here in Akornebir! Even in near-freezing temperatures, our group of rapier fighters continues to meet and find ways to keep warm. I've been working a lot on footwork, following the advice of the more senior fighters. Speaking of which, it's definitely been a month of backward steps in other areas. The last month has been a quiet one for my Arts and Sciences projects, with a couple of failed attempts having hindered some small amount of progress. A guitar string snapped, which although is pretty easy to replace in theory, it actually ended up leading me on a wild goose chase looking for the right type of strings, the best way to attach, and getting assistance in doing it all. The whole set of strings were several years old, so we ended up just replacing all of them and then spent several days tuning the guitar over and over again. In addition to this particular setback, there was some disappointment with the copy of the Ormulum book I acquired through interlibrary loan, as it was not a translation, only the original text from the 12th century which is unreadable for us normal folk. The search for that particular book continues. The next month though has lots of projects and activities in the works: a fabric scurry, a February feast, and getting ready to enter a research paper at Kingdom Arts and Sciences in March.  

Tissue-Paper Stained Glass Windows

I've been experimenting with a new activity for families and kids inspired by twelfth-century arts and sciences. I teach an art appreciation class every day to middle schoolers and these are some of the results from our recent tissue-paper stained glass window project. They took inspiration from the real stained glass window images at Chartres Cathedral in France, which was built during the early gothic period in the late 12th century. After each student chose their window to imitate, they traced the image onto wax paper, and then traced the individual glass segments on colored tissue paper. After cutting these segments of color out and gluing them onto the wax paper like a jigsaw puzzle, we taped them onto the classroom window to let the light shine through. While safer than cutting real glass, the project is quite time consuming--taking several class periods to complete. It would not work at an outdoor event due to the tissue paper blowing around with the slightest breeze, it could work for a kids and family activity if participants were given the traced outlines and cut out segments ahead of time. 

Novel about Women of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance

 

I'm currently reading Lauren Groff's Matrix, a novel about the life of Marie de France, one of the women who contributed to the Twelfth Century Renaissance. I'll be writing a more full review later in the next Jousting Squirrel newsletter, but it's safe to say that I'm loving it so far. It's the story of one of Eleanor of Aquitaine's ladies who was sent away to run a nun's abbey due to her illegitimate birth. I was excited to find this novel as it is pretty helpful in identifying not only another woman of the Twelfth-Century Renaissance to research, but gives me a different way to read about her, through the power of fiction. 

Reading the 12th Century Ormulum

                                                          

This month, I'll be reading parts of the Ormulum, which is one of the best, perhaps only comprehensive examples of Early Middle English written down as it was spoken in the Twelfth Century. My goals in reading parts of the Ormulum are to further develop my 12th Century persona by being able to speak and write some of the Middle English from that period. There are a few different opportunities for incorporating this into my persona, from small things like email signatures and written correspondence, but also going as far as potentially writing my own poetry, song or prose in Early Middle English. Alas, the first book I found did not have translation, only the original text, so I will keep searching for now. I will try to post an update on this project when more is available. 
                     

                     

My Next Medieval Guitar Hymn

My next guitar project is trying to learn another medieval Christmas hymn from as close to my 12th century persona period as possible. For Sergeant's Trials, I performed "What Child is This" also known as Greensleeves, along with O Come Emmanuel and While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night. Next on the list will be an attempt to learn "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly".