Friday 26 January 2007

Regensburg Manuscript - Vitae et passiones apostolorum

"Vitae et passiones apostolorum" (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 13074.)
Prüfening (Regensburg), 1170/1180.


A more heavily illustrated manuscript, with quite a few women illustrated, but no calf length tunics and no patterned fabrics.

Women in the manuscript:
I haven't included picture captions, as bildindex was unusually uninformative. (captions such as "
Minature from Matthew")

[28], [66v], [90], [140], [100v],
Plain dress with flared sleeves, veil (or loose hair), some with rucked up chemise sleeves. The veils are probably wrap around ones - see how the 2nd image has a clear line across the shoulder where a wrap would cross itself, and the others have similar pattern of folds.



[66], [66v], [82v], As above, but with beanie caps. The beanie caps are worn over the same veils as above or just over the hair (2nd lady, first image). Most have bands of trim around the edge. Some of them are a plain circle, others vee upwards on the forehead. Several here appear to be worn jauntily, slightly off centre on the head, but they could be ones with a vee where i can't see the second side clearly. The one's that don't vee remind me of Jewish skullcaps.





[90v] Veil is loosely draped - doesn't cover front of neck. Rest of dress same as others. This could be a man (i've seen such head drapes on people with beards), but I don't think so.


[100v] Dress same as others, but she is wearing a turban. It's hard to tell with the smudge mark, but I think she is wearing the same wrap veil as the others (you can even see a dangling end behind her shoulder), and then the turban on top of that. It could be a pre-wrapped turban. Or it might be a different variety of hat I've not seen before, but I'm pretty sure I can see bands of wrapping. Her face appears to be contorted (big nose, fat face, scowl?) which may be a racial stereotype, or may just be me reading too much into a smudge mark. I should note my reasons for assuming this is a female - floor length dress and long maunches, features I haven't seen on guys before (ankle length, or longer with a slit, and only short maunches I have seen).


Image summary of remaining pages and rest of featured pages:

I find this manuscript a little strange in it's fashion sense. About half the men are still wearing the fashion of the prüfening miscellany - tunics with shirts showing underneath and many bands of decoration. But none of the women wear the female version of this fashion - all have floor length dresses, and none even have a band of decorated trim on the end of their sleeves. Some have what looks like a plain coloured band, but no decoration. Perhaps the artist didn't have enough time to do such elaborations (but calf length doesn't take time) or perhaps this vain fashion was not considered appropriate for saintly women (but none wear halos, and other manuscripts show Mary with a calf length tunic). Or maybe this shows a diversion over time (this manuscript is slightly later than the others so far) from byzantine fashion?

Wednesday 24 January 2007

Revisiting the Prüfening Miscellany

Gloss of the Bishop Salomon 3. of Konstanz (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 13002.)
Prüfening (Regensburg), 1158 and 1165,


If this manuscript looks familiar to me, it is because it is. I've previously written about 2 pages of this manuscript under the title Prüfening Miscellany.

Stylistically it's also a lot like another manuscript I've already written about - Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, ms. lat. 14159 made at Regensburg Abbey a little later (c1170/75).

summary of illustrations:

  • [1v], [2], [2v]Medical text. Shirts visible below tunic hem. Men with band of trim at mid thigh height (1v, could this just be a badly drawn visible shirt?) . Much trim.Cingulum style belts including wide ones in patterned fabric(2,2v). Phrygian cap in patterned fabric (2,2v). Glimse of Braes? (2v)
  • [3] medical diagram of the body
  • [3v], [4], [4 again], virtues and vices see previously entry on these pages.
  • [4v] castle diagram (no people)
  • [5v] mostly bishops & kings (little clothing detail)
  • [7v] microcosmos interlinked diagram (no clothing)
  • [8] and [8 again], [8v], [8v closeup], [13v], [80], [89v], [179], [?], [208], [209] decorated initials (no people) or text with slightly decorated borders (no people)
Folio 1 and 2 are the most exciting - more pictures in the style of the virtues and vices pages. Unfortunately all the figures are male. We get a lot more working men, and less kings and bishops, but the details are really much the same as the virtues and vices details. The brocaded fabric phygian caps are the only new addition.

Tuesday 23 January 2007

Less interesting manuscripts from Regensburg/Prüfening

A Collection of links to 12th C Manuscripts from the Regensburg/Prüfening Abbeys. Pictures of costuming interest are annotated.

Rupert von Deutz, "De officiis divinis" (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 14355)
Prüfening (Regensburg), 1140/1150


Two texts from Hieronymus and two papal directives (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 13102)
Prüfening (Regensburg), before 1140

"Augustini in actus sancti Johannis tractatus" (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 13085)
Prüfening (Regensburg), around 1140

  • fol 89: Wandering Jew (unfinished sketch) -What looks like a straw hat with an exaggerated point. Jews were represented in a conical hat, I think this is a characature of one, complete with exaggerated beard.
  • other images: [183v]

Rhabanus Maurus, "Explaination of Matthew's Gospel" (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 13032)
Prüfening (Regensburg) before 1140

  • folio 1: Initial M with King - He might have a separate piece skirt. Rippled sleeves on tunic (not shirt).
  • Other images: [6], [119v], [183v].

exegetical (relating to exegesis) manuscript (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 14398)
Prüfening (Regensburg), around 1140

  • folio 1a: royal portrait - A thin (perhaps sketched and not filled in?) band of trim on the forearm as well as at the wrist. Also a decorative roundel on the cloak.
  • folio 1v: The author Bede- decorative bands on forearm and bicep. A sideways keyhole neckline.
  • other images: [folio 2].

Haymonis "Exposition to the letters of the Apostle Paul" (Handschrift, München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 13036)
Prüfening (Regensburg), 1146/1155,

Gradual or Antiphon, (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 10086).
Prüfening (Regensburg), 1176/1200,

Gospels and prayerbok, (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 14444).
Prüfening (Regensburg), 1186/1200
Well apart from a nice image of a sideways keyhole neckline in the first post, if you've read this far, you've seen a lot of average pictures that aren't particularly useful for costuming. Sorry. Had to cross them off my list.

Technical German 101- Religeous Iconographic Terms

Using Bildindex, I see lots of captions in German. And I have just enough German to be not able to translate them properly. Because they are as obscure as the English captions are. Fortunately they are also standardised like the English ones, so after a bit of guesswork, I can work out what the standard labels are mostly.

Here's my list so far (I'll try to update it):

  • Verkundigung = Annunciation (when the Angels told Mary she was going to have a baby - March 25)
  • Johannes der Täuber = John the Baptist
  • Schwiegermutter = Mother in law
  • 3 Frauen am Grabe = 3 Marys at the grave (Jesus's grave, finding it empty)
  • "Noli me Tangere" (latin, not german) ="touch me not" - what Jesus said to Mary Magdalen
  • Ungläubiger Thomas = doubting Thomas
  • Martertod=Martyrdom
  • Himmelfahrt = Ascension (being lifted bodily to heaven, as Christ and Mary are shown)
  • Geburt = Birth of
  • Kreutzigung = Crucifixtion
  • Maria = Mary (generally as in "the virgin" Mary)
  • Christi = Christ, Jesus
  • Steinigung = Stoning
  • Flucht nach Ägypien = Flight to Egypt
  • Beschneidung = the Circumcision (generally of Jesus)
  • Darstellung im Tempel = Presentation in the temple (the equivalent of christening)
  • enstehungsort = point of origin
  • Evangeliar/evangelium = Gospel book/gospels
  • Graduale = Gradual (choir book used in the Mass, ordered for the liturgical year; also included introits, tracts, alleluias, offertories, and communions)
  • Antiphon = Antiphon ("One or more psalm verses or sentences from Holy Scripture which are sung or recited before and after each psalm and the Magnificat during Matins and Vespers")
  • Gebetbuch = prayerbook
  • Glossar = gloss/glossary ("a collection of words about which observations and notes have been gathered")
  • Kreuzzug = crusade
edit: June 2007
Some terms used to describe cathedral treasury contents (mostly metalwork):
  • Eichenholz = oak
  • Email = enamel
  • emailliert = enamelled
  • Siber = silver
  • Silberblech = sheet silver
  • Wappen = crest/device/coat of arms
  • Truhe = chest/coffer
  • Kunstgewerbe = arts-and-crafts/applied arts
  • Zedernholz = Cedar
  • Kupfer = copper
  • lasiert = glazed
  • vergoldet = gilded/gold plated
  • kasel = chausible
  • chormantel =? cope
  • edelmetall = precious metal
  • Hohlguss = hollow casting
  • Geißel = flagellum
  • Karl der Große = Charlemange
  • Ziborium = Ciborium
I suppose i should mention - If you know I've got something wrong, please correct me.

Costume acessories from Cod. lat. 15903 Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

While I was browsing the rather lushly illustrated in the last post, I noticed lots of features not related to women's costume. Several of them are ones I haven't seen in visual sources before.

Remember, the manuscript was Periscope book of St Erentrud, Nonberg Abbey, Salzburg around 1140 (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 15903)

Garters
Fol . 68 Healing of the sick
That holy grail of pictures, a depiction of hose gartered at the knee. Not you can see what we know from extant examples. The extant examples have their garters sewn to the back of the hose at the top (eg Roger's pair - but you can't see that in this photo). The pair I've made so far I use a separate piece of cord and fold the top of the hose over. It works quite nicely, but I'll have to try the other way with my next pair.

The depiction is of gartered long hose, or at least it shows no tops of the hose, so I presume these are separate garters of necessity.


Hose
Their are lots of depictions of people wearing hose in most manuscripts, but most don't give many clues to their construction. There are quite a few pairs of hose depicted in this manuscript that have diagonal stripes checks or diamond patterns. [1] , [2], [3], are just a few examples. These may be indications of the cut of the hose - extant hose are known to be generally bias cut (the later ones are definitely so, I don't have any info on 12th C ones), such that the hose are slightly stretchy. Plain woven stripes and checks become diagonal stripes and checks when cut on the bias. I think this tendency to show diagonal patterns on hose (which I've also seen on other artwork) represents this. This manuscript also contains the first example I've seen contrary to the rule - a pair of hose with horizontal stripes. Mind you, I think only a couple of stripes is unlikely to be a woven in pattern, so this could represent post-construction decoration. Or just an artist on a funny day.
Just for variety, there is also one pair with trios of dots on them.
This manuscript also has a depiction of what I think are pairs of hose when not on the body.
folio 11v stoning of st Stephen
This site says stoners "were laying down their garments at the feet of Saul, that they might be more ready for the task devolved upon them" so the object should be clothing, unspecified variety. They look like hose to me, but I see no reason why they should remove only their hose and not their other garments. The feet of the hose are not visible, making this identification uncertain, but the string at the top point of this pair is just what we expect from 14th C hose. The pattern on the reverse side reminds me of the buskins of archbishop Walter Hubert (c1200), pictured on right. I presume showing one side patterned and the other not is artistic license for showing the folds more clearly.


Sandals?
Fol 93, Martin divides his cloak with a beggar
This pilgrim
/beggar (the caption and story say beggar, his bag and staff say pilgrim) looks like he might be wearing sandals. I've seen biblical figures with thonging around their feet, but they might just be romanticising the past. A pilgrim might wear rather humble footwear than average, so this might be realism. The drawing of his legs makes him look barelegged.

Hoods?
If you look at the object around his shoulders, you'll see an object that sits above his tunic. Quite a few other guys have these , but on the others you couldn't tell if it was part of the tunic (although in several cases it was a different colour) for example the trim or neck facing. This example clearly shows the object on top of the trim on the tunic. I can think of few objects that are wrapped around necks other than hoods and scarfs (and it looks to structured for a scarf). This is quite different (shorter) from any other 12th C hoods I've seen, but compare it to this 13th C hood (caption on this post), which is quite tight on the neck and doesn't extend far down the torso. I think it's a hood, but I can't prove it conclusively, since not one of the following examples from this manuscript wears one over his head: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6], [7], [8], [9].

Bags
Fol 93, Martin divides his cloak with a beggar
The pilgrim has a nice example of pilgrim satchel in fairly typical shape (rectangular or square with a flap, and pilgrimage symbol eg cross or shell) and size (look how small they are!).

fol14, The flight to Egypt
This is another scene I've seen a few times (caption on this post)- poorer male travellers carrying their goods over a stick. The goods appear to be contained in some kind of saddlebag or roll. I've heard of a later period bag style where you make a roll like a long pillowcase, sew the ends closed and create a slit across the width of one side only of the middle. I think this has a similar construction, but not being a rich man's object we are unlikely to find out.

Thursday 18 January 2007

Dresses from Salzberg - Cod. lat. 15903 Bayerische Staatsbibliothek

The source, courtesy of Bildindex:
Periscope book, Saint Erentrud, around 1140 (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 15903)

  • Commonly known as the "Periscope book of St Erentrud", but don't try googling that, or all you'll end up with is a single link to this blog :-) (almost a googlewhack!)
  • Saint Erentrud or Nonnberg Abbey is a Benedictine Monestary in Salzberg (in fact it's the one in Sound of Music).
  • Like most Austrian art it has a strong italo-byzantine influence, but Dodwell says it also has an Ottonian influence. I think I can see this in the fatness and posture of some figures, and maybe also in some of the trim positioning?
  • I don't know exactly what periscope book means - no-one wants to give me an exact definition (it might be something to do with spiritual illumination)
  • You can see one colour folio (men only) on wikipedia commons.
I'm going to summarise all the women in this manuscript below, but I'm not going to show all the pictures - none of these women have the fancy calf length style I'm looking for at the moment. In fact, most of them are cut pretty much the same as the first picture, although many have less details (no trim on sleeve edges, or sometime less dangly sleeve).

folio 58: Helena and Emperor Constantine
  • A fairly standard full length dress with flared sleeves, partially concealed by a wrap
  • Trim on sleeve edges
  • what looks like a cingulum style belt
  • Most interestingly, the tight sleeves under the flared oversleeves are a coloured patterned fabric. Most dresses show pale sleeves that could be a chemise, but this one is either a patterned fabric underdress or a chemise with wide decorative cuff panels applied. And it looks like there is a different coloured band at the cuff, which argues for the former. Exciting!
  • There is something strange hanging out of the bottom of the sleeve.
Folio 102v - Christ and Mary (not pictured here - follow link)
  • Fairly standard floor length dress with flared sleeves.
  • standard pale wrinkled tight sleeves under the flared ones.
  • Something strange hanging out of the bottom of her outer sleeves too (pictured, clearer on this picture than previous folio)
  • shoes with line of decoration down vamp
Folio 84 - Mary gives Birth (not pictured here - follow link)
Folio 39 - The 3 Mary's at the Tomb
Folio 76v - Waking of Jarias' daughter
  • Nothing special, clothing mostly obscured by blankets, cloaks or people
Folio 81 - Mary dies
Folio 70 - Healing of the mother-in-law of Petrus (caption points out that's what the text says even though it's obviously a man being healed)
Folio 31 - Annunciation
  • Clothing mostly obscured by cloak
  • shoes show line of decoration down vamp
  • Folio 81 and 31 also show use of scalloped edges as trim. This is also seen (eg pictures) in a number of the men's garments in this manuscript: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
    and as men's belts with scalloped edges: 1, 2.
Folio 71v - Birth of John the Baptist
  • pretty average European ladies
  • what appears to be a byzantine midwife -I've seen extant earrings before, but only from byzantine and Russian sources. I've read a literary description (was it in Goddard?) that good European women didn't wear earrings, that only shameless byzantine hussies did (or at least that's what the Europeans were saying - I'm sure the Byzantines thought something similarly uncharitable about the western Europeans). It certainly fits with the archaeological absence of earrings in Europe - metal is more likely to survive and the German empresses did get buried wearing jewelry. I'm pretty sure I've seen earrings in byzantine art. So I guess this lady is a byzantine or Russian lady, but I can't think why she is appearing in this particular scene. (were byzantine midwifes better? was there a Byzantine princess married in to that family?) She also has an unusual hairstyle.
    Folio 14 - Flight into Egypt
    Folio 15 - The Circumcision (of Jesus)
    Folio 17 - The 3 Kings
    Folio 46 - "Noli me Tangere" ("touch me not" - what Jesus said to Mary Magdalen)

    • Mary's Dress and sometimes veil & Cloak both have trio's of dots on them. These dots also appear on some of the other characters. They could annotate decoration, but I've heard this could also be a symbol used to annotate a holy person. A clear giveaway that this is so in some other works is when trios of dots appear on foreheads or similar non-clothing places. I can't see any examples of that here
    • Other details of dress are obscured by cloak
    • Folio 46 Mary's veil - which is dark coloured, not the more common pale
    Folio 27 - Presentation in the temple
    Folio 9 - Birth of Christ
    • Most details of dress are obscured by cloak.
    • Different Coloured sleeves to dress on both pictures. Does this mean Mary is wearing some kind of sleeveless garment (surcoat, pelicon?) such that we see this surcoat over her legs, but the layer underneath over her arms. Or is she wearing widely flared sleeves that are hidden under the cloak. I can't see any clue to them, so I think not. Could the artist just be confused? Entirely possible. I really need a picture that isn't obscured by a cloak.
    • Folio 9 lady's veil has a bit of a fringe, but it doesn't continue all the way around. Looks like artist got bored halfway through. Is there another explanation? The fringe has 3-5 strings that are knotted together and end in a blob. It reminds me of this Mantiple (Aachen, Germany c1200) where strands of threads are pulled together to pass through a bead. Except this one has a different pattern, and I think each thread ends in a bead or knot (knots would be nearly as easy to use where the threads gather together too. I've been considering beading one of my headrail style veils - because that would add weight to the lower edge, making it stay in place better.
    Summary:
    Not much exciting on the dresses, indeed no patterned fabrics, calf length dresses, or beanie hats. But the accessories are shown in unusual detail, with some interesting variations. I'll continue with the accessories the men have in another post soon.

    Wednesday 17 January 2007

    For any people from the College of St Bartholemew who may be reading - Two pictures of St Bartholemew on Bildindex.

    http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/mi02399f06a.JPG

    From: Periscope book, Nonnberg Abbey, around 1140 (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 15903)

    http://www.bildindex.de/bilder/mi02388e01a.JPG

    From: Brevary, Michaelburn Abbey, 1161-1171 (München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cod. lat. 8271) In the Salzburg school of painting.

    Wednesday 3 January 2007

    I want a 12th C tent

    But I don't need one right now, and I definately don't need annother sewing project. Yet.

    So I'll just list some links here to clear it out of my brain. NO. No tent before this festival. Bad brain.

    The history of tents has a section on 12th C tents - it describes images (in words, not the pictures), and gives textual references. This german site gives images, and sparse german text (don't worry, you're not missing much of the image captions if you only read english).

    There seem to be two main types of tents - rectangular geteld tents in use mainly in England, and circular single bell tents in use mainly in Germany.

    And just to look like I did some research myself - if you look in the background of the 6th image of this previous post of mine here's a bell tent from those Austrian manuscripts I've been looking at. (Don't forget to click on folio 4v link to get the whole image without the top of the tent chopped off).

    Mummy, can I have one of each please? I've been good this year! I'm terribly tempted by the getelds - they look very simple to make (plus the knowledge available in the shire), especially one big enough for just me.

    I'd like to try out something else too - the pictures of them in manuscripts look much shorter than I see most people making. By comparison with standing fighters, the tents look like they just clear their heads, or clear their heads by about a headwidth. In length the ridge pole appears just short of, or about the same as a man's height in length, while the base length is about the same as a man's height. If I made a tent that comfortably fitted my camp stretcher plus a margin of error , and fitted my height above my head (I'm a thrifty 1.62m tall), a 2mx2m tent would probably work. I'm guessing the floor would be at least 1.5m wide - enough to comfortably fit my stetcher and a couple of chests as well as walking space and probably even space for a stool and wash basin. Especially if I make a stretcher that I can fit baskets/chests underneath. I've been sharing a approx 3m square tent, so half this space to myself shouldn't be a problem, since the strecher keeps my bed from sprawling as badly as the lilo does (the lilo was also much longer than i needed). But having a tent I can stand up in is a necessity for putting on tunics. Well, not a necessity, but a luxury and level of digity I'm not willing to forgo again. (Pennsic, a one man dome tent, and a high level of flexibility, frustration and wandering around the campsite in my chemise).

    Hmmm. This talking myself out of a tent just isn't working.

    growing mold

    So, my parents have a store of old wine. Stuff that's 15-20 years old and was meant to be drunk at around 8 years old. They're trying to fix the problem, one bottle at a time. (and no, I doubt you'd get much on ebay for it - not known brands, boutique wineries mostly). Some bottles are still drinkable, but past it's best, others taste too vinegary.

    So of course, being me, I want to make them into proper vingear so I can cook with them or make more sekanjamin. I've browsed the net on making vinegar, and stefan's florilegium was most helpful. Most of the advice on making vinegar is for people starting with fruit. Sure cheap young wine has lots of preservatives that hinder vinegar growth, but our old wine should be a special case - it never had much more sulfur preservative than required (I'm pretty sure I'm allergic to it, but I don't have problems with the stuff my parents get) and the levels of preservatives must be pretty low by now. The tannins were high, but now most of them have solidified out.

    Anyway, I concluded that it was best to just put my sour wine in a open topped jar and wait.
    Nothing was happening for 2 weeks until I thwarted my mum's natural habbit to keep the top covered from insects.

    Next white spots grew. They all appear to have the same shape and habbit - white coloured as a baby, then developing a dusky sage green colour with white edges. The edges are rippled up and down in a pattern shown by all the bacteria thingmys. Here's a photo (click for closeup) taken without my flash, so the colours are a bit darker than I see them. (with the flash I either get too much reflection or can't get this close).

    Google image searching "mother of vinegar" brings up images of redish clear skins. And I've finally found a site of someone else who makes vinegar from old wine. There's a good photo of his mother of vinegar on the site and it looks nothing like what I have. It also has annother person's Q&A on vinegar making, where it says about growing her own mother of vinegar:"but shortly thereafter light gray-blue-green mold-looking stuff formed on the top". She skimmed it off several times and after a couple more months got her own mother of vinegar.

    So, yay I've grown mold. It's been skimmed off twice now (it regrew quite quickly, and more green), and I'm not sure I'll be brave enough to drink the end result of anything that had that mold in it. But rather than tip the wine out, I'm going to leave it and see if a mother of vinegar forms without a starter culture. (even if i'm not brave enough to drink it).

    Meanwhile, if anyone has/knows how to get a mother of vinegar (or homemade wine gone to vinegar, or sees unpasturised vinegar in the shops), please let me know.