This year we celebrated St. Valentine’s Day a few days later than the rest of y’all. We got dressed up in medieval garb and spent the day in the Marche of Alderford attending the Masque of Courtly Love 9.1: A Medieval Science Fair (housed at Zion Lutheran Church in North Canton). The event was sponsored by a local branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism.

We learned about the SCA and this event from our friends Lord Thomas Haworth (Dan Bell) and Lady Mathilda Harper (Mathilda Navias). In fact, Lord Thomas very generously made the garb we wore this year and gave it to us as a gift. Sherry and I picked out the material from a stock of cloth Dan and Mathilda keep in their basement, and Lord Thomas fashioned the simple tunics for us in a flash. As you can see from the detail to the right, he also threw in some nifty stitching to liven up the garments.

While we were at the event, Sherry and I availed ourselves of the merchants and procured some other niceties to round out our outfits. Being simple tunics bound with belts, there isn’t any real convenient place to carry necessities (like cash to buy things from merchants). So we both purchased mug straps–an easy way to always have a mug handy–and I purchased a leather pouch to carry any number of things.

While there were folks wearing armor bopping each other with sticks for the better part of the day, we spent our time enjoying the less violent side of the SCA–Arts and Sciences. We started off with a class in “Weird Science of the Middle Ages,” which gave us an overview of the science of the period and some of the more outrageous notions perpetrated by Pliny the Elder. For instance, did you know that it was from Pliny that we get the false notion that elephants are afraid of mice? We also talked a good bit about humors and wandering wombs.

After lunch, Dan, Mathilda, and Todd went off to the inaugural meeting of the Jongleur’s Guild to learn some period pieces of vocal music. Sherry spent the time learning about various timekeeping methods of the Middle Ages. After these events were over, Sherry and I reunited for a two-hour Introduction to Alchemy by Mael Ruain mac Seain (Kristopher Dowling). The lecture was a fascinating overview of the origins and philosophy of alchemy as well as something of a defense of its continued practice. While most of us think of alchemy in its metallic mode (changing lead to gold), that form is exceedingly dangerous. As Maelruain doesn’t appear to have a death wish, he is focused on Spagyrics, the preparation of medicinals. I won’t go into all the details of the lecture here, but I did find two observations from nature to be interesting proofs that the concept of transforming elements isn’t totally whacky: first consider the plum; Maelruain claims that the fruit is somewhat low in iron but when dried into prunes the iron level dramatically rises. Where did the iron come from? I’m trying to track down actual nutritional information on this. Second, consider the chicken. When chickens scratch in mica rich environments, their shells become stronger. Yet the shells are made of calcium. How does consuming silicon turn out more calcium?

After enjoying the A&S lessons, we took a short break and then prepared for the baronial court. Before the entrance of the royalty, however, we were treated to a dramatic rendition of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” from The Canterbury Tales This year court featured several people receiving various awards from the Baron and Baroness and was capped by the presentation to their excellencies of two excellent portraits. At this point the Baroness was reduced to tears and court ended.

We were now ready to steel ourselves for the BIG EVENT of the day, FEAST. Led by The Honorable Lady Francesca de Onorati, the cooks commenced to bring us dish after dish after dish of the most delectible period foods. There were armoured turnips and roast carrots, roast pork and fricasseed chickens, tortes and cheeses, and all manner of good things. Well, you can see for yourself by visiting the menu. We ate for a good two hours. In between courses, various members of the populace provided entertainments. Included in the lineup were members of the Jongleurs’ Guild, including Thomas, Mathilda, and Todd. We sang a verse of “All in a Garden Green” and a rousing round of “Go to Joan Glover.” The evening concluded with a desert that not only fits the period and geography but also put us in mind of the current event taking place in northern Italy, the Olympics. We all were treated to a quite tangy lemon ice, seen below.

After a quick clean-up, we headed out into the frigid night air and returned to our homes in the lands of Castell Gwent.

After leaning and bulging and bowing, the brick facing to our front (side?) flower bed finally gave way last night under the duress of a thunderstorm and high winds. The good news is that all of the bricks appear to be in good shape, so I should be able to reuse them in putting the wall back up. The bad news is that the gutter downspout looks like it might need to be redirected as it may have been part of the cause of this disaster. At any rate, it looks like I might be learning some masonry this year. What fun!