Presenting Anna of Byzantium (my daughter), John, the longbowman from the Battle of Crecy (my son) and Mary of Burgundy (me).
MARY OF BURGUNDY’S BURGUNDIAN GOWN
I would never have made this hat (a henin) except it was infamous for being paired with a burgundian.
My persona, Mary of Burgundy, was the richest lady in late 15th century Europe.
All the men wanted to marry her, since she was the sole heir to the Burgundian lands.
There is a famous painting of her, Mary’s Book of Hours, in which she is wearing a Burgundian gown, which I draped for myself.
Certainly, she had many ladies-in-waiting, of which I had none, which I quickly learned is a huge asset to wearing this attire.
Showcasing the gown, I gave a mini-history lesson on the Burgundian.
The hennin was only worn by the upper class, because it was impossible for work to be done while wearing them.
Popularly lined with fur, these gowns were meant to keep a lady warm in drafty castles, as evidenced in the movie, Joan of Arc.
You could see everyone’s breath inside the castles.
KIRTLES UNDER BURGUNDIAN GOWNS
Underneath this a kirtle would be worn.
Most of us are familiar with this medieval garment, which could be worn alone with a belt, called a girdle, or under a Burgundian gown.
I made my kirtle with detachable sleeves, because there was no way I could wear the sleeves under the gown.
Removing the Burgundian, and deciding not to attach the sleeves to the kirtle because I was warm, I became Joan d’Arc.
ANNA OF BYZANTIUM
My daughter was Anna, whose father was ruler of Byzantium in the 11th century.
During the first Crusade, she met many knights who came through on their travels.
As a result, she wrote a history book of the First Crusade.
The Byzantium culture was a blend of east and west (Rome).
The garments were Roman in form (tunic and toga) but the materials and decoration were Eastern.
After looking through illustrations, my daughter designed and made her garment, with help from me as needed.
LONGBOWMAN FROM BATTLE OF CRECY
My son portrayed a longbowman from the Battle of Crecy, in the early 14th century, wearing a gambeson.
His gambeson, that I sewed for him after much research, is a quilted jacket that was worn under chain mail, to help protect him from the blows of swords.
He wears a bracer on his left arm (not sure of the name) to hold back the fabric so that it won’t get in the way when he shoots the arrows.
Let the Feast begin!!
SURVEYOR OF THE FEAST
My son played the Surveyor of the Feast, blowing the trumpet to announce each of us as we took our seats.
Then he blew the trumpet to announce that Lady Anna would give us the history of Thanksgiving, in its Medieval context.
Since our Becoming History presentation fell about the time of Thanksgiving, the Medieval Feast lends itself so well with our traditional Thanksgiving, I easily combined the two.
After the Surveyor announced the prayer, we said a prayer of Thanksgiving.
Yet again the Surveyor blew the trumpet, to announce that Lady Anna would remind us of proper etiquette from the Babees’ Book: Medieval Manners for the Young.
WASSAIL CEREMONY
Then we had the Wassail Ceremony, where we each raised our glasses to toast good health.
PRESENTATION OF THE SALT
Next came the Presentation of the salt.
PRESENTATION OF THE UPPER CRUST
At the Upper Crust Ceremony, Lady Anna presented the bread to me, which I cut in half.
Offering a slice of the upper crust to our most important and distinguished guest, who took on a Medieval name.
LAVER CEREMONY
Then we had the Laver Ceremony, where we washed our hands in water full of herbs and spices.
PRESENTATION OF THE FOOD
Finally we began the presentation of the food!
Since feasting was more about fanfare and presentation than eating, we clapped after each plate of food of fancy looking food arrived to the table.
Indeed, each dish looked fancy, because that was part of the spectacle of the Medieval Feast.
PRESENTATION OF ROASTED PEACOCK A L’ORANGE
Since there were no turkeys in Europe in the Middle Ages, they might feast on peacocks.
Disguising our turkey to look like a peacock, I replicated the habit of medieval cooks who liked to make their cooked meats look like their original condition.
PRESENTATION OF ARRAY D’SALLAT
When I read that a vegetable tray would be part of a feast, with the food in the form of a coat of arms, my son took this project.
Researching various coat of arms in his Osprey books, he had me julienne and chiffonade the vegetables, which he placed artistically on the silver tray.
PRESENTATION OF COUP A FRUITS
PRESENTATION OF FROSTED SALLAT WITH FOREST OF MINT WITH STAINED GLASS SALLAT EMBEDDED IN SNOW
PRESENTATION OF SAUCE AUX CANNEBERGES
PRESENTATION OF BUNDLES OF HARICOTS VERTS WITH TOUCH OF TRUFFLE OIL
PRESENTATION OF CIABATTA HERB STUFFED PUMPKINS
I read that there was a European form of pumpkin in the Middle Ages.
PRESENTATION OF TRIO D’POMMES
Pommes de Blanc…
Pommes de l’Orange with Honeyed Mallow from the Marsh of Egypt
These are sweet potatoes topped with homemade marshmallows.
Although they stuck to me, they tasted amazing.
Pommes de Amethyst…
PRESENTATION OF AUS JUS
PRESENTATION OF DELICACY OF PEACOCK
PRESENTATION OF MINCEMENT PIE
Using a Christmas cookbook from Colonial Williamsburg, I made this pie completely from scratch.
The other day I started the minced meat from scratch to use in the pie. Yes, real beef.
Not able to find suet in the stores, I used coconut oil, instead for the mix
The taste was very close to the None Such Mincemeat by Borden that I was raised with and still use at Christmas time. I used beef, fresh apples, some candied fruits, but no alcohol.
MEDIEVAL CHIT CHAT
During dinner we talked of all things Medieval.
John, the longbowman, took the charge by asking Lady Anna questions.
She talked about herself, mentioning that she was highly educated.
HINTING AT THE RENAISSANCE
The longbowman started talking to her about the difference in universities in Italy (where the students weren’t learning enough so they took charge, demanding stricter classes) and northern Europe (where the professors needed to reign in the unruly students).
I pondered the near future of Italy in light of such industrious students.
John, the longbowman, predicted a rise in the arts.
ILLUMINATED MANUSCRIPT
I talked about the hostess, Mary of Burgundy, who had commissioned a Book of Hours be made for her.
Despite the considerable time invested in working on the project, the monks have not yet finished it.
John, the Longbowman, related where all the colors are derived (which he first learned from one of the carpenters at Colonial Williamsburg.)
my daughter’s…
my son’s
(They are unfinished because they truly are a time-consuming task. I told the kids we’d just play it up because we read all about the intensity of the work and the laboriousness of the task.)
LONGBOW
John, the longbowman, started talking about his bow and the Battle of Crecy.
Even though his bow was 7′ long before being strung, it was simply called a bow.
He thought the term longbow quite appropriate.
He was so chatty that he fell behind in his eating.
ENTERTAIMENT OF SELECTIONS FROM SONG OF ROLAND
While he finished his food, Lady Anna regaled us with selections from Song of Roland.
ENTERTAINMENT OF ALCHEMY
(We got the following idea from one of the Playbooth Theater interpreters at Colonial Williamsburg. I asked him for ideas for our last two history presentations. He remembered, asked me about them then VOLUNTEERED information for the next one. Huzzah! =) He suggested magic…which my son took on through alchemy!
When John, the longbowman, finished eating, he regaled us with a bit of magic he had learned from an alchemist.
When asked about this, he explained that an alchemist’s goal was to make gold out of an object.
Even though they haven’t figured out how to do that, they learned a lot of other tricks. He showed us how he could turn air into lead. (I missed the photo on that but saw the trick.)
He changed the color of water by adding clear liquid to purple to get…
…blue!
He added more clear liquid and got red!
Then we watched him add powder to another container of clear liquid which resulted in fizz…
Then he attempted to make an egg go inside of a bottle without pushing it in, by putting a flame into the bottle then quickly placed an egg on top, then left the egg there to be sucked into the bottle.
SINGING HYMNS
Then we sang music from the era.
Be Thou my Vision is an Irish hymn, written in 8th century AD.
All Glory Laud and Honor was written by Theodulph of Orleans while he was imprisoned in a French monastery in AD 820.
All Creatures Great and Small was written by St. Francis of Assisi in AD 1225.
