Mæren & Lobebæren

Research for a medieval trestle table

Mon, 20 May 2013 20:20:00 +0200

Our carpenter, Master Albrecht, plans to make some trestle tables for our group, Mediaevalis Cultus. I collected here some blog posts I did in research for him some time ago, so that he can study them conveniently.

The link contains some 13th century illuminations of trestle tables, a modern reconstruction and an instruction on how to build such a table in english.

Currently he is doing a summ up on how much and which wood we’ll need. We are planning to make about four trestle tables, measuring up to two meters lenght and a sufficient number of benches. As soon as the project starts, I’ll do some blog posts about it’s progress.

The completed scabbard with my 15th century kit Well folks, I...

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:35:00 +0200

The completed scabbard with my 15th century kit

Well folks, I geared up to show you, how the new scabbard looks on my 15th century kit. And yes, these are the joined hosen, my tailor made for me. The red and white striped arming points are the ones, I looped over the last year (while watching Game of Thrones).

And for the very keen eyed: No, I haven’t done the leather gloves for the Kienbusch gauntlets you see there, yet. The ones I wear are not stitched to the gauntlets’ leathers.

A foursome: grip, rainguard, scabbard, belt Finally it’s...

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:42:00 +0200

It's done: New grip, rainguard, scabbard and belt.

The suspension is knotted to the scabbard

Two hooks attach to the belt

Three straps hold the scabbard in place at the tigh

A foursome: grip, rainguard, scabbard, belt

Finally it’s done. Last years scabbard project has come to a successfull end. Everything you see is made by me, except the metal parts (which were made and tinned by Holger Ratsdorf and Marco di Saro) and the blade itself (made by Jiri Krondak).

I disassembled the grip completely, wrapped the wooden core in linnen, glued on a riser and wrapped it in leather. After that, I attached a rainguard, tooled in a fashion of original finds from the netherlands. The scabbard has a core of hollowed wooden slats, lined with trimmed rabbit fur.

The outside is wrapped in linnen and bone glue. The leather is stitched in place, a metal chape protects the tip. The belt straps are knotted onto the scabbard using Matthieu Harlauts guide.

They are attached to the belt via two hooks (similar to contemporary portraits, e.g. Montefeltro) and a third strap is buckled in the front of the belly.

The last buckle is riveted onto the belt strap The last few blog...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:48:00 +0200

The last buckle is riveted onto the belt strap

The last few blog entries are not meant as tutorials, but since I shot some more pictures today, I’d like to give you some hints on riveting. At first you’ll need something heavy and sturdy like my little anvil there and a ball peen hammer. A normal hammer with a small peen will do too, but not as fine.

Cut the rivets with pincers and then file it smooth with a metal file. This is important to get an even rivet head. Use some leather under the buckle, you want to rivet, to prevent scratches.

The belt hooks are riveted in place That is the result of my...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:34:00 +0200

The belt hooks are riveted in place

That is the result of my trial and error method of shortening the belt straps for my new scabbard. The hooks attach to a small buckle (I hope, it will hold the weight…) on the belt.

Yesterdays prayer worked As you can see, I had to cut some more...

Fri, 17 May 2013 15:30:00 +0200

Yesterdays prayer worked

As you can see, I had to cut some more length from both scabbard straps. I used trial and error to get the right length. That means for every scrap on this picture, I had to get into my breast plate, buckle the belt and adjust the strips, until I found the right set up.

Prayer for a good sense of proportion

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:23:00 +0200

I hope so much, that I’ve got the length of the scabbard straps right today. It was really a mess, trying to measure it. Not enaught hands, not enaught mirrors to see how the sword hangs. And the plate armor was hindering my movements.

The problem is: there are three straps holding the scabbard in place. But only one of them can later be adjusted via a buckle in front of the belly. This strap is used to adjust the horizontal angle of the scabbard, e.g. how far it’s tip sticks out to the left.

The other two straps are there to balance the sword so that it doesn’t tip over the handle. The scabbard should hang slightly slanted and parallel to ones side and beneath the breast plate, so it doesn’t always ding it. And after all, one should be able to grasp the grip and draw the sword.

That can be a real challenge, if the sword hangs too low or sticks out to the false side. And above all else, the breast plate restricts the movement of ones arm!

All these things considered, I cannot have gotten it right…

The belt hooks’ holes are to narrow for the rivets This...

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:03:00 +0200

The belt hooks’ holes are to narrow for the rivets

This put my scabbard-belt-project to a halt today: the rivets are to thick for the holes in the belt hooks. At first I thought this may be a side effect of the tinning, but no…scraping some tin away was utterly useless.

Tomorrow I’ll have to drill the holes out before I can proceed with riveting. Nothing is ever easy, eh?

The brass parts for the belly part of the scabbard belt The...

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:56:00 +0200

The brass parts for the belly part of the scabbard belt

The riveting was quite easy today, using my new little anvil and a new round head hammer, I bought during wintertime. Maybe my neighbours are now a little bit sour, ‘cause of all the hammering.

The clasp on the left is meant to hold the hooks of the two leather straps, coming up from the scabbard.

Finishing the belt and straps for my scabbard Last year I built...

Thu, 16 May 2013 22:48:00 +0200

Todays work: I knotted the leather straps onto the scabbard and riveted some brass pieces onto the belt

15th century scabbard knots - front

15th century scabbard knots - back

Finishing the belt and straps for my scabbard

Last year I built a new scabbard for my refurbished hand-and-a-half sword. I planned to attach a 15th century belt system similar to this one, during winter, but then I had to wait for some brass parts to ship and built me a new anvil for riveting.

Nevertheless, today I found some spare time to proceed with the project. I weaved the knots around the scabbard and experimented a lot with their straps on the backside, because I wanted to have the end of the strap to emerge in a slight angle and with the fair side up front. Well, this was no fun, but I succeded at last.

After that, I tried to cut the two other straps to length. Doing this alone is nigh impossible, because you have to wear your plate breast, hold three separate leather straps and a scabbard with sword in it at once - and then mark where to cut!

Tomorrow, I’ll see if I did cut the straps to the right length. For now, I call it a day.

Feeling medieval?!

Wed, 15 May 2013 13:23:00 +0200

Sometimes, when I speak with non reenactors about the hobby, conversations can become a little bit awkward. While I talk about “visiting my tailor” or even “my armorer”, people tend to get this bland, uncomprehending look, followed by a remark like “What, you’ve got your own armorer?” or “A tailor? Isn’t that expensive?” (Our reenactment group even has it’s own charcoal burner at hand - some aquaintances just do happen in this hobby…)

These are the times, I’ll get this slightly medieval feeling, as if I had a quick glance at the mindset of a medieval person, maybe of a knight, for whom it must have been a regular occurance to see his tailor, armorer or a local bladesmith.

Since my counterparts doesn’t have such personal relationships when they are buying clothes or other things, but only know shopping malls, I feel that I can relate a little bit to this medieval mindset. Well, at least more than a non reenactor.

So, if you like, let me know, if you are experiencing similar feelings.

A tailor steals fabric (1320-1330, Ms Harley 6563 fol. 65) Today...

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:38:00 +0200

A tailor steals fabric (1320-1330, Ms Harley 6563 fol. 65)

Today I went to see my tailor, Heyke Möller, for a last fitting of my 15th century clothes. She tailored a nice pair of joined hosen and a doublet, which I’ll share here as soon as I have finished all of the points.

I also had left a pile of wool fabric for making a pair of separate hosen, and we joked about stealing fabric, using the wrong cut, so that there would be excessive clippings.

Well, as we see in this illumination from the Blessed Hours of the Virgin (1320-1330, Ms. Harley 6563 fol. 65, British Library), stealing fabric has been always an issue. The medieval tailor in this illumination wastes fabric while cutting a tunic and tucks the clippings away.

Heyke didn’t do this to me, ‘cause she only likes to tuck away my money…

The Ringeck - by Albion Swords This hand-and-a-half sword by...

Mon, 13 May 2013 21:42:00 +0200

The Ringeck - by Albion Swords

I love the waisted grip

I hope to buy this one in the near future

The Ringeck - by Albion Swords

This hand-and-a-half sword by US-armorer Albion Swords is something I have been drooling over for some years now. It’s such an elegant weapon, resembling swords from the first half of the 15th century. It’s standard specifications are:

Total length:118 cm (46,26”)

Blade length:93 cm (36,5”)

CoG:10 cm (3,98”)

CoP:58 cm (22,76”)

Weight:1500 g (3,307 lbs)

Grip length:18,1 cm (7,126”)

Only the pricetag holds me back from buying it: 795,00 Euro via Albion Europe. That’s a lot of money, but look again: This blade with an oxblood red grip would be fantastic.

Leather reenforced stick for fencing practice During our...

Sat, 11 May 2013 14:26:00 +0200

Leather wrapped stick for target practice

Drill a hole and hammer a nail through

Peen the nail over at the other side, use a small washer

I did use an old leather belt as wrapp

Leather reenforced stick for fencing practice

During our historical fencing training with hand-and-a-half swords we realized yesterday, that our stick for target training won’t hold up any longer. The first one we used was wrapped thickly in gaffer tape, but this wasn’t durable enaught and left ugly black marks on our blades. So we decided to wrap the stick in leather.

Today I found an old leather belt in my toolbox and decided to take action: I drilled a small hole through the wooden stick and hammered a nail through the leather and stick. On the other side I peened the nail over a washer. I then wrapped the belt tightly around the stick and repeated the process.

Hopefully this will last longer than the last one! If not, we will change to rattan instead of ordinary wood.

We use the stick for target training. One partner does hold it up with two hands, signalling a target to be attacked with a blow. The trainings effect is to execute the blows more fluently, while changing from guard to guard. Spotting the shown “openings” and reacting adequately is the goal to achieve.

Castle Trifels (1081, Annweiler/Germany) The “Reichsburg...

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:05:38 +0200

Castle Trifels (1081, Annweiler/Germany)

The “Reichsburg Trifels” is a 12th century castle at the Sonnenberg near the small town of Annweiler in the Palatinate region of southwestern Germany. It is located high above the Queich valley within the Palatinate Forest on the peak of a red sandstone mountain split into three.

View over the Palatinate Forest from castle Trifels This is the...

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:45:00 +0200

View over the Palatinate Forest from castle Trifels

This is the view king Richard I of England may have enjoyed during his imprisonment at castle Trifels in the Palatinate Forest. It’s the same window I blogged about earlier. It is part of remains of the house of guards.

House of the guards on castle Trifels (Annweiler/Germany) The...

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:32:00 +0200

House of the guards on castle Trifels (Annweiler/Germany)

The house of the guards (the ruins to the right) dates back to the 12th century, when castle Trifels was built. The small house is seated on a big lump of rock, opposite to the main towers entrance. The building on the left was rebuilt in the 1960s.

The chapel of castle Trifels (1190, Annweiler/Germany) One of...

Fri, 10 May 2013 13:13:00 +0200

The entrance to the chapel is barred

The chapel is one of the few remaining medieval rooms of castle Trifels

Thanks to my long arms, I was able to take this shot of the apsis

The chapel of castle Trifels (1190, Annweiler/Germany)

One of the few surviving medieval rooms at castle Trifels is the chapel. It is located within the second storey of the main tower (built in 1190 by emperor Heinrich VI). It is quite sure, that Richard the Lionheart heard mass in this chapel during his at least three week long imprisonment at castle Trifels in 1194.

Sadly, nowadays it is closed to the public. The apsis, which protrudes from the outer wall of the tower, is a remarkable architectural feature, which hadn’t been used on german castles before 1190.

Hall of the emperor at castle Trifels (built in 1938) The hall...

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:52:00 +0200

Hall of the emperor at castle Trifels (built in 1938)

The hall of the emperor (Kaisersaal) at the Trifels is a sad relic of the Third Reich. It was built in 1938 as some sort of national monument by the german nazi government. The hall is built directly onto the northern side of the main tower, where once the medieval palas may have stood. However the original building may have looked, the nazi-fantasy is way too overproportioned: The original palas would have had a lower roofline, two separate storeys and not such a big hall at all.

Replica of the effigy of Richard I of England On the last day of...

Fri, 10 May 2013 11:13:47 +0200

Replica of the effigy of Richard I of England

On the last day of my vacation in the Palatinate Forest, I finally did find Richard the lionheart: in a dim lighted room of the “Museum unter dem Trifels” in Annweiler. Since he died in 1199 it was not his grace himself, but only his effigy (and not even the real one, which is on display in the church of Fontevraud Abbey in Anjou).

I must dare say, Richard left not many traces in and around the Reichsburg Trifels, where he was imprisoned for several weeks in 1194. He was once the most reknowned knight throughout europe and all he got from Annweiler is this lousy replica of his effigy… Ah well, and a hiking track was named after him, the “Richard Löwenherz Weg”, which inexplicably doesn’t even lead to castle Trifels, where he was hold for ransom.