10 May, 1998
Pumita's Perspective:
A report on the Gypsies, Archers, and Thieves event
Our visit to the court of His Majesty Sir Timothy of Arindale,
currently King of the East Kingdom, was a blast! We rode our steeds
through wind and rain, muck and mud, and we arrived at last, on Saturday
morning, the 9th of May, at the feasting hall of His Majesty, the King
of the East Kingdom in the great empire of the SCA. Upon arrival, his
servants did send us to our accomodations, where we set up our quarters,
changed into suitable apparel, and proceeded to the field of battle.
There, there were men, and women, of valor, carrying great swords, shields,
axes to throw, and archers aplenty. I myself did take part in a great
game according to the legend of Robin Hood. We drew lots for our
character, mine being that of Yeoman, a Saxon archer, and then did carry
our equipment into the forest for the great Shoot. We loosed our arrows
upon our designated targets, and were awarded points in accordance with
the role each of our characters was destined to play. Our clergywomen
did engage in a great debate, our nobility had a sore trial of heraldic
questions, and we Yeomen, as unlettered peasants, did test our skill in
the throwing of the axe. Then we continued with the archery shoot, and
indeed, I did prove myself well against the very Sherrif of Nottingham,
besting him with an arrow to the head. I did not so well against the
Norman who did charge me with his lance. I fired off two arrows, and
then did duck for my very life, as his lance sought to find in me a
home for it's dastardly point! My fellow archers did find much
amusement in my flight, and thought it well that I saved my hide
to fight again another day with this lanceman. In the end, all did well
on this day's shoot. Even the thieves, who did steal of their winnings
to help me in my endeavors against the Sherrif's men, generously sharing
their wealth with me, the poor Saxon, on this day. A very fine time was
had in the forrest, and new companions met, slogging through the mud
and trees with our trusty bows and quivers. :-)
After the forrest shoot, I did change into my lady's finery to
attend His Majesty's court. He makes a fine king, Sir Timothy; even
throwing out gold coins to the populace who attend upon him! What
wealth. And wisdom. To my great surprise and pleasure, the King did
ask, upon seeing me newly returned from the field of battle, how I had
done. He did congratulate me, and encourage me to do even better in
the future. A wise and friendly king do we support, my fellow mercenaries!
Who better to deserve our fighting strength?
A great feast was held after Court, with wonderous foods and marvelous
entertainment. Many songs were sung, and tales told. I especially liked
an epic poem made up by one of the Kings minstrels telling of a great war,
and one lord who wished to prevent the men of valor from gaining honor for
themselves in this war, so that he laid waste to all the camps of both sides.
The minstrel told of such destruction that all the goods were " too rank for
even the Marklanders" to pillage! Hard to imagine, eh? :-)
The next morning, as we broke our fast, I did chance to speak with
a Lady Mary, of the Spinner's Guild, who did tell me some very interesting
things. I told her, as she spun, of how I had read that my fellow Catalans
were exporting, during the White Company's time in Italy, cheap black fustians.
I asked if she knew what these fustians had to do with the spinning wheel,
newly come to Europe from the East around the year of our Lord 1365. She
did tell me that use of this new wheel had spread quickly throughout all
of Europe, but that the quality of the thread it spun was very poor, and not
suited at all to weaving into good fabric, as it is lumpy, and breaks easily.
She also said that for this reason, spinning guilds in each of the kingdoms
of Europe soon adopted laws requiring hand spinners to spin one way, and
those using the new wheel to spin the other, allowing the weavers to quickly
see what quality they were working with. She also did tell me that the black
fustians being sold by my fellow Catalans were indeed a mixture of cotton
and linen, with the linen being the warp, and the cheap wheel-spun cotton
being used as the weft. The black dye that is used fuses quickly, and so
the garment thus produced is not of a high quality, but it is quite inexpensive
and easy to make, hence the phrase "that's just fustian," as she explained.
Her words, while I would like to see other sources to agree, did clear up
several points of confusion in my mind. My reading of black fustians
being exported, and the use of cotton, conflicted with the general notion
that cotton was expensive, and that black was an expensive color. Now
it makes sense, if this was a poor-holding dye, and the cheap cotton
was of the quickly spun, and poor quality sort. She pointed out that hand
spun cotton, which is of much finer quality, but much more time-consuming,
was indeed woven into quite fine cloth, but this cloth is quite expensive.
She also pointed out that Egyptian cotton was of even finer quality, and
even more expensive, showing me the differences on some layers of her own
garments. This was a quite valuable set of information, though I have
much more research to do. The Spinners Guild, it seems, is another
source of information, who should be able to provide us with documentatation.
In the end, despite the rain, which never ceased the entire
weekend to drip, and at times to pour, down upon our heads, we did
have much merriment at this grand fest. Truely, His Majesty is a
rightful ruler, deserving of our services!
Pumita
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