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_Daily Life in Chaucer's England_



Hi!

I pulled this off the West Kingdom list.  I thought many of you might be
interested.

        - Anarra





Date: Wed, 6 Mar 1996 11:38:56 -0800 (PST)
From: Naomi Grace Walenta <nomes@uclink2.berkeley.edu>
To: sca-west@anthrax.ecst.csuchico.edu
Subject: A new book
Message-ID: <Pine.3.89.9603061131.C14927-0100000@uclink2.berkeley.edu>

Greetings from Elsa!

A friend of mine who works in the library pointed out this book 
to me, and I thought others might be interested.  So...

_Daily Life in Chaucer's England_
Jeffrey L. Singman and Will McLean
1995, Greenwood Press

Blurb from the back:
        "The medieval world comes alive in this indispensable "hands-on" 
resource to life as it was actually lived--with authentic recipes, 
clothing patterns, songs, dances, and games.  The first book on medieval 
England to arise out of the "living history" movement, it recreates the 
daily life of ordinary people, not just the aristocracy, by combining a 
hands-on approach with the best of current research...A chronology of 
medieval England, a glossary, appendixes with information and ideas on 
organizing a medieval event, and suggestions for further reading complete 
the work..." 

The book contains a lot of useful information and trivia.  The pictures 
are all hand-drawn, not reproductions of existing works.  Sources are 
cited nicely (good footnotes).  There are very basic patterns for clothing 
and shoes, as well as simple recipes and songs.  All in all, a fun book 
especially because it is geared towards recreation movements.

FYI, Appendix A refers you to various organizations.  Here's what the 
authors had to say about the SCA:

"Among the organizations in North America involved in medieval living 
history, the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is by far the 
largest, with chapters all over the continent and a fair number abroad.  
The SCA covers a broad temporal scope (roughly AD 500-1600) and 
accomodates very diverse interests, some of them oriented towards 
history, others not.  The educational quality of the SCA's activities is 
therefore quite variable.  However, the SCA does provide a context for 
many people with a genuine interest in the Middle Ages to pursue their 
interests and meet others of a like mind, and it had helped foster a good 
deal of valuable research, particularly in the field of medieval crafts."