tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22992265.post116157572196869581..comments2023-11-02T09:18:44.063-04:00Comments on Old English in New York: Escape to the Middle AgesMary Kate Hurleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14892991966276345782noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22992265.post-1162323995251464222006-10-31T14:46:00.000-05:002006-10-31T14:46:00.000-05:00Carolyn -- The day they let me learn how to illumi...Carolyn -- The day they let me learn how to illuminate manuscripts will be a happy, happy day. SO long as they're animal friendly...<BR/><BR/>ljs> No kidding on the romanticizing bit. You know from many of our conversations how interested I am in that history as actually belonging to one's self (in as far as history can, of course) -- so more accurately, being able to self-identify with the Middle Ages? I don't know, all I know is we dont have that here in the US and i want it!<BR/><BR/>Flowendegieddum -- Well, yes, definitely bored by Project Runway. But I wonder if it's that "the past was more real" tendency, the Huizinga-esque "Violent Tenor of Life"-- "To the World when it was half a thousand years younger..." and all that (god do I love <I> The Waning of the Middle Ages</I>, for all its many flaws. <BR/><BR/>Tom> Thank god there are REAL medieval re-enactors out there. I'm fascinated by that idea -- you realize at some point during your visit I will attack you and force you to tell me all about it, right? So long as we're clear. :) And thank you for re-writing the post. Definitely worth it, to hear there's hope for re-enacting as an actual Living History enterprise. <BR/><BR/>As for the value of Living History -- well, I wonder though. At the end of the day, we can leave -- no matter how bad it gets, we can always walk away. I wonder what it was like to actually be stuck there, in those "Dark Ages," with no way out but death. <BR/><BR/>I promise, I'm not always this uplifting.MKHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11773335756057041042noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22992265.post-1161925567678729112006-10-27T01:06:00.000-04:002006-10-27T01:06:00.000-04:00I guess the big question is, what's the value of l...I guess the big question is, what's the value of living history? I personally, (as I'm sure you could have guessed), ADORE living history: one of my life goals is to be a costumed "interpreter" at Plimoth Plantation. But the reason I like it has not very much to do with wanting to learn and a lot to do with wanting to be someone else for a while. And my guess is, that's what it is for a lot of people. I think it's the same fascination that draws people to role-playing games. <BR/><BR/>Why are we so eager to shed this mortal coil and jump into another one? I couldn't tell you, but I guess it's probably because we're bored and watching episode after episode of Project Runway just isn't cutting it anymore.flowendegieddumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00076974717112674194noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22992265.post-1161860727949370262006-10-26T07:05:00.000-04:002006-10-26T07:05:00.000-04:00Since I took long and serious work writing up the ...Since I took long and serious work writing up the original version of this post, only to have it lost in the ether I shall try again. be warned it is far earlier in my morning (to a given value of morning) than the last one.<BR/><BR/>I've always had this kind of dread facination with US re-enactment. And I think the reasons are very similar to the areas you've mentioned. Growing up in the UK with family who were involved in several re-enactment societies from Dark Age to Civil War I am happy to reassure you there is real re-enactment out there. You don't have this focus on the great and the good swanning around. Your emphasis is on the everyday life. And on the warfare because lets face it a lot of the time it draws the crowds. But when you might have a huge number of Norse and Saxon warriors in big shieldwalls being the afternoon special, the meat of the event would be the Living history aspect. In fact the Norse re-enactment society I grew up in would not let people be full members unless they could demonstrate at least one craft that they could base their existence in that Dark Age settlement around. Hence my father is a very accomplished bronze smith and my mother is not only a rather good herbalist but can also spin, tablet weave and most of the other occupations you might need. Heck I wasn't allowed in front of the public as a child till I could demonstrate a range of Dark Age childrens games. <BR/>My hero was a guy called Stuntie (oddly enough an Anglo-Saxon Phd student, as me what he did for his dissertation some time) who specialised in being able to pray the christian priest in any setting. <BR/><BR/>Ah and the holy shrine of Jorvik, held up as some form of pinacle of historical recreation. Sadly it's looking a little shabby these days. my only defence of the place is that it, like many things, was great at the time.<BR/>Hmmm...there's a thesis just there on how our presentation of living history has evolved.....Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22992265.post-1161726553948505172006-10-24T17:49:00.000-04:002006-10-24T17:49:00.000-04:00An interesting point about our romanticizing (itse...An interesting point about our romanticizing (itself a problematic term) of the Middle Ages through re-creation (and, I guess, recreation).<BR/><BR/>But the Jorvik Viking Center in York, England, does, for the record, stink. Historical diligence, or a tendency of earlier medievalists to empathize (in surround smell) with the downtrodden?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22992265.post-1161613301718891642006-10-23T10:21:00.000-04:002006-10-23T10:21:00.000-04:00don't forget The Society for Creative Anachronism....don't forget <A HREF="http://www.sca.org" REL="nofollow"><B>The Society for Creative Anachronism</A></B>.<BR/><BR/>scribal arts!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com