Winter’s Tale – 5 (Jan 4)

Our 3rd Belgian city on the Jim plan was Ghent. By train, Ghent was just a quick hour away from Brussels. There was a train at the same time within every hour both to and from Ghent. All we had to do was note when within the hour this occurred and show up at the train station. Trains in Europe are so easy to use!

Ghent was the first city we visited where the “old town” was a bit of a distance from the train station. We figured out that there was a tram that would take you up to the “old town”, so we deposited our Euro coins into the ticket machine and boarded. We got off just a block or two away from the old Groete Markt (Great Market Place). Unfortunately, the beer destination of choice did not open til 4:30, and we were hungry! So we found a nice little place on the Groete Markt, where I once again had spaghetti (comfort food) and, of course, good beer. Because we were visiting Ghent on a Monday, most of the museums of interest were closed. But we had found a “History of Science” museum that was open. It was, alas, back down by the train station. So with our bellies refilled, we headed back down the hill. This time, we could not take the tram this time because we were running low on Euro coins – ticket machines only take coins. So we walked back down, the first of much walking for the day. I pass the blogging over to Jim for a description of this part of our trip…..

While in Ghent, we made a special pilgrimage (some called it a forced march) to visit the Museum of the History of Sciences at the University of Ghent.  As European universities go, U. Ghent is not really old, but its founding in 1817 puts it in an important century of scientific advances. The museum housed an impressive array of scientific instruments and artifacts.  For example, they had many, many microscopes ranging from the first one, built by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (fits in the palm of your hand — probably the one we saw was a facsimile) to a vintage 1950s Siemens electron microscope (much bigger than the palm of your hand).

Van Leeuwenhoek’s microscope (1670s)

Siemens electron microscope (1950s)

Of interest to Jim was the fact that there were some impressive figures from the history of science (and chemistry, in particular) on the faculty at Ghent during the 1800s.  For example, Joseph Plateau, a scientist who used various frames to study soap films and how they form “minimal surfaces”. He taught there for many years.  He also developed what might be called the first motion picture. 

Leo Baekland was the inventor of Baeklite, the first commercial plastic. He taught and did research at the university, as did August Kekulé (pronounced “kek-you-lay”), the first chemist to conceive of the ring structure for the benzene molecule. That advance was a big deal for organic chemists in the 1860s!

One of the instruments housed in the museum was a spectrograph made by a scientist named Melloni.  The spectrograph was used to study the light and energy leaving a heated sample (think of what you see when you look at a light bulb).  With the instrument, Melloni came to the conclusion that the energy leaving the filament had characteristics of light waves.  Big deal?  Sure was.  At the time of his work (1840s), the scientific world did not think of heat energy as a form of radiation, much less that it was related to wave phenomena. But Melloni’s experiments pretty much showed that.  Problem was, he had no theoretical support for explaining his work at that time.  Those times would not come until about 1900 when Max Planck used the idea that energy is quantized to explain Melloni’s (and others’) findings about wavelengths of energy emitted from objects at different temperatures (for you science geeks: most sarcastically explained in the XKCD comic strip’s inimicable style).  Planck’s work was what Einstein used to develop his ideas and you probably know where things went from there….

Did we know all about this story ahead of time?  Heck no!  While looking at the instrument, a professor from the university, who was attending a reception hosted by the museum, noticed that Jim was really studying the case containing the instrument. He came by and began talking to us in Dutch. When we looked clueless, he said (in English) “oh, in English” and proceeded to chat with us in that language about the instrument, its history, and the fact that he had just finished working with a master-of-science student to prove that the instrument did really do what Melloni said it did.  The professor was very kind and very excited about the opportunity to share his knowledge.  For us, it was wonderful to learn about a bit a history in a special place and to enjoy the passion of a scientist for his work.  Well worth the pilgrimage (despite Dawn’s very sore feet)!

We return to our regularly scheduled blogging by Dawn…… Our next destination was to go back to the interesting beer destinations, which were, of course, back up the hill in the Groete Markt. At this point, I was categorically refusing to walk back up there. My feet were saying “enough!”. So Jim asked the very nice man at the museum to change a Euro note into coins and inquired what the best way was to get back to the Groete Markt by tram. The trip back up involved very little walking (making Dawn happy). We got off at a stop that was right near another of the destination beer pubs (making Jim happy). The first one we found was quite small and filled to the brim with folks relaxing after a busy day. So we went around the corner, back to the Groete Markt, to the place that had been closed earlier in the day. Thankfully this one, De Dulle Griet, was now open.

Groete Markt: looking to the left from the pub

Groete Markt: looking to the right from the pub

This pub was a wonderful place! Great atmosphere – see photo on the left below! And it had lots of interesting beer; in keeping with Belgian tradition, it also had the glassware for every one of those beers – see image on the right below! In this same photo, you can see a very large beer glass in a wooden stand. This is the “house” glass – it holds 1.2 liters (40 oz.) of the house golden ale! That is a lot of beer! And many were being sold! We opted for smaller quantities so we could taste several different beers! We spent a lovely hour or two people-watching, chatting, and sipping good beer!

Look at the ceiling, draped with neat textiles!

A wall and ceiling of glassware!

We decided, yet again, that our beer and the lovely cheese cubes, was a pretty sufficient amount of food; no dinner required. So we headed back down to the train station. We had made sure to save enough coins to take the tram back. I was still not up for another long walk!

Ghent’s main train station

Our train trip back to Brussels was uneventful, a relaxing time to sit after a busy day. I decided that, while a real “dinner” wasn’t really needed, I did need “a little something” (as Winnie the Pooh is want to say). So once back in Brussels, we went back to the lovely little café where we had had the raspberry tart a few days earlier, because the image of the other types of tarts there was still quite clear in my mind. It was raining pretty steadily by the time we got there, so I had a nice hot tea with the apple tart that we shared (though I confess to eating most of it) while Jim had a Chimay Blue (a brown ale). Then back to our luxurious accommodations for a bit of unwinding and then sleep.

Winter’s Tale – 4 (Jan 2-3)

Our 2nd Belgian city was Brussels. The train trip down to Brussels from Antwerp was just about an hour long. So we were at our hotel (again, right next to the train station) by early afternoon. It was a much fancier hotel than we usually stay in. I had found a “special deal” on the internet and now this fancy place, the Royal Windsor Grand Place, was going to be our home for 4 nights. Cool! To pass the time until the room was ready, we walked down to the Grand Place of Brussels.

As we walked the little streets off the Grand Place, I spotted a place with the word “bécasse” in its name. This word is one that I have come to know through the translation work I am doing on a French clothing inventory. In this inventory, there is a word that appears to be spelled “velcasse” and I have been trying to figure out what the word could actually be. It turns out that “bécasse” is one of those words that it could be, except that a “bécasse” is a sandpiper-type of bird (see photo on right below), which doesn’t fit into the context of a clothing inventory very well….sigh! But, as it turned out, the place called “À la Bécasse” was a Belgian pub! And one that had its own sour ale (lambic) no less. And Jims really love Belgian lambic. So in we went for beer and lunch. I had a really wonderful spaghetti and Jim had a Belgian type of cheese sandwich: a thin smear of a white cheese on a large piece of toasted bread. And we had beer of course!

Well fortified with our beer and lunch, we headed off to the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée (Belgian Center for Comic Art). We spent a lovely couple of hours learning about the amazing art that goes into “graphic art” comics. These are very popular in Europe! And the museum was housed in a beautiful art nouveau building designed by Victor Horta (see bottom photo below).

After the museum, I had the need for “a little something” and there was a little café we had passed earlier that had some lovely pastry tarts in its window. So we had our afternoon “hot beverage” (coffee for Jim; tea for Dawn) and shared a (generous) piece of raspberry tart. It was now late enough that our room would be ready so we headed back to the hotel to get settled in. The room was really nice: it had its own hot-water heater (so Jim and I could obtain “hot beverage” whenever we wanted) and even a fancy radio that allowed Jim to connect his iPhone to it and channel KCSM Jazz Radio (from the CA Bay Area) over the radio’s large speakers! Life was good indeed!

Our original motivation (excuse?) for this Europe trip was that one of Jim’s colleagues at Bucknell, Kat Wakabayashi, was on sabbatical with his family in Brussels. He really must, we were sure, want us to come visit. And this evening was the night we’d schedule to meet Kat and his wife Yoko for dinner. They took us to a wonderful restaurant called Belga Queen. Very modern furnishings inside what looked like a 19th-century train station. Lovely combination. I had a kir, of course, as an apéritif, followed by an appetizer of lightly-grilled scallops in a sauce of butter and Orval beer. For the meal, I had a small rack of lamb with two little pots of sauces: one mustard and the other cream. Delightful! It was served with a Dauphinois of vegetables: very thin slices of zucchini, carrots, and potatoes with fine layers of a light white cheese (ricotta?). We had a lovely Loire valley red wine with the meal. I couldn’t even finish all my lamb (excellent though it was). But Jim was more than happy to help a lady in “distress”. So for dessert, I opted for the lightness of sorbet (a personal favorite): a scoop each of framboise, cassis, and mint. A most excellent meal with the excellent companionship of Kat & Yoko. We thank them for their wonderful hospitality! As we all walked back to our hotel, we walked through the Grand Place again. This time it was all lit up, with a “light show” going on.

Our 2nd day in Brussels was divided between Dawn & Jim tasks. My task was to get to the Musée des Beaux Arts (Fine Arts Museum) in Brussels to study the Haneton Triptych by Bernard Van Orley. The images I had seen of it promised some interesting details of headdresses. Jim’s task was to get us to a particular beer pub he had picked out. So we started off to the museum, which turned out to be a fairly short walk from the hotel. Once again, we were met with a line (not as long as at the Louvre) because we had to pass through security: parcels & bags scanned, coats undone. And we were met with the news that the 16th-century French room was closed! I was a bit bummed but hoped that the paintings I was after would still be visible: they were Flemish, not French. We were directed to the 2nd floor for the Old Masters. This level provided a lovely view of the museum building.

As we walked through the rooms of mostly Flemish art, I was able to find several art works from the late-15th and early-16th centuries with useful headdress details. And, in the 3rd (4th?) room, there was the Haneton Triptych…..yaaa-hooo! I’ve provided the Wikipedia link of this work  so that you can get a good view of the whole triptych. My photos are pretty detailed and not capable of giving you a feel for the whole thing. Obviously, it’s the righthand panel that is of interest to me! So this work proved to be a very valuable find! Many photos and drawings were obtained! Once again, Jim was a very patient and helpful research assistant; and once again, he took photos of me at work.

There were also quite a few works by Brueghel here. It was very useful to be able to really study the figures in these works. Most reproductions I have seen concentrate more on the entire scene. But these scenes are usually very detailed. By standing in front of them, I was able to focus on the headdresses shown…a very educational task. Shown below (on the left) is a detail from “Festival with Theater and Procession” [translation mine] by Pieter Brueghel II. Also beautiful to see is the Flemish artists’ portrayal of the amazing textiles of the 15th and 16th centuries. The closeup below (on the right) from “Virgin Among the Virgins” (by the Master of the Legend of St. Lucy) shows an example: green & gold brocade in foreground, red satin w/ silver embroidery on right edge.

Festival with Theater and Procession (detail)

Virgin Among the Virgins (detail)

By the time we were out of the Fine Arts Museum, it was nearly dusk. Dawn’s task complete, it was now time for Jim’s task. He navigated us to a pub called Moeder Lambic (photo below on left). There was a pretty good rain going by the time we got there. So it was good to land somewhere warm and dry…and with a most excellent selection of beers as well! And to top it all off, they had a bit of a food menu too! I ordered a bacon & cheese quiche that came with a small salad. Jim ordered the…wait for it….meat and cheese plate; and this one was by far the nicest of any yet encountered! Lovely selection of excellent cheeses, 2 different types of salami, and two types of mustard! My self-assigned “beer mission” this trip was to sample a type of Belgian beer that I enjoy, called a triple (tripel). Here I tried two tripels that I had never heard of and that I really enjoyed. Jim also found some wonderful beer here. Cheers! 

Needless to say, it was another evening to decide that we did not need a dinner meal. We had a wet walk back to the hotel for a quiet evening in our decadent splendor. We felt that we had become familiar enough with the Brussels train station and its schedules that tomorrow’s task was to venture out on a day-trip to Ghent….

Winter’s Tale – 3 (Dec 31 – Jan 1, 2016)

We were now starting the middle part of our trip: Jim’s part. Jim’s plan for this part consisted of 4 basic steps:

1. Go to Belgian city.
2. Find Belgian beer pub (if you perhaps see interesting things “en route”, that is fine).
3. Partake of Belgian beer that either: a) you’ve never had before; b) you’ve never had on tap before.
4. Find food as needed (if it cannot be procured in Belgian beer pub).

Our first Belgian city for this plan was Antwerp, a city that neither of us had been to before. From Gare du Nord (North Station) in Paris northward to Antwerp, it was an easy 2-hour train trip. We weren’t sure whether there would be any type of “border check” on the train trip. But it turned out that there was none. So on New Years Eve, around noonish, we arrived in Antwerp (Antwerpen in Dutch, Anvers in French).

Dawn at Antwerpen Centraal train station

New Years greetings from Antwerp (Antwerpen)

We had already identified the first Belgian beer pub to check out, Bier Central. So we dropped our stuff off at the hotel (which was right next to the train station) and headed out to the pub. Fortunately, this pub also had a restaurant. Many Belgian beer pubs, it turns out, have either no food at all or only plates of meat/cheese (Don’t get me wrong, meat/cheese plates can be a glorious thing). We had a lovely lunch. Jim had a Centraal burger. And I had a rich Belgian beef stew that used the Belgian brown beer, Bourgogne des Flandres, in its broth. Yum! Something that I will try to make back at home. Later in the trip, Jim had a glass of this beer at a different pub (see photo below). We each partook of 2 Belgian beers. And Jim began the “documentation” for his “research” by taking photos of each beer he had. For those of you not “into” Belgian beer, it is customary for every Belgian beer (and I mean every one) to have its own unique glass with its name (or logo) on it. So often (not always), the beer glass that Jim photographed was enough to identify the beer within. But Jim also kept a list on his iPhone (a careful researcher, that Jim).

We spent the rest of the afternoon trying to track down several other beer pubs. But it turned out that due to both the general holiday season and the fact that it was New Years Eve, they were all closed. We weren’t really up for a big meal anyway. And there were still food shops open so that the people could collect their New Years Eve feasts. We were able to pick up the makings of our own feast: loaf of bread, 2 cheeses, bottles of Belgian beer, apples, some pastries. We spent the evening in our room, grazing on the food, and watching TV. When it got late enough, we found a station that had the New Years Eve countdown (in Dutch). Once the countdown finished, we could hear all kinds of firecrackers, cheers, and car horns outside the hotel. Apparently, there was quite a celebration on the Grand Place (Great Square) and in other squares around town. It went on until around 3 or 4am! Our more modest celebration consisted of toasting one another with some Belgian beer. And we were able to send email to family in California wishing them Happy New Years 9 hours ahead of when it would reach them!

We spent New Years Day walking down to and around the Grand Place and the lovely cathedral right next to it. We even took our first (and only) “selfie” (no “selfie stick” used).

After much walking, we finally found that one of the beer bars that had been closed earlier was now open, so we headed there and had a lovely late afternoon “snack” of some beer and one of those meat/cheese plates…. oh yeah, and some fries. Again deciding that we really didn’t need a full meal, we headed back to the hotel for another lazy evening of reading, and then packing up for the next day’s trip down to Brussels….

Winter’s Tale – 2 (Dec 30, 2105)

For our next (and last) day in Paris, our task was to head for the Louvre, where I could check out 2 statues and a painting for my research. Due to our not yet being shifted to the French time zone (and to a long line at the museum), we didn’t get into the Louvre until early afternoon. During our walkabout the previous day (see previous blog entry), we had seen some heightened “police presence”, but not a great deal. At the Louvre, however, it was much more apparent. We had to wait in line for an hour to even get to the escalators (under the Pyramid) that take you down into the building. The weather there, as it has been on the East Coast, was very mild, so it was not an unpleasant wait. The line wound around the Louvre pyramid courtyard and back into the courtyard with more 16th-century architecture showing. So it was very pretty and not too cold.

This photo below was taken as we left the museum, looking back at the Louvre Pyramid and the courtyard. The line we stood in started back in the 16th-century courtyard, which is behind the far wall (the wall with the dome in the middle, behind the Pyramid), then it wound through the opening in the middle of the far wall, turned towards the wall on the right, went down this wall, turned back over in front of the Pyramid and then went through the back and forth of a “rope maze” until it finally spit us out at the museum opening at the Pyramid.

Louvre courtyard with Pyramid at the center

There were many soldiers walking about the courtyard, keeping an eye on folks. The main reason for the wait turned out to be that each person had to have any bags or parcels go through a scanner (like at the airport) and had to open up his/her coat. This security measure is new since the last time I had been to the Louvre. But it was good to see that so many people (foreigners and French alike) were out and about, undeterred by threats, and wanting to visit this incredible museum.

Once into the museum, the first order of business was to head for the Sculpture Gallery to find the two statues. As always in a museum, any attempt at a direct path to one’s goal is not possible, as there are always interesting things to be found along the way. It turned out to be a day of finding many “bits with a dog”, among them (User Note: if you move your cursor on top of these photos, captions appear), …. 

Faithful dugz at the foot of a 15thC statue

From château d’Anet: Bad doggie!

Same statue: Good doggie!

1540 stained glass: tussling dugz

16thC tapestry: hunting dugz

I did finally reach my first statue, Robine Le Gendre. I spent a lot of time taking detailed photos and drawings of her headdress. Jim was the very soul of patience, taking charge of my coat, scouting for any other 16th-century items, and, it turns out, snapping photos of me. He took several of me “worshiping at the alter of my muse”.

Dawn “worshiping at the feet” of Robine Le Gendre

I was not able to get as close to the 2nd statue, Hélène de Chambes-Montsoreau. But that wasn’t too great a loss, as that statue was much less detailed than the 1st one. Getting to the painting I was interested in was quite an effort, as it involved following the great pilgrimage path of all those wanting to see the Mona Lisa! When we finally passed their “exit”, the path emptied considerably! This painting was moderately useful (pictures taken, drawings made). We then headed off to the 16th-century “objets d’art” section. Much other beautiful art was viewed and some other interesting items for the research found: several interesting paintings, some enamel pieces by Léonard Limousin …..

King François I

Dauphin, future François II

and medals (always a good source of headdress details).

Dauphin François and Marie Stuart

Catherine de Medici

Historical Notes: François 1 (1st enamel above) is king of France from 1515 – 1547. Upon his death, his son Henri becomes King Henri II. Henri is married to Catherine de Medici (2nd medal above). Henri II dies in 1559. His (and Catherine’s) oldest surviving son is the Dauphin (heir to the throne), François, who becomes King François II (2nd enamel). François II is married to Marie Stuart (aka Mary Queen of Scots) (shown in 1st medal).

As the darkness in the photo of the Louvre courtyard (above) shows, we spent a long time in there and had not had lunch. We already had a dinner destination picked out. But although it was late, it was not yet late enough for the restaurant to be open. With empty tummies and tired feet, we decided to stop at a café  along the way to the restaurant. Some hot beverages and sitting down did much to restore us. So we then headed to Chez Fernard, one of my favorite places to eat. And we had yet another lovely meal. I started with my usual apéritif of kir (white wine + crème de cassis) while Jim had a Belgian beer. As an appetizer, I had what I have almost every time I go there: a “salad” of cooked green beans (I love green beans!). As it was winter and really prime green beans are at a premium, they had served them this time with a light vinaigrette dressing, some pumpkin seeds and…. little cubes of foie gras! For dinner, I had a lovely duck breast with a ginger demi-glace sauce, served with a pile of sautéed mushrooms. Jim had the steak “au poivre” (black pepper sauce) and dauphinois (scalloped) potatoes, which is one of the restaurant’s “spécialités de la maison”. We had a lovely half bottle of Haut Medoc red wine to go with it. For dessert, I had what was basically a rice pudding that was served with a sauce of salted caramel. Boy do I love rice pudding and boy do I love salted caramel. So together, they were “magnifique”! We toddled back to our hotel room and packed in preparation for the next day’s travel to Belgium……

Une Maistresse est née – a Mistress is born

Saturday, September 5th, at the esteemed Shire of Nithgaard, I was granted the honor of becoming a Mistress – a member of the Order of the Laurel. I want to thank all those that helped me sew, prepared the vigil (food & tent), made the regalia, hosted the event, and shared the wonderful day with me.  Special thanks go to……

1. My amazing and inspiring mother, for the day named Lewela (sp?), who attended the event as a Celtic princess. She researched and made her Celtic clothing:
   

   Marguerite and her Celtic warrior Princess (Mom)

2. The Sewing Coven support team, Mistress Elizabeth (my erstwhile Laurel) and Mistress Caterina (my ghost Laurel). You two are so gifted! Merci beaucoup pour tous…. for sharing your gifts and for just being you…..
   

   My dearest leaders of the Sewing Coven….Mistress Elizabeth (on the right) and Mistress Caterina (to the left of me)

   …and Lady Vika Grigina z Praha, who made my incredible banner. It is soooo beautiful, Vika. Thank you so much for this wonderful gift! And thank you for being the amazingly funny and kind person that you are.

   

   My new banner, with its creatrice, Lady Vika, and her handsome beau, Simon

3. That wonderful duo, Mistress² Alicia Langland and her beloved, Master Gille MacDonhuill. Alicia, you handled the organization of the Vigil with the usual smoothness and aplomb. You are a special person, the sister I never had. And Gille, your cooking and competence are a wonder to behold. Thank you both for luring me to the SCA and, most importantly, for being such wonderful friends (and travel partners in France!).
4. And last, but most certainly not least, my beloved, Jean d’Honfleur (Sir not-appearing-in-this-film: because he is the one who took these photos, I do not have a picture of him; I hope to have photos of him soon).  He looked so fabulous in his 16th-century wear, created by the wondrous Mistress Filipia. You are so dear to me, Jean. Thank you for being part of my world these 32+ years!

 

First court, the Laurel-Apprentice contract is broken. I may no longer be your apprentice, but I hope always to be your friend, Mistress Elizabeth Talbot….I love you, man!

Contract between Laurel and Apprentice is broken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On to Vigil. The tent was a beautiful place to spend the afternoon, listening to the wise words of my fellow peers and friends. The incredible food was most ably coordinated by Master Gille MacDonhuill. Food selections were drawn from recipes based on food mentioned in the words of the 16th-century novelist, François Rabelais. Thank you, Gille, for implementing my idea. And thank you to all the cooks for contributing to this wonderful spread! Of the food I was able to sample, I especially liked the darioles (little custard tarts, most beautifully presented in daisy-shaped crusts), the fig “compote” (thank you, Elizabetta – I am so sorry that I do not know your full SCA name & title), and the carbonade (the cooked-onion paste was a marvel to the taste buds).

Vigil tent, with (from left to right): (the back of) Lady Vega, Mistress Briony, Mistress Filipia, and Mistress Antoinette

The incredible vigil food, based on 16th-century recipes, and most ably managed my Master Gille MacDonhuill (Lady Elizabetta in the foreground)

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

I am so glad that the Vigil food and companionship was able to be shared with our esteemed Majesties of Aethelmearc, King Timothy II and Queen Gabrielle:

His Majesty, King Timothy II (on the left), Mistress Alicia (on the right, dressed in red) attending.

Her Majesty, Queen Gabrielle (in background on the left, dressed in green), with Lady Mairin O’Cadlah (background, on the right, dressed in light green) and Lady Elyes la Bref (foreground)

After the solemn contemplation of Vigil, it was time to prepare for the elevation ceremony. Over the last 3 weeks, I had spent most of my waking time sewing the new gown….still way too short time to create one of these outfits! It does give me an incredible appreciation of the skills possessed by the 16th-century tailors and their support staff.

The cotte (kirtle): the undergown, which shapes the upper body, because the corps (corset) was not yet in use

The robe: the overgown, with its very wide neckline and (very French) simple decoration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My deep thanks to Countess Genevieve, Mistress Briony, and Lady Vika for their help with the gown on Friday night (into Saturday morning) and to the unknown seamtresses who attached its sleeves sometime during the day on Saturday.
This gown is based on my own research, both on the 1532 French Inventory that I have been translating, as well as French woman’s clothing in general. I plan to create a future blog entry (hopefully within the next few days) on the details of the gown design.

Side view of the 1532 gown: gotta love that black silk satin breathing in the light and selectively bouncing it back!

Embellished panels for the front openings of the overgown: hand embroidered by Nicole & Mistress Caterina

 

I would like to call special attention to the spectacular embellishment panels (photo on right), created by my Sewing Coven members skilled in the embroidery arts: Nicole of the East Kingdom (whose SCA name & title I do not know) & Mistress Caterina. You ladies are fabulous!

 

 

Afternoon court: the elevation. My thanks to Their Majesties, King Timothy II and Queen Gabrielle (photo on the left below) for granting me this distinction upon the recommendation of the most noble Order of the Laurel.

Called into court…my much-heralded Herald, Master Gilles de Beauchamps (photo on the right below, dressed in red, standing in front of my banner) organized my retinue and introduced me to Court. Merci, cher Gilles: you are such a kind, calm, and inspiring person.

THM Timothy II and Gabrielle

Called into court for the elevation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attired in regalia, the Laurel wreath (thank you, Mistress Filipia) and the cloak (thank you, Caterina), I gave my oath of fealty in French (photo on left). Master Gilles provided the English translation (photo on right). Her Majesty Queen Gabrielle provided the royal response in French (you go, girl!), with His Majesty providing the populace with the English translation.

The oath of fealty: given in French…

Master Gilles reading the English translation of my fealty oath

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the oath, the scroll was read. The scroll (in progress) is the work of Mistress Alicia Langland (wording), Master Eustace (translation to French), Mistress Rafna (calligraphy), and Mistress Antionette (illumination). In court, Simon (beloved of Lady Vika – shown beside her in the photo above of my banner) provided the French reading (merci beaucoup, Simon, pour votre superbe présentation) and Master Brandoug (sp?) providing the English translation. My thanks to all of you for your skill….and for humoring my need for French in the ceremony!

Court is over…. je vous présente (I present to you), Maistresse Marguerite d’Honfleur:

La nouvelle Maistresse (the new Mistress)!

Maistresse Marguerite and Mistress Caterina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Avec mes sincères remerciements à tous (with my deepest thanks to all),

A votre service,
Marguerite d’Honfleur

P.S. More pictures to come…as they come in.