Low-Countries-msg - 11/23/99
Medieval Netherlands and Belgium.
NOTE: See also the files: France-msg, Gaul-art, Europe-msg, Anglo-Saxons-msg, fd-Lw-Cntries-msg, p-Dutch-food-bib.
************************************************************************
NOTICE -
This file is a collection of various messages having a common theme that I have collected from my reading of the various computer networks. Some messages date back to 1989, some may be as recent as yesterday.
This file is part of a collection of files called Stefan's Florilegium. These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org
I have done a limited amount of editing. Messages having to do with separate topics were sometimes split into different files and sometimes extraneous information was removed. For instance, the message IDs were removed to save space and remove clutter.
The comments made in these messages are not necessarily my viewpoints. I make no claims as to the accuracy of the information given by the individual authors.
Please respect the time and efforts of those who have written these messages. The copyright status of these messages is unclear at this time. If information is published from these messages, please give credit to the originator(s).
Thank you,
Mark S. Harris AKA: THLord Stefan li Rous
Stefan at florilegium.org
************************************************************************
Subject: bits and pieces for florilegium
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 1999 10:02:29 CEST
From: "Christina van Tets" <cjvt at hotmail.com>
To: stefan at texas.net
Hi Stefan,
Ian here (using Christina's e-mail). I've produced a few new bits of
scribblings that may be useful for your florilegium.
Timeline for the Low Countries
600-800AD area is almost entirely controlled by the merovingian franks
800-1000AD area is almost entirely controlled by the carolingian franks
1000-1350AD seperate provinces do their own thing
- the provinces are based on the old frankish counties, duchies and
bishoprics. some are linked to the Holy Roman Empire, some are linked to
England, some to France and some are completely independant. It is a real
mess. In the 1200s Luxembourg was easily the most powerful province (three
successive dukes were also Holy Roman Emperors)
1350-1450 hundred years war helps tidy things up. By the end of the war the
dukes of Burgundy had snaffled almost all of the low countries.
1450-1550 Burgundian and Netherlandic history are effectively synonymous.
Burgundian court is based in Mechelen (north of Brussels in Brabant and, in
the early 16th century, Burgundy hits its peak when a Flemish-born
Burgundian duke took the imperial throne as Charles V and the Spanish throne
as Charles I) Glory days of the southern provinces - especially Brabant and
Flanders
1550-1600 Charles abdicates and the low countries are linked with Spain,
Italy and the americas under Philip II (Charles' brother Maximillian got the
empire minus Italy. Luxembourg and Liege may have stayed imperial but I'm
not sure) The ridiculous religious policies of Philip II alienated many of
his subjects and the Netherlands were devestated in a terrible war. They
were briefly united under Prince William of Orange (aka William the silent)
but following his assassination, religious feuding and renewed warfare split
the country.
1600 - the southern provinces (Brabant, Flanders, Hainaut, Namur, etc. -
more or less modern Belgium) are securely under Spanish control and are
already becoming a backwater. Their trade had died. Bruges harbour has
silted up and the north controls the entrance to Antwerp.
- the northern provinces (Holland, Gelderland, Utrecht, Friesland
etc. - more or less the modern Netherlands) have formed an independant
federal state: the United Provinces of the Netherlands. The state is
dominated by the province of Holland whose harbour cities Rotterdam and
Amsterdam have become incredibly wealthy through trade and authorised piracy
(the Dutch and English governments authorised their ships to rob Spanish and
Portuguese treasure ships).
Ian
From: baronfum at netaxs.com (David K. Schreur)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: The Low Countries ?
Date: Mon, 07 Oct 1996 22:56:57 -0500
mvdamme at xs4all.nl (Maarten van Damme) wrote:
> Lately I have seen many SCA websites but none of them seems to deal
> with medieval history, weapons, battles, arts etc. in the Low
> Countries also known as The Netherlands (present day Belgium and The
> Netherlands). You can find naming practices in Germany, Britain and
> France and again skipping our part of the world. I know for a fact
> that we have had an interesting and varied history between 800 and
> 1400. We had battles, so we must have used weapons, but which ones?
> We were dressed but in what? Did we loan from our neighbours or did we
> have our own styles?
>
> Maarten van Damme
Through most of the SCA period the "Low Countries" of Holland and Brabandt
were a part of the Holy Roman Empire. They borrowed heavily on the areas
of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) for costume and armor. In the later part
of the fourteenth and early part of the fifteenth century they were known
for seamanship and trade in the north sea, and Simon van Utrecht in his
ship, The Brindled Cow, cleared the Baltic of the pirates of the Vitalian
Brotherhood. Brabandt was also influenced by the French to their west.
Late in period these lands, mostly Hapsburg, became the property of the
Spanish through Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and Spanish King. At
the very end of period they revolted against the Spanish rule and
Challenged the Hanseatic and English for supremacy in the North Sea and
North Atlantic. My own Personna is Hanseatic, but comes from Lower Saxony
very near the Low Countries and could probably have spit across the
border, but for merchantile reasons I have an office in Lubeck on the
Baltic.
--
David K. Schreur (Ritter Baron Meister Karl Aerdigwidder von Zauberberg)
Barony of Bhakail, East Kingdom
From: david_key at vnet.ibm.com (Dave Key)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: The Low Countries ?
Date: 8 Oct 1996 08:38:28 GMT
Organization: IBM UK Laboratories Ltd.
baronfum at netaxs.com (David K. Schreur) writes:
>Through most of the SCA period the "Low Countries" of Holland and Brabandt
>were a part of the Holy Roman Empire. They borrowed heavily on the areas
>of Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen) for costume and armor.
< ... snip ...>
>Late in period these lands, mostly Hapsburg, became the property of the
>Spanish through Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and Spanish King.
Surprising omission of the influence of the Burgundians.
During the c15th Flanders was a VERY important part of the Burgundian
'empire' of Philip & Charles the Bold. The conflicts between the trading
interests of England & Flanders playing a major role in the international
politics of the time (have a look at some of the Act of Chancery & the Paston
letters in the Labyrinth).
The peoples of Flanders were very independent & played a major role in the
trade & culture of Europe ... Flemish woollen cloth being the finest in the
c13th-c14th (using English wool) ... until Flemish immigrants helped raise the
English cloth export market to beat it in the c14th-c15th.
As to their influence of clothing !!! Most of the finest (non-Italian) art of the fifteenth century comes from Flanders ... Jan Van Eyck etc. etc. and shows
the major influence of Flanders ... the Burgundian (ie Flemish) court was the
fashion leader of the period.
When John Donne was painted by Memlic c.1475 it was in the Flemish style not
English & Edward IV bought gowns in the 'Dutch guise' on his return from
exile in 1470-1471. There is also an article by Margaret Scott on a Burgundian
visit to Scotland in c.1448 (in 'Costume' if you can get it) which hints at some
of the difference between backward Scottish & fashionable Flemish dress.
As for armour ... If I recall correctly Flemish-style armour (essentially a cross between the plain Italian & fluted German) was very popular in mid-15thC
England.
If you have been reading books which play down the role of Flanders ...
you have been reading the wrong books.
Dave
From: tjordan001 at aol.com (TJorDan001)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: The Low Countries ?
Date: 8 Oct 1996 21:19:33 -0400
Let us not forget the most notorious export of the Low Countries,
Mercenaries. Flemish and Brabantine mercenaries found employment
throughout Europe. Some authors go so far as to refer to "Brabantines"
when they are refering to 'mercenaries'.
Jester of Anglesea
From: kellogg at rohan.sdsu.edu (kellogg)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Websites for the Low Countries (was: Re: The Low Countries ?)
Date: 8 Oct 1996 17:33:56 GMT
Organization: San Diego State University Computing Services
Maarten van Damme (mvdamme at xs4all.nl) wrote:
: Lately I have seen many SCA websites but none of them seems to deal
: with medieval history, weapons, battles, arts etc. in the Low
: Countries also known as The Netherlands (present day Belgium and The
: Netherlands).
: Could some knowledgeable person tell me more about this or refer me to
: websites which might answer my many questions?
There is an interesting-looking bibliography at <URL: http://
www.roughguides.com/RG_WWW/morebks/hol_bks.html>.
The Tromso Museum has a website at <URL: http://beatles.imv.uit.no
/homepage_imv.uit.no.html>. However, it is in Dutch, so I can't
tell if it is of any use or not.
Try the Museums in Netherlands page at <URL: http://www.xxLINK.nl/
tourism/museums/home.htm>. Dozens of museums listed, bound to find
something useful there. Also try the Museums in Amsterdam page at
<URL: http://www.channels.nl/m.html>. Looks like lots of interesting
links there.
Good luck, hope you find some interesting materials.
In fact, let us know what you find, I'm sure others can benefit from
your work.
Avenel Kellough
From: ksp8305 at osfmail.isc.rit.edu (K.S. Palmer)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: The Low Countries ?
Date: 17 Oct 1996 21:27:21 GMT
I accidentally found an excellent book for some background on
rennaissance Holland. It's called "Daily Life in Holland in the Year
1566" by Rien Poortvliet. It's actually in the art section of the
bookstore rather than history. You could also look at "In My
Grandfather's House" by the same author.
Adelais
--
Karyn Palmer
KSP8305 at rit.edu
From: "g. koster" <g.koster at chem.leidenuniv.nl>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: The Low Countries ?
Date: 18 Oct 1996 09:19:56 GMT
Organization: Gorlaeus lab. Leiden University Holland
ksp8305 at osfmail.isc.rit.edu (K.S. Palmer) wrote:
>I accidentally found an excellent book for some background on
>rennaissance Holland. It's called "Daily Life in Holland in the Year
>1566" by Rien Poortvliet. It's actually in the art section of the
>bookstore rather than history. You could also look at "In My
>Grandfather's House" by the same author.
>
>Adelais
I should warn you that it is not supprising you did find this book in the art collection. Rien Poortvliet is primarely a painter. If it is only him who did write de book I should put to must value on it. Overhere he is best known for his animal drawings. If hy did write it with some one else that person is probably responseble for the historic accuracy. The strange thing I
never hurd of this book of him, Although I hurd of vijf or so other books of him, All writen in dutch as was "In my Grandfather's House"
Douwe Johannus
--
Drs. G. Koster
Leiden University, Leiden Institute of Chemistry, Gorlaeus Laboratories.
Address: Einsteinweg 55
P.O. Box 9502
2300 RA Leiden
The Netherlands.
TeleFax: +31 71 5274537
Phone: +31 71 5274513
Email: koster_g at chem.leidenuniv.nl
home adres: Drs. G. Koster
Lokhorst 69
2352 KE Leiderdorp
The Netherlands
home phone: +31 71 5418563
From: brianscott at aol.com (BrianScott)
Newsgroups: alt.heraldry.sca
Subject: Re: Flemish resources
Date: 15 Jan 1997 22:55:25 GMT
Nicholas Bollaert asked:
Does anyone have any good reference sources for the low countries
circa 13th and 14th centuries?
I have a study of 13th c. names from Kortrijk and another of names from
some of the records of the town of Ieper between 1250 and 1400, both in
Dutch. The former is one of many such works by F. Debrabandere; the
latter is by Wilfried Beele.
Talan Gwynek
Do Not Use: brianscott at aol.com
Always Use: scott at math.csuohio.edu
From: mittle at panix.com (Arval d'Espas Nord)
Newsgroups: alt.heraldry.sca
Subject: Re: Flemish resources
Date: 16 Jan 1997 14:17:17 -0500
Organization: PANIX Public Access Internet and Unix, NYC
Nicholas Bollaert wrote:
> Does anyone have any good reference sources for the low countries
> circa 13th and 14th centuries?
There are some articles on Dutch and Flemish names at my names web page,
http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/. There is one article on Flemish
armory in the Academy of St. Gabriel libary at
http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/, but it was drawn from
16th century sources.
If you need more, you might direct your question to the Academy at
http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/gabemail.html. We have a
specialist in Dutch and Flemish names and armory.
===========================================================================
Arval d'Espas Nord mittle at panix.com
From: dalton at ea.net (Nancy Dalton)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Flemish resources
Date: Thu, 16 Jan 1997 13:23:16 GMT
Greetings,
Medieval Flanders, by David Nicholas, ISBN 0 582 01679 7 CSD, 1992.
It covers Flanders politics, economics, arts, and trades from 600 to
1477. The only thing it does not have is pictures :)
Nancy Dalton
ska Earnwynn van Zwaluwenburg
From: djheydt at uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J Heydt)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Hoerning grave (Danish ca 1000)
Date: 22 Jan 1997 16:20:44 GMT
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Maggie Mulvaney <mulvanem at fp.co.nz> wrote:
>...According to the source it was a woman buried on
>a cart, in an early Christian burial. The interesting thing is the
>remains of her garment. All that remains is a rather wide band of
>silverworked tabletwoven braid, which lies loose on her left side and
>is wrapped around her right arm. ....
Based on what I've read, I suspect the woman was wearing a common
Germanic early-period garment sometimes called a "tube dress" or
"Haengerock." This resembled (to some extent) a Greek peplos,
and consisted of a tube of fabric (apparently fabric could be
woven in a continuous tube on a warp-weighted loom, don't ask
*me* how they did it), say four feet in length and maybe four
or five feet in circumference. Weaving one on a warp-weighted loom
began with weaving a band of tablet-woven braid, into which a
pair of warps were inserted at every turn of the tablets. You
wound up with a length of braid with a very long fringe dangling
from it; these became the warps of the woven fabric. When it was
all done, you had a length (or in this case tube) of fabric with
a tablet-woven band neatly finishing off one end of it, You
could then sew a second tablet-woven band onto the other edge.
To put the dress on, you stepped into the tube and pinned it
with brooches above each shoulder, so that the top edge (where
the braid was) ran from the left-hand brooch, across the front to
the right-hand brooch, under your right armpit, up to the brooch
again, across your back to the left-hand brooch, under your left
armpit, up to the brooch again. I'd like to see a drawing of
just how the braid was found in situ, and just what the excavators
meant by "wrapped around the arm." But if it only went around
the arm once, that is, from the top of the shoulder under the
armpit to the top of the shoulder again, then it would fit.
Dorothea of Caer-Myrddin Dorothy J. Heydt
Mists/Mists/West Albany, California
PRO DEO ET REGE djheydt at uclink
From: mulvanem at fp.co.nz (Maggie Mulvaney)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Hoerning grave (Danish ca 1000)
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 23:52:01 GMT
djheydt at uclink.berkeley.edu (Dorothy J Heydt) wrote:
<suggestion of hangerock snipped>
Yes, she was possibly wearing one of those, there are other bits of
braid that fit that rather well. But the very wide braid that I was
talking about does not, really.
I would have thought it was a cloak, rather than a dress. As has been
pointed out already the word dragt can be translated as 'costume'
rather than 'dress' per se. What contradicted this was the fact that
it was the author himself who had translated it into the English
summary (not that that rules out a mistranslation!). He also uses the
word 'dress' in the captions of the pictures, but here he talks about
'the silverworked dress', so I guess that further points to a
mistranslation.
The precise wording (my translation) is 'the dead was wearing a
*garment* edged with a silverworked, tabletwoven braid. One of these
was a ca. 5 cm wide and 2.5 m long braid with a rhomboid pattern, that
from the brow ran down both sides of the body. The garment must have
been hanging loose down the left side of the body, while on the other
side it was wrapped around the right lower arm. In addition there are
some 2-2.5 cm wide braid, also with silverworked patterns, that were
placed by the shoulders, by the wrists and along the thigh bone.'
There is also a picture of how the grave looked, and the braid she
mentions looks to me like it went around the arm at the shoulders.
There is also a piece by the thigh bone, as stated, which is wrapped
around itself at the top (halfway down the thigh, and reaches to the
knee.
Interesting, no?
Muireann ingen Eoghain
**********************************************************
* MMY * mulvanem at fp.co.nz *
* Maggie Mulvaney * http://www.nmia.com/~entropy/maggie/ *
**********************************************************
From: mulvanem at fp.co.nz (Maggie Mulvaney)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Hoerning grave (Danish ca 1000)
Date: Fri, 24 Jan 1997 01:59:17 GMT
On Thu, 23 Jan 1997 23:52:01 GMT, mulvanem at fp.co.nz (Maggie Mulvaney)
wrote:
>There is also a picture of how the grave looked, and the braid she
>mentions looks to me like it went around the arm at the shoulders.
>There is also a piece by the thigh bone, as stated, which is wrapped
>around itself at the top (halfway down the thigh, and reaches to the
>knee.
Doh. By 'the braid *he* mentions' I mean the narrower braid...
Apologies.
Muireann
**********************************************************
* MMY * mulvanem at fp.co.nz *
* Maggie Mulvaney * http://www.nmia.com/~entropy/maggie/ *
**********************************************************
From: Sarah de Vries & Robbert Michel <Rosa at rosa.demon.nl>
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Dutch personae, anywhere?
Date: Sun, 08 Mar 1998 12:39:38 +0100
Greetings do Gerbrich and Milant send unto you from the fair shire of
Polderslot!
Bonafide dutch people with dutch/frisian persona's replying here. First
of (before I forget), a really good website on the subject is the
Eyckenbosch Library:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/library.html
One author to look out for is Frits van Oostrom (surname is Oostrom). We
are not sure his books have been translated, but if they have you are in
luck: he writes about Jacob van Maerlant (1230 - ca 1296), a dutch
author of the time... There's others, but I can't think of them of the
top of my head.
Feel free to e-mail us for help with research and such... Probably most
of our reference works are in dutch or frisian (or old frisian :)! ) but
we might be able to help anyway... And don't forget to share your
sources with us!
Lingen Van u wrote:
> I have a few resources for naming
> and such available (including a family geneaology going back, or so it
> claims, to the 1300's).
We found transcribed Frisian legal records going back to 1320 at the
Utrecht University library and they have dutch ones as well for 1200 to
1500.
> Brother Weird van Leeuwarden
By the way, did you know there are about 143 (of the top of my head)
different recorded spellings of the name Leeuwarden? They range from
Lionwarta to Ljouwert to Leeuwarden. Cool, huh?
Gerbrich Syth dochter & Reinald van Milant.
mka
Sarah de Vries & Robbert Michel
Rosa at rosa.demon.nl
Date: Sun, 4 Apr 1999 14:15:05 EDT
From: <EalasaidS at aol.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Flemish dress?
> A friend of mine needs help in finding pictures of flemish dress for the
> late 14th, early 15th century any tips would be of help :-)
> Anna de Byxe
Tell your friend to go to a library or good book store and look for books on
Rogier van der Weyden. He's a 14th century Flemish painter. He did lots of
portraits and gave a lot of loving detail to the clothes his subjects were
wearing.
Jan van Eyck is also a good source, but I can't remember at the moment if he
is the right time period.
I've lent my Flemish art books out at the moment, so can't be more specific.
But there were lots of Flemish painters in the 14-15th centuries, so she
shouldn't have any problems find great pictures.
Ealasaid nic Shuibne
Date: Sun, 04 Apr 1999 22:01:26 -0400
From: Carol Thomas <scbooks at neca.com>
To: sca-arts at raven.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: Re: Flemish dress?
Painters in the 14th & 15th in Flanders: the names with asterisks should be
easier to find/less obscure than the others.
The following comes from an old book with lots of plates: _Flemish Painting
from the van Eycks to Metsys_ by Leo van Peyvelde, McGraw Hill, 1968, SBN
07-050980-8. It predates ISBN.
Melchior Broederlam, circa 1395
Peter of Brussels - mentioned as just before the van Eyck's
*Hubert van Eyck, early 15th, did some paintings jointly with Jan van Eyck.
Hubert seems to have been painting at least 1404-1432; Jan at least
1432-1439.
The Master of Flemalle - a contemporary of the van Eyck's.
*Roger van der Weyden - survived Jan vE by 20 years.
Petrust Christus started painting circa 1440, apparently.
Dieric Bouts painted 1458-1475.
Hugo van der Goes 1467 on.
Josse van Wassenhove - around the same time.
*Jan Memlic, about 1473 on.
Gerard David, about 1484 to 1623.
Lady Carllein
From: hrjones at socrates.berkeley.edu ()
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Danish costume?
Date: 21 Apr 1999 18:08:54 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lady Blackthorn (blackthorn319 at hotmail.com) wrote:
: Hi all, this a bit of a delurk with a question attached.
: My names Mara and I've always wanted to join the SCA (well sense I was
: 16) but I'm only getting around to it now.
: I've started making a costume just so I can go to events but I'd like to
: develop a danish persona. My family has done it's genealogy in Denmark
: back to the 16 hundreds but nothing before that. I'd like to get a
: authentic name. Anyone know of any lists?
There is an excellant set of books on historic names and bynames in
Denmark -- this is from memory, but it's something like "Denmarks Gamle
Personnave" by Knudsen et al. Not exactly a browsable, on-line list, but
it _does_ appear to be the definitive source on your topic!
Tangwystyl
*********************************************************
Heather Rose Jones hrjones at socrates.berkeley.edu
*********************************************************
From: mmy at innocent.com (Maggie Mulvaney)
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: Danish costume?
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1999 22:03:36 GMT
Organization: ICONZ - The Internet Company of New Zealand
On Wed, 21 Apr 1999 11:12:28 -0600, Lady Blackthorn
<blackthorn319 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>Hi all, this a bit of a delurk with a question attached.
>My names Mara and I've always wanted to join the SCA (well sense I was
>16) but I'm only getting around to it now.
>I've started making a costume just so I can go to events but I'd like to
>develop a danish persona. My family has done it's genealogy in Denmark
>back to the 16 hundreds but nothing before that. I'd like to get a
>authentic name. Anyone know of any lists?
>I guess I'm going to go with the viking time period but is there any
>site out there that has more about danish history? What were the Danes
>doing during the other times? I'm not even sure what I would be wearing
>having not seen many pictures of the females of the time.
>Any help would be appreciated
Mara,
I've got access to some information on what was going on in Denmark,
since my persona, Marienna Jensdatter, is from East Denmark in the
14th Century.
Clothing followed other regions. The Danish vikings wore 'standard'
getup, in the case of women apron dresses etc. There's also evidence
that they sometimes borrowed fashion from regions to the south - the
Franks etc. Later on, they were Europeanized.
History wise, (potted history coming up) once the Danish nation had
been united, they spent the next few centuries fighting the Grmans and
Swedes.(they still do, but now they do it on the soccer fields).
Around 1340, there was a period without a king, then the plague hit
around 1350. After that, King Valdemar Atterdag (day again) restored
the nation, and his daugther Margrethe united Denmark, Norway and
Sweden in the great Union. That fell apart again within two
generations, and then there were some pretty bad wars against Sweden,
along with the reformation (which was very civilized in Denmark).
Interestingly, Danish clergy still wear the big millstone ruffs from
that time.
If you'd like to talk through what you want to do, I'll try to help
you out.
/mmy
<the end>