Constructing a 15th Century Northern European Pavilion

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16thC-pavilon-art - 5/30/10

"Constructing a 16th Century European Pavilion" by Seamus O'Cearbhaill.

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NOTICE -

This article was submitted to me by the author for inclusion in this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium.

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous

stefan at florilegium.org

This documentation is for a tent which won the Judges Choice award at Queens Prize in January 2010 in the Kingdom of Calontir.

Constructing a 16th Century European Pavilion

by Seamus O'Cearbhaill

BACKGROUND

Medieval tent construction is an offshoot of the professional research I have completed on tent and sail making in the 18-20th Centuries. In that research I was a somewhat amazed that tent makers and sail makers, at least in Europe and North America, were the one and the same profession. In the medieval world that also seems to hold true. In lists of medieval occupations sail makers do appear but not tent makers. In the lists of London guilds, sail makers appear as an established guild by the 15th century.[[1]] In fact it was between 1550 and 1600 that the word "sailmaker" came into use. The exception to the distinction seems to be in the Middle East where tent making is a singular profession which still exists today. In the Middle East the tent makers of course existed at the time of Christ when Saul who would become St. Paul was identified as a tentmaker and is now the patron saint for that occupation. Sail makers have no such Patron Saint. The occupation of pavyler does appear in medieval texts but is defined as one who sets up pavilions but not one who makes them. There are also references to tent construction in many contemporary tailors' books. I believe tailors were involved in tent making in interior parts of the European continent devoid of sail makers

I have concluded that this lack of occupation separation in coastal Europe is due to the fact that in a maritime based economy sail makers were employed year round making sails, and with the vast majority of the populace is housed in stationary permanent structures, tent and pavilion makers would only needed to fulfill the demand for tents for military campaigns. This would cause frequent and periodic unemployment for those who specialized in just tent making. However in the Middle East where a large proportion of the population wanders about and live in tents, the demand for tents would be constant making tent construction a full time profession totally unrelated to sail making.

The reason for drawing this distinction between Europe and the Middle East is that if indeed European sail makers are the manufactures of tents and pavilions as they are throughout the 18th-20th centuries, then we can better understand the techniques used to construct the medieval tent. While medieval tent construction technique research is limited to extant contemporary images, and two very later extant examples, medieval sail making is fairly well documented. Techniques used to construct the sails in Lord Nelson's navy at Trafalgar of the early 19th century are virtually unchanged from the English ships under Drake that beat the Spanish Armada, to those sails that propelled the Viking long ships or Henry's "Mary Rose".[[2]] Because tents and sails tend to be made from canvas and because both must stand to the weather it is a logical leap of faith that they were probably constructed using the same stitches and other construction techniques as will be outlined below.

DESIGN

The Tent chosen to reproduce was a pavilion illustrated in the late sixteenth-century fresco in the Hall of Battles in the monastery and royal palace of the Escorial, built outside Madrid at the request of King Phillip II in 1561-1584 (illustration 1). [[3]]

Although the ubiquitous tent of the late middle ages as illustrated in contemporary images is the conical or round tent. I decided to reproduce one of the rectangular pavilions. The reasons for this are that the rectangular tents seem to provide more usable space. I wanted a pavilion large enough to be divided in half to provide a private sleeping chamber and with walls tall enough to enable entrance without ducking. The final design incorporated a tent with seven 24" wide panels long and five 24" panels wide as shown in a close up of the Hall of Battles fresco (illustration 2). This tent would have a usable footprint of 12'-9" by 8'. I wanted the top of the walls to be 7' in the clear and to keep the tent in proportion to the illustrations this would make the peak of the roof 6' taller for an overall height of 13'.

The interesting design feature in the tent chosen is the edge of the roof or the eave. This is clearly reinforced from the inside providing an 6-8" wide reinforced eave around the perimeter of the roof. As this was common in many other contemporary illustrations, I decided to engineer that feature. I believe that the lower roof edge is clearly reinforced with a framework. It also appears that the peak is supported by 2 uprights and a ridgepole however there is no evidence of the uprights protruding through the roof or any evidence of storm lines. I opted to add the storm lines and vases to the uprights as illustrated on another tent in the same painting in order survive the winds at Lillies. Moreover there is detail of the guy lines and they are "crow's foot" in design and are originating from under the eave.

In order to replicate the look of this pavilion I decided on constructing the roof with sleeves sewn into the bottom edge. Into these sleeves I could insert light-weight wooden supports to hold the eaves rigidly and square. Once the supports were in place it was simply a matter of inserting the ridge pole, cut to fit tightly, into the peak of the tent and raising it upon the two uprights. The uprights would be pinned to the ridge. The guy lines would originate through grommets placed on the lower edge of the eaves in such a manner that there would be an even tension along the entire lower edge of the roof. While two individuals held the uprights the four corner eave lines could be staked out securing the structure until the remaining lines were secured. The walls would then be added.

Based on the ca. 1460 Illustration of an "Army breaking Camp" by Giovanni Bettini (Illustration 3) I decided to make the lower walls as separate pieces attached to the roof with toggles. This would have the added benefit of not having to lift the entire structure at one time for set up. The walls would be made in two sections. The resulting two openings would be located in the front and rear of the tent. All the wall sections will have an additional frill or sod cloth added in the bottom edge as well as grommets and rope loops for staking to the ground. The walls attached just above the eave and the resulting curve of the roof caused by this additional weight can be seen in illustration 2. Also visible are the ropes on the exterior that support the walls. They emerge from the top of the eave and descend through a grommet in the seam to provide an attachment point.

A survey of contemporary illustrations clearly shows two methods of adding decoration to pavilions. The first is to apply colored panels of over the base white canvas, usually along the seams and edges (illustration 4). The other method is to dye the canvas and to sew it in alternating stripes (illustration 5). Based on the source illustration I opted for the dye method. I planned on using only period techniques as much as possible. Based on the sail making practices of the day, and albeit the limit of the technology, most sail canvas was woven in widths of less than 30 inches, it is entirely possible that, as it was in later periods, the width of canvas for sail and tent making was limited to 24-28" because of the inherent strength of the seams and the necessary distance between the grommets to rig the sails. The grommets are traditionally placed at the thickest part of the work or where the panels overlap. I decided to limit my panel width to 24".

MATERIALS

The materials available for tents and sails in the 16th century are one of three types of canvas: linen (flax), cotton, or hemp. The best of these fibers when it comes to strength and durability is hemp. "Hempe" first appears in English by the year 1000. This fiber was so important to the English maritime trade that beginning with Henry VIII landowners with 60 acres or more must grow some hemp or face a fine. Linen would have been as available as Hemp but cotton was much more expensive as it would have been imported.

Due to the expense of hemp and linen currently, the pavilion was constructed of untreated cotton canvas or duck 10 oz in weight. I have considerable experience with this material and knew it would hold out the weather and last many years to come. I used 8/4 cotton warp thread for sewing the main panels together. The grommets are hand woven from marlin (tarred line) and are sewn in using the cotton thread. Leather ties and buttons are used to secure the walls to the loops formed by the support ropes.

Rope much like canvas would be hemp, linen or cotton. Hemp is the strongest and the most commonly made for the maritime trade. Linen is also very strong while cotton is the weakest. All these ropes were treated, usually with pine tar, in order to last in the elements. [[4]] In the 1850's the preferred rope, hemp, was replaced by manila. Manila came from the Philippines and had a natural oil finish that caused it to hold up to the elements. Due to its availability and cost that is the material chosen for the guy lines.

CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES

The panels are sewn together using a sail maker's flat seam. The flat seam was a sail maker's standard method of construction and provides for the strongest most waterproof seam. [[5]] Other options would be the round or whipstitch which was also in use. The flat stitch provides more strength and is more watertight. Unfortunately only two period tents exist and it is impossible to tell the stitches used the first in Spain is completely covered with embellishments while appliqué covers the just post period tent in Basil Switzerland. Although it is possible that the latter is actually whipstitched. [[6]]

The framework for the eaves is made of two parallel boards held to width with dowels and the corners are pinned together. The largest concern was keeping the structure rigid but lightweight.

TOOLS

The basic tools used to produce the pavilion all fit inside a small canvas bag. The primary tool is the sail maker's needle which has a round barrel but is three sided at the point. This needle goes between the fibers allowing them to reclose the hole upon withdrawal of the needle. These needles are documented to Viking and Anglo Saxon sites as early as the 7th century and continue in use to this very day.[[7]] The hand is protected by a sail maker's palm. A palm has been found on the Mary Rose. However many thumb thimbles were found as well.[[8]] The only other required tools are the fid which is used to make and form grommets and the seam rubber which is used to crease the canvas. With the exception of the needles all the tools were made by the author.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Illustration 1. Camp Scene from Hall of Battles 1561-1584

Illustration 2. Close up of the camp scene

File written by Adobe Photoshop® 4.0

Illustration 3. "An Army Breaking Camp" by Giovanni Bettini ca 1460[9]

http://www.adelphi.edu/sbloch/ma/tents/pictures/martini/fogliano.bigger.html">

Illustration 4. Detail from Simone Martini's fresco of Guidoriccio da Fogliano.[[10]]

Illustration 5. Pavilion for Henry VIII [[11]]

Footnotes:

[1] Hoffman, Tom, The Rise and decline of Guilds With particular Reference to the Guilds of Tylers and Bricklayers in Great Britain and Ireland. Unpublished paper, 2007

[2] Examples of the original sails and their construction were studied by the author at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyards

[3] This Fresco was reproduced as part of an armor exhibit in the National Art Gallery, Washington D.C.. Images are by the author.

[4] Gardiner, Julie, Before The Mast, Life and Death Aboard the Mary Rose, Portsmouth 2005

[5] Britain's Glory: or Shipbuilding Unvail'd, 1717. London. Although this is a post period publication it reflects very small changes in tools that were available in period and thus the construction methodology was likely similar.

[6] Bloch Stephen / Stephen Bloch's Medieval- Tents Page, bloch at adelphi.edu

[7] Bartos, Louie "An Overview of Early Sail Needles" Online article

[8] Gardiner, Julie, Before The Mast, Life and Death Aboard the Mary Rose, Portsmouth 2005

[9] Bloch Stephen / Stephen Bloch's Medieval- Tents Page, bloch at adelphi.edu image attributed to Bartlett & Embleton's English Longbow men 1330-1515 p.32 1997

[10] Detail from Simone Martini's fresco of Guidoriccio da Fogliano at the Siege of Monte Massi in 1328 at Scala/Palazzo Pubblico, Sienna

[11] British Library online

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Copyright 2009 by Stephen Allie, 11542 US 59 Hwy Oskaloosa KS 66066. <stephen.allie at us.army.mil> or <allies at hughes.net>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, I would appreciate a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.