Frances,

For certain. My guess is that people who worked in luxury good likely had some pretty nice stuff around the house.

RPM

And lets not forget the guild system is in full swing in the 14th. In York they have a man who makes sbow strings put in the stocks and have his strings burned before his face for not following the rules. (From York House Books) We have in Henry IV reign an example of him setting standards for some ...

Also might be worth looking at the previous entries as often they give a list of such Charters in the royal rolls. I did not find much in the Patent Rolls for Kelvedon when I looked but I admit to using a search function so it may be there. Many of the collections are scanned so not always best for ...

I don't know.... it took a very special set of genes and environment to make Henry VIII........

RPM

Henry VII is the one who starts large scale naval yards and increases the number of ships but I am not sure I'd go as far as to say created. Edward IV owned ships as did Edward I and Edward III. I think it safe to say he had a hand in it but I am not sure that another would not have done the same th...

Ranulf, Some good points. Thanks for the books. I will start by the library and put some loan requests in. I expect that they he would not get quite that deep into it (especially the tonsure. Maybe we can figure out some way of making it without including partial baldness... wish I was good at makeu...

Pretty common in English records. A few examples are in the Letter Books and Plea and Memorand of London. During ED II's reign the city provides 500 men broken into these groups with leaders. As well there are a few people in the REgister of Edward the Black Prince as well, Edward having these units...

Graham, Generally speaking this is what the uppers do to make themselves look special. It usually fails. If you look through English inventories of this period it becomes clear that people if they could afford something and wanted it had it, no matter laws stating the opposite. I'd not worry about i...

Brother Ranulf, Some great info here. Any good sources for people wanting to do personas of people in the church? I have a History of the Church in the Middle Ages by Logan but the person interested thought it was too heavy of reading sadly... any ideas of some more brief books that give the basics ...

I just wrote an article on this that came out with the Richard III society. It is called Spies Scouts and Southampton. It was this years edition. In a year or two a much larger one will be published on this topic that goes into more detail of how such intelligence was employed. Here is the Richard I...

So do we have any methods of making canvas type tents fire resistant?

Not the one I had in mind but here is a fresco for the Palazzo Pubblico, Siena from 1328. I have seen German examples before but never seen this one until recently.

Medieval Shelters

Randall

James, Is there a way to fire proof a tent from standard canvas? Marcus, I agree with much of what you are saying. Men would certainly have stayed as much as possible in a monastery or other existing location before living in a tent. We have evidence of this both at home and abroad in peace and war....

Has anyone made a large double beam loom before? I'd love to know how it went and how it works. These were the most common for the 14th century correct?

I'd love to build a loom for my world survey course.

Some great info by the way everyone!

Randall

I had a complete inventory at one point for Roger Mortimer that had some mattresses that were included. I believe one was full of feathers but I cannot find it anymore to see what the others had in them. Any one know of this inventory? I think it happens in 1330 when he is removed from power.

Randall

Darren, I agree very much with that assessment. It is always sad (sometimes somewhat funny) when people simply copy the original and it is too big or small. Very important to understand how the armour fits. I am looking at some effigies from the 1330s-1350s and wondered what everyone though made up ...

In response to evidence for tent usage in England we know at least the uppers did indeed have tents. There was a specific post called sergeant of the king's tents and pavilions whose entire job was to keep them in order and logistically get them set up for the king in war or otherwise. Henry VI's wa...

Marcus, Whoa! Did not realize it was against forum rules to have an opinion here. :? I simply asked a simple question which Colin answered very well and replied with an opinion. When you make such a statement 'I'd actually like to see more people camping plastic, in a way it would our events more, n...

Langley, Now that is what I am talking about! Sounds like Gloucester's was doing it right. Colin, To be honest I'd rather them mass in a large and simple tent than plastic camp if they do not want to sleep outside. In many ways because we usually have smaller numbers the tents make the encampment lo...

Not sure how sleeping in a modern tent is period or improves anything really for reenactment. If you are a commoner sleep outside or maybe make a shelter outside. I can make a fairly well done shelter in most places in 15-30 minutes. I used to sleep outside all the time though if the weather was rig...

Looks like a fun group. I have to say I really enjoy having a group tie into something so unique. When I lived in York I thought it would be neat to be one of the groups sent to aid the king in the 14th century. Sadly I was only there just over a year. Good luck with everything! Thanks for the inter...

Sorry missed this, had a fairly bad accident and not online much and when I am pain meds make it feel like my head is in a fish bowl. Chevck here for here book of deed. http://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-01880-1.html you can find it cheaper but you need to make sure you have an english versi...

Brother knights are very often used on foot in the Holy lands or otherwise. De Joinvilles Chronicle is loaded with examples of men who are of men of orders fighting on foot. There is no period during the medieval period when a knight would not be trained to fight on foot and mounted throughout the m...

Not in 14th century English, Scottish and later basically many other armies. There is one very interesting line in Froissart for the revolt of 1381 that seems to indicate the mob because of past military service broke into formation at the behest of their leader. The only thing we have major evidenc...

Nigel,

Is it going to be shown outside the UK? Over here in the US it seems a great deal of these programs do not make the jump. I'd love to see it if you know if it will be released here.

Looks like an awesome group.

Randall

Some very interesting information here. I have read through a great deal of Scot records from the 14th century but the amount of information on the Highlands is as many have said sparse. In fact I have not seen so many examples until I opened this post up. I had seen many of the effigies Mishnish pu...

Or that their use declined or died out for whatever reason and they were later reintroduced or increased usage. It seems likely that the Romans had something crossbowish so it'd be odd if it never made its way to Britannia. Now however long and for whatever purpose from this time to its decline/disc...

Stu,

I have not seen it but will keep my eyes open for it. Is it the standard sized Osprey book or one of the super Osprey books they have been releasing lately like the medieval knight title?

Randall

I have not seen more than a few pages preview but I'd like to look at it. To me the main issue is that most writers either make guns 'the weapon' of the time vastly blowing its use or effect overboard or act like it was a toy that was useless besides being a really cool fire breathing mascot. I get ...

I cannot blame you for not wanting to put the crossbow down.... just so awesome.

Nice kit as well. Don't forget to post follow ups as you upgrade!

Randall