Carta a Gualdim de Lapela

Escrevi esta carta, entre tantas outras, durante o verão na vila medieval de Sundkøbing. Gualdim de Lapela é obviamente um cavaleiro ficticio, assim como - obviamente - o Rei D. Afonso de Thalassa! :)

Lourẽceanes scprivã a voos gualdĩ de lapella cavall[eir]o capitã[o] da g[ua]rda & frõteyro das terras do norte saude sabede como antãao m[a]rt[in]z s[e]nhor de castello nuovo me mãdou [e]screvervos esta c[ar]ta no d[i]cto castello hu me ẽcontro p[ar]a saberdes q[ue] elle vos ẽvia muito saaudar p[or] vossa tã[o] grãde bravura na defesom da ponte de lapella cont[ra] os nosso emiguos & o gramde nojo q[ue] nos fazer q[ue]riam & assy haveis ao nojo & a morte poupaado estas gentes & lares e p[or] isso [e]screver vos me mãda q[ue] vos enviados serãao XV besteyros do nosso conto X peõoes & moços de carriagem V arnezes armas assy espaadas como frechas & algũus mantimẽtos q[ue] despensaar podemos. g[ua]ld[im] de lapella cavall[eir]o possã estas nosas ofertas ser de valer-osa contribuiçõ na gueerr cont[ra] os nossos emiguos q[ue] tamto nojo nos q[ue]rem fazeer & a Elrey dõ Afonso de thalassa noso s[e]nhor. o s[e]nhor d[eu]s vos g[ua]rde asaude e a bem vẽturãça. dante no Senhorio de castelo nuovo trimta dias amdados do mes de aguosto lourẽceanes afez
Atãao mrtz                                                                 ╬                                                   (selo) P R I V E S

Living in 1403

Long time no see! (well, same old, same old). We've been away from the blog but not from the middle ages. Truth be said, we've never been so much "connected" to the middle ages as we have been this summer. In the past two months we've been living in the village of Sundkøbing (aka Middelaldercentret Nykøbing Falster). 

Between paintings, lots of scribing, tablet weaving, looms, et caetera et caetera... this have been a wonderful and fulfilled summer. 

I will write more about the experience later, for now just a couple of photos!

medieval sketchbook

Long time, no see! Oh well, and this won't be a long post... Just an update on some writings and illustrations I've been doing on my "medieval sketchbook" as I like to call it.

Soon my wife and I will embark on a great adventure (medieval related) and I hope to post more news and photos soon! 

A map of the Iberian kingdoms, with the major Portuguese medieval towns and one or two mistakes common of this time where no google maps nor gps were invented!

A page with a full decorated alphabet and a random bureaucratic letter from the king explaining something about goats and how they should be castrated... true true!

 This one has the story (more legend than story) of the "Twelve of England" with some of the heraldry of the Portuguese knights in it.

I'm sorry for the blurriness of some of the photos, I will take new ones asap! ;)

Oak gall

For those of you who ever wonder what produces an oak gall (essential to fabricate the iron gall ink), here's a photo* of the Biorzhida pallida - the wasp responsible for the process!

*It was a bit shy, so all I did get to see was its bottom :)

Ianuarius

Antes de mais, desejamos a todos os leitores e visitantes um feliz e próspero ano novo, cheio de projectos e outras coisas boas! :)

O primeiro desenho do ano: calendário de Janeiro para um "Livro de Horas", uso de Roma (c.1400). Juntamente com a lista de festividades do mês, na decoração que acompanha o texto o mês de Janeiro é normalmente representado com uma pessoa de posses sentada à mesa a comer e a beber. Uma variação, apresentada neste caso, apresenta Janus (Deus romano das entradas, portas, novos inícios) com duas faces opostas a comer e a beber, olhando para o novo ano que começa e ao mesmo tempo para o que terminou.

Na outra rodela a representação do signo Aquário correspondente ao primeiro mês no ano. 

/

First of all, we wish to all our friends a merry and prosperous new year, full of projects and good things :)

First drawing/illuminure of the year! A calendar page of January for a Book of Hours, use of Rome (ca. 1400).Along side the calendar with the month's festivities, January are generally represented by a feast. In this case, a variation of this scene shows a man with two faces representing the god Janus (ancient roman god of gates and doors, beginnings and endings) looking ahead to the new year and back to the old one at the same time.
On the other rondel, the representation of the zodiac sign of Aquarius.

Annunciation

Last illuminure of the year* - The Annunciation, based on an early 15th century Dutch Book of Hours. The "tiles" background is a very common type of background decoration during the 14th century, and it can be found in early 15th century manuscripts, although a more naturalistic type of background started to be more prominent. Personally I prefer the latter style, and this kind of tile painting is a huge time consuming process, but, allas no one can deny it has a more "trully" medieval aspect. :)

(*I can't promise anything!!:)

And as bonus, here's a photo of almost all the materials and tools I use during the process of drawing and painting an illuminure. 

And finally, my "medieval sketchbook" made by my friend Maria do Céu Ferreira.

Tempus fugit

A month without any post! That doesn't mean we have been lazy, but exactly the opposite. Last month we visited the public library of Evora where we had the chance to see in hands a couple of 15th century book of hours and an English manuscript from ca. 1450 which was offered to Afonso V, king of Portugal (1438-1481). To appreciate such pieces of medieval art in our bare hands it's an unique and remarkable experience.

On another and mostly surprisingly occasion, we saw for the first time a medieval "pocket calendar", a facsimile of the exemplar from Ljubljana Library (Slovenia). It's a rare document, not many medieval calendars have survived, and I couldn't resist myself to try and make one. The original is from 1415.

 The calendar has the name of the 12 months and a picture of the month's main labor in the fields. Along side with the months, each space has a smal graphic representing the average light and dark hours and also the corresponding zodiac sign. 

Sancto Georgio

The 3rd drawing of this series: Saint George and the dragon! The same style of manuscript decoration as before, this time with text in latin (gothica textura quadrata).

The stages of production and tools used:

• Ruling (margins and lines) - ruler & lead point
• Writing - quill pen (goose), iron gall ink & parchment knife
• Drawing (sketch) - lead point
• Drawing (final) - quill pen & ink
• Gilding - medium & gold leaf
• Painting (border decoration & initial) - various brushes & paints 
• Painting (main drawing) - various brushes & paints

St. Ursula II

The painting is done. Next stage - gilding (which in fact should have been done first of all...). 

It will take some time, I have to practice more before I apply the gold-leaf on the drawing, I don't want to ruin it.

*edit* And it's done! Now it's a truly illuminure with the gold leaf. The gilding was made by Ana.

St. Ursula

Just a glimpse of a new drawing I'm working on... :)

*edit* - photos from the next stages (painting)