Unfortunately
Tobias and I are coming down with it now. I’ve had a fever for a couple of
days, and I have a very sore throat. Bleh. So, pictures of the new tunic I
finished for Tobias in time for the event will have to wait until we both feel
better.
I have
however managed to sew something during this last couple of days when B’s been
getting better, and I’ve been getting worse: a medieval pilgrim’s satchel. (Isn’t
satchel a nice word by the way? Just listen to it: satchel...) I have mixed feelings about them, as they are far more common in the living history world than they appear to have been at the time. Then, they seem to have onlybeen used by people during travelling, like pilgrims, but so many people of today feel the need to carry a lot of things with them, and must have something like their modern purse. I usually don't carry a lot of things with me, once I've left all my things in our tent all I have is my belt pouch. But having something more to pack in for events, and to carry the now needed child related things in, is important enough for me to have made one. It will be a good complement to baskets.
It’s made from rather heavy wool twill scraps I had in
my stash, with white yarn in the warp and brown in the weft. Wool is a good
choice for bags and purses, as it keeps the contents reasonably dry, unlike
linen. Leather would have been even better, but I don’t have any I want to use
for this.
The body of
the satchel is made from one piece, and the strap from another. The satchel is about 30 cm wide and 32 cm deep. I made the strap rather short, as they often appear to be so in period art. I also find it more comfortable and balanced.
from Grace of God, late 14th century or early 15th century.
I had planned
to tablet weave it together with blue wool yarn, but the fabric frayed too much
for it to work. Instead it’s stitched together using waxed linen thread and
trimmed it with wool braid. I also added tassels, which is a common feature in
medieval bags and purses, including pilgrims’ satchels.
I could have lined it,
making it even prettier (I'm not thrilled about how it looks on the inside of the lid) and more sturdy, but I didn’t have any fabric I wanted
to use for this, and I’m working from materials in my stash as much as possible
at the moment. Still, all in all I'm pleased with how it turned out.
So that’s
another of this summer’s planned projects I can cross of the to do list.
I love the wool braid trim and tassels on the bag!
ReplyDeleteI always mentally justify bringing a pilgrim's bag to events by remembering that most medieval people rarely went more than a couple miles from their homes. They'd carry the most likely necessities like a knife on their belt, and if they needed something else it was a fairly simple matter to either walk home then or delay the task until they could walk home. If a medieval person had to walk the distance a reenactor travels to get to an event, that medieval person would have almost certainly used some kind of bag to carry at the very least food and/or money.
Every element of a pilgrim's kit was filled with religious symbolism and it was the custom in England for a priest to bless the satchel and cloak - and present the staff from the altar, just like a knight's sword.
ReplyDeleteIn medieval Latin the satchel or scrip was called capsella ("little container"), which is the same word used for small reliquary chests and other containers of Holy relics; the connection was not lost on people at the time. The satchel also symbolised humility and charity, since it was too small to carry much in the way of food or belongings - all pilgrims relied on monasteries, the Church and others for charitable hospitality along the way.
It is a misconception that people did not travel far from home - huge numbers of people were persuaded to travel all over Europe and beyond, carrying almost nothing with them. Each day's journey was planned to end at a monastery guesthouse or pilgrim hospital along the route - itineraries were available showing these rest stops, places of interest and perils to avoid along the way. The reasons they went were many: religious zeal, seeking a miraculous cure, penance for sin or punishment for crime. Local priests had the power to impose the penalty of pilgrimage for even minor infractions.
Jonathan Sumption's book "The Age of Pilgrimage" traces changes in pilgrimage during the entire medieval period; it emphasises the huge numbers of travellers and the equipment they carried, along with the religious symbolism involved. One item he misses is a particular type of pilgrim staff made from three long hazel sticks bound together with strips of bark or rawhide - this symbolised the Holy Trinity and was a constant reminder that the pilgrim was supported by God as well as his staff.