Greetings!

This past Sunday was the first Philadelphia Renaissance Faire and we’re glad to say it was a lovely day out, despite the forecasts! A number of us gathered outside and took a group photo ahead of the opening of the gates, but we didn’t process in. We have a better idea, now, of where parking is, etc. and we’re also going to be discussing official participation of some sort next year with the organizers as soon as they’ve recovered from this year’s run ;) Whether we arrange for an information booth/table, a list field, specific activities (just dancing, shield-painting, etc.) we’ll see what comes of discussions once planning starts again :)

The Faire was certainly small; the day’s acts were on two stages and the storyline they had running seemed to go well, though there were some issues with amplification on both days, apparently (so following what was going on was sometimes tough). That said, though, their entertainers were all good with the public, they were never stumped, even when thrown some off-script curveballs, and they all seemed to have as much fun as everyone else :) The Mountain was an impressive guest to have as a headline act, and watching him pick up and toss a 227lb ball – six times! – was earth-shaking. No, literally, the earth thudded under our feet as we watched from dozens of feet away…we weren’t sitting close to the stage and every toss of the ball could be easily felt. Very impressive :)

Hopefully this will happen again next year, and we’ll see what we can do to help out; they had need of volunteers behind the scenes, I should mention, as well as folks who could do improv as part of the schtick, so I’ll ask about both roles for next year as well as how we can get in with a demo, if possible.

It was a fun day, amazing to get so many people out for a non-event outing of sorts and we really enjoyed seeing Bhakailis, SCAdians from neighboring groups, Pennsic merchants and other friends throughout the day. From start to finish, it was an enjoyable day out and hopefully they decide to do it again :D

Lastly, if anyone asked us to get tickets and didn’t go, we did still have to buy those tickets and will need to hear from you :)

Mael Eoin & Ysmay

Dear friends and colleagues,

Please join us TODAY, Monday, 27 April, for this year’s final meeting of the Workshop in the History of Material Texts. We will convene at our usual time and place: 5:15pm in the Class of 1978 Pavilion in the Kislak Center on the 6th Floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library.

We will be welcoming Laura Aydelotte (Penn), for a can’t-miss talk entitled “‘Her Bouk’: Early Modern Women’s Provenance Marks and Research in the Material and the Digital Archives”

Laura writes,

The Provenance Online Project, or POP, presents material marks left in books by former owners in a digital environment. The project contains over 12,000 images and crowdsources information about these images of provenance evidence. As POP begins to expand to include images outside of Penn, the potential for quickly and easily comparing provenance marks in books from multiple libraries at once will increasingly open up potential new avenues for scholarship.

One area that offers especially rich information is the study of early modern women’s provenance marks, which have much to tell us about what women from the 15th to the early 18th centuries owned and read, and how they used books. However, little attention has been paid specifically to studying women’s provenance marks and they can often be hard to effectively locate in library catalog records. This presentation will provide a brief introduction to POP as a project, and then focus on the challenges and discoveries that have come out of searching for and examining pre-1750 women’s provenance marks both as they appear in material texts and in digital form at Penn Libraries, the Library Company, and the Folger Shakespeare Library.

Laura Aydelotte is Director of POP (the Provenance Online Project), CLIR Postdoctoral Fellow in Data Curation for Early Modern Studies at the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, and Affiliate in the Penn English Department

All are welcome! Please forward this email widely to any who might be interested. Those who do not hold University of Pennsylvania ID cards should bring another form of photo identification in order to enter the library building.

We look forward to seeing you there,

Peter Stallybrass
Annenberg Professor in the Humanities

Marie Turner
Brizdle-Schoenberg Fellow in the History of Material Texts

For people close enough to Penn during the day, the next clay sale will be next Wednesday 4/29 from 10 to 5ish

It will be at the usual spot, 36th & Locust walk.

(For those who don’t know about it, it’s lot of cheap ceramics, from students and teachers and part of the proceeds is used to give some grants to student so they can attend workshops in the Summer)

bd

Bonjour mes amis!

If anyone is interested in a group trip to the Piffaro/Laughing Bird concert of vocal and instrumental Italian Renaissance music on either Friday, May 15 or Saturday, May 16, with discounted tickets, please speak up now (see info below). Also, if members of the Hartshorn-dale, Buckland Cross, and Caer Adamant lists could pass this along to those groups, I’d appreciate it!

>”In Celebration of a 16th Century Master: Honoring the 500th anniversary of the birth of Cipriano de Rore. Though not a household name today, Cipriano de Rore had a decisive influence on sacred and secular composition throughout Europe. His bold experiments in chromaticism and highly expressive style took the madrigal into uncharted territory and made an indelible mark on subsequent composers, including Claudio Monteverdi. Philadelphia’s Renaissance vocal quintet, The Laughing Bird, will join Piffaro in celebrating the works of this remarkable musical genius.”

I heard Laughing Bird the last time they performed with members of Piffaro, and it was an *amazing* experience — I highly recommend this upcoming concert if you enjoy vocal music, instrumental music, or both. In addition, there will be a reception following the concert, in honor both of de Rore’s birthday and the end of the annual Piffaro season. We’ve been invited to attend in garb, if we’d like.

-Sabine

Ave, Ivy!

Does anyone need a ride to either Coronation on Sat 4/11 or Noisemakers on Sat 4/18? There are rides available, and there is free parking at both sites, but the Coronation parking might be street parking a few blocks away, depending on how fast the site’s parking lot fills up. So carpooling is encouraged. If you need a ride, sing out!

Both sites are also very easy to get to via SEPTA.

Coronation

Saturday 4/11, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

http://www.eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=2830

Stage One Performing Arts Center

101 Plush Mill Road, Wallingford, 19086

SEPTA: From 69th Street Terminal, take the 101 Media trolley to the Providence Road station. Walk south (turn left) down South Providence Road. You’ll cross Baltimore Pike, and on your left, you’ll pass Beatty Road, Allen Lane, Locust Lane, then turn left onto Plush Mill Road. Walk one block to the site.

Noisemakers

Saturday 4/18, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

http://www.eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=2753

Church of St. Kevin

200 West Sproul Road, Springfield, 19064

SEPTA: From 69th Street Terminal, take the 101 Media trolley to the Thomson Avenue station. Walk north (turn right) up West Thomson Avenue. On your right, you’ll pass Lewis Road. The next street is West Sproul Road. Cross the street, turn right, and walk one-half block to the site.

Thanks!! See you at the events!!

– Philly

https://twitter.com/FLRichardIII

Reburial timetable of events

During this week there will be a series of events to commemorate Richard III’s reinterment. We’ll be bringing you updates as they happen throughout the week on our Twitter feed. You don’t need to have a Twitter account to view these, but if you do use Twitter we’d love to hear your views throughout the week too, using the hashtag ‪#‎FLRichardIII‬.

Saturday 21 March

There will be a family open day at the University of Leicester, with medieval and scientific events for all ages, together with talks from many of the people involved in the discovery and identification of the King’s remains.

Sunday 22 March

The remains of King Richard III will be placed in a coffin in the University, and a brief ceremony will bid farewell to the King as he leaves. The hearse will then travel to Fenn Lane Farm, reputedly the site of King Richard’s death, before moving onto Dadlington and Sutton Cheney churches.

There will be a short ceremony at Bosworth Battlefield Heritage Centre, before his journey back to Leicester via Market Bosworth, Newbold Verdon and Desford.

The King’s remains will re-enter the city at Bow Bridge, before travelling to Leicester Cathedral in a horse-drawn hearse.

The remains of Richard III will be received into Leicester Cathedral for a ‘Service of Compline for the Reception of the Remains of King Richard III’ This service is by invitation only. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster, will preach.

Monday 23 March

Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public to view the coffin of King Richard III.

Cardinal Nichols will celebrate Mass for the repose of the soul (a ‘Requiem Mass’) of Richard III in Holy Cross Church, the Catholic parish church and Dominican priory in Leicester city centre, at 5pm GMT. The Choir from St Barnabas’ Cathedral, the Cathedral of the Diocese of Nottingham, will sing at this Mass, which will be open to the public.

Tuesday 24 March

Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public to view the coffin of King Richard III.

Dominican friars will sing Vespers, the Catholic Church’s evening service, in Leicester Cathedral.

Wednesday 25 March

Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public to view the coffin of King Richard III (morning only).

Father David Rocks OP, the parish priest of Holy Cross Parish, will preach at the lunchtime Eucharist in Leicester Cathedral.

The Cathedral will be closed on Wednesday afternoon to prepare for the service on Thursday.

Thursday 26 March

‘Service of Reinterment of the Remains of King Richard III’

The mortal remains of Richard III will be reinterred in Leicester Cathedral, with an invited congregation and in the presence of the Most Rt Revd Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury and senior clergy from both dioceses, and other Christian denominations alongside representatives of the World Faiths.

Friday 27 March

‘Service of Reveal of the Tomb and Celebration for King Richard III’

Invited people from across the city of Leicester and the county of Leicestershire will gather in the Cathedral to mark the end of King Richard’s journey and the sealed tomb will be revealed to the public.

Saturday 28 March

Leicester Cathedral will be open to the public as normal to view the sealed tomb of King Richard III.

Ave, Ivyeinrust, and a few local folks not on this list-serv! Just a few reminders:

If you’re interested in attending the Bardic Blast & Winter Feast in Wilmington on Saturday, 3/7, and need a ride, please let me know. There are car spaces available, but please make sure to send in your preregistration ASAP before it sells out. http://caer-adamant.eastkingdom.org/winter-bardic-blast/ Please let me know if you have any questions, need to borrow Renaissance clothing or a place setting, or would like a ride.

Also, make sure to mark one or both of the following April events on your calendar:

Coronation of Omega V & Etheldreda IV

in Wallingford on Saturday, April 11

Lots of Royal Court and interesting ceremony. Merchants. Yummy medieval lunch!

http://www.eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=2830

Noisemakers X

in Springfield on Saturday, April 18

Classes on Renaissance music and medieval heraldry. Poetry contest. Children’s Activities. Delicious Renaissance lunch!

http://www.eastkingdom.org/EventDetails.php?eid=2753

See you soon! Thanks!!

– Philly

Please forgive this very belated notice — I just found out myself! Tonight at the Rotunda on UPenn’s campus, a *free* concert:
“Trefoil offers selections from the spectacular trecento style of 14th-century Italy. Music as described in Boccaccio’s Decameron: Madrigals, ballate, canons, and estampie by Landini, Cicconia, and Jacopo di Bologna”

http://www.bowerbird.org/newsite/events/150220/

-Sabine

Hail, Bhakail! Ave, Ivy! Bonjorn, Icorn! Greetings, old friends and new!

Final reminder that I’m shortly picking up our tickets for Drexel University’s 25th annual Madrigal Dinner at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, 2/27/14.

There’s a yummy Elizabethanish dinner and then an hour or so of madrigals and chansons performed by Drexel’s Chamber Singers, all dressed in late period. The tickets are $19.95 each since we’re getting the group discount.

Most of us will be wearing garb to the Madrigal Dinner/Concert, and we’ll be reserving a long table so we can sit together.

If you’ll be attending, please let me know so we can hold a seat for you.

There is no free parking at Drexel (32nd & Chestnut), but there are some pay parking lots and meter street parking nearby, and it’s very easy to get to via SEPTA.

Let me know if you need me to pick up your ticket(s)! Thanks!

– Philly

Greetings all,

Once again, Bhakail has shown itself to be full of creative, talented, slightly foolish (I’m looking at you Ian), and generous folks. Baroness Sabine de Kerbriant, Lady Margretha la Fauvelle (honorary Bhakaili) and Lord Ian Douglas all supplied entertainment throughout the day, as judges and royals went about the business of selecting new bardic champions. Ian courageously put his neck on the line for the entertainment of our Queen. He managed to make it out with his head still attached, no Bhakailies were banished and the crowds were mightily entertained, so I count that as a successful performance. Ian also made an fine retainer on a day when I was particularly difficult to retain for.

Sabine and Margarita were, as always, a joy to both see and hear. They graciously stayed after the event to hold a demo/concert for some of the folks who regularly use the senior center. I was able to overhear some of the comments after the concert, and it was well received. One of the folks even stole a poster from the show!

As some of you know, Mistress Alys Mackyntoich received her Laurel at this event, and to her we say congratulations. And I would like to let folks know about her processional. Lord Martyn de Halliwell wrote her an original composition, Sabine played it, and many other Bhakailies wearing masks made just for the occasion were part of the processional. All of this assisted in creating a ceremony that was lovely and transformative.Thank you to all those who participated.

But on to Bardic. Although no Bhakailies entered this year, some friends of Bhakail did. Congratulations to Mistress Judith FitzHenry and Lady Katrusha Skomorakh made it to the finals with three rounds of fantastic performances. They did not make the judge’s jobs any easier. In the end Lady Ysemay Sterling is replacing our own Martyn as King’s bard and Master William the Alchemist is now the Queen’s bard. Lady Astrid Failen created a beautiful scroll for Ysemay.

Martyn was also inducted into the Order of the Maunche on Saturday with a lovely and comical scroll created by Lord Reijnier Verplanck.

I would also like to send a special thank you to Baroness Scheherazade who assisted me with some back trouble. You made the day more bearable.

One final note – I often hear, from folks who know about these things, that Bhakailies are always enthusiastic, energetic, and fun wherever they are, and whatever they are doing. These traits are noticed and appreciated by folks far and near, and most especially by me. I never tire of seeing all the good works you do.

Yours in Service
Baroness Ysmay

Hail, Bhakail! Ave, Ivy! Bonjorn, Icorn!

On Saturday 1/10 at 1 p.m., a few of us will be meeting at Jack B. Fabrics at 748 South 4th Street (4th and Fitzwater – a few blocks south of South Street) in Philadelphia to purchase fabric for the medieval Russian garb workshop series starting on Monday, 1/12.

Whether you’re attending the garb workshop(s) or not, you are welcome to join us for this fabric-shopping field trip. There are several other fabric stores on 4th Street between Fitzwater and South Streets, so if we don’t find what we need at Jack B., then we’re sure to at one of the other nearby stores.

The # 57 bus stops across the street from this store, and there are several pay parking lots and garages within a few blocks (mostly closer to South Street or on 3rd Street), if you’re unable to find a meter parking spot.

See you this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Jack B. Fabrics! http://jackbfabrics.com

– Philly

Hail, Bhakail! Ave, Ivy! Bonjorn, Icorn!

Drexel University is holding their 25th annual Madrigal Dinner at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, 2/27/14, and Saturday, 2/28/14.

There’s a yummy Elizabethanish dinner and then an hour or so of madrigals and chansons performed by Drexel’s Chamber Singers dressed in late period. The tickets are $21.95 each, or $19.95 each if we get together a group of ten.

A few of us will be attending the Friday, 2/27, madrigal dinner in garb. If you’re interested in joining us, please let me know so we can reserve a long table and all sit together (and all get the $2/person discount if there are ten of us attending).

There is no free parking at Drexel, but there are some pay parking lots and meter street parking nearby, and it’s very easy to get to via SEPTA.

Let me know if you’re interested in going in on the group discount, and I’ll pick up the tickets! Thanks!

– Philly