Taymouth Hours Hunting Outfit:
Purpose: To recreate this woman’s hunting outfit from
the Taymouth Hours. I wanted something
light, loose, and comfortable to wear in the outdoors during summer camping
events which would allow for ease of movement being as camping events tend to
be somewhat more active than indoor events.
Since this outfit is obviously being worn outside and it is being used
for hunting, which requires being able to move around a lot, especially in the
arms, I thought it would be the perfect choice.
I was also drawn to the colours and the fact that the woman in this
particular image from the manuscript is with a dog.
Source
for Inspriation:
Taymouth Hours: An English
manuscript created in England circa the second quarter of the 14th
century.
Fabrics: Most
cotes in the 14th century would be made from wool cloth and
unlined. Surcotes would be made from
wool as well but would be lined.
Wool
would therefore be my cloth of choice for this outfit. However, since I would personally be wearing
this clothing and I find wool to be somewhat uncomfortable due to skin
irritation and also because I would be wearing this outfit in somewhat hot
temperatures, I decided to choose linen.
It is a natural fabric that was used in the middle ages. I also believe the drape of linen would most
closely resemble the image.
Though
you cannot see the lining of the surcote in the image I have chosen to emulate,
another image from The Taymouth Hours of a similar outfit, perhaps even the
same woman in a different pose with her bow and arrow, does reveal what I
believe to be a fur lining:
Again,
I have chosen linen for comfort. As
well, lining a linen surcote with fur would be rather heavy and not drape well.
And
finally, I chose linen for the outfit because I really wanted to choose colours
that were very close to the ones in the image.
They’re so pretty!
Pattern Design: For both the underdress and overdress I chose to use pattern instructions for a cote and surcote found in the Medieval Tailor's Assistant by Sarah Thursfield. This book is a great resource for many of the 14th century designs I like.
Construction: I used to hand sew most of my garments and would have done so with this one but unfortunately neck and shoulder issues limit my hand sewing time, so I chose to machine sew the seams. If I were to hand sew, I would have used a fine running stitch. I was able to hand finish the garments by using white linen thread to flat fell the seams and to sew the hem. The stitching shows on the outside of the garments and lends a nice decorative look.
The Finished Product:
I love how this outfit turned out and I especially love the colours of linen I was able to find. It's been about 3 years now since I made it and I have found the pink dress to be an awesome camping dress with the lavender overdress a nice addition during cool evenings.
References and Sources:
1) The Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts,
British Library Website: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8148&CollID=58&NStart=13
2) Medieval Tailor’s Assistant by Sarah
Thursfield, copyright 2001.
3) Textiles and Clothing 1150-1450 by Elisabeth Crowfoot, Frances
Pritchard and Kay Staniland, copyright 1992, 2001.
4) Medieval Manuscripts Blog, The Taymouth Hours,
13 April, 2012, British Library website:
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/04/the-taymouth-hours.html
5) The Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts, British Library
Website: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8148&CollID=58&NStart=13
Taymouth Hours Illumination:
Purpose: To recreate the illumination from which my
previous Arts and Sciences project Taymouth
Hours Hunting Outfit was inspired and to learn more about its origins and
purpose beyond making a pretty outfit.
One of the main reasons I chose to make the outfit in this illumination
was the presence of a dog. In mundane
life I am an advocate for dog rescue and since I have begun to learn the art of
illumination, when I paint illuminations for scrolls that are to be given in
court, my signature “mark” is to paint a dog somewhere in the image even if the
original inspiration did not include a dog.
It seemed natural that I would attempt to recreate this illumination as
a scroll blank.
Source: Taymouth Hours: An English manuscript created in England
circa the second quarter of the 14th century.
Origin of The Taymouth
Hours:
The Taymouth Hours
is a book of hours created in England in the 14th century and though
its name may suggest the name of the original owner, it actually comes from the
name of the castle, Taymouth Castle, in Scotland where it was first
discovered. The earliest known owner
was Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham (b. 1797, d. 1878)
Books
of hours originate in the Middle Ages as prayer books that could be carried and
easily accessed for personal devotion as well as status symbols. A popular practice in the acquisition of
books of hours was that they be commissioned and given upon marriage. What has become obvious to me through my research
into books of hours in general is the predominance of female lineage in the
ownership of books of hours. The
evidence of owner portraits in books of hours suggest many were made
specifically for women, with many commissioned by husbands to their wives as
well as being commissioned BY women FOR women.
As
for the original owner of this book of hours, The Taymouth Hours is steeped in mystery. There have been various suggestions of who
the original patron and owner might be but there has been no concrete proof or
substantiation. In his book, Books of Hours, John Harthan suggests
the first owner of The Taymouth Hours was most likely Joan, daughter of Edward
II of England and consort of David II of Scotland. She also had a French mother which would
explain the use of French as the language of choice for many of the prayers in
this book. However, more recently,
in her book The Taymouth Hours: Stories and the Construction of the Self in
Late Medieval England, Kathryn A. Smith suggests the book was originally
commissioned by Philippa of Hainault and given to her soon to be sister-in-law
Eleanor of Woodstock. A wardrobe
account from 1331-1332 for the household of Philippa of Hainault records that
Philippa paid Richard of Oxford 40 shillings for the commission of two small
books…though there is no extant evidence as to where these books ended up,
Kathryn Smith believes it is likely that Philippa kept one book for herself and
gave the other to Eleanor when she became betrothed to Reinald II of Guelders. While I am not attempting to prove ownership
of The Taymouth Hours in this
project, I would like to point out the timing and scenario that would guide
Kathryn Smith to make her conclusion. In 1328, soon after her marriage to
Edward III, Philippa of Hainault became Eleanor’s guardian. . With her new status as Edward’s wife,
Phillipa would want to use her access to royal coffers and her new found authority
to attend to Eleanor’s maintenance properly. As such, Phillipa would use
the opportunity negotiate a politically advantageous match for Eleanor which would
certainly include presenting her in a well maintained religious and pious
light, and so, the patronage of a betrothal gift in the form of a book of hours
would be expected. This evidence is parallel to the timing of
the recognized production of The Taymouth
Hours in the second quarter of the 14th century.
Materials and Technique:
Ironically,
the research on the materials and techniques tied to this project turned out to
be much less important to me than everything else about it, but since this was
meant to be a project on illumination, I must explain my personal process of
the physical project itself.
Size
matters…when it comes to books you carry around with you! Most of the scrolls we produce in the SCA are
far larger than the dimensions of extant pieces. Books of hours, being prayer books, were
meant to be carried on the person for individual devotion. If you compare a book of hours to a bible or
an encyclopedia, can you imagine what a hassle it would be to lug a book of
that size around? The actual dimensions
of The Taymouth Hours are
approximately 6 3/8 inches x 4 ½ inches inches. For
the purposes of my project I have made the finished size of the piece 5 inches
x 7 inches so as to fit modern sized mattes and frames and I have also centred the
image for esthetic purposes, however, the painted area is as close to the size
of the extant piece as possible. With
all this in mind, I can personally attest to the fact that it is far more
difficult to paint the tiny details of authentically sized illuminations than
it is to paint on the larger sizes we tend to use in the SCA.
The
medium used for most books of hours would have been vellum or parchment, not
paper. Vellum is made from animal skins, specifically calfskin which can
be confused with parchment, being made from sheepskin. The
Taymouth Hours used parchment. Because
of the price, availability, and inexperience I have with parchment, my paper of
choice is 90 lb cold press watercolour paper.
It is a paper used extensively in the SCA for scrolls and it is the
paper I feel most comfortable using.
Egg
tempera was the paint generally used in the Middle Ages for painting
illuminations, with gouache being a good modern equivalent.Gouache is my
paint of choice. To reproduce the image
and margins I first penciled in the outline by tracing the major lines with use
of a light box (very useful tool!). I
then painted, using one or more layers of paint depending on the opaqueness of
the area. I left the outlining and
whitework until the very last.
It
seems the illuminator tended to outline most of the images with black ink. India ink or Chinese ink is a permanent and
opaque ink that originates from a durable pigment used in the Middle Ages called
carbon black. I used several sizes
of artist pens/markers using fine tips and brush tip all in India Ink for
outlining as well as a small amount of Indian Ink applied with a calligraphy
pen and nib to achieve the feathery look of the trees and grass.
Gold
leaf or gold powder was used in the Middle Ages for the gold effects on
illuminations. I have used gold
gouache paint for my illumination for financial considerations as well as my
own preference in using it.
I
have left the pencil lines visible in the area where the calligraphy would have
been done because they are obviously visible in the extant image. When we do illuminations and calligraphy in
the SCA we often want to make these lines disappear for esthetic reasons, but I
personally like these “imperfections” because it shows the viewer that a lot of
planning and outlining goes into making scrolls. It makes each scroll unique to the producer.
Symbolism:
The
series of marginal illuminations depicting hunting scenes found in The Taymouth Hours is entitled “The
Sport of Ladies”. At first
appearance the scenes portray hunting practices at the time, but when one looks
closer there is much more that can be interpreted.
High
social status was at that time associated with the sports portrayed here as
well as the animals connected to those sports. Dogs in the Middle Ages
were considered aristocratic beings, symbolizing not only speed and strength,
but devotion and especially loyalty. They would also signify fidelity with many medieval manuscripts
depicting women with small lap dogs. It is interesting to note that
Eleanor of Woodstock owned an embroidered surtunic of cloth of gold that
portrayed stags and hares, which certainly points to her elite station.
With
respect to the religious nature of a book of hours, portrayal of hunting as in The Taymouth Hours can be interpreted as
a spiritual quest or transformation. Other interpretations associated with the hunting scenes include that of
a the pursuit of knowledge, the chaste huntress resisting erotic desire, the
portrayal of the chase as in matters of the heart, the symbol of fertility
associated with hares, the representation of the pursuit of rank and power, and
the association of the stag with Christ and his death.
Comparing
the hunting scenes other similar manuscripts such as in the Queen Mary Psalter, the most notable
differences are the absence of men in The
Taymouth Hours hunting scenes as well as the absence of veils on some of
the women in The Taymouth Hours,
including the woman in my chosen illumination,. In the Middle Ages women’s hair was closely
connected to her sexuality with long loose hair reserved for virginal unmarried
women and covered hair for married. Prostitutes were known for wearing their hair loose but were required to wear
clothing denoting their unchasteness such as striped hoods. (30) The woman in
my chosen illumination does not have her hair covered, though it seems to me it
might be pinned up and she may possibly be wearing a hair net of some sort.
I
would like to think that the mixture of symbolism in the hunting scenes of The Taymouth Hours such as the one in my
chosen illumination signified the ability of women to pursue knowledge,
spiritual revelation and social distinction independently . Perhaps as guardian of Eleanor of Woodstock,
Philippa of Hainault wanted to instill within Eleanor some sense of
independence and self-worth, paying homage to her personal self while still
demonstrating all that her marital social standing required of her.
Conclusion:
Working on this
project became much more than recreating a painting of a lady in her pretty
outfit with her dog. It became an education
in the origins and purposes of books of hours as well as their production. It became an education about the female
history connected to books of hours and how they were very much tied to
matriarchal lineage. It became an
education in symbolism of medieval illuminations. What I learned from this project will not
only help me in my future painting projects but it will also help me in future
clothing pieces that I plan to make from medieval illuminations and will
certainly hold much more meaning than ever before. Since this project has been completed, I was inspired to attempt to learn calligraphy, but alas, I just can't seem to get the hang of it and unfortunately aggravates my neck and shoulder issues whenever I try. So I will stick with illumination!
Here is finished product:
References and Sources:
1) Medieval Manuscripts Blog, The Taymouth Hours,
13 April, 2012, British Library website:
http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2012/04/the-taymouth-hours
2)The Taymouth Hours: Stories and the Construction of the Self in
Late Medieval England by Kathryn A. Smith,
copyright 2012, The British Library, London.
3) The Catalogue of
Illuminated Manuscripts, British Library
Website: http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8148&CollID=58&NStart=13
4) Books of Hours
by John Harthan, copyright 1977, Thames and Hudson, London.
5) Women and Gender in
Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia
by Margaret Schaus, copyright 2006, Taylor & Francis, New York. Page 91 (Accessed by Internet on August 4th,
2016: https://books.google.ca/books?id=aDhOv6hgN2IC&pg=PA91&lpg=PA91&dq=books+of+hours+as+a+female+ancestors&source=bl&ots=u4trHPuirl&sig=EwPzTfVnfsCvRN7LNSK6pqaQCUg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjqs-_Gq6jOAhWBciYKHRinAgsQ6AEIJjAB#v=onepage&q=books%20of%20hours%20as%20a%20female%20ancestors&f=false)
6) The Taymouth Hours: Stories and the Construction of the Self in
Late Medieval England by Kathryn A. Smith,
copyright 2012, The British Library, London. Page 13
7) The
Bible of Illuminated Letters by Margaret Morgan, copyright 2006, Modern Age
Repro House, Hong Kong.
8) Windsor & Newton
website: Spotlight on Indian Ink,
http://www.winsornewton.com/uk/discover/articles-and-inspiration/spotlight-on-indian-ink,
November 10, 2013
9) Pet Keeping: Rosalie’s Medieval Woman, Rosalie
Gilbert, http://rosaliegilbert.com/petkeeping.html
10) Man’s Best Friend? Dogs in Medieval Art
by Elizabeth Morrison, July 12, 2007 on the website: Looking at Animals: A Getty Exhibition Blog, http://www.getty.edu/oudry/default/2007/07/12/mans_best_friend_dogs_in_medieval_art.html
11) Medieval Life: Archaeology and the Life Course
by Roberta Gilchrist, copyright 2012, Boydell Press, Woodbridge, page 84,
accessed on the Internet: https://books.google.ca/books?id=T3EwHTrRZEsC&pg=PA84&lpg=PA84&dq=sexuality+hair+women+medieval&source=bl&ots=tiaeiE1mUq&sig=28CMPzplJuZrr_1Pmi9J0nnWQdc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjcvpe7w-7OAhUKox4KHey8DqoQ6AEIKTAC#v=onepage&q=sexuality%20hair%20women%20medieval&f=false
