tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478664906099707316.post8244840626757193907..comments2023-08-16T02:59:07.053-07:00Comments on Writer's Daily Grind: Those pesky little rivet countersAnne Gilberthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03045500116098233731noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478664906099707316.post-88234462198245675192010-08-14T23:35:08.036-07:002010-08-14T23:35:08.036-07:00Hello tr, thanx a lot for this article -- This was...Hello tr, thanx a lot for this article -- This was what I was looking forAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478664906099707316.post-74727570681703714662010-03-27T19:59:00.942-07:002010-03-27T19:59:00.942-07:00Barnabee:
I don't know what period you reenac...Barnabee:<br /><br />I don't know what period you reenact, or what group you may be in. But this is one of the reasons I avoid reenactors of all kinds and, for that matter "accuracy purists". The problem here is, while I think all of us recognize that, say, the 18th cdntury was "different" in some ways from the 21st, and you have to take this into consideration, some reenactors and "accuracy purists" act as if there was only <b><i>one</i></b> "mindset" or one way of doing things, across whole societies! This is just not the case. While in the "earlier Middle Ages", which is what I know most about, having painfully learned, had few written sources of information, and the written sources of information were largely about "important people", there are, even there, sometimes some glimpses into the lives of people lower on the food chain, and hints that thewir ways of thinking about things wasn't "the same". There certainly seems to have been varying attitudes toward women and marriage, for instance, though nobody thought of marriage in the way we do today. But "accuracy purists" tend not to even think about this. And I won't even go into the kind of people who absolutely insist on using "old" place names, or "old" spellings of names, which may well be confusing to modern readers. Accuracy in facts, yes. The rest of it? I wonder how much we can actually "know"?Anne Gilberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03045500116098233731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478664906099707316.post-11882315368198839882010-03-27T08:58:40.430-07:002010-03-27T08:58:40.430-07:00As a "Living-History" re-enactor, I see ...As a "Living-History" re-enactor, I see this type of person quite often. Different folks have differing views of historical accuracy. If I am doing a children's educational event, then I feel that "looking the part" and giving accurate information is my desire. Now if I am competing for historically accurate garb, then yes, it should all be hand-sewn and accurate. (even then some complain that I am too clean!) Hey, I just had my yearly bath! It is the "Stitch-Nazis" as we call them that get annoying. They expect that a re-enactor not wear underwear or use tampons because they have not been invented yet!! My group typically feels that if it does not show, it does not count. We also make certain allowances for health and hygiene. (don't forget the sunscreen) hahaha<br /><br />Barnabee Wilde<br />Merchant of Opportunity<br />Overland CrewAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478664906099707316.post-53493766417939352382009-02-17T18:51:00.000-08:002009-02-17T18:51:00.000-08:00Nan, I'm working in the "earlier Middle Ages", but...Nan, I'm working in the "earlier Middle Ages", but you're right about Chaucer. It's not so much in his "ribald tales" that his attitude that women then were perfectly competent people, but in things like the Wife of Bath's Tale and the one about Patient Griselda. In that one, he told the story about this woman who was put through all kinds of "tests" by her husband to show how faithful and obedient she would be, and he apparently told it "straight". But at the very end, he tacked on this little bit that suggests that women don't need to put up with that kind of stuff. In the earlier Middle Ages, a lot depended on the priest or monk. Some were very anti-women, but some seemed to think that married couples should do whatever they could to make each other happy, so even then, there were differences of opinion about these things. As for the "mindset" people, I guess a lot depends on what they're reading or writing about, or who they're reading or writing about, but I still am of the opinion that people then were as varied in their "mindsets" as they are now.<BR/>Anne GAnne Gilberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03045500116098233731noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7478664906099707316.post-11979574103005444482009-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:002009-02-17T13:19:00.000-08:00Excellent points. May I add about the exceptions ...Excellent points. May I add about the exceptions to "mindsets" that while we can remember or ask our mothers about women's life before the early 1970s, all we have of the middle ages is the word of priests and monks. This is not a group of people too favorably disposed to women's independence. What surprises me about the folks Anne is talking about is that they seem to believe what the clerical chroniclers and commentators say then utterly forget what Chaucer and Boccaccio suggest in their ribald tales. The truth is in between, I suspect, and more than that, the truth is individual.<BR/><BR/>NanKit mosshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03991738631295745319noreply@blogger.com