Looking for inspiration for a medieval holiday feast?
Check out this video, filmed at Haddon Hall in England.
Without the use of modern conveniences, a group of historians and archaeologists prepare a Tudor feast as it would have been over 400 years ago. They wear clothes from the period, source food from the land, and use recipes from the era. They turn the clock back to rediscover a way of life from an age gone by.
It is a wonderful look at period cooking practices and feasts – enjoy!
This show is just one of the many excellent series presented by Ruth Goodman, a British historian.
The first was “Tales of the Green Valley”, where she and several other historians and archaeologists worked a 1620-period farm, wearing the clothes and using perid technology to farm and raise the animals, with guidance from a copy of Gervase Markham. This series has 12 half-hour episodes, one per month.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRj1YYnsBGk
The team followed this up with several 19th century and mid- 20th century series (“Victorian Farm”, “Edwardian Farm”, “Wartime Farm” and “Victorian Pharmacy”).
The next SCA-period series is “Tudor Monastery Farm”, where the team (Ruth, Peter Ginn and Tom Pinfold, plus occasional guest experts) worked a farm at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum from spring to fall. This series has six hour-long episodes, one per month, more or less, plus a Christmas Feast hour-long special.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1ERDYjsHBg&list=PLrYzzr8yja6FUg-3jbfHILhh6JFtnj7uq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ljuqT0p1lY
You can check out the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum here:
http://www.wealddown.co.uk/
The current series is “Secrets of the Castle”, the last episode of which airs this week. This time, the team works at the Guedelon castle project, which is a French 25-year project (begun in 1997) to build a 13th century castle using period technology. This series has five hour-long episodes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5IMeODLND8
This week’s episode should be posted to YouTube by Thursday.
Check out the Guedelon project here:
http://www.guedelon.fr/en/
Go, watch, enjoy (even the post-period ones).
-Aidan ni Leir