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Emeles (almond cakes)
I have mentioned 'Emeles' in the comments of the recipe for Torta in Balconata. Emeles, or almond cakes are a great way to use the left-over ground almonds from making almond milk. My first try making...
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The culinary recipes of medieval England
Last week, my new cookbook, 'The culinary recipes of medieval England', arrived by post. The book, published in December 2013, is written by the late Constance B. Hieatt (died 2011), well-known for her...
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Progress on the Thomasteppich: August 2013 - May 2014
 Anne and Katinka at work on the Thomasteppich in April 2014.Like the previous progress report on the Thomasteppich embroidery project, I have made a photo for most of the days during August 2013 till...
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Byzantine Chess
Byzantine chess or Zatrikion is a chess variant that was popular in medieval times in the Byzantine Empire. It is played on a round chess board, where the game pieces face each other on both sides. The...
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A medieval carpenters inventory from Deventer
Sometimes you find something in a book that you have overlooked, or because it is placed in a chapter that did not directly arouse your interest (due to lack of images). Such was also the case with me...
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Courier chess
Courier chess is another 'unusual' medieval board game, that has a long history of play. The game is an enlarged chess variant played on the long sides of a 12 by 8 chequered board. Accordingly, each...
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Problems and the sella curulis
 The sella curulis as is should look like when it is finished. The apple trees in the background are old races: a lemon apple and a notaris apple.We have had some computer problems lately, which ended...
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A change of colour
While working on the Thomas Tapestry replica, Anne and Katinka discovered that it was a bit odd that the clothing of the kings (and Christ) was of a very plain colour. You can imagine that Christ had a...
View ArticleProgress on the Thomasteppich: May-July 2014
Like the previous progress report on the Thomasteppich embroidery project, I have made a photo for most of the days from May till July 2014 when Anne did something with her part of the Thomasteppich,...
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Early medieval and Egyptian woodworking tools
Last week we went to the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden, the Netherlands to visit the exhibition on the 'Golden Middle Ages', also known as the early medieval period, Anglo-Saxon...
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The leather seat of the sella curulis
Although adding a leather seat to the sella curulis seemed an easy task at first, it was rather more complicated. Not in the first place because I made several mistakes which had to be redone before...
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The sella curulis: the final touch
The finished sella curulis when folded.With all the separate pieces of the sella curulis finished, there was one thing left to do: join all the parts and make the chair out of it! First, all the wooden...
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Alphonso's base 7 tablas game
 A game of seven-point tables, using three seven-sided dice and seventeen pieces on each side. King Alfonso X the Wise is named as one of the players here. folio 85 verso.The Libro de los Juegos of...
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Ceci con ove
This is a favourite dish of us, consisting of chickpeas and soft cheese. It is tasty, suitable for vegetarians and easy to make. As a consequence this dish is made most of the times we are re-enacting....
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The claw feet of the sella curulis
The carving of the claw-feet for the sella curulis proved to be more easy and much quicker than the carving of the eagle heads. All in all, it took me a week's time - during the Christmas holidays - to...
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Triangular stool in Miroque magazine
The triangular stool, which I have made in 2011 features in a 'do-it-yourself' article in the latest issue of the German re-enactors magazine Miroque. The complete issue 11 of this magazine features...
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Medieval mussels
It all began when we found a book on excavations in Arnemuiden, the town Anne was born. Among the finds at the harbours edge was a curious red earthenware pot, dating from the late middle ages. A...
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The effect of the sun
When we ordered the purple wool for the Thomasteppich, we decided to do a little experiment to see what the effect of the sun was on the purple colour. We hung some threads of wool outside for about...
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The medieval toolchest: the plane (part 2)
Long promised, and finally here: this post continues from the previous one on medieval planes, and will focus on the French, German and other planes of Northern Europe, as well as providing as much...
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The medieval toolchest: the plane part 3
This post continues from the previous post on medieval planes from Northern Europe. The previous post discussed the planes with a toat, this post will concentrate on planes without a toat and...
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