This article does make an assumption that I would like to push back on. My area of passion are manuscripts of the British isles from before the Norman Conquest ("Insular" is the term for this style). I am also not a scholar - I am just a calligrapher.
We have no idea who wrote almost all the manuscripts from this period. We can tell roughly how many people worked on something by comparing stylistic differences, but we know almost nothing about those people. Often we don't even know where they were.
In this case we know a delightful amount about the provenance of the manuscript! The monastic gender roles being discussed are extremely over simplified though. Please make sure you do not assume that any other monastary in any other place or time functions like this. The diversity of monastic traditions is staggering and the time period we're talking about spans more than a millenium.
There is no support for the assumption that all calligraphy and manuscript decoration was done by men. In insular calligraphy I'm not even sure you can assume that that was the norm. It is a painfully common assumption, but it comes from the same kind of science and hisotry that identified the sex of archeological remains in northern Europe by whether or not they had a sword, and then claimed that only men have swords.
medieval parchment repairs
in a psalter, south-western germany, late 12th/early 13th c.
source: Hermetschwil, Benediktinerinnenkloster, Cod. membr. 37, fol. 19r, 53r, and 110r
A present I made for my dear friend @ave-puella. You may recognize it as a short Temeraire fic she posted a little while back. It’s done entirely by hand, and was my first time attempting borders and illumination. I’m still figuring out gold leaf, but it was super fun to work with (there’s also some gold work on the border of the third page). For those of you unfamiliar with the Temeraire universe, there are dragons, hence the second page border.
It was a heck of a lot of work, but was entirely worth it for her face and incredulous ‘what did you do?!’
Heh, I love this take on this, it’s far more hilarious than my game was. If anyone is interested in actually playing it, you can download a windows installer from https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7bqhY0xzEu3ckxadVA1d2ZleU0/view?usp=sharing. If you’re worried about downloading strange files from the internet, that’s very wise of you! The source code is here: https://github.com/isaach/sdabto. This will also let you run it on a mac or linux machine. Click the ‘download ZIP’ button and then run it with python 3 (which you may have to install) from the command line for some text-based good times! Well, not really good times, as @ave-puella mentioned.
If anyone actually wants to play this game and is having trouble getting it going hit me up and I’ll help you run it. I really love hearing people’s reactions to it.
> ‘command: walk out front door’ is not allowed. the future is terrifying. staying at your start point inside the house is your best bet.
> good job! lying on the couch and staring at the opposite wall for two hours has boosted your energy. you can now throw away the jar of peanut butter you had for dinner last night.
> the quest you are following no longer exists. a full day has passed and your priorities have changed. go to the menu to read your new quest.
> minus one mind point. your last save was two months ago. click ‘ok’ to repeat the ‘get a diagnosis’ quest while under the influence of an unmemory potion.
> oops! the villager doesn’t understand your explanation of ‘weird brain fog.’ now they treat you with suspicion. looks like you have to go to the next village for your errands from now on.
> you have collected five good days! check your menu for your new treasure, ‘memory of when i could function’. it might come in handy in the future!
> cube unlocked! you have accessed action: ‘cry’. all quests will be put on hold until ‘cry’ is complete.
> cube unlocked! you have accessed action: ‘spontaneous desolation’. all quests > cube unlocked! you have accessed action: ‘negativit > cube unlocked! you have > cube unlocked! you have accessed action: ‘only taylor swift songs make me feel anything’. all quests will be put on hold until > cube unlocked! you have accessed action: ‘scream’. all quests will be put on hold until ‘scream’ is complete.
> this is your new companion, GARGOYLE. he will accompany you on the quest ‘pass as functioning’. keep an eye out for his secondary weapon: whispering ugly truths only you can hear.
I’m almost entirely on board for this, but what about Christmas in Prison by John Prine? Knowing who you live with I don’t think that’s one you can escape (plus it’s an amazing song)
Fairytale of New York by the Pogues
that’s it. that’s the only one.
Yeah man it's a huge fucking waste! Rain falling on me and waterlogging all my pretty feathers when I'm just trying to live my little life. The worst and most wasteful part? The fucking seagulls don't even mind! Those smug fucking bullies flap about and get the good garbage while I'm huddling under this tree, the saddest crow that ever lived. At least the fucking owls, may all their flight feathers fall out, take it much worse than I do and are forced to reveal their hideous inner and outer selves to the world. Rain should fall on them but not me. Huge waste tbh.
You Are Not Wasting Time; It Was Given To You As A Gift, Freely and Generously; Is Rain Wasted Because It Falls On Gardens, Grass, Disgruntled Birds, and Umbrellas All The Same?
[Image text: Say This! Not That! Unreal/insane, unbelievable/crazy, jerk/psycho, awful/stupid, bad/dumb, moody/bipolar, ridiculous/retarded, eccentric/mental case, dismantled/crippled, unruly/mad house]. Image by Upworthy. Read more at autistichoya.com.
How parental support can make a world of difference for a trans* youth. Learn more. Retweet. Share on Facebook.
Book of Hours, Initial, Walters Manuscript W.202, fol. 37r by Walters Art Museum Illuminated Manuscripts http://flic.kr/p/DbvRSn
Calligraphy, complaining, potentially calligraphic complaining someday
41 posts