Pearsons Renaissance Shoppe Blog

What kind of battle is this?

As soon as Balthus told us to get ready to catch, we heard the sound of metal striking metal. He had found an axe on the ground, where one of the skeletons recently stood, and used it to strike at the chain that was holding Josephus in the air. We looked up just in time as Josephus fell toward us. We reached up and did our best to catch him, but we all collapsed under his weight. We helped him to his feet, though he was very fatigued. His weapons and armor were nowhere to be seen, so we decided it would be best to leave the cavern before the vampire returned.  We cautiously made our way down the dark corridor.

“Trevor,” I started, “Did you say that you would not count on our ruse not working?”

“Aye,” Trevor responded.

“I beseech thee to be more clear,” Grantiere said through gritted teeth.

“What exactly are we preparing for?” Trevor asked.

“An assault from an army of undead abominations,” Balthus responded.

“What if I told you that the army that will attack us consists of one vampire?” Trevor queried.

“It would still be a vampire, but I don’t understand,” Grantiere said.

“How many skeletons did you see in the chamber?” Trevor quipped.

“After you made the light come out of that Medieval Pendant, none,” I answered.

“Exactly,” Trevor started, “That was a purifying light that penetrated the entirety of the cavern.”

“You mean that the whole army is gone?” Celebryn asked.

“It would have been better to cut off the head of the snake,” Trevor said, “But now at least we only have one foe.”

“Then we must prepare for a different kind of combat when return to the Keep,” Grantiere said.

Shiver me timbers!

Here at Pearson’s, we know that a lot of our customers and fans love to put on the appropriate Renaissance costume when they go to a Renaissance faire or Medieval event. We love how enthusiastic that patrons can be when they sport their costumes and don their personas at these types of festivals.

However, we also know that sometimes people prefer to take on the characteristics of certain types of characters that may be present at a faire. If you aren’t quite feeling like being a very proper noble or a hard at work craftsman, what are you to do?

What if you decided to go a little rogue and play a swashbuckler? That’s right, why not put on a pirate costume? These cunning scalawags were around back in the days of Kings and Queens. They may not have been the kind we’re used to seeing in movies today, but they certainly existed and they are certainly fun to play at a Renaissance faire.

If you are interested, make sure to visit our Pirate costumes page to see what kind of fun ensemble you can put together as you take to the pirate code.

Get ready for LARP season with renaissance costumes

The end of February is not too far off, which means that Live Action Role Playing (LARP) season will be here before you know it! Many groups like to hold their first events of the year during March. This means that it is time to dig out your Medieval costumes, oil up and polish your Medieval armor, and to start practicing with your boffer or latex weapons.

What is LARPing? LARPing is a type of roleplaying that takes you away from a gaming table and actually places you inside the role of your actual character. When you create a character, you actually come up with their personality, put on a Renaissance costume, and head out to a location, such as a campsite, to act out how your character would respond to the situations that are presented to you.

In most cases, there is a game staff that comes up with the story, villains, and other characters to help immerse you within the world of the game. Then you spend the entire length of the event acting out your character as you come across various scenarios. It is both a unique and entertaining experience.

If you are thinking about attending a LARP and are in need of a costume or armor, make sure to visit our site to see all of the fun options we have available.

A few weeks ago we wrote a post that included some Renaissance themed haiku. We received some positive comments about those haiku and decided that we would ask the scribes and poets within the kingdom to put quill to parchment so that we may proclaim them to you! Don’t forget that if you were considering playing a scribe, town crier, or artisan at a Renaissance faire, that we do have a Renaissance cotton poet shirt to help you look the part.

Just as a quick reminder, a haiku is a three lined poem. The first and third line may only contain five syllables, while the second line must contain seven.

Without further ado, here are a few Renaissance themed haiku! (Did you catch the rhyme?)

Hark! ...Renaissance Haiku for all!

“Young Queen of Fashion”

Ruling easily

the essence of power is

repugnant to all.

“Should They Attack?”

This morning he saw

that one of the ships was sunk.

It be made certain.

“Complete Revolution”

She invaded North

and First Lieutenant Litchfield

was made a Captain.

“Profoundly Trustful of His Convictions”

The returning guards

suppressed a note of warning

sent by King Henry.

We hope you enjoy! Write your own in the comments section!

Sometimes one must improvise...

After a few minutes of being trapped in our precarious situation, the skeletons that were ordered  to bind us fell into some sort of a trance. They became eerily still and the small red glow in their eyes subsided. We pondered amongst ourselves as to what we could do to escape our current predicament. The only one who continued to move was the mage, who wandered off down one of the side corridors.

That is when we heard footsteps coming down the path that we had used to gain entry into the cavern. We feared that the vampire had already returned, when we noticed that it was Trevor. He was moving slowly as to not alert the skeletal guards, though we weren’t sure if they would have heard him anyway.

“Did he take the Medieval pendant?” Trevor whispered.

“No, I have it in my hand,” Grantiere replied.

“Give it to me, we haven’t much time,” Trevor said.

He reached forward and clasped the pendant to his left shoulder and started reciting what sounded like a prayer. The jewel on the pendant began to radiate a bright light, that soon encompassed the entirety of the cavern. When the light subsided, all of the skeletons in the chamber were gone; piles of ash on the ground were all that remained.

“I had hoped to use that on Rulatha,” Trevor started, “But sometimes one must improvise.”

“How did you know to come for us?” Baltus asked.

“I saw the vampire speed down the path,” Trevor answered, “We may not have long, we must leave at once.”

“What about Josephus?” I questioned, pointing up to where our comrade was currently being held.

“We have to get him down quickly,” Trevor responded.

“And we must get back to warn the kingdom that our ruse didn’t work,” Grantiere added.

“I wouldn’t count on that just yet,” Trevor said.

“Everyone get ready to catch Josephus,” Balthus commanded.

“What do you mean, catch?” Grantiere asked with a hint of nervousness in his voice.

"What? Me hungry!" said the barbarian

As you may know, in the past we have had some of our readers submit their funny LARP stories to us so that we can share them with everyone. For newer readers, LARP stands for Live Action Role Playing, and it is a game where you actually become your character and roleplay him or her out in a physical setting. Depending on the organization you are with, there can be combat with safe-for-combat weapons, while other games use other methods. It is a great place to utilize Medieval and Renaissance costuming.

This particular story starts in the town’s Medieval Tavern. Most of the players had gathered for the Saturday afternoon feast and were enjoying merriment and games. Since everyone was going to be in one location, the game directors had organized a valuable piece of information to be released to the players by way of a good old fashion tavern fight.

While everyone was enjoying their meals, the two people who were “staging” the fight were throwing taunts toward each other, gearing up for this elaborately planned affair. The tension was running high as the players were waiting to see what exactly would happen in the following altercation.

Just as one of the participants got up to draw their sword, something unexpected occurred: A player, taking the role of a barbarian, did not wish to have his meal interrupted by petty barroom antics. Before the person initiating the fight could even draw their weapon, this barbarian picked up his club and used a skill that knocks someone out for ten minutes, thus adverting the fight.

Once complete, the barbarian sat back down, looked up, and realized that everyone was looking at him. He simply shrugged his shoulders, that were covered by his Medieval Barbarian wrap, and said, “What? Me hungry!”

Please feel free to share your own funny LARP stories in the comments section!

A simple recipe of baked pears:

Again, pears cooked without coals or water: to instruct the person who will be cooking them, he should get a good new earthenware pot, then get the number of pears he will be wanting to cook and put them into that pot; when they are in it, stop it up with clean little sticks of wood in such a way that when the pot is upside down on the hot coals it does not touch them at all; then turn it upside down on the hot coals and keep it covered over with coals and leave it to cook for an hour or more. Then uncover them and check whether they have cooked enough, and leave them there until they are cooked enough. When they are cooked, put them out into fine silver dishes; then they are borne to the sick person.

– Scully, Terence, ed. and trans. Chiquart’s “On Cookery” – A Fifteenth-century Savoyard Culinary Treatise. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 1986.

Ingredients:

3 pears
sugar cinnamon mixture

Instructions:

1.) Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
2.) Cut pears in half and core. Place in an oven dish and bake for 35 minutes. Pears should be slightly browned when done. Mix sugar and cinnamon together adjusting amounts of each to suit your taste (I used 2tsp sugar and 1tsp cinnamon)
3.) Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon mixture to taste and serve

If you are planning on a Renaissance themed dinner, then these Baked Pears can be an excellent desert compliment to the meal. For added ambiance, consider serving the dish as an authentically as possible while wearing this Tavern Keep Clothing.

Enjoy!

Pearson's Renaissance Shoppe is your source for Renaissance and Medieval info!

Have you ever considered exploring your interest in the Renaissance or Medieval era? Have you ever wanted to don some Medieval armor and participate in a Live Action Role Play or Society for Creative Anachronism event? Are you looking for specific types of costumes for a theatrical production? If you’ve answered “Yes” to any of these questions, then we can definitely help you.

We also wanted to take the time to let you know that we have a number of resource articles that can help provide you with more information about the various types of costumes you can find on our site. There are also some tidbits of advice that you can use in order to better your experience when it comes to your Medieval costume. Whether you want to be a wizard, or you want to wear a lady buccaneer costume, you can find information that can be helpful to you.

We are always here to help, but we wanted to let you know about this Renaissance Resources page so that you can browse through all of the information that we’ve assembled to see if you can find additional answers.

We hope you find the exact costume that you are looking for!

If I were to venture down the path to this cavern...

After the Vampire demanded the whereabouts of the Baron’s daughter, Grantiere bravely stepped forward.

“Given her elderly state,” he began, “Her rate of travel has been slowed.”

“She is on the road and should be here within the hour,” Celebryn added.

The Vampire pondered the response as he slowly paced before us. He cast a glance toward the Skeletal Mage, then back toward us. He squinted at us in what seemed to be disapproval.

“The Baron wanted us to offer you this pendant in exchange for your mercy,” said Grantiere as he held out the trinket.

“If I were to venture down the path to this cavern,” the Vampire started, “I would eventually encounter the Baron’s daughter.”

“That is correct,” responded Grantiere.

“Well then,” said Rulatha, “If that is accurate, then I suppose you wouldn’t mind waiting here until I can confirm your claim.”

He nodded toward his mage. The skeleton raised its arms as the ground beneath us start to rumble. Skeletal arms emerged from the ground as a battalion of the undead warriors surrounded us and proceeded to bind us together. As their lifeless forms were following the commands of their leader, I noticed that the chain they were tying around our Medieval belts was extremely rusty.

Before I could completely process this thought, the chain was pulled tight and we were completely restricted. The Vampire stood with his back to us.

“If you have deceived me, my entire host shall be unleashed upon your kingdom,” said Rulatha as he disappeared into the shadows.

Imagine if it was 1582!

As with many of the holidays, a lot of our fans are curious as to how people treated these specific days during the Medieval and Renaissance time periods. Since the most relevant holiday is the start of the New Year, we thought we would give a brief history and overview of what things were like during the era we all know and love.

As with most of our traditions, the origin of the celebration of the first of the year came with the Romans. The Roman calender initially only included ten months, with the start of the year coming on March 1^st. This date was chosen due to its proximity to the vernal equinox.

In the year 700 B.C., the Roman King Numa Pontilius included January and February to the calendar. Eventually, in 153 B.C. January 1^st became the new start of the year. This change was made because it was regarded as the start of the civil terms of elected officials within the Roman political system. Each January 1^st would mark the election of the two new Consuls, which were the high public official the Roman Republic.

During the Middle Ages, many religious organizations abolished the 1^st of January as start of the year as it was considered to be pagan. Many religious officials that would wear Medieval Priest Robes called for Christian communities to observe the first of the year to be either the birth of Jesus, December 25^th, or the Feast of the Annunciation on March 25^th. The official repeal of January 1^st was in 567 due to the Council of Tours.

Finally, in 1582, the calendar year was reformed via the Gregorian calendar. This called for the first of the year to once again coincide with the beginning of January. This became the popular and widely accepted custom throughout the Catholic world. This change was more of a gradual process for Protestant communities, with a prime example being the British Empire. Up until the year 1752, England and all of their colonies, which included America, still recognized March as being the start of the New Year.

That is a brief overview of the history of the holiday. We hope this help answered some of the questions you may have had. We also hope that for this year, you are able to achieve your New Year’s Resolution.