[Regia-NA] My response to Colors, Getelds, Etc.

[Lori Rael Northon]

I am responding to a couple of comments from a couple of emails.

Where is the documentation to support your inferences regarding what was
used or not used in the construction of Getelds as to material, color, how
that material was achieved, decorations, techniques used to achieve that
decoration, and who used the Geteld from the Anglo-Saxon society?  Citations
only, no arbitrary conclusions or leaps of faith or analogies to other
societies or references to respected older members.  Give me documentation I
can use.

I will admit that the conclusions I've arrived at based on the documentation
I have at hand -  'Anglo-Saxon Wills' and about 4 or 5 manuscript
illuminations portraying a variety of Getelds - may not be exact, but at
least I've tried my hardest to find supporting documentation for the Geteld
I've created.  I have yet to be told about any solid documentation regarding
Getelds (with the exception of the single entry for a "red Geteld" from Roll
that I found by searching the Regia UK archives) by any member of Regia - UK
or NA.

I have been told to paint my Geteld using red ochre and horse dung and urine
and a variety of other things, when the citations as quoted clearly tell us
about sails being water-proofed from a different time period or society.
Nothing about Anglo-Saxon Getelds.

I'm told to consider "use and means" when using documentation I run across,
okay, then that means that every single reference or citation for Getelds
that I've found was meant for or portrays only the highest of the clergy and
the highest of the royalty, because the manuscripts were not meant for or
used by either the lesser clergy nor the common people in the time period we
portray.  The !only! conclusion I can come to is that no one within our
group portraying an Anglo-Saxon, with the exception of the highest of
Royalty or the highest of the clergy would be allowed to use a Geteld or a
conical tent.  End of conversation.  I guess we all sleep under tree limbs,
blankets, furs, other people or out in the open.

I'm told blue was a difficult and horribly expensive color to obtain (?) and
that since the Anglo-Saxon people were living at subsistence levels (?) they
would not have access to or use the color blue (?).  I'm also told the only
way to obtain blue in the quantities I would need to achieve dark blue would
be to use indigo from India (?).  It is my understanding from countless
references too numerous to even mention, as well as many dye "experts"
across the board, that a very dark blue is achievable using woad.  It is my
understanding that woad was and continues to be a highly invasive weed that
was used by the "cottage" dyers in the time period we portray.  The chemical
component in woad is exactly the same as the component in indigo, just found
in smaller amounts in woad than indigo, and is indistinguishable under
chemical analysis.  So can anyone please give me a citation from the period
that tells me the common Anglo-Saxon people did not use woad and did not dye
any of their material blue?

I'm told also that the modern eye cannot distinguish the difference between
chemically achieved black dye and black achieved using period methods.  I'm
also told that period black will fade over the course of its lifetime when
exposed to sunlight and eventually turn brown.  I have no problem with the
fading issue, but modern chemically achieved blacks will do the exact same
thing.  I do have a serious problem with modern eyes not being able to
discern the difference.  If this is true for black, then it holds true for
all colors, and it holds true for all members within Regia as well.  We all
have modern 20th century eyes.

I could go on, but I won't.  I will say again, that I will not compromise my
beliefs regarding my own research or that of others I know to be factual.  I
will hold an absolutely open mind, however, and if anyone can provide me
citations and references to support a different conclusion about any of the
things I question, I will most certainly change my conclusions.  Until then,
I must again respectfully agree to disagree with the arbitrary and erroneous
( totally in my opinion) conclusions that some members of Regia have reached
apparently based on their own preconceived notions and not on factual
evidence.  All are free to disagree or agree with my viewpoints.

For now, we have far more important things to discuss like how to get our
members authorized for Skills then to continue quibbling amongst ourselves.

Lori