Laureling outfit

Processing into court for the ceremony. Photo by Joel the Brewer.

At West Kingdom October Crown, on October 3, 2015 directly after my apprenticing to Master Leo Diogenese as a lady-at-arts, while the ink was still wet on our chirograph contract, Their Majesties of the West, Miles Fitzraulf and Ariela Bar Leila invited me to join the order of the Laurel. By the gracious permission of Their Majesties and Their Royal Highnesses I had my Laurel ceremony at West Kingdom Golden Beltane at Their Majesties Mark and Patricia’s stepping down, April 30, 2016.

My Vigil and Ceremony were exactly what I wanted. Simple and elegant. My banner, which was made by Duchess Mina Wynter, was carried into court by my very good friend, Lord Coenwulf Draugrson. I was escorted into court by my husband, Sir Fearghus MacAirt and my Laurel, Master Leo Diogenese. Her Grace Sir Mari Alexander agreed to stand as my speaker. Master Leo passed the Laurel medallion on to me which he had received from his Laurel, Mistress Danaë FitzRoberts.

I finished the last stitch on the last accessory on the evening of Thursday April 28th. I did not stitch a single thing in the car ride to the site nor did I do any stitching before, during or after my vigil. I view this as a HUGE win. Coincidentally, staying up until midnight for the last month working on my outfit and accessories made it very easy to stay up late for my Vigil.

Rings purchased from Ebay seller zumi1974

Findings purchased from Joanne’s used on my frontlet.

Processing into court for the ceremony. Photo by Esmerelda of the Lakes

Just after the ceremony. Photo by Joel the Brewer.

Being presented at Invocation of the Beltan Memorial Tourney as Mistress Sylvie. Photo by Joel the Brewer.

For this I made an outfit modeled after Anne of Brittney and her attendants from around 1505.

For dressing my hair:
– For the most part I followed the instructions here and used hair taping on my hair. I need to practice this a lot more.
– Over that I wore a pair of ear irons from the merchant Woodsholme on Etsy, Louise Pass
– Over that I wore a tudor coif of blood red silk taffeta lined in light weight white linen, edged with gold trim and tied with red grosgrain ribbon. The coif has a detached button hole loop at each corner to hold it onto the ear irons.
– Over that I wore a round bonnet of black velveteen lined in black linen based on the pattern and technique described in “The Queen’s Servants”. The round bonnet is pinned to the red silk coif.
– Over that I wore a frontlet of black velveteen lined in tawney silk taffeta beaded with findings from Joanne’s based on the pattern in “The Queen’s Servants”. The frontlet is stitched onto the round bonnet and then the whole mess is pinned onto the red silk coif.

The outfit consists of:
– A brown velveteen gown lined in black velveteen, Brown gown.
– Worn over a partlet which is black velvet lined in black linen.
– Worn over a “grey/green” gabardine wool lined in “natural” linen, sleeve-less, waisted kirtle, my Hannah “Brown” kirtle with tied on maroon wool sleeves.
– Worn over a white linen partlet (v3).
– Worn over a light weight white linen basic long sleeved, knee length smock. I’ve had this for a while. The only thing I did to this for my ceremony was add a binding to the neck opening to get it to fit a bit better.

– Tied off with a simple sapphire blue silk taffeta belt.

Inspirational Pictures:

Detail from “Epistres Envoyées au Roi” Fictive exchange of letters between Anne de Bretagne and her husband Louis XII “St. Petersburg”; “National Library of Russia”; “Fr.F.V.XIV.8”

Triptych of Jean Des Trompes (detail), by Gerard David, 1505, Oil on wood, Groeninge Museum, Bruges

“Hèloise Instructs her Pupil”, fol. 137. Master of the Prayer Books of Around 1500. Charles d’Orlèans, “Poëms”; Pseudo-Hèloiuse “Art d’Amour”; Brughes, ca 1483 and ca 1490. Image from the book Illuminating the Renaissance: The Triumph of Flemish Manuscript Painting in Europe, by J. Paul Getty Trust (2003). Page #400; Info on page #398. Getty Publications. Los Angeles, CA, USA. Paperback edition. ISBN #0-8923-6704-0. From Kimiko Small

Horae ad usum Romanum , dites Grandes Heures d’Anne de Bretagne 1505-1510 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b52500984v/f14.image

Detail of a miniature of the Castle of Love, with the lover addressing three women. Origin: England, S. E. (London) and Netherlands, S (Bruges) Attribution: Master of the Prayer Books of circa 1500 Last decade of the 15th century

Briseis — Huntington Library Ms HM 60, f°11v “Les XXI Epistres des Dames illustres traduicttes d’Ovide par le Reverend Pere en Dieu Monseigneur l’Evesque de Angoulesme” — Translated by Octavien de Saint Gelais, written in France at the turn of the fifteenth century

Additional Inspiration: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1556482448003609.1073741835.1513185882333266&type=3
Dress: BnF 5091 http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8427230m/f13.item

Costs:
Brown gown ~$170
Hannah Brown kirtle ~$118

1 pair of American Duchess “Virginia” Renaissance Shoes (Brown) $77.35 ($70 + S&H) 1/31/2016

1 pair of Ear Irons from Louise Pass $40.50 ($35 + S&H) 1/17/2016

3 rings from Ebay seller zumi1974

blood red silk taffeta $20/yd http://www.puresilks.us/index.php?route=product/product&path=2&product_id=20
tawney $20/yd http://www.puresilks.us/index.php?route=product/product&path=2&product_id=1627
sapphire blue $21/yd http://www.puresilks.us/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=6210