Kalamazoo

We are back from the Medieval Congress at Kalamazoo. It was fantastic! If you ever have an opportunity to go - go! No matter what you are interested in, there is someone else with the same interest. I had a chance to not only learn more about textiles, but to learn about many other things as well.

I attended a wonderful session about Viking winter camps in England, and a couple of sessions about early medieval castles. I learned about the symbolism of birds in illuminated manuscripts, and ceramic tiles as a form of social identity in the 15th century. One of my favorite sessions was about the similarities between some styles of illuminated manuscripts and modern graphic novels.

And then there were the textile sessions. I met Ingvild, from Norway. She presented a paper about 3 graves with significant textile finds, including the related tools. I am looking forward to corresponding with her over the coming months. Eva gave a paper about the marketing of silk in early modern Denmark. My paper on spindle whorls seemed to be well received. There were about 50 people in our session.

The second textile session was great fun. La Belle Companie, a reenactment group from near Washington D.C., explained the evolution of armor during the Hundred Years War, by dressing 4 knights in different armor styles. That filled the auditorium. That session was followed by the textile exhibition. It was packed with interested people. I spun wool and explained drop spinning and my experiment, non-stop for 2 hours. There was also knitting, weaving, costuming and quilting, as well as the knights in the hall.

The second day's textile sessions included papers about the re-use of Egyptian silk; the proportions of tunic artifacts; 14th century padded doublets; the wardrobes of 16th century ladies in waiting; and a 13th century Paris shopping list. Thomas, from Vienna gave an interesting presentation about silk as a metaphor; and Gail Own-Crocker talked about the symbolism of Guy's clothing in the Bayeux Tapestry.

The days went by so fast. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a little less rain and a little more warmth.