Looking for info on the grape vine for some of the SCA methods of fighting with these shields.

I only have one local chivalry that uses them regularly so I would like to see what others are doing to better improve my own methodology.

A lot of the hypothesised hema techniques floating around don’t translate well into SCA’s more chop and thrust style of fighting.

Hello.

I am in the very early stages of joining the SCA so I am looking at all sorts of possible personas and while looking into Greek and Roman, I had an idea for something different, Mycenaean. Obviously, for heavy combat there would be a lot of required changes for safety purposes so I was just wondering if anyone has come across someone with a Mycenaean persona before or if anyone has some tips or ideas for such a persona.

I've been looking around online at some options for glasses under helmets because I am not a fan of contacts. So far, I've seen many options for tight fitting glasses and goggles, but I want to hear experiences from other fighters.

Hi all, new to the SCA and working on padding my first helmet. At the suggestion of many reddit posts, I'm using Shocktec Air2Gel as a base layer and adding Oregon Aero ACH pads on top of that. Anyways, I am trying to find a good way to attach the Shocktec. I have found it to be very resistant to many adhesives. On test runs, I have found E6000 glue to adhere it well to duct tape, which I planned to then stick to the helmet. Well, when it came to actually gluing the foam into the helmet, the bond didn't hold at all (and as a side note, the duct tape doesn't seem to stick too well to the helmet either). Any advice people have on installing their shocktect would be greatly appreciated!

I am going to grand outlandish next weekend and I expect to be on my period during this time. What do fellow period havers do when such situations arise. I’ve never camped before so I am at a loss

So a few years ago (actually starting 13 years ago!) I published some books with collections of my translations of traditional Scandinavian ballads, so-called medieval ballads. At the time, I didn't include music notation in the books. Well I have just gone back and revisited this, and added music notation for traditional melodies for these ballads where it is available. So this could be interesting or useful for anyone wanting to sing these storytelling songs in translation.

So the latest versions of my three books (print and ebook) now include musical notation for the ballad melodies. And I've also published the musical notation separately in an ebook.

Note that traditional melodies are not always known for these ballads as the people who wrote down the texts did not always write down the melodies. So altogether the three books have thirty-five ballads, and there are melodies for twenty-nine of these. I've also included alternative melodies for some of the ballads, but note this is not intended to be a comprehensive survey of ballad melodies, just a useful addition for singers.

The ballad books are here: The Faraway North, Warrior Lore, Lord Peter and Little Kerstin. The ebook with melodies only is here: Scandinavian Ballad Melodies.

I have some people at work that found out about the hobby and they insist that any professional athlete would win a heavy armored combat fight over an average knight within the SCA.
I could reasonably see the athlete coming out on top if it was a different sport such as buhurt, but with the SCA rules for its combat, I dont anyone with 0 experience winning.

I am thinking about buying the Black Prince 5 finger gauntlets from HF armory for heavy fighting. I have done both rapier and C&T as well as HEMA over the years, in my area there is no HEMA and the SCA people hear are genuinely some of the best people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting.

They are kind welcoming and supportive, they really really care about Safety which is awesome! However it does sometimes feel like safety is being safe for the sake of safety not looking at a product to see if it will work or not.

The Black Prince gauntlets have some of the best reviews of any HEMA gauntlets I’ve heard of or seen. I have tried on my friends who lives in a different town who does use them for HEMA, these gloves are rated for HEMA long sword so they seem very very durable. However they are made of a polymer and I was told that plastic gauntlets will not work for heavy?

So if anyone has any information on using plastic/polymer gauntlets or better yet using these specific products I would be very interested in hearing from you about your experience thanks again

Greetings good gentles!

I have a cloak/hood combo that I purchased years ago at an event, but I haven't had occasion to wash it because I don't wear it often. However, I am attending a non-SCA fantasy event next week, and would like to take it with me. It's been in storage for quite a while, and it's currently in the washing machine on cold. My question is the title of this post lol, as I'm not certain what the hood part is actually made from. It looks and feels like wool, but it isn't scratchy or irritating like wool, which leads me to believe it's either a blend, or synthetic look alike. Help a lady out?

I have never made one of these, but the friend I'm going to the fantasy event with wants one. I have plenty of sewing experience, but not the knowledge on how this is constructed. I don't necessarily need an actual pattern, but a drawing or diagram would be helpful. Thank you in advance!

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]

https://www.culina-vetus.de/2026/05/11/sweet-sour-chard-salad/

I got home a little earlier than expected, so here is another brief recipe from the Solothurn MS:

https://preview.redd.it/n3kcyjap4k0h1.jpg?width=404&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd7aff444d7ec1b96b411b0fc8686bccd1218ad8

A4 Cold chard as a dish

Take chard that is young, with the root attached. Boil it in a courtly fashion (brüwe es hofelich) in a cauldron or a pan, then pour it out on a sieve and let the water drain off. Take it and cut it up on a serving tray. Salt it lightly, pour on vinegar that is mixed with fresh wine, and sprinkle it with sugar. This is a lordly dish for the evening meal, the colder, the better et caetera.

This is one of the relatively rare vegetable recipes surviving, and I find it a little hard to envision, but it is interesting: Cooked chard seasoned with vinegar and sugar and served cold. The closest analogy I can think of is a salad, though it is not called that. The recipe includes both the root and the leaves which with chard, a variety of Beta vulgaris, absolutely works even with the modern versions bred to produce almost only leaves. Historically, we should probably imagine a plate full of fairly solid pieces, chopped root and thick leaf stems, to make bite-sized morsels. With a sweet-sour dressing, this seems an interesting idea.

The recipe collection I am currently translating is part of a manuscript now held at the Zentralbibliothek Solothurn as S 392. The entire manuscript looks fascinating, a collection of craft recipes for things like dyes, stains, paints, vanishes, and parlour tricks, but I will limit myself to the culinary recipes in it. The majority of them are in German and were edited and published in Brigitte Weber: Die Kochrezepte der Handschrift S 293, Transkription und Untersuchung einer spätmittelalterlichen Kochrezeptsammlung aus der Zentralbibliothek Solothurn, Gießen 2026.

The manuscript dates to the period around 1490-1510, based on watermarks and handwriting. There is no internal date. The recipes are an eclectic collection, which is not unusual for the medieval manuscript tradition. They were most likely written down in Baden. Some refer to Italian customs which were fashionable at the time while others are solidly in the German tradition.

The collection is sometimes called the oldest Swiss cookbook, a title that is contested because of its origins north of the modern border. The designation makes little sense at the time anyway, given how closely connected the cities of the Confederation were with their neighbours at the time. The recipes clearly were valued in Solothurn, most likely because they were useful.

Hello! I’m looking to finally submit a dish for an event now that I’ve got the lay of the land. Do you all frequently see batch food options to serve from, or are the food submissions usually ready-made single servings?

I'm the SMO of my local group but I don't know what to actually do for the social media side. I am in the early stages of getting a baronial Instagram but that is about it so I'm wanting ideas from y'all EDIT: didn't make this clear initially, this is more focused on what to post to recruit and get people hooked on the SCA. Though any advice on how to SMO is appreciated

https://www.culina-vetus.de/2026/05/10/instant-horseradish-sauce/

I’m afraid the coming week is shaping up to be extremely busy and I cannot promise any posts between now and after the coming weekend. Today; I want to at least give you a short thing, a sauce recipe from the Solothurn MS:

First page of the recipe collection

A6 To make a good sauce

Take horseradish and clean it well. Put it into a pot in a baking oven and let it become very dry. Afterwards, grind it to powder and rub it through a sieve so it becomes similar to (i.e. as fine as) flour. Then store this flour carefully until it is needed. Mix it with wine or with good broth, or with boiled almond (milk). Serve it at the table with roast dishes or fritters (gebachen oder gebraten).

This is very interesting, another addition to the list of portable sauces from medieval Germany. We have a good deal of recipes for instant sauces that could be kept until needed and then dissolved in wine, vinegar, or broth and served quickly. A well-run household could have been set up to provide a variety of condiments at short notice. I have not tried this one, but I think I will because it sounds like it could be practical as well as posing a technical challenge.

The recipe collection I am currently translating is part of a manuscript now held at the Zentralbibliothek Solothurn as S 392. The entire manuscript looks fascinating, a collection of craft recipes for things like dyes, stains, paints, vanishes, and parlour tricks, but I will limit myself to the culinary recipes in it. The majority of them are in German and were edited and published in Brigitte Weber: Die Kochrezepte der Handschrift S 293, Transkription und Untersuchung einer spätmittelalterlichen Kochrezeptsammlung aus der Zentralbibliothek Solothurn, Gießen 2026.

The manuscript dates to the period around 1490-1510, based on watermarks and handwriting. There is no internal date. The recipes are an eclectic collection, which is not unusual for the medieval manuscript tradition. They were most likely written down in Baden. Some refer to Italian customs which were fashionable at the time while others are solidly in the German tradition.

The collection is sometimes called the oldest Swiss cookbook, a title that is contested because of its origins north of the modern border. The designation makes little sense at the time anyway, given how closely connected the cities of the Confederation were with their neighbours at the time. The recipes clearly were valued in Solothurn, most likely because they were useful.