"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be
Since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."

-- Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) Imitation of Christ. bk.1, ch.16

I would like to start out by saying I'm sorry, but there was a mistake in last month's
column. I referred to the Mass the Barony was invited to as a "Tridentine" mass.
My staff tells me that it was a Gregorian Mass. I don't know what the difference it,
but it must be important to someone.

Also, if you'll look up a bit, you may notice that I now have a homepage where I am
storing the old columns. Please, stop by. The address is above. Now let's move
on to the overflowing mail-bag.

"Are grommets period?" – Lady Rowan ni Coerc

I want to thank you so very much for this question, Lady Rowan. I took it to my
research staff, and was impressed with the speed that the information showed up.
The answer is, of course, say it with me, "maybe". It depends on what you mean
by "grommets". A grommet is a large tube of metal, sometimes as much as an inch
or so in diameter that is punched though fabric, then molded into place with any
number of tools. An eyelet is a much smaller tube of metal formed to do the same
thing. A lacing ring is a ring of metal that is sewn to a hole punched in fabric.
The function for all of these is to keep a hole open, while making it stronger.
And as usual we look at the documentation first. There have been a number of
finds, notably in London, for the 14th century and later that have metal eyelets set
into leather belts. And there are a number of paintings beginning in the 15th century
that show what looks like they appear to be rings of metal sewn around lacing holes
on clothing. As far as I know, this is it. Everything else has either rotted away, or
else I just haven't found it.

My staff tells me that the modern styles of grommets and eyelets were only developed
after the 19th century developments allowed the drawing of metal tubing, but their
documentation on this fact is less than stellar. The earliest use of the word "grommet"
in English was the early 17th century.

My guess is that the lacing ring was developed first, possibly as a loop of rope
stitched around a hole in a sail or tent to make it stronger. This was probably not
much earlier than 1250 or so. The use of them on clothing took another hundred
years or so. The use of metal eyelets also began around then to decorate the tongue
holes in belts, and then to protect them. But these weren't used for lacing holes until
much later. If anyone has any solid information to add to this, I'd love to hear about
it.

Some sources:
Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition
Dress Accessories. Medieval Finds from Excavations in London

"What are these terms: feastocrat, small, etc., that I see mentioned in event
announcements? Do you have special things for short people?" -- M. Jaelle
of Armida

Somehow I think I may live to regret that website idea. The terms that you mention,
Mistress Jaelle, are really a token of SCA culture and have no real connection with the
historical Middle Ages. Some people find the idea of using such terms unpleasant, or
silly, or even use ways to describe it that I can not reproduce here. There is some
arguement whether these terms come from a similar cultural development in Fandom,
or were simply jokes, or cute terms that people chose to use to disquise things. I
don't really have a problem with them myself, but we can take a look at some of them
and see what historical terms might have been used to describe them.:
"Feastocrat" (also "Feastcrat" in some places) refers to the person who is in charge
of "The Feast" at an event. As such, some people prefer terms like "Head Cook",
"Steward" and so forth. I am instructed to mention that the term "Hall Steward" is
redundant, except where you have other sorts of "Steward", deriving from the Old
English for Hall-warden. I like the term "Victualer" myself.

"Smalls" (also "Halflings") refers to children. Now it seems that this term is a
serious point of contention since a myth has sprung up that the term "Smalls" is a
contraction of "Small clothes" and so we are referring to our children as underwear.
Now it is entirely true that "Smalls" is derived from "Smallclothes" and does mean
"underwear" - but not until well into the 17th century. "Small" in the Middle Ages
still referred to something that was inferior. "Halfling", it seems, also referred to
children after 1794, and meant a stripling or something not fully grown. Some terms
that were used in the Middle Ages are Arfname ("Heir", from Erf, cattle as inheritance,
from the 10th through the 13th centuries), Congeon (a dwarf or halfwit, especially as
applied to a child, from the 12th to the 15th centuries), Faunt (related to Infant, 14th
century), Girl (referring to a child of either gender, from the 13th to the 15th centuries),
Imp (a child, the term only became derogatory in the 1500s, from the 1300s on), and
Minion (which can mean a Child, in the 1500s). To be sure, these aren't the only terms
that were used. Child and Children were popular too.

Not to get into a lengthy discussion about the other "SCAdian Jargon" terms that
some people don't care for, these include:
Farspeaker = Telephone
Garb = Clothing
Autocrat = Person in charge of events ("Stewards", "Wardens")
Troll = Gate guards, or the toll takers
Newbie = A newcomer ("Comeling", "New Person")
Dragon, Fire Chariot = Automobile ("Vehicle", "Van", "Car", "Conveyance")
Mundane = Someone not affiliated with the SCA.

Sources:
Dictionary of Early English.
Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition.

If you have any questions about things that interest you, please send them to me
directly, or by way of Chronicler.