Largess: Gift Giving at it's Finest

I've been busy the last few days procrastinating on finishing my Trillium Exchange entry by creating Largess for an upcoming Dirty Dozen Largess Competition. But I seem to have become rather addicted to making things, twelve things, to give away to the Kingdom and to my Barony.

Largess is anything that is donated to the Kingdom or Barony that can be regifted to other people to show appreciation or  congratulations and that enhances the experience, feel, and atmosphere of the medieval game. Some people makes things that feel medieval or are replicas of something medieval. Others purchase items with the same effect. However, it seems to me that more people make their gifts as opposed to purchasing them.

The Dirty Dozen Competition is a Largess competition where the entrants, either individuals or groups, choose a theme and then enter twelve items for that theme. Some people will do twelve different items, while others will simply make a dozen of the same thing. Each entrant then chooses whether the Largess go to Kingdom, Barony, or split between the two. Our new Baroness is hosting this event to not only show off the artisans of out Barony but to also fill the coffers of the Barony and the Kingdom with items that can then be shared around to the rest of the known world.

The first thing I did when I decided to participate, after promising our Baroness that my Canton would help if I had to drag them kicking and screaming to the event, was to join the Largess group on Facebook. I got lots of ideas from the files section. Ideas for things that would be easy to make and relatively inexpensive that felt Medieval. I also found a few ideas for actual Medieval things that were easy to reproduce as long as you were willing to make a few pieces that were not of a decent quality but taught you the skills you need to make them. It also helps if you are a little insane about doing Arts and Sciences and willing to try your hand at anything at least once.

With ideas in hand I started thinking about themes and deciding on whether to do individual or group entries. After discussing with other members of my Household I decided I was going to do both individual and group entries. It is a well known fact in our Canton that I am slightly insane and totally gung-ho for any and all Arts and Sciences, so really no one was surprised when I announced I was doing both and asked the Canton to make a group entry as well.

My first individual entry is Archer's Abacuses.We have a lot of archers in Ealdormere and Skraeling Althing and I really liked the Archer's Abacus idea because I know it is hard for me to score my arrows, find missing arrows, and chat with others on the field at the same time. I figured if I needed the abacus then so would other people.

The Abacuses are very easy to make and can be as cheap or as expensive as you choose to make them. I found some painted, wooden beads at the local Dollarama, used some waxed linen cord I had with my leather working supplies and went to town. Ideally, I would have preferred to make the beads the colours of the Kingdom and Barony respectively but I could not pass up the deal on the beads. Each string is 30 beads long with the colours in sets of 5 to make it easier to tally at the end of the round. Since I was able to get some larger square beads I chose to use them at each end of the string so the archers can attach the strings easily through a loop or under their belts. Since the beads were so cheap I was able to make twelve for Kingdom, twelves for Barony, and I still have 13 left over to be used as site tokens or Largess for the Canton.


My next idea was to make Temple Rings with beads and wire based on the article found here. 1) I like playing with wire and 2) There are a lot of resources for people playing later period English, French, and Italian in our area but few for those playing Dark Ages and / or Eastern Europe. The packaging is some boxes that were purchased years ago for my business but having not used them I decided they worked for presenting and storing my Largess items. Writing the information on the inside lid and designated recipient (Kingdom or Barony) was just as excuse to practice my calligraphy while accomplishing something useful at the same time. Because I made twelve each for Kingdom and Barony.

My next project was to make some replica Anglo-Saxon rings. My reasoning, see the above paragraph. Wire and early period are all the excuse I needed but it turns out that there are some really easy wire wrap type rings that date from the Anglo-Saxon period. I was amazed when someone on the Largess forum linked to a museum showing a very simple wire wrap ring. Here are just a few of the images for wire wrapped rings from the Anglo-Saxon period.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk/8272370.stm
http://www.obsessionistas.co.uk/historical-artefacts/0018-buried-treasure/9715903
http://www.time-lines.co.uk/anglo-saxon-twisted-wire-finger-ring-011013-22852-0.html
http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=13944&cat=205
http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=29806&cat=205
http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=27643&cat=205
http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=25909&cat=205
http://www.ukdfd.co.uk/ukdfddata/showrecords.php?product=25909&cat=205
http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1341148&partId=1

Pretty freaking cool that I can now make myself authentic looking jewelry for my early Norse/ Pict/ Anglo-Saxon persona just from some wire that I already have. Of course I am using brass and coloured copper but eventually I want to try making myself one of the rosette rings from sterling silver. So far I have only made 12 of the rings and am trying to decide if I should go ahead and make twelve more or just give 6 of each to the Kingdom and Barony. Making more will take time but it will give me more practice and make my chances of making a nice one of silver that much better later on.

Another gift I have planned but have done little more than purchase the supplies is to create sampler packs of Medieval Spices. the sampler pack will include 9 spices, mostly hard to find spices, and a little booklet containing a recipe for each spice. I purchased most of my spices from The Silk Road Spice Merchant in Calgary, Alberta and a couple from Herbie's Herbs in Toronto, Ontario. The spices I chose were based on Medieval Cookery's list of essential spices for Medieval cooking and include Ceylon (Sri Lankan) Cinnamon, Cubeb Berries, Lesser Galingale, Grains of Paradise, Hyssop, Summer Savory, and Saunders (Red Sandlewood). I would love to include Saffron in that list but true saffron is very expensive. Instead I am going to include Green Cardamom and Sumac. If I run out of any of these spices during the assembly I will use Rosemary, Oregano, and Coriander as suggested by other members of the Largess group.

My final entry will be with other members of my household - House Adis North. The theme we have chosen is items that would have been taken on Crusade. Some people are doing banners, others are doing chests, and I have decided I am going to do Paternosters, an early form of the modern Rosary used by Catholics around the world. I have only just started researching and looking at period examples but I think I have decided on wooden beads, if I can find enough, strung on silk yarn I got in a box of partial skeins from the Potsdam Artist Council sale last year. I am still trying to decide if I am going to use a tassel or a charm of some kind on the end.