A look at history and popular culture
This is the first post in a series that will be examining the historical assumptions of Paradox Interactive's grand strategy computer game set in the early modern period, Europa Universalis IV. And this series will in turn be part of a larger series looking at several of Paradox's games and how they treat their historical … Continue reading Collections: Teaching Paradox, Europa Universalis IV, Part I: State of Play
Hey folks, no post this week. My schedule got disrupted this week by some unexpected stuff (nothing terribly bad, but time sensitive and pressing), so I don't have anything new for you just yet. I am currently working on what will be next down the pipline, which will be a (three part, I think) look … Continue reading Gap Week: April 22, 2021
Fireside this week! We are nearing the end of the semester and with it the seasonal crunch to get exams and papers graded and final grades submitted, which may bring somewhat more firesides than usual. That said, I hope to write out at least one addendum on the textile series (on tablet weaving and other … Continue reading Fireside Friday: April 16, 2021
This is the second half of the fourth part of our four part (I, II, III, IVa) look at the production of textiles, particularly wool and linen, in the pre-modern world. Last time, we looked at commercial textile workers and the finishing processes for textiles (fulling, dyeing, etc) which generally took place in a commercial … Continue reading Collections: Clothing, How Did They Make it? Part IVb: Cloth Money
Third is the fourth part of our four part (I, II, III) look at the production of textiles, particularly wool and linen, in the pre-modern world. Last time, we spun our wool and flax fibers into thread and then wove that thread into fabric. And in doing so, we mostly discussed household production. This week, … Continue reading Collections: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part IVa: Dyed in the Wool
Fireside this week, since the last post in our series on pre-modern textile production is not quite done yet (I had a fair bit of other writing to get done this week). Before I dive into this week's musing, I want to note two things, in case you have missed them. First, I am opening … Continue reading Fireside Friday: March 26, 2021 (On the Nature of Ancient Evidence)
This is the third part of our four part (I, II, IV) look at the production of textiles, particularly wool and linen, in the pre-modern world. Last time, we processed our raw fibers, removing extraneous material and getting them ready to be turned into thread. Today we're going to continue with that next step, spinning … Continue reading Collections: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part III: Spin Me Right Round…
This is the second part of our four part (I, III, IV) look at the production of textiles (particularly in wool and linen) in the pre-modern world. Last time, we took a look at the production of our two fibers, flax bast from the flax plant and raw wool sheared from sheep. This week we … Continue reading Collections: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part II: Scouring in the Shire
This week we are starting the first of a four (?) part look at pre-modern textile production. As with our series on farming and iron, we are going to follow the sequence of production from the growing of fibers all the way to the finished object, with a focus not merely on the methods of … Continue reading Collections: Clothing, How Did They Make It? Part I: High Fiber
Fireside this week, but next week we are diving into our long awaited series on pre-modern textile production, though we will be particularly focused on the most important clothing fibers in the Mediterranean world, wool and linen (rather than, say, silk or cotton). Trusty Research Assistant Oliver helping me find the right volume of the … Continue reading Fireside Friday, February 26, 2021
