PE - More info on the Medieval tent in Basel

[Barclay, Peter C. MAJ]

Greetings from Master Terafan,

	I was NOT smart enough to obtain dimensions when I was there, but if
I remember correctly, it has about a 6 or 7 ft radius.  

I know how many other folks want very specific details.  I do too.  I
thought I had done a good job, but I guess I have to go back...  (sigh) the
tragedies of living in Europe... ;-)

The museum has VERY LITTLE DOCUMENTATION for the tent.  According to the
museum, the tent was made in the first half of the seventeenth century,
(before 1655 for sure because records from 1655 indicate it being in
existence for several years), but they are not sure of the exact year of
creation.   The tent belonged to one of the guilds of Basel, which is called
The Golden Star. It seems that all the guilds used them for different
purposes: events, in the war (to take care of wounded soldiers), etc.. The
museum got the tent in 1889 directly from the Guild.   (The museum staff's
poor command of English and my even worse ability in German made it
difficult to get more specific and technical details).  

I am not a good judge of fabric weights, but the weave of the material
(canvas ??) was looser than the canvas I have used for my pavilino and most
of the modern canvas I see.   Some of the weave can be seen in the picture
of the crow's foot knot, and the shots of the inside of the seams.  

The walls appeared to be attached by turning the top edge of the wall out
and down, and then stitching it to the inside of the "flap".  A couple of
the photos show the edge of the wall fabric sticking down out of the seam
(between the wall and the flap).

It would be nice to be able to do a "water test" of it, to see how much
those natural fibers swell when they get wet, and how waterproof it makes
the pavilion.  However, I don't think the museum will agree. (Darn the bad
luck!)

Hope this helps...

respectfully, 

                     Terafan

Master Rhys Terafan Greydragon           barclayp at eucom.mil
Brewer and probably other things I can't think of...
Seneschal, Incipient Shire of Blauwasser


-----Original Message-----
From: Nessa Giddings [mailto:nessaofthelox at yahoo.com]
Sent: Wednesday, June 21, 2000 6:44 PM
To: MedievalEncampments at egroups.com
Subject: Re: [MedievalEncampments] Medieval tent in Basel



--- "Barclay, Peter C. MAJ" <barclayp at eucom.mil>
wrote:  
> Last weekend, I went to Basel, Switzerland to chase
> down a rumor about a
> medieval tent in a museum there.  I FOUND IT!!!!  


Sorry for asking but: What was it made of? What kind
of documentation is there for it? When was it in use?
What are the measurements? It is very beautiful, thank
you for doing this and sharing it with all of us!
Though I bet we all wish we could have been there as
well. It is thrilling to see a real tent from in
period. It is amazing! Thank you! Thank you! Thank
you!
Damn, does this mean I have to make a new tent? ;)

Nessa


============================================================================
Go to http://lists.ansteorra.org/lists.html to perform mailing list tasks.