[Sca-cooks] Writing & speaking early-Middle English an aside from "period cookbook"

[julian wilson]

Dear Philip, 
since you have chosen to post your [hopefully "tongue -in-cheek" (  :-)? )] critical opinions to the List, I will also do so, for the last time on this thread.
Thank you for sharing with us that most-revealing comment about the level of practical authenticity you feel you can personally aspire-to in your SCA activities; and displaying the  quality of your scholarship for our education. 
Quote - "my objection to speaking forsoothly, SNIP  is that very few do it well."  One might enquire as to the depth of academic, medieval -Western-European-historical Study that enables you to be a Judge as to who is  " 'speaking forsoothly' well"?   Every journey starts with a  first possibly-unsure step out of a door. Every instrumental musician begins with fumbling finger exercises, until the instrument becomes "transparent", with practise.
There are probably as many opinions amongst re-enactors about "speaking foresoothly" as there are re-enactors, - just as there are about so many other "authenticiiy" aspects of this hobby of ours. 
"There are a hundred ways of constructing tribal Lays, and every single one of 'em is right" - [Kipling]
I feel that we should be grateful for-  and welcome - such God-given diversity, and for the traditions of free-speech which make such diversity of opinion possible, - rather than publicly- carping about those  who have chosen to follow a "path" which you personally do not favour - by criticising it in public. 
Quite apart from any other result, it might discourage "newbies" from trying to raise the levels of their own redacting; - why, they might even get to be better than you can ever be, with enough practise.
 If I had critical comment to make concerning some thing of yours, I would, as a courtesy, e-mail you off-list about it


 


Yours in service, 
Julian Wilson,
[aka. Messire Matthew Baker/Matthieu Besquer, Governor & Castellan of Jersey, 1486-1497: - "Si vis pacem, para bellum"]
late-medieval Re-enactor; & Historian and Master Artisan to  
"The Companie of the Duke's Leopards",
[the only medieval living-history Group
in "olde" Jersey]
		
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