[Sca-cooks] book review request

[Pixel, Goddess and Queen]

What she said, on both counts. Tigner-Holmes is good if you use his 
sources--for instance, he's got some good bits from Alexander Neckham--but 
his interpretations of the sources are sometimes a bit suspect. Bumke is 
better.

Margaret FitzWilliam


On Wed, 29 Dec 2010, wheezul at canby.com wrote:

> My impression of the book, having read it several times, is that the
> author uses his Latin/French source texts as a base, but only can be
> trusted as far as his understanding about a certain subject reaches.  For
> example, his take on the word treslissa is to translate it as knitting,
> but in reality it is most likely the word for a type of twill weave as
> found elsewhere - and not knitting.
>
> I think it's well worth reading to find the references and then going back
> to the original to check!  At least he more or less references his sources
> somewhat - it's sort of like Norris - good info, maybe true, needs
> verification if you feel that the translation is tentative.
>
> I really like Bumke's Courtly Culture as a reference work much better -
> especially if you are looking for some particular bits and pieces on 12th
> century feasting.  This book is a translation of a German work and is more
> based on Germanic sources so you don't necessarily get the English/French
> rehash.
> [Bumke, J. (1991). Courtly culture: Literature and society in the high
> Middle Ages. Berkeley: University of California Press.]
>
> Katherine
>
>> I got a book, "Daily Living in the 12th Century," by Urban Tigner Holmes,
>> Jr.
>>
>> Is it accurate?  Well-researched?
>>