Agreed, Lindsay! There is something really connected about making a pouch with tablet-woven edges that looks and handles just like the example found in the 1400's London mud, or making a gown dyed with the same dye/mordant recipe cited in the 1350's guild records that hangs and makes the wearer stand just like the image in the Duc de Berry manuscript miniature, or cooking a dinner using the foodstuffs, menu and spice combinations specified in le Menagier de Paris to support a particular balance of humours. It says we've "done it right" , at least this little piece, and gives a deeper insight into how people really lived then, day to day. "Living history" is the right name, not "reenactment" -- I want to know how they did it and how they lived it!

Lynn