Or Hastings 9: Back In The Habit

This is a quick wee article, because I am extremely busy with commission work right now! Last weekend, I travelled to the annual Battle of Hastings event down in Sussex. I’ve taken part about 9 times over the years, so Eric and I made a compromise that I would attend only on the Saturday. Sunday would be reserved for touristy shenanigans and japes.

On Saturday, I opted to dust off my ancient ecclesiastical clothing and join my sisters as nuns for the day. The historical battle did not feature nuns, however, many women fled to convents after the Conquest and we wanted to represent those religious who may have been forced to flee their communities for safety.

As we had so many nuns in one place, I asked if we could recreate one of my favourite illuminations in an Old English manuscript: Aldhelm presenting his De Virginitate “On Virginity” to Abbess Hildelith and her nuns of Barking Abbey (f68v in MS200, owned by Lambeth Palace Library.)

The original isn’t especially clear, so in the pandemic, I had a go at recolouring it and made a few versions. (Please note, I created these pieces before I had my blog, so they are clumsily labeled with my business name “Hafurtask- Historical Crafts.”)

I think that this is probably the best recreation of the scene that we managed, though as you can see, it is not exact. We had 2 more nuns than Barking Abbey did, we fudged a couple of the hand/veil positions and we didn’t have fancy vestments or pillows for Brother Mark (we will be accepting likes and prayers for his sake.)

We did however have a blast trying to defy physics like the original (look at the colourful versions and count the heads of the nuns, then look out for their legs and bodies) and a lot of giggling ensued. We also think that Aldhelm looks like he’s about to poke poor Hildelith in the eyes.

I loved gathering with so many other ecclesiastical re-enactors and it’s really given me a kick up the bum to get sewing my new habit over winter. My old one is raggedy and doesn’t fit especially well, so it needs a spruce up and then I can donate it to a sassy novice.

What do you think of our recreation? I need to give a massive thanks to Brother Mark and Sisters Katie, Larissa, Christine, Miriam, Lyndsey, Chloe, Harri, Olivia, Thea and Sasza- for taking part and being such good eggs while I was manic and it was drizzling! Nun- and monk-wrangling is a taxing sport. Thank you also to Lyndsey and Ant for taking pictures for us!

References

Lambeth Palace Library’s scan of the original image: https://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/detail/LPLIBLPL~17~17~1651~100447?qvq=w4s:/when%2F10th%2Bcentury;lc:LPLIBLPL~21~21,LPLIBLPL~20~20,LPLIBLPL~9~9,LPLIBLPL~29~29,LPLIB~2~2,LPLIB~1~1,LPLIBLPL~34~34,LPLIBLPL~32~32,LPLIBLPL~23~23,LPLIBLPL~24~24,LPLIBLPL~31~31,LPLIBLPL~12~12,LPLIBLPL~17~17,LPLIBLPL~19~19&mi=0&trs=44

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