Women Fighters of the Modern Middle Ages

I blog about feminist fitness, not just my medieval hobbies. Every once in a while, I manage to combine these two interests. Here is a recent post I wrote about some of the women fighters in the Kingdom of Ealdormere, who I interviewed at a recent event: Women Fighters of the Modern Middle Ages.

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Feast of the Hare

This event is the big one in our local group. It was also the first time since COVID restrictions were introduced that we have been allowed to have a feast. Since we weren’t sure about how many people would be comfortable with the idea, we decided to do something smaller and tavern-style, so folks could pick up a meal on their own time, and choose a spot to sit. I limited registration to 50 people.

The theme was Italian, in honour of my friend Laura Battista, who was being elevated to the Order of the Laurel. I went with a menu of dishes from Martino: stuffed eggs, herb torte for the month of May, torte in broth (chicken pie), vermicelli, copiette (yummy yummy meat on a stick with pancetta, coriander and fennel), fried mushrooms, fried squash, and marzipan with grapes.

I am out of practice organizing a feast, so I forgot to take pictures and I didn’t do a careful job of documenting the recipes as I developed them. Still, here are a few pictures for you:

Chicken torte in broth

Herb tart for the month of May

Pandora wanted to help with the vermicelli as it dried

I couldn’t have pulled it off without my amazing cooking and cleaning team: Jane, Petra and Sous-chef Marina. There were a couple of others, but they escaped before I remembered to grab a photo.

But wait – there was more excitement! I ended up being court a lot. I had been asked to translate texts for Baronial awards and read them out in French as the herald read the originals. There were a lot of scrolls. This was fun.

After that court ended, the Queen commented about my work that day and proceeded to induct me into the Order of the Pelican for my service over the past nearly 40 years.

Here I am with my troublemaking former apprentice and mistress Lucia, who organized the surprise and begged the boon.

Baroness Kersteken had made me a lovely coat which Her Majesty appliquéd.

The lovely scroll, filled with cooking puns, made by Katrina Prebendsdottir. The words were from Master Berend and Mistress Augusta.

Many thanks go to Baron Brand who wrote the ceremony, Sir Shahid (chivalry) Mistress Eluned (Laurel), Master Giovanni (master of defence), and Mistress Xristina (former royalty) who spoke such lovely words.

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