A Short History of the Uncial Script

 A class for FOOL 2024

Prepared and delivered by Asleif of Ramshaven

Uncial script in the British Isles comes in two varieties ‘Irish half-uncial’ and ‘English (Anglo-Saxon) uncial’. These terms are outdated and based on biased and incomplete understanding from the 17th century, however these are the terms we still use today. Both come from the Roman rustic capitals (again, weirdly biased, as it was used for the high literary form in manuscripts), and the informal cursive which was used for everything from merchant account books and children’s school books up to decrees by the Emperor. The old cursive form fell out of use by the 3rd century as it was basically a Latin shorthand script with single letters signifying entire words, but the ‘new cursive’, which included larger initial letters remained in use until the 7th. ‘Rustic capitals’ continued on until the 9th, with the heyday between the 4th and 6th century. Both of these merged in the 7th century to become the precursors of the Visigothic, Merovingian and Uncial scripts. So, as the Roman Empire slowly came apart the Classical age melded into the Middle Ages. The scripts changed as a reflection of this.

Slides from a recent class on Uroscopy wheels

For anyone who might be interested: 

Colour Your Own Uroscopy Wheel presentation slides

I'll do up more of a 'report' about it later. I have to apologize for the shortness of this and how tired I was during the class. I got a bad flu right before Christmas and I'm still recovering my stamina.

The Seigne of Urynes- what your urine said about your health in the 16th century, part.1

This is a transcription of the first half of a printed text from 1522. There is a second half that I'll work on later. 

I used this as part of my research into what medieval physicians had as part of their knowledge base for diagnosis and prognosis (understanding what disease and the course it would take).

Slides from my recent classes at University of Atlantia

 Poisons and how to avoid them from Antiquity to the Renaissance-

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQYv1f9DX0PLZTQYU-457P8cAN9FT1KyUndAOfN9pnhnwPWi4phz5_5STwoZtwMBkA94GgtN2sSJ80c/pub?start=true&loop=true&delayms=10000

Brew your own Theriac (or electuary, probably, because we don't want to be poisoned)-

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQqo29-VtHCaB2CqpBpNJZ9lIwtzijZvG-K2dyokL3hGzr3IWDDaR3VnaQOnsxKQArpOliK8ArQyD3u/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=10000

Cannabis sativa from antiquity to the Middle Ages

I wrote this as a bit of a giggle for my local SCA newsletter. I am not advocating for the use of Cannabis sativa for psychotropic purposes, but I do believe that we should be using the fibre in place of wood. It also makes pretty good shirts.

How to make yoghurt

• Take one bag of milk, pour into saucepan, and put a lid on
• Turn on the heat to about 4 (medium-low), leave lid on and heat gently for 10 minutes
• Stir to get sticky bits off bottom
• The milk is ready when the smell changes to 'nutty', and little, frothy bubbles show up when stirring (depending on the stove between 10-15 minutes)

• Let it cool until the outside of the pan is the temperature of a very warm bath
• You can put the sauce pan in a larger bowl with a bit of water to speed up the cooling
• When the milk is a good temperature sprinkle the powder, or dump in reserved yoghurt from last batch, and stir well

No-mato pizza

My mouth and stomach don't like too much acid, so I've been thinking about different ways to make pizza. I had heard of people using pumpkin purée, and it sounded weird to me.