Medieval Living History and Reenactment resources, links, and content.
Reading Lists
Books, articles, and papers on the topics of medieval history, living history, reenactment, material culture, and other topics directly and tangentially related to the hobby.
Online Research Tools
Handy resources, mainly websites, for conducting online research into medieval related topics, viewing collections and manuscripts, connecting with the living history and reenactment community, etc.
Content Creators
Writers, artists, researchers, videographers, and educators working in the field of creating content for medieval living history and reenactment.
Medieval Craft Tutorials
Useful guides and tutorials for the types of handicrafts and projects which benefit the pursuits of medieval reenactment and living history.
Medieval Events Calendar
A calendar of medieval reenactment and living history events, so you can know what events are happening, when, and where! URLs to each events are in the descriptions.
The Golden Gloss
A medieval glossary resource of English (old/middle/modern) words as they were used in their various definitions through the middle ages, especially ones commonly misunderstood or unknown to the general public (or newer participants.)
Merchant Roll
An up to date resource list of trustworthy, merchants and artisans of medieval reenactment and living history material goods, clothing, weapons, and armor.
Medieval Groups Billboard
A catalog of living history and reenactment groups of various, medieval battles, impressions, or communities from around the world.
Rapa Armorial
A personal resource made public; the arms of the living history and reenactment companions I know and respect; those I get the pleasure of interacting with; those I admire and who I feel make great strides towards making this hobby great.
Goals and Purpose
I am here to provide the medieval living history and reenactment community a place where they can rely on accurate, high quality, functioning links as well as useful and entertaining content. Unquestionably there are already a variety of resources for the raw, academic study of medieval history. Think of university websites and teacher resources. Likewise, the DnD, LARP, SCA, and Cosplay communities have areas tailored to their interests. The focus of this website is the medieval living history and reenactment community. I will curate, tailor, and create useful links and content for the reenactors and living historians of the medieval eras. My three primary commitments: avoid graveyards of broken links, promote quality content, and do so in an aesthetically pleasing interface.
A Link Should Work
I hate broken links. Not just broken links, but bad links or misleading links. When I was searching the internet for useful resources I found them all the time. Therefore, they did nothing to improve my skills and knowledge in this hobby. Of course, there is no way to know if a link works until you click on it. While it may sound minor, the frustration and inconvenience tends to accumulate over time. Especially when in the “flow” and hungry to learn more about a topic, it can be even more aggravating. I cannot stress how much I was running into them all the time. To address this problem I built a medieval resource where I can check them, update them, and remove them as necessary. Now, not only do I know if I click a link I’ll get a result, you can share the same comfort and security.
Quality Over Quantity
Sometimes a link is ‘good’ but goes to a “404” page on an otherwise functioning website. An online broken link checker on its own cannot tell the difference. Likewise, URLs go fallow and get picked up by unrelated businesses. Though they are good links, they’re no longer useful to the medieval community. Undeniably, you need a person to manually review those discrepancies. I am that person. To be sure, I check the links for more than just connectivity. I also check for soundness – does it still go to what the URL purports itself to be? I will strive to keep the thumbnails and descriptions of what the links go to up to date as the websites I link to themselves updated.
This website is a network of medieval resources and content upon which you can rely. They have achieved a minimum threshold of usefulness, reliability, accuracy, and quality. While I am not the expert in most subjects, I will do my best to screen out low quality links I can identify. In areas outside my expertise only gather medieval related resources verified by those I trust to be worth your time. I use independent research, community endorsement, or consultation with experts, to ensure resources do not get frivolously added to the site.
Eyesores
Thirdly, I hate ugly websites. There is so much opportunity to add beauty and elegance to what we look at. Website design doesn’t have to win awards, but the tools to make nice websites are accessible. I get disappointed when stumbling through poorly formatted, boring lists online. It is quicker and easier to create a list than to add thought and design. I am committed to upgrading your experience. The medieval resources will never be endlessly scrolling, cumbersome, and unattractive lists. Instead, I thoughtfully categorize, sort, and present content. I will leverage tools and features available to make navigation intuitive and convenient. On top of that, I will work to make sure things are visually pleasant and engaging. Included in this mission are efforts to making sure the resources are well described. This way you know what you’re going to and why it would be useful to you.
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