About
Me
ABOUT ME - 10 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS - MY
LIVING HISTORY LIFE
About
Me
As
far back as the 13th century there are records of the Gilbert
name being linked to goldsmithing and the production of cloth
and clothing in England and so it's no wonder that researching
and making medieval clothing is a great passion of mine.
The Gilbert family history
stretches back into medieval England and it is here that I find
a fascinating period in time with really cool clothes and women
more empowered than most people believe.
Everything you see me wearing
throughout this website is all hand stitched, historically accurate
clothing made by myself. I used to have a business making clothes
for others but I really don't do that anymore.
I am passionate about historical
re-enactment and women in the Middle Ages, particularly England
where my family origins are. As much as I have learnt, there always
seems to be more to learn and something new to discover. I give
talks on Medieval Woman & Sex, Medieval Feminine
Hygiene, Recent Finds in Underwear, and Medieval
Women & Literacy. Nothing
upsets me more than the ridiculous misconceptions modern people
have about the lives of medieval women, and it's my aim in life
to educate as much as I can.
I have books! The Very Secret Sex Lives of Medieval Women.
The link to everything about that is HERE.
And a cute little inspirational quote book, Medieval Wisdom
for Modern Women is HERE.
I also do storytelling for the littlies- Robin Hood and King Arthur
stories. I enjoy traditional longbow archery although I'm not
particularly good at it. I'm a lifetime member of the Friends
of the ABBEY
MUSEUM OF ART AND ARCHAEOLOGY where I spend as much time as
I can but never as much time as I want. I'm also a member of the
QUEENSLAND
LIVING HISTORY FEDERATION. I have a collection of ARTIFACTS,
mostly 14th century with a few from the 13th and 15th as well.

10
frequently asked questions:
Do you make your own medieval
clothes?
Yes, I do! I love to sew, I've always been keen on costuming and
I'm a total strive-for-perfection nut so I really prefer to have
a go at making things myself if it's within my ability. Even if
it's not, that's not going to stop me having a go at it. There
are photos of the things I have sewn for myself HERE.
Where do you get your
patterns from?
There are a few historical sources- clothing which has been studied
and reconstructed to give us an idea where the seams go and don't
go! Paintings and illuminations often show the internal lacing
and the way fabric hangs. Household rolls from the medieval period
also provide a wealth of information about fabrics, colours and
clothing descriptions. Sermons constantly had a great deal to
say about clothing, especially to women. Put altogether, we can
make a picture of how the clothing patterns went.
Your dresses are not really
all hand-stitched, are they?
Yes, again, they are! I really do like to reconstruct clothing
as accurately as possible, and for me this means sewing by hand
using the kind of seam joins that were used then. Occasionally
I make clothes for other people who aren't as strict in their
costuming, and I do use a sewing machine for the internal seams
if they specifically ask me to. I still hand-finish all the external
seams and finishings- like eyelets and hems. It takes a long time,
for sure, but not as long as you'd think and the sense of achievement
when making something in the traditional way is terrific!
What are you wearing..
um.. underneath?
Well, mostly medieval underclothes. I have a chemise, which is
a pleated, gauzy smock like a slip, woolen hose with garters.
Okay.. I usually wear underpants as well. Medieval women did also-
just not the ones I'm wearing!
What got you interested
in re-enactment?
I'm not a girly girl and I rarely do dresses or skirts so it's
a real departure from how I actually am in real life. Costuming
is something I've always enjoyed from days in junior theatre,
and it was natural to me to take an interest in period costuming.
From there, I became interested in how it all went together: fabrics,
shapes, seams. I I attended a tournament as a MoP (member of public)
and discovered that groups of people keen on things historical
get together all through the year. Experimenting with medieval
recipes, leatherwork, blacksmithing, music, woodturning and furniture-making,
candle-making, fighting, longbow archery and jousting and discovering
more about what people in different areas did and didn't do provides
a wealth of opportunities to get out there and live what a lot
of gamers do online.
How long have you been
re-enacting?
My first MoP outfit was 2001 in cringe-worthy machine-sewed clothes
which at the time I thought were marvelous! It didn't even occur
to me then that I could join a group and learn all year round.
I joined a group in 2002. and I've been involved with a couple
since then. I'm with a Living History group, based in Brisbane
and am a member of the Queensland Living History Federation.
What do you do the rest
of the year when tournaments aren't on?
There's heaps to do off season. Research. Lots of research and
preparing for upcoming events. Apart from all the ongoing sewing
projects and embroidery, there's dress accessories to make or
acquire, shoes, painting of household things (like the backgammon
board) and practicing medieval recipes on willing and unsuspecting
friends. I attend weekly get-togethers with the rest of our medieval
group.
Where do you get all your
things?
I'm lucky that some friends and fellow-re-enactors have skills
who can teach me how to make things I don't know about. I'm game
to have a go at hand-making almost anything myself. Occasionally,
you come across a fellow-reenactor who sells goods or barters
and I have some great on-line journal buddies who offer a heap
of good advice and encouragement on projects. There are specialist
artisans world wide who sell goods online as well.
What does your friends/family/workmates
think about it?
My friends are mostly re-enactors, so they don't mind of course
and workmates are interested in a small way (except at tournament
time when they develop a kind of twitch when I mention it). Some
of my family are also interested in historical costuming, some
ask kindly how new things are going.
Are you a Princess?
(generally asked by little people under the age of 5, but it's
a valid question, never-the-less)
Well no, I'm not. I do have a very lovely coronet I wear, so it's
a fair question when you're a Small Person and are Impressed By
Crowns.

My
Adventures in Living History
I have been involved in historical re-enactment since 2002.
Groups include living history groups Historia, Ex Libris,
the Guild of the Lily, 15th Century group, the Sable
Rose, 14th Century group Eslite d'Corp and 14th century
group the Knights Order of Lion Rampant.
Historical re-enactment tends
to be a hobby which demands more research and historical accuracy
the longer you do it. It seems that the more you know, the more
you realise there is to learn.
My
Upper Class Impression:
the Lady Rosamund Gylberte
Every re-enactor needs something to base their impression on.
I started with what kind of person I wished to portray and worked
backwards from there. Where possible, I wanted to include actual
bits of my family history or history of people sharing my family
name in the Middle Ages. My coat-of-arms is based on one of the
actual Gilbert family coat-of-arms and uses the motifs of the
red chevron and the three roses. I also use the family squirrel
motif which is carved into stairwells and furniture and on the
iron entrance gates of Compton Castle.
I decided to base myself
around the late 14th century English equivalent of Margherita
Datini, who was a 14th century wife of a successful Italian businessman.
She was able to read, write and although not noble, was aware
of the niceties and etiquette of her station- that of a woman
of a certain social standing. Since my own Gilbert name provides
me with a knight, castle and lands at the right period in the
right country, I shall be using those as my personal history,
even though I am but a twig on the tree.
Of course, sometimes I'm not a Lady, I'm just a regular working
women- the kind you'd find in any prosperous town or city or employed
in the household of my Lady persona, and I dress and accessorise
differently for that.
The
history of the Gilbert family at Compton Castle
Compton Castle (pictured at right from the National Trust) is
the Gilbert family castle in Paignton, Devon, England and was
originally built in 1320. It is the oldest building in the parish
of Marldon, coming into the possession of the Geoffrey Gilbert
family in 1329 when he married into the Compton family. It is
now recognised as one of the best examples of a fortified manor
house in the country. Apart from a gap of 146 years when the estate
went out of the family, it has remained with the Gilberts until
handed to the National Trust in 1951. It is still occupied by
the Gilbert family today. Compton Castle is a fortified Manor
House but can be found in the National Trust listings under 'castle'.
The blurb on the Trust website reads:
With
portcullis entrances and buttressed walls pierced by arrow-slits
and chutes through which intruders could be pelted with stones,
Compton Castle has retained much of its medieval character.
It was built around 1329 and enlarged during the 15th and 16th
centuries by the Gilbert family, whose home it still is. The
solar, or medieval living room and 15th century withdrawing
room both have small windows through which the family could
watch services in the chapel. In the kitchen, a cavernous hearth
has ancient bread ovens on either side.
There was another tower and
the completed square floorplan did exist although not shown here.
The outline walls can be seen in the lawn after a sustained drought
period, but it is thought this part was probably destroyed in
the Civil War. The end of the Old Kitchen dates back to that time
and some canon balls from the civil war were found within the
grounds. Part of the connecting archway from the west Wing still
remains today.
Marldons
Church of St. John the Baptist was built by the Gilbert
family of Compton. The first recorded mention of a church or chapel
is in 1348, and the present tower was built by William Gilbert
in about 1400, whose son Otto built the church we see today, replacing
the earlier building referred to in 1348. The church is a fine
building of local limestone in the late Perpendicular style, the
font being contemporary with the 1450 rebuilding. The church has
six bells, the oldest being contemporary with the tower and four
others dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.
The red chevron and the three double roses, is but one of the
Gilbert family coat of arms heraldic devices. As a 21st century
re-enactor, I do not feel that it is inappropriate that I use
it today for my own household identification. In the 14th century,
I would actually use those of my husband as my property would
in fact, be his and have his heraldic devices on them.
I occasionally include the family squirrel as part of my encampment
devices, as the squirrel is used at Compton Castle carved in stairwells,
on bedposts, cast in the iron gates of the main entrance and on
the tomb effigy of Sir John Gilbert.
My Medieval Working Class Impression
Seamstress Rose
I also have a working class impression- and because I like to
stay with my family theme, I portray a seamstress or tailor called
Rose. I have a sewing shop set up or in the past I've had a market
stall with a static display of sewing tools and a few things for
sale. My clothing is more humble- simple linens and wools.
In 2015, I reproduced a recreations of sewing scenes from manuscripts
like the famous health book, the Tacuinum Sanitatus.
I currently have an Interactive Sewing Display with medieval
sewing samples of cloth, wool, clothing pieces for handling and
enquiry. All my sewing tools are handmade reproductions of original
museum pieces.


Copyright
© Rosalie Gilbert
All text & photographs within this site are the property
of Rosalie Gilbert unless stated.
Art & artifact images remain the property of the owner.
Images and text may not be copied and used without permission.
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