These links have appeared in the shire newsletter, Collected Tales. If you find one that doesn't work, please let the Chronicler know!
The Web Gallery of Art is at
http://sunserv.kfki.hu/~arthp/index.html
Quoting from their web page: "The Web Gallery of Art presents 3500+ digital reproductions of European paintings
and sculptures created between the years 1200 and 1700. A considerable part of the pictures are commented and
biographies of the significant artists are given. A versatile search engine makes possible to find pictures from
the collection which satisfy certain requirements."
Furthermore, the website for the Museum of London can be found at: http://www.museum-london.org.uk/
Another leather site (with useful information as well as sales): http://www.hidehouse.com
Costuming types take note: the 1583 Anatomie of Abuses by Stubbes (which lists all the extremes of fashion of the day) has been transcribed and put on line at http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/stubbes.html (There are many other costuming goodies on this site, by the way.)
Anyone for Byzantine? take a look at http://www.gryph.com/byzantine. Many pictures, may be slow to load!
http://www.historicenterprises.com/ Historic Enterprises
The Ladies of the Chivalry webpage at http://www.peak.org/~grainne/Ironrose/ was established to honor those ladies who have attained Knighthood or Mastery at Arms, and to serve as a source of inspiration for other fighters, male and female alike.
Hit the following Web address, paste your foreign-language text into the box, and select a language. It sometimes yields "interesting" results, but it's pretty good! http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/
The ARGOS search engine specializes in historical sites. http://argos.evansville.edu/about.htm
You might want to check out http://www.checksix.net/jon/heraldry.html for heraldic submission forms.
If garb is more your thing, look at the vast variety of trims offered on line at http://www.calontirtrim.com/catalog.htm
If you just want to look at pictures, there is http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk
There are photos of an elizabethan shirt/chemise at http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/chemise.html with a link to another page with cutting directions.
At http://sunsite.auc.dk/cjackson/fouquet/p-fouquet3.htm you can find a painting of Agnes Sorel, part of The Melun Diptych, dated 1453-54. Clear enough to use for costume research!
Speaking of things Byzantine, here's another: http://members.tripod.com/~HeidiJ/byzantine.html
Many illuminated pages from the Goettingen Gutenberg Bible (and other related material, as well) have been put on the Web at http://www.gutenbergdigital.de/
Simplicity has several patterns out for medieval/ renaissance garb. If you thought the "Fram Air Filter hat" in one of them was hopelessly not-period, check out http://artchive.com/ftp_site.htm and click on "Weyden", then on "Magdalen". You'll see the painting by Roger van der Weyden on which the pattern was based.
Looking for information or ideas on favors? check out http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/topics/favo.htm
How about Middle Eastern garments from museum collections, in enough detail that you can see the cutting lines? for that it's: http://www.indiana.edu/~librcsd/etext/tilke
In fact, if you're looking for pictures, you might try the search engine at http://www.elibrary.com. Uncheck all categories except "pictures" and give it a keyword.
Florentine hair-taping - Now there's a specialized topic. A class handout on the subject is at http://www.mfgraffix.com/hird/faoilt/hairtape.html
And at http://w3.ime.net/~ivan/site/Photos.html are to be found an amazing collection of Pennsic (and other) photos, from the collection of Mistress Anastasia Guta.
A webpage concerning the history and culture of Jews in Medieval Spain can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8636/.
The Castles of Britain website, at http://www.castles-of-britain.com/ has floorplans and more in the school projects section. While this is intended to help students, the info is the same as would be available to adults.
Interested in calligraphy and illumination? Take a look at Griffon's Medieval Manuscripts at http://www.griffon.net. It's a sales site, but has lots of pictures!
There's a Virtual Fine Arts Museum reachable from http://cgfa.kelloggcreek.com.
Of you'd rather read than look at paintings, try http://orb.rhodes.edu, the On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies.
Another option is to keep moving: Bellydance New York has added a page specifically for SCA events: http://www.bellydanceny.com/sca_medevents.html.
If your taste runs to crafting, an entire page of bookmarks to sites featuring SCA-applicable occupations is at http://www.kwantlen.bc.ca/~donna/bookrec.htm.
http://www.dragonbear.com - web graphics, historical articles, and more.
http://www.leatherfactory.com - a web site about leather that doesn't feature whips and chains.
http://www.dnaco.net/~aleed/corsets/lowerclass/makeflem.html - step by step directions, with pictures, of garb for a Flemish lady.
http://www.sound-check.com/beads - for some marvellous beadwork, including a laurel wreath.
If you have bookmarked Stefan's Florilegium, that compendium of useful posts culled from the Rialto and various listservs, you will want to update it to his new "front door," http://lg_photo.home.texas.net/florilegium/index.htm.
Medieval technology? Try the index, timeline, and references at http://scholar.chem.nyu.edu/~tekpages/
Not a textile person? Take a look at Charles Oakley's medieval woodworking projects at http://www.dnaco.net/~arundel/oakley.html
Or there's http://www.interlog.com/~kms/Skeldergate/lib-blacklives.txt It's an article entitled The Lives of Black People During the Middle Ages and Renaissance: A Bibliography, by Kristine Maitland.
Maps! You wouldn't believe the maps you can find on the Web! For starters, look at the Perry-Casteneda Map Collection at the University of Texas/Austin: http://www.lib.utexas.edu/Libs/PCL/Map_collection/Map_collection.html Besides their own collection, this site has links to many other map collections.
"The Saxon Shore" offers primary sources in English translation, mostly concerning King Arthur's era. The collection includes Nennius, Bede, the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the Cambrian Annals, Gerald of Wales, Jordanes, and a selection of Welsh poetry. Find all this at http://www.pitt.edu/~jegst6/
A new "Medieval English Urban History" site has gone on line at http://www.trytel.com/~tristan/towns/towns.html So far it includes the histories of six English towns (Norwich, King's Lynn, Great Yarmouth, Ipswich, Colchester, and Maldon) and the text of the website owner's thesis on office-holding in those towns between 1272 and 1460. Future plans include maps and other illustrations.
Did this Pennsic give you the idea that it's time you improved your campsite? At http://davejacobs.com/sca/bed.htm you will find directions for constructing a period bed. He also has directions for making a folding stools. It is all part of a series called "Spiffing up your campsite"
A new Middle Eastern website is under construction at http://witch.drak.net/lilinah/index.html
Changing ethnicities, "Wearing the Great Kilt (This kilt is also known as the great plaid or belted plaid,
the breacan feile, the feileadh mhor or philamore)" can be found at
http://www.tartanweb.com/greatkilt/
See also Eachna's 5th Century Irish-Celtic Re-Enactments Page at
http://www.celticgarb.org
The official SCA Order of Precedence (listing orders and titles for everyone achieving them) is available on the Web at http://waks.ne.mediaone.net/Prec/, where it is regularly updated.
A Knowne World map overlaid on a "real" map is at
Looking for SCA Filk? Start at www.locksley.com or http://members.tripod.com/~whitebard/blakbook/
For more serious researchers, material concerning the history and culture of Jews in medieval Spain can be found at http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Academy/8636/.
http://www.teleport.com/~tguptill/toc.htm is the website of the Known World Architectural Guild
http://members.aol.com/belgardens/index.html will take you to a source for period (and other) plants, all neatly dated for you.
Here's a nice new site with a bunch of portraits of Elizabethans and Tudors (royal and noble). All let you click on the thumbnail for a larger version. http://members.home.net/eebuehler/
Period shopping with documentation provided! Rummage around in Aelfwyn’s Attic at http://jodimc.home.texas.net/
Tales of Froissart can be found at a site hosted by Duke Finnvarr: http://www.unipissing.ca/department/history/froissart/tales.htm