Interpretation of the Durham Cathedral Seal Tag

Interpretation of the Durham Cathedral Seal Tag from 1194-1211CE, scaled up and modified to be a belt.
1.5″ wide, 7′ long including checkered split warp and tasseled ends.
Motifs repeated in descending order to extend the length, ABCDCBA
Two motifs replaced.
3-2 perle cotton in medium brown and new bud green.
Pattern from A Simplified Guide to Historical Tablet Weaving

Short version why I wove this belt: the year and location match up with my partner’s persona, I wanted to make him a special item for winter- gift- exchange holidays, and after another project I had enough warp left to weave it and it was already set up to weave double face and with enough cards!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CYZ2uZAredQ/?utm_medium=copy_link

A couple years ago, before we even started dating, my Champion asked me to make him a Favor. I didn’t know what that is or anything about that tradition in LARPs and the SCA specifically. He explained it’s something he could wear onto the battlefield, tournament field, or jousting list to show he fights for my honor, or with me as his inspiration. It seemed like a big deal to me, especially finding the right inspiration for me to make something; I love card weaving but my output isn’t super high so I rarely give it as gifts and I’m not very crafty in other media. And frankly, I was apprehensive about making anything for a guy I’d just met.
Now, I’m comfortable making him something. Though I hadn’t planned to weave him a Favor.
For my birthday last year, he got me a new book of patterns I asked for: A Simplified Guide to Historical Tablet Weaving. It’s spectacular, there’s half a page of information about each extant artifact including where it was found, when it’s from, the specific width, original materials, and sometimes cultural information about how it was used or the people who used it. Honestly, I wasn’t thrilled about or planning to weave must of them because most are two hole patterns which frustrate me.

This summer I was considering what to make for him when I realized that the remaining warp left after a project was wide enough to weave the Durham Cathedral Seal Tag, which is wider than I typically weave so to do it as a main project I’d have to set up the warp specifically, and it was long enough to make it a belt. I hate warping, so even though I wouldn’t have intentionally chosen these colors, I couldn’t pass up an already- set up warp, half of which I wouldn’t have used for subsequent projects, otherwise. My Champion’s favorite color is green and he really likes trees, so luckily green and brown isn’t too weird for him.

His persona is 12th century Anglo- Norman from York, and would have been Catholic as Martin Luther didn’t nail his theses until several centuries later. Durham is near York and the seal tag is a few decades late but is close enough to be in the appropriate ballpark. I was very excited to weave a belt so appropriate to his persona! I don’t know how long it would take me to find a closer pattern or if there even is one.

I decided to replace two of the four motifs. One was actual swastikas, the other was too reminiscent of them for my comfort. I asked in the SCA card weaving group about replacing motifs as a practice and was told it’s commonly done for various reasons and how to address it if I do a writeup about this project. I had an idea for one replacement and was given other ideas. I actually used three replacements; because I repeated the motifs again in descending order to make the piece long enough to be a belt, I chose to alter one motif the second time I wove its set of three because I decided I preferred it. While it probably would have been more in the spirit of the original to be a perfect mirror image, changing and altering motifs throughout a band is typical of card weaving as a medium through history, so I’m not too bothered by it in this band. There are also two major mistakes that I hid from the camera in these pictures but are on full display when he wears it.

I wove this over the summer intending it to be a Twelfth Night gift. However, my Champion and I are flurby and like ceremony and pageantry, so I wanted to make a show of giving it to him. We were able to go to a campout this fall with many of his friends and members of his Household also attending. I conspired with the head of his Household to set the scene, telling stories and gathering friends around. Then she provided a segue for me to bring up his request for a Favor, my being unsure of its significance or what one should even physically be, and then present him with this belt woven by mine own hand. He was very touched and was then a little hard to pin down to explain the significance of the pattern to! Then at my prompting, but to my relief giving no resistance, he ran around the gathering we were at showing it off to his friends who hadn’t been directly present. My heart lept into my mouth when he came back and said he’d shown the weaving Laurel and her newly minted Apprentice, whose ceremony to formalize that relationship we had just witnessed. We were at the reception that followed. I was frankly shocked when he told me they oohed and ahhed over my work and complimented specific elements.

I’ve waited with great anticipation until now to make this post, given that last week was Twelfth Night! I started writing it several times since giving it and each time remembered I wanted to wait. I would have posted it earlier, but I was laid up after my Covid-19 booster shot! Happy Twelfth Night, happy end of the interminable xmas season, and most of all happy boostering!