098 teaser: EVENTS' PICS by Cephalophore

[Cephalophore]

Wow, this was incredibly thorough and the inclusion of the index is highly appreciated. There are definitely some in here that I can make use of. I think the coats of arms are promising, I have been saving photos of those myself as I come across them in the hopes we will one day find good use for them. Thank you so much +rep

[Majkl]

I was not usre about index since it is in Slovak language but since it was 4 pages, I decided to include it. Glad I could help.

[Cephalophore]

Here is a comparison of the Southern_European and the Greek events. It's a big picture to warn those who experience problems with such things.

SE Vs. Greek

Event List
Naval Blockade
Military Education
Battle Capture Building (the manuscript for SE does not have better quality, apologies)
Spawn Noble Lady (Sicily and Romans)
Death of King (Pisa and Romans)
Various Assassin events
Info Siege Availability
Marriage related
End Civil War (Venice and Romans)
Civil War (Venice and Romans)
Info Handsome
Architects of SSHIP
Info Agents Diplomats and a Council related event
Improved Metallurgy
Various Merchant Events
Army Morale Info
Additional Costs Info

[kostic]

Magnificent ! Great !

[Khevsur]

happy New Year . There are many high quality images of the Middle Ages. Dates and English comments are available and you can choose from

https://independent.academia.edu/GeorgeKalandia

[Cephalophore]

@Khevsur, Thanks. Happy New Year

I will take a look.

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Below are Southern-European events. If you have a keen eye you'll recognize that these are mostly Italian miniatures. There are some Iberian ones so don't fret. I reckon in the future there will be a separate culture for Italians and Iberians. At the bare minimum I will have separate Iberian events for the battle related images for those who would prefer them.

Why are they mostly Italian? Because I found more Italian miniatures than Iberian miniatures. I spend hours and hours researching, digging through databases, catalogues, digital libraries, scholarly articles, etc. to find stuff and I am sorry to say right now I am just completely burnt out on this Southern European stuff. I'm not giving up on Iberia I just need a break from the research aspect while I finish the actual editing part.

Regarding research into Italian miniatures.. there is one manuscript that eludes me to my disappointment. This is the Venezia Museo Correr 1493, an Alexandre Romance with over 100 miniatures. I cannot find a digital copy, but I know text based reproductions exist - Le Roman d’Alexandre, riproduzione del ms. Venezia, Biblioteca Museo Correr, Correr 1493. Unfortunately, I don't live in Europe. I can't go the nearest library to view it.. let alone take photographs. I have 5 miniatures I found online and one of them is seen below:

Right Coulmn
Fifth Down
Red and white robed rider followed by soldiers

Click to View

[kostic]

Your research work is impressive ! Personally, I don't think I will be able to tell the difference between Italian and Iberian miniatures. If one or the other should illustrate an event happening in the country next door it wouldn't be a problem in my opinion.

[Millan-Astray]

The Cantigas de Santa Maria codex (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cantigas_de_Santa_Maria) fit the time frame that you need? It has a lot of excellent quality iberian miniatures.

[Cephalophore]

Yes, thank you, I am aware of it and I have access to all the different versions including the most famous which was recently digitized for all to see.

Sorry to keep talking to myself outloud - the thing is.. as wonderful as the Cantigas are, they're Gothic style. I will still use them (especially for battles) the dead give away that they're Iberian (or Italian) is the pigment.. lots of vivid pinks, greens, red, very fruity looking. French, German, and English manuscript miniatures usually don't have such vivid colors because available pigment. They don't present themselves as uniquely Iberian like the Beatus manuscripts do. Also, much of the Cantigas are unusable unless I deface their original splendor because they often portray these tales of conversion or miracles that don't really fit into any of the needed events. I really dislike butchering and frakensteining different miniatures together to create a different scene - I resort to it when I've completely given up finding something useable.

There are other manuscripts - the biggest annoyance is that most of the 'Peninsular' libraries digitized their collections quite sometime ago or continue to digitize and upload as PDFs. The quality is quite disappointing.

And the time frame is excellent to answer your question directly!

@Kostic, there are some differences, but the traditional Gothic style everyone knows of reigns supreme.Italian has much more Byzantine/Roman influence. Iberian miniatures are kind of a wild thing.. there are Middle Eastern/North African influences in the South, Gothic in the North, and later Italian Romanesque style that trickles in around the 1300s. I try to find out, y'know, who is illuminating this manuscript? Was the person employed by the court? Were the miniatures drawn later by a foreign hand? etc etc. I mean, take the Canterbury Psalter half English Gothic, half Iberian Romanesque or even the Skylitzes Manuscript from my Greek events.. which has like three different artists, the descriptions don't even match half of the miniatures, the guy who wrote the red lettering (usually reserved for descriptions of what is going on in a miniature) can barely write grammatically correct Greek.

I make it hard on myself to be fair! But I want to give everyone the best, most accurate experience possible! I could've easily just google imaged all this and pulled it from there but we deserve better than that


(I'll edit in some photos when i get home/have time - DONE)

Iberian Miniatures

Click Images For Links

[Cephalophore]

Hey Kostic, actually, I have a question you might be able to answer since you research our units and create models. So, as you may have noticed we have a couple golden helmets (of course, the gold is rather just an aspect of manuscript illumination) but, do you know if any wealthy knights would've had golden/gilded arms or armor? It does occur often enough across many miniatures that it seems like it would've been possible historically. Imagine our fully upgraded wealthy knights having a few golden helms? Is that plausible?

[kostic]

Difficult to say ... When such helmets are found in archeology, you never know if their function was not simply for pageantry and not for combat. Gold is not the most suitable metal to protect against blows. It is necessary to interpret from data crossed between written descriptions, illuminations, archaeological discoveries ...
All of this lends itself to different and sometimes opposing views. For example: before the year 2000 many researchers had developed theories (in part based on the enormous work of Viollet le duc) on the different possible meshes in the 11th and 12th centuries that many have now simplified into a generalization of the chainmail by crisscrossing rings. Are they right about all of this ? Personally, I think a little imagination is needed when you don't know.
Why not try a golden helmet for a king or an heir ? It does not seem unrealistic to me.

[Cephalophore]

I probably should've phrased it better. I suspected that the golden helmets in some of these miniatures don't actually depict solid gold (as a metal), but basically a gold "paint job"/gilded armors. I agree and have read the same - gold is not a suitable defensive metal. I recall a video by Knyght Errant explaining how black armors in medieval miniatures were usually originally painted gold or silver but the gold deteriorated or was otherwise removed from the miniature. I think it is feasible for at least a king or heir or a nobleman to have a gold painted steel helm. I guess I just wanted to throw that out there for you because it was something I came across! Thanks for the reply!

[Jurand of Cracow]

An example how Ceph's pics look in-game:

[Cephalophore]

Yes, yes.. though the Northern European ones are surely a work in progress! The first one is indeed fitting to the event for what it lacks in contemporary style. It is a later miniature. I reckon late 1300s or early 1400s and that is being rather generous. The latter is much more accurate for the period - I think that is a Matthew of Paris manuscript iirc.

Here is a Greek one from some months ago. I do apologize for the wait - my life is very very busy right now. Soon Southern European will be done with an Iberian version optional.

[Macaras]

I honestly think they are marvelous, also the ones from before !

[Cephalophore]

Thanks Macaras!

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Here is a current comparison of Southern European paired with my previous Greek events. I came across an Alexander Romance from Italy with abundant miniatures - it should be plenty to finish the Southern European events. Funnily, the Madrid Skylitzes and the Leipzig Alexander Romance are both from Sicily.

Mama mia! itsa Alessandro the Great!

[kostic]

Excellent work ! Thanks to you, SSHIP players have the chance to visit a virtual museum of how our ancestors illustrated. Our mod comes out greatly grown !

[Cephalophore]

Excellent work ! Thanks to you, SSHIP players have the chance to visit a virtual museum of how our ancestors illustrated. Our mod comes out greatly grown !

Thank you, Kostic! And thanks to everyone else who has supported me whether with rep, pms, or information on this thread!

This has certainly evolved from it's beginnings. Where I am now, how I see this project - it is precisely this idea of a glimpse into the past that I have come to consider a major factor of this task. It really is, as you said, a "virtual museum." I hope that the people who enjoy this mod will also find satisfaction in these historical images.

[Khevsur]

Cephalophore

Save my uploaded Georgian miniatures ? Unfortunately the site where I was uploading the photos - was shut down

I can upload again

[Cephalophore]

I saved them Khevsur. don't worry