Introduction

The material offered by this website may be perused and enjoyed without the beleaguered viewer being forced to first digest a lengthy preamble. Nonetheless, some knowledge of the intent behind Aedificium may help to explain some of the site's quirks. With this in mind, the following is offered to the sufficiently interested reader.

Purpose

Aedificium is a "living history" website. With it, I hope to encourage the study of all aspects of life in late twelfth century England, not just those often associated with the European Middle Ages in the popular imagination (knights, castles, etc.). The site intends neither to idealize nor to villify the people of that place and period, but rather to help us reach across the centuries that separate us from our medieval predecessors and imagine what their lives might have been like. The more we learn about the past, the more insight we gain into the social, political, economic, and spiritual currents that played a part in shaping the modern era. As a result, we are better able to contextualize the present, and thus acquire a broader and deeper understanding of the world we inhabit today.

Motivation

When I set out to create Aedificium, I conceived of it as a resource for roleplayers hoping to use medieval English settings in their games. I had recently grown fascinated with the idea of playing in such a setting, one devoid of the usual trappings of standard pseudo-European medieval fantasy games [1], and was surprised at the dearth of websites catering to those with similar interests. Having done a good deal of amateur research on the subject, I decided to help fill the vacuum. My original plan was to incorporate campaign notes, maps, and other miscellany into the site. During Aedificium's gestation, however, I grew increasingly interested in the study of twelfth century England not as a means to an end, but as an end unto itself. Hoping to encourage others with similar interests, I altered the site's purpose, broadening the intended audience to include anyone interested in learning more about my favorite subject.

The result, then, is a mixture of various types of resources. Some will be of more use to roleplayers, while others may prove helpful for students, but it is my hope that most of the material found herein will be of interest to virtuallly anyone intrigued by the European Middle Ages.

Artwork

A number of visitors have asked me who is responsible for the illustrations scattered over the pages of Aedificium. They have found the signatures on the drawings impossible to read, and I have to agree. To set the record straight: All of these pieces are my work. Each is sketched in pencil, then inked over and detailed with a pen, and finally digitized using a scanner, given an off-white background, and cleaned up a bit. I'm fairly happy with the results. They all have their share of blemishes, but I try to think of these as learning experiences.

One person wondered about the tower I have chosen to use as Aedificium's symbol. It is the keep of Conisbrough Castle, still upstanding and almost completely intact after eight hundred years. The tower was constructed in the late twelfth century, which makes it perfect for my purposes. If ever you are in southern Yorkshire, it is well worth a visit.

Acknowledgements

In creating and assembling the material found on this website, I have had help from many people, all of whom have my gratitude. In particular, I would like to thank the following parties. Any errors in the material found on Aedificium are, of course, solely my responsibility.

Andy Staples. In addition to being a Yorkshireman through and through (which I'm told is a positive quality in and of itself), Andy has been an invaluable resource on numerous occasions, particularly when I've required help with the interpretation of landscape features while drawing speculative maps. He was the one who suggested looking at old Ordnance Survey maps for guidance, and coached me in other techniques that have proven invaluable. But Andy is not only an amateur archaeologist specializing in medieval landscapes, but a gracious host as well. He opened his house to me when I visited England, and literally drove his car into the ground while ferrying me from one medieval site to the next over the course of a week. Andy's website, The Penultimate HârnPage, is packed with material of interest to Hârniacs and medieval England fanatics alike, and well worth a visit.

Sophia Tribad. Sophia has proofread some of the articles offered here; this alone earns her my thanks, given that such work is often tedious for the reader but invaluable to the writer. She has also been willing to engage in lengthy email-based discussions on a variety of topics including, of course, aspects of life in medieval England. As with all such exchanges, our conversations have served as inspiration when my energy and enthusiasm have flagged. Sophia is an accomplished GM with years of experience, and runs PBeM games from time to time; check Sophia's Chybisa Page for more information.

Columbia Games Inc., the publishers of Hârn and the Lionheart [2] supplement. Besides being a beautifully crafted medieval fantasy roleplaying setting that is a joy to play, the world of Hârn was responsible for opening my mind to the possibilities of a realistic medieval milieu. Lionheart, their sourcebook for roleplaying in medieval England, helped me take the first tentative steps into the research that ultimately produced this site. CGI's products are available via their website.

ProFantasy Software, the makers of Campaign Cartographer 2 [3], a CAD-based software application designed to fulfill roleplayers' insatiable appetites for maps. All the maps found on this website have been created using CC2, and I would be at a loss without it. CC2 and a number of add-on programs are available through ProFantasy's website.

My colleagues in the CC2/Hârn Mapping Project. This group of worthies, volunteers one and all, has produced the Mappa Hârnica Toolkit, a free add-on for Campaign Cartographer 2 that supports the drawing of maps in the Hârnic style. I have chosen to emulate this style, with minor modifications, when drawing my maps, as it is well suited to the realistic groundplans and depictions of settlements required for my campaign. Mappa Hârnica has thus been invaluable for my efforts. The toolkit is available as a free download from the CHMP Public Page.

Feedback

Suggestions, criticism, comments, etc. are welcome. If you find any errors in my work or feel that I should have included something that I didn't (or vice versa), please do not hesitate to let me know.

Endnotes

1. Please note that I have nothing against such games; I grew up on a steady diet of high fantasy, and still very much enjoy it. However, my fondness for the genre is irrelevant to the fact that fantasy games are often terrible simulations of the European Middle Ages.

2. Hârn and Lionheart are trademarks of Columbia Games Inc.

3. Campaign Cartographer and CC2 are trademarks of ProFantasy Software Limited.

Last modified 9-4-02