We have no photographs of life in the fourteenth century. We must develop our picture of it from illustrations done at the time, from surviving artefacts, archaeological information, and written sources such as chronicles, wills, inventories, and period instruction manuals. On rare, fortunate occasions, we can draw all four avenues of research together for a reconstruction. As much as possible we try to have at least two sources.

Whenever we can we use primary source documentation that dates from the first quarter of the fifteenth century. However, many of the illustrations from the time are sketchy or unclear. Some things are not illustrated at all. If we cannot find a visual reference for something that we have learned was used in our time frame, we look to both earlier and later sources and try to find a form that appears both before and after our time. If we have a vague image of an object, we try to match its silhouette to one depicted in another place that shows the object in greater detail. Thus we obtain insight into the construction of the object, allowing a plausible reconstruction.

Occasionally we experiment with variant reconstructions, trying alternative possibilities in materials and methods of construction. Such “field testing” can clarify reconstructive options, separating what is a practical from what turns out to be not such a good idea after all.