Historical resources

The purpose of this article

The setting of The Dark Mod is fantasy (specifically, science fantasy, what with the magic and steampunk elements), not history. However, due to the nature of the society depicted and focused on in the game's setting, The Dark Mod still takes heavy from real history, primarily the society of late-medieval and early modern Europe. Though there is plenty of room for anachronisms and creativity, the setting's down-to-earth nature can be enhanced with bits of historical accuracy concerning

Consider this article a resource on historical topics related to everyday life, work and socialising of people from period societies. Feel free to take inspiration from the online and bibliographic sources provided, or to suggest and/or add useful sources you've found yourself.

Housing and social infrastructure

Medieval Life - Everyday life during medieval times. A description of the history, literature, chivalry, commerce, customs, food and life of people living in Europe, Asia and Africa during the Middle Ages.

Life in a medieval castle - Brief account of daily life in a Medieval Castle. Touches on such aspects as religion, hygiene and water.

List of open-air museums and period living museums

Historic house museums by country

Association of European Open Air Museums (AEOM)

Clothing, garments and footwear

Clothing of the Middle Ages

Medieval Clothing Pages

Medieval Clothing and Fabrics

Medieval Underwear: Chosen Hosen

Medieval Clothing - Medieval attire. Men's clothing, women's clothing, children's clothing, sanitary napkins, diapers, wool, linen, silk, leather, fur, etc.

10th Century Scandinavian Ankle Boot: A Brief History and Method for Turnshoe Construction - Article available in donwloadable .pdf format.

Guide to making replica Viking turnshoes - Article available in donwloadable .pdf format.

Anglo-Scandinavian Shoes in the style of Jorvik’s Danelaw finds - Article available in donwloadable .doc format.

Healthcare and medical science

Phisick - Presents a collection of medical antiques grouped by specialty, with photographs and descriptions of each item.

The Smell of the Middle Ages

Medieval Diseases

The Gross 18th Century: Calling bullshit on hygiene myths

Eye Antiques and Collectibles - Eye antiques display items from the ophthalmic past including glasses spectacles, ophthalmoscopes, microscopes, and eye exam items.

Historical Eye Glasses - A video on authentic replicas of early modern eyewear.

Weights of an Apothecary - A resource site for the antique weights formerly used by apothecaries, chemists, druggists and pharmacists. Most British weights of the 19th and 20th centuries illustrated and described. A forum for exchange of information and discussion.

Scales and Weights - A collection of all types of historical scales and weights from different periods of the past 3000 years.

Scientific Medical & Mechanical Antiques - Complete articles are posted from the journal, American Artifacts, on early microscope makers, hand corn shellers, early surveying instruments, a variety of quack medical devices, as well as information on early patents.

The Medical Humanities SIU PRESS series - Bibliographic overview of the non-fiction book series of medical history monographs.

Writing, literature, arts

German medieval songs - Period songs for different occassions. Includes complete lyrics.

Sociology and customs

Victorian Slang Glossary - For the more steampunkish/noir aspects of The Dark Mod. Rather detailed, loads and loads of period cant and other argot expressions.

The people who think they are made of glass - Article on a unique historical psychiatric order (which coincided with the more widespread manufacturing and availability of glass).

Bibliography

Book title	Author	Publisher	Country of origin	Pages, edition and cover	ISBN	Description
Open Air Museums: The History and Future of a Visionary Idea	Rentzhog S. (eng. transl. Airey, S. V.)	Carlssons Bokförlag (Stockholm) & Jamtli Förlag (Östersund)	Sweden	1st edition 2007 hardcover	ISBN 978-91-7948-208-4	A comprehensive book on the history and development of open-air museums and their depictions of housing, work and life in previous historical periods.
At Home: A Short History of Private Life	Bryson B.	Doubleday (London)	United Kingdom	536 p. 1st edition 2010 hardcover softcover e-book	ISBN 978-0-385-60827-5	In the words of the author, "homes are not a refuge from history, they're where history ends up". The author goes through his house room by room and discusses the reasons why they are like they are. For example, why do we have salt and pepper on the kitchen table ? Why not salt and cumin ? He then delves into the historical reasons for this. It focuses mostly on Britain with a bit of America thrown in too.
The Building of The Green Valley: A Reconstruction of an Early 17th Century Rural Landscape	Peachey S.	Stuart Press & Heritage Publications	United Kingdom	210 p. 1st edition 2006 2nd edition 2010 paperback	ISBN-10: 1905223137 ISBN-13: 978-1905223138	Recreating rural housing, work and life from the early 17th century Welsh borderlands (Monmouthshire), on an authentic farm from the period.
La Ville au Moyen-Âge (The City in the Middle Ages)	Heers J.	Fayard/Pluriel	France	560 p. 1st edition 2010	ISBN-10: 2818500230 ISBN-13 (EAN): 978-2818500231	Life in medieval cities. A very complete piece of non-fiction, if one with a dry approach to the topic. It covers urbanism, social management and economy, and it covers period politics only when it touches upon these topics. A Spanish translation exists, not sure about an English one.
La ville médiévale (The Medieval City)	Boucheron P.; Menjot, D.	Editions du Seuil	France	544 p. 1st edition 2011	EAN 9782757825471	Life in medieval cities. Takes a more political approach than Heers' book, not only on inner urban dynamics, but also their relation to increasingly bureaucratized feudal states. Probably no English translation.
The Growth of the Medieval City (A History of Urban Society in Europe series)	Nicholas, D. N.	Routledge	United Kingdom	432 p. 1st edition 1997	ISBN-10: 0582299063 ISBN-13: 978-0582299061	A good summary of medieval urbanism and its evolution, in two English-language volumes.
Power and Imagination: City States in Renaissance Italy	Martines, L.	Johns Hopkins University Press	United States	400 p. 1st edition 1988	ISBN-10: 0801836433 ISBN-13: 978-0801836435	Analyzes the development of the great city-states of Italy from the eleventh to the sixteenth century, as small market towns grew into independent centers of power and culture. A general work that provides excellent info on social organization, etiquette, and political processes in the various republics, oligarchies and principalities.
Cities And The Rise Of States In Europe, A.d. 1000 To 1800	Tilly, Ch.; Blockmans, W. P.	Routledge	United Kingdom	290 p. 1st edition 1994	ISBN-10: 081338849X ISBN-13: 978-0813388496	Charles Tilly, Wim P. Blockmans, and their contributors document differences in political trajectories from one part of Europe to another and provide authoritative surveys of urbanization in nine major regions; they also suggest many correctives to previous analyses of state formation. They show that the variable distribution of cities significantly and independently constrained state formation and that states grew differently according to the character of urban networks in a given region.
Dark Ages Economics: A New Audit	Hodges, R.	Bloomsbury / Bristol Classical Press	United Kingdom	176 p. 1st edition 2012	ISBN 9780715636794	A study about the development of towns and trade around the North Sea in the early medieval period. Clearly a scholarly book, altough the author writes with clarity, and introduces the basic theories behind the topic fairly well to an average reader.

Some recommended watching

Aside from reading non-fiction books and other publications, or reading online non-fiction articles about these topics, there are certain television documentaries worth checking out. The ones recommended below are British, and cover topics related to daily life from antiquity to the heyday of the industrial revolution.

Programme title	Period	Topics covered	Production & Broadcaster	First broadcast	Episodes	Links
The Worst Jobs in History	Roman era to present day	Particularly difficult or unpleasant historical occupations	Spire Productions & Channel Four	2004, 2006	12 x 60 min.	IMDb Wikipedia
Terry Jones' Medieval Lives	Middle Ages	Debunking myths and clichés about eight different social roles/occupations of the medieval period	Oxford Film and Television Production & BBC Two	2004	8 x 30 min.	IMDb Wikipedia
Medieval Lives: Birth, Marriage, Death	Middle Ages	About the significance of a person's birth, marriage and death in the context of medieval culture and society and the rituals surrounding them	BBC Scotland & Matchlight	2013	3, 177 min. total	BBC IMDb
Secrets of the Castle...	High Middle Ages, 13th century	Castle construction and maintenance	Lion Television & BBC Two	2014	5 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb Wikipedia Lion TV
Tudor Monastery Farm	Early Tudor era, 1510s	Farming, housing, crafts, mining, trade	Lion Television & BBC Two	2013	7 x 30 min. (incl. Christmas special)	BBC IMDb Wikipedia Lion TV
A Tudor Feast at Christmas	Tudor era, 16th century	Christmas feasts of the nobility	Lion Television & BBC Two	2006	1 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb Wikipedia Lion TV
Hidden Killers of the Tudor Home	Tudor era	Design flaws and unexpected threats of domestic housing in the Tudor period	Modern Television & BBC Four	2015	1 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb
Tales from the Green Valley	Stuart era, 1620s	Farming and housing	Lion Television & BBC Two / BBC Cymru Wales	2005	12 x 28-30 min.	BBC IMDb Wikipedia Lion TV
The Victorian Kitchen Garden	Victorian era, 19th century	Gardening, cooking and housing	BBC & BBC Two	1987	13 x 30 min.	IMDb Wikipedia
The Victorian Kitchen	Victorian era, 19th century	Cooking and housing	BBC & BBC Two	1989	8 x 30 min.	IMDb
The Victorian Flower Garden	Victorian era, 19th century	Gardening and horticulture	BBC & BBC Two	1991	8 x 30 min.	IMDb
Victorian Farm	Late Victorian era, 1880s	Farming, housing, crafts, celebrations	Lion Television & BBC Two	2009	9 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb (1) IMDb (2) Wikipedia Lion TV
Victorian Pharmacy	Victorian era, 1840s-1890s	Pharmacology and drugstore history	Lion Television & BBC Two	2010	4 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb Wikipedia Lion TV
Hidden Killers of the Victorian Home	Victorian era, 1840s-1890s	Design flaws and unexpected threats of domestic housing in the Victorian period	Modern Television, BBC Wales & BBC Four	2013	2 x 60 min.	BBC (1) BBC (2) IMDb (1) IMDb (2)
Full Steam Ahead	Victorian era	Railway history and steam power	Lion Television & BBC Two	2016	6 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb Lion TV
Edwardian Farm	Edwardian era, 1900-1914	Farming, fishing, housing, crafts, mining, trade, tourism	Lion Television & BBC Two	2010-2011	12 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb Wikipedia Lion TV
Hidden Killers of the Edwardian Home	Edwardian era, 1900-1914	Design flaws and unexpected threats of domestic housing in the Edwardian period	Modern Television & BBC Four	2013	1 x 60 min.	BBC IMDb

See Also

Food

Letter Writing