Ysabel da Costa

Photo
Ysabel playing Renaissance guitar, 9/2014
Information
Resides: Carolingia
Status: Active
Awards: Order of Precedence
Heraldry
Six escallops inverted or, two, two, and two
Award & Office Badges

Introduction

Ysabel has been active since December 2012 in the Barony of Carolingia. She is Captain of the Waytes of Carolingia, the instrumental ensemble of the Carolingian Guild of Musicians and Jongleurs, and is currently attempting to organize a Trumpet and Kettledrum Corps.

Ysabel plays treble and tenor lutes, Renaissance guitar, English cittern, recorders, and period (natural) trumpet. She pursues recreational research on early instruments, music, dance, embroidery, clothing, and other sundry topics, as documented on her web site, Ysabel's Notebook. She also enjoys dancing, sewing, cooking, and learning about all the fascinating things other people have done and studied.

Persona

Ysabel da Costa was born at the turn of the 16th century to a Portuguese Converso family of traders and merchants. After marrying in her late teens, she left Portugal to flee the pressures of the Inquisition. Like her famous counterpart Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi, Ysabel has sojourned in many cities: Lisbon, Bayonne, Ferrara, and most recently Constantinople. Her husband David is frequently absent on long sea voyages and is seldom seen with Ysabel at events. They have one daughter, Rebecca.

Lilavati Datta is a 16th-century Hindu woman of a merchant clan living in Satgaon (Saptagram) in the Hooghly district in the Sultanate of Bengal. She was given in marriage as a second wife to a Portuguese trader called David; they have a grown son, named Ramesh. Since her husband rarely visits, and Lila has no mother-in-law or senior co-wife living with her, she enjoys considerable autonomy as the mistress of her household.

Offices & Positions

• Captain, Waytes of Carolingia, 7/2018 - present
• Secretary, Barony of Carolingia, 1/2019 - present

Projects & Publications

• Renaissance Guitar - historic notes, reference links, and transcriptions of period music into modern tablature: https://www1.coe.neu.edu/~lkoch/music/
• Music transcription from facsimile of the Gresley Dance Manuscript: work with the Accademia della Danza, published in the EK Gazette at https://eastkingdomgazette.org/2018/10/26/arts-sciences-research-paper-24-the-gresley-dance-collection/
• Period music for the dances of the Il Papa manuscript: work in progress with the Carolingian Accademia della Danza.
• 16th-century Indian embroideries at the Boston MFA: https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/home-page/colchas-at-the-mfa-boston/ and https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/category/fiber-arts/embroidery/.
• Renaissance trumpet - historic notes with transcriptions and reconstructions of music: see https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/2019/05/07/finding-fanfares/ and the links on that page.
• Resource page for the nascent Trumpet and Kettledrum Corps: https://www1.coe.neu.edu/~lkoch/trumpet

Classes available

• Guitar in the SCA Period (taught at Pennsic 2018): https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/home-page/guitar-in-the-sca-period/
• Renaissance Trumpet for the Court and Battlefield (taught at Pennsic 2019)
• Embroidery of 16c India (taught at Embroidery Schola 2020)