First off, I love this mod! His goofy little outfit makes him stand out immediately so I can tell when he's booking it my way. Forgive me if this is too much of an ask but would it be at all possible to patch this to work with The Courier Crew and Courier Delivers to NPCs? I appreciate your work either way!
So was that a standardized outfit? I can't imagine couriers from all those hundreds of nations scattered across Europe were using the EXACT same style of clothing, considering standardization was almost unheard of back then.
If you do a search on "medieval courier" you will see that couriers were definitely not standardized. In many cases they actually just wore their normal clothing depending on the type of work they did or the region the delivered in. I am not expert on the subjects but I did a quick read.
For instance, a courier for the vatican would be very different than a courier for a king. And again there were regular couriers who worked the less glamorous jobs and were morel likely to wear common clothes. The further back you go all the way to the 1400's they seem to be far rarer and more like to be standardized. By the 1600s or so they are far more commonplace and random. Couriers go back quite a way though.
A bit of extra: the word comes from a latin word "currere" and means "to run." The earliest official couriers were the cursus publicus in Ancient Rome and they were only available to the government and the military.
Wow. I honestly didn't think I would start a serious historical debate by publishing my humble mod.
Thank you for taking the time to have a friendly chat and, above all, for the interest. 🙂
To contribute to this topic : even in my image section, I showed several medieval iconographies. But if you want more information about my work, know that I base myself mainly on the writings of Patrick Schmoll, who worked on the “Teutonic Order”.
The Teutonic Order was concerned very early on with the establishment of secure and permanent land postal connections. An act probably dating back to 1226 establishes that the Duke of Pomerania authorizes the free crossing of his lands by the knights and letters of the Order. And the usage was attested for couriers in German cities.
Therefore, to answer the first question: YES, the iconography of the courier shows his visual attributes already well standardized in western europe back in the 15th century : the costume, the letter with red wax, the pike, etc. And couriers, like medieval heralds, usualy carried the identity of the city abroad - displaying its color as if they were its ''living shield''. Furthermore, this type of costume remained in use for a long time - and we find it worn by other offices, with the same sense of an affirmation of the lordship's color represented by its herald. (for more details : https://books.openedition.org/psorbonne/13106 - but it is in French language...)
Now, obviously, historical works can be subject to debate and new discoveries.
But, for a simple mod for Skyrim, I wanted to summarize.
Obviously, I didn't want to title my mod: Costume inspired by the Bernese courier of the Läuferbrunnen who died in 1444.
My goal was, above all, to offer an outfit that fits with the overall aesthetic of Skyrim - and to offer a specific piece of clothing for a character that we often meet as players.
The thing is: most pictorial representations dating from the medieval era in the broad sense represent couriers wearing red. 🚩
To add to Mimirvision comment I add this quotation from an article: Postal service systems appeared in India and China a long time ago, but the first highly reliable postal service was the one established by the Romans in 14 AD. Historians have considered that the postal service that arose in ancient Persia around 550 BC was the first in terms of its legitimacy; This is because they viewed the postal services that existed at that time as ineffective; Rather, it is merely a mask behind collecting secret information and transmitting royal decisions.
Small clipping of the hair behind but overall great work. Its the kind of mods I don't hesitate to install. We need someone like Xtudo to optimize things.
Thanks for taking the time to check for bugs. It goes straight to my heart. 💛 I also tried to correct dagger's clipping - even though daggers still clip with the originals Skyrim clothes anyway...
Thank you for the fix again. A mod like this is of a great immersion. I thought to Xtudo because in general he do some variation of the colors and some time change some items in the outfits like the imperial medallion (why not chose a neutral sign?) but you can do that as well. I was integrating the last week Tamrielic Distribution in my modding but I was rather picky about what I choose (so far I changed the outfit of Vittoria Vicci, Aquillius Aeresius, Alexia Vici, Margret, Eris, Dorian, Thongvor). From Resplendent Royals I took Elisif (full choice), Bryling (full), Falk FireBear (outfit), most court mages, Calcelmi + Aicantar, Irileth and Faleen (Full choice). Jon of Whiterun I gave him CC Alternative Armors - Leather (no hood) Betrid Silver Blood (DE Ornate Robe and Boots) Bergritte Battle-Born (Embroidered Garment + FineHat02) (Why none has thought about this?)
By Azura ! You're the great Gilles Sagittarius ! I've been using your mods since I can't even remember - thank you so much for noticing my own work. I'm so happy right now ! 😀
(And sorry for the hairy legs look of my courier pants ! xD)
20 comments
I just added a patch. 😉
For instance, a courier for the vatican would be very different than a courier for a king. And again there were regular couriers who worked the less glamorous jobs and were morel likely to wear common clothes. The further back you go all the way to the 1400's they seem to be far rarer and more like to be standardized. By the 1600s or so they are far more commonplace and random. Couriers go back quite a way though.
A bit of extra: the word comes from a latin word "currere" and means "to run." The earliest official couriers were the cursus publicus in Ancient Rome and they were only available to the government and the military.
Thank you for taking the time to have a friendly chat and, above all, for the interest. 🙂
To contribute to this topic : even in my image section, I showed several medieval iconographies. But if you want more information about my work, know that I base myself mainly on the writings of Patrick Schmoll, who worked on the “Teutonic Order”.
The Teutonic Order was concerned very early on with the establishment of secure and permanent land postal connections. An act probably dating back to 1226 establishes that the Duke of Pomerania authorizes the free crossing of his lands by the knights and letters of the Order. And the usage was attested for couriers in German cities.
Therefore, to answer the first question: YES, the iconography of the courier shows his visual attributes already well standardized in western europe back in the 15th century : the costume, the letter with red wax, the pike, etc. And couriers, like medieval heralds, usualy carried the identity of the city abroad - displaying its color as if they were its ''living shield''. Furthermore, this type of costume remained in use for a long time - and we find it worn by other offices, with the same sense of an affirmation of the lordship's color represented by its herald. (for more details : https://books.openedition.org/psorbonne/13106 - but it is in French language...)
Now, obviously, historical works can be subject to debate and new discoveries.
But, for a simple mod for Skyrim, I wanted to summarize.
Obviously, I didn't want to title my mod: Costume inspired by the Bernese courier of the Läuferbrunnen who died in 1444.
My goal was, above all, to offer an outfit that fits with the overall aesthetic of Skyrim - and to offer a specific piece of clothing for a character that we often meet as players.
The thing is: most pictorial representations dating from the medieval era in the broad sense represent couriers wearing red. 🚩
Postal service systems appeared in India and China a long time ago, but the first highly reliable postal service was the one established by the Romans in 14 AD. Historians have considered that the postal service that arose in ancient Persia around 550 BC was the first in terms of its legitimacy; This is because they viewed the postal services that existed at that time as ineffective; Rather, it is merely a mask behind collecting secret information and transmitting royal decisions.
We need someone like Xtudo to optimize things.
Thanks for taking the time to check for bugs. It goes straight to my heart. 💛
I also tried to correct dagger's clipping - even though daggers still clip with the originals Skyrim clothes anyway...
I thought to Xtudo because in general he do some variation of the colors and some time change some items in the outfits like the imperial medallion (why not chose a neutral sign?) but you can do that as well.
I was integrating the last week Tamrielic Distribution in my modding but I was rather picky about what I choose (so far I changed the outfit of Vittoria Vicci, Aquillius Aeresius, Alexia Vici, Margret, Eris, Dorian, Thongvor). From Resplendent Royals I took Elisif (full choice), Bryling (full), Falk FireBear (outfit), most court mages, Calcelmi + Aicantar, Irileth and Faleen (Full choice).
Jon of Whiterun I gave him CC Alternative Armors - Leather (no hood)
Betrid Silver Blood (DE Ornate Robe and Boots)
Bergritte Battle-Born (Embroidered Garment + FineHat02) (Why none has thought about this?)
I've been using your mods since I can't even remember - thank you so much for noticing my own work. I'm so happy right now ! 😀
(And sorry for the hairy legs look of my courier pants ! xD)