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Who we are

tScapreel is a partner-company of Henk and Pauline 't Jong. Their aim is to make it possible for everybody to present every kind of historic event in a factually right way and to consult for and help all who want to know more about historical subjects.

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Henk 't Jong (1948) has had a fascination for the Middle Ages and other historic periods since he was twelve. He graduated, however, with distinction from the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam in the subjects Publicity and Graphic Design and won the 'Thresholdprize 1968' for Graphic Design. He was employed as comic strip artist for three of the most well known comics-magazines in the Netherlands (Pep, Sjors, Eppo) between 1970 and 1980. From 1980 until 1991 he was heraldic artist and designer for a.o. the High Council for the Nobility (a Dutch state department) and the Central Bureau for Genealogy, in which capacity he designed several civic and family coats of arms which were all registered in their separate registers. He published articles on heraldry and flags in the formost Dutch magazines in this field, a.o. De Nederlandsche Leeuw, Ons Voorgeslacht, Gens Nostra and Vexilla Nostra, having been an editor of both last magazines as well. Between 1978 and 1991 he was part-time educational employee of the town archives of his hometown Dordrecht, with its records spanning eight centuries. Here he researched, designed and put together 34 exhibitions with historical themes, a.o. medieval. He was also the designer of and contributor to the archive's magazine, he gave courses in heraldry, historic research and paleography, helped amateurs and scholars doing archival research, organised historical city tours and lectured about heraldry all over the Netherlands. He has done extensive research in the collection of medieval personal seals (1345-1500), which has recently resulted in an important website database about Dordrecht's scabinal and other seals (2004). In 2002 he finished a similar project in the city-archives of Delft, another famous Dutch town.
He was heavily involved in the 'computerisation' of the archives, which resulted in the job of information coordinator and systemmanager of the city's Cultural Department (1991-1993), which consists, apart from the archives, of the museums, the theatre, the art-lending library and it's central bureau.

He was the initiator and founder of the medieval society Die Landen van Herwaerts Over (LHO, 1991), or, in English: 'The Hither Lands'. This society of ca 200 members, has been formed to research and reconstruct medieval life of the common man in the Netherlands. He has been a member of the council of the LHO for 6 years, of which 4 years as Chairman. He also took the initiative (1999) to form, within the LHO, a re-enactmentgroup called Die Wapentuers van Dordrecht, (litt: the footsoldiers of Dordrecht) which reconstructs this town's militia in 1300.

Henk has between 1992 and 1995 been (part)designer of the medieval village Gravendam of the archeological themepark Archeon in Alphen aan den Rijn (Nederland). He has trained and led the 46 'archeotolken' of this village during the 1994 season and is, again, one of Archeon's advisors since 1999. By joining the 'archeotolken' in their daily life in the diverse types of medieval houses, he has experienced at first hand what life in these dwellings was like. He made (almost) all his own medieval clothing and leatherwork himself and writes in middledutch with the goosequill. He also acts as friar/calligrapher on medieval markets.

Since 2003 he is reading history, part-time, at Leiden University (Bachelor degree since july 2007). From 2005 this has become exclusively medieval history with as speciality Dutch medieval civic history. Besides that his extensive knowledge, built up over more than two decades, his very large reference library and collection of source-material and his vast experience in accessing sources elsewhere are a guarantee for perfect answers to your questions concerning European history.

Pauline 't Jong-Wetselaar (1955) has trained and worked as a domestic economist and has specialised in medieval food and cookery. For several years she has been the Master Cook of the LHO and a.o. has cooked for groups of more than a 100 guests. She has a very wide knowledge of the medieval strolling players, is a singer and musician as well as an actress and also runs the Theatre, Singing and Music Departments of tScapreel and actively participates in these entertainment branches. She makes her own medieval clothing as well as some of the costumes of other Scaprelers, designs and makes the theatrical costumes and props of the Varende Ghesellen, the actors of tScapreel. She sings and is percussionist in the medieval musicgroup Wronghel & Wei, who have brought out their first CD. She can also be seen as herbalist and bandweaver on medieval markets.