Recent Projects

Greetings.  Well, An Tir’s September Crown Tourney is nearly upon us.  Our family will be attending together with Lady Elewys Cuylter of Finchingefeld and her daughter, Lottie Blacksmith, and also Elizabeth of Fernhill with her husband and little children.  As I write, Lady Avelyn is busy making herself a new apron dress (in the Viking style).  Our group has reserved camping space under the name House Finchingefeld.

I have recently made myself a green belt favor with the yellow crossed trumpets of the herald’s badge hand-embroidered upon it.

Also, I have been working on preparing to teach a "What Can Your Herald Do for You?" class at the upcoming Midhaven Fall Ithra.  This will be my first time teaching an Ithra class, and is intended to cover the things that heralds do, and the things that heralds could do if asked.  I am also eager for the other heraldry classes that will be offered.

(Fieldless.)  A cinquefoil pierced
per pale purpure and vert.

On the subject of heraldry, I have volunteered to do early morning town cries on the Saturday and Sunday of September Crown, and may be joined for at least one of these by Libuše Makovička, who is a relatively new member from Midhaven.  She has been interested in voice heraldry and tried it out a couple times over this summer.  She and I may also assist a bit with field heraldry and perhaps even court heraldry, as well.

I have also been working with Lord Bryson MacLachlan and my wife, Lady Avelyn de Mowbray, to develop personal badges.  Lady Avelyn has settled upon a rather elegant badge (IMHO) which has now been submitted for registration by the SCA College of Arms.

In addition, I have recently been working on a redesign of a couple of badges that the Shire of Midhaven has already unsuccessfully tried to register.  One, for the populace is now,  Argent, on a pale azure, cotised sable, a tulip slipped and leaved argent.  The other, for the Company of the Tulip, is (Fieldless.)  A tulip slipped, leaved, and conjoined at the base within a billet voided argent.

proposed redesign of
Midhaven’s populace badge

proposed redesign of badge for the
Company of the Tulip

An Illustration of Chivalry

The concept of chivalry comes from the knights of the high middle ages.  While one need not be a knight in order to act chivalrously, I will use a knight for an example in discussing this quality.  In this illustration, our knight’s behavior also shows honor, loyalty, courtesy (the behavior expected of courtiers), and noblesse oblige (the obligation of the nobility towards their social inferiors).

Our example knight has pledged his service to a lord.  This service requires his obedience to the lord’s commands, but also gives the knight a claim upon his lord for protection.  If the lord goes to war, the knight brings his soldiers and follows his lord into battle.  The knight is bound to defend his lord even unto death.

At home, perhaps our knight holds an office of responsibility in the service of his lord.  He does his best job at whatever he is charged with, and always gives his lord relevant information and honest counsel, but then supports his lord’s ultimate decision, and does his best to see it fulfilled.

The knight is fierce against opponents, never yielding while there is strength in his arm or wit in his mind.  His courage against all odds is heroic.  He expects the best from his servants, squires, and peers alike, and faithfully exemplifies noble virtue.

As fierce as he is toward his enemies, he is gentlemanly, but not patronizing, towards the ladies.  Though a stout warrior on the field of battle, he is nevertheless a poet at heart who dances with grace and gives alms to the poor.

Finally, although our knight leaves his household from time to time on errands for his lord, and may be gone for months or years without his family, his most constant companion is his horse.  He would never, but in the greatest need, push his mount beyond a healthy pace, or use his steed for labors below its worthy station.  He will care for his horse, so that his horse will care for him.

Demo at Stanwood-Camano Fair

On Friday evening, 3 August 2012 the Barony of Aquaterra, by invitation, put on a demo for the fairgoers at the Stanwood-Camano Fair.

The demo began late, due to the need for the Fair to bulldoze the equestrian arena and prep area.  Sir Brand deus-Leons, KSCA, OP, was a great chatelaine, chatting up the assembled audience, one bleacher at a time, while everyone was waiting for the show to get underway.  Once the bulldozer finished, the demo kicked off with a processession onto the field led by Countess Sinéidin Baroness Aquaterra and the other riders and followed by Baron Steinolfr, the heavy fighters, and the support crews, on foot.

Field heraldry was a bit unusual, as the layout of the venue was rather too large for the crowd to hear a voice herald from the field.  It did, however, have an announcer's booth with a public address system.  Still, I spent the heavy demo with a walkie-talkie to communicate with the announcer's booth as needed.  So, in the best tradition of functional heraldry, I facilitated communication between the combatants, the announcers, the Baroness, and (later on) the equestrians.

All in all, there was a pretty good crowd, not packed, but sizable.  Several people were quite eager and interested.

There were eight heavy fighters who participated, at first, taking turns with one-on-one scenarios, then after taking a break to talk to the audience and show them their armor and weapons up close, a grand melee.

After the fighting demo, we had an equestrian demo, with a few riders jousting at quintains, then at successively smaller rings.

Overall, the demo was a success, although neither highly organized, nor without injury.  (One lady was taken by ambulance after her horse was spooked.)  Still, we had fun, the audience seemed to enjoy it, I expect the fair will want us back next year, and we now have the experience to know what to do differently next time.

Skagit Valley Highland Games

This weekend, many of us from the Shire of Midhaven, and some from the Barony of Aquaterra held a public demo at the Skagit Valley Highland Games.

The morning was somewhat easy-going with a few people coming by and about an hour or so of drizzle.  We had a bit of rapier-fighting with Lord Bryson MacLachlan, Duncan of Hawkesborough, and Keegan of the Black Company.  Sir Thorkell FitzHrothgar led the heavy-fighting demo with Lord Derfail Bjornsson, Hassa, Aláric Arabis Bjornsson, Arthmæl and Keegan, all of the Black Company, as well as Lord Etolé Marchant (of KeyPoynt) and Johara al Wadi, our youth combattant.

Lady Samira al Wadi, together with companions, performed some belly-dance.

A lord from Aquaterra, whose name I never found out, but who is a part of House Redstone, demonstrated the crafting of wooden spoons.  Martha at Gore, our own Deputy Minister of Arts & Sciences, demonstrated the spinning of yarn from wool.  Cailin Cobb and I demonstrated the making of mail armor.  Duchess Angharad Banadaspus Drakenhefd and Lady Mericke de Ross displayed garb, and both Sir Thorkell and Lord Vedr Fawkner displayed a selection of weaponry.  The heaviest foot-traffic was between the parade of the clans at noon, and about 3:30 or 4 in the afternoon.

Toward the middle of the afternoon, I took a stroll over to where the (bag)pipe and drum bands were rehearsing and competing.  There was something profoundly stirring about being in the midst of them, as their music all blended together filling the air with a surreal mood.

I had the opportunity there to provide a bit of training for Cailin and also for Libuše Makovička in field heraldry.  I greatly enjoyed spending so much of the day (between heraldry, and the chain mail demo) with Cailin, for whom I have great respect as a person.  I also found it really cool to hear him explaining chain mail to the public, when he, himself, was so new to the craft.

I had to smirk to myself when during the parade of the clans, the announcer mentioned how anachronistic it was for our group to be using a golf cart, which was necessary because Duchess Angharad has a broken leg.  Her Grace has a great and inspiring enthusiasm.

Also, right before the Highland Games, Duchess Angharad invited me to become her ducal herald, which I gladly accepted.

Miscellaneous Musings

HIGHLAND GAMES
Well, this coming weekend the Celtic Arts Foundation will be putting on the Skagit Valley Highland Games at Edgewater Park in Mount Vernon.  Yours truly is planning to attend all day on Saturday, but will miss Sunday.  While there, my main activities will be to provide field heraldry support for the SCA fighting demonstrations, and to work on an A&S (arts & sciences) project or two.  Currently, I am continuing to embellish a dress of my daughter’s with embroidery.

TERROR IN THE TULIPS
I am pleased to report that one of my A&S entries at Terror in the Tulips was judged second place in the beginners category.  It is a hand-sewn 13th Century coif made of white 100% linen simple-weave fabric and featuring chinstraps of white cotton DMC embroidery floss, hand made (by me) using a 10-stranded braid.  I also displayed a necklace that I had made for my daughter on a lucet, and a sleeve of butted mail, complete with tapering from the shoulder to the wrist and a wholly-incorporated mitten-style hand.

After seeing the many photos of myself that were taken at Terror in the Tulips, my initial reaction is something like, “Gadzooks!  I need to lose weight.”  There’s just something about a photograph that makes one face reality.

SHIRE MEETING
This coming Wednesday, the Shire will have its July business meeting.  As my wife, Lady Avelyn de Mowbray, is visiting family in the West Kingdom, I will be bringing the A&S judging forms for Midhaveners from Terror in the Tulips.  Also Lady Avelyn’s deputy, Martha at Gore, will be presenting the A&S Minister’s report.

BLACKWORK
In my interest in the art of blackwork (speaking generally), I have recently joined the Yahoo! group of the West Kingdom Needleworkers Guild, and done some online research into 16th Century English blackwork and scarletwork, the materials used (generally hand-waxed silk floss on white linen simple-weave fabric), what items or parts of garments were embellished with blackwork (or scarletwork), period designs, the stitching techniques employed, and modern sources for obtaining the proper materials and tools.

As a result of all this, I have decided a couple of things.  First, since my research to this point indicates that period blackwork and scarletwork did not use wool or hemp, and I have a certain quantity of both, I may try my hand at counted-thread embroidery in the style of blackwork in these media, before beginning any actual blackwork or scarletwork projects (especially since I have yet to obtain any black or scarlet silk floss).

Second, I plan to make a few counted-thread embroidered pillows for largesse.  These may be sized for children, for dolls, for carrying small thing upon (such as rings, etc.), or possibly for adults, depending on how big the resulting design comes out on the particular fabric.  I suppose to stuff pillows, I’ll need to get some downy feathers (perhaps goose down?  If you have a good, inexpensive source, I’d be interested to know.)

HERALDIC RESEARCH
Two quick notes:  (1) In looking for sources to document the name of Libuše Makovička for submission to the College of Arms, I came across an online collection of Seigneurial Land Records from the Kingdom of Bohemia dating from about 1450 through the 1800s.  A cursory scan of some of the earliest images revealed to me that it is nigh impossible to make useful sense of low-resolution photographs of 600-year-old cursive manuscripts written in Czech.  As the decades progressed, more of them seemed to be written in Gothic calligraphy, but still, I have yet to find any useful information.  Even so, there are over 2 million images in the collection, certainly enough to leave room for the possibility of something useful.

(2)  This coming October, the Shire of Midhaven will be having a Fall Ithra.  I have gotten a tentative “yes” from the Pelican Queen-of-Arms, Doña Juliana de Luna, to her teaching one or more classes on the new Standards for the Evaluation of Names and Armory.  I plan to work with the relevant Ithra chancellor, Lady Elewys Cuylter of Finchingefeld, JdL, GdS on putting together a track of classes specifically related to heraldry.  More on this later....

AQUATERRA FIGHTING DEMO AT STANWOOD-CAMANO FAIRGROUNDS
The Barony of Aquaterra was invited by the organizers of the Stanwood-Camano Fair to put on a fighting demo this year (Friday, August 3rd from 6 to 9 PM).  As the fairgrounds are about a half-mile from my home, Lady Avelyn and I are planning to participate, although neither of us is a fighter.  Certainly we can be in garb, and contribute to the ambiance.  I might get the chance to do some voice heraldry, and we both may get the opportunity to field questions from the modern public.

Terror in the Tulips - RAIN!

On Saturday, June 24, 2012, a sudden thunderstorm swept through the event site, dumping copious amounts of rain, accompanied by violent gusts that destroyed the pop-up at gate, and threw our own pop-up at our yurt, while I was tying down the edges of its roof, which were flying up and letting the torrent in.  Thanks to the timely assistance of those camping next to us, we were able to get everything taken care of, being nevertheless drenched to the bone in the process.

After the worst of the storm had passed, and while the rain yet continued heavy upon all around, 'twas decided to call off all remaining activities for the day.  Indeed, many of those at the event departed to pass the night in the relative comfort of their own manors, leaving their pavilions erected, having heard conflicting reports from various sources regarding the weather yet to come.  Some reports claimed that the storms were to return at midnight.  However, as the evening wore on, the weather cleared, and the stars were revealed in great splendor, even including the fortuitous omen of a shooting star.

During the eventide, my sister and I went on a quest in search of warm, delicious clam chowder, whereby to fend off the chill that did verily persist in our bodies resulting from the thorough soaking endured in the day's storm.  It took some two hours to find a merchant from which to buy this marvelously successful concoction.

Then, by the grace of heaven, the following day was blessed with glorious sun.  By the same were our yurt and other effects dried sufficiently to pack away, while the children, playing in the sun all day, received severe sunburns.

The weather notwithstanding, much fun was had by many, as not a few undertook to experience things which theretofore they had yet to attempt.  (For example, Libuše Makovička assisted with heralding baronial court, and a few gentles entered their first ever Arts & Sciences competition.)

Finally, resounding cheers to the Town of KeyPoynt for providing breakfast (for donations) to so many.  It was a wonderful meal, masterfully prepared.  Huzzah for Lord Etolé and his now famous omelets.

Photographs of the event can be seen at:

• http://www.flickr.com/photos/thewakingdragon/sets/72157630291433530/
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ShireofMidhaven/photos/album/679723699/pic/list
• http://news.webshots.com/album/583017245NRLCDz

Getting Up to Speed with Heraldry

Well, just as I was starting to get a bit more confident with the old Rules for Submission, the SCA Board of Directors just approved a complete replacement, called Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory (SENA).

It’s a bit daunting to keep up with consultation clients (which as a branch herald, I have many of) at this time, but at first glance, the new SENA looks relatively clear and of high quality.

- Michael FitzGeoffrey, Midhaven Pursuivant