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To Kindle a Mighty Blazon

07 Wednesday Apr 2021

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An ode in honor of the SCA College of Arms, for their labors on the Virtual Herald’s Point endeavor of AS LV/

by Lord Gavin Kent (mka Greg Tremblay), February 2021, for presentation as candidate for the office of Sylvan Bard of Æthelmearc. Note: Lord Gavin was chosen as King’s Bardic Champion on March 20, A.S. LV. A video of his performance may be viewed here. 

O there were days, some years ago
When folk did rightly tremble
To brave the Laurel, Pelican
And Wreath when they’d assemble

“AH NO” they’d cry with wrung-ed hands
“They’ll tell you you can’t have that”
“The Heralds are a prickly lot,
“Your dreams are sure to fall flat!”

Perhaps, alas, there were betimes
Decisions not so noble
In teens and twenties there was snark
Positions quite immobile

But nowadays my friends, take heed
Accept the hand they proffer
Pray, strike “Rejected” from your lips
You really are no bother!

In baronies and shires vast
They work in good will, earnest.
Guides in lands quite labyrinthine
That is their sacred purpose

Then came nigh the year of plague
Events to the wayside fell
Feast halls silent, no battle raged
Heralds were idle as well.

And so, it came in Fifty Five
As Pennsic was in question
That in the space Ethereal
There was a bold suggestion:

“Let us create a Herald’s point”
They said, their eyes a-shining
“Virtual! For, without wars
There are desires pining”

They set to work and called upon
Heralds wide and far
From Æthelmearc to Western Lands
All the kingdoms that are

A grand estate they built inside
These our ethereal lands
The college lent their time and skills
The work of many hands

A grand pavilion, digital
Did welcome all who sought
For names, devices, badges too
They gathered at that spot

As partners to a dance they paired
With heralds eager and keen
To take up inspiration
And see what was to be seen

Clerks there were who lent their toil
To craft submissions, ready
For coin to transfer swift and true
The flow of packets steady

And for the artists of renown,
What words could ‘ere be spoken?
A thousand each for labors good
Would merely be a token

Tomes pored over, entries found
For names and deeds and places
So all could speak the praise of kin
And we would know their faces

While many hands did lend their toil
To bring forth such a feat
Lacking names of the tireless few
No ode could be called complete

Non Scripta, Istvan brought to life
Ethereal manor’s stones
Crampette Lillia led the Van
That none should toil alone

Marie de Blois she lent her gaze
To the order of the day
Thorkel son of Pal assured
That all who came could pay

Owen Tegg of the Artistry
Siren Julianna too
Iago and Ollivier
And Joscelin labored true.

Four score and a few did toil
Through the day and through the night
Until the fortnight and a half
Was done, deeds brought to light

Although that great phantasmic field
Lies quiet in its slumber
The submissions who crossed its glades
Were thrice two hundred numbered

Eighteen score of our populace
Did realize their dreams
For names and arms to hold and have
By which to know our esteem

SO, tho that labor is ended
Know you my friends one and all
The College of Arms stands ready
To rise and answer our call

AND SO, lift up your voices high
Heralds are not as you thought
For their knowledge, skill and artistry
Let us cry them… VIVAT!

Notes on the Composition:

The SCA College of heralds brought about an astonishing feat in 2021, holding a never-before-attempted, wholly online version of a War Herald’s Point. In her preface to the January 2021 Letter of Acceptance and Returns, Laurel Soverign of Arms Emma Featherstan had this to say, which provided the entirety of the factual content of this ode:

“As I write this, we are finalizing the last consulations(sic) from the Virtual Heralds Point. Signups ran for three weeks, and by the end we’re looking at 616 items from 359 different individuals, from all twenty kingdoms! This is an amazing result, far better than we’d hoped for…—
…In total, I believe we had something over eighty heralds working in various capacities. I cannot express how floored I am by the amount of work done in a relatively short amount of time, and wish to commend each and every one of you for truly participating in this thing we call the Society College of Arms. Well done!“

Æthereal Court Report, March 20, A.S. 55

06 Tuesday Apr 2021

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The Report of the Æthereal Court of Their Sylvan Majesties Maynard and Liadain, King and Queen of Æthelmearc, held on the 20th day of March Anno Societatis 55, Baron Brandubh O’Donnghaile, Jewel Herald.

Their Majesties opened court thanking all for attending. They spoke about how long the past year was, and how many friends that we all have lost, and also the fuzzy friends that we have lost. They then invited Lady Isabetta Orsini and David to join Them in Court. They had recently lost their dog Siff, and Their Majesties inducted Siff into the Sylvan Pack in memoriam. Regalia by Nycaise d’Ozier la Tailleresse.

Their Majesties invited Baroness Anastasie de Lamoure to join Them in Court. Baroness Anastasie had taken the Office of Æthelmearc Kingdom Thrown Weapons Marshall, and she gave her oath of service to the Kingdom to serve faithfully in that Office.

Baroness Anastasie swears fealty as Kingdom Thrown Weapons Marshal

Master Antonio de la Luna was then invited into Court, and Their Majesties thanked him for serving the past 4 years as Kingdom Thrown Weapons Marshall. They went on to praise his unending courtesy, being a voice of reason, and constantly working so that others might enjoy themselves. For these things Their Majesties inducted Master Antonio into the Order of the Cornelian. Work in progress by Baroness Ekaterina Volkova.

Master Antonio receives a Cornelian

The Sylvan Bard, Lord Eadaoin Ruadh, was then invited into Court and Their Majesties presented her with an Award of Excellence for her service over the past year as Sylvan Bard, contributing many Bardic Ambushes for AE Live, and other online venues.

Lord Eadaoin receives an Award of Excellence

Lord Eadaoin then announced that the previous evening she had hosted a bardic competition to determine her successor as Sylvan Bard. Their Majesties then called forth THLord Bran O’Labhragha and asked him to serve as Queen’s Bardic Champion, and Lord Gavin Kent was asked to serve as King’s Bardic Champion. Scroll by THLady Pippi Ulfsdotter.

Her Majesty then invited Lady Megge Gormshuileach and Mistress Elska a Fjarfelli and thanked them both for their bardic performances in the Sylvan Bardic Championship, and presented tokens of appreciation to each.

Master Brandubh

Their Majesties then spoke of upcoming events and Invited Baron Brandubh O’Donnghaile to speak about the upcoming Æthelmearc Heralds and Scribes Symposium event to be held on Zoom on April 10th, and that both Heralds and Scribes are still seeking teachers.

Their Majesties then invited Lady Thalia Papillon to speak as Autocrat of Ice Dragon. She announced that the Ice Dragon event will be several Zoom events starting with an Ice Dragon Bardic Circle on April 3, Pentathlon Judging online beginning Sunday April 11, leading up to Saturday April 24 for the Virtual event and court..

Lady Thalia Papillon was held in Court as Their Majesties praised her for her arts, creating largess, creating needle crafts, entering online competitions, creating needle cases and painting medallions. For these things and the quest to find more arts Their Majesties inducted her into the Order of the Sycamore. Medallion by Baron Magnus de Lyons, Scroll by Countess Margarita de Siena.

Their Majesties then called Lijsbet Hoefman into court. They praised her works in the Barony of the Rhydderich Hael. She served as Chronicler and Webminister for Barony, making a new website for the Barony, assisting with the Ice Dragon Pent, as well as being a talented artist and musician. For this wide body of work Their Majesties were pleased to Award her Arms. Scroll by Lord Riobard Michel Padraig Timothy Seamus Ó Súilleabháin known as Brother Bobby.

Dugan Rushton and Cristina Aurelia Vitelli of Sylvan Glen were then called into court and Their Majesties Awarded Arms to both of them. Dugan served as Shire Chamberlain reorganizing property and creating new policies for its use and teaching youth combat. Cristina served as the Shire Herald and Deputy Minister of Arts and Sciences assisting many gentles with heraldic submissions. Scrolls created by Baron Caleb Reynolds and THLady Zosia Kowalewska.

Their Majesties then invited Lady Otilia von Passaw into court and thanked her for creating beautiful cast pewter pilgrim tokens for Their Majesties, her brooches were entered in the Virtual Queen’s Prize Tourney, and the kingdom had been impressed by the quality of her work. For these things, Their Majesties inducted her into the Order of the Sycamore. Scroll by THLady Felice de Thornton.

THLord Rhys of Myles End was invited into court to speak about the Google for Non-Profit that Æthelmearc now features. THLord Rhys was part of the implementation team for the Webminister’s Office, and announced that all Paid Members could apply for an Æthelmearc Email address though the Æthelmearc Webminister Page. Their Majesties thanked him for his work, as they had heard how many hours had been spent by the Google Team making these updates, helping new users, and so They inducted him into the Order of the Keystone. Scroll by Baron Caleb Reynolds.

Her Majesty Queen Liadain then invited Lady Ania Mhoireach to attend her in court. She presented her with a personal token as the Queen’s Inspiration, for although she did not compete in the Bardic Competition for Sylvan Bard, she did participate in the interkingdom Bardic Circle that followed with such joy at sharing and hearing others perform.

Lady Ania, Queen’s Inspiration

Their Majesties thanked all of the Scribes and Regalia makers who had contributed to Their Court. They spoke of the future of the Society and Æthelmearc, as our future looks bright, and They wished to open up Æthelmearc safely, asking the subjects of Æthelmearc what that process should look like. They announced that there will be a virtual event on May 1 to celebrate the New Year Anno Societatis 56.

Brehyres Gwendolyn the Graceful was then invited into court and presented with an Award of Excellence for her decades of support of the bardic community in Æthelmearc. She truly embodies the title of Sylvan Bard Emeritus, continuing to lead the peoples of Æthelmearc in story song and march at Circles, Competitions and Opening Ceremonies.

Brehyres Gwendolyn

Their Majesties then invited Their New Sylvan Bards to perform their winning pieces in Court. THLord Bran O’Labhradha performed his winning song “Elegy of a Dream” and Lord Gavin Kent performed his winning poem “Ode to Kindle a Mighty Blazon.”

Court Closed.

Known World Sciences Symposium Combined with University of Atlantia

05 Monday Apr 2021

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We are proud to announce that the Known World Sciences Symposium which had been previously planned for June 25 to 27, 2021 has now been merged with the University of Atlantia Symposium on June 12, 2021, which will be held as an online event.

For more information as it develops, go to: http://atlantia.sca.org/137-events/170-event_info…

Class proposals are currently being accepted now thru April 9, 2021 and may be submitted at: https://university.atlantia.sca.org/admin/proposal.php…

There is also a link on the University of Atlanta page at:
https://university.atlantia.sca.org/index.php

Kingdom News from the Seneschal Regarding Future Events

04 Sunday Apr 2021

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Greetings to Beloved AEthelmearc.

    I bring news from the Kingdom Financial Committee, which includes myself and Their Majesties, as well as the Deputy Kingdom Seneschal of Pandemics, Duke Christopher; and Master Morien, Kingdom Earl Marshal.

    As you have seen, the Board of Directors has passed a resolution for Resolution to Lift Suspension of In-Person Activity in the SCA as of June 1st, 2021.

    Collectively, we have decided that A) AEthelmearc will allow events starting June 1st that follow the Board of Director’s resolutions and B) Fighting and Fencing are still on hold at least until June 1st.

    With the spike of infections happening in all three States that make up AEthelmearc, we need some more time to see if we can overcome the virus and see how big the spike is going to be.

    We are, however, allowing small gatherings now. (Such as sewing circles, and guild meetings.) They should also fit within the BOD’s guidelines. We recommend small, local gatherings first. Long distance travel is not recommended by the CDC at this time and we suggest folks be mindful of that. If you need a variance for any of the BOD’s resolutions, please contact me and we will work on that together.

    Regarding events – AEthelmearc is indeed going to allow events starting June 1st that follow the BOD’s guidelines. We recommend small events at first and pre-registration will be required. We are also going to try to get our pre-pay systems up and running, in an effort to limit contact where possible.

    Of note, we do not know if we will be allowing fighting and fencing at that time, so please be mindful of that when planning events for June.

    I also know you have many questions, such as what about Pennsic, and when is Crown Tourney. We are still working on that now. The answers are to be determined. We’re working on it and as soon as I know, I will let you all know as well.

    Duke Christopher and I will also be holding a Zoom meeting for local seneschals in the near future. More on that soon.

 

Much love. Stay safe.

Illadore

 

**The announcement from the SCA Board of Directors can be found at the following link here **

**There is a reopening video from Kingdom Seneschal, Illadore, available for viewing on You tube at the following link here**

Populace in Focus! Participants Needed

04 Sunday Apr 2021

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Greetings!! Lady Thalia Papillon here, Gazette editor and proud inhabitant of the Kingdom of Æthelmearc, continuing with the tradition of populace in focus. Our Kingdom is a vast and wonderful place filled with many great people, but how many of these people do you see event after event and have never met, or maybe wondered more about?

This is open to the entire Kingdom and is not limited by rank, position, or time in the SCA. There is no deadline, when I have articles I will post articles. I am also interested in interviewing couples, households, fighting units, or any other element that makes up the Kingdom. Even if you don’t live in the Kingdom any more, but still call Aethelmearc home in your heart? We would love to hear from you too.

If you are interested in being interviewed please contact me (information below) and I will send you a series of questions to answer. When completed return the answers to me. Please include at least three to four photos to use in the article. One should be a good profile picture. Answers with no photos will not be published.

I hope to hear from as many of you as possible and look forward to learning more about everyone

Read previous Populace in Focus articles here

Lady Thalia: email

Facebook: Vanessa Hayes

Please Disregard Previous Post

01 Thursday Apr 2021

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Greetings unto all AEthelmearc!

His Majesty after eliminating the AEthelnators

This message is to let you know that His Majesty, King Maynard, has eliminated the high tech pretenders who tried to pass themselves off as “Æthelnet” and “Æthelnators”.

His Majesty wishes to reassure the populace that there will be no takeover by any computer overlords. While events and meetings may remain virtual for a while, our webministers and Zoomerators will continue to do the stellar job they have been doing for the last year, and our leadership will remain human.

Please resume your regularly scheduled activities, secure in the knowledge that our beloved Kingdom is in good hands.

Great Advances Coming in the Virtual SCA World!

01 Thursday Apr 2021

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These are different times in Æthelmearc and the rest of the Known World. Postponed events, unusually long royal reigns, and uncertain plans for future changes of leadership are of major concern. Like many aspects of the “new” SCA, tried and true old-school methods are being slowly replaced with new high-tech solutions.

In the early months of 2021, the tech staff began work on a new system designed to provide some relief to the overworked leadership of Æthelmearc (Kings, Queens, Baronage, and Officers). Since many events are now virtual it was postulated that a large portion of the Æthelmearc leadership could be replaced by a virtual, computer generated counterpart. This would provide the Kingdom with required decision-making and oversight, and allow the current seated leadership to return to their normal lives.

Instead of picking one set of leaders to provide the model for this new virtual leadership, advanced computer programing allowed the tech staff to create a linked artificial super mind made up of the collective experience of all of Æthelmearc’ s leadership from beginning to current.

Of course, leadership requires a physical component to conduct in person business such as delivering award medallions, scrolls, or placing coronets on heads. To accomplish this, the tech team, in conjunction with the Steward’s office, constructed a large force of high-tech drones. These drones, or Æthelnators, are designed to perfectly emulate the normal populace and provide a calming, familiar, and personal touch to the new virtual leadership. Additionally, to provide safe-practice partners for the populace each Æthelnator contains a specialized set of combat training programs ranging from heavy to siege.

To coordinate the new virtual leadership, the Æthelnators, and the pre-existing virtual online entertainment, the tech team is creating a new Kingdom website lovingly known as Æthelnet. Æthelnet is scheduled to go live 2:14 a.m., EDT, on August 29. Soon after, the Kingdom can expect a return to the many activities we love.

While this may seem a little out of the ordinary and a first, the tech team encourages the populace to welcome Æthelnet and the Æthelnators. The Kingdom looks forward to the many posts, photos, and stories of this great new age.

 

Viking Age Jeans

01 Thursday Apr 2021

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Early medieval / Viking age jeans
Claim: A (Aprilis prima)

Material: 2/2 cotton twill with indigo dye (mouth-crotched by Uzbek nuns under water), buttons made of iron, rivets made of bronze

I know, I know … most of you will first of all wonder if I’m completely mad and crazy about this reconstruction. So let me first put a few theoretical considerations together:

1) Trousers itself are well documented by finds. Thorsberg, Damendorf, Skjoldehamn. Sufficient variations of the pattern can already be found here, so that today’s jeans cut seems quite possible as a creative excess.

2) Cotton as a basic material was known and available. In the Byzantine Varangian Guard (which consisted mostly of Scandinavian Vikings), part of the armor (the Bambakion) was made of cotton. So one can assume that returnees brought this back home with them as knowledge or as raw material.

3) Diagonal twill as the binding of the material was well-known and has been retained to this day.

4) Indigo as a dye has been used extensively in the eastern regions. So it seems completely conclusive that resourceful dyers also happily combined cotton and indigo. Even if this should not have been the case, a wonderfully stonewashed look can be achieved with the adequately documented and popular woad, which puts the fashionable understanding of the early medieval people in a completely new light.

5) Even the pockets of the jeans can theoretically be derived well. Just think of fragment H55 A from the harbour of Haithabu. The transfer of a tunic pocket to a pair of trousers can justifiably be seen as a masterpiece of tailoring at the time, and it should have been way ahead of its time.

6) Dozens of references can be found in Birka alone for buttons. Even if most of the specimens were cast from bronze, in view of the craftsmanship at the time, some can also be made of other metals. As a reference for the use of buttons on trousers, I would like to refer to the underpants find from Moscevaja Balka, which also already has a button for fastening.

7) Stabilizing the seam connections by means of rivets seems quite modern. However, this principle of the rivet with a counter washer on the back can already be observed in the knife sheaths of that time. It seems quite logical – especially in view of the extensive and long-term use of textiles at the time – that this process was also applied to trousers.

8) Jeans are even represented several times in contemporary iconographic representations. In various psalteries, men can be seen in tight-fitting blue legwear, which can be interpreted as nothing more than skinny jeans. Here, too, the fashion of the time shows clear parallels to modern times, and underlines the highly developed clothing style of the Northmen, often wrongly denigrated as ‘uncouth barbarians’ .

That’s the theory.
Now let’s get to the facts.

1) Old Norse knows the term ‘(Blá) önd súrsæt’, the ‘(blue) cotton trousers’.

2) In the Gallastríðið saga it says: “Gallíu er skipt í þrjá hluta, annar þeirra er byggður af Belgum, hinn af Aquitans og sá þriðji af þeim sem kallaðir eru Keltar á sínu tungumáli, á okkaru.”
In other words: “And before he left the house, Gollum the Magnificent put on the cotton trousers of the hard-working craftsmen so that he would be considered one of them in the future.”

3) In the ‘MS Cotton de Nimes’ (dated to the middle of the 10th century) there is a depiction of a man in blue trousers who is being carried by two others. Under his tunic, which has slipped up, you can see a patch pocket on the back of the exact shape and size that is used in today’s five-pocket jeans. (Image 1)

4) During the archaeological excavations in the port area of ​​Birka, among other things, textile fragment W34 / L32 was found. A 2/2 cotton twill with remnants of an indigo dye. Here you can still see a double seam, which is reinforced by a bronze rivet. Right next to it is a round hole with neat edges that a second rivet would fit into. (Image 2)

5) In the hoard of Buttenheim there is an inconspicuous but very interesting pendant among numerous hacked silver. A so-called Anlaf-Guthfrithsson-Penny, a coin from the 10th century, which was first converted into a button with a long shaft (like in modern jeans) and later served as a pendant with a riveted eyelet. (Image 3)

6) One last hint is the work of the Swedish archaeologist Löb Strauss, which he published under the title “Effekten av jordnötssmör på jordrotationen”. Here he describes an almost perfectly preserved trouser find with all the characteristics of today’s jeans, which was found in 1834 in the bog near Riga by Jākobs Jufess and dated to the late Iron Age. (Image 4)

Based on all of these individual documents, the jeans I reconstructed are by no means a new and unknown item of clothing. Instead, the facts automatically condense into a compelling causality.

Because with all due respect to our ancestors – they weren’t stupid back then

I would like to close with a quote from my great Idol Harald Blauzahn: “Do not believe anything you find on the Internet, unless you have faked it yourself.”

/ Satire Off, and have a nice first April
Charles Bruns (via Viking Clothing on the Booke of Faces)

Freed Freighter Included SCA-Related Cargo

01 Thursday Apr 2021

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Most of you followed the predicament of the massive Ever Given cargo ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal until this past Monday.

It carried over 220,000 tons of goods coming from China to Europe, and all of that cargo was left to sit in the Egyptian sun until engineers were finally able to refloat the mammoth ship in cooperation with the Suez Canal Authority. The freighter’s position blocking the canal held up commercial travel for thousands of other ships and affected supply chains world-wide for almost a week.

The good news is that the rattan that was being hauled by the Ever Given and other ships delayed by its mishap is now on its way toward the Netherlands. From there, a supply of rattan will make its way to the U.S., Canada, Australia, and other parts of Europe. So SCA fighters, rejoice! Soon you should once again have enough rattan for all of your fighting needs.

Which are… uh… kind of low until the pandemic restrictions are lifted and we can have events and practices again.

But hey, rattan!

The Ever Given before it was refloated. Rattan bound for SCA kingdoms is in the highlighted container.


In related news, the following letter to the SCA Board of Directors was made available to the Gazette today for public posting.

Unto the Noble Lords and Ladies of the Board of Directors, Greetings.

Over the years I have been fooled on more than one occasion regarding the activities guided and supported by the Society of Creative Anachronism. For a while, I thought the Society was involved in a new musical style, and enjoyed it very much. Then I found out that what I thought my friends were referring to as ‘SCA’ was in fact ‘SKA’. You can imagine my disappointment. I still enjoy the music though.

However, I have been greatly encouraged that our Society has gone heavily into public good works. The re-floating of the Ever Given by the SCA is a great example of doing good works for the entire world, not just for our members.
I look forward to more good works to support.

Jacque D’Eau

A New Interpretation of Norse Runes

01 Thursday Apr 2021

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By Master Robert of Ferness

Lady Maedbh standing at runestone

Fig. 1: Runestone, with Lady Maedbh ni Clerigh for scale (photo by Robert of Ferness).

After reading about runestones found in Norway recently, I realized that individual runes can be transcribed and simplified into smaller units of information. As you can see in the examples in Fig. 1, runes consist of long straight lines, long curved lines, short angled lines, and dots.

Once the individual letters are broken down into these elements, they can be perceived as paaaah, paaah, pah, and pa, respectively: in other words, the length of each rune segment, can be transformed into a rhythmic series of sounds in order to convey information.

Note that I am not suggesting that runes were not used as letters and not used as part of an alphabet, but that the shapes of the runes were formed so that they could also be understood in other contexts.

After thinking on this insight for some time, it seems clear that the Vikings – at least the infamous Norsemen – might have used these shortened rune letter-segments as a way to communicate between ships while on the open ocean.

Much like putting an ear to the ground or railroad track in order to sense vibrations of horses or trains, it might have been the case that sailors could put an ear to the hull of their ship in order to hear sounds transmitted via the water from another vessel.

Viking age ship hull

Fig. 2: The preserved substantial hull of a Viking Age ship (photo by Robert of Ferness).

It is well known that water carries sound better than air, and more than four times faster, so it should be feasible that a sailor using a heavy metal or wood implement, such as an oar or sword pommel, could tap out a message on the hull of one ship and have it perceived on all nearby ships. It would be a perfect method for organizing a raid or an open-water attack, or even just to keep ships organized as they traveled together.

The length of each tap (paaaah, paaah, pah, and pa) would specify the part of the rune being sent and the receiver would compose the message in his head as it arrived, putting together the lengths of the taps to form the final runes and then, ultimately, the entire message.

Anyone who has enjoyed a ride in a replica Viking ship knows that there is plenty of noise above the water: wind blowing, oars splashing, people talking or singing, seabirds crying, etc. All of those interferences would be bypassed via percussive message transmission using a code tapped out on the hull of a ship.

It is my intent to replicate this possible communications platform as soon as feasible once COVID restrictions are lifted. After I have worked out enough proper sequences for carrying messages, I intend to publish more about this method, to be called Norse Code.

Fig. 3: Replica of a small Viking Age vessel in use. One of the crew would be ready to tap out or listen for a message with little effort (Photo by Robert of Ferness).