The Society for Creative Anachronism

Where do my family and I fit in?

Ok...now that I have explained the "minor Lord/Lady" part...a bit more about how my wife and I fit into things...so much I could talk about but where to start...I know!! NAMES! In the SCA, each of us adopts a persona, which is something like a character in a play. Using our own likes and dislikes, this persona is developed in varying degrees by us to become an individual who could have really lived within the scope covered by the SCA, but who did not really exist. As they say in the movies...``All characters portrayed herein are fictitious, any similiarites to real persons, living or dead, are purely coincidental.'' My persona is Cinnion map Liuelin map Higuel (``Kenyon''), who is from Wales just after the Battle of Hastings in 1066. He is the only son of a minor noble who is living on (and helping protect) the family lands with his wife, Betony fetch Myrddyn ap Emrys, and their daughter Avis. He has traveled to the territories held by the Moors (where he learned more about the sciences and mathematics of which he was exposed to as a child), and has also travled throughout the isles. When he is not busy protecting the lands of his father or their leige lord, he continues to study mathematics and astronomy, and has come to believe that not only is the world round, but that the Earth and the other planets go around the Sun. Betony, when not otherwise occupied, enjoys doing embroidery. Of course, this is who we might have been...there is also the modern side of things. In the Current Middle Ages, I am a fighter who at Pennsic fights with the Middle Marches baronial unit, but also sometimes as a part His Grace, Duke Syr Master Talymar gan y Llewen's unit which primarily consists of members of his household, Holt Heroates. While His Grace is both a knight and a pelican on in addition to being a Duke (indicating he has been king two or more times), my connections to His Grace and his household are just numerous, long-term friendships. As for Betony, she has a more formal relationship with a lady from Minneapolis, Mistress Cíara ni Mhaille. Cíara received her Laurel for embroidery, and Bet is one of her apprentices (i.e. personal students). Bet has also received a Willow (a middle-level kingdom award) for her embroidery work. I just wish that Bet could get to visit with Cíara more often... In addition to these fun things, Bet and I have had additional places in the SCA as officers. Bet was until the Spring of 2001 the baronial pursuivant (herald) for the Barony Middle Marches (more about the barony in a second), having recently moved into this position from being the local pursuivant for the Marche of Tirnewydd (the group for the Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area and the Ohio State University). This meant that part of her duties were to help folks develop names and devices (what go on shields) and to get them registered within the SCA. As you can guess, there are various things that you can and cannot do with these (such as having a auto as part of your device), and it falls into her duties to help folks deal with these restrictions.

As for myself, until the Barony Middle Marches recently split due to its large geographical size (most of Ohio that was not south of I-70 and west of I-71, or Toledo or Cleveland) and large membership (around 700 total if I remember correctly), I was a Marshal of the Field, with the ``of the Field'' indicating that I was not officially attached to any given group in these duties. After the split, I held the Marshal's office for the Barony until the Spring of 2001. While the exact duties of a baronial marshal are not 100% clear, this office is one which primarily concerns itself with fighters and safety, as well as helping to make sure that the groups within the barony have sufficient marshallate help. My goals for the office were to assist the new baron and baroness (Sir Dilan and Lady Una) with the heavy weapons combat in the barony, as well as perhaps getting the marshallate and fighters to show more unity (such as shown by groups such as Barony Flaming Gryphon, which lies just to the west of the Middle Marches. Unfortunately, since I stepped down, between my job, my daughter's schedule, and a reoccurring back problem, I have been fairly inactive.

I have mentioned kingdoms and groups in this discussion. Just to give you an idea of how things are structured for us, here is the breakdown to my local level...

Marches of Tirnewydd and Mugmort. Tirnewydd is primarily the Ohio State/Columbus area, and meets on the Ohio State University campus, while Mugmort is primarily Fairfield county (Lancaster). As you probably noticed, I listed two local groups. This is because of the fact that while I live in Columbus and have quite a few friends in Tirnewydd, most of the folks I met and grew to know 20+ years ago when I first started are a part of Mugmort. So, I drive around 12 miles to the Mugmort meetings every week if possible. Bet mainly plays with Tirnewydd.

Do I have any photos?

I have a a number of photos, but only a few are in electronic format like this one, which shows two friends of mine demonstrating medieval fighting (Please do not try this!!! You will almost certainly be seriously hurt! We train extensively and focus on safety when we do this.) using an adaptation of methods actually used during some tournaments of the times (i.e. wooden swords and such).

Here is a slightly more recent photo, of Avis and myself (in armour) at the Matea Renaissance Faire held by the Shire of Shadowed Stars (Fort Wayne, IN) in the Fall of 1999.

And here is my device, which is emblazoned as:

Azure, a comet bendwise sinister inverted between two estoilles argent

and looks like this:

Where can I find out more?

Well, you might want to start with the web pages I have listed here. They will list other places (such as mailing lists and USENET groups) where you can get even more information. If you happen to live in the Ohio area, you can also send me email and I can get you more information (I have gotten to know quite a few people in Ohio and the surrounding states over the past 20 years).

Other information of interest to folks in the SCA

Here is some information on SCA Heraldry which may be of interest to folks in the Midrealm (or even in other kingdoms.

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Last modified on $Date: 2003/11/23 17:02:07 $ by $Author: cinnion $