[Ansteorra] Odd question reguarding persona development

[Michael Silverhands]

On Sep 27, 2006, at 3:33 AM, Susan the Curious wrote:

> ...  When general connections
> are presumed, that makes sense to me, as it puts you into a time and a
> place-but you are making up the details.  Darmaid as a guildmaster  
> makes
> a great deal of sense.  I can understand reenactors who portray a
> specific time as it was.
>
> I think the part that confuses me is where people insinuate themselves
> into the private lives of historic figures, much as the mistresses of
> King Henry.  If one assumes to be a lady in waiting to Queen  
> Elizabeth,
> how much of what you do is based on working around very specific known
> details and how much is more free form?

My lady,

Keep in mind that *very* little detailed information is known about  
our period of study.

Consider this: I know some American Civil War re-enactors. They have  
the benefit of re-enacting events that took place only about 150  
years ago, and were very well-documented. There are even photographs.  
One fellow re-enacts a particular Lieutenant from Arkansas who fought  
in a certain battle, wore a particular outfit that day, and was  
killed by mini-ball fire at about 2:30 in the afternoon. When they re- 
enact that battle, he wears exactly that outfit -- down to the pocket  
watch and shaving kit in his breast pocket -- moves from point to  
point in that battle exactly as his shadow did, and falls down "dead"  
at 2:30 in the afternoon.

Now consider this: the Battle of Crecy is one of the best-documented  
events of our period. We're pretty sure of the exact date (August 26,  
1346) and place. We're pretty sure of which nobility and royalty were  
present, and who died. The event was pretty well chronicled,  
including a surviving narrative by the French chronicler Froissart.  
(Feel free to use Google or Wikipedia to read up on this. Fascinating  
stuff!)

But despite all that, we don't really know what they wore that day,  
let alone what they had in their pockets. Even though we know most of  
the nobles and royals who were there, we can't be 100% sure, and we  
have virtually *no* idea of who all those other people on the field  
were that day -- let alone where they came from, who they served,  
what kind of life they had, etc., etc.

So, one could assume to be a lady in waiting to Queen Elizabeth, and  
still know virtually nothing in the way of details. You would have to  
research as much as possible, and "make up" a lot. Even taking the  
position of being that close to a monarch, we have a lot of "wiggle  
room" to invent and have fun with our personaes.

I won't go into my whole back-story (if you care to read it, feel  
free to write to me off-list), but here's a sampler of my story: as a  
young man I went on what was later called the First Crusade (largely  
to get as far away as possible from the king, William Rufus, who  
was... unpleasant, to say the least). I left England in the army of  
Robert, Duke of Normandy, but soon fell in with a group of French  
knights including Godfrey de Bouillon, Duke of Lower Loraine  
(France), and his brother Baldwin. Three years later, we stood in  
Jerusalem. ...skipping story...time passed... Most of us returned  
home. I was in no hurry to return to the sphere of influence of  
William Rufus, so I lingered in Champagne, in France, where I stayed  
for a while in the company of a young knight named Hugues de Payens.

Again, feel free to use Google or Wikipedia to read up on those names  
I just mentioned. By assuming an association with those people, it  
allows my persona to know a great deal about the events that led up  
to the founding of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, and the creation of the  
order of Knights Templar -- both of which are of keen interest to me,  
personally, as an amateur historian.

Again leaving out the details, later in life I returned to my  
homeland, Stargate in the lands of Ansteorra (which is apparently  
somewhere in England *grin*). I served as Baron of Stargate for a  
time, and later was made a Peer of the Realm for my service to the  
Crown.

So there's one example of interweaving real history and SCA history.  
Does that help, my lady?

Kind regards,
Michael Silverhands