[Ansteorra] Young Gentlemen's Salle - recap

[zubeydah at northkeep.org]

The Young Gentlemen's Salle was held a few days ago at Northkeep's Castellan 
event. It went both better than I feared but not as well as I hoped. I truly 
hope and pray that the problems were not entirely visible to the young 
gentlemen who attended. 

We planned for fifteen attendees plus the speakers, and had four attendees for 
the whole thing and a fifth who arrived in the middle of the discussions. 
Speakers included: Sieur Jean-Paul de Sens, who spoke on manners and courtesy; 
Don Timothy le Corbusier, who spoke about the bearing of a lady’s favor, 
courtly behavior and the concept of courtly love, and how to bow and show 
respect; Dona Therese Marie Giovanni, who followed up his conversation about 
tokens with discussing what a lady expects on the field and off of a gentleman 
who bears her favor; Syr Owen ap Aeddan, who discussed examples of right 
behavior, both when treated rightly and otherwise. He discussed examples taken 
from the Arthurian tales, discussing the tale of Sir Gareth and Lynette. As 
well, we were blessed and honored by the presence and wisdom of Her Royal 
Majesty, Vanessa de Verona. The Queen presented the young men with a token of a 
ladies handkerchief, adorned with a ribbon rosette. She asked them to find a 
lady whom they held in esteem, and present her with the token. She also granted 
them the opportunity to demonstrate their bows, giving praise and 
acknowledgement to each one.   We were also visited by Their Excellencies of 
Northkeep, Ian and Kelandra, who came by to chat with the boys during the lunch 
break.

Each of the boys was presented with a small collection of gifts, and the use 
and meaning of each item was described. This was one of the areas that my hopes 
and planning fell short of what came to pass; Thursday evening of last week, 
movers brought our possessions from our old home to our new home. They piled 
boxes in stacks literally taller than I am throughout the home in no apparent 
order, and in doing so, buried a box that had many of the items I had received 
as donations from members of the Armour Archive community. This included the 
medieval replica coins so generously gifted by both Jehan de Pelham (ecuyer and 
servant of Sir Vitus von Atzinger, of the Middle Kingdom) and Eadric of 
Stonemarche (Squire to Sir Artemas Maximas, Barony of Stonemarche, East 
Kingdom), which I had intended to be placed into the leather pouches made and 
donated by Aaron Schnatterly and his wife, Shan-aan (who are Living History 
aficionados - not even members of the SCA – who heard of the event and wanted 
to support it). I told the young gentlemen that people from two different 
kingdoms, Jehan and Eadric, had sent gifts for them that they might learn of 
generosity, but that through my own failing, those gifts were not present at 
the Salle. I have the boys contact information, and will be mailing out a 
letter to each participant, with the coins included. Items they did receive 
included the leather pouches by Aaron and Shan-Aan, a white linen handkerchief, 
and a journal which included inspiring quotes on gentlemanly virtues, including 
one passage from Lord Tristan vom Schwarzwald of the Barony of Lochmere, 
Atlantia.  (Also a member of the Armour Archive).

The boys seemed to enjoy themselves, though to varying degrees of attention. We 
had youth ranging from one who literally grew up in the Society to a newcomer 
at his very first event. 

I could not have accomplished this task without the support and love of my 
husband, Abe, who put aside his own feelings about the SCA to attend the event 
with me. As well, Syr Owen ap Aeddan battled a great deal of personal 
difficulty to send up his personal pavilion to the event on Friday evening and 
arranged for it to be set up Saturday morning and taken down Sunday morning, so 
that I didn’t have to worry about that logistical issue.  That took a huge 
weight off my mind – thanks also, to Dougal, who provided the actual transport 
and coordinated set up and tear down. The generously given time and support of 
the other speakers (Don Timothy, Dona Therese and Sieur Jean Paul) was also 
greatly appreciated, as was the presence and support of Her Majesty, Vanessa.  

My sincere thanks to all those who helped make the Salle a reality, from HE 
Ian, who asked me to do it, to the gentles who helped put up the tent, to the 
speakers, to Their Excellencies of Northkeep, to Her Royal Majesty for her 
patronage.

In service,

Zubeydah Jamilla al-Badawiyyah