[Ansteorra] Why aren't we doing this?

[HerrDetlef]

Years ago (almost twenty now), I subscribed to the Pikestaff, the newsletter
of the East Kingdom. If memory serves, I received a copy of their Kingdom
Law as well, in which they defined their SCA period to end at 1650 (or it
was included in one or more of the monthly newsletters). That little tidbit
of information was remarkable enough for me to remember. The justification I
heard back then (from whom, I cannot now remember. It may have been Master
Robert McFarlane, but don't quote me on that) was to include more years of
swashbuckling history in our period.

It may not have been society-wide, and 1650 may not be the cut-off point
these days, but it was in the East Kingdom in the early 1990's.

In the "things I heard but never saw in print" department, I had also heard
years ago that the cutoff date for the SCA period was set mainly to exclude
the use of gunpowder...which, oddly, was already in use in 1599. I never
knew where that one came from.

Detlef von Marburg

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 7:47 PM, Chris Zakes <dontivar at gmail.com> wrote:

> At 07:00 PM 11/4/2010, you wrote:
>
> From: Chris Zakes <dontivar at gmail.com>
>
> (snip)
>
>  I know there was a widespread *belief* in the early days that the SCA's
>>> time
>>> period extended to 1650 (which still wouldn't cover someone who wanted to
>>> play
>>> 1651) but that was never in Corpora, the By-laws or the Articles of
>>> incorporation.
>>>
>>>        -Tivar Moondragon
>>>
>>
> I remember once getting crap from someone for playing a pre-600 Germanic
>> persona
>> like I do now years ago.  That conversation also included a tirade about
>> why
>> allow non-Western personas like Japanese and such.  As I said it was at
>> least a
>> decade or so ago.
>>
>>  I was told as a newcomer 600-1600 or essentially the rounded average of
>> the
>> dates of Anglo-Saxon Christianization missions (597 Kent; 601ish for
>> Northumbrian and Edwin) to the end of Elizabeth I.  Delightfully
>> Anglo-centric,
>> which I have no issue with personally.
>>
>> Wihtric
>>
>
>
> That's another common misconception about the SCA: that there's some
> official beginning date. I've seen 600-1600 (to give a nice round millenium)
> or the fall of Rome, or 400 AD all used, but again, the official documents
> just say "pre 17th century." Back in the early days of what would eventually
> become Ansteorra, there was a household of Egyptians from the time of the
> pharaohs, and I've seen classical Romans, too.
>
> As for non-western personas, to quote from the introduction to Corpora
> http://sca.org/docs/pdf/govdocs.pdf
>
> "For Society members, most of the world, and all of the centuries prior to
> the 17th, can serve as a source for personal research. However, the further
> you go from the core of Medieval and Renaissance Europe, the less the
> environment we offer will resemble what someone of your time and country
> would find natural or homelike. For example, you can be an Asian or African
> guest at a European court, but you cannot expect
> others to share your special interests - like any long-term visitor in a
> foreign land, you are the one who will have to adapt to the customs you find
> around you."
>
>
>        -Tivar Moondragon
>
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-- 
He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the LORD require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
--Micah 6:8