I have in my accounts nobles who told stories. One entertained the 
King of France at a siege when it was raining with retelling the 
Chansons of William curt nose later St. William.  If I am not 
mistaken King Harold Hard-fist, the Norway King who attacked England 
just before the attack of William of Normandy listed in a poem 7 
things he did well and one was storytelling. I have this information 
in books if you want me to support with documentation, but it would 
take forever to find it. 

Being able to entertain is one of the Courtly Arts. All Ladies and 
Gentleman were supposed to do something. Telling stories and doing 
your own work are less time consuming then learning word for word 
Chansons or Saga. 

Remember why they entertained. They had to provide their own 
entertainment. Why do we entertain-- because we have to provide our 
own entertainment. 

The question of "no shirt there I was stories"?  In the Romances 
there are references to telling our stories in the bower. I get the 
impression that this means the knights and nobles are going to go the 
Ladies bower and tell the tales of their adventures. I believe these 
would be "no shit there I was stories".

My problem is many of the stories are very mundane. It is like the 
storyteller is trying to mention everything that was 21st century. 
Also many of the storytellers have not learned to edit. I teach a 
class on how to turn "No shit" stories to Bardic History. If someone 
is going to be at an event I am at and wants to experience the class 
I will do it or just give you some advice on making your no-shit 
stories better. The Future King Ulsted took my class and said it gave 
him so good hints on what to do and what not to do.

Philosophy-- We are here to re-create pre-17th century events 
according to the Corpora. When I was Queen I put it the duties of the 
populace to help to this. One of the ways we do this is by covering 
up mundanities. Many of you would not be seen dead with a cola can 
but you would tell a story that talks about the SCA, your car, and a 
bunch of mundane references. You can say the known world, wagon and 
just not mention you got the message on e-mail or a phone. We can 
avoid mentioning many 21st century things with a little effort. 

Willow