[Elfsea] Re: new squire

Mon Apr 30 15:46:14 PDT 2001

Nigel -

My name is Paul Mitchell.  In the SCA, I'm called Galen 
of Bristol; I'm a Knight of the SCA (for the past 13 or 
so years), and Baron of the Barony of Elfsea (the 
Barony of Elfsea is the Tarrant County branch of the 
Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA).  As Baron, I'm 
the ceremonial leader of the local group.  We also have 
a large slate of administrative officers.

In medieval times, 14 was a likely age for a squire; 
today in the SCA, squires are almost exclusively 
adults.  For us, a squire is a fighter who has a 
special relationship to a knight, to learn combat and 
the other skills of knighthood.  This is a process of 
years.  It took me 8 1/2 years to earn knighthood.

I joined the SCA in 1979, almost exactly 22 years ago, 
just short of my 17th birthday.  I've been active in 
the SCA for well over half my life and it's been a 
blast.  The people are great, and the game is wonderful 
fun.  Especially (you'll forgive me) in the Barony of 
Elfsea.

While the SCA certainly includes members of all ages, 
and entire families, it would be problematic, at best, 
for a minor to join by himself.  It'd be easier when 
you've learned to drive and gotten a license and a car, 
but it would be best if you can interest a parent or 
other adult relative.

The SCA is not played on-line.  We just use the 
computers to communicate.  We really wear the costumes, 
really eat the feasts, really fight each other with 
sword and shield in tournaments (but the swords aren't 
real -- though the armor is) really bow to our Kings 
and Queens, are really inspired by our ladies.  We 
really try to live our ideals of honor, courtesy, and 
chivalry.  It's not a performance group, it's a 
participatory group.

The SCA is an expensive hobby, solely in terms of 
buying fabric for costumes, leather or metal for armor, 
camping gear and so forth.  It can be played well with 
remarkable economy, or you can spend a fortune on it.  
I would say that the SCA is for the intelligent, and 
the imaginitive.  That includes an incredibly broad 
cross-section of people.  People of all sorts are in 
the SCA, accountants, lawyers, business owners, auto-
mechanics, high school students, PhD's, computer 
programmers, ministers, virtually any sort you can 
think of, plus a few, and we participate in virtually 
any fun thing you can think of that might have been 
done in the middle ages, including not just combat, but 
heraldry, sewing, cooking, performing, dancing, wood- 
and leather- and metal-working, and much more. 

And we've always got room for more nice people.

I encourage you to take Armand's advice, and come to 
fighter practice at Randol Mill Park on a Sunday 
afternoon, or to Camp Burnet in Southlake this 
Saturday, or to the Texas Scottish Festival at UTA 
Maverick Stadium; we'll be publically demonstrating 
what we do there, as we have for each of the past six 
or seven years.

If you do make it to any of our functions, I hope 
you'll track me down -- Sir Galen of Bristol -- and 
introduce yourself.

All the best,

- Galen
http://www.flash.net/~pmitchel/galen.htm

Quoting Armand Dragonetti <dragonetti at generich.com>:

> Greetings Nigel!
>
> I will pass your request on to our group's discussion 
list, where I'm sure
> someone will be able to give you the answers you 
seek. (As a note to those
> members: Please respond to Nigel at: 
midevil_squire at hotmail.com as he is
> not subscribed to the Elfsea List)
>
> What I can tell you is that we always have room for 
more fun & enthusiastic
> people. However, only a knight of the society can 
take/make a squire and
> therefore I cannot speak on their behalf. I, myself, 
am a squire to Sir
> Galen of Bristol, Elfsea's current Baron. (Elfsea is 
the name of the local
> group covering the Ft. Worth/Arlington area) I'm sure 
he will be very
> pleased to help you however he can. My first 
suggestion is to encourage you
> and your dad (or other responsible adult), to come to 
one of our fighter
> practices or other group activity where you and 
he/she can meet some of our
> members and gain a better understanding of what we do 
and have to offer.
> Our fighter practices this month will be held every 
Thursday evening at 7pm
> and every Sunday afternoon at 2pm in the southwest 
section of Randol Mill
> Park in Arlington. A map can be found at:
> http://www.elfsea.org/graphics/fpmap.gif
> Directions are: Take I-30 to Fielder Rd. Turn south 
on Fielder and go to
> Randol Mill, then go west on Randol Mill and look for 
the park on your
> right (north side). Once in the park, take the second 
left, (the 1st one
> goes to the National Guard's parking) and you'll see 
us at the end of the
> path.
>
> For even more fun, you might see if you can make it 
to the Canton of
> Glaslyn's event this weekend on May 5th. (Glaslyn is 
the group from the
> Denton area, but their event is being held a little 
closer to the
> metroplex) You can find information about that at:
> http://www.glaslyn.org/dotf.html
>
> I hope this helps and if you have more questions, 
please let me know.
>
> At your service,
> Lord Armand Dragonetti
> Squire to Sir Galen of Bristol
> Barony of Elfsea
> Kingdom of Ansteorra
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: jonathan sweeney
>   To: dragonetti at generich.com
>   Sent: Saturday, April 28, 2001 9:23 PM
>   Subject: new squire
>
>
>   hi im a wannabe sca squire.... and was wondering if 
there is a place for
> me in the fortworth area barony for a squire (with 
part of a suit of his
> own armor too). i dont know if my dad will let me do 
this cause im 14 but i
> hope i can join . email me back
>
>   nigel
>
>
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