[Northkeep] events

[Jennifer Carlson]

And I remember mentioning how I had recently gone to a Laurel's Prize Tourney, and been wowed by a model Roman bireme about four feet long with working oars, then double-wowed because it had been made by a person prominent mostly as a fighter.  There was a discussion about how peers, including fighting peers, once were expected to know a few dances and the courtly graces and how to play chess - in other words, participating in activities outside the list field, and possibly their comfort zone.  There was a general consensus encouraging artisans to try something martial (hence the archery and thrown weapons categories as well as rapier and rattan events) and the martial types to try their hand at making something would be a Good Thing (tm).  Someone worded it well that a Castellan should have a touch on a little bit of everything that goes on in a castle, not just defending it.
 
We knew it would be risky, but it worked.
 
Talana
 
> Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 15:48:01 -0600
> From: burgborrendohl at valornet.com
> To: northkeep at lists.ansteorra.org
> Subject: [Northkeep] events
> 
> These are memories & experiences of Damon Hroarsson as I recall them 
> today. They're not in any particular order. Parts of this thing are 
> going to sound damnably self-serving but I can only put down what I 
> remember I saw or participated in.
> 
> Castellan:
> 
> Most of this isn't when it happened but why or how.
> 
> Castellan...How'd it come about? My involvement here is one of those 
> things which will doubtless be controversial to some but it's also one 
> of those things I'm truly proud of.
> 
> Winter of '89...We were having an officers meeting at Zenobia's. 
> Catherine was Seneschal. I was KM. I think Alanna, and Talana were 
> both there. The topic came up of what we were going to do for our 
> spring event.
> 
> Somebody (Catherine?) made a statement about 'Why is it tourney's can 
> only be won by fighters? I mean, why can't we have a championship where 
> the tourney can be won by A&S?' Someone else replied 'We can, but no 
> one will come. If you don't have fighting you loose your largest draw.'
> 
> My reply- "That's not a problem. There's no reason we can't make it 
> both ways."
> 
> '??? please elaborate'
> 
> "Back in B3R some A&S folks complained about a lack of recognition for 
> A&S. So, a Gentleman named Harald can up with a tourney where, in 
> order to win, you have to enter an Art, a Science, and a Martial Art 
> plus a fourth entry in any of them. No reason we can't do that here."
> 
> 'That's neat but how does that help non-fighters?'
> 
> "Archery, Knife, Axe, and Spear, are all acceptable Martial Arts." 
> Several people started discussing things excitedly at that point so I 
> sat back and watched 'em run with it. (Hey, I just come up withideas. 
> It's up to others to make them happen.) Later on, somebody asked what 
> we'd call this champion. Several good names came up and I submitted 
> "Castellan for a man, Chatelaine for a women."
> 
> 'Why?'
> 
> "What is a Castellan? The keeper of the keys to the castle. The keys to 
> recognition and advancement in the SCA are Arts, Sciences, Service, and 
> Fighting. Sounds like we've got those pretty well covered."
> 
> Castellan stuck but no-one ever went for Chatelaine. You know...I've 
> never heard anybody talk about that meaning behind the title when we 
> give the award, but I know it's there, and that's good enough. The 
> event has changed dramatically from the original concept but it has 
> survived and the three way competition still draws challengers. Gotta 
> be pleased with that.
> 
> Now, to the reader, please don't leap to "Damon's trying to say we 
> wouldn't have Castellan without him." NO! I just made a statement of 
> less than 50 words. It took lots of others to make it happen. And if I 
> hadn't made that statement we'd still have had an event. It would have 
> been a different event though, not what Castellan has evolved into.
> 
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