Unique persona ideas- was Re: [Sca-cooks] Japanese

[Laura C. Minnick]

Ok folks, this is part of my list. As usual, the caveat 'My
notes/books/etc.' are 180 miles away. This is what I scribbled down at
Stefan's goading last night (and Stefan, you are welcome to lift this if
you want.

Now, the what's and why's:

Moorish Spain-
	Of course, you can be a Moor, but I'm interested in the offbeat. Jews in
Moorish Spain had rather interesting lives. They were relatively unmolested
by the Arab authorities, and while they had to pay the fines and taxes for
not being Moslem, they were allowed to practice thier own religion fairly
consistently (as always there were occasional exceptions). They were much
valued by the Arabs as doctors and scientists, and of course, as Bankers.
	Christians in Andulasia had similar lives- higher taxes and able to
practice their religion *unless* they attempted to proselytize, in which
case they were in deep trouble. Because of the heavy tax situation, quite a
number of Christians made a nominal conversion to get out from under the
financial burden (in fact a girlfriend of mine had this persona for awhile,
till she dropped out and married an Englishman to live happy ever after...).
	Moorish Spain (aka Andulasia) was a seriously cool place- very civilized,
clean cities, lighted streets, INCREDIBLE ARTS, and best of all- LIBRARIES!
The library at Cordoba was a worldwide center of learning (and guess who
destroyed it? Not the Moors...).

Basques- Almost never see them done, and they're pretty cool. An area ripe
for research. And a great place for someone who wants to be in the middle
of everything but not necessarily part of it...

County of Toulouse, esp. 12th-13th c, and particularly (I think) during the
commune years in the late 12th. The Good Men of Toulouse set up something
very like a city-state and it ran remarkably well, until Raymond (which
one? Dunno- pick a Raymond, any Raymond) decided he didn't like it (they
were using tax monies for civic inmprovements instead of giving him all the
cash) so he borrowed an army from the Pope, took his own city, and hung the
council of Good Men (Nice guy, yes?) That's teh short form- there's more of
course. But I think Toulouse is fascinating.

Southern France on the whole- 12th-13th CATHARS! Ok- there was some
persecution intermittently until well into the 13th century (Mostly when
Raymond was hacked off at his Barons and he'd ask the Pope for an army, and
the Pope says 'Smack those Cathars and you've got it' so he did. Problem is
that the Northern French fighters he imported wanted to stay, and they
wanted land...). For teh most part, the Cathars were a substantial minority
and in some places even a majority. As to using them as a persona, I would
suggest that the life of a perfecti (their highest clergy, strict vegan
diet, no sex at all ever, just intinerant preaching) would not work in the
SCA context. But the believers, that is, the jay random Cathar, led pretty
standard lives. (I suggest the work of Zoe Oldernbourg for an overall, and
Ladurie for the very late Cathar remnant). *Food content*- it seems that
while the prefecti were vegans, the rank and file Cathars ate a moderate
vegetarian or even light omnivorous diet, unless they wanted to rise in the
ranks of the clergy, in which case nothing that came of sexual
reproduction, meat, milk, eggs, etc, was eaten. (They didn't understand
plant propagation to be sexual).

Merovingian France- major cool. Before Charlemagne, of course. Kings rising
and falling all over Fortune's wheel! Occasional raids from the friendly
neighborhood Gothas and Vandals ("Clotilde! Someone painted Saxon words on
our barn! And there's privay paper in the trees!" "Damn Vandals. Can't they
leave a decent villa alone?") keep things exciting when the nobility aren't
killing each other. And for guys with long hair- this is perfect. They
don't call it the Age of the Long-Haired Kings for nothing. But the women-
they have it all over! Bloodthirsty? Boy-Howdy! Fredegunde and Brunhilde
were busy killing each other's children and grandchildren for decades
(Brunhilde's grandson finally got the old battle-axe). And some of the
names are really nifty...

Lombards- sitting in the foothills at the top of Italy, they controlled a
lot of traffic for a long time. Not friendly either. But they have thier
own laws (I have a copy- miraculously in the bookshelf here) and while
considered a barbarian tribe for some time, they were hardly barbaric. One
of the royal house was married briefly to Charlemagne. I highly recommend
the period from about 500-800.

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies- one of my favorites.
	First- Norman Sicily- in teh 11th century the Normans turned their ships
south, and found territory ripe for conquer. I'd love to see someone tackle
it if only to show a different kind of Norman and a different kind of Sicily!
	Silicy under the Holy Roman Emperor- wow. Especially under Frederick II.
Under his rule, three peoples- Christian, Saracen, and Jew- lived in
relative peace, much like the earlier regime in Andulasia. The society made
major inroads in the study of medicine and other sciences, much due to the
availablity of some of the ancient texts. (FredII himself wrote the
treatise on falconry). Again, the arts flourished, there were substantial
civic improvements such as water and sewr lines, roads, public buildings,
etc. And there was mondo amounts of trade going through. Someone with an
interest in trade could find a lot to do there!

How about western Christians living in the Crusader states? the 12th
century crusader kingdoms of Jerusalem, Antioch, Aleppo, Acre, etc, must
have been very interesting (if a little unstable) places to be. And the
records we have indicate that many a soldier went somewhat 'native',
married locally, wore an mix of western and local clothing, ate the local
food.

Bosnian/Serbian/Albanian/Croatian/Herzogovnian/etc- all very interesting,
very convoluted, and there has been quite a lot of work done on them
recently...

Don't see many Swiss. Wonder why?

Ooh- there are other interesting heretics besides the Cathars. How about:
	Lollards
	early 16th c Protestants
	Waldensians
	Huegenots (sp?)
	and there's more...

For someone who is single and not looking, a clerical persona could be fun.
FAther Abelard is Dominican, he has a tall friend who is Franciscan (IIRC),
and there are all sorts of interesting orders. SOmething interesting for
women are the Beguines- the sort of nuns that you find in the Low Countries
and Northern France. Semi-cloistered, they did a great deal of nursing and
needlework and such, and were not under vows if they managed to find a
husband, though life in the beguinage was pretty strict (not a bad idea for
a couple of teenaged girls I know...). And of course they were poius, and
had an intersting tendency to have visions.

I'd like to see someone take a real run at a Lithuanian persona- that could
be interesting. Or Anatolian. Or Manx, or Orkney. Visigoth Spain? (They
were Arian heretics and pretty interesting themselves.)

It's a start...

'Lainie
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Drink your latte. There are children sleeping in India!