[Sca-cooks] When DID the Renaissance End???(was:Nocino, period cordial or not?

[Laura C. Minnick]

At 03:50 PM 4/26/2005, you wrote:
><much snippage>
>
>I have always heard that scholars considered the end of the Renaissance to
>be the death of Rene Descarts in 1649.

News to me. In my department the argument was 1601 (Elizabeth's death) to 
1616 (Shakepeare's death). Of course if you went over to Romance Languages, 
the argument was Spain vs French vs Italian, as the 'names' for the 
literature of each were active in very different times.

>  Shakespeare died in 1616.  Either
>way, if the SCA period of study is supposed to cover the Middle Ages AND the
>Renaissance, why are we cutting the time short?

The governing documents have always said 1600. And why is it cut short? 
Because you have to cut it somewhere. There will always be someone who 
insists on a little later date. Heck, I came across someone the other day 
who was insisting (for a variety of reasons) that the MA/Re didn't actually 
end until the _American Civil War_!

Two quotes from Corpora:

The Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. (SCA, Society) is a nonprofit 
educational organization devoted to
study of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Most of its activities take place 
in the context of a social structure
adapted from the forms of the European Middle Ages, which allows 
participants to take a first-hand look at
various aspects of the life, culture and technology of the times under study.

and:

The term .Society event. refers to tournaments, feasts, and other 
activities whereby participants can display
the results of their researches into the culture and technology of the 
period in an environment which evokes
the atmosphere of the pre-17th century European Middle Ages and Renaissance.

(There are of course others, but it is just as easy to go to 
http://www.sca.org/docs/govdocs.pdf)

Oddly, there isn't a beginning date, which goes against the '600-1600' I 
was told where I started. And coming from a Kingdom where the 'in thing' is 
Norse/Mongol-Steppes/Scythian/Nomadic tribes, I can tell you that the dates 
aren't the only part of this that are cheerfully disregarded.

If you really want to play later, there are English Civil War groups that 
you might be interested in at:

http://www.english-civil-war-society.org/public_html/index.html
and
http://www.sealedknot.org/

Just so you know. :-)

'Lainie
___________________________________________________________________________
O it is excellent to have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it 
like a giant--Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act II