[Steppes] 12th Night theme

[AlKudsi at aol.com]

Again, my apologies to Mistress Serena for contradicting her.  I would like 
to see the event steward step in and give a more specific time period.

When I came home from work this evening, I started digging in my books, just 
to make sure I had my facts correct.  According to Richard Fletcher, author of 
the book Moorish Spain, the Moors first invaded Spain in 711 AD, and the last 
Moorish king was kicked out (for the last time -- it took kicking his 
ancestors and him out three times to finally get rid of them) in 1492. (Gosh, that 
was a BUSY year, wasn't it?)

According to Malcolm Billings, the author of The Cross and The Crescent: A 
History of the Crusades, the first crusade was in 1060 or so, and was aimed at 
getting the Moors out of Spain.  That failed, and in the November of 1095 you 
see the first Crusade (with a Capital C and curtesy of Pope Urban) to the Holy 
Lands.  The crusades continued throughout the time period up to the 15th 
century in the Holy Lands, but the fall of the knightly orders (Templars, 
Hospitalers, etc.) which developed during the beginning of the Crusades probably mark 
the actual "end" of the crusades...and that was in 1798 when Napolean took the 
last Knights stronghold in Malta.  Most books about the Crusades in the Holy 
Lands indicate about 500-600 years of sporatic warfare.  

Now, my understanding was that the 12th Night theme was originally the 
Crusader era in Jeruselem, but was changed to Moorish Spain.  That means you could 
have everything from early period costuming through early Renaissance, if you 
cover the entire time period of Moorish Spain.  If the autocrat means the 
height of Convivencia (the time of relatively peaceful accord between Jews, 
Christians, and Muslims) in Moorish Spain, it limits it to about 1090-1350 or so.  

So, what does that mean for costuming?  You are safe with 11th-14th century 
European or Middle Eastern, I would presume.  More specifically, it will depend 
on the event steward's exact interpretation of "Moorish Spain."

HL Saqra