FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 1

From The Tower

Barony of Southron Gaard

November AS L (2015)

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 2

Chronic Rumblings

Welcome to another From The Tower,

I would love to see your stuff in FTT – pictures, original artwork, reviews,

articles, poems, recipes etc. Please send your contributions to the

chronicler@sg.lochac.sca.org email address by the 25th of each month. Late

contributions may be published in the following issue.

Yours, in service to Southron Gaard,

Eleanora

Fighters at The Spring Hunt

Inside this issue

Chronic Ramblings 2

Their Excellencies Speak

3

Seneschal’s Comments

5

Officer Vacancies 6

Regnum 10

Other Groups’ Contacts

12

SCANZ membership form

13

What’s On

Art and Sciences planned activities

6

Event: Harold’s Last Hunt

7

Event: 12th Night at Canterbury Faire

9

Calendar of Events – Incl. Regular Meetings

10-11

Special Features

Baronial Succession 4

Resource of the month

9

Credits for this issue:

Cover Art: Foxes and their Ruses, Brittany, France, about 1430 – 1440. http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/2141/unknown-maker-foxes-and-their-ruses-french-about-1430-1440/

Spring Hunt photo above from John Smit. Harold’s Last Hunt: Bayeaux Tapestry segment from first published in the 1st (1876–1899), 2nd (1904–1926) or 3rd (1923–1937) edition of Nordisk

familjebok, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bayeuxtapeten,_Haralds_d%C3%B6d,_Nordisk_familjebok.png Coronation at Faire logo: edited by Peter Grooby, based on Virgo from a Book of hours, Italy, probably Milan, ca. 1473 MS G.14 (fol. 12r)

http://www.themorgan.org/collection/medieval-and-renaissance/manuscript/msg14fol12r BBC History Magazine, April 2015, cover from http://www.historyextra.com/bbc-history-magazine/issue/april-2015

This is the November 2015 issue of From the Tower, a publication of the Barony of Southron Gaard of the Society for Creative Anachronism New Zealand, Inc. (SCANZ, Inc.). From the Tower is only available online on the Southron Gaard website at http://sg.lochac.sca.org/docs/ftt/. It is not a corporate publication of SCANZ, Inc., and does not delineate SCANZ, Inc. policies.

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 3

Kingdom of Lochac King & Queen: Steffan Glaube and Branwen verch Lewis ap Thomas

Please send award recommendations to crown@lochac.sca.org with a courtesy copy to B&B@sg.lochac.sca.org

Additional information can be found on the Kingdom website: www.lochac.sca.org.

Their Excellencies Speak

Unto the Populace of Southron Gaard

do we send greetings.

It has been a fine weekend. There was a wedding between two members of our populace: a most courteous and capable gentleman, Edmund Strangeways, relatively new to the barony and Mistress Antonia, beloved of Southron Gaard, experienced, long a pillar of arts and services in this barony, particularly in clothing and, of course, feast cooking. It was an honour and great pleasure to attend. We wish Edmund and Antonia all possible happiness in their future together.

We also attended the Spring Hunt in Wildmor. It was a beautiful venue, finely catered. The people, were as always, friendly and welcoming. Particular thanks are due to Aveline, Leonhart, and for all their hard work and making Our visit as early and simple as possible. We wish only that we could have stayed longer than a night.

In two days spent seeing and enjoying the company of any people I regret I did not have a chance to discuss a series of issues that had been raised with us regarding negative personal interactions and perceptions of custom within the Barony.

These matters are always difficult to raise as well as to address. Our Society enjoins anyone who has a personal issue with another member to approach them in the first instance and attempt to seek clarification. Misunderstandings when no one has genuinely malign intentions can create long-lasting rifts. The damage caused by infelicitous expression of opinion, a common occurrence within the SCA, is best avoided by promptly seeking out the person who upset you to find out what they really meant and telling them how you feel.

This can require giving the other person the benefit of the doubt when, because of what they have said, you do not want to. But we must remember what we want out such a conversation - to move forward and avoid future problems. You may not become intimates by such methods. But we have seen people journey from antipathy and indifference to friendship and mutual support, even becoming members of the same household, by being prepared to give each other a second chance.

Acceptance and the avoidance of factionalism is all we hope for. Anything more is a gift from fate. Allowing resentments or temper or even the conviction that you are in the right dictate the course of an exchange can lead to making enemies needlessly. You need not give up the belief you are right to try to come to an understanding if you are prepared to say you do not wish things to be as they are if there is antipathy or ill will.

Timeliness is important. We need to approach the person we have issues with when our memories of the event are still fresh, and when theirs may be. With the passing of time our emotions will influence how we remember what happened, and our memories will be less accurate.

If we do not approach them in a timely manner, they may not even remember the issue in question. They may also ask, not unreasonably, ‘Why bring this up now?’

Choosing a time or forum that is public for the airing of the issue may feel like a good step towards transparency - a virtue in any interaction - but may also invite accusations of being disingenuous, if it could have been resolved privately and without invent the risk of embarrassing the other party or making it

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 4

necessary for them to explain themselves to others before they have had a chance to explain themselves to you, the injured party.

That said, the people who upset you in the first place are equally obliged by Society custom to ask themselves, ‘What did I say to cause this? Even to avoid my time being wasted in the future - how can I avoid it happening again?’ More importantly, they need also to bear in mind that if someone feels intimidated by them because of their perceived seniority, it will be hard for

them to come forward to express themselves. Reluctance to come forward can mean a lot of time passes before they do. In short, senior members of the society must be mindful of what they say to others, even when trying to give helpful advice. For newer members, being able to front up and say what you feel can be part of the transition to becoming a senior member of the society and a potential leader.

In service to the populace, Crown and Kingdom

Oswyn and Isabel Maria Baron and Baroness of

Southron Gaard

Baronial Succession Nominations and polling have closed.

The Crown will make their decision and contact all candidates prior to announcing the successors at

November Crown - 7 November.

Succession Timeline

TBA

Successors

elevated.

11 Sept

B&B

announce

stepping

down

15 Sept

Nominations

open

4 Oct

Nominations

close

7 Oct

Candidates

announced:

polling

opens.

31 Oct

Polling

closes.

7 Nov

Baronial

Successors

announced

by Crown.

We Are

Here

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 5

Seneschal’s Comments

Greetings All,

When it rains it pours, and right now it’s a busy time

for many of us.

My thanks to THL Aveline and Wildmoor for hosting

the Spring Hunt. This was a fun, back to the basics,

camping event which largely involved wearing as

many layers of garb as I could find and relaxing

around the campfire. As usual the hospitality of

Wildmoor was first class and much fun was had by

all. I think I did my bit on the hunt to ensure the

people won’t starve in the coming months, although I

never did sight the mythical English Wild Turkey

which apparently leaves large, quite distinguishable

tracks throughout Europe. No matter.

The next couple of weeks are also busy with the

Hororata Highland Games display on the 7th of

November. Even if you aren’t part of the event crew

for that I’d recommend coming along (you’ll have to

pay your own way to get in) and check out the event

as it really is a good show. This year we have a large

number of people putting on an even bigger display,

and are making a big effort to turn interested people

into recruits. The week after Golden Flight we will

have an A&S practice specifically to discuss topics

for newcomers and tell them about all the wonderful

things we do. More information on that will follow

on the email lists.

The very next weekend we have Golden Flight –

Harald’s Last Hunt, stewarded by Lord Ceallach. It’s

no secret I’m a fan of camping events, as they really

do offer a chance to let go of the real world for a

couple of days and immerse one’s self. I’m looking

forward to the competitions the stewards have

planned.

Once that’s done we have a clear run to 12th Night

Coronation and Canterbury Faire, which I for one am

grateful for as there are always too many projects and

not enough time for. I hope your progress is better

than mine, and if not I trust you’ll at least raise a

glass with me at the event to the wonderful invention

that is procrastination.

The Baronial Poll has now closed and I’d like to

thank Lord Lowrens for taking over the official

duties required for this. I’d further like to express my

thanks to all of the other candidates for putting the

names forward to take on this challenging role. It was

great to have three couples in the running this time as

the last two times have been uncontested, so this tells

me that more people are getting settled and looking

forward to the future of the Barony and are willing

and keen to be leading figures in that future. We need

this as a group, but we also need more people coming

through to take on other roles. I realise that for many,

running an event or taking on a project is a scary

prospect, and this is only worsened if other people

have had bad experiences doing so in the past, or

received negative feedback. It’s important for

everyone to ensure that feedback is made in a way

that is constructive, but it’s also important to take

feedback on board and learn from it. At the end of the

day, it all boils down to talking. Talk with people

about your ideas for activities or events as it’s

important to get different perspectives and work it all

together into a viable plan. Once the activity or event

is over, talk with people about how it went and what

could be done to improve things next time. Even if

you don’t plan to do anything similar again, the

feedback could be useful information that you could

pass on to someone else. Look with satisfaction upon

the things that people said went well, and take on

board the things they said could be improved. Doing

so is the only way we grow.

Lastly, my time as Seneschal is drawing to a close

and I’ll be stepping down in a few months regardless

of the outcome of the Baronial poll. If you are

interested in taking on this office please email me,

the Baron and Baroness, and Kingdom Seneschal

with your application. If you are considering

applying but have questions about the office then

please get in touch so that I can tell you how

marvellous and easy a job it is.

Kind regards,

THL Richard d'Allier

Seneschal of Southron Gaard

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 6

From the Officers

Officer Vacancies If you are interested in a role please review the job outline at http://sg.lochac.sca.org/regnum.shtml

Arts and Sciences for November

There’s a scheduled class / session fortnightly (ish) and the other week is open to bring along whatever

you’re working on to do it in company, musicians to practice, dancers to come dance, and officers to

write reports and Faire planning to happen. This month…

November 1 Bling up your feast table – dags, placemats, runners and napkins.

November 8 BYO project, may be a class if someone volunteers. There has been some mention

of heraldry: watch the list and Facebook page for updates.

November 15 Golden flight – no session this weekend.

November 22 Come Meet Us (and hopefully Have a Go) day – following on from the Hororata

Highland Games, this is intended to be a day (10-2) showing off who we are and what we do. Inside

we’ll set up some tables for research, costuming and crafts, outside the assorted martial pursuits. Please

feel free to come along, show and tell what you do, bring a friend. More info to follow, or contact

Agnes.

November 29 BYO project

December schedule still being worked on, and likely to be light what with us all having Festive

Engagements. One session will be patterning out pieces for a chess set, one an end of year games day /

revel, and possibly a class or two. Canterbury Faire is almost really 2 weeks away at this point, so no

doubt some frantic sewing! See the next FTT and / or the website.

Anything requested by the populace that can be made to happen.

Seneschal

We will shortly require a new Seneschal. If you think that you might be interested in the job please see the

job description as above and talk to the current or previous seneschals. Email your application to:

seneschal@sg.lochac.sca.org, bandb@sg.lochac.sca.org & seneschal@lochac.sca.org.

Chirurgeon

Have you got a First Aid Certificate? Do you want to be the new Chirurgeon?

Email your application to: chirurgeon@lochac.sca.org with copies to seneschal@sg.lochac.sca.org &

bandb@sg.lochac.sca.org.

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 7

Golden Flight 2015

Harold’s Last Hunt Celebrate the glorious victory by Earl Harold Godwinson against the Welsh with 3

days of hunting and revelry at Harold’s new hunting lodge.

Friday November 13 – Sunday November 15 (Show weekend)

Rimu Park Scout Camp, 581-611 Buchanans Rd, Templeton, Christchurch 7676

Full event (including all food and feast):

Adults $70.00 Children (12 and under) $45.00

Feast (includes day trip):

Adults $25.00 Children $15.00

Day trip:

Adults $6.00 Children $5.50

Non-members fee of $2 applies. Children under 5 are free.

Bookings close Sunday prior to event. Day trippers may pay at the gate without booking in advance unless they also wish

to arrange to pay for food during their trip (does not include feast).

When booking please provide any information about dietary requirements and/or food allergies.

Contact Ceallach and Hilda at haroldslasthunt@gmail.com to book and for further information.

Site opens at 10am Friday followed by opening Court at 1pm. Enjoy archery, displays of martial

prowess, feasting, great revelry , and indoor activities if wet. Closing court at 3pm Sunday, site close

4pm.

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 8

TWELFTH NIGHT at Canterbury Faire 2016

Paradiso y Purgatorio Southron Gaard hosts Canterbury Faire with all the added splendour of

a Lochac Coronation including; Champions Tournaments, Masked Ball,

celebratory Feast, Court, Carnivale, and the Coronation of the new

King and Queen

Coronation Festivities: Fri 15 – Sun 17 January

Canterbury Faire: Thu 14 – Fri 22 January

(Thursday 14th available for set up of event crew and large

encampments by prior arrangement)

Location: 137 Darnley Road, Waipara, New Zealand

Steward: Isabel Maria del Aguila, cf@sg.lochac.sca.org

Pricing: Full Event:

- before 1 October Adult $135.00, Child $67.50

- before 1 December Adult $145.00, Child $72.00

- on or after 1 Dec Adult $155.00, Child $75.00

Day trip (24hour): Adult $20.00, Child $10.00

Meal Plan: Adult $80.00, Child $45.00

Feast: Adult $30.00, Child $15.00

Repast: Adult $12.00, Child $10.00

Tent Hire: $35.00

Bunkrooms: $ 2.50 (per night)

Mattresses: $12.00 (whole event)

T-shirt: $25.00

Script Bag: $15.00

Bookings and more information at http://sg.lochac.sca.org/cf/

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 9

Resource of the Month The BBC History magazine / History Extra:

For the past couple of years I’ve been a subscriber to the BBC

History magazine. This is a monthly magazine that covers all

kinds of history, not just pre-seventeenth century, and usually

with some kind of connection to the UK, although not

exclusively. It’s a great source of information on all sorts of topics

from crime to kings and while it would never be in-depth enough

to be considered “research” it’s a great source for broadening

your understanding of history and inspiring you to find out a bit

more. As well as the magazine itself there’s the History Extra

website where many snippets and short stories are posted, weekly

podcast and various social media sites.

Of course like most magazines it can be a bit expensive to

subscribe to. However you can get it for free from the library,

either in print or through the Zinio emagazine app. The podcasts

are free and are great for downloading and listening to during your commute, housework or dog walking.

My favourite features are:

Feature articles on various topics

The “History Essay” – where the study of history is discussed by an eminent historian

Book reviews, both fiction and non-fiction

Recipe of the month – rated for taste and ease

Podcast interviews where a historian author is interviewed by another historian author: these have

been very interesting.

* The following public libraries include BBC History Magazine

Christchurch City Libraries: print and emagazine

Dunedin Public Library: print and emagazine

Hurunui Libraries: emagazine

Selwyn Libraries: print

Links

Magazine page: http://www.historyextra.com/bbc-history-magazine/current-issue

History Extra site: http://www.historyextra.com/

Podcasts: http://www.historyextra.com/podcasts

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 10

November 2015

MARTIAL PRACTICES ARTS GATHERINGS ORGANISATIONAL MEETING

Armoured Combat Sundays 10am–noon at Redwood Scout Hall. Thursdays 6-8pm in the park at the end of Jasmine Place, Wigram

Rapier

Sundays at Redwood Scout Hall from noon.

Archery Fine Sundays at Northcote School grounds, meet at Redwood Scout Hall. Email: archers@sg.lochac.sca.org

Arts & Sciences

Sundays from 11:00am at Redwood Scout Hall. Topics or projects to be announced on SG list and Facebook. UCMRS Dance Mondays 7pm -8:30pm in KF08. Kirkwood Village.

Council Meeting Second Wednesday of the month, from 7:30pm. Upper Riccarton Library, 71 Main South Road. Or join online: details posted to the SG list

All welcome

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 Fight practice

6

7 Hororata

Highland

Games demo

Baronial

Successors

Named

8

Heavy Combat

A&S

Rapier

Archery

9

UCMRS Dance

10

11 Council Meeting

12 Fight practice

13 Harold’s Last

Hunt

14 Harold’s Last

Hunt

15 Harold’s Last

Hunt

16 UCMRS Dance

17

18

19

Fight practice

20

21

22 Heavy Combat

A&S

Rapier

Archery

23

UCMRS Dance

24

25 FTT

contributions

due

26 Fight practice

27

28

29 Heavy Combat

A&S

Rapier

Archery

30 UCMRS Dance

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 11

December 2015

Southron Gaard Regnum

(Being a list of the current Baronial Officers and their official email addresses)

Baron & Baroness: Oswyn Carolus and Isabel Maria del Aguila BandB@sg.lochac.sca.org Seneschal: Richard d'Allier seneschal@sg.lochac.sca.org

Tour d’Or Herald: Aveline Goupil herald@sg.lochac.sca.org

Reeve: James of Southron Gaard reeve@sg.lochac.sca.org

Knight Marshal: Elena Sophia Luciano de Medici marshal@sg.lochac.sca.org

Arts & Sciences: Agnes ðe kyrii arts@sg.lochac.sca.org

Chronicler: Eleanora van den Bogaerde chronicler@sg.lochac.sca.org

Chatelaine: Phillipe de Tournay chatelaine@sg.lochac.sca.org

Chirurgeon Kotek Torzhokskoi chirurgeon@sg.lochac.sca.org

Constable: Raffe de Massard constable@sg.lochac.sca.org

Crescents Officer Lady Csperka crescents@sg.lochac.sca.org

Librarian Melisande de Massard library@sg.lochac.sca.org

Quartermaster: Raffe de Massard quartermaster@sg.lochac.sca.org

Web scribe: Ginevra de Serafino Visconti web@sg.lochac.sca.org

Captain of Archers: Currently Vacant archers@sg.lochac.sca.org

Captain of Rapier: James of Southron Gaard rapier@sg.lochac.sca.org Lists Officer: Melisande de Massard lists@sg.lochac.sca.org

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 Fight practice

4

5

6

Heavy Combat

A&S

Rapier

Archery

7

UCMRS Dance

8

9 Council Meeting

10

Fight practice

11

12

13 Heavy Combat

A&S

Rapier

Archery

14 UCMRS Dance

15

16

17

Fight practice

18

19

20 Heavy Combat

A&S

Rapier

Archery

21

UCMRS Dance

22

23 FTT

contributions

due

24 Fight practice

25

26

27 28 UCMRS Dance

29 30 31

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 12

SCA Groups in New Zealand

(see websites for more details)

OTAGO

Incipient Canton of

Wildmoor

College of St Kessog

(dormant)

http://kessog.lochac.sca.org

WELLINGTON

Shire of Darton

http://darton.lochac.sca.org

Sun: Fight Practice

Tues: Arts & Sciences

College of St Aemigdius

(dormant) http://aemigdius.lochac.sca.org

AUCKLAND

Barony of Ildhafn

http://ildhafn.lochac.sca.org

Sunday: A & S, Singing

Monday: Sewing

(biweekly)

Wednesday: Fencing

Thursday: Dance

College of St Dionysius

(dormant)

http://stdionysius.lochac.sca.org

HAMILTON

Canton of Cluain

http://cluain.lochac.sca.org

Wed: Fight Practice (non SCA)

3rd Sat: Hastilude

3rd Sun: Archery

SCA (NZ) Inc. Membership There are two different types of membership available to event

participants in New Zealand:

Subscribing Membership:

Grants full rights of participation in the SCA (including voting,

entering Crown Tournaments, holding office and affiliate

membership with overseas branches).

Subscribing membership also includes a subscription to Pegasus, the

Lochac Kingdom Newsletter in either electronic or paper form.

1 Year with E-Pegasus $ 15.00

3 Years with E-Pegasus $ 30.00

1 Year with Pegasus $ 45.00

3 years with Pegasus $105.00

Event Membership:

For all non-members aged 18 years or over attending an event.

Event membership lasts for the duration of that event only and is

not sufficient to hold office or fight in Crown Tournament etc.

If the event has a cost, and it is not held by a College, the levy will be

charged.

Per event $ 2.00

A SCA(NZ) Inc. membership form is included on the final page of

this newsletter, or can be accessed on the SCA(NZ) website.

For further information visit the official SCA(NZ) Inc. website at:

www.sca.org.nz

FROM THE TOWER NOVEMBER 2015 PAGE 13