Court of Aquaterra. Baron Bryson MacLachlan Bryson McCloughen

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2 Court of Aquaterra Baron Bryson MacLachlan Bryson McCloughen Baroness Angharad Banadaspus Drakenhefd Alison Champions Champion Duelist: Robert Flood Champion of Arts and Sciences: Monsignore Michele Aquilani de Napoli Champion Archer: Rodri Glynglas Champion Bard: Samira al Wadi Champion Marksman: Phydeaux Weir Champion of Games: Cornelius Oakson Champion Defender : Daniel of Der Kreiger Champion Youth Defender: Kat Draygon Champion the Reiterschwert: Mecia Raposa Aquaterra Ambassadors Calontir: Raul Del Angelo & Romana of Aquaterra East Kingdom: Lord Æmil mab Donnachaidh East Kingdom (Smoking Rocks): Lord Timo Schuzzilwenst & Lady Ämy verch Rychard Ambassador At Large: Styrr Hersir Óláfsson Barony of Aquaterra Evergreen Way, Box 359 Everett, WA fb.com/barony.of.aq aquaterra.antir.sca.org Copyright & Disclaimer This is the 2015, 3rd Quarter issue of the Murmurs, 2015 SCA, Inc., the official newsletter of the Barony of Aquaterra, a branch member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. The Murmurs is not a corporate publication of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., and does not delineate SCA policies. This newsletter is published Quarterly and made available as a PDF on the AQ website to the public. Submission dead-line is the 15th of the Month preceding publication. Artwork, articles, recipes and your adventures abroad are welcome! Opinions expressed in this newsletter may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Chronicler, Barony, or SCA. Paid advertising is not permitted in this publication. All submissions are subject to editing without consultation.

3 Comments from the Coronets Greetings unto the people of the great Barony of Aquaterra, We write to you now as the chosen Baron and Baroness of Aquaterra. When Their Majesties placed the coronets on our heads, they gave unto us the responsibility to care for, protect and nurture the Barony and the people who are the Barony. This is a task we take very seriously and we will work with you to uphold the trust placed in us by the Crown. Now that the serious commentary is out of the way, we want to make our time as your Coronets a time of fun, pageantry and growth! If you have ideas, take the time to come find us. We will make time to listen and talk with you! If you want to try something new, come find us and we ll help you meet the right people! Bring your banners to events, if you don t have one, we know people! If you re not having fun, come find us. We ll sic a jester or two on you or bring out the bouncy horses! We look forward to our time as your Baron and Baroness. We hope that you will work with us to continue building on the ideas and traditions that have made Aquaterra great and implement new ideas that will bring even more glory to our people and lands! In Service, Baron Bryson MacLachlan Baroness Angharad Banadaspus Drakenhefd

4 Running With Runestones and other impractical advice for vikings; The recurring ramblings of Skallagrim Grimkjellson The Problem Of The Academic Narrative The anthropologists got it wrong when they named our species Homo sapiens ( wise man ). In any case it s an arrogant and bigheaded thing to say, wisdom being one of our least evident features. In reality, we are Pan narrans, the storytelling chimpanzee. -Terry Pratchett, The Science of Discworld II: The Globe While archeology at it s most base description is the science of saying Here s a thing, it s made of stuff, and we found it over there. Anthropology, on the other hand, tells us This thing was made by these people, and they used it for this purpose. There is of course a great deal of overlap between the two disciplines, and each is vulnerable to an assortments of follies. Archeology in many ways is limited by the techniques and advancement in technology used. Because Archeology aims to be a collection of facts, it is less prone to societal bias. Anthropology is really about creating a narrative based on the facts gathered by archeology. The largest weaknesses in Anthropology is the human need for the story to make sense; and unfortunately what makes sense for one group of people, may not for another, or may not make sense at a latter date. This is often compounded by the need for the plot of the story to be protean enough to incorporate new facts. Ideally, the depth and breadth of the facts drive the narrative, but this is not always the case; and sometimes (or perhaps too often) small samples of data become the whole of the story and are mistaken as the fact that they are meant to describe. spired by the artwork of Gustav Malmström. But why did Malmström choose to portray the raiders with such unique head gear? Was it simple artistic license? This poses an interesting quandary. The fact is: that no Viking Age helmet have ever been discovered with horns or indications of ever having had horns. The narrative incorporates all of the facts, but does it really tell the whole story? Let s begin with the facts - Viking Age Helmets, or more accurately Helmet. Singular. Excavated in 1943 from a burial mound on the Gjermundbu farm just outside of the village of Haugsbygd in Ringerike, Norway; the Gjermundbu Helm is the only Late Scandinavian Iron Age Helm ever found. The Gjermundbu Helm. Photo Courtesy of James Knirk, Cultural History Museum, It is often stated as Fact that the Viking Age Scandina- University of Oslo vians did not wear horned Helmets. Often it is asserted that the idea of the horned viking helmet was an op- At this point, one would not be entirely mistaken in sayeratic invention of Wagner s costume designer: Carl ing that our narrative attempts to define the armor stylemil Doepler. Doepler s costumes are thought to be in- ings of an entire region, over the course of a nearly 300 year period, based solely on a singular material find.

5 Perhaps our story should be: There is very little evidence to support the idea that Scandinavians wore horned helmets during the Viking Age. But even that statement is misleading at this point, for we only have a single piece of evidence, and it most assuredly does not support the idea of horned helmets! The Other Evidence - Horned Helmets In the autumn of 834ce, an extravagant ship, leaden with an impressive number and quality of grave goods was buried in a mound at the modern-day Lille Oseberg farm near Tønsberg in Vestfold, Norway. Among the finds made during the excavation ( ) were a great deal of textiles, including several tapestries. The largest (known as The Oseberg Tapestry despite the being a misnomer) depicts a procession of people, and in the upper left corner shows a figure, that is reasonably interpreted as a man wearing a horned helmet. Numerous Vendel Era iconographies also depict people wearing horned helmets, as well as, actual Horned Helmet finds that date to the Vendel and Migration periods. None of this evidence suggests outright that the average viking raider wore a horned helmet, but little to no evidence actually indicates that the vikings wore helmets at all. So where does this leave our story? Possibly the best narrative would not be that the Vikings never wore horned helmets and that it s a In 2014 Professor Dan Carlsson led an excavation at the Victorian invention, but instead: There is very little Fröjel Viking Age Port on Gotland in Sweden. A small we know about viking age head gear, and it may be a statuette (possibly a pendant) was found depicting a reasonable assertion that if the viking age scandinavians human head wearing a horned helmet. This pendant is did wear horned helmets, that it most likely would have nearly identical to a horned helmet wearing figure found been a rarity, either as an indication of status or perhaps in the Viking Age Russian village of Staraya Ladoga. ceremonial; but in truth, we simply don t know. Drawing made of the Oseberg Tapestry at the time of excavation. Image courtesy of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society. A small figurine found at a settlement area in the middle of Gotland, dated to around 7th century. Photo by Roland Hejdström, courtesy of the Gotland Archaeological Field School.

6 Thoughts on Money in Period Master Fiacha MacNeil of Glencar The biggest problem with coinage is that it is inflationary. Feel free to argue about it being a function of government rather than a function of using coins. - Fiacha Warning. This article is full of my opinions wrapped around lots of facts and some details pretending to be facts that are failures of my memory. Verify anything that is important to you or ask me to give you a reference. Coins are a product. They are mass produced in a factory, i.e. a mint. The factory must be profitable. There are operating expenses that must be covered, raw materials, fuel, payroll, tooling, building maintenance, quality control, security, etc. Mass production is essential to minimize the production cost. Thus, it must be understood that the value of the precious metal in a coin must be less than the face value of the coin. In effect, coins are like any other thing that can be bought and sold where the initial selling price is much higher than the resale price. The obvious consequence is that coins MUST have a high face value. The users of coins must be willing to accept that a coin is worth its face value or they will not accept it. In a national economy, this equates to runaway inflation and the collapse of the government (revolution or civil war). So, it helps to think of coins as $100 bills. Now consider how often you go shopping with only $100 bills in your pocket. Smaller transactions must be possible, but ei- Business Meeting ther on account or by barter. However, this is a topic for Last Tuesday of the month at 7pm Denny s another day th St SW, So, coins are useful when handling transactions with Everett, WA huge values, i.e. $1000 or more. Merchants might do this on a regular basis but few other individuals. This Social Meeting First Tuesday of the month at 7pm leads to the question of why coins are so prevalent. Snohomish Boys & Girls Club A government needs funding and that means collect nd Street ing taxes. Collecting taxes in kind tends not to work but Snohomish, WA coins can be turned into almost anything. So, in general, a government will want to buy stuff with coins and col- Newcomers Meeting lect them back as taxes. At the low end, it can pay work- 2nd Monday of the month at 7pm ers a coin a day and ignore the problems of tiny transac- AFK Tavern tions. At the high end, it can budget and pay for massive st St public works, castles, courthouses, standing armys, port Everett, WA facilities, and so on. Meetings

7 Officers of the Barony Seneschal: Lady Sabina di Zorzi (Geri Terhune) Minister of Thrown Weapons: Phydeaux Weir (Bob Anderson) Deputy Seneschal: Dame Rosamund (Kari Fox) Chronicler: HL Skallagrim í sten bíta Grimkjellson (Tristån Erickson) Exchequer: OPEN Grete Boke: Ljúfvina Hrafnsdóttir Deputy Exchequer: HL Elewyn ferch Emerys (Susan Meyers) Minister of Arts and Sciences: HL Samira al-waddi (Melody Anderson) Chamberlain: Yvett du Coeur Dance Minister: HL Soelig Sweetglee (Shari Peirce) Gate: Master Robyrt of Watersyde Games Minister: Lady Eibhlin inghean Sheain Reservations: Baroness Arianne (Ruth Janus) Bardic Deputy: L Nigel Compton (Max Newman) bardic@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Baronial and Court Herald: Lord Nigel Compton (Max Newman) gorgesherald@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Chatelaine: Arnora Jonsdottir (Tracy Murphy) chatelaine@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Master of Stables: Baron Styrr Olafsson (Sean McMillan) masterofstables@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Baronial Scribe: Daigo Tsukime Kitsume scribe@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Warlord: Gideon Hravenfuri (Jim Meyers) warlord@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Youth Armored Combat Warden: HE Jólgeirr Álarson (Jordan Boswell) YACWarden@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Minister of Lists: Geneviève de Bretagne (Jenifer Keating) lists@aquaterra.antir.sca.org Webminister: Siobhán inghean Éamoinn (Jennifer Kyrnin) webminister@aquaterra.antir.sca.org

8 BANNER WAR September 11-13, 2015 BARONY OF AQUATERRA Snohomish County, WA Lords and Ladies of An Tir! The rumble and groan of nascent anger grows again; rivalries and grievances old and new must rise and be vented in the shimmering heat of the field. The horns call your name! The thrum of your blood in your ears beats in answer; your rivals should be taught to hear its song. Bring your sons and daughters and show them the power that is their birthright! Show those who follow in your prints what it means to be born of your blood! But when the ardor of the battlefield at last cools in the dusk, remember these are brothers, by better than blood. Sheathe the heralds of death and take back your cup and plate; light roaring fi res, bring gifts and tales; clasp again the hands of neighbors in boasts of what has been, and toasts to what shall be! Event Stewards Niali Thorin (Phil Hamlin) Skallagrim Grimkjellson (Tristån Erickson) Site opens Friday at noon for merchants, 3pm for populace, and closes at 5pm on Sunday. Fees: Children and Youth are FREE! Adults (18+) Weekend $20, Day $10. The $5 NMS applies. Make checks payable to Barony of Aquaterra, SCA Inc. A few new details, still developing: Combat Scenarios will include forest terrain, will include archery where possible. Light Fighters (Rapier, C&T): Your tournaments are moving to more prominent, visible space so we can see and learn more about your art. In addition, you can partner with Heavy Fighters in one tournament format, and may be featured on the War Field in at least one scenario! (If we can do it safely.) Archery and Thrown Weapons usually have a few new tricks up their sleeve for this event; this year will be no exception be prepared for new things. A&S Competitions will include one game-crafting challenge and one Heraldic challenge, details to be announced soon! There will also be a Siege Cooking competition, and the food will be shared at the inn on Saturday night around more games and merriment (more details on that coming). See the Kingdom Calendar for the most current details about the event, including electricity, water, trash, recycling, RV reservations, and our work party that helps make this event possible. Site Info: Name: Masonic Family Park Mountain Loop Hwy Granite Falls, WA 98252