An Tir Rebellion
An Tir was originally a principality of the Kingdom of the West. The road to becoming a full kingdom was not smooth. Below, Sister Guineth tells the story of the An Tir Rebellion with grace and humour.
The Rebels wore gray armbands; gray being the colour of An Tir's skys "proper".
The password was "Robert Barker" and the countersign was "Queen for a Day."
Twelfth Night AS XII
A Rebel’s View of the An Tir Rebellion, Part the First: The Twelfth Night Plot by Sister Guineth the White
See also: An_Tir_Timeline_XII#January_XII
Twelfth Night AS XVI
A Rebel's Eye View of the An Tir Rebellion, Part the Second: Free At Last! by Sister Guineth the White
See also: An_Tir_Timeline_XVI
Related Information
See also: Eddie Boy
More Memories
Ever wonder why the original grey doubleknit armbands were wavy?
While Master Duncan, Donn, Elrond, Guillame de VinVert and Gilvaethwy ap Llewellyn were in my rec room trying to calm a very nervous Ziffymoto (Edward the Bloody Bastard); Dierde, Liam and Morag (the Merchant - myself) were sitting in the living room making up filks, drinking Glenlivet (neat of course) and wielding scissors on several yards of material. By the time we had cut most of the armbands we couldn't see straight and Eddie was still a nervous wreck. When we finished we decided that it was all good because the armbands REALLY looked as they had been cut using a sgean dhu.
As to the other organization that was in place - it was called the Northwest Medieval Research Institute and was a WASHINGTON Corporation duly registered in Olympia. The actual officers were the children - Elrond's kids , Gilvaethwy's daughter and my daughter. The thought behind that was that we were doing this for all of An Tir's children. As far as I know it may still be on the books.
The problem with travel etc, was only the tip of the iceberg. We did not have the proper insurance and legal protections in place for the state and the BOD chose to ignore that. I was one of the people who consistently sent in my membership fees and only got a card once - right at the beginning. Consequently, I attended many events as a Troglodyte (ancient SCA term for non dues paying person).
Anyway, I still have a few momentos of the Rebellion which if I find in my move to Calontir, I will be glad to pass on to Sister Guineth.
Morag the Merchant (Morag Loghan) mka Stella Samson (formerly Saunders)
(A "keeper" posting from the Steps of the Cathedral, posted July 2006.)
The Coronet and their Heirs could see that An Tir was badly divided - not on the question of independence, but on the question of how to achieve it, or so I have been told - so when it came right down to it, they didn't declare independence after all; they accepted it in trust for when the time would be right.
The BoD panicked and screamed like banshees and threatened shrilly to banish the Rebel Alliance and strip the rebels of their titles and honors. But they really couldn't if the Crown of the West was to keep faith with their loyal royalist subjects: many of the principality officers (including the seneschal, the chronicler and IIRC what I was told the herald and the chancellor of the exchequer) were prominent Rebels, and it's tough to replace an officer with a competent and willing successor even in the best of times.
I suspect that it was also at least partially in recognition of the fact that the coup was not, when the time came, actually carried through as originally planned, that the directors did not actually invoke punitive measures against the rebels.
If the Twelfth Night Plot had come as a surprise to everyone but the plotters at that Twelfth Night .... But it didn't. People had time to think about it, to prepare to show their colors clearly. And they did. And it was clear that there was nothing even approaching a consensus among the populace.
It was disappointing to the Rebel Alliance that Eddie et al. backed down. But it did bring the cause of independence into public discussion, and eventually we did get the freedom we all wanted, and a more amiable parting with our fatherland the West than carrying through the 12th Night Plot would have bought us. And Sir Steingrim's first Crown win only months later gave the Rebel Alliance a chance to suggest that "the West" free the Principality of the Mists, which caused a quite amusing panic among the Misties. :) Causing panic among those Misties who wanted the West to hang onto An Tir turned into something of an entertaining and consoling hobby for certain of the more prominent Rebels. :) It eventually contributed to the achievement of An Tir's freedom, too. :)
Historically,
Sister Guineth