Golden Swan Tournament XL/2005

Golden Swan Tournament index page

Date

7-10 Oct XL/2005

Branch

Appledore

Autocrat

Lady Glynne-Rose of Wyndhaven

Site

Skunk Hollow, Oliver B.C.

Event Copy

http://www.antir.sca.org/Upcoming/index.php?Event_ID=1268

Activities

Heavy Tourney

Archery

Classes: Women in the Middle Ages, Research & Documentation, Intro to Chainmail, Spindle Spinning, Weaving a Straw Bee-Skep

Feast

Golden Swan Judging

Event Highlights

Greetings to all in the noble Principality of Tir Righ,

The ranks of the Golden Swans have been joined by two more. Both candidates this weekend were successful.

Julia Aurelia, born in Uriconium (now Wroxeter) Britannia and now resident in Rome, is also known as Julia Sempronia, seneschal of Cranehaven (Wenatchee, WA).

Lucy Pogge, born in Clee, Lincolnshire and now living in London, is better known in Tir Righ as Siobhan the Wanderer of Frozen Mountain.

Both ladies were an inspiration and a delight to speak with, observe, and learn from.

Other winners were HL Thorin Olafsson, winner of the Heavy tournament, Enoch Jacobsz van Zuidenland, winner of the rapier tourney, and Jorgen of Frozen Mountain, who won the boffer and whalebone tourney. Jorgen also won the children's portion of the William Tell Shoot by hitting the apple on his first shot in the first round. Guillaume de la Flamme Rouge won the adult portion of the William Tell shoot. In the Bardic segment, honorable mention has to go to Donwenna la Mareschale and her daughter, Ximena la Mareschale. The overall winner of Bardic was HL Khaidu Naranaimorin.

Huzzah to all the winners! huzzah to the newest Golden Swans!

HL Olwen Pen Aur, Judging Co-ordinator, Golden Swan

Pictures

(Links to event pictures off-site)

Sample: Twelfth Night Pictures By Lord Joe Populace

Personal Memories - Iulia Aurelia

I had the very great pleasure and privilege, together with my sister Lucy Pogge, of traveling to the Shire of Appledore to make the acquaintance of the Sisters of the Golden Swan. I began preparing for the journey some eight months before, after writing HL Olwen Pen Aur and negotiating an appropriate timeline to research.

The Die is Cast

I have always been resolutely Roman in my interests, and after carefully consulting the Golden Swan web site I settled on the era immediately preceding the dissolution of the Western Roman Empire (401-450 CE). I was quite mistaken in my early assumptions that the Republic and early empire had much more to offer to satisfy the student of Roman daily life, and as I continued to read and delve farther into the extant evidence, I became thoroughly engrossed in the art and culture of late antiqity.

The bulk (but not all) of the previous Swans have drawn their characters from times we'd consider to be solidly medieval. As I studied and began to sink into the skin of Iulia Aurelia and her life, I began to see that the fifth century was a pivotal time, marking the ebb of classical living and the ascendency of medieval life.

Timeline A well-organised person will do well in tackling this intensive, but intensely satisfying personal tournament. The initial application is due by July Coronation in the year one wishes to challenge Golden Swan, but the seeds are often planted previously, and in my case, I began to give the Tournament serious thought in the early Spring of AS XL (2005) if not before.

I submitted the initial application before the end of June and began to write chapter after chapter of the full documentation (online PDF versions of the chapters are available here

There were several other tasks in addition to the written documentation, including calligraphy, costumery, embroidery and so on. I established deadlines for each activity, which enabled me to stay on task without losing my mind, and ultimately enabled me to relax somewhat in the weeks leading up to the Tournament.

In Conclusion

There are so many personal reflections of the actual tournament I'm not sure what to highlight. Everything I did leading up to the actual event was so personally rewarding that I could have stopped short of attending the actual weekend and been extremely satisfied with what I had learned. However, making the character of Iulia Aurelia come to life was one of the most satisfying experience I have had in some time, and I cannot recommend the Tournament enough to future Swans.

Julilla Sempronia, AoA 15:20, 31 Oct 2005 (EST)

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