Barak Ravensfuri

One of the Legends of AnTir panels as seen at Twelfth Night AS XLIII in Adiantum. Concept by Marian Staarveldt, designed by Raven Qara ton and brought to life by Yseult of Broceliande. (C)2008Erika Milo

Also known as: Barak de Noirville. His highest award was Lion of An Tir. He was a Knight, a Pelican and a Royal Peer. He was one of the Ravensfuri brothers: Mischka Ravensfuri, Davin Steingrimsson, Dungadar Ravensfuri, Garan Steingrimson, Gunther Ravensfuri, Skeggi Hrafensfuri, Skapti Thorinsson, Gideon Hrafensfuri, Aethelred Cloudbreaker, and the first sister, Katya Ravensfuri Von Salza.

• Reigned once as King of An Tir

This gentle's name has been added to the Scroll of Honor and was honored at the Riderless Horse Ceremony at May Crown XXIV.

== An Oath Fulfilled ==

Thank you People of AnTir, for donating silver to Jarl Barak's Ducal Oath, which was fulfilled at Ursalmas 2009. These donations were liquidated into cash, and split between two suicide prevention organizations in the US and Canada.

Their Royal Majesties presented Barak's Lion Scroll, penned by Duchess Hlutwige in Norse runes on bark paper. The funerary fires burned bright with an abundance of grave goods. Ceremonies sang out clear and strong, and stories and remembrances from those gathered lasted well past the sun's setting. In memorium, $100 (in part from the sale of Barak Bucks) was donated to the Raven Travel Fund, established by Barak while he was King, to assist future Crowns in traveling to intra-kingdom events in order to represent the greatness that is AnTir.

== In the Before Time; In the Long Ago == by Hrafny / young_raven Many years ago, Barak Jarl made an oath. To Duke Steingrim and in front of the assembled Varangian Guard, he swore that one day he would become a duke, or else he would pay over one hundred ounces of silver to His Grace to be used for the benefit of the Guard. In the years that followed, there was much gentle ribbing between Steingrim and Barak, and the oath was never forgotten.

As his friends -as a very real part of his family- we could see this oath fulfilled for him. We could gather together, in one place, one hundred ounces of silver. And when this is done and Steingrim holds Barak to have fulfilled his oath, the funds thus raised would go to an organization that helps to prevent suicide. Maybe half on the Canadian side and half on the US side. We could do this as part of the way in which we remember and honor our friend who is gone.

Memories

"Barak {at this writing} is picked on by his Ravensfuri brethren, who are currently dictating this posting while drinking good red wine. They would like to share another photo, but I will not be party to the inadvertent exposure of gratuitous obnoxiousness to unsuspecting viewers of this page. However, the boys feel the photo (below right) to be indicative of Barak and I find it less offensive than the first suggestion." Submitted by Yeshika

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Greetings, AnTir. I am greatly saddened to announce the passing of one of AnTir's leading lights, Jarl Barak Ravensfuri. Please join with me in offering our condolences to Duchess Lao and the rest of Barak's family and friends, who are now grieving. Their pain is surely immeasurable.

In Service,
Master Andras Truemark
Squire to Jarl Barak Ravensfuri, Lion of AnTir
Posted to the Steps November 18, 2008''

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...Please know that Jarl Barak will always stand as a model of speaking up and standing for what you believe in. He loved AnTir with his whole heart...

Countess Melissa Kendal, from the book of Memories at Ursalmas, 2009''

== Pictures == Additional photos available in the Special Pages Images Gallery and at Snapfish [1]

== Eulogy == posted by permission of Gideon Hrafensfuri

Barak Hrafensfuri was my closest friend.

Barak has left us. His lifetime is now complete. He was a great many things to a great many people. It would be impossible to list the effects he has had on others, as you would only hear my opinion on what I witnessed. I can say that he was welcomed in to any circle he came upon. He entertained us with harmonies so pure as to bring tears to your eyes. He left trail of raucous laughter wherever he went. He told stories with a tongue of pure gold, riveting the listener to his seat. The entertainments he gave us were filled with passion and heart and his audiences were awed by them. His talents were many and the silence that remains will be long before it is filled again.

In each of us, he has left something that improves who we are. I believe it is time to look back, each of us, and examine what his life has given to us, and how we are forever changed because of knowing him.

My wife Elewyn and I, like most of us have suffered times of great sadness and confusion, threatening to break our family apart, during these dark times Barak was the bond that held us together.

Our son Bastian was an only child when we met and so Barak eagerly dove in to play the “big Brother”. He could easily do what all boys do when they are young, pretending, playing, joking, competing, running around and acting generally like an adolescent baboon, all the while instilling in our son values and concepts like, respect for others, honor in his deeds, compassion, and a desire to be a help to those who need it.

In my late thirties, I chose to start fighting. I was fat, old and way out of shape. At my first tournament, Barak gave me my SCA name, de Noirville, which at one time had been his. He walked with me as I struggled to achieve. He lifted me up when I fell and pushed me on when I would have rather quit. I have reached way beyond my wildest dreams because he was with me. Over the years, we became more or less inseparable. With him at my side, I was invincible. Now that I walk this path alone, I will continue to achieve as I go armed with the confidence he has given me. Just recently, I was given the highest honor in my SCA time, I became a brother in the Hrafensfuri family. Once again, he named me.

Barak was as much a member of our little family as any of us. He had the keys to our house and his own room. What was ours was his. Though our house will never be as full as it was, it will always be home because he helped make it so. Our dog Ollie will miss him terribly, they shared the Scoobie Snacks.

Where my family is concerned, I shudder to think where we might be, had we not had the great fortune to meet him.

We love Barak and that love will last all our lives.

== The History of Barak Bucks == Reprinted by permission of Ian Cnulle, the Moneyer of Silberbyrg

Above left: One of the original 100 coins with hand clipped edges.

Above right: A later striking, showing both sides, polished, with more refined edges.

At Barak and Lao's Coronation, there were half a dozen of us An Tirian moneyers, although we had not yet started the process of seeking Guild status. This was the second time we presented Royal largesse coins. They were very special - hot struck Byzantine style coppers (as appropriate for a Varangian) - the first (to the best of our knowledge) hot striking done in the Knowne Worlde - and we had all participated in minting them. There hadn't been time to do the presentation in Court, but TRMs graciously arranged a private audience to receive them. Still splendidly garbed all in white, TRMs awaited us at the end of a hallway, Barak doing his best to look regal enthroned on a plastic chair. We approached as a group, bearing our tools and banner, and knelt, proffering a small wooden pyx containing a hundred heavy pieces. Barak leaned foreward, gravely peering into the box, and then broke out with "WHOA! COOL!!!"

Kings are generally - and sometimes demonstratively - happy to receive coins, but Barak's response was the most memorable. The king bust die from that coin was later used with a new die with the +H emblem of St. Hildegard's (designed by Lao) to strike the first of the St. Hildegard circulating copper $1 tokens. For the first couple of years, it was the only design type (out of ultimately 44 different designs). At 30th Year Celebration, Barak told us that {we} had made him the most famous man in the SCA by virtue of minting about 6,000 coins with his (iconic) image and name on them, traveling to the ends of the Knowne Worlde. Naturally, people spontaneously called them "Barak Bucks" (and the name stuck for all types, regardless of design, issued over a dozen years), and we heard usages occur, such as "putting in my two Barak's worth" in conversations.

Toward the end of the reign, Barak led the Army of An Tir at An Tir/West War. Another member of the Moneyers' Guild, Thomas Nothelm had, on his own initiative, minted several thousand fighter pay tokens to give to everybody who fought for An Tir at that war. Unfortunately, Thomas decided to distribute the coins to all of the fighters on the battlefield just before the first battle of the war. The problem is that people in armor don't have their pouches (or accessible pockets) to put such things in. After some general confusion, the question of what to do was referred to His Majesty for an executive decision. Barak's response was, "Tell them to put them in their cup!". The mental image of the Army of An Tir charging across the field with their crotches jingling will live with me forever.

== The Wave and Cliff == Copyright November 2008, reprinted by permission of John R. Schmidt, aka Sir John Theophilous

Grey sea and grey cliff in grey month
wave upon wave upon wave beating foam
Sometimes in rain, sometimes in dark.
The cliff eternal, the wave renewed--
both echos of distant turmoiled birthing.
The cliff, distant in time, the time of gods;
the wave, distant in place, beyond memory.
The ephemeral wave always returns, permanent.
The permanent cliff erodes, ephemeral.
To the God's eyes.

Winter comes. Some hold homesteads hard;
some willingly withstand weather.
Some seek surer shelter--
May great gods gather them in.
No decision is born of weakness;
though we may judge strength misused
What man may judge another's choice in this,
Truely. Without self, at night's dark,
all have some urge to move on.

The largest wave hits stone the hardest;
Against endurance great strength can be destroyed.
Waves remain even after the cliff;
waves of words and memory, like Odin's ravens.
Hold high the memories, let the words surge.
Remember the oaths, the victories, the times.
Remember the man who brought them about.

I will cast two ounces of silver to redeem his word;
I never found it false, though I may not have found it pleasing.

Letters to a Squire

The last of a series of five letters written by Countess Lao (circa 1987-88), to Squire Barak, whose courage and perseverance in the lists, inspired her to write them...
Printed by permission of Lao Yu, lion duchess

The Last...
Such sagas spring from courtly love:
all words are writ to contemplate,
all motions made to stir and wake,
all favors held in innocence.
Emotions stayed by obeisance
to those who hold eachother’s hearts.

The time has come for swords to sing,
for shields to clash and steel helms ring
with valiant deed. In battle’s din
all foes vanquished --- one left standing
to lay claim to the Throne and Crown ---
the next Crown Prince, heir soon to reign.

As others were, so shall we be:
magnificent in epic deed,
nobility in high esteem,
the gardeners of chivalry,
the keepers of the Crown and Dream,
when you are King, and I am Queen...

== A Tale of The Watcher == written and posted by Sunjan Temujin, OL

In a ger in a lonely sheltered valley, the little nomad woman wakes suddenly.

‘something’ has changed, she senses it. Crawling out of the warm furs doesn’t disturb her partner, who rolls over into the warm spot with a contented sigh. She isn’t worried about getting warm again when she returns to the bed – he’s easily convinced to yield the warm spot by the careful application of cold feet.....

The uneasy feeling grows as she shrugs into a sheepskin outer robe and slips out of the ger.

She is not all that surprised to see a figure waiting outside, and even less surprised that the visitor is The Watcher. It has been a while, after all. He lifts a torch and motions for her to walk with him. Silently they climb the slight rise to the notch in the hills, the next low valley should be visible in the bright moonlight.

Only it is not there! It is a valley, but not the one she knows in daylight and dark. This one is bathed in a mix of shadow, moonlight, and drifting fog. And again, the difference is that the valley is not a pasture of grazing yak and horses, but is now holding a large camp of tents and people! The sound is muted, but she can hear drumming, voices raised in song, and an odd jingling sound.

As if there was any doubt, she knows she is not standing in An Tir at the moment......

The Watcher speaks: “One comes tonight to pass through the Gate, and you will tell of it”. She asks why is the Watcher is up here with her and not down at the Gate. “Another asked for the honor of meeting this one, I could not refuse. It might make his passage easier to see a familiar face. Watch now, he comes......”.

The full moon breaks free of clouds and bathes the road to the camp in light. Now she sees him, a large figure in splendid Viking garb – a rich red wool cloak clasped with a hand-worked brooch the likes of which Torgul himself might dream of creating. He bears no sword or helm, and walks like one unsure of a welcome. She notices he has a slight ‘pigeon-toed’ walk.

The man approaches the Gate – in this place and time it is merely Viking timber, with a row of carved rune-staves lining the path. Another man steps from the shadows and stands astride the path, a helm tucked under one arm and a bared sword in hand.

The approaching man falters – until the moonlight reveals the waiting man’s forge-built body and familiar face. A cry of joy escapes him as he steps eagerly toward him, then he stops uncertainly as the sword is raised. Three paces seperate them, and although the smith speaks too low for the words to carry to where she is, she can tell the tone is reproving.

The Watcher speaks:”As happy as he is to see his Brother, he is giving him a bit of a hard time for coming early to the Gate. He would have preferred to wait longer – something about the tent not being ready yet. He offers room in his own tent to his Brother until then”.

She is not surprised to actually see the big man drop his head and dig a toe into the ground like a child taking a tongue-lashing he knows he deserves. It was so like him in life.....

Lecture over, the blacksmith now holds the sword out for the man to take. With reverence he looks the blade over – it is a masterwork of craftsmanship. Every art has been worked to the utmost. The steel is pattern-welded damascus, the hilt worked and set with gems – but the grip is for use and not for show, a true warrior’s weapon.

The smith then holds out the helm for inspection, taking the sword back so that the helm can be turned by both hands. It is of the same matchless artistry as the sword, and the newcomer traces the strawberry leaves engraved around the crown of the helm with a finger, marveling at the perfection of it all. A King would wear such a helm.

But.......

Reluctantly, he hands back the helm and speaks – but too low for her mortal ears to catch. The Watcher sums up the words missed: “He would like nothing more than to receive this King’s ransom in warrior’s weapons and fight every day for the honor of those left behind – but he has a task laid upon him that follows him even here. He will take up the sword and helm only after his task has been accomplished back in the land of the living. There was a sworn oath that he would become a Duke or pay to Duke Steingrim one hundred ounces of silver. As he has not become a duke, the debt is now one of honor to pay. When one hundred ounces of silver have been gathered, it will be up to Steingrim to choose where to spread the bounty, in the name of the newest addition to this camp beyond the Gate”.

“Well said”, he adds, “very well said......”.

The little nomad womans eyes mist – or is it the moon on the fog? – “Witness.....” she whispers.

Below, the smith nods and smiles. Laying aside the sword and helm, he opens his arms and envelops the bigger man in a bear hug that would leave a grizzly bear breathless. Throwing a brotherly arm around the big man, they head for the camp and the warmth of friends.

A cheer goes up from the crowd at the new arrival, and they part to admit him to the circle in front of one particularly large tent. She starts in surprise as she recognizes a familiar onion-domed structure. The Watcher smiles: “It was set more deeply in the ground than mere stone, it exists here as well”.

A full horn is passed to the newcomer, and doumbek drums start up again. The odd jingling sound is revealed to be finger cymbals. Dancers gather on the carpets in front of the tent, and the smith strips down and takes up his hammer. Stepping to his forge, between the dancers and the tent, he begins ringing blows down on a piece of red-hot steel. He is making tent pegs.....

Suddenly the air above her is rent by the shriek of a bird. Startled, she whips around to see a pair of very large ravens circling above her ger. One of them has something shiny in it’s claws, which falls as they pass over her head and toward the camp in the valley below. She catches the dropped silvery item in both hands, then looks up. The camp, the road, the Gate, and the Watcher are all gone. She looks down now into the familiar valley with drowsing yak and horses waiting for the sunrise.

It is over, and she has Seen – and now she will tell of this passing, so that there will be some happiness to this sad time. The Brothers are together, and will wait to be reunited with lovers and loved ones – in time.

Before she stumbles back to her warm bed, she looks at what the raven dropped into her hand:

It is an ounce of silver......

Comments from Duchess Lao's Live Journal

The following comments have been posted to my LJ, which I am closing soon. In the absence of that venue, I'd like to share those entries here. (posted by lao June 10, 2009)

A dark day… written there, posted here, by duchess lao

...Jarl Barak Ravensfuri, Lion AnTir, left our world of mortals in the grey hours of this morning, November 19. He was a few weeks past his 43 birthday. Within the medieval reenactment community, he was my Champion and fought to attain the throne and make me a Duchess. In the mundane world, we remained very close friends in spite of a recent divorce. Our final conversation last night was upbeat and punctuated with his plans for the future. I am saddened and angered at his sudden departure...His accomplishments and contributions, his strengths and his flaws, have woven him into the fabric that wraps around all that knew him. And we will all miss him for it...

The Crane Incident posted by lao yu

We were presented with more than a thousand cranes at our Coronation, well wishes from the populace for a joyful reign. Being the Viking King and ignorant of such asiatic customs, he grabbed the smallest of the cranes, and started popping in his mouth! Fortunately for him, the humor of the moment overrode the cultural sacrilege...

I remember that he didn't take as much interest in the edible cranes (sugar origami) at Blatha an Oir's Bardic a couple of months later. But then, Gordon Redthorn started presenting origami penguins, and then the food catapults came out at High Table. It turned into a pretty raucous night...

== The Bahadur Song == penned by Myfanwy ferch Tangwystl, often sung by Raven and Marian, posted by lao He looks familiar but not the same
Barek de Norville is not his name
But you will know him to be sure--
He's Barak Bagaridai Bahadur

His speech has changed, and I'm told it's nice
It's calm and quiet, and quite precise
And you will know him to be sure
He's Barak Bagaridai Bahadur

You can tell, it can't be denied
It's a name that ought to be spoke with pride
An you will know him to be sure
He's Barak Bagaridai Bahadur

You look imress'ed, and well you may
It's a name he practiced for weeks to say!
And you will know him to be sure
He's Barak Bagaridai Bahadur!

For those who don't know the history of this piece, Barak humored me during our engagement by changing his SCA name and persona to match mine, and allowed me to give him a new name. In Mongolian, Baragadai translates to "the captured one" and Bahadur translates to "knight". We kept Barak as his first name to maintain his identity, and because it could pass for Mongolian. The combination left him with a nicely alliterated name, a nod to his viking tendencies, which he returned to a few years later. It did take him weeks to get his name right, and Raven and Marian remember him turning quite red every time they sang this song anywhere near him...

Barak's Viper's Bane

written and posted by Baroness Kate O'Guinn, Viscountess Summits

Jarl Barak bore another title. Viper's Bane.

A title won the day the King really did save his village.

'Twas during the time that Barak and Lao held the throne. The Festival of St. Hildegard's was held and for 10 days did good gentles of AnTir gather to live the life of simple Mediterranean villagers.

And so it was on one bright morning, the women were carding and spinning, the men were up the hill about 300 yards practicing at arms, and our children were playing in the dust of the path as children have always wont to have done.

One small voice piped up, "Mama, look at the snake."

And did every mama's head spin on swivel necks to see a small rattlesnake about 5 feet away from the children.

Children were safely snatched out of the dust and we proceeded to call to our husbands, brothers, friends to save us ('twas not womanly fear, but wisdom--they had on armor)

"SNAKE !", we cried, "RATTLESNAKE !"

and our men broke combat, looked at each other and said "Who's Snake??, Somebody here called Snake?"

Ahhhh, fighters...

But momentarily they realized our plight and were at our side.

The snake fled into a nearby wild lilac thicket. There was dicussion on what was the best plan, but before the plan could be decided one of the fighters decided to thrash the thicket.

Ahhhh, fighters...

This caused the snake to head directly for our Good King Barak's foot.

Calling upon the Sacred Copros, Barak yelled "HOLY SHIT"

Thus, summoning his Martial Skill and with Dame Fortune smiling did

King Barak one-shot the viper and fair broke it's skull.

Thus did Barak earn the title Viper's Bane and the King really did save the village.

Petals to Water

"written by Raven Qara ton, posted by her permission"

I scattered petals on the water and thought of you: perfectly imperfect, roaring at your squires laughing at your foolish black goat dancing on hot oven rocks. A man remade, shy in your new Mongolian name and clothes, then glowering when a certain song was sung (“And you will know him, to be sure”--we did). The gasp when your knighting was announced—then the cheer; the brief pause as they realized, yes, he has changed and grown; yes, this is right.

A forceful king, then sometimes cheerful as a child, teaching your populace to do the “wave” at court, brandishing the oosik as the crowd roared with delight. Unmistakable, irrepressible, a furious force upon the field, brash and full of humor, immense in spirit, strong, annoying as all hell, sometimes, but thoughtful underneath it all. A force for honor, and for honesty, painful though as it be: you would speak truth to power, name wrongs for what they are; you would take up the gage if honor did demand. Now there is a wide gap in the shield wall, a roaring silence left; Now all the spoken and unspoken goes unsaid. Perfectly imperfect, loud and echoing in my thoughts and passing now, dissolving now, like petals on the stream.

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Selected entries from his memorial book at legacy.com

November 19, 2009

...Thank you for the friendship and honor you gave me in our years knowing each other. Much good in my life comes from acts and friends which would not be in my life without you. ~ Alodar

...I have known you since you joined up with the SCA. You honored me by selecting me as your Royal Scribe when you became King. Each of your victories filled me with pride, reinforced my belief that anyone could achieve goals once set, given time. You are with me now and will always be part of me. ~ Cathal Sean

...even though I only had a few years to know you I found one of the best friends anyone could have...I will miss you always and I will learn from what you taught me. My heart has a room full of the memories of you and the joy you gave to all of us over the years. Save a few of the Valkyries for the rest of us, watch My boys and know that one of them carries your name and watch over him for we cannot at all times even though we try. ~ 'lil Duncan

...You spread your wings one more time, like entering a dream, everyone callItalic textBold texts your name. Mother earth opens her arms for you as you become one with the wind. She carries you, to places you've never been but always a part of you remains home. Like entering a dream there is a pause in the earth as the doors open. Fly now Raven King, to your final journey, at Hero's Hall... ~ Bethany

...It's been nearly a year. The depth to which I miss you I cannot verbalize. You are and will always be the best friend I have ever had and I'll not likely find another in my lifetime. I am fortunate that I knew you, I am better for it and those around me are as well. If the quality of a mans life is measured by those whose lives he enriched then my brother, you had a short but grand life. I will spread your word fame all of my days. ~ Gideon

November 24, 2008

...Although you left my hearth, you failed to fully leave my heart, and I am numbed by your departure. You are missed beyond imagining by the thousand hearts you have left behind. But we know that you are once again, happy and whole, and that will eventually ease this pain. Keep amused those who have gone before, and save us a place in Hero's Hall... ~ lao

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