Elspeth Farre

Her Ladyship Elspeth Farre Feb Investiture 2020 Information Resides: Lions Gate Date Started: Sept 25, 47 OP Entry: Elspeth Farre Roll of Arms: Roll Entry Offices: Silver Yale Herald Arms Purpure, a dragon sejant affronty wings displayed Or, a bordure parted bordurewise Or and Sable Badge A hawk's bell sable Motto Si non scio, igitur discam. If I don't know, I will find out. Achievement Current 03/2023 Goutte de Sang Courtier of Lions Gate Order of the Silver Pillar My l'Ordre de l'Etoile d'Argent Inspiration Charter My Award of Arms Persona Biography My persona is Elspeth Farre, aged 38, and the year is 1375. She live in the market town of Elsdon in Redesdale, Northumbria, not far from the northeast coast of England. Hadrian’s Wall is to the south, and the Holy Island of Lindisfarne is to the north-northeast. The Lord of Redesdale is Gilbert IV who became lord in 1325 and will rule until 1381. Elsdon was a gathering place for the graynes (border reivers). Historically, Redesdale was the place to travel through if your invading Scotland. The history of Elsdon is traditionally linked to the story of St Cuthbert and the monks of Lindisfarne. Around AD 875 the threat of Danish raids along the Northumbrian coast prompted the monks to leave their island refuge and flee inland, carrying the relics of St Cuthbert. The monks are said to have taken shelter in Elsdon and a church was later erected on the spot. The early edifice was replaced in the 14th century by the parish church which still stands, and is, quite naturally, dedicated to Cuthbert. In 1388 the dead of Otterburn were buried in Elsdon churchyard. The faith of my time period was compulsory Roman Catholic. Mary was her church name. The local church is St. Cuthberts, also known as the Cathedral of the Rede, in which I was married. Under the jurisdiction of the Bishopric of Durham, Thomas Hatfield, and the Pope Gregory XI. Pope Gregory was the 7th and last Avignon Pope. He moved the papal seat back to Rome in 1377 and died in 1378. My king is Edward III, who tolerated the use of English in legal documents, a decision that would ultimately lead to Henry the IV being the first English king since the Norman conquest, more than 300 years prior, to have English as his first language. His fifty-year reign ending in 1377, was the sixth longest in English history. He outlived his eldest son, Edward the Black Prince (d. 1376), and the throne passed to his grandson, Richard II. Edward also transformed the Kingdom of England into one of the most formidable military powers in Europe. When he laid claim to the French throne through his grandfather, Philip IV. The king quarter the arms of England with those of France. This all being part of the setup to the Hundred years War. The Black Death swept through England for the first time starting in 1348 killing 1/3 of people in the country. In 1361, the plague returned. My persona lost her husband Gilbert and children Hugh and Sibil. After their deaths her cousin Lucy came up from Morpeth to help her keep her husband’s business going. They are just two older ladies baking and selling food stuffs in the wake of the plague. My personas favorite pastimes are reading and playing games, particularly the stories of Robin Hood, which have just started to appear, and Backgammon. She is not a particular enthusiast of Geoffrey Chaucer, but she is aware of him. The furthest she has travelled is up to Lindisfarne as a pilgrimage but loved to have seen London Towne. Her favorite saint is Aiden of Lindisfarne. Fealties Courtier to the Barony of Lions Gate August 22, 2022 Protégé to Master Garet D'Oiron September 28, 2019 Offices Silver Yale Herald February 17, 2024 - Current Hafoc Herald June 14, 2023 - February 17, 2024 Acting Hafoc Herald April 6, 2023 - June 14, 2023 Herald of Lionsdale March 22, 2022 - March 22, 2023 Red Flame Herald March 21, 2021- March 20, 2023 Acting Red Flame Herald November 18 2020 - March 21, 2021 Silver Sparkes June 1, 2019 - March 21, 2021 Webminister for Lionsdale May 26, 2021 - February 22, 2022 Chatelaine for Lionsdale May 26, 2021 - Nov 24, 2021 TUTR Deputy - Records October 14, 2019 - October 15, 2020 Herald of Lionsdale September 25, 2018 - September 25, 2020 TUTR Registrar June 5, 2019 - October 14, 2019 Services beyond offices Decorator for Tir Righ Investiture February 2024 Editor in Chief - Northern Sentinel - Dec 2023 Edition Through to Dec 2024 Edition Decorator Baroness' Inspiration 2023 Co Steward LG Trials 2023 Decorator for Tir Righ Investiture February 2023 Server for Baronial Banquet (LG) December 2022 Decorator for Tir Righ Coronet November 2022 Courtier of Lions Gate - August 22, 2022 Virtual Herald for Tir Righ November Coronet/Investiture 2021 Covid Screener - Crown Tournament July 2021 Co Steward for Sealion 2020 (Covid Cancelled) Co Steward for Lionsdale Champions 2020 (Covid Cancelled) Coordinated TUTR classes for Lion Stage Feb 2019 Shenanigans Baronial Box of Lions Gate's new paint Banner Map of Tir Righ Baronial Pairs Achievement collection (Update coming soon) Consulting Herald at the slightest opening Heraldic Achievements - Digital primarily, see my FB photo album for images. How to Edit the Wiki Video Series Borders page of the An Tir Wiki The Heraldry of An Tir Project The Feathered Dragon Authored a baronial level paper on Abatements.[[1]] Wiki wizard to many Lionsdale Roll of Arms project Crew member of the Midnight Swan Maker of things See The Feathered Dragon Classes Taught Your SCA Digital Footprint - August 24, 59 at August Investiture Creating Digital Achievements - October 4th, 56 for Avacal Creating Digital Achievements - June 26, 56 for VIRTUAL ATHENAEUM NOVUS II - Introduction to heraldry and heraldic display - December 2, 54 NOVUS II - Introduction to heraldry and heraldic display - November 16, 54 Introduction to Maille - 4-in-1 Butted Maille - Sept 18, 53 @ Lions Gate Trials Usual Suspects Swan Song Garet D'Oiron Briana Cassia Beatrice Farre Adelheid Wyss Baroness Arianna Vémundr Syvursson Sæthryth aet Apeleia Theodora van Zeeland Sadhbh Bheag Awards Silver Lance - December 2, 2023 Baroness Arianna's Inspiration for Bardic, November 19, 2022 - April 30, 2023 Goutte de Sang - November 12, 2022 Prince's and Princess's Favor Token - Nov 5, 2022 Part of the Tir Righ College of Heralds during the awarding of the Cornucopia to us - Sept 28, 2022 Courtier of Lions Gate - August 22, 2022 Scapula Leonis - August 6, 2022 Order of the Silver Pillar - April 16, 2022 l'Ordre de l'Etoile d'Argent - November 2, 2019 Award of Arms September 1, 2019 Baroness Arianna's Inspiration for Arts and Science, June 1, 54 - Nov 18, 2019 The story so far... I started in the SCA by siddling in sideways in the background. As such I never really had a first event. Much of my early connection to the SCA was in the persons of Briana Cassia, Ewan Mac Dubhglas, and Brynteach MacQuarrie. Briana was simply always there and welcoming, and somehow always in the middle of the most interesting bits of the All Things. Ewan ran his armouring workshops, for which I am forever grateful. The Community Armouring Project gave me a reason to stay and be involved with what was going on, when simple shyness or my need to be busy at something, would have had me running home almost as soon as I arrived. Bryntyeach I knew from the mundane world, and the familiar face was a welcome relief among so many strangers. For a long time, Bryn was the only reason I knew if there was an event going on at all. In my shyness and general social awkwardness, I remember hovering around the edge of the firelight during the bardic ends of the All Things. Of those, three moments stand out, each brought me closer to the fire. The first time was when I heard Bryntyeach sing, by request, a song of his own writing. I had had no idea he even wrote songs, and then I heard The Garden for the first time, and I felt it... in that way some songs touch you. The second was when Briana's sister Julie included me, knowing my name and including me, when I felt mostly like an observer, in another song I won't forget. (Elspeth, she's this girl I know.. ) The third time, I had gotten comfortable enough to have a couple of drinks, and maybe sing along with chorus's and bits of the more frequently repeated songs. So it happened I was sitting nearer the fire, wrapped in a cloak, when the guitar strummed and I knew the song and all the words to it for the first time. (Wandering Rover) I sang it, loud, with the fake heavy accent, and the confidence of a few drinks. At the end Julie pronounced me a member of the inebriati, and I knew I had found my people. Outside of that I surprised myself when the first person I could identify without actually having been taught by them in some capacity was Cassandra Wineday. Who in her quiet way gave me another point of connection to the SCA, one that had nothing to do with being busy, and everything to do with being around. I met Garet D'Oiron through Briana, at an All Thing where she was tending the gate. I mentioned an interest in heraldry, and she said, "I know just the person, he'll be here in a minute." And so he was. We sat behind gate, and talked a little. Which was promptly forgotten by us both until years later. Then there was a big event, camping for the weekend. It was a Sealion, I think, at the Grene Wode, though that didn't mean anything to me at the time. I just knew that all of the people I actually knew were going to be together and doing medieval stuffs, so I came and mostly did some archery. I met a lot of people there, including a man who had come on just a motorcycle and yet could make cinnamon buns in a field, but the one I remember most strongly was a man who taught me to play Nine Mans Morris and Hnefatafl, Uilliam, who much later I learned was the Baron of Lions Gate at the time. The absolute highlight of the event however, was watching Bryn, the last man standing on his side, sprinting flat out away from the armoured Princess sprinting after him. That there is no song about that is a piece of sadness. Then nothing much happened. I was at events, the odd heavy practice, TuTR classes, but I was largely a non-entity. I was willing to help at just about anything, but no one seemed to want much help, and like many new folks I didn't know where get guidance to get involved in things. I was just lost, and that might have been the end of the SCA and I. Those who know me a little bit, know that I just don't do idle well. So while I was wandering aimlessly, I was also painting. For my own amusement, to kill time, to let the restless creative energy out. My choice of art, my old fascination, heraldry. The easiest source of what heraldry to paint, the branch I lived in, the Barony next door, and well might as well do the Principality and the Kingdom. Then the Principalities other Barony. By that point, I'd done three of the branches of Tir Righ, the balance of Tir Righ didn't seem like so very many. After finishing that, I peered across the lines and did the other Principality and its branches. Then I learned not all branches even have a principality and work on An Tir Central began. It happened to reach my ear that the Lions Gate A&S championships were coming up. My paintings of the branches would do for one part, but I'd need a second piece. So for the first time in forever I did research into a little forgotten corner of heraldry, Abatements, and I wrote a paper that I'm still pretty proud of. I lost, and to be fair the winning entry was excellent. All the same it hurt a bit because of all the work I had put in, but the people I had come to know were there around me. We sat in the back of court and I found the words to frame it. To belong, to be recognized as part of the group, to get a little of that feeling from the firelight. They asked me to join their household, and to this day I am proud to belong to the Swan Song household. It was Garet who asked me, and while I knew him we had never really talked since the All Thing. This is when that changed. Wulfstan Hrafnsson had asked me to be his replacement to the Lionsdale shire herald office, and in September I took up the duties. I can take pride in having never missed a monthly report to my branch. Unbeknownst to me, Baroness Arianna had noticed me and my heraldic art. She chose me as her Inspiration for Arts and Sciences, which came completely out of the blue, and I cherish it, there is no award like the first one, and I belonged. I also found an opportunity to help with TuTR as a registrar and went to it with a will. Which was quickly followed by an opening in the College of Heralds, and prompted by Sadhbh Bheag I found a home as the receiving clerk for Tir Righ, which was right up my street, as paperwork and I get along quite well. I set myself the task of visiting all of Tir Righ's branches during my term, which was going well, until the plague. Then Crown was held locally to me, and as I was helping setting up tents, and realized the pavilions were bare. I retrieved my now complete Heraldry of An Tir, and hung it along the Tir Righ and An Tir Pavilions. The Summits graciously accepted their set and hung them with their own stunning art. My household laid out a glorious supply of food, I had also just received a fabulous new dress, I had agreed with Garet that yellow belt for me might be just the thing, James Irvein hosted some impromptu heraldry classes that introduced me to Six Bored Heralds(among others), and Garet had discovered for the first time my little heralds cheat book and instructed me to make it into décor. So the Saturday was all smiles. By Sunday evening I was tired, wearing my comfy old dress, playing Mancala with some new herald friends before court, and generally shutting down and de-stressing. I have very few memories of it, but I remember being reluctant and frumpy when I was called up to court. I remember being asked if the heraldry in the pavilions was mine. I was allowed to escape, but when I can properly remember again, I had a copper circlet, an Award of Arms Charter, and a small silver coin. The coin was from Black Lion Herald, and the circlet had been made by the King's own hands. I was lady of An Tir. (Apparently one of the display pieces had been repeatedly hit the King in the head as he entered and exited the back of the royal pavilion. Oops! And it saddens my heart, but the coin was lost.) Then, at Tir Righ A&S in Seagirt, I officially became a protégé to Master Garet. He promised me to teach me and guide me, and I promised: For my part, I give my word to learn and to laugh at us both to take guidance and to remain irreverent, to accept help with grace and Strive to make you proud. In another surprise, Prince Kheron and Princess Kenna placed me in the l'Ordre de l'Etoile d'Argent at Tir Righ November Coronet. Which to my chagrin, had to be explained to me what I had just been given. By this time, I had made such a pest of myself in the TuTR record system, I was appointed the deputy of records, and charged with trying to find and accredit old TuTR records. (It did not go well.) I also completed a long term project of meeting the requirements for a Novus diploma. The turning of the society year to 55 on May first, made me realise some of my warrants would be up in the coming year, so I looked for how I could reinvest myself in my shire and principality. Torn between choosing between Webminister and Chatelaine offices which were either vacant or exiting shortly, my seneschal told me to do both. So I did. (I recognized the ill-fit of my duties as a chatelaine and yielded the post after six months.) On October 12th AS 55, I completed the 100 days of service challenge. For December 55, shortly after becoming acting Red Flame Herald, I promoted registrations with the college by gifting the cost of submissions for the first fifty submissions, (The maximum number we could submit on a single letter.) The result was a phenomenal response from the people of Tir Righ, may of whom had been sitting on submissions awaiting brighter days. March 20th, AS 55, I challenged and achieved the rank of Senior Student in the An Tir Embellisher's guild. I completed the Roll of Arms for Lionsdale Project on November 11th, AS 56. I applied to the Baron & Baroness of Lions Gate for permission to attempt the Courtier Trials on November 20th, AS 56. With the following words: Your excellencies, The Baroness of Seagirt once introduced me as, “That’s Elspeth Farre, she's not intimidated by a hell of a lot.” Where another might beg or beseech with quiet humility, that just not … who I am. So with knowledge of myself, of my own worth, and by my own strength, I request your permission to face the trials of the Courtier and crush them. In December of AS 56, in cooperation with Lions Blood Herald, we held a submissions drive I think of as the Race to 25 in which we indulged in a little "open letter" style back and forth online, all with the blessing and knowledge of Black Lion Herald. Tir Righ carried the day largely thanks to Hartwood submissions. 2022 will be remembered as the year I went. It started in Krakafjord with a feast and cheese making, then I brought my niece, Beatrice Farre to her first event, and received a Silver Pillar at Canterbury Faire, Lions Gate. On to the Tournament of Roses in Danescombe and Sir Eddies in Thornwold, where I took the A&S championship(my first championship). Lions Gate Champions in May, followed by Market Day in Hartwood, and back to Lions Gate for Sealion War in June. Upwards to Coill Mhor for June Coronet. July took me to SeagirtSummer Tournament then Hartwood's Midsummer champion. Followed by Lionsdale's Summer Fayre in August. I faced the TRIALS for Lions Gate Courtier successfully, then went over the water to Seagirt for August Investiture. September took me up to Forest Champions in Coill Mhor, Holmgang at Krakafjord, and Freeze Off at Ramsgaard. Then Appledore for Golden Swan, where the crew of the Midnight Swan formed in the smokey breeding grounds of the Crows Nest Pass. Then I decorated the site for Tir Righ Coronet in Lionsdale, tried my hand at court co-ordinating at Baroness' Inspiration and served at Baronial Banquet Lions Gate. (Tir Bannog and Cold Keep eluded me that year, but plans were in place to get to Cold Keep in 2023.) I turned my hand to decorating again for February Investiture '23, where I a few fellow heralds were doused into our respective roles. Seagirt's Daffodil gave me my first experience with dinner as a performance piece. Did a little voice heraldry for June Coronet in Coil Mhor, and made it up do Cold Keep's Defenders! I was choosen as Krakafjord's Bardic Defender and then got home in time to Co-Steward Lions Gate Trials with Lokki inn helgi. Quick jaunt across to Seagirt for November Coronet where I had practice run at being Silver Yale for a day. Then decorated for Baroness' Inspiration, leading me to discover the Lions Gate banner stash! Undertook to organise a bit of repair work for them. But mostly this year was about the Map of Tir Righ, first raised at August Investiture, shown since at September Crown (An Tir), November Coronet and Baroness' Inspiration. Like most large projects, it ate a lot of time, quietly, starting with information gathering that began some 3 years prior. It will remain a work in progress for its lifespan as maps go out of date if you don't stay on them. Lions Gate surprised me with an Order of the Silver Lance, at Baronial Banquet. On February 17th, 2024 at Investiture, I stepped up to serve as Silver Yale Herald of Tir Righ. Ran with Lokki inn helgi for the Lions Gate Baronetcy. I seconded my good friend Adelheid Wyss for her successful Golden Swan challenge. I stood as Editor-in-chief for the 4 editions of the Northern Sentinel in 2024, as well as the December 2023. My current projects are finishing a new dress, the December 2024 Northern Sentinel, and leading the Tir Righ College of Heralds as best I know how.