Constanca Mateas

Lady Helena at Twelfth Night XLIII

Lady Helena Zancani is mundanely known as Alana. She has been an active member of the Society since she was 12 years old. Helena has been active in West Kingdom, Atenveldt and several Shires and Baronies in An Tir. Helena was one of the founding members of Dregate Shire in An Tir, mundanely known as Omak, WA.

Persona

Name: Lady Helena Zancani

Origin: Venice, Italy

Location: Italy then England.

Current Year: 1536

Current Occupation: Wool Merchant

Helena was born in 1503 Venice to Lorenzo and Fiametta Zancani. The Zancani family where cloth merchants with ties to the wool trade in England and the silk trade from China. Fiametta had 4 children but, like most families, lost Nana at age 4 and Antonia at age 1 to a fever. Helena enjoyed an unusual education as she was allowed to attend morning lessons with her elder brother, Marcello. Afternoon lessons were more conventional 'womanly arts' with her mother. Helena excelled at maths and languages and began helping her father with bookkeeping in 1518. Extended war between Venice and the pope's League of Cambrai, and disgust with the pope's corruption cause Lorenzo and Fiametta to become secret Protestants by 1522. Due to declining silk trade and fear of being discovered, Lorenzo moves his family to York and exclusively trades in Wool, carrying woolen cloth between England and Antwerp.

Service

2008

• Waterbearing
• Constabulary

2009

• Waterbearing
• Gate
• asst. autocrat for Carnevale di Venezia

2010

• Waterbearing
• Charter painting

-Completed: 1

2011

• Charter painting

-Completed: 3

-In Progress: 0

• asst. autocrat for Carnevale di Venezia XLV/2011

Interests

Arts & Sciences

• 16th c. jewelry making
• Archery (beginning)
• Medieval and Renaissance cooking (beginning)
• Embroidery
• Costuming (emphasis on 16th c.)
• Medieval and Renaissance dancing

Martial

• Archery (beginner)

Awards and Recognition

• 1st Bardic winner of Dregate Shire: 1998
• Award of Arms: 2009
• Defender of Arts and Sciences of Dragon's Mist, 2011.
• First Dragon's Mist Bardic Champion, 2012.
• Jambe de Leon, 2013
• Hand of Fulla, 2013
• Baroness's Favor, 2013

SCA Event History

2007

• Faire in the Grove, April 2007.
• Blackthorne Revel, August 2007. Memorial wake for Esclave de Winter, a good man who embodied chivalry as much as any man could.

2008

• Egil Skallagrimsson Memorial Tourney XLIII/2008, May 2008.
• An Tir-West War, July 2008.
• Acorn War, September 2008.

2009

• Twelfth Night, Adiantum, January 2009.
• Carnevale di Venezia, April 2009.
• An Tir/West War XLIV/2009, July 2009. Presented with an Award of Arms.
• July Coronation XLIV/2009, July 2009.
• Autumn War XLIV/2009, August 2009.
• Winter Bazaar XLIV/2009, November 2009.

2010

• Twelfth Night Coronation XLIV/2010, January 2010.
• Grand Thing XLV/2010, May 2010.
• Known World Heralds & Scribes Symposium XLV/2010, June 2010.
• An Tir/West War XLV/2010, July 2010.
• Autumn War, August 2010.
• Acorn War XLV/2010, September 2010.
• Stromgard Yule, December 2010.

2011

• Twelfth Night Coronation XLV/2011, January 2011.
• Ursalmas, February 2011.
• Carnevale di Venezia XLV/2011, April 2011.
• Faire in the Grove, April/May 2011.
• May Crown, May 2011.
• Grand Thing XLVI/2011, May 2011.
• An Tir/West War XLVI/2011, July 2011.
• July Coronation XLVI/2011, July 2011.
• Autumn War XLVI/2011, August 2011.
• September Crown, September 2011.
• Boar's Head Hunt and Feast, September 2011. I entered my first A&S competition and won! But more importantly, I learned a lot about documentation and presentation. Can't wait for my next one!!!

Upcoming

• Twelfth Night, January 2012 (tentative).
• Ursalmas, February 2012 (tentative).

Helena's World

Helena's Family Tree

Mother: Fiametta Zancani
Father: Lorenzo Zancani
1st Born: Marcello Zancani, son, born 1500
2nd Born: Helena Zancani, daughter, born 1503
3rd Born: Nana Zancani, daughter, born 1505 died 1509
4th Born: Antonia Zancani, daughter, born 1508 died 1509

World History in Helena's Time

* indicates persona history

1500

• Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain is born.

*Marcello Zancani is born

1501

• Michelangelo returns to his native Florence to begin work on the statue of David.
• Leonardo Loredan elected Doge of Venice

1503

• Leonardo da Vinci begins painting the Mona Lisa.

*Helena Zancani born

1505
*Nana Zancani born

1508

• Michelangelo begins painting the Sistine Chapel. He will not finish until 1512.
• Leave of Cambrai formed between Venice's Neighbors and the Pope

*Antonia Zancani born

1509

• The 'great plague' devistates parts of Tudor England
• Venice defeated at Adnadello by the League of Cambrai.

*Nana and Antonia die of a consumptive fever

1510
*A tutor is hired to teach Marcello. Helena is allowed to attend lessons to give Marcello someone to practice his Latin with. Helena is a good student and her father allows her to continue morning lessons of languages and maths while afternoon lessons are in the womanly arts with her mother.

1512

• Copernicus writes Commentariolus, and moves the sun to the center of the solar system.
• Venice allies with France

1513

• Machiavelli writes The Prince.
• Henry VIII wins against the French in the Battle of the Spurs.

1517

• The start of the Sweating sickness epidemic in Tudor England
• The Protestant Reformation begins when Martin Luther posts his 95 Theses in Saxony.

1518
*Helena begins helping her father keep his trade and account records.

1519

• Leonardo da Vinci dies on May 2nd.

1521

• Antonio Grimani is elected Doge of Venice.

1522
*Extended war with the pope and disgust with his corruption cause Lorenzo and Fiametta to become secret Protestants.

1523

• End of Venice's involvement in the Italian Wars.

  

  Lady Helena Zancani at 12th Night 2010

• The Cocoa bean was introduces to Spain by Hernan Cortes.

*Marcello marries Isabella Bertucci.

1527

• Sack of Rome, which is considered the end of the Italian Renaissance.
• Protestant Reformation begins in Sweden.

*Lorenzo’s trade in silk has declined drastically due to Portuguese trading routes.

1530
*Decline in eastern trade and a fear of being denounced as heretics cause Lorenzo to move his family to England.

1531

• Henry VIII becomes Head of the Church of England. and begins the break from the Roman Catholic Church.

1532
*The Zancani family establish themselves as wool merchants in York.

1533

• Henry VIII marries Anne Boleyn.
• The future Elizabeth I is born

1536

• The dissolution of the monasteries begins.
• Katherine of Aragon dies.
• Anne Boleyn is beheaded for adultery and treason.
• Establishment of the Inquisition in Portugal.

*The Zancani family begins shifting their trade from the dominant monastic wool to secular woolen cloth producers.