Rowenna de Manning
Rowenna joined the SCA in the Kingdom of the West in AS X. Her body of work includes:
- Chancellor of Madrone Campus of the University of Ithra 6 years
- Regent of the University of Ithra 20 years
- Founding member of the Madrone Culinary Guild in AS XI
- Order of the Laurel AS XIV for culinary arts, study and practice of Middle Eastern dance and costume
- Order of the Pelican AS XVII for service to education, banquet stewarding, and administration
- Court Baroness of An Tir AS XVIII
- Became a Lion of An Tir at Twelfth Night Coronation XXXVI/2002
- Red Tree Pursuivant (Madrone Herald)somewhere around AS XIII 3 years
- Deputy Kingdom Seneschal AS XVI 3 years
- Guild Head of the Madrone Culinary Guild XL/2005-2006
- Keeper of the Culinary Guild banquet equipment 20+ years
- Webminister for the Madrone Culinary Guild - AS L (2016 - ongoing)
- Webminister of the Barony of Madrone - AS LIII / 2019 - ongoing)
- Kingdom Webminister Roster Deputy - AS LIV / 2019 - ongoing)
- In September AS LIV / 2019 quietly celebrating 40 years as a Peer of the SCA
- Exhibit administrator - Event team for The Road to Athenaeum Virtual Artisans Fair hosted by the Barony of Madrone - July AS LV (2020)
Rowenna de Manning, born in the polyglot society of Normano-Arab Sicily of the 12th century, is the daughter of a Norman scholar and a Sicilian Arab merchant's daughter. Upon the death of her parents, her Norman father's relatives claimed her and took her to Christian lands. With a growing dislike for the curious customs of the Norman French, such as seldom taking a bath, Rowenna fled back to her relatives in Sicily,and subsequently travelled the merchant routes to the heart of the Ummah (Arab lands). Her Norman French relatives continue to try to retrieve her to live in the West, and Rowenna keeps well out of reach. She has been travelling on the Silk Road and lives in Bukhara when not visiting An Tir.
M'allima Rowenna is married to Master Edward the Stuffy, Pelican and Lion of An Tir. Rowenna and Edward were the autocrats of the May Coronet Tourney in the Barony of Madrone that took place on May 17-18, 1980, and on the second day Mt. St. Helens erupted, which impacted travel back home for more than 100 attendees at the event. She served on the committee that helped make An Tir a Kingdom, which Edward served as the Chair. In that work to create Antirian structure, Mistress Rowenna and Viscountess Maelen of Catcott created the names of the grant level Kingdom Awards, the Goutte de Sang and the Jambe de Leon. Rowenna was co-head cook with Mistress Arias the Innkeeper's Daughter of the banquet for 250 served at the first An Tir Kingdom Twelfth Night in January 1982, held in the Barony of Madrone.
Rowenna attended the 10th anniversary of the SCA at Kingdom of the West Big Trees site (her second event), the 20th anniversary of the SCA in Ansteorra, the 30th anniversary of the SCA in An Tir, and the 50th anniversary of the SCA in the Middle Kingdom. She participated in the meeting in the Barony of Madrone in May AS XI (1977) that founded the Madrone Culinary Guild and she has been an active member ever since, in the first 20 years serving as kitchen head for many banquets, and in the recent 20 years as cook, general kitchen helper and equipment packer.
From AS XIV to AS XXXV (1980 to 2000) Rowenna was a leader in the early University of Ithra (which was founded in AS X - 1975). Appointed both Chancellor and Regent in AS XIV, Rowenna took over the Madrone Campus founded by Master Michael the Black. She expanded the campus and it was renamed the South Sound Campus, promoting unity in the area. Rowenna organized more than 25 Ithra sessions in six years, before handing the Chancellorship to a successor. As Regent, Rowenna worked closely with Regents Amanda Kendal of Westmorland and Elayne Greybeard to write the first Ithra Handbook, the first Chancellor's Handbook, and with Chancellor Anne-Marie d'Ailleurs wrote a Syllabus of the classes that students sat through to achieve a Lector Artis or Lector Scientae degree. Rowenna retired from the office of Regent in late 2000 after serving the University for 20 years, when she was promoted to a day job that was too busy for her to give enough SCA time.
In 1986, Rowenna and Edward participated in the SCA demo at the World's Fair in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. While Edward marshalled SCA heavy combat in the outdoor arena, Mistress Rowenna performed Egyptian raks al assaya and baladi dance in the demo pavillion for hundreds of Fair attendees. She ran a demonstration booth with a small representation of an Arab tent and made camel tassels to give away.
Six months before the SCA 50th Anniversary, Mistress Rowenna collaborated with Duchess Angharad Banadaspus Drakenhefd and Dame Hrefna of the 50th Anniversary History Project to research and edit the History of An Tir that was published and distributed in conjunction with that event.
Since AS XII (1979), Rowenna has been researching clothing, culture and dance of women in the Middle East. She performs traditional-style dance of upper Egypt, lower Egypt, the Maghreb, and Central Asian Silk Road. She helped to disseminate the research that was being done across the SCA in the years AS X to the present make available information about period and appropriate garb and dance for Middle Eastern women personas. She taught classes, shared her research in articles, and participated in online email discussion groups (before the World Wide Web). The internet vastly improved the ability to network on the subjects with other researchers across the SCA, and Facebook groups increased the reach of information dissemination. Rowenna seeks to always provide a good example, appearing at events attired as a properly-dressed woman of the 12th to 13th century Silk Road. She is a member of the Facebook communities SCA Persian Clothiers, SCA Ottoman Clothing and Culture, the Atlantian Madrasa, SCA Middle Eastern and Mediterranean, SCA Middle Eastern Musicians, Camp Habib-Kingdom of An Tir, SCA in al-Maghreb, Maghribi (Unofficial), Bellydancers' Music Discussion Group, Raqs Sharqi/MENAHT Dance Discussions, and The Historical Belly Dance Collective.
Since 1987, Rowenna has been a member of the non-SCA folkloric/American belly dance troupe Shahrazad Dance Ensemble of Seattle, which performs regularly at folk festivals and other events in the Pacific Northwest. The troupe has a repertoire of more than 40 folkloric and classic belly dance choreographies and a dozen fusion choreographies. She performs with the troupe, operates the website, shoots and edits video, and maintains the troupe's history of image and video files.
As of AS LIV, as a Peer of the SCA for more than 40 years, a dancer and researcher for more than 45 years, she uses the title Mu'allima, "teacher" in Arabic.
