Alis Talairan de Perigord

Alis Talairan was born in the year 1123 in the city of Perigueux, the daughter of Elias and Raimonde, Count and Countess of Perigord. At age six, she was sent to be fostered in the court of her parent's leige, William, Duke of Aquitaine (Occitan). Alis quickly became a close companion to the Duke's eldest child, Alianor, Alis' cousin.

In 1137, the Duke died while on pilgrimmage to St. James of Compostella, and, Alianor, in accordance with her father's dying wishes, married the son of the King of France. Alis went north to Paris as Alianor's chief lady-in-waiting, but they were met with a chilly welcome from climate and court alike: Paris was damp and dismal, compared to the sunny, sub-topical south, and the Northerners distrusted the cultured, refined and permissive Occitanians, who were shocked to find that baths were infrequent and table linen unheard of.

Within the year, however, the King of France, Louis the Fat, had died and Alianor's husband, the monkish Louis VII, was crowned. A few years later, the Second Crusade against the infidel in the Holy Land was proclaimed, and Alianor leaped at the chance to leave dull old Paris behind. Alis enthusiastically followed in her mistress's wake, but the great adventure quickly soured: relations between Alianor and Louis had become increasingly strained when Alianor failed to produce a son and heir, and while stopping with her uncle, Raymond, Prince of Acre, Alianor refused to go a step further in Louis' company. Louis had her abducted from her apartments in the dead of night and the Crusade went somberely on its way to Jersusalem.

Finally, when Alianor produced a second daughter from Louis upon their return to France, Louis agreed to a divorce. Once again, Alis accompanied her cousin and erstwhile Queen back to their ancestral homeland, where Alianor exulted in being Duchess in her own right. Within months of her divorce from Louis, Alianor had married Henry Plantagenet, Duke of Normandy and Louis' old enemy, who two years later, ascended the English throne as King Henry II.

Alis still serves as lady-in-waiting, fascinated by the goings-on at Court, and helping Alianor during her many pregnancies (which include such historical luminaries as the future King Richard the Lionheart and King John Lackland). They frequently return to Occitan and, together with Alianor's eldest daughter, Countess Marie de Champange, have established the Courts of Love.

The Role of Alis Talairan...

is played by Anne Harwood, who lives in the Barony of Borealis, in the Kingdom of An Tir, and has held various offices, such as Seneschal, lady-in-waiting (to Baroness Mistress Laurel Venustas di Firenze), Chatelaine and Court Fool (to Baron Master Thorvald Grimsson). She delights in persona development, brewing mead, embroidery and hours spent poring over dusty books in search of obscure knowledge.