Renée du bois d'Ambre
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Persona
Renée du bois d'Ambré is a unmarried woman of advanced years, of mixed ancestry, being of Franco-Scots, Alsatian and Sinti descent. She has now lived in An Tir for half of her life, something she finds odd to believe, being a mere slip of a girl of 21. She currently resides in the Canton of Porte de l'Eau.
Persona
(Nota Bene: this is a work in progress, the details of which are still being worked out.)
Family and Early Life
Renée was born in August 1524 at Crécy-en-Ponthieu, Picardy, France to Marie Josef du Bois and Robert MacBean d'Ambré. She has one sister, Patrice Anne Ottley, who iin her five marriages has provided two nieces and one nephew to Renée. Renée has never married, nor born children, although she has held flirtatious behaviour with several, and due to her age, some think of her as a dowager, though again, she has never been married.
Renée's paternal great-grandfather Donal MacBheathain (of Clan MacBean, and no relation to the infamous cannibal clan of Sawney Bean of East Lothian) came from the Cairngorm Mountains by the river Spey in Scotland to the continent as part of what is in modern parlance called the Auld Alliance between the crown of Scotland and France against the English, served in the Garde Écossaise, the loyal bodyguard of the French monarchy. (Many Scottish mercenaries chose to settle in France. Some were granted lands and titles in France. In the 15th and 16th centuries, they became naturalised French subjects.)
Renée's maternal great grandparents came from Alsace with other Sinti and Roma into France during the early 14th Century, eventually settling in the Artois region of Burgundy. More information on these families may be forthcoming if possible - those Manouche are not known for telling their histories to outsiders, though.
In her youth, she traveled with her maternal relatives for several seasons before reaching an age where prospects of marriage became more likely. Despite this upbringing, Renée and her family remained close to the French Court, and when Mary, Queen Dowager of France, returned to Scotland in August 1561, Renée went with her as a filles d'honneur in the Queen's retinue.
Return to France
Observing the distrust of Catholics in Scotland, following Mary's marriage to Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley and his subsequent murder, Renée returned to France, taking up residence in Artois with her maternal relatives, attempting to avoid the Wars of Religion and keep true to her Catholic upbringing.
Cardinal Montalto has recently been elected Pope, taking the name Sixtus V.
Current condition
- Age: 62
- What year is it: 1586
- Political and social affiliations:
- Romantic affiliations: None
- Children: None
- Religion: The Old Religion, silly, Catholic.
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House Amberwood/La Maison du bois d'Ambré
Was founded by Aislynn of Amberwood, and Renée is a member of this Household. She has hopes that other members of the Household will become active again, especially Aislynn.
Offices and Positions
None within An Tir as yet.
Awards
None within An Tir as yet.
SCA Miscellany
When I first joined the Society in Anno Societatis VII, in West, there were but three Kingdoms, and An Tir had only recently become a Principality, at the urging of a Bard of the West, the late Gwydion Pendderwen. I later lived in Atenveldt, Ansteorra and the then Principality of Drachenwald before returning to the United States, where most of my active time within the Society was spent within Kingdom of Caid in the former Shire of Darkwell, where in another life (and persona) earned awards and arms, which are irrelevant to Renée. In Anno Mundanis 1987, our family moved to Washington, and for many reasons, our participation within the Society ended not long after. My mundane career was spent in Civil Service, working variously for the Social Security Administration,the Kern County Department of Human Services (California), and lastly Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, from which I medically retired in 1997. Over the years, I have stayed abreast of some changes within the Society, and have renewed membership multiple times, but pnly recently felt able to return to active participation, and renewed by practice of heraldry, primarily research and consulting.