Grete Boke
For a number of years in An Tir, the position of Grete Boke (Great Book) also called “An Tir’s Historian”, was a Lesser office under the jurisdiction of the greater office of Chronicler. The office was intended to fulfill the function of historian and archivist for An Tir. Their duties included collection, maintenance, organization and preservation of photos, newsletters, and stories about An Tir.
Local holders of said office were intended to be found at all levels including kingdom, principality and branches (baronies, shires, etc.) to record the history of their branch or region and coordinate with the kingdom Grete Boke officer. The position could also be known as Branch Grete Boke Officer or Branch Historian¹.
The populace was encouraged to send the Grete Boke copies of articles, stories and photographs for inclusion in the history. Copies of newsletters were to be sent to the Grete Boke, who, as a deputy of the Chronicler, was to store them as an archive.
With the advent of digital photos and newsletters, and the rise of social media for people to share their stories, the duties shifted and the office fell into disuse and disappeared from the customary list of officers.
History of the Office
The Grete Boke of An Tir appeared from the mists of time in December 1978 when it was announced in The Crier. The announcement said that Mistress Serena Cleindori of Bagulay, OP, was given the “custody” of the “Great Book of An Tir.” It was to contain “six years’ worth of An Tir history, An Tir having been founded six years earlier. It was requested “pictures of the nobility and synopses of what happened during each reign of each Prince and Princess” be provided. Dowager Princess Janeltis Karaine, Starfollower was first to share photos, which were going to be returned after portraits were drawn from them.
Several years of silence followed. In May 1982, The Crier announced that Mistress Roberta of Rowan of the Barony of Lion’s Gate was “Deputy chronicler in charge of the Grete Boke of An Tir.” The book was “to contain the history of the realm, its princes and princesses, its subjects and its days from the very earliest time to the future.” A request for photographs and copies of older newsletters was included. The list of officers in The Crier would then include “CRIER and the Grete Boke of An Tir” as part of the Chronicler’s office.
In 1986, for the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Society for Creative Anachronism, the Crown, King Arthur and Queen Melissa, announced the project to display the history of An Tir to the Known World as a unique Domesday Book. This amazing history project was undertaken by the office of the Kingdom Scribe and not related to the office of the Grete Boke.
Jason the Seolfar-Tunged was appointed Grete Boke in 1987. About 1996, his monumental work, The Chronicles of An Tir, documenting the history of the Principality of An Tir from its beginning to becoming a kingdom, was published digitally after being edited and formatted by Jason’s successor, Deorwine et Earneleia.
Deorwine, who resigned in 2001, was followed by a list of successors in fairly short order: James Bearhugger, Fiona, Lady Elisabeth Tristin, and HL Tracey Maple.
In 2006, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the SCA, another Domesday Book project was undertaken. As with the first, this was organized and produced by the Kingdom Scribe’s office and not the Grete Boke officer.
By April 2014 the Grete Boke office was listed in The Crier as “Currently Vacant.” It would occasionally be mentioned as open until its last mention in 2017.
Current Preservation
The Crier
With The Crier going digital in 2012, there was no further need to archive print issues. The need for a full archive of The Crier to preserve An Tir history was still well known and undertaken by the Kingdom Chronicler’s office, who appointed a Crier Archivist in 2016. Scanning and digitizing a complete run of older print The Criers became a project of the Crier Archivist and was completed by 2023, when it was announced as being available online through the kingdom website.
Crier Archive
Photographs
Realizing a need for preserving old print photographs of An Tir before our elderly members were gone, Sir Richard Fergus Fitzalan began a private project to scan digital copies of individuals’ collections. His project, named Scanning An Tir, collected tens of thousands of photographs. The digital scans have been preserved and backup copies stored with several others, but as of 2024 no online access has been provided. The original owners of the photographs were provided with digital files of their photos and encouraged to share on social media.
Domesday Books 20th and 40th
The Kingdom Scribe has possession of these important works of An Tir’s history. Both the 20th and 40th Domesday Books have been digitized, but their image files are not available online. The images of the 20th book were sold on CD-ROM in the late 1990s.
50th anniversary of the SCA
To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the SCA, Dame Hrefna Ulfvarinnsdottir, OP, assembled a history of An Tir with many contributions from other early Antirians. This work is available online: An Tir 50th Year History
The Chronicles of An Tir
This important work, a chronology of the Principality of An Tir, also called The An Tir Chronicle, was produced by the office of Grete Boke, and published as a PDF file. This file exists, but is not currently available online.
Related
Officers
Crier Archive
The Chronicles of An Tir
Domesday Book
An Tir 50th Year History
Scanning An Tir
References
¹ The An Tir Handbook, 3rd Edition, May XXXIII/1998. http://www.antir.sca.org/Pubs/ATH/1greteboke.php
Bibliography
Crier, various issues.