War once again came to AEthelmearc on July 26th. PENNSIC WAR 48, is a two week SCA camping/fighting extravaganza. For those of you unfamiliar with the SCA, Pennsic is a yearly event where the Kingdom of the Middle (Midrealm) and the Kingdom of the East gather in the Kingdom of AEthelmearc to duke it out with one another. Each side has their own set of allies. This year AEthelmearc (my kingdom) allied with Midrealm.

Mundanely, the event takes place at Cooper’s Lake Campground in Slippery Rock, PA. This SCA event has been going on for nearly 50 years now. This year the total attendance reached upwards of 11,000 people. Event attendance has averaged around 10k since 1996. Medieval participants bring in an average of 1.8 million dollars to the local economy.

The history of this event is as rich as the origins of the SCA. The following excerpt from HERSTADR-SAGA details how the idea for Pennsic first came about.

One day, almost 30 years ago, Cariadoc of the Bow, the King of the Middle, got bored with peace and declared war upon the East, loser to take Pittsburgh. The King of the East read the declaration of war, filed it away and forgot about it. Time passed. Cariadoc moved to New York and subsequently became King of the East, whereupon he retrieved the declaration from the file cabinet and said, “Let’s fight.” The Middle won, and Cariadoc has the distinction of being the only king who declared war upon himself and lost”

HERSTADR-SAGA: An Incomplete History of Pennsic

There is more to Pennsic than just the fighting. An entire section of the site is dedicated to classes teaching many arts and sciences from the middle ages. Shows and performances happen daily as well as wandering bards that perform in the merchant and food areas. Speaking of which, there is a large array of merchants selling anything from clothing to weapons scattered in areas throughout the site. Food vendors serve everything from hamburgers to bread boules laden with stew, spaghetti or a variety of other dishes.

Throughout the nights there is a large party scene that includes period and not-so-period style parties. There are free bars setup for visitors scattered throughout the camp ground. Included with the parties are musicians playing a variety of period instruments. Ask anyone in the Society and they will all tell you that at Pennsic, the drums beat all night, every night.

That is Pennsic in a nutshell. It would require an entire book to describe everything that happens there in detail. My next post will cover my adventures at Pennsic #48. I will probably split it into two separate posts, one covering peace week and the other war week.

So many things to say about this great event! It was a nice, sunny day with a cool breeze at a beautiful site location. The event took place at Feather Lake in the beautiful mountains of the Shire of Misty Highlands. Although we had packed up the wagon the night before, we were still late leaving our lands. I will say it was a pleasant trip down though.

Upon arriving I dropped off a thrown weapons target stand and loaner gear for the range. After we trolled in and changed into our garb, I hit the thrown weapons range and warmed up a bit. I threw the qualifier, which consisted of a “Royal Round”. That is, Four knife and axe throws from the 10′ line and two knife and axe throws from the 20′ line. The target is a wooden tree butt with an outer ring worth 4 points, middle ring worth 7 points and the bulls-eye worth 10 points. I didn’t do well as such I didn’t even check my score upon completion. It took me a long time to dial in my knife throws from the ten foot line. I was happy to have one knife stick from the twenty line though.

After the Thrown Weapons qualifier, I went and checked in with the Ministress of the List at the fighting field. Unfortunately, I was too late to enter the breakaway shield tournament, but right on time for the spear tourney. I quickly threw on my kit and hit the field, however I was unprepared as I didn’t have my second full gauntlet. Someone was kind enough to lend me one, so I was set to fight. This tourney requires the fighters to balance on platforms that pivot and turn. This was my first time fighting spear, so it added to the challenge considerably. Overall I didn’t do too bad. The tournament was ran bear-pit style, that is you stay in until you lose. I had a run of three wins and an overall score of 5 (Probably one of the lowest scores, but I didn’t check the rankings).

After the spear tourney I fought a pickups with a freshly elevated knight. We went ten rounds, and then he assessed my fighting. He had really good things to say about my defense and gave me good pointers as to how to tackle an individual fighting dual weapon (two hand sword and single hand sword). I’m feeling much more confident in my fighting ability than I was at War Practice.

After a short break and a phenomenal lunch we fought in three man teams on a field of icebergs. The goal was to stay on the “icebergs”. If you stepped off, or were knocked off, you died. Same fighting standards applied. I was on his Majesty’s team along with his son. We did really well, but that was mostly due to their fighting ability. I got some kills, but died most every round. Even so it was a lot of fun. Once individual on one of the opposing teams hit me with a Dane axe right across the shoulder. Had that been a real axe it probably would have cleft me in two! As such it was a blast.

After the fighting I quickly took off my kit and hurried back to the Thrown Weapons range. There I took part in the Tournament. The tournament consisted of “stations”. The first was a spear target with a viking ship painted on it. I was not impressed with my spear throws. The next target was 4 knives thrown at a quartered target (green or white). You flipped a coin and threw at the color that came up. I didn’t do too bad at this one. The next target was 4 axes thrown at a spangenhelm with horns and braids. You got more points for cutting the braid or horn. I started this one by trying to cut the braid and horn. That was a mistake, I should have just thrown at the helmet. The next target was throwing twelve knives at thor’s hammers. Once I dialed in the weight and distance of the knives I scored a few points on this one. The final target was “Save AEthelmearc”. You had to hit the painted axes and avoid hitting the AEthelmearc badge. I didn’t do too badly on this one either. Overall my final score put me third of seven throwers. The top two contestants tied for first and had a sudden death final. They had to throw axes from the 20′ line at the painted helmet. First to stick wins.

After the Thrown Weapons tournament ended we had a small court where many of my friends were honored by placement into various orders. It was a nice way to wrap up a wonderful event. I was very happy I got the opportunity to attend. The trip home was as pleasant and uneventful as the trip down.

I really enjoy these smaller events. They have a certain charm that the larger events sometimes just can’t secure. It really helps if many of my friends are attending.

Today we head to war practice to train for the upcoming war. This will be my first time fighting since the Donnan Party several months ago. Since then I’ve become a Reaper (by completing the 100 day pell challenge). I continue to improve my combat prowess through physical and educational training. The anticipation is killing me.

I loaded up the wagons yesterday. We will be heading to the battlefield by noon today, which puts our arrival at roughly 1PM by the sundial. It never fails to amaze me how hectic packing for a large event can be. Makes me dread even thinking about packing for war. This event would typically be just a “load up the armor and weapons” situation but our shire is having a cookout social, so I’m bringing the rations, cooking supplies, and other necessities to facilitate a successful activity.

This event is going to be pretty rough for us. My household is still recovering from the illness we all caught last week. I still feel like I’ve only recovered to about 70%. I just hope that being out in the elements doesn’t create a relapse for any of us. I really want to fight in the “Meet and Beat” tonight, but I need to know my limits. If I’m feeling poorly I need to sit this one out. I still have other activities that I can do. It’d be nice to retain or just generally socialize with everyone.

In other news related to this event, I am also going to be guarding the Queen for the first time in my SCA career. I’m excited to actually be able to finally utilize my soft kit: nasal spangenhelm, spear, axe, and chainmail. I hope I look the part as much as I feel I do when donning it all.

Once the event is over, I will post how it went for me, and any cool things that may have happened.

I am going to try to write most of my blog entries as if I am speaking through my persona. This will help me to further flesh out who I want to be within the society. Ideally I envision becoming this entity at SCA events.

My name is Lord Jodocus van Cleeff, and I am a Frankish nobleman from East Francia. I was born between Utrecht and Uberan Malsna (Upper Geldermalsen), over the border of Friesland and what was known as the Kingdom of Lotharingia, or Middle Francia. I was born in the year 852 AD, and at the time that this is written, I am 32 years old. I am currently living in the Kingdom of AEthelmearc in the Shire of Kings Crossing.

As a child, in the fashion of the Franks, I was first educated by my mother. My mother’s maiden name is Lady Gisela van Friesland. She is a distant descendant of the Frisian King, Radboud. She taught me the history of her family, the Frisians, and the “old ways” prior to the pacification of Friesland by King Charles the Great. When I turned 10, I was sent to St. Salvator in Ultrecht to continue my education. It was at my father’s request as he held firm the ways of Charlemagne and placed emphasis on religious education and the ability to read and write. I did not t wish to be sent away from my family, but as my father told me; “it is the duty of a young lord to be educated and follow the will of Christ”. I lived at the monastery for 3 years learning the ways of Christianity. Once I reached the age of 13 my father sent for my return. My life at the monastery was not easy, and well worth its own dedicated post.

My father’s name was Lord Tescelin van Cleeff. He was a fair lord, and renowned by many. He had a very prestigious military career and was a successful trader. He taught me how best to manage an estate. Our lands primarily consisted of farm land where we grew crops and bred livestock. He also taught me lessons about fighting and warfare. He always believed it was important to protect our people and fight for the honor of our king. He instilled in me a vast sense of loyalty and patriotism that I took with me into a new Kingdom.

When I turned 16, my father was killed during a viking raid. The Danes had been raiding the northern shores of the low country and my father had ridden out with several men to join a local garrison to intercept them. They were taken off guard in route and he was slain in the battle that unfolded. His body was recovered and laid to rest in the family crypt in Utrecht. As his only child, a much noted rarity of those days, I inherited his estate.

At 24 civil war came to Francia. I received the call to muster from Louis III, King of Saxony. I gathered all able bodied men and rallied with the his forces. We were going to war with West Francia. On October 8th of 876, we met King Charles the Bald’s forces at Andernach. They outnumbered us 3:1, but in the end we still emerged victorious. In 879 I once again marched in Louis’ army. This time it was an invasion of West Francia proceeding the death of Louis the Stammerer. We marched as far as Verdun before Louis III and Carloman ceded their claims of Lotharingia. In 880, I fought at the Battle of Thimeon were we routed 5000 Norsemen. Once more in 881, following the Danish sake of Armiens and Corbie, we fought a pitched battle near the hamlet of Saucourt. We laid to rest nearly 8000 vikings that day.

After this battle I decided to visit a foreign land. The Sylvan Kingdom of AEthelmearc laid out before me and I knew I had found my new home. . . To Be Continued

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton