My advice to SCA members on service

When I was asked to advise people at Winter War on service, I turned to Geoffroi de Charny's Book of Chivalry.

My history of the SCA

Last year was the fiftieth anniversary of the Society for Creative Anachronism.  As a professional historian who has been a member of the SCA from practically the beginning, I seemed to be a logical choice to write a history of the organization to be distributed to people who would attend the celebratory event.  I found the idea intriguing.  I've spent much of my life studying how medieval writers created histories and chronicles.  Now I was being asked to do much the same thing for my own times, based firmly on my own experience.  Quite different from writing scholarly history of some long-ago era.


I liked the result and so did many readers, so I decided to publish it for a wider public.  Thanks to Stonebunny Press, the book is now available. 


Here is the back-cover blurb:

The Society for Creative Anachronism, which started out essentially as a backyard party in the ‘60s, is now a world-wide organization with members in the tens of thousands. To mark the occasion of the Society's 50th anniversary in 2016, Steven Muhlberger was asked to write a history of the organization, from its fledgling days when hobbits and elves were not an uncommon sight, to recent times when much more emphasis is placed on historical accuracy. Dr. Muhlberger was uniquely qualified for this task. He is a professional historian with seven scholarly books to his name, and has a long and diverse experience in the SCA, where he is known as Duke Finnvarr de Taahe. Under that name he has been recognized for excellence in tournament combat, reigned twice as king, and been honored for high accomplishment in the arts and exceptional service to the organization. Dr. Muhlberger describes how the Society originated in the unique environment of California's Bay Area; how a combination of discontent and whimsical creativity led a small group of young people to stage a tournament and then found "the Current Middle Ages;" and how this movement grew to include, eventually, participants on every continent. This is the story of how 20th-century America produced one of its most interesting and popular historical hobbies. This volume is a must for anyone interested in the SCA and its origins, in medieval re-enactment and its connection to science-fiction and fantasy fandom, and in what has been called "inter-kingdom anthropology" – how the Society relates to the larger society around it.

 
And here is the front cover, by the inimitable Merald Clark:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51MOVetSm%2BL._SX331_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

SCA -- The Dream

An amazing evocation of the SCA at its best.

Why I didn't join the SCA

I didn't go to the 50th anniversary celebration of the Society for Creative Anachronism, but I did contribute some of my recollections of my very early days in the organization.  Flieg was kind enough to present it three times at the event.  For those who missed it, here is my story of:

I wasn't interested in the SCA – I was a fan

By Steve Muhlberger (Finnvarr de Taahe)

This is a story about how I didn't join the SCA. It might be more accurate to say that it's about how I passed on plenty of opportunities to get in on the ground floor.

We can argue about where the ground floor is but I'll just say that I did not go to the first tournament and I didn't attend a West kingdom event until 1975.

Let's start in 1967 when I moved from Ohio to New Jersey. This made it possible for me to go to the World Science Fiction Convention in New York that year. I was in heaven! While I was there I picked up a lot of free fanzines and announcements of various sorts and bought a few books as well. One of the fanzines was a one-page newsletter that older science-fiction fans will know went on to greater things. It was Locus number one. And in that fanzine was an announcement that there would be a meeting in New York City with the intention of founding an East Kingdom of the Society for Creative Anachronism. I looked at it said something like, "huh" and paid no further attention. I was not interested.  I was a science fiction fan.

While at the convention I joined the next year's worldcon, called Baycon. It was taking place in Berkeley on Labor Day weekend of 1968,and those who were lucky enough to go had a great old time. Part of the festivities was a tournament put on by the SCA and lots of people were very impressed. Some of them went home and started working on creating their own branches of the SCA.

I was not part of this. I didn't have the money to go to Berkeley so what I got out of it were the handouts that all convention members got in person or by mail. One of them was a guide to the Current Middle Ages, a very practical little booklet written by the SCA which showed how you could put on a tournament in your backyard. I looked at it, said something like "huh, " and thought no more about it. I wasn't interested.

A few weeks after Baycon I started at Michigan State University where I joined the Tolkien Fellowship – something that made me deliriously happy . Other Tolkien fans! At least two of the members, Tracy Brown and Bob McNish, had been at the Baycon and had taken pictures of the tournament. They were trying to sell their friends on the idea of putting on a tournament in East Lansing. They didn't have any luck. Me, I looked at the pictures, said something like "huh," and thought no more about it. I was not interested.

The next year, 1969, I had a bit more money and I got to go to St. LouisCon. Part of this worldcon was the coronation of the first king and queen of the Middle Kingdom. Representatives from both East and West were there to take part, or as they saw it, run the show. For various reasons there was a long delay and several times my friends and I walked through the room meant for the coronation and glanced at people in medieval customs. There weren't very many of them. We didn't even stop to ask them about it. We were off to panels or the book  room or something else more standard and science-fictiony. It's probably just as well I didn't try to get interested because the conflict between the two senior kingdoms over running  the coronation might've turned me off. On this occasion I didn't even say "huh", and I certainly thought no more about it. I was still not interested.

That fall I was back at Michigan State having more fun than ever with the science fiction and fantasy clubs. They were pretty big by now and we had a lot of energy. As Halloween approached, many of us decided to dress up. There was not a lot of consultation about what would be fun and appropriate, but when we got together it turned out that a whole bunch of us had adopted sword and sorcery personas. And then, seeing her opportunity, Signy Dimraedela (Tracy Brown) stepped forward with her Baycon photos in hand, and said wouldn't it be interesting if we did a medieval tournament SCA style? And suddenly I was interested. As were a whole bunch of other people. And that was the beginning of the barony of North Woods, one of the earliest and most dynamic  Middle Kingdom groups.

And that's the story of how I was not interested in joining the SCA.

Kent State, Northwoods, and the SCA

This day is the anniversary of the Kent State University shootings, where the Ohio National Guard, faced with unruly demonstrators against the Vietnam War, shot several of them including people who were not part of the demonstration. I was in university at the time in the United States and opposition to the war was pretty high. This however got many people who had not actively protested the war very angry. The Kent State demonstrations had been a reaction to the invasion of Cambodia, a major expansion of the war that Richard Nixon had promised to wind down when he was elected. The invasion of Cambodia and the shootings at Kent State and also at Jsckson State University in Mississippi got me and thousands of others to take part in antiwar marches who had never done so before.

Two days before the shootings, and a week before the marches against the Kent State killings, I had taken part in the first tournament held by the SCA in East Lansing Michigan. Lke the first SCA tournament four years earlier, it was a great success that inspired us to do more. As a result our Michigan State University – based group became the barony of Northwoods, part of the Middle Kingdom, which was headquartered in the Chicago area." NorthWoods for a good while was the largest and most dynamic SCA group between the two coasts. I have often wondered if we had scheduled our tournament on May 9 instead of May 2,1970, whether we would have had the heart or the interest in putting on Northwoods' oh so successful first SCA tournament? And if not, what would the history of the SCA have looked like?

Longsword on the New York Times site

This video link will probably disappear sooner rather than later but in the meantime it's an interesting look at one variety of HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts).  These people are inspired by the techniques of the late medieval German masters, but though they strive for historical authenticity in their moves they are not interested in other kinds historical re-enactment or re-creation.  No "thees and thous," as one of them puts it.  (But note that there is one guy on the sidelines who seems to be wearing some kind of medieval clothing and maybe a coronet.)

There is a wide variety of martial arts out there these days, different organizations pursuing different goals.  This may lead to the Balkanization of a field of activity once completely dominated by the Society for Creative Anachronism.

An accomplishment?

People who know me through the SCA can probably guess at the mixture of emotions I experienced upon discovering this site, which seems to be a reader mistaking something I wrote for the SCA "in persona" for an actual 12th century treatise.

A human kaleidoscope

People who wish to introduce medieval dancing into the SCA have a real problem – almost all of our documentation for dances done in the medieval period actually come from late in the Renaissance. Some people who want to dance often use other styles as inspiration, in particular in English country dancing. Once you get past the anachronism here, there's a lot of fun to be had doing known country dances or choreographing new ones.

One member of the SCA, known in it as James Blackcloak has created several new country dance inspired choreographies. Some of them are on YouTube. For your enjoyment, I direct you to this one, entitled St. Paul's Cathedral:

Living your ideals

In light of a conversation I had earlier today,

something that other people have noticed

occured to me : a lot of the problems of the SCA derive from the fact that it is trying to re-create not reality but an ideal creation. Take it a step further. In a sense an SCA member is on the same level of reality not of Count Roland in Charlemagne's time – a real human being – but Roland of the song of Roland. Does this make sense? Roland of the Song of Roland was an attempt to portray an ideal knight. An SCA knight is an attempt to portray an ideal knight. Neither poets nor re-creationists can manage that trick though. Once you start trying to fill in the details the ideal figure becomes less and less believable.

My low level of blogging comes from the fact that I have moved again. I am now in Windsor Ontario.

Laying down my arms

Some of you know that I have long been a member of the SCA -- for about as long as I have been studying the real Middle Ages, 40 years and more. One of the main activities I took part it was fighting in the lists and on the  mock battlefield. I loved fighting, and once upon a time I was pretty good, back in the pioneering days of the sport.  I have been doing it a lot less recently because of health problems and the reduced energy of older age, which combined to make me less enthusiastic about being hit with sticks by large, unsympathetic men.  I just lacked  the faith that I would bounce back from an injury.

This week I found I have another health problem -- blood clots in both lungs. I was actually admitted to hospital where I was started on a course of anticoagulants, some of which I may be on for the rest of my life. So that is it for being hit, at least on purpose, by large unsympathetic men (not to mention the women).

Things could be worse. I was the least ill person in the crucial care unit of my hospital, where I was stuck because there were no beds in ordinary wards. At those times that I wasn't tied down too much by wires and IV tubes I could get around perfectly well, which is more than can be said about everybody else.

Fighting in the woods

I am there dodging swords.  Thanks again to Kyle Andrews.

Jack Vance's hadaul, done SCA style as "Mordain's Rings"

A little medievalesque fun on my back field.  Thanks to Kyle Andrews.

Steve Muhlberger on the Combat of the Thirty -- a Chivalry Today podcast

Earlier this summer Scott Farrell of Chivalry Today interviewed me on the Combat of the Thirty against Thirty of 1351 and the contemporary re-enactments by members of the SCA at its Pennsic War.

Here is that interview.

This year I did not take part, but I did get the T-shirt. Really.

More from Gulf War XX -- with soundtrack

https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=518491293926#!/video/video.php?v=518491293926

Notice no snow.

More medieval re-creation: Kingdom of Calontir War College 2011

Gulf Wars XX

Baron's Howe -- an invitation

If any readers are going to be in the North Bay area this weekend, please know that there will be a medieval re-creation event in Bonfield on my property.  It is free, but we ask that you make some attempt at medieval costume.   The main activities will be on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

If you need more information, contact me (today, Thursday and Friday).  Anyone who is reading this blog is probably capable of figuring out how to do that.

The woods battle at Pennsic 39

Here is a brief video of one of the battles at last week's Pennsic war. It was produced by students of the Entertainment Technology of Carnegie Mellon University. They used a "shield cam," a camera embedded in a shield, which meant the mechanism had a good POV and a certain amount of protection. Link.

Vacation

For the next two weeks I will be away from my computer, specifically at Pennsic War 39, one of the biggest historical re-creations I know of (re-creation rather than re-enactment because it recreates medieval activities but doesn't strictly re-enact some medieval occasion). As a whole, it is like a giant celebration of whatever people feel like celebrating. Like the eternal war between the East and Middle Kingdoms.

There will be one notable re-enactment, by the Company of St. Michael, on the Tuesday of the main week of Pennsic, of the Seneschal of Hainault's deeds of arms of 1402-3. The previous link will tell you more. I hope to be there, but I promised last year and ended up too exhausted to take part.

Image: Do you know that Google returns 19,000,000 results when you search for images of the Company of St. George?

Medieval Fantasy as Performance: the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Current Middle Ages, by Michael A. Cramer

Michael Cramer is a theater scholar, an active dramatist, and a longtime member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. I know him reasonably well and am not shy about promoting my friends when they publish, but I can honestly say that this is a very interesting book that will appeal to a number of different audiences: thoughtful members of the SCA, people interested in postmodernism and medievalism on the theoretical level, and those who find dramatic theory useful in analyzing what people do in daily life.

One of the best features of this book is that Kramer is willing to be honest about his own feelings about the organization he has belonged to for so many years. If some aspect strikes him as worthwhile, he doesn't hold back from saying so either implicitly or explicitly. If some incident or feature strikes him as problematic, that comes through, too. He is neither bashful nor chauvinistic. I can guess that he feels that if some readers are going to dismiss the SCA or his study as too weird for words, well, then, they should read another book. This straightforward approach to the material makes it a lot more lively than a lot of cultural/anthropological studies.

As an informed reader with a great deal of SCA experience myself, I got some good laughs from his accurate observation. It didn't hurt that I know or have heard of most of the people he interviewed, quoted, or told good stories about. For somebody like me, this book could almost be entitled Famous Eccentrics of the SCA. For readers coming to this book for scholarly treatment, Cramer's deft use of anecdotes is actually a strength, because they are well-chosen and well discussed. They're not just there for freak-show value. Cramer is far from condescending to his subjects; if a famous eccentric in the book it's for a good reason.

I am not sure how this book will be received by theorists of performance or postmodernism, but I've always thought that the SCA was an interesting cultural phenomenon, and I think this may be the best, or at least most sophisticated, treatment of that phenomenon.

Image: the cool cover. There are lots of cool pictures on the inside, too.