Lydia of Tyldenne

Persona

Lydia of Tyldenne hails from the Cinque Ports in Kent, England, and delights in the riches of the wool trade and ready access to goods from the Continent, all thanks to a wise husband who had the good sense to establish wealth as a merchant before a genteel death at a young enough age to allow Lydia to enjoy her widowhood. She is a bit of a time traveler, and is focused on the Tudor and Elizabethan for the moment, but she greatly enjoys wandering up and down the timeline as her interests and sewing skills direct her.

Preferred pronouns: she/her

Whereabouts

Lydia is located in the canton of Caldrithig in the Barony of the Althing.

Current Office(s)

Lydia currently serves as the Social Media Officer for the canton of Caldrithig. To reach her in that role, please email caldrithigSMO AT gmail DOT com.

SCA History

Lydia was born and raised in the territory of the Barony of An Dubhaigeainn, Kingdom of the East, and upon entering university, discovered that many of her cohort in the Stony Book University Science Fiction Forum also waxed joyfully about their “medieval fighting club.” With many demands on her time, she was unable to take them up on their invitations to join in, but enjoyed listening to their stories of some extremely intense sounding camping event in Pennsylvania. After her marriage and relocation from the East to Ealdormere, she and her spouse decided to take up the invitation of her spouse's dear friend Lady Amalthea to attend Paardenbloem in AS LVIII. That made her remember the tales from her youth which, combined with the many kind welcomes at Paardenbloem, led her to decide she had found a very good place indeed.

Since that first event, Lydia has become a regular attendee at Caldrithig dance practices, has begun sewing garb (with some fits…or misfits, as it were), researching historical knitting and dusted off her drop spindle for the first time in a decade. She has volunteered to take on the role of Social Media Office, and set up and is part of the moderator team for Caldrithig’s Discord. She has dabbled in a bit of archery, is reading a great deal of history, and is constantly on the lookout for the next interesting thing to try.

Interests

Fibre Arts, including knitting, spinning, and weaving

Sewing and making garb

Historical Research

Dance

Music

As time and energy allows, Lydia hopes to try calligraphy and expand her weaving skills.

Awards

Bunny Tail, November 9, 2024

Other Activities

Lydia's persona grew from genealogy research, sparked by curiosity in the women of her family line. Throughout her childhood she heard stories of the ancestor who first left England for North America, but nothing of his wife. She now knows Lydia’s name, as well as the names of her daughters, sisters, mother, and grandmother, and many ancestors previously unknown to her. (She figured Lydia would not mind sharing her name, especially she has found a bunch of other Lydias up and down the family tree!) Lydia hopes, through her time in the SCA, to expand her knowledge about the Cinque Ports region where that line of her family originated, the events her ancestors experienced, and maybe be so bold as to try to experience some of what they might have known themselves.

(And should she ever become tired of English history, she has family lines in Gemany and Scotland waiting for their turns!)

In her research Lydia has discovered that in a churchyard in Kent, there's a grave belonging to a many-times great aunt who shares her mundane name, and someday she's going to visit it so she can tell her all about everything she's learned.

Knitting is Lydia's favorite hobby and she generally has knitting in her hands whenever she is sitting for more than five minutes. She grew up on a Christmas tree farm, is allergic to pine and spruce pollen, and still puts a live tree in her house every year. She loves red and green but if asked her favorite colour she will always say blue. She deeply loves cups of tea, chocolate, baking, hand-dyed sock yarns, the music of Billy Joel, spreadsheets, and the Long Island Sound.

Contact Information

lydiatyldenne AT gmail DOT com

Discord: Lydia of Tyldenne

External Links

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