Marie l'Englois

Persona

Marie l'Englois is an Englishwoman living in France in the mid-16th century (circa 1530-1570).

Marie initially traveled to France in the retinue of a politically-climbing male relative assigned to the French court (identity of said relative occasionally varies between brother, uncle, and husband depending on random whim). When this relative passed suddenly, she managed to obtain herself a place in service to a minor noble household as a music tutor (and in later years secretly a scribe as well), and somehow convinced her remaining family that a) this was their idea, and b) it was to their political advantage for her to remain there with the remaining retinue rather than being summoned home.

Marie is educated, literate and well-read, and is mostly self-supporting with the assistance of the family she serves and the occasional contribution from home. She enjoys rather more independence than is generally considered appropriate for a lady, mostly because her remaining family members don't consider her important enough to marry off, and it costs them less money to leave her in place than to fetch her home. She values this independence and doesn't do anything to draw undue attention to herself and risk changing that. As a consequence, her family has mostly forgotten she exists, beyond the occasional letter, bit of gossip, or political machination they require of her.

Marie greatly enjoys experiencing the many music and fashion styles she is exposed to through the household she serves and the larger French court. It almost makes up for the careful politics she has to play in order to stay there.

Whereabouts

Within the SCA, Marie resides in the Canton of Caldrithig, in the Barony of Skraeling Althing, in the Kingdom of Ealdormere (and has done so since Ealdormere was part of the Midrealm).

Heraldry

• Arms: Per bend sinister vert, and bendy sinister Or and vert, in dexter chief a maunche Or.
• Badge(s): Coming soon!

Current Office(s)

• Director, Caldrithig Choral Group
• Director, Caldrithig Instrumental Group

Past Offices

• Admin, Trillium Exchange
• Deputy Admin, Trillium Exchange
• Pursuivant, Canton of Caldrithig, jointly with Jaqueline de Bucquoy (late 90s ish, Jaqueline did the reporting, Marie did the court and field heraldry, both did research and submissions)
• Clerk Register, Barony of Skraeling Althing (late 90s-early 00s ish)
• Clerk Register, Canton of Caldrithig (late 90s-early 00s ish)
• Phone Tree Administrator, Canton of Caldrithig (In the days before mailing lists were common or Yahoo groups or FB existed, local SCAdians used a phone call-up tree to contact people about local happenings of interest. Created the first Caldrithig e-mail list.)

SCA History

• Discovered the SCA in the early 1990s by stumbling into a fighter practice on Carleton University campus.
  • Made armour, and fought for about a year, then her joints informed her this was not a viable ongoing pastime. Her armour was donated to the canton, and still takes the field protecting other Skrael fighters.
  • Periodically flirts with the idea of authorizing in combat archery (crossbow), but the same troublesome joints generally remind her in short order that receiving even an accidental hit would go very poorly, so combat is more of a fondly-remembered dream nowadays.
• Former Constable of Fence (retired early 2000s)… a constable is basically a non-combatant marshal, that does not perform authorizations but can serve as marshal for tourneys and practices.
• Involved in the founding of the Ealdormere Academy of Defence, assisted in drafting the first academy charter, co-scribed the charter scroll (together with THL Cerridwen of Seashire).
• One of the first non-combatant members of Academia Xiphias, though has since resigned membership due to longer being active in the rapier community.
• First non-combat-related activites in the SCA were the writing of poetry and filk, and participating in the local choral and instrumental ensembles which years later she would end up directing.
• Has served as event steward, gatekeeper, server, butler, kitchen helper, entertainment coordinator, and barkeep at various events over the years, occasionally even at the same event. Also served as emergency backup chronicler once when the baronial chronicler was unexpectedly hospitalized.
• Apprenticed to the late Master Naon na Chruitire, laurel harper of Ealdormere and mundane early music professor, for choral and instrumental ensemble music and polyphonic composition.
• Elevated to the Order of the Laurel in A.S.LI for her musical pursuits. Marie doesn't use formal titles much, but where such is expected, she prefers Magistra (teacher).
• Marie has taken two apprentices: THL Giana Gabriella di Milano, and THL Inge of Sten Mark

Interests

• Music and Bardic Arts
  • Singing (choral music and solo bardic, can cover soprano, alto, and tenor parts)
  • Instrumental Music (proficient on SSATBB recorders, crumhorns, cornemusen and assorted other early woodwinds, along with renaissance drum and other percussion)
  • Composition (solo and multi-part, vocal and instrumental, spanning multiple countries and time periods)
  • Reading, Writing, and Transcription of various forms of historic music notation
  • Instrument Making and Repair, primarily woodwinds and percussion, have also studied reed construction for early woodwinds
  • Director of the local SCA choral and instrumental ensembles, and hosts weekly practices for both ensembles in her home
  • Participant in Pennsic Choir and Chorulus Pennsicus
  • Has studied historic folk and street music not just court and religious music, has a particular fondness for 16thC secular/humourous multi-part choral pieces, and early drinking and bawdy songs.
  • Other ongoing bardic pursuits include Poetry Composition and Recitation, Storytelling, and learning Harp and Bodhran.
• Sewing and Costuming
  • mainly focused on 1530-1570 England, France, Italy and Spain, with occasional dabbling in German-Saxon and the low countries
  • in past has also done a fair bit of 14thC, along with some Norse and early Irish, as well as several sets of rapier garb in different styles
• Scribal Arts and Calligraphy
  • proficient in a variety of hands, from futhark runes to gothic, general tendency to be more proficient at the structured/patterned/mathematical hands over the free-flowing artistic ones
  • illumation is limited to gold/silver/copper leaf and mathematically-based knotwork… and sheet music of course (especially eye music!)… but, y'know, don't ask her to actually DRAW anything! :p
  • enjoys wordsmithing, especially really restrictive poetic forms and acrostics
  • has cut her own quills and dabbled with ink making
  • hosts bi-weekly scribal nights in her home
• Heraldry
  • Court Heraldry
  • Field Heraldry
  • enjoys researching names and devices
• Games: not an expert on period games, but enjoys playing them when the opportunity arises
• Pentathlon: on the TODO list… projects have been picked for years, but life keeps intervening
• Persona Development
  • currently developing a handwriting for her Persona based on extant female writing samples from 16thC England and France
  • has composed music “in persona” in multiple styles and forms
• Research: Marie reads insanely fast (around 900 words per minute), so can do deep dives into pretty much anything that interests her, and frequently does so. This page may someday be expanded to contain a list of topics covered to date, if some kind of non-wall-of-text-format can be found for the purpose.
• Trillium Exchange: had so much fun as a participant, she signed up to be an admin!
  • Her first exchange project involved retranslating and redacting recipes from four middle-eastern cookbooks to recreate a dozen period variations of the recipient's favourite sweet.
• Thrown Weapons: recently tried throwing axes for the first time, and loved it enough that she has concluded she must do a great deal more of it, if her troublesome joints will cooperate with the endeavour. :)

Classes Taught

• 12th-16thC Bawdy Songs: Street songs from the Troubadours to the Tudors, naughty nuns and other “nothings”, musical fantasies, fetishes, and political incorrectness, and a look at the English Country as you've never seen it before. Ages 18+ only.
• 12th-16thC Drinking Songs: There are more drinking songs suited to our campfires and feast halls than many can even dream of. Human nature hasn't fundamentally changed, people have been sharing drink and song for centuries. We'll belt out drinking songs in five languages, spanning multiple centuries, from sources ranging from the Carmina Burana to Ravenscroft.
• 8th-16thC Holiday Songs: Some of our favourite carols are older than we think! Others are a fair bit younger. We'll explore Christmas, Yuletide, and holiday celebration songs in multiple languages, from a cross-section of the many different centuries covered by the SCA.
• Contrefait/Contrafacta (aka writing period-style filk): Caught the bardic bug, have you? Not sure about composing original tunes yet? That's ok, reusing tunes is TOTALLY a period practice, and using period sources for filking avoids all those pesky copyright laws. We'll look at several pre-17thC examples, then create something as a group about current SCA happenings.
• Choral Jam: Like to sing? Curious about pre-17thC choral music? Give it a try! I'll bring the music, you bring your voice, we'll skip the theory and just start singing. Perfectionism not required. You'll be surprised how quickly it all comes together.
• Instrumental Jam: Play an instrument? Curious about pre-17thC ensemble music? Give it a try! I'll bring the music, you bring the instrument(s), will skip the theory and just start playing. Perfectionism not required. You'll be surprised how quickly it all comes together. Some loaner instruments available by pre-arrangement.
• Recorder 101: AKA “Which end do you blow in?” Basic beginner recorder instruction, focusing on simple rounds and easy SCA dance music. Loaner instruments available by pre-arrangement.
• Bunny Scout Recorder Chorus: similar to Recorder 101, but targetted towards children ages 6-10 years.
• Easy Period Rounds: Not sure where to start with period music? This is your class! Adults and children, ages 6 and up.
• Knotwork Workshop: Basic and intermediate illuminated knotwork techniques taught at various scribal nights in Caldrithig and Harrowgate Heath.
• Metal Leafing Workshop: Basic and intermediate gold, silver and copper leaf techniques for scribes, taught one on one in people's homes and at Caldrithig A&S days.

Awards

• Order of the Laurel - March 25th, 2017, for music.
• placed on vigil for the Order of the Laurel - November 22nd, 2016
• Order of the Crucible - June 21st, 2014, for music.
• Award of the Maiden's Heart - November 12th, 2011, for years of service as director for local choral and instrumental ensembles.
• Order of the Black Hare - February 26th, 2011, for music.
• Award of Orion - February 26th, 2000, for music.
• Award of Arms - January 18th, 1997.
• Bunny Tail - approx 1995ish

Other

• Marie shares heart and home with Auríkr Biarnarsson, a Norse blacksmith, singer, musician, poet, and scribe, who would look utterly FABULOUS in Tudor if he ever decided to time travel. :)
• Marie deals with a number of chronic pain conditions that impact her mobility and energy levels. She sometimes doesn't know how actively she'll be able to participate in an event until the day of the event, which can make scheduled activities a challenge. It also sometimes requires garb compromises her inner costuming geek doesn't like.
• Marie is an introvert and isn't always comfortable approaching people she doesn't know. If we have interests in common, please do introduce yourself!!