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Correction to the Link to the Falcon Banner Group on MeWe

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First, this is not a plug for joining us on MeWe. The Falcon Banner will still post notifications on our email subscriber list, the Calonlist, Twitter and (until 2021) on our Facebook page.

That said, when I posted the link on New Years Day, I gave the wrong link for the Falcon Banner group on MeWe. When I was setting this up over the holidays, I ended up creating two groups. And, in my haste, I of course posted the link to the wrong one.

The link to the active Falcon Banner link on MeWe is https://mewe.com/join/thefalconbanner1 (note the “1” at the end)

Also, the link to the Falcon Banner page on MeWe is https://mewe.com/p/thefalconbanner

I will give everybody time to shift, then I will delete the other group this weekend.

My apologies for the confusion. Excuse the dust, don’t walk under the ladders and watch your head in that low spot. We are very much under construction.

Is It New Year’s Day?

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January from a Book of Hours (British Library)

Tonight at midnight most of the world will celebrate the new year. But few of our medieval counterparts used January 1 as the start of the new year. When your persona marked the change of the year depended on where you lived, and when.

Are you French, Italian, German, English, Byzantine? Each of these places celebrated the new year on a different date.

At least seven different calendar styles were used in the Christian West alone. And to make matters worse, some areas (Spain in particular) would use one convention for several centuries, change to another, then change to yet another style a few hundred years later.

Depending on when and where you lived in SCA period, New Year’s Day could be:

January 1: Circumcision Style – extends from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31. Named for the Feast of the Circumcision (eight Roman days after Jesus’s birth), this style, which is nearly universal now, was perhaps the least used style. Julius Caesar imposed this change on the Roman world with his new calendar in 46 BC, and many others have tried to implement it at different times during SCA period. William the Conqueror made January 1 the beginning of the new year in England, but the people used March 25 for most purposes.

March 1: Venetian Style – from March 1 of the given year (2019) to the last day of February of the subsequent year 2020). Derived from the pre-Caesarian Roman style, it was used by the Merovingian Franks and was the official style in Venice until 1797. So for the Venetians, the new year will not begin for three months.

March 25: Annunciation Style – begins the year on March 25 of the previous year (stilus pisanus 2020) or on March 25 of the given year (stilus florentinus, mos anglicanus 2019). This was one of the most popular styles during the Middle Ages. In England, March 25, or Lady Day, still marked the beginning of the new year for a variety of purposes.

Although they used the Annunciation Style in Pisa, they started counting a year earlier than everyone else. In other words, the new year might begin on March 25 in both Pisa and Florence, but in Piza it already would be 2019, and would become 2020 in March, while in Florence it would still be 2018 until March 25, when it would become 2019.

Easter Style – Begins the year on the movable feast of Easter Sunday of the given year. Sometimes the year is too short, and other times too long. This year would run from Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019 to Holy Saturday, April 11, 2020. Because Easter can fall on a day somewhere between March 22 and April 25, there is a possibility a date could occur twice in one year. The two dates had to be distinguished by marking them “after Easter” and “before Easter.” This style was the most popular one in France.

September 1: Byzantine Style – extends from September 1 of the previous year (2018) to August 31 of the given year (2019), in accordance with the Byzantine use of dating from the creation of the world.

This style was used by areas influenced by Constantinople, particularly during early period. Since Justinian’s time it was the day taxes were due.

September 24: Indictio Bedana – extends from September 24 of the previous year (2018) to September 23 of the given year (2019). Introduced by England’s “Venerable” Bede during the late 8th century, it was never used in that country, although later it was widely used on the Continent, especially in Germany and by the Imperial chancellery. It uses a date near the fall equinox, rather than the spring equinox, for the beginning of the year.

December 25: Christmas Style – extends from December 25 of the previous year (2018) to December 24 of the given year (2019). This is the style most widely used in the Middle Ages. It is the style that held sway during Anglo-Saxon England’s era, as well as being the New Year of choice for parts of France and Spain for 200 years.

Completely confused? You’re not alone. Historian Reginald Poole gave the following example:

“If we suppose a traveler to set out from Venice on March 1, 1245, the first day of the Venetian year, he would find himself in 1244 when he reached Florence; and if after a short stay he went on to Pisa, the year 1246 would already have begun there. Continuing his journey westward, he would find himself again in 1245 when he entered Provence, and on arriving in France before Easter (April 21) he would be once more in 1244. This seems a bewildering tangle of dates.”

The easiest way to determine how your persona would have dated the year is to use the online Calendar Utility created and maintained by Dr. Otfried Lieberknecht at: http://www.lieberknecht.de/~prg/calendar.htm. This is an amazingly useful tool. You can type in a Roman-style date and find out what its modern-style calendar date is. You can plug in any date and see what its official Roman calendar date is, along with what year it would be. For example, today is ii Kalendas (or Primus Kalendas) Januarius (the day before the Kalends of January) 2018 for me, because my persona is 12th century English. My new year is nearly four months away.

For those with non-Christian or early period personas, the task of identifying New Year’s Day can be challenging. In non-Christian parts of Europe, such as Scandinavia, parts of Germany and eastern Europe, local pagan customs prevailed. Most celebrated the new year sometime in March, usually tied to a spring fertility festival, although customs vary widely.

For those with Muslim personas or with personas that lived in Islamic-ruled areas of Spain or Sicily, tying the Muslim New Year to a Christian calendar date can be a challenge. Because the Muslims use a strictly lunar calendar, the Islamic year is only 354 days long. The Islamic new year begins eleven days earlier each year. It changes months and seasons regularly. Perhaps someone with a Muslim persona knows of a similar calendar utility to figure out historical dates. If so, please share.

And while Jewish personas would, of course, celebrate Rosh Hashanah in September, they most likely would keep secular records the same way others in their area did.

So to all of you, Happy New Year – sometime this year.

 

 

RUSH Provost Position Opening

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Copyist-illuminator. Mid-15th Century. Public domain in the US

The Calontir Royal University of Scir Havoc (RUSH) is seeking a new Provost to serve on the RUSH board. The Provost serves as the administrative assistant to the RUSH chancellor.

The RUSH provost writes and distributes the minutes for the RUSH board meetings. Volunteers for this position should plan to be present at all scheduled meetings. Minutes should be sent to all board members and posted to the RUSH Board Facebook group within one week of the meeting.
The RUSH provost is also in charge of providing a quarterly update to the populace on RUSH activities. The new provost should be prepared to create a template for a short newsletter. The newsletter should include upcoming RUSH events and graduation dates, a summary of the past quarter’s RUSH events and a list of graduates, and RUSH policy updates.

Interested individuals should contact myself at rush@calontir.org to apply or with questions.

Happy Learning!
Duchess Aislinn
RUSH Chancellor

Vertigo Court Summary, October 20, A.S. 53

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In evening court:
Gaius Cornelius Scipio Titianus – AoA
Dana Tartare – AoA
Ívarr inn rauði – AoA

Other court tidings:
1 newcomer received a mug.
Ms. Rebecca Beaumont announced that Their Majesties were accepting application to be Chair of the Lilies Committee.
Lady Allison of Forgotten Sea was sworn in as the new Kingdom Webminister.
It was announced that Their Majesties are accepting Letters of Intent to be the new Kingdom Exchequer and the new Regalia Coordinator.
A boon was begged for Helena Soranzo to join the Order of the Laurel.

French miniature, 14th Century. Nature offers Machaut three of her children – Sense, Rhetoric, and Music. Public domain in the US

Falcon Banner Email Subscribers

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We have been having some difficulty with emails going out to our subscribers. This post is partly a test to see if the problem is resolved.

But, we have been manually sending out email notices, and your email program may have flagged them as suspicious since the sending address and sender do not match. If you get one of these, you should be safe to open it and follow the link.

Finally, there have been several posts that were not sent out to subscribers. If you have not received any posts since Crucible court report, please go to the website and see any that you might have missed.

Sorry for the confusion.

Mathurin, Editor-In-Chief

Where do I find a good name?

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This is the fourth in a series of educational articles about heraldry in Calontir. 

A previous article covered the basic requirements for registerable names, but where do you find a good name?

It’s very helpful if you have already decided on a persona with a defined culture and time period.  In that case, you can look through on-line references for your culture at:

SCA College of Arms, Names Articles – http://heraldry.sca.org/names.html

Medieval Names Archive – https://www.s-gabriel.org/names/

 

If you don’t know what culture you want, there are a few options.

One, find a period version of your real name, a family name, or the name of someone else important to you.

Two, pick a name that was used in many different cultures.  A name like Elizabeth was popular all across medieval Europe (with variations) so you could use it for many different personas.

Third, explore the Database of Medieval Names or the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources (DMNES).  These sources collect names from multiple cultures in one place, so you can see what sort of names you like.  Often, you’ll find that a certain culture has multiple names that appeal to you – a useful clue about what persona you might want to adopt.

Fourth, wander around events without a name until your friends give you one.  Such names are usually fun and descriptive and come with good stories, although they can be devilishly hard to document after the fact (unless your friends happen to be heralds).

Unfortunately, baby names books and websites usually do not have historical spellings, much less dates.  History textbooks and Wikipedia have dates, but often have modernized or anglicized the spelling of names.  For example, Charles I of Spain was actually called Carlos in Spanish.  A good book will explain in the Table of Contents how they dealt with “foreign” names.  If you’re not sure of the source, look for the name in one of the websites listed above to document it better.

Once you find a name you like, make sure to record where you found it, with the date.  You’ll want that for the paperwork when you want to register it.

Whatever your inspiration, the heralds of Calontir are ready to help. Find us on-line or bring your ideas to a consult table and show us what you’ve got!

Heraldic Helpers – http://falconbanner.gladiusinfractus.com/2017/09/09/heraldic-helpers/

Virtual Consult Table – http://falconbanner.gladiusinfractus.com/2017/10/07/calontir-virtual-consult-table/

 

At your service,

Sofya la Rus, Habicht Herald

Calontir Heraldic Education Deputy

habicht@calontir.org

On This Day: Bologna Gets Its First City Clock

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In 1356 the City of Bologna’s first city clock is unveiled. Installed in the Palazzo Capitanato at the Piazza, it strikes the hours for the first time on this day.

Since it was in Italy, the clock was set to “Italian time.” The first hour of the day was a half-hour after sunset. The hours proceeded clockwise around the clock face, with the 19th hour at about the spot where we would have 12. It struck the 24th hour about a half hour before sunset, ringing the bell or bells 24 times. The clock pictured here, which is still in Venice, is similar to the one Bologna had.

Italian time required the clock minders to reset the clock every three weeks or so because the days would grow longer or shorter, depending on the season. They had to lift and move the heavy iron clock works backwards or forwards so that the first hour rang a half-hour after sunset. Strange as this system was, it continued for a long time in Italy, Hungary and some other scattered places.