The Populace of Southron Gaard

Here you will find an introduction to some of the people of Southron Gaard, their personas and their interests. This is by no means a complete listing, but it serves to provide a flavour of the people of our fair Barony. They are listed alphabetically under their SCA name.

Without a formal survey, it is difficult to discover how many people live within the island borders of Southron Gaard, but we typically hold feasts for between 80 and 150 people, and over 250 people attend our annual Canterbury Faire encampment.

Some of our peoples are grouped together into households. They may not actually live in a castle together, but the household recognises common interests and friendships. Household groups usually camp together, and nothing is more stirring than to see the likes of House Amberherthe's encampment with silken banners flying above a matched set of tents.

The People of Southron Gaard

Bartholomew Baskin

I am an ambitious and conniv-, er, up-and-coming noble of dubious lineage in the court of Henry II Plantagenet of England, around 1155-65. My career has been well documented in a series of stories and songs, though many people hold grave doubts as to their accuracy. My chief skill lies in combat archery, though its practise has declined greatly since I took up sword and shield. My best loves are my lady, katherine kerr of the Hermitage, and all forms of entertainment. Among my children are Dickon and Pippin Baskin, and I also acknowledge Grace Kerr.
Email Bartholomew

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Callum MacLeod

I am from the Isle of Lewis on the Northwest coast of Scotland. Originally a tavern-keeper, I journeyed to the mainland to join the Bruce. I've played since the founding of the shire. I can use a sword and crossbow with some skill, and of late have concentrated on wood-working and chronicling the Barony in verse. I've tried my hand at a lot of things and if I don't know, I'll probably know someone who does.

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Ceina of Ballyhawke

I am a thirteenth century merchant of Scottish birth living in London, the daughter of a travelling Scotsman. When I was a young woman my father bet and lost me in a card game to an elderly London spice merchant. Selling a daughter was perfectly legal at the time, though somewhat frowned upon. I found marriage to an elderly husband (also not unusual at the time) a little hard to put up with - and of course it is entirely co-incidence that my elderly (and, fortunately, childless) husband died over his dinner not long afterwards, leaving me to inherit the business...

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Eleanora van den Bogaerde and Sigurd Hardtrader

Information on the founding Baron and Baroness of Southron Gaard can be seen here.

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Gilbert de Montfort

I was born on the 13th of June in the year 1314, in the small town of Tournebu, to the south of the city of Caen, on the river of Orne, in the province of Normandy, the 4th son of a minor noble. I am a scholar, who travelled to the Far East and back again following the route outlined by Marco Polo. I don't currently fight, but have some minor skill with my crossbow and have on occasion managed to hit the target with my recurve bow. I am not as active in the SCA as I used to be, but I never miss Canterbury Faire.
Gilbert's Website
Email Gilbert

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Isabel Maria del Aguila

Information on Isabel Maria can be found here.

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Iuliana mogleri Francesco Morosini

As a Venetian noblewoman of the 16th Century I married into the powerful Morosini family of the same city as my birth. For many years I served as wife, mother and chatelaine within the confines of my home. In this later count of years I can be found both in the halls, providing music for the continuance of dancing and in the service of lady in waiting and within the courts of those much higher than my own birth.
Email Iuliana

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katherine kerr of the Hermitage

I live in the Border fortress of the Hermitage in the year 1566, when Mary is Queen of Scotland, and have been in the Barony of Southron Gaard since its founding over two decades ago. I have been mapping our Barony and recently opened up a print shop to produce maps, broadsheets and almanacs, but my main passion is in the entertaining arts, whether song, poem or play. My lord is Bartholomew Baskin, and I am usually attended by our children Dickon, Pippin and Grace.
katherine's Website
Email katherine

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Lughaid Cnuachd Dharaich mac Aonghuis Dhuibh

Failte Uille! I am a minor noble from the Western Isles of Scotland. I was a loyal supporter of King MacBeth til his overthrow in 1057 by Malcom Canmore and his English cronies. Driven into exile I now wander through many lands acknowleging no king, learning what I may and trying my hand at various trades. I have some skill as a sculptor and mason and with the new-fangled Roman fad for over-sized cathedrals I can usually find some work. I am very much drawn to Spain where the Moslem kings pride themselves on their religious tolerance.

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Capitano Martuccio Lorenzo Cavalcanti de Medici

I am the bastard son of the infamous Italian mercenary, Giovanni de Medici, of the Black Band. When I'm not trying to claim my share of the family fortunes, swashing my buckle or chasing loose women, I'm to be found carousing in taverns or sailing the high seas as a pirate privateer to the Crown of Lochac. In the SCA I do a bit of heavy fighting, a bit of fencing, a bit of garb making and some drunken philosophising. I am famous for my large codpieces.

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Oswyn Carolus - a man for the modern age (1577ish)

From the safety of England, Oswyn's Dutch gracelessly aging father writes increasingly obscure anti-Spanish pamphlets and bores people with anecdotes about Erasmus. His mother serenely bakes nice things. Oswyn himself is an erstwhile scholar whose current means of support do not bear close examination. Contemporaneous with the austere Mistress Isabel Maria del Aguila, he hangs around on the coat-tails of his better-born University friends in the hope of a Court or government job and until that happens, does, um, work for his liberal-minded Dutch uncle, who gets on better than a patriotic Dutchman should with del Aguila's mercantile and nautical relatives. Commercial necessity sometimes requires him to be in disguise. Oswyn practices rapier and hopes never to have to use it, and has taken up heavy fighting in the hope of meeting Isabel Maria's exacting Spanish standards of manliness.

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Roheisa Le Sarjent

I am the only daughter of Simon "Le Sarjent" de Courcy, son of Robert de Courcy, steward to Henry Beaucleric, King of England. When I was a child my father took the cross and we came to live in the holy city of Jerusalem. I now serve in the royal household of Baldwin, King of the Jerusalem. The SCA has made me a Mistress of the Laurel for my work in calligraphy and illumination, however I am renown for dabbling in a wide variety of arts and crafts. My husband Martuccio and I are founders of Domus Canem.

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Sebastian von dem Schwartzwald

I am a German landsknecht (or mercenary soldier), retired to England after many years of fighting in wars all over Europe. Born the son of a Master Goldsmith at the beginning of the sixteenth century, I now ply my father's trade, producing fine adornments in silver and pewter. However, due to amassing a small fortune over the years, I work more from a desire to be useful and creative than financial need. My current activities also include siege weaponry - all in good fun of course!

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Sinech ingen Chonchobair hui Briuin

Sinech married at 16 and had children from 17-30 years of age, six in all, three of whom died. Her husband died when she was 32 from an infection in a wound got by breaking a leg when a rock fell on it while he was clearing a drainage ditch on the farm. Her eldest, a boy, was 15 at the time. As she was still youngish and he was old enough, they were able to manage the farm between them - just. Some people said she should hand the kinland back and move her household in with her late husband's wealthier elder brother. He was quite prosperous and could handle the added headcount in exchange for the extra free labour plus a decent chunk of the re-allocated kinland. But Sinech decided to stick it out, placing her 11-year-old daughter Orlaith in the local convent rather than face the burden of having to provide for her in the future. Her 10-year-old son Ruaidri was something of a liability, being young and having suffered illness since he was five (starting with the sickness that killed two of Sinech’s other children).

Now Sinech is in her early 60s and not able to do a lot of the heavy work. Her elder son Cuan has his own land now and his family lives there. Sinech lives with him, and the land she inherited from her husband (known locally as Baile Broccain: Broccan’s land) is effectively farmed as part of the general household land. He is doing quite well, having been able to increase his wealth over the 18 years he has been farming for himself, and has purchased enough land to keep twice the number of cattle Sinech’s husband had, and he owes no debts. He has six children (and one other lost at birth).

Sinech is a woman respected in the locality for her mature, honest advice, but is somewhat resented by her daughter-in-law Fine, who chafes at her blunt advice, and suspects her of feeling her son married beneath him (and not without reason). Sinech’s younger son Ruaidri died of an illness a few years back, which is why she moved in with her eldest son. She spends her time tending vegetables, making butter and cheese, grinding grain, making cloth, and (to her daughter-in-law's irritation), teaching her two granddaughters different techniques for these crafts from those their mother favours.

Sinech is old. Most of her friends are dead. Her own family now consists only of an uncle eight years her senior and not expected to make it through winter, and a female third cousin who married quite well and keeps to her own sort. If she lives another five years, it will be a miracle. Her left hip and knees are arthritic, and arthritis affects most of her fingers and left wrist. She has eight teeth, and a scar down her left forearm caused by an accident with a scythe. The tip of her right thumb is deformed from when a quernstone fell on it when she was 13. Her eyesight is poor close up, rendering cloth-making a real chore, but most such tasks she can do almost by instinct anyway. She is also responsible for the household's one and only beehive.

If her life and those of her family are hard, Sinech does not see them this way. She is proud of being descended from Brion, once King of Connacht and progenitor of the clan that has produced not only the Kings of Connacht but also a number of High Kings of Eireann. And she is proud of the way her son Cuan has built on his inheritance – even if he did marry beneath him. She still dreams of making a pilgrimage to Saint Colm Kille’s island of Iona before she dies, but the journey would be long and arduous, and not one she could make alone. Perhaps, in the spring, she’ll send word to her daughter at the convent. It might be that a party of nuns would also like to make the journey...

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Vincent de Dijon

Until 1477 I was part of the household guard for Charles the Bold of Burgundy, the richest man in Europe. Having woken from a coma to news of the death of my Duke and my glorious Burgundy back in the hands of the perfidious French, I travelled to Italy and, after a few years work as a condottieri, fled from a trumped-up charge to end up in Southron Gaard after an arduous sea voyage, of which I was the sole survivor. On the whole I like it here, and have added some courtly graces to my soldierly ways.

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Vitale Giustiniani

The Giustiniani have been glass merchants for centuries. My father is very powerful - feared and admired by many men. I think I am very much like him. I am a bold Condottiere! 1427 has been a glorious year! Last month we crushed the effeminate fools from Milano. I have a break from campaigning as the cowards lick their wounds. I use the time to travel the world and see the strange and perverse customs of the neighbouring states. I think that none of them are as grand as Venicia. Everywhere I go, people say what a fine man I am.
Vitale's Website
Email Vitale

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Households of Southron Gaard

Domus Canem

Domus Canem means House of the Dog. We are a group of like-minded friends who camp and do other SCA stuff together. We have no specific period or household persona, but do our best to be as period as we can on a limited budget (apart from Lorenzo, "the big spender", that is). Domus Canem's members are Capitano Martuccio and his wife Mistress Roheisa, her apprentice Lord Lorenzo, Lord Duncan , Lady Clarice and Lord Stephen of the Hospital.

Hous Amberherthe

Hous Amberherthe is a long-standing household which maintains its own web presence here.

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