Sir Richard Fitzalan

Squire Connor McGuire

Squire Cedric Helmbreaker

Squire Cian McDara

SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism)

vSir Richard Fergus Fitzalan, Knight of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Baron Glymm Mere, on this day unto you, most noble reader, sends respectful greetings and good will.

vSince I was a young boy playing with wooden swords running through the neighborhood with friends playing Knights of the Round Table, I have been fascinated with medieval history and Knighthood. In 1973 I saw my first "live" knight at an SCA demonstration in Olympia, WA at Lakefair. During my college years I majored in late Imperial Rome and early Medieval History (BA, 1977, WSU). And during those student years I discovered the joy of swashbuckling with foils (used as rapiers unsafely) and fantasy fiction (thank you J.R.R.Tolkien).

vIn 1978, upon my return to Olympia, a few friends and I created "House Arkeep" a quasi-medieval group that gathered for medieval style parties. We learned to make costumes and chainmail and fought with quarter staffs and bought swords. We met an SCA member who gave us lots of information and help (thanks, Frank!) and we learned to forge steel and make spears. But as there was no SCA branch close by (at least not according to our leader), we did not discover the wider world of the SCA for a few more years. We even put out our own newsletter, "House Arkeep News".

vIn 1981, while working at The Evergreen State College, I met a student (Alison Lamb) who was very interested in medieval history and who brought in real SCA members for a demonstration that May. As Angharad (as Alison became) founded our local SCA chapter (Shire of Evercleare, Olympia, WA), I became the founding Minister of Arts & Sciences for the incipient Shire and have been a member and usually an officer, ever since. And our small "household" that built our earlier social group became House Arkeep within the Shire.
 

vMy early SCA name was Fergus Fitzalan. I did archery and persona (personal history) development and research, and various arts and sciences projects. Then I took up the sword on the path to becoming a knight. I spent nine years as squire to Duke Thorin Njalsson before I was knighted. When the Shire of Glymm Mere (as Evercleare became known) was elevated to Barony in the Kingdom of An Tir, I was invested as the founding Baron of Glymm Mere. My son, William (known as Lord Guillaume Fitzalan in the SCA) was raised in the Society.

My son, Guillaume Fitalan, about age three, feeding strawberries to Queen Angharad.

vIn 1993, I changed my name to Richard Fergus Fitzalan and was knighted at September Crown in the Kingdom of An Tir that year. When I stepped down as territorial Baron of Glymm Mere in 1995, I was made a Court Baron by the King and Queen of An Tir.  I spent the next several years as a knight errant, riding around from shire to shire, participating in tournaments and performing poems and songs as a good troubadour should. My most common nomme de guerre is "le chevalier joyeaux" ("the joyful knight").

vMy activies are many, and include archery, armoring, beadwork, combat (armored and light and rapier), marshalling, heraldry, and diverse arts and sciences (being an apprentice in the An Tir Moneyer's Guild and an apprentice to Mistress Keilyn FitzWarin of the Kingdom of Atlantia for the study of poetry). My medieval form poetry has seen print in Renaissance Magazine as well as in my chapbooks.

vI also find myself spending much of my SCA time volunteering for one office or another.

vThe courtesy and chivalry exemplified in the Society is a constant source of inspiration in my life.

vI participate in the Tourney Company and An Tir Chivalry emailing lists and have been a contributor to Chronique: The Journal of Chivalry.
 

Persona  vSir Richard is a 13th century knight from the Welsh border lands in England. Our cousins held the Castle Clun on the border. I was born in 1155 of a Norman father and a Scots mother [within the SCA, my persona's years are based on the real current year minus 800]. Our Norman family came over with the Conqueror in the person of one "Alan" and our family has been FitzAlans ever since (Fitz being a Norman style of patronymic). My mother gave me the good gaelic name Fergus, but my father saw to it that I had a good Norman name on both sides of it!  vIn 1184, I became a member of the retinue of Duke Thorin and his squire and spent time in Yorkshire and Scandinavia. In 1190, I left on Crusade with the English army lead by King Richard Lionheart. In 1191 I fought in the capture of Cyprus and was in the garrison left there when the Siege of Acre occurred. I rejoined the army by ship during the march down the coast and participated in the Battle of Arsuf where, lead by Templars, the Crusaders won the day. I was also part of Richard's rescue party for Jaffa in 1192.  In 1192 I returned to England. In 1193, I was Knighted and granted lands near my cousins in Arundel (where unknown to me then, my Fitzalan cousins would become Earls of Arundel (in 1289) by marrying into the de Albini family in the 1220s).  vAfter serving two years from 1193-1195 as a Baron, overseeing the Crown's lands in Glymm Mere in the Kingdom of An Tir, I took the example of my near contemporaries, William Marshal (1144-1219) [from whom I am descended] and Ulrich von Lichtenstein (1200-1276), and took to traveling the tourney curcuit and became a knight errant and troubadour from 1194-1198. There are many poems and stories about my travels and adventures. King Richard Lionheart died in 1199.  vIn 1200, I withdrew from courtly life and joined the Knights Templar, who I was so taken with after serving beside them on the Third Crusade. Having crusaded to the far lands of Ansteorra and having spent several years in the monastic habit, I retired from the Order and returned to courtly life in An Tir. "Non nobis, Domine, non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam."  "Not to us, Lord, not to us but to Thy Name give the glory."   Sir Richard Fergus Fitzalan, Knight of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Baron in the Court of An Tir, Knight-brother of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon. Pauperes commilitones Christi templique Salomonis  "Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and the Temple of Solomon." vIn 1202, due to an injury gained in combat, I was forced to put aside my armor and retired as a "hedge-knight" to my country estates in Glymm Mere. vIn 1205 Sir Godric ap Rhys, Captian of the Company of Saint Ulrich, asked me to join that noble group and so I have. With limited fighting, I still do what I can to train our newer members. vIn 1207, having been successful in my return to fighting, I resumed my personal arms, begin fighting in tournaments and returned to court life in An Tir as Baron Glymm Mere.

Click on photo for   larger image  Fitzalan Chapel  Arundel, England      William Marshal's effigy  Temple Church  London, England    I visited these sites  during my 1995 visit to  England. Sir Richard of the Company of Saint Ulrich 2007

 

Richard Fergus Fitzalan - Knight, 5 Sep AS 28/1993

vIn 1978, upon my return to Olympia, a few friends and I created "House Arkeep" a quasi-medieval group that gathered for medieval style parties. What we thought of at first as a chance for Halloween dress up and making neat-looking medieval stuff, turned into an almost monthly gathering. Other early members included Gwendolyn Fitzalan, Nicholas de Basle, Seamus na Coille Aosada and Vaclav Bili.

vWe learned to make costumes and chainmail and fought with quarter staffs and bought swords. We met an SCA member who gave us lots of information and help (thanks, Frank!) and we learned to forge steel and make spears. But as there was no SCA branch close by (at least not according to our leader), we did not discover the wider world of the SCA for a few more years. We even put out our own newsletter, "House Arkeep News".

vWhen we discovered the SCA in 1981 with the founding of , the Shire of Evercleare in Olympia, WA, several House Arkeep members became founding officers. During the next decade, our numbers grew as our Shire grew, and Arkeepians were always serving as officers, autocrats, doing publicity, demonstrations, making things for the shire, etc.  Service became our motto. But somehow we were always known for being a silly bunch too! We developed the motto "Glymmaris, hilarus locus est" or "Glymm Mere, it is a silly place." (said with your best Monty Python accent, of course)

vAside from autocratting events for the shire and then barony, the Household also celebrated being a household together during one special event each year. We would gather on the weekend nearest the summer solstice (Gwendolyn's birthday being on June 20th and mine being on June 23rd and the solstice falling in between) and have an SCA birthday party in the backyard. At that party, the Household would give something we'd made to Glymm Mere, and Gwendolyn and I would give presents to all our guests. And our house members would give us presents as well. One year they took up a fund and bought me a new helm!

House Arkeep at one of the Solstice Parties June 1991 or 1992? [Click on Photo for larger image] Left to right Connor, Vaclav, Timothy, Eoin, Sylvan (peeking from behind), Adara, Richard (me), Felicia (in front of me), Gwendolyn, Tristan, Geran (in front of Gwendolyn), Caitlin, Valerian, Salya (in front of Valerian) Kneeling Guillaume, Stergar, Tristan and Felicia's two boys

vIn 1992, the shire, by then known as Glymm Mere, put together an application for elevation to Baronial status and Gwendolyn and I were selected as the Founding Baron and Baroness of Glymm Mere. In 1993, I was knighted and began to take squires, who defacto, became members of my Household. In 1994, Gwendolyn and I divorced and the Household split as well.

vSince then, House Arkeep continues, in reduced form. Most of the older members do not participate as much in the SCA anymore. My squires and their families are defacto part of my household and thus part of House Arkeep, but my relationship as a knight to my squires is obviously different in nature to that of general house members. We continue to use the badge and name of House Arkeep.

vIn addition to myself, my son Lord Guillaume, and my squires and their families, House Arkeep also continues to include the Honorable Lord Vaclav Bili, Lord Valerian the Innocent, and Lord Timothy Padric.