Etienne de Montagu
| Photo | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 SCA Garb Day, March 2020 | ||||||||
| Information | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Order of Precedence | ||||||||
| ||||||||
| Heraldry | ||||||||
 Per pale argent and gules, on a sun a cross of Toulouse counterchanged. |
Maître Etienne de Montagu, WSA, MOD
Nickname(s):
Previously Known As:
Pronouns: He/Him
Additional Registered Heraldry:
Achievement:
Mantling 1: Gules
Mantling 2: Argent
Helm: 15th century tilting helm silver, faces sinister
Crest: A sinister arm proper vested gules bearing a longsword proper
Coronet: N/A
Supporter, Dexter: Dragon gules ermined argent
Supporter, Sinister: Bear argent ermined gules
Motto: L'honneur d'etre une cible
Notes: Arms encircled by a white livery collar bearing the badge of the Order of Defense
Offices:
- Local Offices Held
- Herald, Barony of Bjornsborg
- Rapier Marshal, Barony of Bjornsborg
- Kingdom Offices Held
- Prior Kingdom Youth Rapier Marshal
- Kingdom Rapier Marshal
Persona History:
I am Etienne de Montagu, sometimes called Stefano da Franchi by my Venetian soldiers and neighbors. I was born in 1416, my father dead by English hands at Azincourt. I was named for the cathedral in Toulouse where I was baptized, and raised in the household of my uncle Rainault, who took my mother and me in.
My lot was an unhappy one as we were seen as more of a burden than anything else and I was treated little better had I been a bastard even though my father was a boon companion of the noted Boucicaut. My mother was often ill and nearly useless, and while I was grudgingly trained in arms, it was mostly an excuse to beat me senseless.
When I was twelve, a company of routiers, a mixed band of French, Provençal, even a few Dutch and English gens d’armes passed through our lands on their way to Savoy, where a “condatta,” a contract awaited them. When they departed on the morrow, I left with them, and thus began my career at arms in earnest.
That was many years and many employers ago. I survived long enough to learn the skills of a soldier and the ways of the Italians. I served many lords and all of the great cities of the north, but none greater or prestigious than the fearsome Lupo Di Rimini, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta. Oh he was a fierce lord, quick to hate, but quick to love, the culmination of a family that had ruled Rimini for centuries and provided the north with soldiers throughout those years.
It was in his service I perchanced to become attached to the household guard of one Biatrichi, a Sicilian woman who’d been briefly married to a Malatesta by-blow before his loss at sea, and whose wealth and heir remained valuable to my lord’s interests. As such, I went where she went, and after the great Sigismondo died three years ago, his widow Isotta sent us to Venezia, where Biatrichi’s family had interests and where her son Dante might be free of the intrigues plaguing Rimini after our lord’s passing.
In La Serenissima, I have found a home. My attachment to this widow is more than professional and it is an open secret that we may dare to marry. Though I am many years a soldier, I am still strong and have taken to training rich young men in the ways of the sword. Life here is good and our interests prosper.
Still, I would like to travel north of the Alps once more. To hear the Occitan tongue spoken as it was in my youth. Perhaps even kill some more English, though France’s long war was won over twenty years ago. So perhaps not. Life here is good.
(That guy who shows up in 17th c. clothes is a descendant who fought in the Wars of Religion with the future King Henry, and converted along with him. He serves in King Louis' diplomatic legation to the Venetians and is advising La Serenissima's army in matters regarding the unpleasantness with the Spaniard in Mantua.)
Interests:
- Arts: medieval surgery, poetry, learning everything I can about useless trivial details of day to day life, medieval arms and armor, slightly post-period arms and armor, heraldry, research. Rapier combat
Timeline of Activity:
- Joined in 1986, shortly before SCA Twentieth Year Celebration
- Took up fencing in 1987
- Became a cadet to Iolo FitzOwen in 1988.
- Elevated to the White Scarf in 1993.
- Stepped away from the SCA due to injuries and mundane concerns from 2004 to 2011.
- Elevated to the Order of Defense in 2019.
Prior Groups:
- Barony of Bjornsborg
- Barony of Bryn Gwlad
- Barony of Stargate
Populace Provided Information:
Notable Contributions or Accomplishments:
- Created the Tournament of Lyonesse while I was living in Bjornsborg.
Non-Armigerous Awards and Recognitions
- Defender of Lyonesse (one of two non-combatants who have this status)
Affiliations:
- Bodyguard and champion to Maestra Biatrichi Canzionari di Palermo (mundanely, we're married).
- Cadet: Constanza de Talavera (Charles Alexander)
- Former Cadet to Iolo FitzOwen
Mundane Information:
Email: etiennedemontagu@gmail.com
In Case of Court
Special Needs
