Dominique Charles de Blavier

Photo
Portrait by Phillip Mitchell
Information
Registered Name: [] Resides: Inactive Status: Historical Deadname Persona Joined SCA: 1977
Order of Precedence
Dominique Charles de Blavier
Heraldry
'

Lord Dominique Charles de Blavier

Previously Known As:
Nickname(s):
Pronouns: He / His

Offices:

• Local Offices Held
  • (Founding) Knight Marshal, March of Loch Morrow, Kingdom of the Middle September 1982 - March 1984

• Regional Offices Held

• Kingdom Offices Held

Persona History:

Dominique had no real persona history. He just liked dressing up and spending time with his friends.. and swashbuckling.

Interests:

• Swashbuckling
• List Administration
• Service

Timeline of Activity:

1977 - 1979

• September 1977: Attendant at the founding meeting of the Shire of the Shadowlands and thus a Founding Member. (It was a Thursday).
• March 1979: Pledged Personal Allegiance to Simonn of Amber Isle and Tessa of the Gardens during Court. Originated the idea and name of "Cadet" and the symbol of a Red Scarf.
• April 1979: Queen Willow's War - Represented Ansteorra in single combat (light weapons) against the Champion of the Midrealm King (who issued the challenge)... Won. Became Premier Cadet under the tutelage of Don Tivar Moondragon.
• May 1979: Steward of the List, Crown I (held in Bryn Gwlad). List format was Single Elimination. Light Weapons List Combatant, Crown Tournament I (Bryn Gwlad... May 12, 1979) Co-winner with Luigi di Donate. Prizes (provided by Dominique) split between Luigi (Decorative Rapier brought back from England) and Dominique (Milky Glass Mug brought back from England) (Later gave the Mug in private to King Theo of Atenveldt after all Court business had ended). Light Weapon Guard behind the Royalty during Final Principality Court, Crown Tournament I.
• November 1979: Steward of the List, Crown Tournament II. (Held in Steppes) List Format was Dominique's Double Elimination.

Seeing Our First Prince Fight

Ansteorra was technically still a Region when I first got involved. I had been to no events outside of the Shadowlands but I remember Godfrey (de la Fosse) coming back from Coronet 1 and talking about it. I was not there but later, on one single occasion, I saw Sir Sean (our first Prince) fight. It had to have been during Randall and Constance’s reign as our second Coronets. It wasn’t even a tournament fight, just, as I recall, for fun.

Sir Sean went out in literally the bare minimum armor required at that time… a helmet, (I think) a gorget, a kidney belt, elbow pads (I mean just pads, nothing armored. The only thing they could have been protection for would have been from getting elbow burns if he fell into the grass) and, I assume, a cup… although I have no personal verification for that. For his body? No shoulder protection, nothing for his knees (unless he had pads on them under his pants), nothing else at all. Over his torso, he wore a kaftan… just a kaftan. He didn’t even have a shirt on under it. Not only was that the only armor he wore, he didn’t use a shield, either.

He took his place on the field bearing a mace and, I think, a sword Florentine. As I watched him, I understood why he could go out like that and fight; the person he was fighting never touched him… not once. I was very young and very new to the SCA so I didn’t pay as much attention to details as I would have done later but, man, was I impressed.

About That Fight with the Midrealm....

"What I think was most significant about the fight with the champion of the Midrealm King at Queen Willow's War is that it was possibly, if not probably, the first inter-kingdom light weapons fight. I have no doubt that it was the first such sanctioned fight in the SCA in that it happened because of a challenge issued to Ansteorra by the King of another Realm who brought his personal champion to fight a Champion from Ansteorra, which honor Tivar gave to me. Given that we became a sovereign Kingdom the next month, it was probably also the last competition between the Principality of Ansteorra and any other realm. The Midrealm King publicly issued his challenge because he made it clear that he did NOT like light weapons fighting in the SCA, which only Ansteorra was doing at that time as a fully sanctioned method of combat and tournament in our lands. The Midrealm King also made sure that we knew that his champion would be a Master-rated fencer. The thing is that his plan did not work because we were not intimidated, and our Principality won that fight."

Dominique's Double Elimination

After each round of combat, all the fighters with no losses went to one side of the lyst chart and the fighters with one loss went to the other side. Anyone who hit their second loss was out of the lyst. Each round was re-drawn for each side, so that no one could plan for who they would fight. This also meant that the Final would be between a fighter with one loss and a fighter with no losses. If the fighter with no losses lost in the Final round, that was their one loss and the fight would be repeated. No one was eliminated in the final round until they had two losses. This happened at least once during Crown Tournament, where two fights were required to determine the winner (Believed to be Jan w Orzeldom's Crown bout). It was my own idea and was allowed to do it for the second, third, and fourth Ansteorran Crown Tournaments.

1980 - 1983

• May 1980: Steward of the List and Event Steward for Crown Tournament III, held in the Shadowlands. List Format was Dominique's Double Elimination.
• November 1980: Steward of the List for Crown Tournament IV.
• 1981: Left Texas to attend school in the Kingdom of the Middle -- but Ansteorra was still home.
• 1982: Became cadet to Sigmund the Wingfooted.
• September 1982: Founding Knight Marshal of the March of Loch Morrow (In Office from September 1982 through March 10, 1984) (A physical Warrant never received)
• May 1983: Steward of the List and Deputy Marshal of the Field for first Tournament held in the March of Loch Morrow.
• Summer, 1983: Appointed First Ansteorran Ambassador to the Middle Kingdom by Inman I and Arrowyn I. Warrant received by mail in Fall, 1983. Sadly Dominique never attended an Event with the Crown of the Middle Kingdom so the Warrant was never presented. The Warrant document was returned unused to Barn Silveraxe and Katrionna McLochlainn.

1984

Ended participation as Dominique.

Populace Provided Information:

Dominique stands guard behind Tessa at the Final Principality Court

Notable Contributions or Accomplishments:

• Was the originator of the concept and the first Cadet in Ansteorra / SCA history. Served two Dons: Tivar and Sigmund.
• Event Steward: Ansteorra Crown Tournament III, held in Shadowlands, May 1980.
• Appointed Ansteorran Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Middle by Inman I and Arrowyn I.
• As a member of House Drekaheima, won the right to be the Protector of the House.

Trivia

• Became the first ordinary member from the Shire of the Shadowlands to be awarded an AoA (6th member counting Founding Officers) (March 10, 1979, Tournament of Chivalry)
• In photos of our last Principality Court, Dominique can be seen standing guard over Princess Tessa of the Gardens.
• House Drekaheima had a tradition of taking people we liked as "captives." After a captive was taken, everyone who wanted to be that captive's protector entered a fighting square to challenge anyone else. In Dominique's case, since they were not a heavy armored combat fighter, Ivan fought as their champion. The three Captives that Dominique was the protector for were: Tessa of the Gardens, Bevin Fraser of Stirling (Steward of the SCA) and Rowan of the Shadowlands.

Non-Armigerous Awards and Recognitions:

• f.o.s.s.e. (Founder of (the) Shadowlands Serving Eternally: This was a joke among several of the Shadowlands founders who were still playing in the early-1980s (since most of our members were college students and there was a LOT of membership turnover every year). The name is a play-off of Godfrey de la Fosse. No actual presentation of the award, just it being generally applied to "old-timers."
• v.a.r.m.(i.t.) Vicious Ansteorran Rumor Monger (in training): This was because of the turmoil and rumor mill that was so damaging to so many people in the early kingdom days. So, this was a joke between Dominique and Godfrey, where we "offered" to be OFFICIAL rumor mongers for the kingdom... i.e. -- if it didn't come from a varm or varmit then it was, at best an UNOFFICIAL rumor. The idea was Dominique's but he wanted to be a varmit and, thus, Godfrey was the varm he served as he "learned the ropes" about how to only spread official rumors and help end all of the unofficial rumors that were so pervasive. Again, no official date or origin or presentation. We started it sometime in late-1979 or early- to mid-1980.

Affiliations:

• Adopted as 'nephew' by Ivan Reddragon, Spring 1978
• Adopted by Tessa of the Gardens, October 1978
• Member, Drekaheima - Household was awarded a Pillar of Ansteorra (PILA) on March 10, 1979.
• Cadet to Don Tivar Moondragon, 1979 - Premier cadet as a concept and fealty relationship in the SCA.
• Cadet to Sigmund the Wingfooted, 1983
• Brother of Ieuan of Falkeep

Special Notes

This page is unique as it is information on a prior, deadname Persona. The SCA participant who used this persona considers it dead and completely separate from their later participation, but wanted to document their perspective and participation under this identity.