Estrill Swet

Photo
Magistra Estrill Swet Photo by Gunhilda Adeleva Amberstar
Information
Registered Name: Estrill Swet Resides: Mooneschadowe Status: Active Joined SCA: 1980
Order of Precedence
Estrill Swet
Heraldry
Paly purpure and argent, a dance counter-ermine.

Magistra Estrill Swet, OP

Previously Known As:
Nickname(s):
Pronouns: she/her

Additional Registered Heraldry:

• The following device associated with this name was registered in October of 1995 (via Ansteorra) and changed/retained in March of 2006 (via Ansteorra): Per pale Or and purpure, a pantheon passant mullety of four points all counterchanged.
• The following badge associated with this name was registered in March of 2006 (via Ansteorra): Per pale Or and purpure, a pantheon passant mullety of four points all counterchanged.

Achievement

Mantling: Azure & Argent
Helm: Argent, faces Dexter
Crest: Handbasket Or
Motto: S-A-F-E-T-Y D-A-N-C-E

Offices:

• Local Offices Held
  • Seneschal of the Shire of Mooneschadowe, July 1993 - July 1995
  • Chronicler of the Shire of Mooneschadowe, January 1991 - June 1992
  • Minister of Arts & Sciences of the Shire of Mooneschadowe, April 1988 - May 1990
  • Minister of Arts & Sciences of the Province of Mooneschadowe, December 2015 - July 2017
  • Special Deputy Herald (Maintaining Group OP) continuously since forever.
  • Special deputy to Webminister to update the local group's online OP since about 2009
  • Various deputies to seneschal, hospitaller, herald, virtual scribe, historian, reeves (member off and on of financial committee)
  • Staff advisor, OSU Medieval Studies Group at various times

• Regional Offices Held
  • Northern Regional Historian, 2009 - 2011
  • Admin of the Northern Ansteorran mailing list since inception.

• Principality Offices Held

• Kingdom Offices Held
  • Retiarius Pursuivant (organization of commentary on in-Kingdom Letters of Intent (LOI)): 2000 - 2005
  • Obelisk Herald (responsible for creating Heraldic newsletter for in-Kingdom Letters of Intent and responses): 2005 - 2006
  • Asterisk Herald (responsible for organization of internal submissions): 2006 - 2008
  • Deputy Zodiacus Herald under Barwn Reis ap Tuder ap Wyn - 2015 - 2017
  • Zodiacus Herald (maintains online Order of Precedence): October 2017 - January 2020
  • Sable Crane (Achievements Herald): 2020 - 2022
  • Zodiacus Herald: May 2022 - Present

Persona History:

England, but not firm on a time frame.

Interests:

• Medieval Dance - All Court Dance (except for that fussy 16th Century Italian stuff...)
  

• Playing medieval music with The Merry Musicians of Mooneschadowe

• Sangin' and Singing

• Fiber Arts - inkle weaving; narrowwares such as Kumihimo, lucet and whipcord; embroidery - counted forms more than free form.

• Enjoy making costumes / garb

• Heraldry

Timeline of Activity:

1980 - I am reasonably certain that I'd seen references to the SCA on the news for at least two years prior to this point and it had me intrigued. I and my brother went to OKON in Tulsa and attended a 9:00 am panel on the Society for Creative Anachronism. William Blackfox, Burke Kyriell MacDonald and many others were there. (Also in the audience was Dunstana Talana the Violet!) I connected with the group in Stillwater, attending meetings every week. My first event was Michelmas Tourney III. It rained -- a lot. I asked my grandma for a sewing machine for Christmas so I could make garb!

1981 - June. Attended War with the Middle. hosted by now Northkeep

1983 - December. Attended Crown Tourney hosted by Mooneschadowe. Also known as "Ice Crown". I wore EVERY sca dress I had (all at once), plus long johns, sweats, hat & gloves.

1986ish - Attended a small gaming convention up in the Barony of Vatavia (Wichita, KS) and the local group convinced me to try some court dancing with them. Afterwards sought out dancing as much as possible at events.

1988 - September. Attended First Outlands War.

1988 - Took on first local office in the Shire of Mooneschadowe.

1989 - July. Attended Ansteorran 10th Year Celebration & Coronation in Elfsea.

1994 - June. Attended Ansteorran 15th Year Anniversary event in Elfsea.

1998 - Attended Gulf War VII - My first war.

1999 - Traveled southward to attend Ansteorra 20th anniversary. The event was enjoyable even at five months pregnant.

2000 - January. At the end of 1999, Perronnelle Charrette de La Tour du Pin was looking for a successor for the office of Retiarius Pursuivant. I was pregnant at the time and couldn't take it on immediately - but knowing I could take it on later, she held out for a few more months until January. This was my first Kingdom office. After finding that I could handle paperwork, the Heralds didn't let me escape for some time....

2000 - In February of this year, formalized a fealty relationship with Gunhilda Adeleva Amberstar, taking a Protege's belt.

2009 - Attended Gulf Wars for the second time. The children were little, but manageable at that point. The experience was still very meh. Haven't been back since.

Prior Groups:

none

Populace Provided Information:

Gunhilda Adeleva Amberstar

During the time she was seneschal, Estrill lead the first discussions and push towards Mooneschadowe becoming a Barony, holding us together through the process and ensuing 'hat fight.' She did an excellent job at keeping the Shire from splintering when those efforts did not come to fruition. She has been the rock and memory of Mooneschadowe.

Gilyan Alienora of Clonmacnoise

The Dance Mistress of Pain and Pleasure! She was definitely one of the first in Ansteorra to teach court dancing, back in 1995 or so. She also was the one to get the sword dance troupe together. I've never seen nor heard of anyone else doing that dance with live steel. (Me, Estrill, Gunhilda, and Treschen broke many wooden dowels and a few metal swords when learning and performing the sword dance. I forget the documentation, but it's from a period dance manual.)

Gunhilda adds: "It was called Les Buffon or something like that. They had to make special unbreakable swords for us to use!"

Zubeydah

Estrill's dedication to the Ansteorran Wiki is remarkable. She's been with the project since its inception, and has helped keep all of our informational pages about awards up to date and accurate. She's a regular contributor with thousands of edits. I appreciate her hard work and salute her as a fellow data nerd! :D

Notable Contributions or Accomplishments and Areas of Service:

• Co-Event Steward - Kingdom Dance Symposium 1994.
• Artisan of Mooneschadowe, 2020

Data Administration and Organization

• Member of the Wiki Development Team since 2009, having committed thousands of edits. Ongoing service on that project since its inception.
• Significant work on the Order of Precedence data structure, identifying each and every award given to individuals to the Crown that bestowed the award.
• Worked with Barwn Reis ap Tuder ap Wyn on bettering the user friendly aspects of the Order of Precedence
• Completed project begun by Master William Palfrey regarding the addition and data connection points for court reports from 2006 and prior.
• During her second time as Zodiacus, was involved in the back end restructuring and organization to take the Principality of Vindheim and it's awards into the structure of the OP. Additional projects during this term of office included adding links in the OP back to every person with a wiki page.
• OP DEI: Oversaw the addition of the Preferred Title information for all individuals in the Order of Precedence
• OP DEI: Updated the OP for every reference to King or Queen related awards, updating to current titles with a reference to the original title.

Teaching

• Regular teacher of Court Dance, spanning more than three decades
  • I learned dancing mostly from three lovely ladies: Geta Alexandra din Wallachia, Katrina of Iron Mountain, and Vashti of the Flaming Tresses.
    • At the Valentine's Day Invitational Revel II, I received my Thistle for Dancing. But only after Court was closed, and I had taught two or three dances for everyone who was dancing. And then Court was reopened!
      
    • I received my Iris at the same event where Katrina was announced for the Laurel. And she knew she was moving out of kingdom...Sigh.
      

• "Bransles" at the Known World Costume & Rapier Symposium in the Kingdom of the Outlands
• "Le Bouffons" at Gulf War
• Dance class at two Kingdom Arts & Sciences (Namron & Mooneschadowe)
• Various dance classes at multiple Winterkingdoms
• Lead or team-lead Dance Balls at KWCR, Ansteorra 30th & 40th, multiple Mooneschadowe Guardians and Valentines Invitationals I-V, various Northern Regional Tribute events (and possibly others I've since forgotten)

• "Beginner's Embroidery," Northkeep WInterKingdom
• "Awards of the Principality of Vindheim," Northkeep wInterKingdom

Major Projects:

• Organized the creation of Mooneschadowe's servers' cloak tunics.
  
• Organized the performance of "Le Bouffons" at one of the Valentine's Day fundraisers & Kingdom Dance Symposium (1994). Performers were Gunhilda Adeleva Amberstar, Gilyan Alienora of Clonmacnoise, Treschen von Asselen, and myself.
  
• Performed "Le Bouffons" at an sca event (something at Camp Cimarron) & at Gulf War.
• Dance Troupe at Kingdom A&S (Nov. 1997) received two Awards of Special Mention - We danced "Argeers" and two others?
• Dance Troupe participated at the first Muskogee Castle Renfaire (May 1998)
• Dance group at Kingdom A&S (????) in Northkeep (at the Catholic school) - We danced "Confesse".
• 2018 created around 122 award cords for Ansteorra Heraldic & Scribal Symposium contest and won.

Non-Armigerous Awards and Recognitions:

• Award of the The Province's Honor (including Shire honorees)
• MOG Cog

Affiliations:

• Married to Haldane Sparhawke
• Member, The Merry Musicians of Mooneschadowe
• Member, Liondragon Guard
• Prior Protégé to Gunhilda Adeleva Amberstar, released in good standing at her retirement from the SCA

Mundane Information:

In Case of Court:

For significant events, having someone reach out to my husband in advance would be appreciated so he could attend. I would prefer to have a minimal waiting period.