From: cozzlab@garnet.berkeley.edu ()
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca
Subject: Re: peer structure
Date: 23 Nov 1992 19:16:11 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
NNTP-Posting-Host: garnet.berkeley.edu

In article <atterlep.722474856@vela> atterlep@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Cardinal Ximenez) writes:

>  The explanation I've heard for this is that the SCA represents only the upper
>class of a real medieval kingdom and that there are several hundred thousand
>hypothetical peasants supporting us.  ....

All right, it's a nice slow day, I think I have time to post this.

                              * * *

My servant Radulf comes in every morning and lights the torches, and 
brings in the firewood and lights the kitchen fire.

Then Guillem the Norman bard comes in and plays soft music to me 
to wake me up, and tells me the news of the day.  I get up and dress and 
discuss with my housekeeper, Godgifu, what needs to be done that day.  Then 
we walk two miles to church and hear Prime and Mass, and walk back.

The laundry needs washing, so we haul it down to the washing well 
(less than a mile away) and there the washerwoman Gerda and her simpleton 
son wash the laundry in the stream and dry it by the fire.  They don't do 
ironing, however, so Godgifu will have to do it when she gets time.

Back home, old Kennald brings milk and eggs out of the dairy, and Rik 
the Swede, who just slaughtered a pig, brings in a loin of pork for tonight's 
meal and goes back out to make the rest of it into sausage.

My husband Hal has gone out to the old mill-house with his little 
servant Argus Olympos to see if the pictures Argus painted last night have 
dried.

Godgifu still hasn't gotten to the ironing, but she has washed the dishes 
and scrubbed the kitchen floor.  The hearth is still grimy, but we have to bake 
today and pack the chests for traveling.

Hal has come back.  His carpenters Black and Decker have been making 
new chests; he looks them over and decides they're fit to travel today, but he 
will have to put the finish on them later himself.

Godgifu sets Helga, the kitchen maid (only she stammers, so it comes 
out Kitchen Aid) to making pies.  Helga isn't very bright, but she can beat 
batter to a froth and mix dough without tiring--you just have to watch her 
closely.

Hal and Argos come in and it's time for the noonmeal.  Godgifu blows 
up the coals Radulf left banked and we heat up some soup.  We eat quickly 
because Godgifu has to go hover over Helga while she makes piecrust.

We find some garments that need mending, and we rouse old Bertha 
the seamstress from her corner by the fire.  Bertha is older than Godgifu and 
me put together, and she complains every time you ask her to move.  Once 
you get her started she is tireless--until you take her eyes off her, and then 
she stops; she's as bad as Helga in that regard.  Godgifu patiently watches her 
until she's done.

Godgifu isn't as young as she used to be either, and my house is not 
even remotely up to my mother's standards--but you have to do what you 
can with what God gives.

The chests still aren't packed and the ironing still isn't done, and Hal 
starts complaining about how late it is getting.  Godgifu hunches her 
shoulders and puts on her impenetrable Saxon face and pretends she doesn't 
understand any Danish.  Then she drags the iron and the ironing board into a 
corner and listens to Guillem's music while she sprinkles and irons, irons 
and folds.  The chests get packed. 

The pies  are done; the bread has come in from Akerman the baker; 
everyone in sight hauls chests and bags out to the road.

We have a teamster named Volk who drives us everywhere we want 
to go.  Unfortunately, his health is dicey, and whenever he falls ill we have
to stay at home until he mends.  He seems fit enough today, though, and Hal 
listens to his cough and thumps his back and tells him he's  a fine fellow.  

The whole household falls to, packing chests into the wain.  Their cloaks and 
bedrolls go on top, and everyone climbs in.  Guillem settles down between 
Hal and Volk and starts telling them the latest gossip and whether it's likely 
to rain today.  Godgifu and I settle into the opposite corner, I to read and
she to mend hosen, and we're off. . . .

                              * * *

Perhaps you can figure out who most of these people are.  Radulf is PG&E's
mascot Reddy Kilowatt, for example, and Guillem the Norman bard is Bill
the [Norwegian-American] deejay on the local classical station.

But, you ask, who is Godgifu who gets all the real work done?  Well,
unfortunately, that's me ....


(Yes, irons and ironing boards are period.  Radulf, of course, takes care
of keeping the iron hot.)


Dorothea of Caer-Myrddin                               Dorothy J. Heydt
Mists/Mists/West                                              Albany CA
Argent, a cross forme'e sable

Disclaimer: This is the Cozzarelli Lab's account, not mine--but I don't
think anybody else ever reads it.
Newsgroups: rec.org.sca