I_________ Fecj-jura___________ 3
Step into the Faire for a blast from the past
Wednesday,
Feb. 18, 1998
Modern-day enthusiasts bring Renaissance flavor home
ROBERT SCHOENBERG
Staff Writer
The Duke and Duchess arrived at the
Renaissance Faire and immediately set
to work assembling their Royal Tent
below the apple trees in the field.
“The site was knee-deep in rotting
apples, horse manure and hornets,” said
Her Most Serene Highness, Princess of
the Holy Roman Empire, Duchess
Anne Wittlesbach of Austria, Queen of
Bavaria.
The royals pitched in, along with the
household guard, and cleared a spot for
the tent. After all the labor was done,
the tents pitched and servants dressed,
the Duchess, draped in her own mag
nificent royal gown, resplendent in
purple and gold, bedecked with ribbons
and velvet, attended by her Captain of
the Guard and her Confessor, made her
entrance at the Faire.
The Duchess is Anastasia Byrd, tem
porarily working in the Physical Edu
cation Department, filling in for Sheri
Schoenbom. When not scheduling bas
ketball games or helping to unjam the
computer printer in the office, she is a
member of Saint Wolfgang’s Bavarian
Guild, a group of about 50 actors who
attend Renaissance faires in the North
west, California and Arizona.
Last Wednesday, the Duchess ap
peared at Jan Anderson’s Shakespeare
class with the Captain of her Guard and
her Confessor, a monk who had taken
a vow of silence. When encountered
in Barlow Hall, the Duchess appeared
regal in her royal gown, the captain ap
peared defensive and the monk re
mained silent and pious. When ques
tioned, they answered in English dia
lect common to the Elizabethan period
(1558-1603).
She made her costume herself. It
took about 200 hours of machine work
and 500 hours of hand work to make
the gown. It is a re-creation of an Aus
trian-German style royal gown worn in
the time of the Elizabethans.
“I’ve been doing costumes for a long
time,” Byrd said. “I’ve been sewing
probably for 35 years. My grandmother
taught me to sew when I was a small
child. I’ve always liked to do costumes.
About eight or nine years ago I started
to do Renaissance costumes just be
cause they’re interesting historically
and they’re very elaborate. About a
year ago I started attending the renais
sance festival in Arizona. My mom
lives down there, so I go down there
every year. I’m going down there next
month to show off my new dress.”
The costumes actors wear to the
faires are as historically accurate as
they can be, with many hours of re
search going into each design. She not
only did her costume but also that of
the Duke. She designs costumes for
other actors in the guild.
“I took several resource books that
I use, costume manuals and art books,
and sort of pick and choose the design
elements,” she said. “The Duke’s out
fit that I made is a re-creation of a na
tional German costume. His greatcoat
is 20 feet around at the bottom.”
Another group that is often heard
about at these faires is The Society for
Creative Anachronism or SCA. This
group dresses up in full battle uniforms,
chain mail and helmets and then go at
each other with clubs in fields of battle.
“They do a lot of beating each other
up,” said Byrd.
“Renaissance people do dress up,”
she continued. “Our guild is based on
actual historical people. Duke Albert
and Duchess Honor were actual people
living during the Renaissance. Their
son Ernst eventually became a leader
in Cologne, Germany. We have four
archbishops; one is French, and I can
never remember his name.”
The actors, while appearing at the
faire, must stay in character when in
public.
The guild she is a member of is a
registered franchise and can attend the
many faires that are observed through
out the west coast. The Renaissance
Pleasure Faires in California are some
of the largest and oldest re-enactment
faires in the United States. They were
started in 1963 by Phyllis Patterson as
a way of educating and entertaining
people about history. They are part of
a nonprofit organization known as the
Living History Center.
The costume that Byrd wears weighs
about 75 pounds. Staying in character
can be stressful.
“When I get tired of being the Queen,
or I just want to go off and play—as
the Queen, I can’t go anywhere by
myself. I must always have escort.
There is quite a bit of protocol.”
So Byrd has a second costume to
Create your own Elizabethan insult!
Now you
too can sling
verbal barbs
with the best
wit-crackers
of
600s
vl the
11 1 V—z 1 1 Vk/VlJi
Just mix and
match one
Word from
each column,
and go to it!
Amaze your
friends!
Annoy your
dad!
bawdy
beslubbering
churlish
cockered
dissembling
errant
gorbellied
impertinent
mammering
pribbling
quailing
ruttish
tottering
villainous
base-court
beef-witted
boil-brained
doghearted
elf-skinned
fool-born
guts-griping
half-faced
ill-breeding
knotty-pated
pottle-deep
rump-fed
sheep-biting
toad-spotted
barnacle
clotpole
coxcomb
codpiece
dewberry
flax-wench
gudgeon
harpy
jolthead
lout
maggot-pie
miscreant
varlet
wagtail
Jessie Knight, Anastasia Byrd, and Joey Knight apply their acting talents to
the re-creation of high Renaissance style, with diverse costumes to match.
wear that is not so royal, “I put on an
other costume and I am known as the
Ratlady.” This character sells plague
rats, sort of 16th century beany babies.
While at the faire the characters take
part in ongoing play acting, skits, or
what they call bits. At the last faire Byrd
attended, an actor playing a Scotsman
arranged that the Duke be kidnapped.
Plans were changed when the Duke’s
weight kept him from being easily spir
ited away. So the English pirate Cap
tain John Flint changed plans and kid
napped the Duchess. The plan fell apart
and the Duchess, “had him put in the
stocks.”
Also at the last faire, a new attrac
tion was added: a tavern.
“The young man who plays my son,
who is an extremely good actor, he
went over to the tavern and got drunk,
and the gypsies took his vestments and
spread them among themselves. They
dressed him up as a belly dancer and
sent him back to the tavern,” said Byrd.
The Renaissance Faire in Arizona
runs for two months on a permanent
site. “It’s 23 acres. It’s huge. They have
nine stages for entertainment going all
day long.”
At the faire they have a wandering
Scotsman that provides insults on de
mand. “You give him cash and point at
a person and have him insult them. It
doesn’t matter if you know him or not,
he will go up and insult them. The more
money you give him the more insult
ing he is.”
Chartwells
always liked
todo
costumes.
Anastasia
Byrd
Athletic
secretary
Invites you to lunch.
Or dinner or breakfast.
Open 7 a.m.-8 p.m. for all your needs.
The place to eat on campus!
Wednesday, February 18, 1998