Adelisa Salernitana
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File:Adelisasalernitana.jpg Adelisa Salernitana |
Information |
Resides: Shire of Buckland Cross |
Status: |
Awards: Order of Precedence |
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Introduction
Adelisa Salernitana is a Norman/Lombard woman in the court of King Roger II of Sicily, serving Roger's queen, Elvira.
As a visitor in the Current Middle Ages in the East Kingdom, she can be found playing music with the Bhakaili Branslers, spinning, knitting, weaving, dancing, exploring the shared cultures of the Mediterranean basin, cooking, and talking the ears off of anyone who will listen about Sicily.
Pronouns
She/her
Persona
Formerly of the duchy of Salerno, Adelisa is the daughter of one of many landless knights who followed Roger's uncle, Robert d'Hauteville, to Italy. Her father, also named Robert, married into a minor noble Lombard family. Adelisa is a widow. Her husband, a minor Norman knight named Godfrey, had served in King Roger's army on the mainland, helping the king put down rebellious Norman and Lombard lords, and was unfortunately killed in battle. For his service and her continued service to Queen Elvira, she was granted a very small farmhold near Mezzojuso that is actually administered by the Monastery of Saint John the Hermit in Palermo, and will revert back to the monastery if she remarries or upon her death. She also earns money, along with other court ladies, by spinning silk for the royal tiraz (textile works). In the sumptuously Arabicized court of King Roger, Adelisa is often found in the rich fashions of Muslim women, including makeup and perfume. She has learned to dance from the Muslim servant girls, and plays percussion, mostly frame drum, in gatherings of the women. Recently she has explored Arabic stringed instruments, mainly the oud, and plays the lap psaltery (in a bit of time travel, she has acquired a 13th century Spanish citole and will noodle on it endlessly, playing mostly cantigas and a few Irish pieces she's worked out). She also sews for Queen Elvira and her children, helps make vestments and linens for the royal chapel, and is trying to perfect the odd art of knitting, knowledge of which has come from a Coptic girl from the Fatimid court who has come to Palermo as a servant. Recently she came into possession of a rigid heddle loom and is experimenting with plain weaving with the silk she has spun. (Although she has done drop spinning, in another bit of time travel she has acquired two spinning wheels, one an antique castle wheel that she rehabbed, and she has started rehabbing a third flax wheel for a friend).
Offices & Positions
- Mistress of Arts and Sciences, Shire of Buckland Cross, 2005
- Chronicler of the Barony of Buckland Cross, November 2019 to December 2023
- Seneschal of the Barony of Buckland Cross, January 2023 to present
Event Staff
- Cook, Persephone's Return to the Underworld, Shire of Buckland Cross, 11/21/2005
- Autocrat and head cook, Al Hafla, Shire of Buckland Cross 1/17/2009
- Dayboard cook and chief bread baker, Buckland Cross Baronial Investiture, 12/15/2018
- Co-autocrat and co-cook, The Return of Al-Hafla, Barony of Buckland Cross, 3/9/2019
- Autocrat and co-cook, Al-Hafla, Barony of Buckland Cross, 2/15/2020
- Autocrat, Buckland Cross Baronial and Rattan Championships, 10/2/2021
Projects & Publications
- "Muslims in Sicily," June 2008;
- "The Emir of Catania's Chicken Dish," Mudthaw, 3/29/2008;
- Choreography for "In hoc anni circulo," Artisan's Challenge, Hartshorn-dale, November 2010;
- Silk spinning and the St. Denis cap, Artisan's Challenge, Hartshorn-dale, November 2011;
- Sicilian tunic (display only), Artisan's Challenge, Hartshorn-dale, November 2011;
- Choreography for "Lama bada yatathanna" for the Andalusian Project, Bhakail Yule, December 2011;
- Silk spinning and the St. Denis Cap (updated), Mudthaw, March 2012;
- Qanura of rabbit versus Sicilian sweet and sour rabbit, Mudthaw, March 2012.
- Pelican robe for Sayyidda Jamilia al-Suba al-Hadid, March 2016
- "Anni Novi Circulus," Crown's A&S Competition and Display, January 2021
- Music for between rounds at Crown's Bardic Champions, April 2021
- Participation in The First Bardic War on behalf of the East/Atlantia alliance, in the categories of Solo Instrumental and Non-European Dance
- "Getting Picky With It: A Short Explanation of Citoles, and A Comparison Between Wild and Domestic Goose Quills for Producing Plectra for Playing." Display, St. Eligius, November 2023
- "Getting into medieval (European) music—it’s OK to be period!" Class from Nova Schola in Hartshorndale, March 2024
Awards
- Award of Arms, 07/24/2004
- Companion of Terpsichore, 03/29/2008
- Order of the Maunche, under Edward II and Thyra, 01/2013
- Order of the Silver Crescent, underRyouko'Jin I and Indrakshi I, 09/22
Apprenticeship
In May 2021, Adelisa became an apprentice to THL Margreþa La Fauvelle of the Barony of Settmour Swamp.
More Information
My current research on Norman and Muslim Sicily can be found at my blog: http://siquillya.wordpress.com and at https://independent.academia.edu/ChristianeTruelove
My original paper on medieval Sicilian food can also be found at Medievalists.net: http://www.medievalists.net/2013/10/food-in-medieval-sicily/
The video for Non-European Dance in The First Bardic War can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A27PiGlk1ls&t=271s
I have a TikTok, which has some of the citole music I have been working on: https://www.tiktok.com/@adelisasalernitana?lang=en