Iulia Agricola

Photo
Panteria, 2015
Information
Resides: Shire of Mountain Freehold (formerly of the Barony of Stonemarche)
Status: Active
Awards: This individual may not have an entry in the Order of Precedence, or may not have added their OPID yet. Volunteer editors may add it in the future.
Heraldry
Vert, a bee volant and on a chief embattled Or, an acorn between two oak leaves fesswise, stems to center, vert.
Award & Office Badges

Introduction

Iulia Agricola Litavicci filia is a first century Romanized Gaul. I changed to this persona in 2013 after a decade as the Elizabethan Elinor Strangewayes. My partner Master Ekkehardt of Oakenwode and I are research and production junkies specializing in the hot arts - I do glass, he does metals of all kinds, and we both play around with leather, wood, and stone. We run a small business in the SCA providing historically accurate replicas of pre-1200 AD glass beads.

Offices & Positions

• Vice President of the College of St Cuthbert (UNH, Durham, NH) 2001-2004.
  
• Minister of A&S, ditto, 2005-2007.

I autocratted the College's Old Hampshire Faire event for three years, and co-autocratted it once. I served as the A&S coordinator for Harper's Retreat in 2007 and have judged the research paper and report categories at Northern Lights.

My household and I have made a point of offering our services as security and gophers at Birka for a number of years.

Research and Projects

My major all consuming research interest these days is historical glass beads and glass kilns. I'm also exploring enamelled bronze brooches and Roman foodways.

I won three categories at Northern Lights 15: Herbalism and Period Science, with a Powder for the Cough and Metalwork for a floating brass plate Period Compass. I also submitted a Medicine for an Ague.

I won the Research Paper category at Northern Lights 16 with my article "Desirous to See the Strange Things of the World": The Curious Voyage of M. Hore. This paper explored the 1536 voyage of Richard Hore to Newfoundland, which is a fascinating story both for the myth - cannibalism, shipwreck, piracy - and the actuality: Admiralty court intrigue, nationalistic propaganda, and 16th century concepts of "civilized" behavior. Other entries that year included the first draft of my period drinking chocolate and a rendition of Ravenscroft's 1611 song "I Have House and Land in Kent."

Previous major research projects:

• On the subject of chocolate consumption in period
  

• Late period maritime life, technology, and material culture. Currently I am focusing on fishermen and fishing technology.
  

• English colonial and entrepreneurial efforts in the New World (yes, this is solidly period by even the most rigid definition of the SCA's end date, and it was quite profitable. There were English fishing vessels returning from Newfoundland as early as 1502, when the Gabriel of Bristol sold its thirty-six tons of fish for £180 in a time period when an English household servant could expect to make £2-5 in a year.)
  

• The absorption of New World foodstuffs into Old World foodways
  

• 16th century English and German costuming, especially funky hats and ruffs.

Classes I have taught:

• Intro to Glass Beadmaking
• Period Bead Petting Zoo: How to dentify period-looking beads at craft stores
• Late Period English Rounds
  
• Period Sea Chanteys & How to Tell Them Apart
  
• So You Wanna Be a Pirate, or Late Period Maritime Technology
  
• The Making and Drinking of Chocolate (in two parts)

Projects of which I'm proud:

• The compass
  
• A quadrant
  
• A sounding lead (Some of my information is here, but I haven't posted any pictures of my reproduction yet.)
  
• My early 16th century German Dress
  
• An embroidered schaube
  
• My big Elizabethan ruffs and Tudor hats, especially the Gable hoods.