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Mergriet van Wijenhorst

From EastKingdomWiki

Photo
Mergriet.jpg
Griet (me) with mini-Griet
Information
Resides: Barony of Ruantallan, Crown Principality of Tir Mara
Status: Active
Awards: Order of Precedence
Heraldry
Device needed.jpg
Heraldry Needed
Award & Office Badges
Companion of the Order of the Laurel Companion of the Order of the Maunche Companion of the Order of the Burdened Tyger Companion of the Order of the Silver Crescent Order of the Iceberg

Introduction

(Meesteres) Mergriet van Wijenhorst

  • Played in the Barony of Ruantallan from the last half of the 1990's to 2001?
  • The shire of Lyndhaven (in the area now known as Avonmore) from about 2002 to 2009 (with a short stint in An Tir)
  • The Barony of Septentria (Ealdormere) from 2009-2010
  • The Shire of Bordergate (An Tir/Avacal) from 2010 to 2013
  • Ruantallan, canton of Distant Shores and Seashire, Fall of 2013 to Winter of 2015
  • Shire of Lyndhaven, 2015-2020
  • Moved to Ruantallan in 2020, what a crazy year to be moving!

In the SCA I basically like to research stuff, experiment with edible stuff, make yummy stuff and make pretty stuff I also enjoy learning more about my persona and having a little fun with my in-game appearance and slowly improving my shop and kit. Am presently an active scribe, an occasional webminister and a willing cook... sometimes all of these collide!

  • was a Student of Mistress Elena Rueda viuda de Lochcarron (mid. 2000's)
  • was apprenticed to Mistress Elizabeth Darnley at Herne the Hunter, A.S.48

I only ever entered in 4 A&S competitions in the SCA, but have judged in more. Generally I enjoy display and practical application more but I enjoy entering now and then as a way to support the A&S community (more entries make for more interesting competitions) with the exception of Northern Lights which I did for the experience and was not disappointed as it was a lot of fun!

  • Entered at Ruantallan's first novice A&S with illumination, did not win but it was fun!
  • 1st in food category at Northern Lights so long ago I do not remember
  • Shire of Bordergate A&S Champion 2011? (entered food, embroidery, painted glass, playing card project...)
  • (Tir Mara) Princess's Champion for Arts and Sciences 2014 (food)
  • Member of the order of the Laurel (2015) for what I can tell, my persona and food research which is so cool, I love those things :)

Apprentices and Students

On February of 2017, I took my first apprentice, Symona de Verones at Yagaan's Banquet!

and, 8 months-ish later, in October, 2017, at the Lyndhaven Championships event, I took on Inga Thorgansdottir as my second apprentice!

Less formerly, I also have Yagaan Chinua learning and practicing various arts under my tutelage

Persona

Mergriet is a native of Brabant who moved to Antwerp as a child. Her father was a skilled migrant worker who saw Antwerp as a place that would hold better fortunes. Mergriet (AKA Griet) has lived there ever since, though as tensions rise in the city, her husband is now looking at taking them either further north or over to England.

Her present place of residence is at the Eik en Zwijn

Preferences

It's become challenging for many of us to understand what people like when we write them in for awards, wish to make something for them or something as simple as address them. Because of this, I am participating here, if anything, as an example for other entries... and hey, and if my entry makes it easier for you, or someone else, this is good :)

Title: "Meesteres" (kinda sounds like "Maay-stress") However, I am very accustomed to mingling with people from many cultures, also, this may be a 'title' others are uncomfortable with so more than willing to explore further. When it comes to being addressed, I am quite flexible! **Also noted, should a better title be decided upon, I am very flexible

Name: Some call me by my long name but most call me by my pet name "Griet", I respond to both and don't worry much about how you pronounce it... again, many cultures.

Scrolls: While I try to make what I might find others would enjoy, my personal favourite are document style scrolls, especially worded like a document.

Favourites: I love things with a level of research behind them, particularly useful things... I love fleams, black piggies and lean towards decorative touches in either black or red, though, for clothing, I prefer any colour, fabric or style, that would have been worn in my time period.

In case of court: Updating this one a bit. Again, I enjoy the unusual, fun, silly or whatever. I also enjoy seriously authentic. Really, I am rather all over the place and pretty relaxed these days.

My personal view on awards: (Thought I might wish to add this in here, cause it can matter) Reasons, and intent, matter to me, this includes the intent of the actual awards, from why a person is written in (who doesn't like to know why they are receiving an award?) to the intent of the award itself. This said, I already have maunche, laurel, and silver crescent, and would appreciate our limited time in court, and other resources, not be put into silver awards for myself, not that I would not graciously accept it if given. This is mostly to aid any who might see fit to write me in for something, they are lovely awards, just that I personally would love to see someone who is doing well in those areas (but maybe not reaching the level of maunche, crescent, combatant etc. yet) get written in instead, and foremost, as it's an opportunity to formally recognize their work and efforts that they might not otherwise get.

Offices & Positions

In the past I had full term positions of Webminister and Chronicler for Lyndhaven and was the Minister of Children for the Northern Shores region (now Tir Mara). In 2014 I stepped in as Webminister for the Barony of Ruantallan up until Jan. of 2015 when we moved to the Shire of Lyndhaven. EK Scribe, long supporter of the Ruantallan scriptorium, stepped in to help as Tir Mara scribal deputy for a period of time until being needed as a shire chatelaine and filling in as a webminister at large (working on, and maintaining, the Tir Mara website). Shortly after this I took on a full role of serving as the Tir Mara Webminister deputy and as our shire's Senschal (until 2018) while continuing on with occasional scribal work.

I've been taking a bit of a break since our move, and all the shutdowns that happened during that time, to recollect myself and partake in a little self care.

Event Staff

While I tended to serve as a co-autocrat rather than being the main person in charge, I have run many dayboards and kitchens dating back to my early years in Lyndhaven. I very much love getting the opportunity to run a kitchen or even be permitted to come play in someone else's.

First event I cooked for, on returning to the East Kingdom (fall of 2013), was in Feb. 2014 "Dinner at Finchcocks Court", this was a test run for creating high persona events in the area. For me it was an opportunity to arrange a meal as would have been known to an English person of higher standing in the 1590's, well, at least to best of our knowledge. A few things went awry, but we worked out a lot of quirks, great experience over all! Hope to see more of these pop up in the future!

After doing a few feasts here and there, I finally got to participate in yet another high persona feast, Yagaan's Banquet (Feb. 2017), this time it was cooking Mongolian food!

More feasts were made for events both big and small since this, but I hardly kept track. Some had severe challenges, like food not surviving an extra long trip due to an emergency, or 80% of my cooktops going on the fritz (and the meal was planned around the cooktops because the ovens were unreliable lol), yet people still got fed, amazingly, and so many lessons learned. These were an adventure, that's for sure.

Thing is, I have taken on many roles at events, like many people, but just didn't keep track of the details, from tokens, to food, to organizing activities, to teaching, reservations, webpages and so on. It was fun.

Merchanting

In 2007, myself and Tali'a formed "The Amber River Sweet Shop" and merchanted together at various events, eventually leaving Tali'a to take over the shop with husband as I traveled across the country. Since then, my husband and I have occasionally opened up the "The Oak and Boar" (just look for the piggies and cold drinks!).

Dabbled a bit with merchanting of general goods and sold a few pewter items that would have been made in pewter, or lead, and commonly owned. This was fun, but it was also an excuse to dabble with various ways to create affordable moulds for low melt casting. Some some and have some stock still, so who knows. Selling it does help fund that project, or, at the very least, helps fund my attendance at events.

Scribal Stuff

If you have one of my scrolls :

  • I very much hope you enjoy it!
  • If it becomes damaged, or destroyed, I would be happy to replace it, or have someone else replace it for you, be it new work or a copy.

This is something I've dabbled with for a while, at least since the 90's. Presently I do it because I can and it's fun and so love having these go out to so many people. Now and then, I even remember to take a photo... not as often as I should though... but, here are a few :)

Projects & Publications

Too many to remember them all, though I do presently update various webpages/blogs. Some more SCA related ones are these:

    • at present, my historic food site is down... there are a number of pages of "oldfoodways.ino" on site as like waybackmachine. At some point, I do plan on resurrecting it
  • Various Articles and Projects
  • Middle English Recipe Blog
  • My totally old blog, still kept because I still refer to it on occasion: Stumbling into Historic Cookery and the place where I kept on where the old one left off: (website presently down, see note above)

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