Fearless Leader. She In Whose Name We Do Things.

Oh, and note: I am not Elinor Strangewayes of Dorset; that is someone else entirely. I am Elinor Strangewayes without any byname. My partner Master Ekkehardt of Oakenwode and I live in northern Vermont and play mostly with the Barony of Stonemarche in NH.

I founded House Strangewayes in a very casual manner back in 2001, when I convinced a couple of college friends that they might like this SCA thing. I'd never been to an SCA event before, but knew people who participated. We tested the waters by going out to King Richard's Faire, then plunged in whole-heartedly by going to the Great Northeastern War in Maine. We were horribly ill-prepared, but the kind folk of Malagentia fed us and humored our terrible attempts at garb. Since then, I've graduated from that sad first T-tunic to hand-sewn reed corsets, fitted English jackets, and linen underwear from the skin out.

Currently, I’m in the middle of a persona change. For the last decade, I’ve been Elinor Strangewayes, a very late 16th century Englishwoman who aspires to the upper middle class. I chose this period because a) I love the clothing and material culture, and b) I am fascinated by the history of the Atlantic world. The story of the mingling and transmission of cultures across the Atlantic Ocean is so multifaceted I will never run out of things to research or projects to recreate. (My mundane academic background is in maritime/Atlantic history, especially the early European salt cod fisheries in the New World.)

Recently, though, my love of ancient glass beads and Roman culture has led me towards a thousand years earlier. I’m shifting my persona to the Romano-British or Romano-Gaulish frontier, circa 100AD. I’ll probably change my persona name eventually. I’m still fascinated by the mixture of multiple cultures. Learning about how Rome built and maintained an empire is a whole new adventure for me. I will miss my Elizabethan clothing, but I’m enjoying the challenge of learning something so completely new.

My major focus these days is the history & manufacture of glass objects, particularly beads, in SCA period. I have researched and reproduced over 50 different documented beads from museums in the UK and Scandinavia.

Other major areas of research: period maritime culture & material culture, overlapping foodways (the one I'm most famous for is my comparison of English & Spanish interpretations of Mesoamerican cacao recipes), gardening & herbalism. Jack of all trades, master of few.

Became a Companion of the Order of the Maunche at GNEW 2008.

Received Award of Arms at a Northern Lights event in 2005.

Won Northern Lights Pentathlon, Northern Lights 2010.

Arms: The arms of Elinor Strangewayes:  Vert, a bee and on a chief embattled Or an acorn between two oak leaves fesswise stems to center vert.

My email address is my SCAdian surname (look above) at Gmail.com.