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| My wife and I at Northshield
Coronet Tournament, 2002 |
Me in my armour |
Welcome to my page of SCA related stuff. I am known within the SCA as Jurgen von Baden. I was the premier of the Order of the Evergreen, the first grant of arms level arts award in the Midrealm. I was elevated to the Order of the Laurel by Edmund and Kateryn IV in March of 2001. I was elevated to the Order of Chivalry by Alasdair and Guenievre in October of 2003. I currently reside in the Shire of Korsvag (Fargo, ND). (Yes, the Fargo of movie fame. No, we don't talk like that.)
I primarily attempt to re-create the mid-13th century time period. I often explore other time periods, especially earlier Byzantine times. I can often be found working on a variety of projects: brewing, leather work, turnshoes, garb, armour, jewelry, blacksmithing, enameling, casting, woodworking, riveted maille, etc, etc. I'm always willing to share my knowledge within anyone willing to listen. My motto is: "I can do that!" which occasionally drives my wife nuts, and leads to excessive amounts of money being spent on tools for my latest project. I'm (optimistically) hoping that I will eventually have most of the tools I need to do most of the arts that I do. I am hoping to add pictures of my projects as I complete them, sometimes with documentation and patterns. I may be a little slow at this as I really dislike designing and writing web pages.
My wife, Baroness Ia ingen A'eda, also plays in the SCA. She doesn't have a specific period that she prefers to portray. She does most our our sewing, including the garb and surcoat in the pictures above. She also does tabletweaveing, calligraphy and illumination. Her web page can be found here.
Not only do I spend a lot of money on tools, I also spend it on books. One year I came home from Pennsic with almost 40 new books. I think I am still paying for them. I am hoping to eventually generate an annotated bibliography, but it is low on the priority list. I'd rather fight or make stuff!
At events you will often find me on the list field, as I am nearly as passionate about fighting as I am about my arts. I primarily fight with a glaive, spear, or hand and a half sword and occasionally fight with a sword and shield. The picture above is of my current kit. I made all the armour except the gauntlets myself. The gauntlets don't really go with the armour, but I work in front of a computer all day in the real world so good hand protection is a must. I intend to replace them with a much lighter pair made of a heat-treatable stainless steel alloy at some point in the future. It doesn't make them fit the kit any better, but it does eliminate the potential for rust.
Lately, I've started using some of the techniques from the medieval fighting manuals. The techniques are a lot of fun, though a number of the techniques are ineffective due to SCA combat rules. I've primarily looked at Fiore and I.33 with a dabbling of Tallahoffer. Between the fighting manual practice I have been doing and my regular weightlifting at the gym, I've found that my body mechanics have drastically improved. I highly recommend doing a little of both to improve your fighting.
When I'm not fighting at an event, I'll either be teaching, helping out or just plain relaxing and talking to my friends. If you see me at an event, feel free to say hello. I will almost surely forget your name immediately, but don't be offended. I can't remember names to save my life.
I am sometimes asked if I take commissions. The answer is yes. I typically hammer out the details(i.e. materials, design, deposit, total cost, etc.) on an individual basis. If you are interested in commissioning something, please contact me to discuss it. More information is available here.
The pages below contain various pictures of my previous works and other information. Enjoy!