2008-09-18: Currently all of my photos are unavailable. This makes most of my website very dull. I will try to get it fixed as soon as possible. In future, all photo links will point elsewhere. --Lia
The name Lia came after looking through
The Academy of St. Gabriel's website documenting medieval names and naming customs. Simply browsing through the most interesting time-frames I found an entry that listed
Lia as a female given name dating to a record in Bristow made in 1191.
Lia This has the appearance of being a hyp. of some Lat name, but itremains obscure.
Lia 1191 Bristow
I had also toyed with the name Ottilia, which I found documentation for on a
site for French Norman names.
OTTILIA (franc) - 14 décembre - « l'héritière » - usuel en France : Odile.
Ottilia has the charm of ending in Lia, and also being the middle-name of my paternal grandmother (also of my cousin's daughter). It means, in Old French, "heiress" and was sometimes also spelled Odile. That was a side-track however, Lia is a very good name: short, easy to pronounce in almost any language, and memorable. Plus, I like it.
As for the surname, de Thornegge, I did some research, looking through the links provided on the official
SCA site. I found a site listing the names of
civic officers, Mayor and Chamberlain, of the English town of Lynn. On there, I found John de Thornegge, who served as Mayor for several terms. The first term started in 1313, and his last term ended in 1331. It had a nice ring to it, so I adopted it for my own.
For a long time I did not know what exactly Thornegge was. I guessed it to be the name of a place from which this John came from, but did not know until quite by accident I found on the same site a search-engine on
Medieval English Towns. Searching on "Thornegge" I found the
will of Joan de Thornegge, widow of the Mayor, John. In the commentary there it stated that it was believed he came from the town of Thornage, Norfolk some 25 miles west-north-west of Lynn.
On the same site I found a wealth of other information, for example a
map of Lynne as it would have appeared in Medieval times along with a
biography of the town. In the day it was known as
Bishop's Lynn, while today it is know as
King's Lynn.
Lia de Thornegge seemed at first to be a Norman woman somewhere in the 11th or 12th centuries. I arrived at this by a very scientific method (I watched a movie when I was a very little girl). Later ponderings have moved the time period somewhat to the turn of the 15th Century, in the span 1390 - 1420. With the surname of de Thornegge I'm imagining a (great?) grandchild of the mayor John, making her contemporary of
Margery Kempe, famous for being one of the first women to publish a biography (as well as being a religios zealot).
I have now, May 2004, finally paid the fee and submitted my registration for name (Lia de Thornegge) and arms through the Nordmark Herald. My name was passed through to Laurel and registered in December 2004, but my arms were returned to me at Kingdom level so I must take a step back and ponder further.
- I got my AoA on March 15, 2003, at Kristoffersmäss in Aros from Prince Brendan II and Princess Anna.
- At Doublewars XVII (2004), May 22, I was awarded Ljusorden (Order of the Light) by Prince Johann II and Princess Helwig. This order is awarded by the Principality of Nordmark and is, according to the Law of Nordmark, "Given to those who have shown skill in arts, crafts, and science, and a will to share their skills and knowledge with others." I was immensly pleased and quite embarassed when the Prince and Princess came to the shire Tuesday meeting to read the award text and make it official since I did not attend the event.
- August 9, 2007 at Visby Medieval Week, I was called into court to be honoured with entry in the Order of the Panache, the Kingdom AoA level award for Arts and Sciences, from the hands of King Alaric and Queen Nerissa. The scroll was made by Lady Renika Rikardsdottir, and the miniature shows a woman wearing an open red hood, just as I was wearing on that very day! I was also given a Panache token.
- April AS 39 (2005) - Current: Web Mistress of the Shire of Aros.
- August AS 40 (2005) - January AS 41 (2007): Teakettle carrier for shire's weekly meetings.
- September AS 40 (2005) - January AS 40 (2006): Test person for Nordmark's new Census system.
- February AS 40 (2006) - August AS 41 (2006): Temporary Chatelaine for the Shire of Aros.
- August AS 41 (2006) - Current: Chatelaine for the Shire of Aros.
Classes Taught:
- Sture Shirts, Double Wars XXI (2008). 3 students attending. No handout.
- Practical Blackwork workshop, Glötagillet (2008). Short theoretical overview, pattern handout and materials for making an embroidered roll for pins and needles given.
- Repeat of practical blackwork workshop at Aros Microevent November 29, 2008. 2 students.
Competitions:
- Drachenwald 12th Night Coronation, 2008. Judged two Late Period Costume entries; Renika Rikardsdottir and Cecilia de Conway.
- Nordmark University, 2008. Entered a 16th Century embroidered needlebook. Two other entries. No placing.
- Double Wars XXI, 2008. Entered assissi embroidered apron. Won first place, two Olde Hansa glasses. Mistress Jaelle and Lady Cristina Stolte judging.
Retinue:
- August AS 39 (2004). Served as lady-in-waiting in court at Visby to Their Highnesses of Nordmark, Johann and Helwig.
- May AS 40 (2005). Served as lady-in-waiting in coronet court at Double Wars to Their Highnesses of Nordmark, Bengt and Ermingard (stepping down) and William and Filippa (stepping up).
- September AS 43 (2008). Served as head lady-in-waiting at Nordmark Civil War for Her Royal Majesty Fiona.
A&S 50 Challenge:
I am participating in the SCA Wide challenge to create 50 items before the SCA's 50th birthday. Read more about it on my
A&S 50 page.
it's not uncommon for Royalty of The Known World to keep a diary of their progress, i.e. those events which they have, or will, visit. I bring
photos from all events I have visited.
