or What kind of monster creates a quiz with 29 questions?
The quiz was created with 6 sections of 6 points each, based on SCA and mundane history for each of the territories covered by the Knowne World (the entire planet), Drachenwald (Europe and Africa) and Insulae Draconis, with an extra half round based on Bourn, as Lady Rebecca of Flintheath has posted on its history.
I’ve divided the answers from the questions, so that anyone who wants to can run through the quiz before looking at the answers if they want to.
Questions
Knowne World History and Culture
1) When and where was the founding event of the SCA (2)
2) How many kingdoms have the letter ‘a’ in their names? (1)
3) Name those that don’t. (2)
4) What is the title of the most senior herald? (1)
Drachenwald History and Culture
5) Drachenwald was founded as which number kingdom within the SCA? (1)
6) Which Kingdom was the preceding Principality of Drachenwald part of? (1)
7) The first King of Drachenwald hailed from which Kingdom? (1)
8) What is the full name of the newest guild of Drachenwald? (2)
9) Who are the only couple to reign as both Princes and Monarchs of Drachenwald? (1)
Insulae Draconis History and Culture
10) Who were the first Viceroy and Vicereine of Insulae Draconis? (2)
11) Which order is named for a past resident of Insulae Draconis, what was their name? (2)
12) In which mundane year was the name Insulae Draconis registered? (1)
13) Which resident of Insulae Draconis was laureled for knowing “stuff”, but didn’t know what a rabbit was? (1)
Global History
14) Which Mongol dynasty attempted to invade Japan and when? (3)
15) As the collapse of the Roman Empire is regarded as the start of European medieval history, the collapse of which empire is taken to mark the beginning of India’s medieval history? (1)
16) Persia was converted to Islam when which empire or dynasty was conquered by which caliphate? (2)
History in Drachenwald
17) Which two non-Mediterranean African kingdoms had regular ambassadors in Europe? (2)
18) Which combined state was founded in 1385? (1)
19) Within plus or minus a decade, when was the first pandemic outbreak of the plague which later caused the Black Death in Europe and what has it subsequently been called? (2)
20) Spain was held in whole or part by Islamic powers for several centuries. However, the initial expansion north did not stop there. For about 40 years from just before 720 until 759, the Umayyad Caliphate held territory in what is now France. In 732, at which city, was this northern push finally halted? (1)
History in Insulae Draconis
21) Who is regarded as the first King of England? (1)
22) In 874 what probably happened largely unnoticed, and was probably regarded as stupid by those who did, but which was ultimately successful and still affects us all today? (1)
23) An Empress, never crowned Queen, once capture a King. His wife, of the same name, carried on the fight until his release. What name did these women share? (1)
24) What term, first known to be used in the 16th Century, based on a tradition dating back to at least Henry of Huntingdon in the 12th century, is generally used to describe the English Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms as a group? (1)
25) Which High King of Ireland defeated and killed the original founder of Viking Dublin, Turgeis? (1)
26) Which monarch within the lands covered by Insulae Draconis minted a coin proclaiming “There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his prophet”? (1)
Bourn History, because you’ve all been reading the Lady Rebecca’s articles…
27) In which Hundred is Bourn? (1)
28) Who built the original Norman church in the 11th century? (1)
29) In the Anglo-Saxon period, Bourn was in the border zone between which two major kingdoms? (1)
Answers
Knowne World History and Culture
1) 1st May 1966 (1) at Berkley, California (1).
It is for this reason that the beginning of the Year of the Society (Anno Societatis, AS) is the 1 st of May. As with most dating systems, there is no year zero, so we are currently in AS58.
2) 16
There are 20 kingdoms in total, of which 16 contain the letter ‘a’ in their name.
3) Meridies, Middle, Northshield and West
The Middle is often colloquially known as the Midrealm, but that isn’t the official name.
4) Generically: Laurel Sovereign of Arms
Currently: Laurel Queen of Arms. The post is occupied by Magistra Emma de Fetherstan.
Drachenwald History and Culture
5) 13
The list of SCA, in order of foundation:
- West (1966)
- East (1968)
- Middle (1969)
- Atenveldt (1971)
- Meridies (1978)
- Caid (1978)
- Ansteorra (1979)
- Atlantia (1981)
- An Tir (1982)
- Calontir (1984)
- Trimaris (1985)
- Outlands (1986)
- Drachenwald (1993)
- Artemisia (1997)
- Æthelmearc (1997)
- Ealdormere (1998)
- Lochac (2002)
- Northshield (2004)
- Gleann Abhann (2005)
- Avacal (2015)
6) East
7) West
Drachenwald’s first king was King Elffin, now commonly known as Duke Drachenwald, and he is originally from what is now the Kingdom of Lochac. However, at the time that Drachenwald was founded, in 1993, Lochac was still only a Principality of the West Kingdom.
8) The Fellowship or Guild of Albion of the Mystery of the Armourers of the Kingdom of Drachenwald (only half a point for Armourers Guild).
This name was based on that of the London Armourers Guild, founded in 1453 as The Fraternity or Guild of St. George of the Men of the Mystery of Armourers of our City of London. The arms of the Drachenwald Guild (registered as a badge because rules) are similarly based upon the London guild.
https://sites.google.com/drachenwald.sca.org/drachenwald-armourers-guild/home
9) Morgan (0.5) and Alienor (0.5).
They reigned as 23rd Prince and Princess in 1991 and the 2 nd King and Queen in 1994.
Insulae Draconis History and Culture
10) Michael de Brad (1) & Alessandra Melusine (1)
Viceroys and Vicereines reign as the rulers of Crown Principalities. Insulae Draconis was a Crown Principality from 2003 until 2010.
11) The Order of Robin (1)
Robin Bowman (0.5) of Dalriada (0.5)
The order is for courtesy and chivalry. The latest recipient is Lord Alex of Long Riston, who received it on the field during his Dawn Company challenge at Ormþing.
12) 2021
Insulae Draconis was originally founded just in Britain, and hence on a single island, as Insula Draconis, and was registered as such. The name was handed off to the Crown Principality, which at that point covered multiple islands (Insulae being the plural of Insula in Latin). However, despite this, and a poll conducted in 2005 to formalise and register the change, it never actually happened. This name change was finally formally registered in 2021. Given there was a documentable poll in the past, and that all documentation since that time has referred to Insulae Draconis, we were able to get a dispensation from holding the poll again.
The name translated as The Islands of the Dragon. Colloquially it is often just called the Dragon Isles.
13) Master Paul de Gorey
Paul de Gorey was elevated to the Order of the Laurel in 1996 and reigned as King in 2012. One of his favourite classes was on the English Longsword and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy how obscure the text was. A commonality was trying to work out what moves the various names referred to, one being the rabbit. Unfortunately, Paul died suddenly earlier this year, a loss of an always cheerful and knowledgeable friend.
Global History
14) Yuan Dynasty (1)
There were actually two attempts, the first in 1274 and the second in 1281. (2 points for either date and 1 if otherwise in the range of 1264-1291. Bonus point for knowing there were two attempts and add your points if you gave two dates. Total of 5 if you knew there were two invasions and got both years right.)
The invasion of 1281 is perhaps the more famous as it ended when the Mongol fleet was devastated by a typhoon, named ‘the Divine Wind’, or in Japanese ‘Kamikaze’. The same name, in English, was given to the storm that also devastated the Spanish Armada in 1588.
15) Gupta Empire
The Gupta dynasty was founded sometime in the late 3 rd century and reaching its zenith in the early and mid-4 th century. Much like the Western Roman Empire, its collapse wasn’t sudden, but a decline and shrinkage, before finally disappearing in about 550.
16) The Sassanian Empire (1) was conquered by the Rashidun Caliphate (1), finally being defeated in 651.
This was only 40 years after the first revelations to Mohammad who had died in 632. Conversion was not particularly rapid with many living as non-Muslims under the new regime. The Sassanian Empire was predominately Zoroastrian, but also had Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist communities.
In 661, the Rashidun Caliphate morphed into the Umayyad Caliphate, as the result of assassinations.
History in Drachenwald
17) Ethiopia (1) and Kongo (1) to at least Portugal and the Vatican.
Both these kingdoms dominated their respective zones of the African continent, The Kingdom of Ethiopia has a much longer history as a distinct political entity, dating back to antiquity and adopting the name Ethiopia in the mid-4 th century.
18) The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
The combined state was ruled by a king who was both the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, established by the marriage of Polish Queen Jadwiga to Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila. The kingdom became The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. The Commonwealth was dismantled by the Third Partition of 1795.
Lithuania was still pagan at the time of the marriage, but Jogaila converted, at first glance surprisingly, to Roman Catholicism for the marriage, instead of the more local Orthodox Christianity. However, at the time Lithuania was a target of a crusade by the Teutonic Knights, who regarded Orthodoxy as little different from paganism. In the end this didn’t make much difference as the Teutonic Knights claimed the conversion was a sham and they continued their attacks until a treaty was finally concluded in 1398.
19) The Plague of Justinian / Justinian Plague (1) of 541-549 (531-559)
The Justinian plague was bubonic plague caused by Yersinia pestis and was the first historically recorded pandemic of this disease. The outbreak affected the Near East, the Mediterranean and Europe as whole, impacting both the Persian Sassanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire of Justinian. Justinian himself caught the plague in 542 and recovered, but about one fifth of the population of Constantinople was killed.
Yersinia pestis is the same bacterium that cause the Black Death almost exactly 800 years later in the period 1346-1353, hitting Insulae Draconis in 1348.
Plague still circulates, with recent cases appearing in China. However, being a bacteria, it is easily treated with anti-biotics, and so far, hasn’t developed resistance.
20) Poitiers
The Umayyad Caliphate invaded Spain in 711. All of Spain at some point was under Islamic control although Galicia in the extreme northwest was only held for 28 years, whereas Granada was held for 781 years until the Reconquista was completed in 1492. Over the next 120 years about 3 million Muslims then emigrated to North Africa, either voluntarily, or later forcibly expelled.
The initial Umayyad invasion of what is now France began only 8 years after entering Spain in 719, crossing the Pyrenees into the last remnant of the Visigoth kingdom. This advance was stopped at Toulouse in 721. The Caliphate attempted to expand into Aquitaine, then still independent from the Franks, led by Duke Odo, and who managed to hold off both powers. After a major raid by the Caliphate on Tours was defeated, the Battle of Poitiers saw the end of Islamic expansion, although with Odo’s death in 735, Aquitaine succumbed to the Franks under Charlemagne. After an abortive attempt to expand into Provence in 734 the Caliphate was left with just its initial conquest of Septimania. In 752, the newly crowned Pepin initiated a new assault and won a final victory at Narbonne in 759.
Pepin’s son, Charlemagne, pushed across the Pyrenees to create a buffer zone called the Spanish March between the Caliphate and Francia proper. This became a focus for the subsequent Spanish Reconquista.
History in Insulae Draconis
21) Æthelstan (1), son of Edward the Elder, grandson of Alfred the Great, from 927
Whilst Alfred is commonly credited with creating the idea of England and the English as a single identity for the Anglo-Saxons, he didn’t achieve the goal himself, although he did leave Wessex much stronger and in effective, but not direct, control of West Mercia, the east being held by the Danes. Alfred only ever described himself as King of the English not ruled by the Danes.
Edward brought all of Mercia under his direct control and added East Anglia.
Æthelstan came to the throne in 924. Three years later Æthelstan took Northumbria and was acknowledged King of the English, by his neighbours, including King Constantine of Scotland, who also had claims on Northumbria.
22) Iceland was settled.
Despite surviving stories, there is little reliable evidence about the settlement, and indeed there is a possibility that there was already an Irish monastic community there for perhaps two hundred years.
However, the major settlement of lasting influence was that by the Norse, most likely because after running out of land in Scandinavia, and with Ireland and Britain already occupied or unsuccessfully attacked, Iceland was pretty much the only place left.
It seems unlikely to me that anyone else cared that much at the time and may well have thought the entire endeavour foolhardy if they did notice. However, Iceland has survived to the modern day and prospers despite not being an obvious place to live. It is also the location of the Shire of Klakavirki.
23) Matilda.
These events happened during the period of English history known as The Anarchy, When the Empress Matilda contested with King Stephen for the throne of England. Matilda was the daughter of Henry I, and was named as his successor and sworn as such by his barons. This was necessary as the sole male heir, William, was killed in the sinking of the White Ship in 1120. However, Matilda suffered three major disadvantages: she was a woman, she was married to Geoffrey of Anjou, traditionally viewed as an enemy, and finally that Geoffrey himself was a youth and not of sufficient stature to be seen as King.
Matilda had been married off to Geoffrey by her father when she was 25, and Geoffrey was just 13, in an attempt to secure Normandy’s southern border. It seems that Geoffrey’s youth no more impressed Matilda than it did the Anglo-Norman barons. In addition, Geoffrey as a mere Duke’s son was a far cry from being an Emperor, like her first husband, and to which title she retained to herself.
Her first marriage as a child had been to Henry, the Holy Roman Emperor, and he died in 1125 when Matilda was aged about 23 after about 15 years of marriage. However, the marriage was childless, and this left the Empress Matilda with no power base, and she returned to her father, who subsequently used her for the Anjou alliance.
Her rival, Stephen of Blois, moved extremely swiftly upon the death of Henry I, and had himself crowned in London. Matilda and Geoffrey apparently didn’t see the danger and may have been distracted by solidifying their place in Normandy, and the Channel became the permeable border between the two campaigns. Initially Stephen seemed to have gained the advantage and the throne outright, but lacked political skill, which led to some barons defecting back to Matilda, and he actually allowed Matilda to land unmolested in England initially.
King Stephen was married to Matilda, Countess of Boulogne in her own right. In 1141, the Empress captured Stephen at the Battle of Lincoln and moved to London to be crowned as Queen. Countess Matilda meanwhile raised an army. The Empress was evicted from London by its citizens, who were already a powerful burgh, probably as a mixture of political machinations by Stephen’s allies and her oft reported high-handedness. It is a common critique of powerful women at the time, but the reports for the Empress, as well as her insistence on the title, are widespread enough, that it seems she genuinely would repeatedly unnecessarily antagonise potential allies with her behaviour.
After this, the Empress went to besiege Winchester, where Stephen’s brother, Henry, was bishop. Countess Matilda brought her army there and routed the siege, in the process capturing Robert of Gloucester, the Empress’s half-brother and keystone supporter in England. Robert was exchanged for Stephen and the status quo restored.
Empress Matilda had a son Henry who became involved in the war as he got older. Countess Matilda has a son Eustace who also fought. However, Eustace died suddenly in 1153, removing Stephen’s obvious heir, although there was a s younger son. Nevertheless, later that year and into 1154, after 15 years of war, the Anarchy came to an end with the agreement that Stephen would rule for his lifetime and then be succeeded by the Empress’s son Henry. That happened sooner than anyone probably expected when Stephen died in October 1154 and Henry became Henry II. And his reign is a whole other story…
24) The Heptarchy.
The tradition was that there had been seven Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms: East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Mercia, Northumbria, Sussex, and Wessex. There were many other original kingdoms, which were gradually swallowed up by more powerful rivals. The last four standing were those eventually brought under the rule of Æthelstan. A large number of these kingdoms leave their mark in counties or regions.
25) Máel Sechnaill mac Máele Ruanaid or Máel Sechnaill I
Viking Dublin was largely known as a slave-trading port, although that wasn’t the only trade. Given that all the cultures of Britain and Ireland at the time were slave owning cultures, Dublin was well located for selling people captured on raids as slaves. Slavery was an institution set in law and not systematically opposed. It gradually died out and seems to have largely disappeared by about 1200 within the British Isles.
26) King Offa of Mercia
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/gold-dinar-of-king-offa
The coin is copied from the contemporary Abbasid caliph al-Mansur. Errors in copying indicate that the Arabic wasn’t understood, and possibly wasn’t even understood to be writing. The fact that such a coin was copied though would seem to reflect that the original gold coins were recognised as reliable currency, and that there was trade contact between the Anglo-Saxons kingdoms and the Islamic world.
Offa reigned from 754-796, and was a contemporary of Charlemagne, who imposed a trade embargo after Offa made what was interpreted as an insulting marriage offer. Charlemagne was in contact with the northern border of Islamic Spain himself, and a trade embargo against Offa may well have induced Mercian traders to push down the continental coast to Spain.
Bourn History
27) Longstow
28) Sheriff Picot
29) Mercia and East Anglia
I commend to you the articles of Lady Rebacca of Flintheath.