By Lorita deSiena

Feature Reporter, PI

It’s hard to talk about Pennsic’s long and storied history without one name coming to mind: Duke Sir Cariadoc of the Bow. A triple peer and a duke, many think of him as a legendary figure of the SCA. He has lived in multiple kingdoms, he is a talented bard and teacher, and he was there when Pennsic began.

Cariadoc has noted some changes that have taken place over the years.

“Obviously Pennsic has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger, and it’s gotten longer, going from a couple of days to a week to two weeks,” he said. “In the early years there weren’t any merchants.”

Anyone who knows Cariadoc, even in passing, knows that he holds historical accuracy in the highest regard. It is the most important thing about the SCA to him.  His encampment at Pennsic, The Enchanted Ground, is a pinnacle of period authenticity. He wishes he could see more of it at Pennsic.

“What I hope for is that our encampment can be a model for others,” he commented. “Part of the problem is that people assume that period is fancy. You don’t have to spend a great deal of money to be historically accurate. We are always recruiting for people to join us at The Enchanted Ground.”

Cariadoc feels that there are some good things that have come about over the decades as Pennsic has gotten bigger.

“The university is certainly a nice institution,” he mused. “I always like the Arts and Sciences display. And I like that this year the Middle Kingdom has a setup outside their camp where craftsmen sit and work, so you can see how they make their period crafts with period tools. Another nice thing is the East Kingdom this year has a kitchen that they have opened up for people to use for teaching classes. My lady wife and I liked that very much, and we may teach a few more classes there next year if the East continues to make their kitchen available.”

He has also seen a few instances of period accuracy around Pennsic with which he is very pleased.

“Crook’d Cat has built a clay oven for period cooking, and for the price of one-sixth of your harvest and an armful of wood, you can use this oven for your own baking and cooking,” he said. “That is very nice.”

The one topic that certainly comes to mind when talking about Cariadoc within the context of Pennsic is the legend surrounding his involvement with the great war’s origins. Everyone has heard the yarn about how he began Pennsic by declaring war on himself and losing. However, Cariadoc himself cautions that you shouldn’t trust everything you hear.

“My rule of thumb is that you should never trust a literary fact that has survived long enough to have turned into its own story,” he said with a grin. “The legend is not true at all. I take that as an account of the unreliability of oral tradition. I won’t tell the real story in print, because I think that the unreliability of oral tradition is one of the more accurate depictions of medieval history in the SCA and that’s the way it ought to be. If requested, I will tell the story of what really happened at my bardic circle in the Enchanted Ground, but I won’t put it anywhere in print.”

Cariadoc’s bardic circles are held nightly this week, except on Wednesday because of Midnight Madness and Friday because of camp pack-up. Visitors to The Enchanted Ground are requested to be mindful of the camp’s rule to forget that the modern world exists while within the grounds.