Pennsic War

The Pennsic War is an annual late summer 17 day camping event held by the Society for Creative Anachronism. The event centers on pre-17th century history and culture. Campers dress in appropriate clothing and generally act as one from medieval times.

Pennsic is referred to as a war between two large regional SCA groups called kingdoms, the [http://www.eastkingdom.org Kingdom of the East] and the [http://www.midrealm.org Middle Kingdom] because participants on behalf of the kingdoms fight mock battles. The battles and other activities give war points, a tallied score determining which kingdom wins that Pennsic.http://www.pennsicwar.org/penn36/GENERAL/pwhistory.html]

Pennsic is the single largest annual event of the SCA in terms of number of people. As of 2007 there have been 36 Pennsic Wars and the number of people annually attending has surpassed 10,000.

The name Pennsic War is a combination of Pennsylvania and Punic War. The Pennsic War uses Roman numerals to identify each war, rather than the year it was held.

History

The Pennsic War has been held in the week ending with the third weekend of August since 1972. Starting with 2007, war has been moved to the week ending with the second weekend of August due to the changing school starting times.

*The first Pennsic was held at Newt's Campground (now Shorehaven Campground) in Waterford, Pennsylvania.
*The second was held at St. Clair Beach Campground near Pittsburgh.
*The third was held on a private farm outside Zelienople, Pennsylvania.
*The fourth, often called the "Pennsic Pour" was held on a farm outside Cleveland, Ohio and was marred by massive flooding and mudslides. This is celebrated in song by performer, Duke Moonwulf Starkadderson in "Pennsic War IV".
*The fifth was held at the Berlin Reservoir outside Alliance, Ohio, after a site in West Virginia was rejected.
*The sixth and all subsequent Pennsics have been held at [http://www.cooperslake.com/ Coopers Lake Campground] in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania near the intersection of Interstate 79 and US 422. The site is easily visible from the I-79 southbound lanes.

According to the HERSTAĐR-SAGA: An Incomplete History of Pennsic,

"One day, almost 30 years ago, Cariadoc of the Bow, the King of the Middle, got bored with peace and declared war upon the East, loser to take Pittsburgh. The King of the East read the declaration of war, filed it away and forgot about it. Time passed. Cariadoc moved to New York and subsequently became King of the East, whereupon he retrieved the declaration from the file cabinet and said, 'Let’s fight.' The Middle won, and Cariadoc has the distinction of being the only king who declared war upon himself and lost." [F.L. Watkins (Fólki Þorgilsson). 2005. "HERSTAĐR-SAGA: An Incomplete History of Pennsic" © Folump Enterprises]

Despite popular myths, the Pennsic wars were not caused by Cariodoc challenging himself to a war, and losing. The challenge for the Pennsic war was initially issued by King Irial and Queen Morna of the Middle, with the stated causes being both the ownership of the new group forming in Pittsburgh, the Debatable Lands, and an earnest desire to have fun and “engage in chivalric combat of the highest”. The letter containing the challenge along with an arrow of war was carried by Duke Cariodoc, as a herald of King Irial, to King Rakkuri and Queen Maureen of the East who accepted the challenge, and broke the war arrow. The negotiations for the war, locating a suitable site, determining the rules for combat and scenarios for the battles, etc dragged on long enough that by the time the war was actually held, neither Irial and Morna nor Rakkuri and Maureen were still on the thrones. The Midrealm was ruled by Andrew and Anne, and the East was ruled by recent immigrants to the East, Cariodoc and Diana, who had moved while the negotiations for the war went on.

The board of directors ruled a few weeks before Pennsic One that since Pittsburgh was in the same state as an existing group, in Philadelphia, that it had to belong to the same kingdom. It was considered impossible to split a state between two kingdoms at that time. Thus, the Debatable Lands were assigned to the East Kingdom prior to Pennsic being fought, which rendered moot the initial reason for the war. Since the stated purpose of the war was to determine which kingdom got Pittsburgh and the Midrealm decisively won Pennsic One, it entered popular mythology that ‘the loser got Pittsburgh.’

Future

The next Pennsic is called Pennsic XXXVIII and will occur between July 24 to August 9, 2009.

People

Since Pennsic XXV in 1996 the event has gathered over 10,000 participants each year. At Pennsic XXXV in 2006 there were 11,595 people in attendance. These include not only SCA members from all over North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand, and elsewhere, but also members of various other historical re-enactment groups, such as [http://www.markland.org Markland] - or martial arts-based organizations, such as the [http://www.tuchux.com Tuchux] . Pennsic is, however, an SCA event; members of other groups are welcome, but are generally expected to follow SCA rules—especially in regards to armor, weapons and behavior on the battlefield for the various fighting scenarios.

Activities

Martial

*Archery SCA Archery Homepage => [http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/archery.html]
*Armored combat
*Rapier Combat: also known as Fencing
*Thrown Weapons
*Youth Combat

Non-Martial

*Pennsic University: a framework of classes where attendees learn period skills, trades, and performing arts.
*Arts and Sciences Exhibition.
*Youth Arts and Sciences Exhibition.
*Performing Arts: which include acrobatics, busking, comedy, dance, magic, music, juggling, and theatre.
*Period Gaming: where one can play games such as Go and Chess.
*Pennsic Choir.
*Dancing: including Renaissance dances, Middle Eastern Dance, South Asian Dance, and East Asian Dance.
* Shopping (@250 vendors)

Impact

Since its inception in 1972, the Pennsic War has acquired almost mythic status in the world of the SCA; nowhere else can one see and meet so many medieval hobbyists from so many places, or see so many people engaging in friendly armored combat at one time. Pennsic has inspired a mystery novel, "Murder at the War", by Mary Monica Pulver [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/096535752X Amazon.com: Murder at the War: Books: Mary Monica Pulver ] ] . There have been video documentaries made of Pennsic and the battles thereof, the most well known of which is Duckball Home Video's "The Pennsic War: A Video Documentary" produced in 1991 at the 20th Pennsic War [ [http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VPRAJS Amazon.com: The Pennsic War: A Video Documentary - Noble Edition: Movies & TV: Society for Creative Anachronism,Zorikh Lequidre,Al Arthur ] ] . Also, Pennsic has become thoroughly identified with Cooper's Lake. In 2001, SCA members built a permanent wooden "fort" on the site, for use in various battle scenarios and ceremonies.

References

* [http://www.pennsicwar.org/ http://www.pennsicwar.org] The Official Pennsic War web site

External links

* [http://www.pennsicwar.org/ The Official Pennsic War web site]
* [http://www.cooperslake.com/ Cooper's Lake Campground The website for the Pennsic Campground]
* [http://www.midrealm.org/ The official site of the Kingdom of the Midrealm]
* [http://www.eastkingdom.org/ The official site of the East Kingdom]
* [http://www.aethelmearc.org/ The official site of the Sylvan Kingdom of Æthelmearc (where the war is held)]
* [http://www.pennsic.net/ A site with collected images, videos, and stories of the Pennsic War]
* [http://www.pennsicindependent.com/ Pennsic Independent The official site of Pennsic's on-site newspaper]
* [http://www.captainzorikh.com/wts/pennsicvid.html The Pennsic War: A Video Documentary]