Northshield Bardic College: History

This page includes the basics about the history of the College. For additional information, see the archive of postings from private e-mail and from several Usenet newsgroups, regarding the origins of the Northshield Bardic College, and the philosophies behind it and Bardic Madness.

THL Owen Alun gives this information about the history of the Northshield Bardic College:

"[The charter was] crafted by Lord Raven, C.M. Joserlin, and signed and sealed April 30th, 1994 by Jafar and Catherine, King and Queen of the Midrealm.

"The College held its organizational meeting at Mermaid's Retreat on May 21st of that year and Ld. Raven was appointed the first Speaker.

"The College holds its annual business meeting at Bardic Madness each year, to choose the new Council members and Speaker.

"Our intention was to create an organization with a minimalistic structure, so that people could not get caught up in the "inner workings" of the college: The only purposes of the college are to encourage bardic performance and bardic activities by and among all people in Northshield, whether they be "professed performers" or not, and to support composers and performers in their work, whether or not they consider themselves "part of the college" or not." --from the original webpage hosting the charter, http://poet.minstrel.com/ncb/ncbcharter.html, last updated March 17, 1998

Council members are elected at the Bardic College's one yearly meeting, held at Bardic Madness in early Spring. Two council members are elected every year, and terms are two years long; at every meeting, one of the outgoing council members is chosen after elections by the four current members to the be the Speaker.

Here is a timeline of the College, starting with the first Bardic Madness (which preceded the College):

If you have information that you think should be included on the timeline, e-mail Eliane at eliane@minstrel.com.

Bardic College main page | Charter of the college | History of the college | Photos from Bardic Madness XIV (Feb. 14, 2004)


This page last modified October 18, 2004 by Eliane Halevy.

This is part of the recognized website for the Northshield Bardic College of the Kingdom of Northshield, one of 18 recognized Kingdoms of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. It is not an official publication of the SCA, Inc. and does not delineate SCA policies. In cases of conflict of material presented on this page or its links, any disputes will be decided in favor of the printed version.