Sofya la Rus

Gules, an owl rising wings displayed argent

Photo by Sifrid von Eichelborn

Mistress Sofya la Rus, Order of the Laurel, Nobis Herald Extraordinary

• Sofya is pronounced SOF-yah (like sofa only prettier).
• Alternate names (none registered): Sofya Jakovleva Kliuchenova (Russian), Sophia Sifridin (German), Sofia Medica (occupational)
• Calontir Armorial - http://armorial.calontir.org/Pages/SofyaRous.htm
• Calontir Order of Precedence: http://op.calontir.org/persona.php?p=3456

Persona:

• 14th Century Russian
• Sofya Jakovleva Kliucheneva was born in 6780 (1272) in the city of Nizhny Novgorod at the junction of the Volga and Oka Rivers. Her parents are Iakov Kliuchen and Iudita Beretina doch.
• After the destructive Mongol raid of 6801 (1293) when Andrey Alexandrovich enlisted Tatar help to try to remove his older brother Dmitry from the Grand Princely throne, Sofya's family re-located west to Novgorod the Great. Her father became a sexton for one of the churches, and there she learned about painting icons.
• Sofya began to learn about medicine as way of showing Christian charity to the many foreigners involved in international trade out of Novgorod. The German merchants were particularly active through the Hanseatic league outpost there. In 6812 (1304), she was married to a Thuringian merchant, Sifrid von Eichelborn, of a woad-trading family out of Erfurt.

History in the SCA:

Timeline:

• Started in the SCA fall 1997 in Shadowdale
• 1999 - First event, "Our Favorite Vices" in Shadowdale in the reign of Luther and Lenore of blessed memory, made bread for the first time (sourdough!) thanks to Master Gawaine's recipe for Fine Cheate Bread
• 1999 - First event in Heraldshill, "Black Harvest" with the cow launched from the tower and snow (had melted before I got there)
• 2000 - Attended Midrealm Spring Crown Tourney in Dark River. Met Master Mordak Timofeeivich Rostovskogo in person.
• 2001 - moved to Heraldshill
• 2003 - Taught first RUSH classes - Being Rus in these Current Middle Ages & Intro to Clothing of Early Rus, at St. Augustine's Faire in Hampton.
• 2004 - Attended first Lilies.
• 2005 - Became Shire Webminister, got AoA at Lilies
• 2006 - Accidentally inducted into the Midrealm's Order of the Williow (AoA Arts), site boss at St. Augustine's Faire, taught at Known World Costuming Symposium in Jararvellier, Northshield
• 2007 - went to Gulf Wars for the first time, received Leather Mallet for Russian research, taught at Slavic University of the Midrealm
• 2008 - co-autocrat for Ages of War, became group herald, received Silver Hammer for Russian research
• 2009 - judged for the first time at Queen's Prize, event steward for St. Augustine's Unfaire and Ages of War, judged at Kingdom A&S and invited into the Order of the Laurel, vigil at Cattle Raids, taught at Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium, elevated at King's Company of Archers
• 2010 - received Torse, volunteered at Heralds Point at Gulf Wars for the first time
• 2014 - received Cross of Calontir at Toys for Tots after driving through an ice storm to speak at Esther bat Moshe's elevation to the Pelican
• 2015 - event steward for "Hunting for the Greatest Treasure in All the Land" (Gwyn and Gobban's wedding)
• 2017 - event steward for the "Battle for Thora" (where we were unable to keep Northshield from stealing Mistress Thora and Gida got invited into the Order of the Pelican)
• 2018 - hosted spring and fall Calontir Heralds Retreats
• 2019 - made Caps of Maintenance for William and Juliana's elevations, forced to step down as Shire web minister because it had been more than 2 years (!)
• 2020 - hosted an unofficial outdoor physically-distanced Heraldshill Unfaire picnic when Covid cancelled the real event
• 2021 - hosted an "official" Heraldshill Unfaire, when we couldn't find an alternate site, partially due to Covid

Groups and Affiliations:

• Current Group: Heraldshill
• Past Group: Shadowdale
• Other Affiliations:
  • married to Lord Sifrid von Eichelborn,
  • former protege of Master Mikhail Kramolnikov
  • Apprentice: Lady Jutte Roose van der Brugghe

Offices:

• Local Service:
  • Webminister (2005-2019)
  • Herald Pursuivant (2008-present),
  • Event Steward, Site Boss - multiple events
• Kingdom Service:
  • Habicht Herald (2014-present)
  • ran Heralds Point at Lilies War 2013, 2015, 2017
  • keeper of the unofficial Calontir Google calendar - Calendar ID: 58kvund2c5kj43duhkh2hlf948@group.calendar.google.com
  • keeper of the unofficial Calontiri Wiki - http://calontiri.info
• SCA-wide service:
  • external commenter for the College of Heralds on Russian/Calontir issues
  • out-of-Kingdom heraldic consulting: via social media, perennially at Gulf Wars Heralds Point since 2010, virtual Heralds Point spring 2021
  • keeper of wikis: http://scaheraldry.info, http:medievaldogs.info, and http:slavicinterestgroup.info

Interests:

• Russian, German, English, Scandinavian cultures, but mostly Russian (all aspects)
• Costuming
• Medicine
• Architecture
• Knitting and card weaving
• Singing
• Cooking
• Heraldry, esp. names and armory
• Scribal Arts

Scribal Portfolio:

Research on period Russian scroll wording: http://www.sofyalarus.info/Russia/scrollwording.html

Other Information

My website - http://www.sofyalarus.info

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