CLEVELAND — Step into the St. John of the Cross Church social hall in Euclid, and you just might take a step back in time into a simpler era of kings and queens and swords and lutes. Welcome to the weekly Wednesday night meeting of the local chapter of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
Frankly, it's all a little overwhelming. But fortunately, I found a chatty noble to help me out.
“This is a regular Wednesday in the Barony of the Cleftlands,” explained Sam Pearce, also known as Pietro Nicolo da San Tebaldo, the Baron of the Cleftlands. "We're a historical recreation, reenactment club."
In a nutshell, the organization is devoted to the research and recreation of pre-17th century culture. This Ohio chapter is just one of hundreds throughout the world with more than 30,000 active members around the globe.
“The local group was first a student group on Case’s campus,” the Baron explained. “People graduated and moved out into the community. The club did too.”
The SCA’s known world is divided into 20 regions or kingdoms. Within the kingdoms, there are hundreds of local groups called Cantons, Shires, and Baronies. As Clevelanders, we are subjects of the Middle Kingdom and more specifically the Barony of the Cleftlands. The Baron is one of the highest-ranking dignitaries at this gathering of like-minded yesteryear enthusiasts.
“On a [typical] Wednesday night, we have folks practicing the martial arts of armored tournament combat," the Baron said. “There’s rapier fighting behind us, we have needle workers and fiber workers. The musical group is practicing. We've got a fellow making medieval long bows.”
These weekly meetings are mostly a time for members to get together to socialize and work on activities, especially group activities, which are punctuated throughout the year with larger events like tournaments and battles near and far.
Of course, not everything about pre-17th century life was all that great. Indentured servitude and lack of indoor plumbing come to mind. But the Baron acknowledges that despite their commitment, they are not purists.
“We are reenacting the Middle Ages as they should have been,” he said.
Now, every kingdom needs a king and queen, and it just so happens the Middle Kingdom's royalty hails from right here in the Cleftlands.
“We travel around the kingdom on a weekly basis, going from Ohio to Michigan to Kentucky to Illinois and Indiana, giving out awards to people within the kingdom who have done work that inspires other people,” the King told me.
These enthusiasts recognize that some outsiders might consider their gatherings to be a bit peculiar.
“I think everybody here will proudly identify themselves as some type of nerd,” the Baron declared.
Personally, I think it's great when people who share a common interest find each other and form a community, and I can understand the appeal to revisiting the past. We currently live in some pretty stressful times. Leaving the modern world behind you for a couple of hours a week could prove pretty cathartic.