The Duke of Yamhill

Brian Elliot will trade his computer for chainmail for Saturday’s medieval fair in Forest Grove, becoming fully armored as

By Frankie Guros

The Forest Grove News-Times, Apr 23, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Chase Allgood / News-Times

Donning his medieval couture, Yamhill resident Brian Elliot is gearing up for this Saturday’s Faire in the Grove. His wife, Amy, and their two sons will attend as well.

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People in Yamhill probably don’t know it, but they are living alongside royalty.

Sure, they may have met Brian Elliot, who’s been working as a computer consultant out of his old farmhouse on Highway 47, just south of the town’s lone stoplight, for four years.

And they might recognize his wife, Amy, a respiratory therapist at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland.

But they likely don’t know Duke Sir Amalric Blackhart and Duchess Caia Snowden – the Elliots’ alter-egos in the Society for Creative Anachronism.

Elliot, who has donned medieval armor and fought other knights for nearly three decades, is one of the dozens of people who will bring Forest Grove back to the medieval ages when the Faire in the Grove comes to Pacific University this Saturday, April 26.

Elliot first became involved with the SCA when he stumbled into a medieval club meeting on the Virginia Tech campus in Blacksburg, Va.

He had previously been exposed to the popular role-playing game Dungeons and Dragons, but said it doesn’t compare to what he’s doing now – which includes unscripted (though heavily regulated) hand-to-hand battle with other SCA members.

“Where else can you put on armor and fight?” asked Elliot, who will be bringing his trusty hand-and-a-half metal sword to town Saturday. “I get an adrenaline rush from fighting, and it helps to quench my desire to excel at something.”

SCA members strive to duplicate the way of life of the medieval ages. Members reenact battles, but also act as blacksmiths, merchants, archers and others who were part of the 16th century.

“We re-enact the best parts,” said Elliot, who notes that group members aren’t so pure that they won’t drive cars or avail themselves to other 21st century conveniences. Or, as he delicately puts it: “People in the SCA would not trade modern plumbing to more accurately recreate a medieval lifestyle.”

While the SCA, which was founded in Berkeley, Calif., in 1966, has been ridiculed in the press (a 1998 Willamette Week article dismissed its members as “freaks”), Elliot paints a much different picture of the society.

“The SCA is a social club where we get together and do things we enjoy as a type of escapism,” he said. “There are things I’ve learned in the society that are rewarding.

“People might think shooting archery is weird,” he notes, “but we really are mainly interested in gaining knowledge. So which is weirder, the lack of knowledge or the search for it?”

At one point during the interview, Elliot ran back into the house to retrieve one of his dueling swords. While medieval weapons have often been portrayed as heavy and cumbersome, he wanted to show that his can easily be lifted with one hand.

Martha Rampton applauds the SCA for teaching others about medieval times.

“I wish all my students had as much enthusiasm for history as the SCA members do,” said Rampton, a Pacific University history professor and founder of Faire in the Grove. “The Middle Ages was such an exciting time that seems to spark the imagination of people of all ages. The Faire is a good opportunity to engage in a little bit of fantasy.”

Brian Elliot has been engaging in such fantasy for 27 years; Amy Elliot for 21.

The couple did not meet at an SCA event, but through a mutual friend who happened to be in the SCA. However, they began seeing each other at SCA events and began dating.

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