Ysabel da Costa

Photo
courtesy of Sage Élan De Janvier
Information
Resides: Carolingia
Status: Active
Awards: Order of Precedence
Heraldry
Six escallops inverted or, two, two, and two
Award & Office Badges

Introduction

Ysabel has been active since 2013 in the Barony of Carolingia. She pursues recreational research on early instruments, music, embroidery, dyeing, and other sundry topics, as documented on her web site, Ysabel's Notebook. Ysabel plays viola da gamba, lute, Renaissance guitar, and other period instruments. She also enjoys dancing, sewing, spinning, and learning about all the fascinating things other people have done and studied.

Personae

Ysabel da Costa was born at the turn of the 16th century to a Portuguese Converso family of traders and merchants. After marrying in her late teens, she left Portugal with her husband to flee the pressures of the Inquisition. Like her famous counterpart Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi, Ysabel has sojourned in many cities: Lisbon, Bayonne, Ferrara, and most recently Constantinople. Her husband David is frequently absent on long sea voyages and is seldom seen with Ysabel at events. They have one daughter, Rebecca.

Lilavati Datta is a 16th-century Hindu woman of a merchant community living in Satgaon (Saptagram) in the Hooghly district in the Sultanate of Bengal. She was given in marriage as a second wife to a Portuguese trader called David; they have a grown son, named Ramesh. Since her husband rarely visits, and Lila has no mother-in-law or senior co-wife living with her, she enjoys considerable autonomy as the mistress of her household.

Offices & Positions

• Captain, Waytes of Carolingia, 7/2017 - present
• Secretary, Barony of Carolingia, 1/2019 - 6/2021
• Instigator, Trumpet and Kettledrum Corps of Carolingia, 9/2019 - 2022
• Gold Key (loaner garb officer), Barony of Carolingia, 12/2021 - 4/2023
• Consort's Champion of Arts & Sciences, East Kingdom, 3/2022 - 3/2023
• Principal of the Order of the Daystar, Barony of Carolingia, 10/2023 - present
• Chronicler, Barony of Carolingia, 1/2024 - present
• Diademe Herald, East Kingdom, 6/2024 - present

Event Staff

• Deputy Autocrat, Otter's Welcome 2023
• Gate staff: GNEW 2019, 2022, 2023; Spring Coronation 2023; Fall Crown Tourney 2023; War of the Roses 2024; various Carolingian events; each Pennsic since 2017
• A&S Display Organizer, Fall Coronation 2022
• A&S Judge and/or Consultant: Kingdom A&S Championships 2023 and 2024; Pennsic A&S War Point 2023

Projects & Publications

• Renaissance Guitar - historic notes, reference links, and transcriptions of period music into modern tablature: https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/home-page/guitar-in-the-sca-period/renaissance-guitar-for-ukulele-players/
• Music transcription from facsimile of the Gresley Dance Manuscript: work with the Accademia della Danza, published in the EK Gazette at https://eastkingdomgazette.org/2018/10/26/arts-sciences-research-paper-24-the-gresley-dance-collection/
• 16th-century Indian embroidery: https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/home-page/colchas-at-the-mfa-boston/ and https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/category/fiber-arts/embroidery/.
• Embroidery in the style of 16th century Bengal: Entry to the 2022 Crown A&S Championships at https://moas.eastkingdom.org/as-championship-and-display-2022-lady-ysabel-da-costa/.
• Natural Trumpet for the Court and Battlefield: article with historic notes and links to my transcriptions and reconstructions of music. See also https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/2019/05/07/finding-fanfares/ and the links on that page.
• Hashish in medieval Muslim cultures: collaboration with Aelia Fortunata, presented at St. Eligius in November 2022. Here are links to the research paper and our recipe for majoun, a period edible cannabis confection.
• Cannabis Consumption in the SCA Period: Bhang. This paper was part of a collaborative project with Aelia Fortunata, which she presented at St. Eligius in November 2023.
• Music for the Dances of the Il Papa Manuscript (presented as a class at Known World Dance and Music Symposium 2024).

Classes available

• Guitar in the SCA Period (taught at Pennsic 2018): https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/home-page/guitar-in-the-sca-period/
• Renaissance Trumpet for the Court and Battlefield (taught at GNEW 2019 and Pennsic 2019)
• Embroidery of 16th-century India (taught at Embroidery Schola 2020, The East Goes East 2022, Pennsic 2022, and Pennsic 2023): https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/home-page/embroidery-class/
• Spinning Cotton on the Tahkli (taught at Harper's Retreat 2022 and Pennsic 2024)
• Cannabis in the SCA Period (taught at Pennsic 2023 and 2024): https://ysabelsnotebook.wordpress.com/2023/08/15/cannabis-in-the-sca-period-pennsic-2023-class-notes/

More Information

• Member of the A&S War Point Team, Pennsic 49 (2022). "An embroidered small colcha in the sixteenth-century Bengali style"; top score in the non-Laurel division.
• Member of the A&S War Point Team, Pennsic 51 (2024). "Natural Trumpet for the Court and Battlefield"; tied for top score in the Laurel division.
• Text of Richard Heyworth's heraldic boast for my elevation to the Laurel.

In Case of Court

• In case of court, please contact Gundormr Dengir.