About
Anabladh inghean Dhomhnuill



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SCA NAME: Anabladh inghean Dhomhnuill
MUNDANE NAME: Sharon MacDonald
NICKNAME: "MOM"
EMAIL: anabladh2@yahoo.ca

ABOUT MY PERSONA:

"I, Anabladh inghean Dhomhnuill, have been a widow these past 28 (A.S. 35) winters.
When I was perhaps five or six years old, my child's instincts warned me against my cousin, Tearlach Dhomhnuill. As the years passed, each time I saw my cousin my dislike of him grew stronger. The day of my eleventh birthday I realized I no longer disliked my cousin, but rather, my dislike had turned to hatred.
After three generations of mismanagement my father inherited a terrible debt. This upset father to no end. He had always believed his family to be very rich. After exhausting every other avenue he could think of, father was forced to start selling land. He sold the lands and houses one at a time. Father also sold all the kine and chattels that went with each of them. When he had finally paid off the debt, father realized with dismay, there was no longer enough to live on. At least not to father's standards.
My cousin Tearlach had become a very rich man, He approached my father with an offer to marry me. Neither bothered to ask me what I thought of the arrangement. If they had, they would have gotten an earful. It was agreed upon, for it was equally beneficial to them both. Father would have the money he needed and my cousin would have access to my father's friends.
When father told me of the arrangement, I utterly refused. I told father I would never marry him. Father locked me in my room and said I was to have neither food nor water untilI was "of a better frame of mind". I finally had to give in or die, and I was not of a mind to die.
When the priest came to visit father he asked if there was any reason we could not wed. Father said there wasn't. I said "Excuse me Reverend Father, but I must plead consanguinity.". The man gave father a look that should have turned him to stone. Unfortunately, as my cousin was three generations removed, the effort failed. It only served to delay things while the priest investigated.
The night before Tearlach and his parents were to visit to sign the bridal contract, I had a dream. In this dream I saw a beautiful woman who looked a lot like me. She was being married by the old druid ceremony. When I awoke I believed the woman must have been my Grandmother, for I had often been told of my resemblance to her. I took this as a sign that my Grandmother was trying to tell me I should be married by the druid ceremony.
With the old druid laws, a woman could retain ownership of what was hers. It did not automatically become her husband's property. Indeed anything she purchased after, whether it be land,kine or chattels also remained in her possession. Only upon being given an item could her husband claim ownership. Under the old druid laws, I could retain ownership of my dower lands, and anything else I might bring into the marriage.
I received such a beating for that idea. Father's face went red and I thought he would explode. The he started yelling. He wouldn't have people thinking we were ignornant, barbaric savages. It would be a christian ceremony. I would be married in a church, in the sight of God and King. And so, I was forced to marry my cousin.
My feelings about the knave were correct. He proved to be a cruel, sadistic, depraved, degenerative animal.
Fortunately I saw very little of him, for which I thank the Great Maker. His business caused him to travel a great deal. My cousin-husband was in the habit of frequenting the taverns and (ahem) houses in the towns and cities he visited on his travels. In one of those places he contracted the pox.
On his last visit home I saw the first lesions when they appeared. I was fairly certain what it was. Had I not helped mother to nurse Cailean after he contracted the pox? That evening father and several other came to dinner. Among them was father's new friend, a man of great influence and power. When Tearlach entered the room, father's face went a deep red and he made no effort to hide his anger and loathing. The word escaped the lips of father's new friend before the man could bite it off. Three days later my husband left on what would prove to be his last trip.
When I received word some nine months later that his doxy had died a terrible death, I knew that Tearlach was already dead. It would only be a matter of time until word would arrive."