Annotated "History of the West" - The History of the Kingdom of The ...

Fulk de Wyvern - Azure, a fess Or between three wiverns
argent.
The Origin and History of the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Kingdom of the West
G “Many years ago Diana told me she had some trouble convincing Dave & Ken that anyone else might actually want to do such an
odd thing as fight with sword & shield. Later I asked Dave if it was Diana who persuaded them that anyone else might be interested
and he said that "That is essentially true." I believe (and I said this at the 30yr SCA Origins symposium led by Diana, Henrik, Flieg,
and Marianna) that Diana made 2 key decisions in organizing the First Tourney. One was requiring some attempt at period garb.
This made it an all-participant event, no one was a spectator, the way it is at Ren Faire and the like. The second was arranging
for period music and dance, including a broader cultural element, setting the course for a recreation of a whole culture, not a mere
martial arts club. Even though Diana had meant it as a one-time event, the way she did it set the pattern. When Diana was away
and Marion organized the 2nd tourney, things continued in the direction begun in May.
“I don't think the tourney dates related to Cal quarters. They were traditional times, May Day, Summer Solstice, Fall Equinox,
Twelfth Night. (Diana lamented to me a few years ago being unable to attend many SCA events because they conflicted with Pagan
events, but said it was her own fault because she chose those dates originally for SCA events before she was involved in Pagan
religious organizations.)
“Also, Diana was not a medieval history major, as I remember, she got an A.B. in English from Mills, then her M.A. in
comparative literature - emphasizing medieval literature, I think - at Cal. (But ask her, to keep the record straight.)
“Finally, Joaquin Miller Park is an Oakland city park, not in Berkeley nor part of Tilden, nor of the East Bay Regional Park District.
“Cragmont (3rd tourney) is a Berkeley city park. Before long, the greater room found in Tilden and other EB Regional Parks
became usual, although tourneys were held on the Mills Campus, at the Seminary in Marin that Richard attended, and a city park
in SF. Sorry to be so lengthy.” – Robert of Dunharrow
June 25, 1966 AS I The Second Tournament
The enthusiastic turnout for the first tournament had proved that a roomier site
was needed for the proposed second tournament. It was proposed to hold the
tourney in the Joaquin Miller Park to the east of Berkeley. However, in order to
reserve a site in Tilden the band of medievalists had to apply to the Park Service
as an organization, for which a name was needed. Marion and Walter Breen
(Elfrida and Walter of Greenwalls) came up with the name of the Society for
Creation Anachronism, because the group was trying to recreate the ways of the
middle ages as it could have been, which would certainly be considered an
anachronism in twentieth century Berkeley, and the goal was creativity. This
name was accepted and so the Society for Creative Anachronism was formed.
The Breens were autocrats for the second tourney.
The second tourney was held in Joaquin Miller Park, Oakland, California, on
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Mary of Tamar - Or, two levriers rampant addorsed, tails
couped, sable.
June 25, 1966. Once again lists were held. Fulk de Wyvern defeated Edwin Bersark in the finals, winning the right to crown his lady, Mary
of Tamar, Queen of Love and Beauty. It was decided to keep on having tournaments. At this event it was found that aluminum pipes made
flat were not good swords as they bent. That summer, at a “1066 Party”, Siegfried von Hoflichskeit and Marynel of Darkhaven were married
in the first Society wedding, with all in medievals. (At the second tourney Alfonso de Castile showed up with the Consortium Antiguum
to perform.)
Comments:
A “Of course, this is the early tourney I missed. Seems they had some silly rule about having to have a costume ...
“I was, however, under the impression that Fulk fought Karl vom Acht (Owen Hannifen) in the finals. Perhaps I am remembering
it badly and Owen was in the semi-finals. I heard the story from him, after all, and it was his first event. However, he did well enough
that when the first knights' list came up, he was on it. Not too bad for a (then) Angeleno who could only come up every few months
or so.
“I understood, too, that the aluminum pipe swords left a heckuva welt when they hit. Of course, everyone was still wearing
costumes, not padding.
“It was probably around this time that the UC Berkeley fencing department began to be wary of SCAers. Seems a bunch of their
saber helmets went missing ...” – Stefan de Loraine
1 “For years afterward they still had a problem about that ... Was it our guys who took them???” – James Greyhelm
I “No idea, as I was not part of the Berkeley Mafia at the time. The fencing department certainly blamed the SCA. Perhaps
some of their people attended an event, saw the helmets, and assumed they had been taken from UCB. I seem to recall
that some of them had UCB markings on them. Long after we had homemade steel helmets, fencing students were being