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

William the Silent - Or, a natural panther passant guardant
sable.
The Origin and History of the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Kingdom of the West
January 6, 1968 AS II Twelfth Night Coronation and Revels
Held in the Mills College Student Union, Oakland, California. Jon de Cles and
Mediocrates of Hellas (Israel ben Jacob) were the autocrats. With the money from
the Pleasure Faire materials were purchased to make two crowns. Karina of the
Far West donated some fine jewels, fur and cloth. Jon de Cles designed the
crowns and Beverly Hodghead made them. King Henrik and Queen Leanne
presided over the Grand March and crowned William and Sheryl as King and
Queen with the new Royal Crowns of State. (Previously the crowns used had
been personal ones, belonging to the individual monarchs.) King William created
the title of Duke for those who had twice been King. For the first members of this
rank, since there were no kings in the first year, this was amended to read those
who had twice won a tourney. Richard of Mont Real was made a Duke dated
September 30, when he stepped off the throne, and Fulk de Wyvern and Henrik
~ 20 ~
Sheryl of Thespis - Azure, a swan naiant argent crowned
Or.
of Havn were made Dukes as of that day. The Order of the Rose was created for those who had been Queen, or who had been the lady to
a fighter who had won one of the first tourneys, when there were no queens. Thus Marynel of Darkhaven, Mary of Tamar, Ann of San
Anselmo, Diana Listmaker, Wendryn of Townsend, and Leanne of Maywood became members of the Order. King William created the rank
of Master of Arms for those who are worthy of knighthood but for personal reasons may not swear fealty to the Crown. Richard of Mont
Real and Edwin Bersark were made the first Masters of Arms. King William established the Order of Knighthood on a firm basis by
knighting Bela of Eastmarch, Fulk de Wyvern, Jamie of the Oakenshield, Karl vom Acht, Kerry the Rock, Siegfried von Hoflichskeit, and
Steven MacEanruig. Sir Ardral Argo verKaeysc, Duke Henrik of Havn, and King William himself were already knights. Thus there were
now a dozen belted fighters. The sign of a knight was a white belt and a metal chain around the neck. The sign of a Master of Arms was
a white baldric. King William created the Order of the Laurel for outstanding artistic achievement, and admitted Beverly Hodghead and
Alfonso de Castile as founding members. They were to be addressed as Master and known as Masters of the Laurel. Knights, Masters
of Arms, and Masters of the Laurel were to have equal precedence, with Dukes being higher in precedence and Ladies of the Rose being
somewhat lower in precedence. Then King William and Queen Sheryl stepped down in favor of the Lord of Misrule. The evening festivities
were begun in a grand manner with the medieval wedding of Stefan de Lorraine and Luise of the Phoenix. Revelry followed, with the
Consortium Antiguum performing, and Njali jarla Styrbjornsoni playing the pipes. (Steven MacEanruig and Fulk de Wyvern were not
present and were knighted in absentia.)
Comments:
A “I'm not sure where the money came from for the crowns. At the same time that we were being Robin Hood and putting on a Chess
game, Bjo of Griffin organized the Medieval Crafts Guild and we were all selling various article, like clay viking drinking horns that
Henrik made, and Bjo's spiced tea, and Luise was doing sketches, and so forth. As an institution, the Guild lasted one year without
the Trimbles (who moved back to Los Angeles shortly after the turn of the year) under the supervision of myself and my lady, and
possibly a third Faire under the tutelage of Geraldine of Toad Hall before it petered out and various people did their own various
booths for several years afterward. Whether any of the Guild money went into the SCA's coffers I no longer remember.
“Of course, the whole idea of knights and dukes and laurels and ladies of the rose was not King William's. He was busy
studying. Jon de Cles, Edwin, and Siegfried came up with most of it. I was asked what I thought of the idea and said that it was
unnecessary because everyone was already considered a lord or lady until they proved themselves otherwise. I've always wondered
if that comment got me crossed off the potential knights list ... And there were no arms associated with these titles. Actual arms
and the registration of same was the contribution of Randall of Hightower (Randal Garrett) who was just getting ready to move to
the area at the time – I don't believe he was at 12th Night.
“One person at an SCA event for the first time, however, was Jon the Lean. John Edgerton was an old classmate of Luise whom
she invited to the wedding, expecting to get a pro forma reply of sorry, can't make it, too far from San Diego (where they had gone
to school together). Imagine our surprise to find that he was now living with his brother in San Jose and was working on a costume
so he could come to the wedding. He came, he saw, he joined.
“Certainly a happy chance that added a member to the group who has contributed quite a bit over the years.
“My lady and my wedding actually preceded the entire Twelfth Night. First came the ceremony, then the reception, which
happened to coincide with 12th Night and provided an immense saving for my family's pocket book. The suggestion to do this came
from Lady Ellen Hodghead, wife of Beverly and mother of Marynel, with whom Luise was living at the time.
“So first the wedding, then the court, then the festivities (Luise and I left fairly early in the festivities, strangely enough). I accepted
Steven MacEanruig's knighthood for him (he may still have been Steven of the Ashenlands at the time) and, I think, mailed him his
belt and chain. Or perhaps I held them for him. I forget at this point.