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

The Origin and History of the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Kingdom of the West
A “I heard a story a long time ago about the East Kingdom being cemented to the West & thus making us a national organization,
by means of a person whose name I do not remember making several plane trips across country. Said person received the 1st
Grant of Arms ever. I heard this tale in the distant past so I do not vouch for its veracity. Could someone set me straight? Is it true?
If so why did they not get a Patent, a Laurel if Pelicans had not come on seen yet? If it's not true then who did get the first Patent
& in what wise?” – Charles of Dublin
1 “The first Grant of Arms went to Randal of HighTower more or less at his own instigation because he was arranging for the
whole Patents, Awards, Grants process. I know this because he was arranging for my lady, Luise of the Phoenix, to do the
original scrolls at the time. I think someone else also received one at that first presentation of scrolls at 3rd 12th Night, but the
name is escaping me. Karina? Harold Breakstone? I checked with Luise but she says she did so many of them in that first
set that "They're all mushed together."
“This is not to say that Randal didn't make those trips. I have no idea what he was doing with his spare time besides
asking Luise if she was done yet. He was definitely and enthusiastically involved with the creation of the infrastructure of the
SCA at the time and had lots of contacts in New York, especially among the fans who made up a large section of the
membership.” – Stefan de Lorraine, who could never quite read a Randal Garrett story the same way after meeting him ...
2 “It is highly unlikely that Randall did any traveling to the East Coast, he was simply too broke. While he worked very hard on his
writing, his royalties and advances were only sufficient to barely meet his daily bills. During this time he and Lady Allison lived
in "Hightower" in South San Francisco, supported mostly by Allison's earnings. Randall used to say that his income was used
for their parties, of which they had many grand ones.”
“On reflection, I realized that Randall may have traveled to the east during the early years before he and Alison split up and
his finances dwindled.” – David of Ilwheirlane
3 “I strongly suspect this is a mutation of David Bradley's trip to the East Coast with Sylvanus Andere (sp?) to take the
accolade from the King (Siegfried at the time) to the winner of the first Eastern tournament. NB David's mother (Elfrida of
Greenwalls/Marion Zimmer Bradley) had moved back to the East Coast with Walter Breen, her husband, and was involved in
the startup of the SCA on the East Coast, so I assume David had other purposes than simply attending an initial Crown
tournament ....
“In the event, I think the first Eastern Crown was postponed for some reason, and in the interim I left the throne and Richard
became King. In any case however David carried out his mandate and knighted Bruce of Cloves -- or at least that's how I
remember it. David (Ardral Argo verKaeysc) was already a Knight and didn't need a Laurel. The first Laurel was Alfonso de
Castille and the second was Master Beverly Hodghead, both given at Twelfth Night II, 6 January 1968.” – Siegfried von
Hoflichskeit
I “Patti and I spent much of our time with David and Silas both at SCA events and otherwise during this period. The story
as they told it to us, as it unfolded, pretty much matched Siegfried's below with a few added details.
“Silas' father also lived in the East and loaned Silas a car when they were there, so Silas pretty much chauffeured
David around as events took place. Silas also acted as Royal Courier on his own travels to the East without Sir Argo
Ardral. As a result Sylvanus was made the first Court Baron and an AoA recipient (either the first or a very early one of the
latter). I don't recall that any additional reward for David was considered (he said it was just his knightly duty), however
I wasn't privy to Royal deliberations in those days.
“In any case Sylvanus' Baron/AoA was bestowed at the same event (Twelfth Night III) as the first three Grants of Arms
were given to Harold of Breakstone, Randall of Hightower and Karina of the Far West. How much of these awards was
due to activities leading to the founding of the East I have no knowledge. Perhaps Karina can fill us in.” – Kevin
Peregrynne
a “Silas' award was for driving Caradoc to events - Silas had a working car (a very cool working car- an old Mark VII
Jaguar touring salon named Sir Dennis, sadly vandalized later and lost). Caradoc had no car, and maybe no driver's
license either, so Silas drove him, and others, to events. There are several funny stories that involve that car ...” –
James Greyhelm
II “Speaking for myself only, I can say I wasn't involved at all in the founding of the East. At the time in question Harold and
Randall were my superiors in the College of Arms. We were inventing the practices of SCA heraldry as we went along,
trying to create a consistent body of work based on English practice of the Plantagenet period that was why our cutoff date
was 1485, the battle of Bosworth Field. After that English heraldry was no longer regulated by the necessity of recognition
on the battlefield. This was the end of the Wars of the Roses, and the introduction of muskets completed the work of
cannon in ending the era of castles and chivalry. Renaissance heraldry was decorative rather than practical.
“I'd also been active in other ways - costuming, period food, pavilion-making, filk-singing, speaking forsoothly.
“The scrolls for the three heralds recognized that important work was being done by non-fighters (Randall was never
much of a fighter, and Clint's knee was bad even before he was drafted) and that there were roles for women other than
"fighter's lady." (Sir Bela never really wanted the throne; I had no prospect of becoming Queen.) We were early members
of the Permanent Civil Service, officers serving the Crown from reign to reign.” – Karina of the Far West
~ 26 ~