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
“There was also one of the first discussions of conflicting arms that I saw handled. Jon the Lean's initial arms involved crossed
maul and pipe or on sable. As you may well recall, this is very close to Richard the Short's device. Richard pointed it out and they
pretty much determined Jon's final arms on the spot. Very amicable.” – Stefan de Lorraine
B “Minor point. It was a mace not a maul. Though I did enjoy mauling people with my mace. :-)”
“I remember fighting Siegfried. He fairly quickly took my leg, I just could not seem to block his attacks. Then, as I was on my
knees, and the final blow came in, I remembered that he was left handed! It was a learning experience. :-)
“I believe this was also the event where I first used my one handed fail. Either Edwin or Caradoc tested it quite completely on
me. It did no damage, despite many, many blows. Lots of force spread out over a large area” – Jon FitzRolf
C “Notes on the tourney, and misc. stuff. I think that the newsletter was called the Tribune. This was my first Crown tourney that I
fought in. The bathrooms were locked, and we all had to walk a long way. Miscommunication. At this time, the Queen would give
out 'jewels' to the finalist and semi-finalists- Diamond, ruby and emerald. I think that there was a revel afterwards at Randall's
house on twin peaks, Hightower, but that may have been another time.” – James Greyhelm
D “Regarding the jewels -- when digging through back issues of The Page (The Tribune, and TI) that Wilhelm donated to Aldith and
I, I did run across the Order of the Diamond, the Order of the Ruby, and the Order of the Emerald. The only problem is, I only found
one recipient of each, and in each case, it was Edwin Bersark. Now, that's not to say that they weren't given out to others, but those
were the only ones I could find recorded in the newsletters (although when Henrik came over, I noticed he had some TIs that weren't
in the stack Wilhelm had, so it's possible other newsletters are missing as well)” – Hirsch von Henford
1 “Well, given that Edwin was living in the same house as the editor of the magazine, ... ya think?
“I doubt the concept lasted more than a year, and I may have gotten mine at some event other than the Spring tourney –
I dunno. Once started, the practice just couldn't build momentum. Since Edwin never won the Crown, I don't think the orders
listed were all the possibilities, one of them was probably the chivalry award I mentioned earlier. I think I remember Edwin
winning that one. Heck, the one I have may be a chivalry award, I just don't remember.” – Stefan de Lorraine, who is planning
to grow crops where he has been raking his brain ... Or is that racking?
a “My recollection is these “jewels” – transparent plastic resin cast in small star-like jellow molds about 1 3/4" in diameter
with a black 3/4" to 1" wide velvet ribbon affixed – I had and may still have a clear white (diamond) one – were given to “the
one (fighter) who fought well”, “the one who fought better” (loser to the winner in finals) and “the one who fought best” –
the winner of the Crown lists. Since Edwin never won crown, he couldn’t have received the diamond. Diamond was for the
winner and I don’t remember for sure but probably ruby was for 1 st runner up and emerald was for 2 nd runner up.” – Henrik
of Havn
2 “I remember these 'awards' as tokens that were given by the ladies to the people they decided were the most valorous or
chivalrous or something similar. I was told at the revel after the tourney that this was a 'tradition'. However, I only remember
them being done a couple of times. As I remember - and would certainly believe now - the ladies had a hard time on agreeing
on anyone other than their own lords.” – Verena of Laurelin
March 30, 1969 (AS III) Gripe Session
[The transcript, fairly lengthy, for this ‘Gripe Session’ is in the Appendices – see page 354]
Comments:
A “The March III Crown Tourney was at a city park in the SE part of San Francisco. There were 3 or 4 pavilions (incl. Toad Hall's) for
the first time.” – Robert of Dunharrow
1 “The sunburn factor at the S.F. tourney and the heat at Oakdale are in my opinion the force behind the geometric expansion
in the number of pavilions over the next year or so.” – Kevin Peregrynne
A “I think it was the first appearance of the Royal Pavilion that Marynel made (with frame by her father). We were getting ready for the
first ever overnight in May (not Modesto, as mentioned, but halfway between Escalon & Oakdale, which is close) and pavilionbuilding
was rampant. The March site was, unlike Tilden, full of neighborhood kids, which caused some obvious problems.” –
Robert of Dunharrow
1 “Theft, pilferage and food scrounging problems were a constant worry ... we've mentioned Hagen's mail, I think Siegfried had
a silver coronet stolen at San Anselmo. Mistress Geraldine instituted badges for her household and guests to control access
to food and shade and so on.” – Kevin Peregrynne
I “I can confirm that both Ardis' and his ducal coronets were stolen there. We had a lot of trouble in areas like that.” – James
Greyhelm
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