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

Comments:
The Origin and History of the Society for Creative Anachronism and the Kingdom of the West
A “As I heard the story, this was an interesting situation. Apparently the SCA in Berkeley had been contacted about establishing a
Chicago branch, and Cariadoc and company contacted the East Kingdom through mutual friends there to become a branch. For
awhile there were two branches in Chicago, though the Berkeley-chartered branch never had a tournament before joining the other.
All part of the competition between East and West as to who had the right to charter branches. Berkeley, in the person of Jon
DeCles, wanted a centralized operation in Berkeley, while the Easterners, led by Walter and Marion, were looking for a kind of
decentralized operation where any kingdom could establish a branch. Eventually, as I understand the situation, the East finally
decided that if Berkeley wanted the hassle, they'd let them deal with it.” – Stefan de Lorraine
July 19, 1969 AS IV Midsummer Picnic Benefit for the Artist
Held at the Hockey Field at Mills College, Oakland, California. Toad Hall was the sponsor. A feast was provided. Contests were held in
archery, javelin throwing, wrestling, axe and shield, long sword, and three man teams.
Comments:
A “These were always great fun, and the steadily growing households of Toad Hall and Lorraine looked forward to them. I kind of
remember this one, but I'm not sure what Artist was being benefitted...” – Stefan de Lorraine
B “I think this was to raise money to pay for supplies for Mistress Johanna von Griffenhurst to make the Great Book of Arms. (A book
with a whole page for the arms of each armiger in the Kingdom, and Johanna was doing them all.) As usual, Geri (helped by most
of the teen-aged members) did the feast, and I ran the contests. I think we did weight classes in the wrestling, but Michael Walrus
(Mike Peterson) was pretty unbeatable in the heavyweight class. He chaired the Math Dept. at Marin Catholic High School, and
coached wrestling & JV football as well. He was incredibly strong & a really nice guy. Oh, yes, he lived on a little houseboat named
the Walrus in Sausalito.” – Robert of Dunharrow
August 5, 1969 AS IV Royal Proclamation
King Siegfried issued a Royal Proclamation which consolidated all past proclamations and laws. He established the post of Tourneymaster
and appointed Sir Bela of Eastmarch and Karina of the Far West to hold it jointly. [The Proclamation is in the Appendices, see page 362]
Comments:
A “As I recall, this put Bela and Karina in charge of things like the Eric and the Royal Pavilion (though they didn't necessarily have the
keeping of it, just the duty of making sure it would show up). Karina should remember more about it. I'm not sure how this office
developed and/or how it disappeared. I think the Seneschalate took over most of the function, but I'm not at all sure.” – Stefan de
Lorraine, for whom most of this period rather fades into a hazy background as he became the chief Deputy Seneschal and prepared
to take over the office. But there was one little hitch ... Wait for it.
B “Yes, the words, "The King's Word is Law", and a lot more, were published by Siegfried. It was the first written law in the SCA (other
than Rules of the Lists) so far as I know, and he deserves credit for this. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to get established as the
exclusive laws of the West. Some people holding important offices still continued to cite oral proclamations of past reigns as
binding law (when it suited their argument) even though not included in Siegfried's written code. This is why, when the first member
of my household won the Crown (Jean, in Oct V), I asked him if he would proclaim an exclusive law code if I would write it, and he
agreed. I included all of Siegfried's work & added a lot more, mostly spelling out current practices in print so everyone could know
the same version, but I failed to give Siegfried proper credit for his work. The key final phrase of this code, to end further quibbling
over disparate memories, was something like: "All proclamations of all previous reigns not herein included are hereby rescinded.
All changes to the Kingdom Laws by future reigns shall be in the form of amendments to this Code." Jean glanced over it and
handed it to the heralds to proclaim. Well, after another quarter-century, it seems to have stuck. However, Don & Diana (2/3 of the
Board) protested that one thing I included (Courts of Chivalry) were Society-level, not Kingdom-level law. I asked how we were
supposed to know that, since they had no written rules beyond the mundane corporate by-laws. This caused Don (Jon de Cles)
to invent the Corpora, and in the next reign (Hagen, also of my household) we amended out the offending item from the West
Kingdom Law.” – Robert of Dunharrow
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