West Kingdom Twelfth Night
January 24, 1978

Held at the Richmond Auditorium, Richmond, California.

The hall opened at 2:00 PM and the court of King Paul and Queen Carol began at 3:00 PM with Their Majesties and their attendants processing in, escorted by Clan Colin. King Paul announced the February war with Atenveldt, and invited all to attend. The Order of the Silver Molet was given a formal charter. The Order of Arachne’s Web announced the winner of the latest lace contest to be Deporodh of Rannoch, who was admitted into the order. Beryl of the Valley of the Moon was authorized to found a branch of the Order in the Middle Kingdom. Sir Jon Fitz-Rolf, Royal Archer, announced the winners of the Royal Round Archery Competition, which had gone on all year. Cormac of the Bow was first, followed by Aarond the Grey and by Rodrigo de Cerdaña. Then various scrolls for past awards were handed out.

Queen Carol called forward the members of the Queen’s Guard and presented each of them with a red leather baldric to wear as a sign of their membership in the Queen’s Guard. Queen Carol then admitted Kriemhilde of Stonecroft to the Queen’s Order of Grace. King Paul called forward Colin of Duntamknackan and, to the cheers of Clan Colin, made him a Court Baron. King Paul then gave Awards of Arms to Alfric Favnesbane and Eowyn Amberdrake. Following this, King Paul admitted Cedric the Dark, Elwyn Greystar (Aelfwynn Gyrthesdottir), and Jason Griffiths of Shadowhyrst to the Order of the Leaf of Merit. King Paul called forward Sean a’Claidheamh and his lady, Marilyn a Leisiere, and gave them the titles of Court Baron and Court Baroness. Lady Kriemhilde of Stonecroft was called forward and sworn in as the new Mistress of Arts of the Kingdom, succeeding Amanda of Cawdor. Queen Carol then bestowed her Queen’s Cypher upon Lady Kriemhilde.

The members of the Order of the Pelican were called up and King Paul admitted Fiona Gregorovna (Natalya de Foix) to the Order. The members of the Laurel were called forward and King Paul admitted Genevra of Estolat and Hal Ravn to the Order. King Paul then decreed that he was investing Baron Theodulf of Borogrove and Baron Gerhard Kendal of Westmoreland with the titles of Viceroy of Madrone and Lion’s Gate, respectively. The belted fighters were called forward and King Paul knighted Balin of Tor. King Paul proclaimed Frederick and Lyndia of Woodlyn to be the Vicar and Vicaress of the Barony of the Angels, and gave a scroll of appreciation to Don Jose Martinez, who has supplied much of the kingdom with rattan.

   
King Paul then called forward Prince Martin the Temperate and announced that the Board of Directors had agreed to upgrade Caid to the status of a Kingdom, and announced that the upcoming coronet tourney would be the first Crown tourney for Caid, and that the June Investiture Tourney would be the first Coronation Tourney for Caid, at which point, with the crowning of its first King, Caid would officially become a kingdom. King Paul displayed the scroll with this proclamation and announced that it would be presented at Southern Twelfth Night. Maythen of Elfhaven (Maythen Gervaise) presented King Paul with a scroll thanking him for activating the Principality of the Mists and making her the Seneschal. She announced the first Coronet Tourney in May. Alewulfe the Red presented King Paul and Queen Carol with a pair of napkins which had their personal arms embroidered on them. King Paul thanked Clan Colin for their service as Royal Escort during his reign and paid them their wages. Then the Grand March was held. Following that the members of the Order of the Laurel were called forward and Sir Mark von dem Falkensfenn was admitted to the Order.

Then Terrence of Halliday and Allissandra Olympia Martiessa de Constantine were crowned King and Queen of the West. Oaths of fealty were exchanged between King Terrence and the officers and peers of the realm. Queen Allissandra called forward the members of the Queen’s Guard and gave them her favor and named Brian Dritar an Con as Captain. Simon de Spalding then presented their Majesties with a performance of a motet written for them.

King Terrence then gave Awards of Arms to Cerf Agile, Chloë de la Solidaze von Shoenwald, Elisabeth dei Geminiani, Gerhard von Nordflammen, Jana Seasgair, Leon von Schrecken, Owain Apeceon, and Paul yn Darragh y Ellen Vannin. King Terrence gave a Grant of Arms to Hilary of Serendip, and then called forth the members of the Order of the Pelican, and admitted Cadwalladyr Stone of Stonecroft to the Order. Master Stone announced that Earl Kevin Peregrynne was his Chief Deputy Seneschal. The schedule for the revel was announced and then King Terrence adjourned to the Entertainment Room for Presentation Court. This was then moved back to the Main Hall. The House of the Anonymous Bosh presented Their Majesties with four cheesecakes. Benjamin von Armentrodt presented a check for the Land Fund from the sales of the Land Fund Calendar. Randolph the Devious and Jane Ann presented their Majesties with stationary. Mistress Louise of Woodsholme made a final presentation to Queen Allissandra and the court was adjourned so the hall could be cleared for the revel.

The revel featured an Exhibit Room, with displays of Society Arts and Crafts, which was very popular, a film room, where the Pennsic War film by Duke Henrik was shown to popular acclaim and where James Drakeslayer performed his Magic Act. The Entertainment Room featured a number of performers, and the Main Hall had several forms of dancing, to the music of a hardy band of players. The Oak, Ash and Thorn singers were in charge of the entertainment for the evening, and performed several times. A Lady of Misrule was chosen by means of the Twelfth Night Cake with the misrule bean enclosed within. Food and drink and informational material was sold in the lobby. The revel lasted until midnight, when the happy revelers finally left the hall, after a most enjoyable Twelfth Night.

Pictures on this page courtesy of Mistress Su of the Silver Horn.

Annotations:

For annotations, see http://history.westkingdom.org/Year12/TwelfthNight.htm

Description of this event, © Copyright 1980 by William R. Keyes (Wilhelm von Schlüssel)

This is from The History of the West Kingdom, Volume 1 (the only volume produced). When reading this text, please keep in mind the following disclaimer:

Disclaimer: This history may have errors in it, as much of the detail is “remembered” history, or as one of the cover pages of the original type-written manuscript states “The material within is derived from the information printed in The Crown Prints and in The Page, and from the memories of the participants.” The original document was typed on onion-skin paper, with hand-written notes (often in the margins). All attempts have been made to reconcile the notes with the original document.

Annotations, when they are added, are from The Annotated History of the West, Volume 1, which is the same text as Master Wilhelm's mentioned above, with commentary from members of the SCA who were active at the time of the event, and are added to help clarify questions and expand on what happened and why. This volume is copyright © Ken Mayer (Hirsch von Henford).