Ceremony for Twelfth Night, AS II
CEREMONY FOR TWELFTHNIGHT, 1968
TRANSCRIPTION OF ORIGINAL SCROLL FRAGMENTS
The original of this document was composed primarily by Don Studebaker (Jon de Cles) and myself, Dave Thewlis (Siegfried von Höflichkeit) one weekend in December 1967. It was done at my place of work, Kaiser Permanente, in Oakland, California, so we could use the Selectric typewriter which offered us italic and regular typefaces. The entire ceremony was double-spaced in Pica Courier, and we taped the individual pages end-to-end to form a long (very long) scroll.
I have pieced this together from bits received from several different sources. The reason for the “bits” is that the original scroll was cut apart and the several ceremonies retained (and marked up with new names) for subsequent events until separate copies of the ceremonies were made. At this late date I am not sure just what has been lost but I am pretty sure some bits are missing. While these pieces fit together and begin at the beginning of the ceremony, I have a feeling that one or more bits are either lost, or were part of a separate proclamation.
If nothing else, I seem to remember the original “grandfather clause” stating that events which took place prior to Twelfthnight II would be considered, in terms of precedence and rank, as though they had taken place under the new rules. (Specifically this allowed for the early “reigns” of fighters in AS I to be counted as reigns and towards becoming Dukes even though we didn’t actually style anyone “King” originally – at the first three tournaments the Supreme Autocrats sat on the “thrones” and the event played to them. This also kept the precedence of David the Herald and Henrik the Dane’s knightings prior to Twelfthnight II.)
In the original scroll, stage directions were in italics and speech in a sans serif font. SvH (Siegfried von Höflichkeit, April 14 2000, AX XXXIV).
THE SOCIETY FOR CREATIVE ANACHRONISM
CEREMONY FOR TWELFTHNIGHT, 1968
A fanfare shall announce to the assemblage the entrance of the old King, Henrik the Dane. King Henrik and his Queen shall enter, preceded by the King’s herald, crying “Make Way for the King!” When the King and Queen are seated on their thrones, the King shall signal for the Grand March to begin.
HERALD:
Prepare for the Grand March!
And, when all are prepared for the Grand March:
HERALD:
Let the Grand March begin!
The musicians shall play, and all shall present themselves to the King and Queen. The last to present themselves shall be the New King, William the Silent, and his Queen, who will stand before the throne. There will be silence. King Henrik will step down and place the Crown on William’s Head. The Queen will stand and give her Crown to King William, who will place it on his Queen’s head. Henrik and his lady will bow and back away, King William and his Queen will mount their thrones, and there will be a fanfare, shouts, etc. After which, the Herald will announce:
HERALD:
Hear Ye! Hear Ye! Good knights and yeomen,
Dames and Ladies, Squires, Pages,
Clerics and Musicians;
Good gentle people all!
It does please His Majesty,
King William the Silent,
on this Twelfth Night after Christmas
to do some honours to his loyal subjects,
who are all-deserving of recognition
for their many services and abilities.
It has been noted,
in recent times,
that some confusion does prevail
upon the field of honour,
as to which brave gentlemen are
considered to be the
True Masters in the arts of battle,
and which are to be considered novices
aspiring to that lofty station.
Further, it has been noted that
recognition and acclaim
for great achievement
have been hard-won, but not clearly
defined; those younger persons who
by virtue of improvement have
risen in the public esteem
have not been clearly marked
for their prowess.
It is therefore His Majesty’s intention
that those Persons who have fought
heretofore under the title of
Master Fighter, and who have displayed
the greatest ability on the Field of Honour,
be singled out and marked most clearly
as to rank and prestige;
and that a strong tradition be established,
that those younger fighters who achieve,
through ability and perseverance,
a similar rank and prestige,
may be rewarded and publicly acclaimed.
To this end,
His Majesty will now have certain
Brave Gentlemen called forth
from this assemblage;
And that the Crown may endure,
and our Kingdom prosper,
these Gentlemen will be asked
to give fealty,
in matters concerning this Society,
and only in matters concerning this Society;
not to the King: who shall, in his time,
pass from the throne;
but to the Crown
of this,
The Society for Creative Anachronism.
And if these Gentlemen will give
that fealty,
then they shall be created
Knights of the Laurel,
which noble token of our Royal Arms
do bear.
And they shall receive as mark
of their ability
a white belt,
to be elaborated upon as they see fit,
and to be worn upon the field
that all many know them as Knights,
and persons of some consequence in battle.
And they shall receive as mark
of their rank
a gold chain,
to be worn at Court,
that all may know them as Knights,
and persons of some nobility.
And they shall be addressed as Sir,
which title may not be addressed to anyone
who is not a Knight,
or as My Lord.
– But if one of this company
shall not give his fealty,
or, if, through prior commitment,
he may not give this fealty,
as this would do wound to his honour,
then may he yet be awarded acclaim;
And this acclaim shall take the
title of Master,
and its mark shall be a
white baldric,
to be elaborated upon as he sees fit,
and to be worn upon the field
that all may know him as a Master at Arms.
Yet, as he cannot be made a Knight,
he shall not be Sir, nor wear the strict
badge of Knighthood;
but he shall be called Master,
or My Lord.
With these statements made,
does it now please His Majesty
to call forward those Gentlemen
who are recognized by the Crown
and by their peers
to be of sufficient mettle to
be made Knights.
SENESCHAL:
(Reads the names of the candidates, one at a time.
The candidate comes forward and the following ceremony of Knighting
is performed.)
Fulke de Wyvern
Richard the Short
Siegfried von Höflichskeit
Stephan of the Ashenlands
Edwin Beresark
Bela of the Eastmarch
Jaimie of the Oracle
Karl von Acht
Kerry the Rock
KING:
___________: Right mindful of your prowess
upon the field,
and responsive to the wishes
of your peers,
We are minded to
Create you a Knight.
Will you accept from Us this honour,
And these badges of your ability and Knighthood,
And will you swear fealty to this,
Our Crown and Throne,
in matters concerning
The Society for Creative Anachronism?
CANDIDATE:
Yes, Your Majesty.
KING:
Then give Us your sword.
(or, if the Candidate has no sword, taking His Own
sword, or one kept by the Crown for such occasion.)
Kneel.
(Candidate kneels, the King takes the sword and touches the
Candidate upon the right shoulder, then the left, then the
head, with the flat of the blade.)
Arise, Sir ___________________
(Seneschal hands the tokens to the King)
In token of your ability,
take this belt.
In token of your rank,
this chain.
(Candidate puts the chain on. He may be helped in putting
on the belt by the Queen. Candidate bows and returns to place.)
IF THE CANDIDATE ANSWERS ‘NO’:
KING:
Then will you accept this mark
of your ability and prowess upon the field?
CANDIDATE:
Yes, Your Majesty.
KING:
Then, accept this baldric as token
of Our esteem, and the esteem of your peers,
Master _________________.
(Candidate dons baldric and returns to place.)
(When the Knightings are finished)
HERALD:
There are among us
those who would rather fight
than reign.
– Yet it is no honour
to the Crown
for those upon the field to refuse
the honour of Kingship.
– Even so, it is an imposition
upon those who have held this weighty
position to require that they refrain
from fighting and sit,
time after time,
beneath the weight of royal circumstance.
– Henceforth!
Those who have twice held the Crown,
who twice have reigned as King,
shall be created Dukes:
And it shall be their Privilege
to fight in the lists
without reference to the winning
of the Crown, if they so choose.
And this shall be
no dishonour to the Dukes;
Neither shall it be any dishonour
to the Crown.
And if they so choose
not to fight for the Crown,
but only for the sport,
then may the King as their right
valuable opinions and advice as
concerns divers matters,
they having proved themselves
most knowledgeable in such things.
– Yet if they choose to enter
the lists in competition,
may they also have that privilege,
and, putting aside rank for that time,
may also compete for the Crown.
And these Dukes shall bear
as their emblem
a ducal coronet,
to be elaborated upon as they see fit,
and to be worn at Court and upon the field
at such times as they do not wish
to compete for the Crown.
And by the token of this coronet
will they be known as persons of
great merit and consequence.
And they shall be addressed as
My Lord Duke, or as
Your Grace, and great respect
shall be given them.
And in the King’s absence,
if occasion should arise,
these same Dukes are granted the Privilege
of bestowing Knighthood,
should they also be Knights:
for no man may make a Knight
who is not a Knight.
It is therefore His Majesty’s desire,
in order to increase and maintain
the honour of the Crown,
to create Him three dukes.
SENESCHAL:
(Reads the names of the Candidates, one at a time. The Candidate comes forward and the following ceremony is performed.)
Sir Fulke de Wyvern
Master Richard the Short
Sir Henrik of Havn
KING:
____________, as you have shown
great prowess, and have held this throne
twice before Us,
We are minded to create you
Duke (Richard of Mont Real
Duke (Fulke de Wyvern
Duke (Henrik of Havn
In token of this honour
and that all may know of it
do We present you with
this coronet.
(The King shall take the coronet from the Seneschal
and place it on the brow of the Duke, who shall bow.)
That the honour be further noted,
We ask that you stand here,
at Our right side,
until the ending of this
solemn part of Our ceremonies,
which are now almost ended.
And it please you,
you may bring your lady fair
to stand here beside you,
At the right hand of the Throne,
which, henceforward,
shall be your rightful place.
(The Duke takes his place, beckoning his lady to stand by
him if he so desires.)
(When the creation of the Dukes is finished)
HERALD:
Though it be the prime business
of our Society
to present such Revels and Tourneys
as are pleasing to the populace;
and as the prime pleasure of that populace
is to see the Great Sport of the Tourney;
There are yet those without whom
our Society would not be half so pleasant;
yet who do not join in the lists
and thereby come not to the Glory
of Knighthood or the Throne.
It is the intention of
His Majesty that
these persons should not go unrecognized.
Therefore;
By solemn decree of His Majesty,
King William the Silent,
is created
The Order of the Laurel.
And the mark of this Order
shall be a medallion,
hung by ribbon about the neck
and bearing the Royal Arms:
Or, a Wreath of Laurels Proper;
this medallion to be embellished or enriched
as the receiver sees fit;
And the rank of this Order
Shall be Master, which title
shall bear also the name of that
discipline in which the receiver
does excell;
And a member of this Order shall be addressed as Master,
or as My Lord.
Therefore does it please
His Majesty
to call before Him
Ron Morgan,
Director of the Consortium Antiquum,
that he may receive just honour
and commendation
before all this assemblage;
And that he may receive of
His Majesty
The Order of the Laurel,
and the title
Master at Music;
Master Musician
to the Crown and Throne
of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
(Ron Morgan comes forward. The King receives from the
Seneschal the Medallion and places the ribbon around Ron’s head.)
KING:
Wear this, Master Musician,
that all may know in what esteem
you are held by the Crown
and by your peers.
(Ron Morgan bows and returns to place.)
HERALD:
It further does please
His Majesty
to call before him
Beverly Hodghead,
who has for these two years
fabricated many most wondrous things
for our Society,
that he may receive just honour
and commendation
before all this assemblage;
And that he may receive of
His Majesty
The Order of the Laurel,
and the title
Master Artificier;
Master of Arms, Master Armourer to
the Crown and Throne
of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
(Beverly Hodghead comes forward. The King receives from the
Seneschal the Medallian and places the ribbon around
Beverly’s neck.)
KING:
Wear this, Master Artificier,
that all may know in what esteem
you are held by the Crown
and by your peers.
Here ends the fragments of the original ceremonies which I have been able to recover up to now. As I said at the beginning, internal evidence suggests that these pieces fit together with little if anything missing, and the internal reference about “ceremonies nearly at an end” suggest there wasn’t much else, in which case there may well have been another scroll of proclamations, but I simply do not remember. SvH.
Annotations:
[List of Knights for the ceremony of Knighting] “Jaimie of the Oracle?
I assume this was Jaimie Oakenshield and that perhaps this was some
wordplay on his profession of programmer, but I never knew he had
any name but Oakenshield. Does anyone know the genesis of these names?
And I believe it's Karl Vom Acht.” – Stefan de Lorraine, who
accepted the accolade for Stephan of the Ashenlands (Steven MacEanruig)
who was in Germany at the time, and would have bust a gut if I
had known how they were spelling his name. Suffice it to say that he
and I had many years of good-natured discussions over the proper way to
spell Stephen, he being a proponent of the crass and heretical Steven
spelling ...
“It was definitely "Jaimie Oakenshield" and he took his name from Thorin Oakenshield from Lord of the Rings (this was actually a not-so-subtle reference to a character in an unpublished novel called "The Tijuana Vikings" named James A. Baker; when I first met Jaimie (at Kaiser; he was hired as a programmer) his name was close to the character, so we told him about the character and he was sufficiently amused. In this case the "oakenshield" was a huge club which the character in the novel thought he would try to fight with; later the club was actually constructed (by me, as a christmas present for Fulk de Wyvern) and Fulk did the only possible thing with it -- turned it into The Muckin' Great Clubbe and an SCA award).“In the original scroll there were nine lines, and the names of the candidates had been written in in my handwriting prior to the event. Note that “Fulke” was at that time spelled with a trailing “e”, and “Höflichkeit” still had an embedded “s” which I dropped in the 1970s after discovering that I had disremembered how to spell the word. Note also that Jaimie took his name as “of the Oracle” rather than “of the Oakenshield” (“Oracle” was a reference to working with computers but I do not now remember if he ever used the term subsequently).
“I've never heard "Jaimie of the Oracle" in any context.
“By the way, I've spelt Hoflichskeit as "Hoflichkeit" for several years since I was told that the embedded "s" was incorrect -- but it was originally spelt for me by a German, so I've never been quite sure.
“Karl vom Acht is correct.” – Siegfried von Hoflichskeit
[Laureling of Ron Morgan] “Note that Ron Morgan later took the SCA name Alfonso de Castile, but he hadn’t chosen a medieval name at this time, and indeed by no means everyone active in the SCA had done so by 12-II.” – Siegfried von Hoflichskeit
[Beverly Hodghead being styled “Master Artificer’] “I don’t remember when we stopped styling Masters of the Laurel by their discipline; probably about the time we started to have multiple Laurels in a single field. Certainly some six or so months later when I, as King, made Janet of Breakstone a Mistress of the Laurel, she became Mistress of the Lists as that was why she was made a Laurel. Later the term stopped being a reference to the Laurel and simply referred to the position.” – Siegfried von Hoflichskeit
“At 12th Night AS II, didn't Ardral & Henrik (previously knighted) also
come forward to receive the belts & chains of the newly-created Order of Chivalry?
“I think I also remember that Fulk was not there
and that Mary of Tamar accepted his belt, chain, and ducal coronet for
him. (I think they still lived together then, and don't know why
Fulk wasn't there.) Of course, Stefan also accepted Steven's belt & chain
for him, as said before.” – Robert of Dunharrow
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).
The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).