Or, on a wooden tub, between
two peacock feathers crossed
in base proper a laurel wreath Or..
Arms by Khevron Oktavii Tikhikovich Vorotnikov
History: The Shire of Caldarium started out as the "Province in Marin". The first official event held there was the First Island War, July 29, 1967 (AS II). No current information available on when the name was changed, or why ... (see below for some detail). The name of Caldarium has gone through several permutations, including The Province of Ceantyre, The Province Beyond the Rainbows, The Province of Caldarium, and now the Shire of Caldarium.
Location: Marin County, California
Discussion:
From an email dated March 6, 2007:
"... I was it's first Seneschal, as I recall, since I lived there along with Duke Richard of Montroyal,
it's only members in 1966. A few other local residents joined the SCA in the early years
(most members of or associates of my Household) including Count Stephen Blackeagle, Sir Mark von dem
Falkensfenn, Lord Richard of Havn, Jeffry Brokenblade, as well a few others who were active from
time to time.
"Originally Caldarium was a relatively loosely defined and un-named terretory that was described as encompassing the mundane counties of Marin and Sonoma - since most early SCA activity was focused in the East Bay, San Francisco and Peninsula. When King Caradoc ap Cawdor proclaimed Kingdom Law to include the requirement that all six major Kingdom events take place in one of the nine Bay Area Counties, other locations, including Marin County, were occasionally chosen for these and other events. Typically attendence at non primary (Crown Tourney or Coronation event) events was small for events in Marin County, since many non-Marin residents thought travel "way over there" was a too far and hard to do. Even the Island Wars in Nicassio, which were the first Wars in the SCA, were poorly attended after the first couple of years till they were stopped in AS XI or XII.
"During all this time I was Seneschal of "The Province in Marin and Sonoma" as it unofficially came to be known. I don't remember what year we first started discussing getting an official name for the province (and here is where some others who may remember could chime in and help), but we did discuss it a whole bunch. Various Provincial officers were eventually acquired and changed from time to time, and during that process, still under my Scheneschal office, as I recall, we acquired Colin MacKensie aka, Colin of Duntamknackan as Privincial Harold. Before and then through his efforts Caldarium became known by several names. These include, but not necessarily in order:(a) "Danes Law" a reference to my being a Dane and it being "my territory", I suppose, as resident Duke - Duke Richard having moved away long before, (b) Kin Tyre- an official and I believe our first, Kingdom designation - meaning "Lands End" as I recall, in reference to Point Reyes being the most westward land within the Counties of Marin and Sonoma, (c) "Caldarium" our current official Kingdom name. The name was derived from the mundane image of Marin County being a place of Hot tubs and Peacock feathers, so these were incorporated in both the name (Caldarium - a tub of hot water) and the Provincial arms (Peacock feathers surrounding a hot tub). This was adopted near or after Colin ceased to be Provincial Herald and I believe after Wolfscairn was separated from the Province and "took" Sonoma County with it.
"At this point I was no longer Seneschal and I don't recall who took the office from me or when it changed hands, but I think the office of Caldarium Seneschal went to Sir Mark von dem Falkensfenn first, then to Alaric of Hraefncrag under a former name he used then (?), then back to Sir Mark, then to others over the intervening years and finally back to Sir Mark at present. I seem to recall other Seneschal officers holding the Caldarium office, but don't recall them in detail, since my SCA participation declined during the decades of the mid '80's, and through the '90's.
"I hope others can add dates and other information to this and correct any misrecollections I may have made." -- Henrik of Havn
"Do you know why Ceantyre is listed, and where it was, then? The name shows up in The Page, and in other newsletters as the area that is now Caldarium, and the whole bit about the First Island War is attributed to Ceantyre, not Caldarium." -- Hirsch von Henford
"Well perhaps you didn't understand what I was trying to say about Marin and Sonoma County. I was the first seneschal and it didn't have any particular name at first. When I said I was the first one for Caldarium, I meant the area that ultimately became Caldarium. I don't believe I was Seneschal when that name was formally adopted, however, so my earlier statement is technically incorrect. I was holding the office of seneschal (as I recall) when Eoin MacKenzie proposed the earlier name (Kin Tyre or Cean Tyre) and it was voted in by the residents of the Province. I never was enamored of the name, but the majority of residents voted for it and it was adopted and registered. The name had several different spellings depending on who was doing it and Kin Tyre is the way I recall seeing it spelled, but Ceantyre is another version I had forgotten. In any case it's pronounced "Kin Tire (as in rubber wheel)" and that's what I was trying to indicate. The first Island Wars should perhaps be attributed to "The Province in Marin" rather then Cean Tyre, since that name didn't get adopted till after they were discontinued (or nearly so), and early TI's which preceded Kingdom newsletters when the Wars started refered to the area by the "Province in Marin" terminology. Either that or the current name - Caldarium, seems more appropriate than Ceantyre - unless of course it was adopted before 1977 - which I think is the last year we held a War there." -- Henrik of Havn"Digging through the old issues of TI, The Page, and other variations (in the mimeograph era), I am finding no mention of the name of any branch in the Caldarium area. I would guess that Wilhelm von Schlüssel inserted the name "Ceantyre" into his History, because that was the name of the group before it later became Caldarium. Indeed, looking at old mimeographed issues of The Page, the branch is listed as 'Province in Marin' (August-September, AS 1972, AS VII)." -- Hirsch von Henford"Digging through herald's records, I see that "Ceantyre, Province of" was changed in November of 1979 to "Beyond the Rainbows, Province of", and then in March of 1982, it was changed to "Caldarium, Province of". Just thought I'd mention it (and make sure that "Beyond the Rainbows" wasn't forgotten ...). I see that the herald's records do not note the date of the registration of Ceantyre in the Ordinary and Armorial database. Odd." -- Hirsch von Henford(Later) "I mentioned this briefly to Frederick of Holland, and he believes that "Ceantyre" was never actually registered, which is interesting in that there is an official entry in the Ordinary and Armorial database for it, but the only entry is the change to "Beyond the Rainbows". -- Hirsch von Henford
"I think as he suggests, either Sir Mark or myself was the first Seneschal of Calderium. I think it was me, but my memories of that period in time are pretty much faded. Ask Sir Mark, who may have a better recollection. After I was Seneschal, a fellow whose mundane name was Francis (he also became the wearer of the Peacock Cape as the Provincial Herald), replaced me (perhaps someone can remember his SCA name, as it escapes me). I believe Sir Mark then replaced him."As for the Wolfscairn connection, which began in 1978 with a visit to Santa Rosa from Sir Andrew of Riga and perhaps, Duke Henrik, coming up from Caentyre. After Wolfscairn was formed, I was the Seneschal for a while (I don't think I was the first one, however), then Francis and others. As I recall, a portion of the folks playing in Wolfscairn also were playing in Ceantyre, prior to the name change. Some of us "escaped" from Wolfscairn and made the transition to Ceantyre. I also have heard rumors that the Wolfscairn treasury migrated south, as well.
"Shortly thereafter, the name was changed to Land Beyond the Rainbows and then ultimately to Calderium." -- Alaric of Hraefncrag
"I remember visiting Wolf'scairn during one of their early meetings as Provincial Seneschal. I don't think Duke Andrew attended with me. I believe it was held at the home of Valerie Fraser {Duchess Leticia de Scocia(aka Lachlin nic Colin,Letitia de Scotia)?} who was one of the founding members and may have been seneschal of Wolf'scairn then."Francis "Small", comes to mind.
"I remember "Land Beyond the Rainbows, just not the sequence od date." -- Henrik of Havn
"The initial meeting was held at Valerie's apartment on Cherry St. in Santa Rosa. If Duke Andrew wasn't there, he was at a subsequent meeting. I remember meeting him at that time. She was, indeed, the Seneschal of Wolfscairn then or shortly thereafter."Francis Small is corrrect, as well. His wife, who was also active was named Terri. The also had a young son, Damien." -- Alaric of Hraefncrag
"I was never the seneschal before 1997 or '98. In the late '70s and mid '80s I was the provincial herald, a post which at that time carried the title of Peacock Pursuivant in the West Kingdom College of Heralds. It was during my tenure in that office that a large number of peacock feathers, bought by Dan Lewis (SCA name?) in an unsuccessful attempt to cash in on the fleeting fame of the county (see below) was donated to the province. Some of them were made into a lovely circular cape for the provincial herald by Lady Narissa of Hartswood. This cape is currently in my keeping."A few of the other seneschals I can remember were Childric des Vosges (late '70s-early '80s), Kay the Innocent (dates?), Bianca del Draco (?- 1997 or '98) then me, then Beatrice Merryfield, then me again. I think maybe Kathleen Treanor was also seneschal at one time. And maybe Rowena d'Anjou?
"I seem to remember that although the province voted in favor of the name Kintyre, the College of Heralds refused to accept it because it is an actual mundane place (a peninsula on the southwest coast of Scotland). In dispair, or perhaps resignation, (or was it in spite of the sort that leads one to cut off one's nose?), that the whole, now embarassing episode of the Land Beyond the Rainbows then occured. Some time thereafter 60 Minutes, or one of those news programs, aired an episode on Marin county called "I Want It All Now" which emphasized and sensationalized the supposedly hedonistic attitude of the area and which included a scene of people in hot tubs being stroked with peacock feathers. This inspired both the current name and the device." -- Mark von dem Falkensfenn
Description of the history of this branch is a summary from the small amount of information available, by Hirsch von Henford. Location information is from the back of The Page.
The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).