The History of the Kingdom of The West
The Second Year

Held in the Mills College Student Union, Oakland, California. Jon de Cles and Mediocrates of Hellas (Israel ben Jacob) were the autocrats. With the money from the Pleasure Faire materials were purchased to make two crowns. Karina of the Far West donated some fine jewels, fur and cloth. Jon de Cles designed the crowns and Beverly Hodghead made them. King Henrik and Queen Leanne presided over the Grand March and crowned William and Sheryl as King and Queen with the new Royal Crowns of State. (Previously the crowns used had been personal ones, belonging to the individual monarchs.) King William created the title of Duke for those who had twice been King. For the first members of this rank, since there were no kings in the first year, this was amended to read those who had twice won a tourney. Richard of Mont Real was made a Duke dated September 30, when he stepped off the throne, and Fulk de Wyvern and Henrik of Havn were made Dukes as of that day. The Order of the Rose was created for those who had been Queen, or who had been the lady to a fighter who had won one of the first tourneys, when there were no queens. Thus Marynel of Darkhaven, Mary of Tamar, Ann of San Anselmo, Diana Listmaker, Wendryn of Townsend, and Leanne of Maywood became members of the Order. King William created the rank of Master of Arms for those who are worthy of knighthood but for personal reasons may not swear fealty to the Crown. Richard of Mont Real and Edwin Bersark were made the first Masters of Arms. King William established the Order of Knighthood on a firm basis by knighting Bela of Eastmarch, Fulk de Wyvern, Jamie of the Oakenshield, Karl vom Acht, Kerry the Rock, Siegfried von Hoflichskeit, and Steven MacEanruig. Sir Ardral Argo verKaeysc, Duke Henrik of Havn, and King William himself were already knights. Thus there were now a dozen belted fighters. The sign of a knight was a white belt and a metal chain around the neck. The sign of a Master of Arms was a white baldric. King William created the Order of the Laurel for outstanding artistic achievement, and admitted Beverly Hodghead and Alfonso de Castile as founding members. They were to be addressed as Master and known as Masters of the Laurel. Knights, Masters of Arms, and Masters of the Laurel were to have equal precedence, with Dukes being higher in precedence and Ladies of the Rose being somewhat lower in precedence. Then King William and Queen Sheryl stepped down in favor of the Lord of Misrule. The evening festivities were begun in a grand manner with the medieval wedding of Stefan de Lorraine and Luise of the Phoenix. Revelry followed, with the Consortium Antiguum performing, and Njali jarla Styrbjornsoni playing the pipes. (Steven MacEanruig and Fulk de Wyvern were not present and were knighted in absentia.)

Read Ceremony for creation of Dukes, Knights, Masters of Arms, and Laurels

See documentation and a scan of the original Ceremony, in toto, by Therasia von Tux

See photos of the Wedding of Stefan de Lorraine and Luise of the Phoenix

See photos of the event

William the Silent Or, a natural panther passant guardant sable.

Sheryl of Thespis (Also known as: Amina Sherana de Talavera) Azure, a swan naiant argent crowned Or.

Arms drawn by Nicholas Bawcock of Petersfield, used with permission,
Arms Colored by Beatrix zum Dunklenturm

Annotations:
“I'm not sure where the money came from for the crowns. At the same time that we were being Robin Hood and putting on a Chess game, Bjo of Griffin organized the Medieval Crafts Guild and we were all selling various article, like clay viking drinking horns that Henrik made, and Bjo's spiced tea, and Luise was doing sketches, and so forth. As an institution, the Guild lasted one year without the Trimbles (who moved back to Los Angeles shortly after the turn of the year) under the supervision of myself and my lady, and possibly a third Faire under the tutelage of Geraldine of Toad Hall before it petered out and various people did their own various booths for several years afterward. Whether any of the Guild money went into the SCA's coffers I no longer remember.
     “Of course, the whole idea of knights and dukes and laurels and ladies of the rose was not King William's. He was busy studying. Jon de Cles, Edwin, and Siegfried came up with most of it. I was asked what I thought of the idea and said that it was unnecessary because everyone was already considered a lord or lady until they proved themselves otherwise. I've always wondered if that comment got me crossed off the potential knights list ... And there were no arms associated with these titles. Actual arms and the registration of same was the contribution of Randall of Hightower (Randal Garrett) who was just getting ready to move to the area at the time – I don't believe he was at 12th Night.
     “One person at an SCA event for the first time, however, was Jon the Lean. John Edgerton was an old classmate of Luise whom she invited to the wedding, expecting to get a pro forma reply of sorry, can't make it, too far from San Diego (where they had gone to school together). Imagine our surprise to find that he was now living with his brother in San Jose and was working on a costume so he could come to the wedding. He came, he saw, he joined.
     “Certainly a happy chance that added a member to the group who has contributed quite a bit over the years.
     “My lady and my wedding actually preceded the entire Twelfth Night. First came the ceremony, then the reception, which happened to coincide with 12th Night and provided an immense saving for my family's pocket book. The suggestion to do this came from Lady Ellen Hodghead, wife of Beverly and mother of Marynel, with whom Luise was living at the time.
     “So first the wedding, then the court, then the festivities (Luise and I left fairly early in the festivities, strangely enough). I accepted Steven MacEanruig's knighthood for him (he may still have been Steven of the Ashenlands at the time) and, I think, mailed him his belt and chain. Or perhaps I held them for him. I forget at this point.
     “This may be the first event with a belly dancer. Somewhere around here Diana Listmaker did some belly dancing.
     “Lord of Misrule for this event was a gentleman named Jerry Miramontes (whom I knew in passing at San Francisco State), who was in clerical robes and calling himself the Archbishop of Tel Aviv. He had two ladies with him, who both became the Lord of Misrule's consorts. One went on to become the lady and queen and duchess La Rana of Richard the Short. Jerry and the other lady faded away...
     “All I can think of at the moment ...” – Stefan de Lorraine, whose memories of the occasion are a bit one-sided...

“Steve & Luise's wedding was at 6 PM (by invitation, as I remember - and they invited me, having gotten to know me since RenFaire), then the SCA Revel was from 8 PM to Midnight, all in the Mills (old) Student Union - a splendid hall that would hold a revel for a typical barony today. I'm sure Diana was much involved in the creation of the new orders also. Someone (Siegfried, perhaps) once told me that after the small gathering of key members had decided on dukedom & knights & masters of arms, that Diana had said something like, "OK, but what do we give Bev Hodghead?" The Laurel was probably Diana's idea (let's ask her) and I think Master Beverly was designated "Master Artificer" & Master Alfonso de Castile (leader of the Consortium Antiquum - early music group - and also teacher of dances from Arbeau) "Master of Music". These specific titles for Laurels were probably dropped after the next two (Diana - Mistress of Arts; Lin - Master Baker - who baked bread and gave it to everyone at each tourney).
     “Refreshments at 12th Night II were modest, apple juice & cookies, as I recall, but David Hodghead brought a suckling pig (I think) which he shared with all who wished. (Major feasting began a year later at 12th Night III, when Geraldine cooked a whole hog & whole goat & lots more stuff for 300 people.) Royalty was not revered so much in those times, I suppose, as I remember the Lord of Misrule (the self-styled Archbishop of Tel-Aviv) decreeing that the King be set on the mantel of the great fireplace, while the Queen be set on his lap. They were good sports about it, and as newcomers may have thought it to be usual practice.
     “Artisan's Guild is what I remember Bjo calling it. Anyway, it met at Bjo's house twice a month and I always went because it was the only regular activity happening (beside 4 tourneys a year & 12th Night). It was at one of those meetings that Karina helped me design my device & Bjo agreed to make a banner of it for 12th Night. That was on top of completely costuming the King & Queen. Later (at RenFaires 3 & 4 in 1969 & 1970) Geraldine headed a reorganized "Associated Guilds" that ran several games and merchant booths, and held meetings at Toad Hall (386 Alcatraz Ave., Oakland) throughout the year.
     “Probably some small percentage of proceeds from stuff sold at the SCA booth at RenFaire went to group use. The crowns were of something like sheet brass, I think. (Henrik & Siegfried carried those original crowns on cushions when 6 of us KSM's preceded King James & Queen Verena in the 11 kingdom royal procession on May 1, AS XXI, at 20 Year Celebration. Of course, Jim & Ginny were wearing the newer silver crowns designed and crafted by Henrik.) I don't know who has them now, but the materials cost of the first crowns must not have been great, but we were all poor then, folks put nickels & dimes in the passed helm, and annual subscribing membership cost $1.50 (I think subscriptions were first sold at Ren Faire, because John Trimble told me 18 years later that I had been the first ever to pay money to belong to the SCA. I have never inquired further on this, however.)
     “So what do others remember? What do I remember wrongly? We've already lost several key people to (mostly) untimely deaths, so it would be well to get it all down right while enough of us can still recall it.” – Robert of Dunharrow

[The crowns were of something like sheet brass ...] “Hammered sheet copper!” – Henrik of Havn

“The only thing that I can add to the Twelfth Night II story is that the Lord of Misrule relented and let the King get down off of the mantle when the soles of his shoes started to melt.” – Kevin Peregrynne

“Twelfth Night: The Mills College hall was great. I'm not sure which event it was for (but since it was cold, it may have been 12th Night), but I remember gathering mussels with Lady Geri and others for steaming up for a feast. I also recall Caradoc loudly complaining that the roast goat was spoiled ... but he was mistaken.” – Astrid of Hawk Ridge

[Steven MacEanruig and Fulk de Wyvern were not present and were knighted in absentia.] “Fulk must have been there because I was there and part of the wedding party. Still have the old newspaper clipping with the pictures.” – Mary of Tamar

From an email: September 29, 2004:
"Sheryl of Thespis is now known as Countess Amina Sherana de Talavera. She is married to Viscount Sir Morven of Carrick, and they are both active in the Barony of Altavia in Caid." -- Natalya de Foix

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).