The History of the Kingdom of The West
The Third Year

Summer Coronation and Crown Tourney
June 23, 1968 AS III

Click here to see flier for this event

Held in Mills College, Oakland, California. Richard and La Rana were crowned by Siegfried and Marynel. King Richard admitted Diana Listmaker to the Order of the Laurel. Crown Lists were held. Duke Henrik of Havn defeated Sir Caradoc ap Cador. Leanne of Maywood was Duke Henrik’s lady. Sir Caradoc ap Cador gave the MGC to Sir Siegfried von Hoflichskeit (and thus it returned to its maker).


Richard of Mont Royal
Sable, in saltire a double-bitted
axe and a Celtic cross Or. 		     
La Rana
Vert, on a cushion Or
a frog sejant affronty
vert, crowned Or.
Arms drawn by Nicholas Bawcock of Petersfield, used with permission
Arms colored by Aja du Jardin

Annotations:
“Lot happened at this tourney. Jon de Cles came as a jester because Richard told him that he had no need of a Seneschal. Jon used the "a jester unemployed is nobody's fool" line a lot.”
     “Frank Herbert and a photographer showed up at this tourney to get pictures, but failed to get any they could use, so they organized the feast discussed below. It was an excellent article on the SCA, it helped that Frank was a close personal friend of several members.”
     “Siegfried won the MGC because he got really hurt and continued to fight on. I think his knee was badly whacked, but I'm not sure, I remember Richard telling him that he should run around the tourney field to "run it off." Diana's Laurel was the scheme of Richard and La Rana, Henrik and Leanne, and my lady and myself. We felt that women were getting a short shrift in the SCA and it was time that Diana's contributions were recognized, both for the sake of those contributions and to set a precedent.“
     “Richard was rather frustrated at having to be on the throne instead of fighting, and further frustrated because he managed to badly burn himself doing some blacksmithing a day or so before the tourney. The shield rim he was working on slipped off the forge and he caught it in his hand. Bad idea. So his left hand (his sword hand) was well wrapped in bandages.” – Stefan de Lorraine

“We (Richard and I) were trying to curve some galvanized steel straps (14 ga, 1 1/2" wide by several feet long) for shield face edging. Richard picked up a piece which was still too hot and burned his hand.” – Henrik of Havn
“To dull the frustration and pain, he drank a lot of wine. When a belly dancer showed up, he stopped the lists to watch the belly dancer. There were some other distractions as well.”
     “Notably, there was an abduction (I'm afraid I've forgotten who was abducted--likely Leanne) led by Edwin, Caradoc and Siegfried and a couple of squires. As I approached the bridge they had taken their victim across (I dunno if that bridge still exists on the Mills campus, they may have torn it down and/or replaced it) Siegfried was attacked by Hap Butler (can't remember Hap's medieval name) and went out of my field of view. I crossed the bridge with others, and we killed Caradoc and his squire (Herbert? I forget exactly). Edwin went down against a half dozen attackers (which were about as many helmets as were available at the time). Then those of us who were about to bring the lady back to the field heard a hush fall on the onlookers. We turned to find Siegfried approaching (my wife, Luise, has a great black and white she did of this scene taken from a photograph by Jon the Lean). He killed me, he killed Jamie Oakenshield, he killed Henrik (or was Henrik killed earlier – I forget). People where dragging helmets off the fallen and putting them on and going in to fight Siegfried, and dying. Richard dragged a shield over his bandaged arm (which was actually his sword hand) and went in, and died.” – Stefan de Lorraine
[I'm afraid I've forgotten who was abducted – likely Leanne] “Yes, it was she.” – Henrik of Havn
“Jamie Oakenshield's young (15? 16?)squire, Earl of Morris, was watching. He had always admired Dave/Siegfried and was just enjoying the show. Jamie rose up from his death place (those of us who had died had a great view of the show) and said "Earl, take that helmet (pointing to his own) and that sword (a zwiehander, about which more in a bit) and kill him." Earl, with great reluctance, put on the helmet, took up the sword, and faked Siegfried out of his boots.”
     “Johnny Chambers, the Little Green Dinosaur, did a great cartoon of Marynel leading Earl away saying "Come along dear, we mustn't be here when Uncle Dave wakes up..."”
     “The zwiehander was a very long hilted two-hander with very long quillons that could be moved around with the speed of a quarterstaff. Earl was one of the major talents with the weapon, which was later banned for being too light for the (very real) damage it could do.
     “What with the distractions and all, that tourney became known as the first "Long Day's Tourney Into Night."” – Stefan de Lorraine

The cartoon below provided by Earl of Morris, is a “Little Green Dragon” cartoon (mentioned in Stefan's notes above). Earl notes: “I was the squire of Sir Jamie Oakenshield, the father of the Zweihander. It could very well have been the tourney where I was dubbed ‘the Fierce’ by Diana, but it is so long ago I just don't remember.”

The caption reads "Come along dear, you don't want to be here when Uncle Dave wakes up ..." (Uncle Dave is a reference to David Thewlis, aka Siegfried von Hoflichskeit.)

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).

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