The History of the Kingdom of The West
The Fortieth Year

"My wife (Aldith Angharad St. George) and I attended on Saturday.

It was warm, but a cool breeze was wafting through the site most of the day, which helped a lot. Without the breeze it probably would have been unbearable.

First court of the day started a bit later than expected, but this often happens. I can't relate all of the business in court, but, there were a few highlights. The Baron and Baroness of Darkwood, Erich der Helmschmied and Liesl Helmschmied were admitted to the Order of the Pelican as one of the first pieces of business of the day. A bit later in court, Sir Thomas Edmund of Ruislip (current Earl Marshal) was also admitted to the Order of the Pelican. Somewhere during court, and I can't remember the exact sequence, the Bard of the West, Veronica da Lugano was admitted to the Order of the Rose Leaf.

Congratulations to all, and to those who received recognitions whose names I do not remember. Sorry. I am sure the official court reports will handle all those I missed.

Then a break occurred, and eventually Coronation. Not a lot to say about Coronation -- seen 20 or 30 of them, you've seen them all. <ggg> (This is not a jab at Their Majesties, just that Coronation, while a spiffy ceremony, and a very important one of course, is not one I have a lot to comment on most of the time ...)

First Court of Jade and Eliana included the Knighting of Leohtulf of the Silver Hills, which was the main reason I was attending the event. I was pleased as punch to be able to witness this, as he is a good friend, and well deserving of this recognition.

Again, various other things occurred, including taxes from Rivenoak, and a bit later a change of Baron and Baroness.

We had planned on leaving, but then found that Their Majesties were going to speak about the scribal situation in evening court, so we stuck around, and right glad we were to have done so.

During the afternoon various activities occurred, although most of what I did was hang out with friends and chat, and collect photos from various folk for the West History site, which I hope to start updating soon. My former apprentice Juan Santiago and some others were out fencing, and three of these (including Juan) completed their Journeyman trials, which were announced in evening court. There were arts and sciences competitions, and all the usual "stuff", including a Queen's Champion Tourney.

Evening court included Their Majesties bringing forward the former Chancellor of the College of Scribes Aja du Jardin, and Richard de Camville, and announcing what needed to be done with the scribes. I am recounting this based on my recollection, and if I get anything wrong, I apologize in advance, but this is what I remember:

• The award scrolls the scribes create are a gift from the Crown to the award recipient. They are a gift from the scribes to the Crown. And there is no time limit on when they may be completed.
• The scribes are officers of the Kingdom. They work as officers, within the office -- just as the Marshalls work within the office of the Marshallate, the Heralds work within the office of the College of Heralds, and so on.
• There is a moratorium on all the discussions and fu between the Crown and the Scribes that happened in the previous 4 months.
• The Scribes are to go back to status quo for now.
• The interim chancellor is Richard de Camville, and Aja will advise him, so that the scribes office will continue to run smoothly.
• Between now and October Crown the scribes will work together and present Their Majesties with options for how to build a new charter for the scribes, possibly changing things, possibly not changing things.
• At Crown (or one hopes shortly after) Their Majesties will decide on the course the scribes will take based on the options presented to Them.

Of course, other things happened in court, including the former Baron/ess of Rivenoak being named Baron and Baroness of the Court of the West, but for some of us, after the Scribal issues were resolved, everything that happened in court was a bit of a blur ...

What a day! There was a lot of partying of course in the evening, and we ended up leaving around 9:30, much later than planned, but very satisfied with a good day ..." -- Hirsch von Henford

Jade of Starfall Per chevron inverted wavy ermine and vert, a double-headed eagle sable and a compass-star argent.

Eliana Fraser Gyronny vert and argent, a leopard sejant within a bordure Or.

Jade's Arms by Khevron Oktavii Tikhikovich Vorotnikov;
Eliana's Arms by Vigdís vestfirzka

See photos of this event

Description of this event (if any), taken from The Page, or from memory of at least one person who attended the event.

The West Kingdom History Website was created by and is maintained by Hirsch von Henford (mka Ken Mayer).