abendgules | Entries tagged with cadw

...well, really because I forgot to post it to LJ, after posting it to DWL.

One of our newest attendees at this event recorded the procession, and parts of the tourney, for posterity. I'm very grateful to Rob, who was on site early, and regularly asked 'what needs doing?', and then got on with doing it.

Rob's Youtube

The tourney was heralded very well, with a range of different heralds, many of them new voices to my ear. It was a great delight to me to enjoy the procession from a seat with the populace, watching work I love done well.

Thanks again to

aryanhwy Schwarzdrachen, Lady Efreydis, and the many contributing heralds for this ceremony.

First entry in the procession (watch them in numeric order)

The processional entry that was most enjoyed, and caused the most delight

I have not yet watched all the footage, but it looks like a sizeable representation, including the final.

I post this around the same time of hearing the happy news that Sir Siegfried has won Ealdormerian Crown, for Mistress Ragni

forest_lady. I hope she brings the same joy and energey to this role that she has to so many others in Ealdormere.

Current Mood: pleased

Unexpected things still happened, of course.

Sir Macarius dislocated his shoulder early in the tournament, requiring a trip to hospital, driven by Gwenllian. We did not have an event chirurgeon (not required in this kingdom, and this was way past a first aid kit) but we did have J, an A&E nurse, who happened to be on site, and who could advise us.

Macarius and his consort Lady Izabella spent most of the day at hospital; they returned during feast, with his shoulder returned to its rightful place and his arm slung into his tunic. Not the way anyone wants to spend an event!

Sir Leif took a firm thrust to the face in his last bout in the semi-finals. He was stepping in, one foot in the air but with his weight transferred just as the thrust from Sir Vitus was coming up, and it was a shocker as a result, harder than you'd throw on purpose, and his back and neck were quite sore. Fortunately, it was his last bout in the semi finals.

After being assessed and advised, again J the nurse onsite, he opted not to go to hospital, but swears he will get checked out at home.

goncalves had a short bout of urgent replanning when the gas ranges stopped working. Just as he and the cooks had worked out how to cook everything without the ranges, they found that someone had leaned on the emergency cutoff by the door (positioned at shoulder height). Hurrah! feast as originally planned was back on.

Current Mood: pleased

There were treats for me as steward.

I got the castle gate key to keep overnight, and it honestly was about 6 inches? 8 inches? long - the biggest key I've ever seen. There were standard padlocks on most of the bolts on the doors in the site, but the castle gate still had this whacking great enormous key, and it was fun to use.

The castle has bits of modern retrofitted into the old; storage for a hall full of banquet tables and chairs for instance, is squeezed into the base of one of the towers. So you go through one pointy arched door way, past the spiral stair entrance, unlock the door in front of you, and promptly plunge into complete darkness to reach the inner door, with another bolt...but fortunately you know where the light switch is, and it goes from a mysterious medieval entrance to an utterly banal and modern storage room - though it's round, and in the base of a turret.

A young man introduced himself to me with his SCA membership card - kingdom of Lochac. Milord Huw was on his gap year travels from Politicopolis, staying in Cardiff, and his folks had phoned him to tell him to get his butt to Caerphilly, there was an event on he should go to. So he rolled up with nothing but eyes like dinnerplates and a huge smile of pleasure.

He was prepared to be a punter, I think, but two expat antepodeans, Duncan Kerr and Countess Portia, promptly took him under their wing, found him a gown and feastgear and we added him to feast, and he spent the day basking in a castle, as well as being useful. His delight was palpable, and it made me and everyone around me smile.

We held court in the barbican apartment, which is a large room up a long flight of spiral stairs. Fortunately there was already some benches in the room (strategic, I think, to put seats at the top of a lot of stairs), and though I only carried up 2 benches myself the rest materialised in time for court. This allowed us to dress tables for feast, while running court at the same time.

In the late afternoon sun, their Royal Highnesses, newly invested in court, were facing into the light and squinting, trying not to shade their eyes to look at people. Robert got up and stood in the window, making himself as wide as he could, and provided shade for the 15 minutes or so it took for the sun to move out of their faces. Her Highness Cecilia's coronet sparkled and caught the light like a disco ball.

Court business was brief and to the point - investiture, and some local awards, including an AoA for H, Sir Vitus' son (my callig, artwork by Katherine of Great Chesterford - need to get a scan) and a Fox for HG Alessandre Melusine (my callig, blank by badgersandjam).

The hedgepig scroll was presented, and read in, which was well received, and seems to be gaining a life of its own.

Lady Auriana was given a Lindquistringes, as well as Lady Gwenllian my co-steward - Lady Sarah Asshton's Lindquistringe was presented at feast because she was in the kitchen. I didn't see Auri's scroll but Wenny's was dripping with gold, made by Meisterin Katheryn H.

When you're in court (royal or populace) it's very satisfying to hear approval of awards given, and there was a very rewarding positive murmur when Lady Catherine Weaver was made a member of the Panache - not present, but announced and read in.

TRM gave out Dragon's tears to those who supported the 20 year event. I now hold three Tears (1 for the first Caerphilly event I stewarded, 1 for Raglan, and one now for 20 year), and hope to commission a jeweller of my acquiaintance to make me some enormous medieval brooch for them. :-)

The comedy of court was provided by Sir Clancy, accompanied by his son Jr and Sir Nasr, dressed in their finest 'southern US' regalia, who, in the broadest Texan accent possible, y'all, presented a basket of ;educational goods' to his Majesty. Apparently Sir Sven had travelled with Clancy through southern states, and had asked a lot of questions about local culture.

The goods included a pair of his own overalls, a copy of the Roadkill Cookbook, a Confederate flag, and a white belt painted with Confederate flags - a treasure surely only available in the finest outfitters.

The flags of course prompted hissing from northern US expats, and I don't expect Sven will wear the belt - though he modelled it for the chivalry meeting.

Sunday's activities were quieter than I'd expected, and hoped. Only a few folks decided to fight and fence, and while I had offered to marshal archery, I had not brought loaner equipment, so the Sunday archery didn't happen.

This was disappointing mainly because it was yet another glorious day; I think we need more keen promotion to help a second day of activity after Crown.

The cleanup on Sunday was excellent: I was really pleased, and grateful, for all the help people put in to wash up, pack and break down. It went far faster than I expected, and we had fewer forgotten items than I'd thought we would considering how huge the site was.

Current Mood: pleased

Crown tourneys and Coronations are some of my favourite events - I've enjoyed attending them for the drama on the field, and the pleasure of the ceremony. And I've loved being steward of them - enabling all that good stuff to happen.

But I think, honestly, Gwenllian and I and our respective shires of Mynydd Gwyn and Thamesreach did a really good job, and our good work was made glorious, absolutely glorious, by the venue and the beautiful weather.

Thank goodness for an unexpected and delightful mild, sunny weekend in south Wales - it would have been a different experience in 2 degrees C and drizzle, which I what I'd banked on and and told people to dress for! It was sunny enough that people's faces and bare shoulders had caught sun by the afternoon. In October, in Wales? It had to be magic.

The warm weather meant people could explore the castle at their leisure; they could sit comfortably to watch the tourney in the sun; we weren't continually closing doors to keep out drafts.

In the evening, Sir Vitus lit a fire in a firebowl, and folks sat around the fire for hours into the night. It made for a wonderful atmosphere full of happy people who were willing to be pleased; it was all I could hope for.

Several people stopped me through the day to say what a wonderful event it was. I was pleased, of course; I realised most of the commenters had not been to Caerphilly before, while for folks in southern Insulae Draconis the castle, a bit like Raglan, had become just another venue. I was taking for granted all that was so pleasing to the guests. It was a reminder to step back and remind yourself; this is cool. It's a medieval event in a castle.

Time seemed to run away from me - every time I checked, it was half an hour to an hour later than I expected. I felt like I'd barely finished lunch when we had to start laying out tables for feast and setting up for court. By 8.30pm on the other hand, it had turned around and felt like midnight.

Current Mood: pleased

Before DW I mentioned a fine small event at Tretower court, including its extraordinary feast.

Here's a view of the feast hall, courtesy of Lord Ozbeg - taken as the hall is being tidied after the meal - short of its full glory. If anyone has pics that aren't limited to Face~~crack~~ Facebook, I'd love to post them.

Current Mood: chipper

Last weekend at Tretower court, camping with his Majesty and his family, served as an excellent shakedown trip, to remind us both of how we assemble camping kit, what bits we're likely to forget, and how thankful we are that our stakes are made of foot-long lengths of steel rebar, rather than authentic wooden pegs. Pegs lovely, yes, but not nearly as secure as rebar.

The high winds on the weekend still knocked down the awning on Sir Vitus' tent, but the rest remained secure (with some remedial pounding-in after 2am), and only a single candlestick suffered from the collapse. AND, fortunately, no pavilion came down completely.

Thanks to the weather, it wasn't as restful an event as it could have been, but it was still excellent. Some highlights:

- taking part in the court to elevate

goncalves to the Order of the Dragon's Steel, before a home crowd of friends

- witnessing

nusbacher being made a Herald Extraordinary by Schwazdrachen's hand, with the title Sans Merci. She had the steel, while offering her homage to the king, to ask for a wage for this honour(!), putting His Majesty somewhat on the spot, but agreed to a settlement to be hammered out in due course.

- trying out Cut and Thrust with his highness Cernac - it was a great learning weekend for me, for

maredudd1066 and also for Don Domin, one of the recent arrivals in the kingdom. Maredudd was dancing up and down - C&T is the Goldilocks combat for him, just right for his frame, and fits well with previous combat training.
Domin's former homeland in Outlands holds no great fondness for C&T, and had resisted it for a long time, so this was his first time to try it out in earnest with Cernac and Duarte, which was a delight to watch.

It was really brilliant to see experienced fencers working through their familiar carefully-learned moves with the added bonus of percussive cuts - they all looked right, like something out of a cross-period 15th-16th century manual, and were clearly like pigs in the mire, enjoying themselves enormously.

On Sunday morning, we practiced in one of the upstairs chambers at Tretower, which was a long gallery lit by windows set deep in the walls - it was like a beautiful fencing salon. Fabulous. Hopefully some of Domin's pics to follow.

- And of course, the centrepiece was the feast, served by

jpgsawyer and

edith_hedingham - 15th c feast, in a 15th c furnished hall. Everyone had clearly read the etiquette book and made an all-out effort to meet the standard - napkin on one shoulder, serving by order of precedence, taking food with the left hand, eating with the right hand. It was very cool and there was not one single bottle or can on a single table - everything looked right.

In the crash space hall,

sharikkamur did extraordinary service in providing breakfast for the masses, including cooked breakfast and waffles (NOM NOM NOM). Knowing that it was essentially only a tea-kitchen, I think she was mad to offer, and I think by the end of the weekend, she knew she was mad too, but the atmosphere in the hall was very cheery and convivial, which was wonderful.

There are two more revels planned at Tretower for this year, and they can only get better.

Current Mood: chipper

Raglan Fair went swimmingly, and even dodged the worst of the Welsh weather. It was the best yet, I think, and certainly the smoothest-running.
However, I spent most of last week still recovering, and didn't have the energy to post.
Now don't have enough time, as I'm counting hours til we head to Coronet in just about the most inaccessible site imaginable in Ireland.
Suffice to say: awesome. Hope to fill in the gaps after this weekend.
Hopefully some folks who don't stash their photos inaccessibly on facebook can post some links!

Current Mood: satisfied

I've posted less of late from the office. Since I've asked, repeatedly, to have more responsibility, it behooves me to actually, um, be responsible. And boy, I've been responsible this week. Whew.

When I get home, I sometimes check my e-mail, but I find it so easy to fall into the abyss that is the Intawebs, I try to stay off the laptop at home.

However, I've had a very full month or so of fine mostly-medieval-like activities that deserve note.

Revel at Tretower House, in South Wales, and shooting (below)
July 1st celebration in Trafalgar Square
Battle of Brothers, and shooting NEW!
Sotheby's visit
Big Dance at RADA

Tretower
The clever Dom Duarte goncalves has continued to build good relations with CADW, and arranged for a free booking at Tretower House in south Wales, not far from Raglan and Hay-on-Wye (the book village, known for its literary festival in the spring). It's in a beautiful small valley, and you can see why a nobleman would want his tower in the centre of the valley - uninterrupted views of all the hills around him. The air is a mix of garden and sheep pasture smells.

The sheep are very skittish, especially considering they have strangers trudging through the corner of their field to reach the tower almost daily. On the other side of the house is a small pasture and a tiny stable for two small ponies and a couple of donkeys.

We've visited Tretower before, but not since CADW refurbished its main hall with wool hangings, a beautiful painted canvas covering the hall wall behind the high table, sturdy trestle tables and benches, and some fine cupboards.

The hall has been subdivided with additional walls, shortening it slightly, to create some new kitchen staging areas, specifically a space for butts, and for the pantler. The house used to have two additional wings, possibly the original bakehouse and brewery, but they were knocked down in the early 20th century. Their outline is still preserved in the garden, where the paths mark their shape distinct from the grassed areas.

The kitchen and prep areas have also been furnished with more tables and benches, new chests, and lots of table settings, jugs, platters and kitchen implements.

The SCA and other groups have actually used the kitchen in the past - some selected trusted cooks have been allowed to use the hearth to cook meals, and one of the finest meals I've enjoyed was prepared here by Master Paul, Thomas Flamanc and my lord Robert. However, at the moment, the chimney is home to some protected species of bats, and all fires in the chimney are banned til they move on.

At this weekend, this didn't slow down Thomas Flamanc and Lady Edith, who set up Thomas' raised cooking box and spit, and set to making a range of fine foods for lunch and dinner. Lunch included lentils with onions, and elderflower fritters, among other delicacies.

Dinner was a fabulous rich goat stew and a compound salad by jpgsawyer , cold roasted leg of lamb by Sir Vitus, and two different forms of gooseberries - one a 15th c version, almost a gooseberry custard with eggs and cream, and a 16th c version with butter and breadcrumbs, by jpgsawyer and edith_hedingham, and Paul and Anne respectively. Both were cooked, and both were amazing each in their own ways.

One of the reasons for me going was to enable archery to take place - Mynydd Gwyn have purchased a couple of straw butts, and we set one up for practice in the corner of the garden. After the public left, we moved it to the shaded part of the field, and measured out the distances for a royal round for Duarte, Heinrich and me to shoot. I surprised myself by shooting 60 on a royal round - best score I've shot in years, and certainly my best ever on a RR with a longbow.

Heinrich's form improved a lot over the weekend (though he's rather excitable and stops paying attention to his form halfway through an end), and he was still at it on Sunday, so it must still be fun. I find it a bit hard to judge if he's enjoying himself - he's a funny sort of kid.

Milady Anne and I puttered on our respective instruments over the weekend - she has proper renaissance recorders and takes lessons, while I'm tootling a tin whistle. Yes, it's post-period, but dang, it's easy, and louder than a recorder, even if it's a bit brassy. I'm hoping to play for dancers at Raglan fair this year.

The treat of the weekend was sleeping in the hall - setting up our rope bed and sleeping in the large upper hall in one wing. It was cool and comfortable enough for a summer sleeping bag, and was a joy to wake up in.

Robert, Vitus and Duarte are full of plans for event bids for this site - summer Coronet, or possibly a summer coronation. The catch with the coronet is that two weeks later is Raglan fair, and most people are only willing to trek all the way to Wales once a year.

We didn't want to leave, any of us. We ate a mountain of splendid leftovers (after a fine breakfast as well!) before rather slowly packing our bags into the assorted vehicles.

Photos are by Robert, hosted on the Armour Archive.