Beneath the Saturday Sonne gathered the Ladies of Carolingia upon the Felding Field to judge the Seventh Ladies' Champion Tourney, 15 October A.S. XVIII. The weather was cool, not cold, and untraditionally sunny; good Tourney weather for those of us who move about under piled metal and leather. The Tourney drew more than a score of contenders and many spectators from Carolingia, Ballyconn, and as far away as Bridge.
Challenges were thick, the List crowded, and the combat well executed. The List featured his Grace the Duke and his Majesty the King, a Master and a handful of Squires, as well as those less high-named. After conferring, the Ladies of Carolingia chose Lord Sebastien as their Seventh Champion, noting his inestimable constant courtesy in and out of the List, Tourney, and commonplace daily life. Eirik Lambeson the Were-sheep was declared Winner at the Tourney, with the most victories in the List, and was prized with a goblet. Waatchu Will is given Honorable Mention for having an equal number of wins, but also an additional loss.
This year's Ladies' Footrace, run in its traditional manner without book, was judged by our Baron Sir Patri du Chat Gris, and won by Mistress Aerolyn, of Felding.
During the brief court, Baron Sir Patri du Chat Gris renewed his oath of fealty to the Crown of the East with King Viktor. The Carolingian Peasant's Guild paid their annual tribute to the Baron, led for the last time by the good Dienstmann Johannes aus Nieranstein. The Baron received a crown of leaves, six eggs, nuts, herbs, a basket, and a civilized rock, suitable as a foundation for a very small church. Eowyn Eilonwy, secretary to the Great Council at Carolingia, was called before his Majesty and Awarded Arms. The Lady (feel free to refer to her as such) is still reported to be floating several inches above the floor.
Thus passed pleasantly the Seventh Ladies' Champion Tourney before the eyes of this chronicler:
Eredan Kolman
(With profound apologies to scholars and poets everywhere)
Give ear, good gentles, and hear how it happened
That to Carolingia came warriors wondrous,
Outfitted for fighting. The women watched, willing
In courteous conflict their champion to choose.
Brightly the sun shone on bludgeoning battlers.
Duke Vis and King Viktor dealt many a death-blow.
Chilling the challenges done on that day;
Down to defeat would-be diners on weresheep went.
Sword-song soon settled whose stench strongest smelled.
Mushashi's Mushashi, and Normans are Normans;
Helm style and shine were debated by blows.
Soon, sunset burnished the battle-stained bucklers.
Lambeson was victor, whose victims Valkyries had
Hurried to heaven. All honor the heroes. Yet,
Elsewhere the ladies awarded their laurels:
Sebastien Left-Hand's fine manner found favor,
As well as his fighting. (Oh, fortunate man!)
Light-hearted lasses in foot-racing reveled --
Fleet Kristen of Felding passed all for the prize.
Next came the court of King Viktor the Valiant,
Great granter of rings, he gave Eowyn arms.
Patri and 'Hannes, peers both, pledged their fealty;
Then came Carolingia's court, that of Chat Gris.
The carls of the Cat-lord fine fruits of their fields gave,
Completing their cov'nant by bringing betimes a
Cloister-stone, captured and carted back, baron's-geld.
Hide it away til the hue-and-cry halts...
Hailed we House Rrathclewyn, born in our borders:
Phillip, Fitzdexter, and Elinor, too.
(One name I forget, for my mead-horn was full once.
Pray, pity the poet whose thirst exceeds skill.)
Thank we then, good-folk, the Gods for good fortune,
Good weather, good battle, good friends, and good fun,
Arianwen and Ki-lin, whose kindly exertions
Were lent to this last list ere leafless times come.
[Author's signature illegible]
"I arrived at Wellesley having heard vaguely of the SCA from someone in Maine and decided that I was going to look for it one of these days. Second week at Wellesley they had pork chops at dinner, and I'm kind of weird, I like to eat my pork chops with my fingers. So I sat off in a corner of the dining hall all by myself so that I would not offend anyone while I ate my pork chops with my fingers. Ki-lin came down...and as far as I can tell she saw this lonely freshman and decided to join her. So she came over and said, 'Do you mind if I join you?' And I said, 'No, not as long as you don't mind me eating my pork chops with my fingers.' And she said, 'Well, that's a fine medieval tradition.' Well, this percolated through my brain during dinner, and I thought, 'Maybe this is the person to ask if she knows who the SCA is.' So I said, 'Have you ever heard of the Society for Creative Anachronism?' And she said, 'My dear, I AM the Society for Creative Anachronism!'"
[Comment from Ki-lin: "At that point I was just about the only active Scadian at Felding."]
"So Ki-lin told me about dance practice, but she didn't tell me that dance practice was in street clothes. So, madly rushing down to the local fabric store, I constructed a simple garment out of fabric and dental floss. Dental floss was the only thing I had anywhere near thread at the time because I hadn't thought to buy any. I showed up at her dorm room wearing this, and she said, 'Oh, it's in street clothes,' and I said, 'Oh, okay.'"
[Comment from Ki-lin: "It looked very good."]
Cynthia her first week at Felding
Was eating her dinner one day
With her fingers she picked up a pork chop
And thus she found the SCA
"We had been asked by whoever was putting on a dance in Tower Court to help with a medieval theme dance, even though it was modern music. Either I or Ki-lin mentioned it in council, and we had about six to eight to ten people there. We were background scenery, basically. So we stayed in the corner and danced 'Hole in the Wall' to Michael Jackson. It worked out very well, except it was very fast."
Provost: Nina Surr, replaced by Ki-lin