Most of the kingdoms of the SCA have Coronations twice a year where the reigning King and Queen (or King and King, or Queen and Queen) step down, and their heirs step up and into the role. It’s a lot of fun, there’s pomp and ceremony and awesome finery on display, but there’s also a vacuum as the kingdom is, for a short period, left without any new heirs. Enter the Crown Tournament! Nobles of the kingdom, inspired by their… well, their inspirations, do battle most noble to determine who will next sit as Prince and Princess (or Prince and Prince, or Princess and Princess) until it is theirturn to assume the thrones of the kingdom. Last Saturday saw the Ealdormere Crown Tournament, and for your viewing pleasure, took pics, cos that’s how I roll.

I know it’s jumping the gun a little, but I felt like opening this one with some video of some stabbery and some thwackery.

The assorted thrones of Ealdormere (and Baronial thrones of Ben Dunfirth) await the esteemed buttocks of those designated to sit in them.

The Baronial thrones of Ramshaven also await buttocks, though I should probably note that they’re right there. Hello your excellencies Penda and Sybilla!

Each combatant will often have a canopy, shelter, designated seating area, what have you. Duke Sir Roak’s was particularly fine. I’ll talk more about him in a bit.

The rest of us had more humble seating arrangements, for those that wanted to be seated (or needed to be, to engage in crafting)

Me, I started in the kitchen (when I wasn’t running around taking photos). Lady Meredith (on the left) heads up the Crusty Tart Kitchen Crew. I was designated the Lusty Tart, and Monique was labelled the Busty Tart.

Elsewhere there was some stabbery underway…

And of course, some thwackery for warmups, though I could swear this was run of the mill Morris Dancing.

I tip of the hat to Alexander Gladstone, who pretty much donates 90%+ of his time at any event to taking pretty pictures.The guy never stops. He’s also just a particularly nice guy.

The crowds have gathered, and the procession begins!

Spearbearers have more fun.

Each contender presents themselves, along with their inspirations, to the crown. Unfortunately I wasn’t in a good position to get a good front-on pic of Duke Roak and Mistress Hyrrokin, but they looked awesome in their finery.

Duke Thormot Quilliam, fighting for Countess Tangwystl d’Coursi. He may have had something in his teeth.

Sir Evander MacLachlin, for Her Excellency Marioun Golightly

Baron Brand was enjoying himself far too much on the sidelines…

Sir Aelfwyn et Langewuda , for Lord Evan Quicktongue

His Excellency Kolbjorn Skattkaupandi, for Her Excellency Wencenedl of Rokesburg

His Excellency Penda of Glyndmere, for Her Excellency Sybilla of Glyndmere

Lord Dietrich of Sachsen, for The Honorable Lady Emer Ui Aedan

The Honorable Lord Hans… no, wait, I can do better with this one…

(*ahem*) The Honorable Lord Hans Thorvaldson, dancing his little jig as a warmup, for Lady Neala Andhrimnirsdotti

Oh, and she was fighting for him as well, because heck yeah tag team.

The Honorable Lady Ailis de la Marche for The Honorable Lady Elanna of Marchmount

Lord Laurenz Tonnemacher for Lady Ilsebet Jeghershe

Lord Rorik of Septentria for Lady Gwendolyn of Aldburg, and because Gwendolyn’s nifty, she fought for him too.

Meanwhile, in the kitchen, there were tarts. Oh, and pastries too.

I got to hang with Lady Arria and Lothar! We did nerd things!

Like playing Gluckhaus!

And Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle! For the record, we *smoked* Game 3. I Hermione’d up in Malfoy’s grill.

I also taught them both to do Kumihimo, because apparently that’s something I keep doing.

There was thwockery to be had, so I dragged Arria and Lothar out for some thwocking.

DUDE! SWEET SHOT!

Inside, Sir Aelfwyn and Sir Evander were arguing over whose shield was prettiest.

Evander: “Look at my pretty unicorns!”

Aelfwyn: “Hah! Yours has two unicorns, mine hasthree boars!”

Evander: “I refuse to be defeated by math! LOOK AT MY UNICORNS!”

Aelfwyn: “Alright! Geez! I’m looking! I’m looking!”

“Dude, c’mere, I gots a question fer ya”

“What is it?”

“Who does your hair? It’s magnificent!”

Popcorn is totally period. I’m sure of it.

Now, before you watch the video of the finals, I want to introduce you to Duke Sir Roak. The finals were between Duke Sir Quilliam, who you’ve met in photodumps before, and Roak. Roak sat on the throne as prince of Ealdormere before we were even a kingdom. His legacy is woven throughout the bones of Ealdormere, and he is one of the pillars on which this kingdom, the one that I call home, was built. He is a member of the Rozakii, a household that has personally welcomed me as a friend, and though I haven’t had a lot of personal interaction with Roak, every time we’ve met – be it at an SCA event or otherwise – he has been a solid bloke. He came to the Crown Tournament after months of reduced fighting due to shoulder injury, to honour his love Mistress Hyrrokin, and he kicked butt and took names all the way up to the final. He also looked regal as *bleep* in dark purple and gold, just sayin’.

Time and again I’ve watched this guy and been reminded why he gets to wear a white belt. I’ve yet to don armour in the SCA and hit people with sticks, but when it comes to examples of how a knight should act on the field, I think this dude’s a pretty damn good example of how to fight with honour and dignity. Wassail, dude.

And with that, the line of the North was secured, with Prince Quilliam and Princess Tangwystl sitting as the new heirs.

After everything was tidied up and folks had socialized for a bit, it was time for evening court. Awards were handed out, there was a little schtick, and all went pretty smoothly.

Super schmexy Boar’s Tusk awarded to Sir Gann for all of his work with the fighters of Ben Dunfirth

Her Excellency Rylyn was inducted as the new Green Mantle Herald of Ealdormere

Wait… That’s Meredith!

She totally got a thing! Lost pal Ali is now LADY Meredith Llewelyn, and Lostie MortimerXT is now LORD Jurgen Lennartson! Wassail to you both!

Prince Quilliam and Princess Tangwystl practice posing for heiroglyphics. Maybe they’re going to shoot for an Egyptian reign. Granted, the garb would be sweet for Pennsic next Summer…

No, no, Steinnar! When Percival asks you to guess what’s in his pocket you’re supposed to back away suspiciously, not go digging!

And of course, me being me, there were selfies. I thought for simplicity’s sake I’d jam them in a gif for you. Depending on where you start in the cycle, there’s Meredith, Brand, Gypsy, Dietrich, Evander, Yoshi and Arria.

Afterwards, I followed Arria and Lothar home like a puppy and they fed me, so I stuck around for a game of Seven Wonders, in which Caligula – as Leader of Rome and apparently manager of the Colosseum, decided that it was the perfect place for all nations to celebrate peace and diplomacy without any warfare or bloodshed.

… wait, are we sure this was Caligula??

Arria assembled a mighty army, visited the Colosseum, and then marched right on past to beat up the guy on the other side of me 😉

So wassail to our new heirs, tips o’ the hat to everyone who fought for their inspirations, and cheers to everyone who helped make the day the awesome day that it was. Many hands went into ensuring the event ran smoothly, and Lost pal Desz gets a special noogie as event autocrat.

Next SCA event on the calendar will most likely be Wassail in early December – I don’t think I’m going to be able to do Feast of the Hare in Ottawa – so tune in for the next SCA post then, and for the usual gaming shenaniganry in the interim 😉