>Like one of the things I remember is something about a
>Iron Crown.
That was in the pre-Kingdom days, actually even pre-Principality. Hank
Reinhardt (Ulrich of Wolfhaven, called the Grey Wolf) made it as the prize for a
tournament to be held in New Orleans (Barony of the Fens). the original idea
was for the tournament to be annual, or even bi-annual, probably move betweenthe
three groups (New Orleans, Birmingham, and Atlanta), and for the Iron Crown to
pass from winner to winner.
It appears that the advertising for this tournament is what first clued the
Board in that people were actually doing things out here, and that they weren't
necessarily telling anyone in California about those things. The Board, which at
that time was Diana Paxson (Diana Listmaker), her husband Jon Studebaker (Jon de
Clees) and a rotating third person, sent letters to the SF Con that was playing
host, as well as to Hank and David Matthews (Sir Sven) telling them they
couldn't have a tournament since there was no SCA Marshal for that area, and
they didn't have one to send.
The details as to whether the trouney was cancelled or jsut moved
vary depending on whose account you use - Sven has said it was cancelled, while
Hank has said it was held in a park on Lake Ponchartrain. The Crown itself, as
well as the title "defender of the iron Crown," gets mentioned occasionally in
letters in fanzines and other correspondence. Hank apparently took it with him
when he left the SCA, and when the Birmingham group came back as Iron Mountain
they didn't have it. Either Hank took it with him, or it was just lost. I
asked him about it once back around 1999, and he said he remembered making it
but didn't know what happened to it.
- Kevin
Posted in Yahoo Group (Tavern Yard) on April 11, 2013 |