Court of Love

Annette and I were honored to be Lady of Love and Beauty and Lord Protector of Borderwinds for the Court of Love.

As Lord Protector, I gave a short speach at the beginning of the tourney extoling the virtue of courage.

Courage is often misunderstood in SCA fighting, as what we do is not fatal, and non-maiming. Most fighters leave the tourney field having been struck in well armoured places, with little more than a bruise. As such, courage is not often the first thing on the minds of fighters.

There is however, a time when we must all have courage in SCA fighting. Not when we decide to strike soundly at a Duke, but when our defense fails, our step is too great, and a blow lands upon us. Be it from a Duke or newly armoured fighter, a blow is a blow, and we must be brave to take its measure. It the game we play, it takes courage to accept our being bested.

The tourney was done as a Tarnmist Ragnarok, which is a round robin format leading to a melee in which fighters get a number of lives based on how many times they died during the round robin. With 14 fighters in the list, each of us got 26 fights, with a run of 13 fights in a row. Gaius Wilhelm of Caid won the tourney, beating out Viscount Richard of Aldertree at the end of the melee.

The food at the feast was excellent thanks to Rosario de la Torres and her expert staff. There was so much good food, and it was all Saxon.

The Festivities at Court included various contests, including limmericks based on a rule of courtly love drawn from a hat, and best 14th century heraldic garb.

Festivities concluded with the Tarnmist Auction, where Baron Achmere shows us how much of a crafty devil he really is by getting us to buy things. And yes, I DID bid on something I had brought from Santa Rosa in my car -- but I swear it wasn't mine.

addendum

Yes, this was posted way after the event, so sue me. You'll be reading more about Court of Love later, after Annette and I have recuperated from running Beltane.