Branch

Branches are the smaller groups within Kingdoms, such as baronies, shires, cantons, and colleges. Each branch has its own slate of officers.

-- Mistress Arlys o Gordon

Branches have to have well defined borders (usually, but not always, zip codes — they can be defined by institutions, such as a modern college or aircraft carrier). Below Principality level, they cannot cross national or state lines without approval.

Known Regular Branch Types

Local Branches

Must have at least 5 members, and at least three officers (including Seneschal and Exchequer, required positions for all branch types).

They must also have a name registered with the college of arms.

Otherwise, their establishment follows local Kingdom law and custom, unlike the establishment of higher level branches, which is defined in Corpora.

Local branch types include:

• Shire: local branch reporting directly to a kingdom or principality
• Canton: local branch reporting through a barony
• Riding: local branch reporting through a province

Local branches have officers, but not a representative of the crown — unless they have had a Royal Patron appointed to them.

Institutional Branches

Institutional Branches function like local branches, but have borders that are defined by an institution. There is also an expectation that their membership may fluctuate more frequently due to their nature.

They can report directly to a Kingdom, but if they are located within another kind of branch, they report through them.

They differ from other local branches in that they go dormant if membership falls below five (5), rather than being disbanded.

• College: institutional branch based at a school, research facility, etc.
• Stronghold: institutional branch based at a military installation
• Port: institutional branch based at a military installation in situations where groups of members will be detached for long periods, as with ships at sea

Baronies and Provinces

Baronies and Provinces are large branches within and subject to the administration of a kingdom (or principality, if any). They are alike in status and in the ability to administer other branches within their borders, but differ in that baronies possess a Baron and/or Baroness, ceremonial representatives appointed by the Crown, and therefore have the ability to create and administer awards, while provinces do not. An Tir does not have any provinces, but other kingdoms do.

Like local branches, they must have a registered name, but additionally must have a device. They must have a set of officers "acceptable to the Crown". In An Tir currently (Oct 2025), that means a Seneschal, an Exchequer, and one of (Marshal of any discipline, Arts & Sciences Officer or Herald). The majority of officers must live in the barony.

They must have at least 25 members, and a strong record of endeavors (typically events) in a variety of fields.

By current (Oct 2025) An Tir law, they must hold a minimum of one event per year, and publish a newsletter at least quarterly. Baronies can bestow baronial (non-armigerous) awards, and make Sergeants-at-arms (or equivalents).

The Baronial Coronet is selected via polling the populace of the Barony. The Crown then receives the results of the poll and appoints the Coronets. They sit for a term of three, or by choice, four years, and can extend to six years with a confidence polling of the Barony and Crown approval.

If the Coronets abdicate or are removed, the Barony can have a Royal Viceroy appointed to sit in their stead until they are ready to elect new Coronets.

• Barony: area administered by a Baron and/or Baroness, the ceremonial representative(s) of the Crown. Local branches in it's borders normally report through it.
• Province: equivalent of a barony without a ceremonial representative.

Principality

A principality is a part of a kingdom which has the right to select a reigning Coronet pair by armored combat.

They must have a registered name and device. They must have all greater officer positions, and other officers as the kingdom requires.

They must have at least 100 members, and a very strong record of well-attended events, demos, guilds, or other educational endeavors.

They must have a sufficient amount of members of the various orders of Patents of Arms to foster their further development and skill, and a sufficient amount of fighters of appropriate caliber for the Coronet lists.

They must have a set of Principality laws drafted.

Lower level branches inside a principalities borders report to it.

• Principality: area within a kingdom ruled by a Principality Coronet (Prince(s) and/or Princess(es)).

Kingdom

A kingdom is a sovereign entity within the Society which has the right to select a ruling Sovereign and Consort by armored combat.

Kingdom requirements are similar to a principality - registered name and device, draft laws (with additional requirements), record of well-attended events, demos, etc. Likewise they must have sufficient peers and fighters of high caliber. They must also:

Have at least 400 members.

Greater Officers acceptable to the Society officers.

Consensus to advance of the groups involved in making up the Kingdom.

A newsletter of sufficient quality and stability to be a corporate publication.

• Kingdom: area ruled by a Sovereign and Consort

Unusual Branch or Division Types

In An Tir

• Crown Principalities: The name for a branch or group of branches working towards Principality status. This designation can be granted by the Crown, in consultation with the Kingdom Seneschal. The Crown acts as the Coronets for a Crown Principality.

• Regions: Administrative areas of the Kingdom, divided up to allow for easier working of councils or deputies. Purely administrative currently, used mainly by deputies of the Kingdom Marshal, and Laurel Councils. In the past, they acted more like branches, with dedicated officers, events, and budgets, until they were abolished. See Regions.

Outside of An Tir

• Palatine Barony: A territory that is equivalent to a Barony, but who's Coronets are selected by a tournament rather than by populace vote. Currently, there are at least three Palatine Baronies in the Known World. Unusually, the tournaments are not specifically heavy tournaments, but may rather alternate between Heavy or Rapier, and an A&S tourney.
• Hamlet: Hamlets are a newer branch type used in several kingdoms. They do not maintain budgets or officers, nor can they hold official events (without a non-Hamlet sponsoring group). Their sole responsibility is to communicate with their local branch. Historically, branches that went dormant or couldn't find officers typically end up in abeyance. This allows a branch type that can continue to exist in hopes of later growing again, or that can be formed in preparation for becoming a incipient Shire or other local branch.
• Villages and Tuath: Alternate names for Hamlets in Drachenwald.

Branches Historically

Branch requirements have not always been so well codified. In the beginning, they were often merely declared into existance. Lions Gate had a Baron and Baroness while still a Shire. By the end of the 1970's, things had solidified for branches considerably.

The requirements, when they did come, were also smaller than they are today. Local branches only needed three members. An Tir was looking to meet the 200 subscribing member requirement at the time it became a Kingdom.

Other rules have changed, such as the existence and time of term limits for Baronial Coronets. The first Coronets of Lions Gate famously held their position for 26 years.

Unoffical branch types or area designations

• Freehold: This was a designation used to describe an area that either mainly was populated by a household, or a looser confederation of populace. I believe the idea was to be able to refer to a geographical area that had some activity, but didn't have any branch status. An Tir had the Freehold of Silviergard in Alaska while still a principality, who used the designation as it matched their name, and to clearly delineate that they weren't part of the nearby Barony. Other kingdoms mention Freeholds, but only in the past.
• Crown Lands or (older) King's Land: This is a designation for areas included in a Kingdom, but either without enough concentrated population to otherwise have a branch, or with no known population.

Branches and Interkingdom Anthropology

Sometimes, in addition to the kinds of branches and their use (or lack thereof), different Kingdoms may display a bit of interkingdom anthropology in that they treat or perceive the way that different branches function.

A discussion on the SCA wide Discord server remarked differences such as:

• Baronies acting more like local branches, "like a large shire". Cantons are used for areas growing on the edges, until they transition into stable shires.
• Baronies acting more like an administrative branch, with cantons as local branches, never expecting to change into a shire.
• Baronies acting more like Principalities in An Tir act - remote link to the crown, but don't regularly put on many functions.

Common An Tir Branch Abbreviations

As used by the An Tir Lists paperwork

Caption text

ADI	Adiantum
AKR	Akornebir
APL	Appledore
AQ	Aquaterra
BAO	Blatha an Oir
BRI	Briaroak
CAL	Caladphort
CDV	Coeur du Val
CG	Crow's Gate
COM	Coill Mhor
CK	Cold Keep
COR	Corvaria
CH	Cranehaven
DAN	Danescombe
DL	Dragon's Laire
DM	Dragon's Mist
FMK	Fire Mountain Keep (now Crow's Gate)
GM	Glymm Mere
GD	Glyn Dwfn
HRT	Hartwood
HAK	Hauksgarðr
KN	Kaldor Ness
KRK	Krakenfjord
LG	Lions Gate
LD	Lionsdale
LYN	Lyonsmarche
MAD	Madrone
MR	Misty Ridge
ME	Mountain Edge
MH	Myrtle Holt
PEN	Pendale
PDL	Porte de l'Eau
RAM	Ramsgaard
RB	River's Bend
SG	Seagirt
SM	Southmarch
STR	Stromgard
TP	Terra Pomaria
THW	Thornwold (Shittemwood)
3M	Three Mountains
TB	Tir Bannog
TYM	Tymberhavene
VLC	Vulcanfeldt
WST	Wastekeep
WEA	Wealdsmere
WYE	Wyewood
FOR	Foreign (Not An Tir)