Beevairians

Beevairians

The Beevairians is a martial company or warband created in the mid-1980s in the Shire of Evercleare. It was officially Chartered in 1993 by Baron Richard Fergus Fitzalan and Baroness Gwendolyn Fitzalan for the Barony of Glymm Mere. It is still very much active today.

Origins and Heraldry

In the mid-1980s, the Shire of Evercleare had a few fighters who wanted a group identity. While a few of them had been qualified as heavy (rattan) fighters for a few years, there were new members who were interested in becoming “light” warriors (archers and thrown weapons).

Thorir of the Maindale Fjord was involved with the rise of light troops and come to Evercleare to host a workshop to build helmets that were qualified for light combat.

At a shire heraldry meeting, Richard Fergus Fitzalan and Vaclav Bili (the only two who attended that night) were discussing the warband, which they both belonged to, and in debating group heraldry, Richard in a very bad German accent shouted their battle cry “Beware!” Which of course came out in his atrocious accent as “Beevair!”

Then Vaclav, who was our shire herald, noted that Vair was a heraldic “fur” and a Bee was a good heraldic choice for a group of light combatants who were using arrows and javelins.

Thus, was our heraldic badge created: A bee vair. In practice this became impractical due to the size of the bee and the very busy field that Vair creates, and it would quickly become amended to “Vair, a Bee Or.” That is, the field was Vair and on it was a golden bee.

So of course having chosen the heraldry, it was an easy slip to naming the group, the BEEVAIRIANS!

Shire Warband and Banner

During the later half of the 1980s, the shire group attended several wars, most notably Alpine Pass War and An Tir West War.

Gwendolyn Fitzalan created a war banner with a square of white cloth with blue Vair painted on and then appliquéd a yellow Bee on that field, edged and detailed in black.

Whenever the warband took the field, we would add a “battle campaign ribbon” to our banner with the name and date of the war and the war token from the event stitched to it.

Looking at making tabards for the fighters, Vair was considered both too garish and too much work, so instead tabards with made of alternating bars of black and yellow, giving the warriors an appearance of “killer bees” from Saturday Night Live.

For those joining later, and for simplicity of making many more, often baldric in black and yellow were used instead.

Original Beevairian Company, late 1980s.

The original warband included: Richard Fergus Fitzalan (just Fergus then), usually fighting heavy but sometimes light; Valerian the Innocent, also sometimes fighting heavy, but more often light as he was amazing with a thrown javelin; Stergar the Smiling, who was mostly fighting heavy; Vaclav Bili, who fought mostly light, though he was qualified as heavy; and Timothy Patrick of the Fretted Mind, who fought light.

During the years, fighters would occasionally join the group for a single war or shire members would join the band as they took up fighting.

Beevairian tapestry from Shire days. Made by Karolee Fitzallen in late 1980s.

Queen Bee

Tess Ella wearing Beevairian tippets as our Queen Bee.

At some point during the shire years, the Beevairians developed a relationship of inspiration with Tess Ella of Silvershadow. Tess had found the SCA in the mid-1980s at Camlann Fair where she met Fergus (now Richard) Fitzalan, who fought for her and introduced her to the SCA.

The Beevairians, as a group, called Tess their “Queen Bee.” And she often wore a bee pin or barry sable and or tippets, as a sign of her connection and inspiration to the company.

Baronial Charter

When Glymm Mere became a Barony in 1993, Baron Richard Fergus Fitzalan and Baroness Gwendolyn Fitzalan Chartered the Beevairian Company as the official baronial warband for the Barony of Glymm Mere.

Baronial Beevairian Charter, 1993.

“We Fergus Fitzalan, Baron Glymm Mere, and Gwendolyn Fitzalan, Baroness Glymm Mere, to all to whom these presents may concern, send greetings.
Whereas these warriors have sworn to act with chivalry upon the field and off; And whereas these warriors have sworn to support the Barony of Glymm Mere by arms in war at least once during the coming year by serving as a Company of warriors under the leadership of the Captain of the Beevairian Company and the Serjeants of Glymm Mere, commanded by the Baron of Glymm mere and advised by the Champion of Glymm Mere Know therefore that these warriors will be recognized by us as the Baronial Beevairian Company of Glymm Mere. We grant to this Company the right to use a Banner born by the Ensign of the Company bearing the badges of the Barony of Glymm Mere in the hoist Azure goutty d’eau and on the banner sable a fess Or, overall a Bee Vaire. We grant to each warrior of this Company the right to wear a Baldric barry sable and or and the right to add a Bee emblem to their baldric for every war in which they answer the Baron’s call to arms. To this Charter we set our hands and seals this twentieth day of February, Anno Societatis XXVII being A.D. 1993.
Fergus Fitzalan Gwendolyn Fitzalan

During the ceremony at Glymm Mere’s first Baronial Court, the original Beevairians presented the old banner to Their Excellencies for retirement.

The old shire Beevairian banner is presented for retirement.

Then His Excellency Baron Richard Fergus Fitzalan presented the new baronial Beevairian banner to Lord Valerian the Innocent, who was made first Captain of the Baronial Beevairian Company of Glymm Mere.

New Baronial Beevairian Banner.

New Baronial Beevairian Banner.

Baron’s Call to War

The original intent was that the Baron of Glymm Mere could designate a specific war where the Baronial Beevairian Company was called to muster. Such wars were then eligible for being one of the wars that would allow members to fulfill their oath and every such war would grant the right to add a Bee emblem to their baldric.

Where the Baron of Glymm Mere could “raise the standard” of the Beevairians to muster the martial troops, the Baroness of Glymm Mere was preeminent in the Charter for the Hummingbard Troupe, the baronial Bardic Troupe, and she had the right to declare the Hummingbard standard to be raised at an event where baronial bards who were members of the Hummingbards, wearing their bardic favors, could perform and likewise gain a “golden note” to be added to their favors.

The Bee Vairian Anthem by Ariel and Martin, 1994.

The intent was to support equally the bardic and martial members of the barony by chartering both baronially and giving them official markers (baldric and favors) to denote them as members of these groups and to add tokens (bees or musical notes) to show how often they supported the barony in these roles.

This intent was carried forward by some coronets of Glymm Mere after they were created, but not always.

Beevairian Anthem

During the first coronets, the Beevairians were our baronial guard and were very much noted on the war fields of An Tir. Among the praise they garnered was this Anthem written and performed by two Beevairians, Ariel de Couetaney and Martin le Harpur.

Decades of War - Photos

During the ensuing decades, across many coronets, the Beevairians have continued to take the field and the Baronial Beevairian Banner is still seen on the field of war.

The officer cadre and titles have come and gone over the years. A Lieutenant was added, initially as the head of the missile troops once the barony created Yeoman. Serjeants were always automatically included and expected to fulfill their oath. The Ensign bore the banner.

Here there are some photos of the warband through the ages. Note that at some point in the early 2000s the tabards changed to blue and gold with goutty, much like the baronial arms.

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