Castellan

In the early days of An Tir, the Founding Baron of Madrone, who had been living in Olympia, WA, moved out of Washington State.

When he did so, the Barony of Madrone was left without baronial trappings. The newer members of Madrone had never seen their Baron.

So on October 17, 1972 the folk of Madarone held a meeting at UW HUB (at 7:30pm). The Crier for that month said: “The purpose is to elect our equivalent of a Baron (Chatelaine) - duties, etc. will be explained everyone may vote, so please attend.”

Theodulf of Borogrove who was present at the meeting has said: “What I do remember was a meeting of the barony (maybe 20 people) in the Husky Union Building [HUB] on the U of W campus. The topic at hand was what to do since Raymond and Sheen had moved away and we were leaderless. At that time there was no procedure (had it never come up before? That seems doubtful) and connections with the Kingdom of the West were tenuous at best. I also don’t believe there was a precedence for the departing Baron to recommend a successor, which wouldn’t have done much good because we’d lost touch with Raymond (That may not have been true, but it was the common belief at that meeting.)” “There wasn’t much hesitation about having Liam and Deirdre be our leaders, and I believe there may have been a vote by acclamation (there were no other candidates that I recall), but how to anoint them in that role was the question. We concluded that the King is the only person who could appoint a new baron but since we were not in direct communication with their Majesties we would have to solve this some other way. I vaguely recall that we decided if we couldn’t elect a Baron, we could elect/appoint someone to this otherwise unused title and see if it stuck. We were hopeful the King could be convinced to make our Castellan and his lady Court Baron and Baroness later on so we could at least use that title.”

The Crier also mentions Octoberfete on October 29th: that “The featured event (3:00 pm) will be the investiture of our newly elected Chatelaine & celebration.”

Liam of the Barque was elected and invested as Castellan on a temporary basis.

In an interview, Baron Raymond the Mild said: “I pretty much left them in charge. You know, Castellan was the real world one, was sort of the male version of Chatelaine left in charge when the Lord was out fighting or whatever. Crusading. So it was pretty much a straight parallel.”

In the February 1973 Crier, there was a statement from Liam:

“FROM LIAM OF THE BARQUE, CASTELLAN PRO TEMPORE: A PROCLAMATION The gathering which elected me to my present office algo charged me with arranging elections for the permanent Castellan four months later. Accordingly, I hereby announce a period of standing for office. Any men may be nominated by his own action or by that of two other members if he consents. Such nominations are to be submitted to the Seneschal, Gernot of Gallimaufry, by January 31, 1973. Further announcement, of nominees, time and place of election, and provision for absentee balloting will follow.

“All lords and ladies should be reminded that as they owe fealty to the king of the West, and as the Law of the Kingdom so provides, they are required to maintain Class G membership in the Society. This is done by annual payment of either $1.00 for general membership or $3.00 for subscription to the Page and Tournaments Illuminated, to Boncoeur, Imperial Registrar of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Those who want to participate in the coming election must have paid at least the minimum. Communications with the Southern reaches of the realm are notoriously slow; the word of any lord or lady that this obligation has been fulfilled may not be questioned.”

Liam of the Barque and Robert of Winchester are elsewhere listed as the nominees for “the office of Castellan - on a permanent basis.”

The vote was held on February 10th at the Valentine’s Revel. Absentee ballots were allowed, sent to the seneschal, Gernot of Gallimaufry.

In the June 1973 Crier, there is an article about the Royal Tourney of Union and it mentions “Madrone’s founding Baron - Raymond the Mild - being created a Master-at-Arms.” And also “Awards of Arms were given to Liam of the Barque, Lord Castellan of Madrone.”

So occasionally, perhaps visiting, Baron Raymond was present while Liam is also present as Castellan.

The September 1973 Crier states “Liam of the Barque, Castellan of Madrone awarded the Order of the Red Branch…” so apparently the Castellan had power to bestow baronial awards.

There is mention in the September 1974 Crier that “The Baronial Court for Madrone will be held on August 26th at 7:30 pm at Lechbury Abbey.” Liam as Castellan was holding baronial court.

According to the OP, Liam was made a Court Baron on September 7, 1974 and then made Baron of Madrone on September 8, 1974.

It seems likely that this is an odd herald’s attempt to reconcile the early transition process. It seems unlikely that there were two ceremonies at the same event, one making him a Court Baron and then hours later making him Baron of Madrone.

The title of Baron seems to have been assumed when founding the first branch in a new state. After new baronies were appearing, the Crown of the West started awarding Baron and Baroness as Court titles too.

The October 1974 Crier has a report of the Fourth Coronet Tourney of An Tir held on September 7-8, 1974 at the Snoqualmie River Campground in Fall City. The King and Queen of the West, Douglas and Lorna, were there, as were Prince Gerald and Princess Barbara. Also “Founding Baron Raymond the Mild.”

“Castellan Liam of the Barque was made Baron of Madrone. Baron Master Raymond the Mild remains, of course, Madrone’s Founding Baron.” There is no mention of “court” versus “territorial” or “landed” baronage.

This event is a good reminder of the newness of things in those days. One of the royal proclamations was that former Princes of An Tir “will henceforth hold the title Viscount. Viscounts may wear, as a coronet, a plain gold band; Barons may wear a plain silver one.”

On January 26, 1977, Liam and Deirdre announced that Theodulf and Anne would be the next Baron and Baroness of Madrone. In a proclamation published in the March Crier, they designated Theodulf and Anne as “our vicars.” They also stated “By tradition in Madrone they shall be known as Castellan and Chatelaine until such time as the Crown designates them otherwise.

That same issue of The Crier states: “Liam announced that the King had named Theodulf and Anne Baron and Baroness, this to be effective at a ceremony in Madrone, planned for the next event, (Lupercalia [February 12, 1977]).

Given Theodulf and Anne were only two weeks between announcement and investiture, it appears that that titles were being used just to denote the Heirs of the barony.

The April 1977 Crier states about their investiture: “Liam of the Barque and Deirdre Muldomhnaigh relinquished the throne of Madrone, and Theodulf of Borogrove and Anne of Caerdydd were, in their stead, charged with the government of the Barony and named Baron and Baroness. Fealty was sworn to Prince Edward.”

The title “vicar” was first used in the Barony of Angels in 1971 and in 1977 there was both a Vicar and Vicaress there as well.

There were other Castellan during the early history of An Tir, though Liam in Madrone appears to have been the very first in the SCA to use such title.

At some point Chatelaine became known as the welcoming officer for new comers, which is how it serves today.

The use of a ruling noble stand-in, assigned by the Crown,in more recent decades has been entitled Viceroy.