July Coronation XXX/1995

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Tjorkill and Elowen are succeeded by Hwolf and Luise.

Date
8-9/16-18 July XXX/1995
Branch
Wealdsmere
Autocrat
SCA name of autocrat
Site
Farragut State Park, Idaho
Weather
See #Event Highlights below

Event Highlights

Pictures

(Links to event pictures off-site)

Personal Memories

(Add your personal event memories here. End them with a blank line, four dashes and another blank line. Don't forget to sign them with dash-dash-tildex3. Reminder: it's considered VERY rude to edit someone else's memories.)

(A "keeper" posting from the Steps of the Cathedral, Aug 2006.)

Oh, Lordy, yes ...

I remember the sky turning green, and looking more and more threatening as the afternoon progressed.

I remember lightning during court. I've never seen fighters get out of their armor so quickly ...

I remember wind gusts that made you stagger. Hailstones the size of garbanzo beans. Icy rain that slashed at your skin.

I remember standing clutching at my tent poles and screaming because I was completely out of my mind with terror. I literally had to be dragged to shelter.

I remember the aftermath. Pavilions totally destroyed. Windshields broken. Tarps ripped to shreds. My sunhat somewhere in the Yukon ...

I remember Their Majesties Hwulf and Louisa personally going to every encampment: "Everyone accounted for? Anyone hurt? What help do you need?"

I remember one merchant, trapped in a pool of icy water by her collapsed pavilion, struck over the head by a snapped center pole. As she was being loaded into the ambulance, someone laid a cloak over her for warmth. She looked down at the cloak and saw a rearing black lion. "This is the King's cloak! I can't wear this!" A crowned head leaned over and said "Yes, you can ..."

I remember driving home, and seeing the path of the tornado -- trees two feet thick snapped off like matchsticks ...

Saewynn

I don't remember much about the tornado. I think it appeared on the Sunday of the event and we'd already left the site. But we did see a swath of trees it took down, just a little way down the road from the site.

What I do remember about the event was the Coronation ceremony itself. Immediately after Hwolf and Luise had been crowned, They stepped onto round shields that were lying on the ground in front of the thrones, and a bunch of Norse guys raised Them straight up into the air, still standing. They appeared to float above the heads of the crowd for several moments -- it was quite impressive. --Elizabeth Braidwood 19:14, 1 Aug 2006 (EDT)

(A "keeper" posting from the Steps of the Cathedral, posted Aug 2006.)

Received my "Jamb".
Got a really cool walking stick.
On the drive home with Thorir, at Winthrop we saw lightning strike the ground about a hundred yards from our rig.
A column of dirt went up.
Looked just like a mortar round striking!
No cool.

Sven Red Beard

It was Siegfried the Immane who was speaking in court as the storm began to really stir (he was preparing to give out constabulary awards)

At the first lightning flash, someone (I don't recall who) called out "THOR SPEAKS!" or some such. There was laughter at that, but then people noticed how close the lightning was ...

It was Malcolm of Lamont who gave me shelter in his trailer. And a blanket. And a most welcome cup of tea.

Duke Torgul was one of those whose pavilion was destroyed.

Fortunately, Hroswitha the book merchant had already gotten her wares safely (and waterproofly) stored before the storm broke.

The wind lifted the roof completely off someone's pavilion and sent it through a truck's windshield!

A very noble young squire (I don't know who) cleverly used his shield to protect a lady (again, I don't know who) from the rain as they both scurried for shelter (I didn't see this, I heard about it from the lady afterward).

Very scary. In fact that's the most frightened I've ever been at an event, ever.

Saewynn

(A sequence of "keeper" postings from the Steps of the Cathedral, posted Aug 2006.)

....is that the year that Knut and Hroswitha's Book Store took flight at Farragut.....?....

grylion

It definitely took flight at Toronation.

I was not there myself (I only day-tripped a few events that summer in 1995), but Knut and Hroswitha have told me about it. They said that the bookstore frame was picked up in its entirety and FLUNG - HURLED - into either a very large parked vehicle or into a tree (I forget which). Ten feet of heavy construction pipe were smashed beyond repair. That is how the bookstore went from being forty feet deep to only thirty feet.

Imagine a forty-by-twenty frame, built of heavy construction pipes and corner fixtures, being hurled through the air with that much force... shudder.

Knut has also described to me how he was screaming to be heard over the wind, to Hroswitha: "Get in the van! Let the store go! Get in the van!" for it was the only semi-safe place to be in the immediate vicinity. There was no use in trying to catch the pavilion...it was gone.

I became their assistant in '99, and we used it for a couple of years longer. I remember how the remaining poles were still slightly bent, and how much trouble we had putting certain sections of it together. The results of the tornado, Knut & Hroswitha told me. They'd eliminated the worst-damaged poles.

Lady May

....I remember it ended up blocking the door of the Ger/Yurt across from it.....and Knut was stuck in his sleeping bag looking up at the morning sky...................................

grylion

(A definite "keeper" posting from the Steps of the Cathedral, posted Aug 2006.)

Greetings from Dame Arwen Lioncourt,

Boy howdy, do I remember Toronation 1995 (the crowning of Hwolf and Luise from Tjorkill III and Elowyn I)!!!! This is one of my BEST "No Kidding, There I Was" stories...... Hold onto your hennins, kids.....

It was the summer of 1995, AS 39, and it had been a HOT summer. You remember, it was the summer BEFORE 3YC: 30 Year Celebration. My mom, Anne of Tintagel; my dad, Sion ap Llwydd; and I rented a Ford Explorer for the weekend so we could travel in comfort to the event, which was the whole way over in Idaho at Farragut State Park. Of course, we should have known we would pay dearly for lying to the Enterprise Rental guy about not taking the truck out of state on our trip…. [cue ominous music]

We arrived early on Friday evening. It was great! We were camped with the Royals, Tjorkill III and Elowyn I. What fun we had doing early shopping, getting first crack at the merchants! My mom spent the weekend making cucumber and cream cheese sandwiches for all the fighters. [Side note: You should see how dainty these men could eat after my mom gave them “The Look”].

Anyway, my dad was there to marshal the tournament on Sunday, and I was there to audition to become the next Vox Leonis because of course that meant that I would be Vox for 3YC.

I should have known the weekend was bound to turn out badly. During my interview on Saturday, someone yelled for a chirurgeon from across the eric. I was in Mistress Tessella’s pavilion with her, Ciaran de Clauna Ferta, and another Herald. I stopped mid-sentence and listened because we were REALLY short-handed for chirurgeons that weekend. No one went running, so I excused myself and took off across the field. By the time I got there, someone else was approaching, so I asked if he could handle things, and I went back to my interview. Tessella asked me if I would run off in the middle of Royal Court if someone yelled "Chirurgeon!”. I told her, “If no one responded to the call, of course I would! The Crown would understand! It’s not like there aren’t deputies who couldn’t herald for me for a few minutes!!!”

So, after that, I figured that I had pretty much shot my chances of getting the Vox job, but I didn’t care because I realized where my priorities lay. Little did I know how THAT little episode would portent the REST of the weekend….

SO…. On to Sunday afternoon….. We could have left, but we were waiting until Closing Court to hear King Hwolf and Queen Luise’s decision about the new Vox Leonis. We knew that bad weather was coming because the Park Rangers had come that morning to tell us to pack up and get out. I was standing with Mistress Kateryne of Hindscroft (Dr. [modern name removed]), and we were watching King Hwolf being lifted by his guards onto a shield. It was pretty cool!

Then all of a sudden, I couldn’t breathe because the barometric pressure dropped so quickly! I watched as the sky turned greenish-grey and a sliver of black clouds dropped from the sky and swirled around us. The winds dropped out of the sky and whooshed northwest across the site. Then sheets of icy rain drenched everything. The rain was blowing sideways at 100 mph, maybe faster!

I watched in horror as the huge yellow and white Royal Pavilion came off the ground and everyone screamed and ran to secure it. At least 20 of us tried to hold the pavilion down, while all the scrolls, cushions, and gift baskets went swirling by us. Elizabeth Blackdane’s huge canvas tent came off its moorings and went rolling across the field like a tumbleweed.

Then I saw the chaos on Merchant’s Row. All of the metal poles were collapsing on people as they tried to take down their tents to protect their wares. There were people screaming for help everywhere. I knew there would be people hurt there. I lost track of Kat.

I hiked up my skirts into my belt and ran to check on my mother. My mother had a heart condition. During court, she had started to pack up our camp. I found her sitting in the car, rocking back and forth, with her bottle of Nitroglycerine in her hand. I checked her pulse and told her to stay in the car. She told me she was just glad to see me and that she would be better now. My dad was trying to pack things up so we could get the hell out of there because he wanted to get her to a hospital. I told him that she was ok and that he should keep her calm.

I knew we couldn’t leave yet because I was the last warranted Chirurgeon on site.

I went running down to Merchant’s Row. There was a wheelchair-bound woman trapped under a pavilion and her husband grabbed me. “I think her arm’s broken”, he said. I splinted her arm the best I could, sent some people to fetch their van, and we bundled her into it.

Several biffies had tipped over during the storm, and one had someone in it. Several people got the poor man out and were helping him get cleaned up. He seemed ok otherwise.

Another woman had a bump on her head from a beam in her pavilion falling on her head, and she was dizzy. I suggested transport for her, too.

I was in WAY over my head. I needed help. I went and got Kat. I was soaked from head to foot. It was strange. As soon as the storm came, it was over. The sun struggled to come out from behind the clouds. I knocked on Kat’s tent and peeked in.

Kat and Grendal were sipping hot tea. “Want some tea? You look horrible!” She said. “No thanks,” I said, “(modern name), I need you. There are all sorts of hurt people in Merchant’s Row, and I’m worried about my mom’s heart. I need to make sure I made the right decisions about these people’s injuries, ok?”

She smiled that ‘It’s-all-going-to-be-ok-because-the-doctor’s-here-now’ smile. I needed that. We walked down the hill together, and I felt like we were in some Julie Andrews movie. I felt like cartoon bunnies were going to pop out and sing any moment.

Anyway, she went from injury to injury and re-assessed my triage. She totally agreed with me. Then, as we were standing there, King Hwolf came up to me. He said, “Arwen, you’re shivering.” Then He put his cloak around my shoulders. I’m sure it was a mixture of adrenaline, shock, and being soaked to the bone, and it was really nice that He noticed. That’s what kings are supposed to do…..

I asked Him if I could FINALLY have the results of the Vox Leonis polling. He told me that He and Her Majesty felt that my talents were better suited elsewhere… I thanked Him for his candor.

Then he told me, “Thank you for all your work here today.” That made me feel appreciated, and that’s what kings are supposed to do, too.

Everything was soaked as we threw it into the Explorer; the RENTED Explorer, with the nice BEIGE carpet. We had a horrible drive home. It took 10 hours instead of 7 because we had to keep stopping for coffee to stay awake.

I got about two hours of sleep, then my dad and I unpacked the Explorer. Then I scrubbed the carpet in the Explorer before 10:00 AM so we could return it without a penalty. WHEE. [Who puts a FREAKIN’ BEIGE CARPET in a SUV???? This is obviously a conspiracy between Ford and Stanley Steemer Carpet Cleaner…] My mom wanted to help, and we told her NO!

So, we got the Explorer back in time, and just like we do in the SCA, we returned it cleaner than we found it! I’ll never forget that greenish-grey sky, watching Hwolf standing proud above us all on His shield, and Elizabeth Blackdane’s tent tumbling across the field. It was an event that galvanized me as a chirurgeon; and although I have served as a field herald after that, I haven’t had a chance to do a royal court since.

Written at vespers on this 31st day of July, upon the feast of St. Joesph of Arimathea, from Lioncourt Manor, in Three Mountains,
In Joyful Service to Amalric and Caia, I humbly remain,
Dame Arwen Lioncourt OP Mentor Chirurgeon

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