Raymond and Sheen (Madrone)
| Preceded by: Founding |
Raymond and Sheen First Baron & Baroness of Madrone May 3, 1970 (AS V) – Sep 8, 1974 (AS IX) |
Succeeded by: Liam and Deirdre (Madrone) |
Raymond the Mild and Sheen of Eire served as the founding Baron and Baroness of Madrone from 3 May AS V/1970 - 8 September AS IX/1974.
Awards
Awards Given During the Reign of Baron Raymond and Baroness Sheen
Raymond Schumann, whose family was living in Olympia, Washington, went to BayCon (29 August to 2 September 1968) which was held at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley, California.
The relatively new Society for Creative Anchronism (founded May 1, 1966 in Berkeley) was making an appearance at this 26th World Science Fiction Convention. Many of the early members of the SCA were Science Fiction and Fantasy authors.
As Raymond tells it (in a series of telephone and email interviews with Sir Richard Fitzalan in 2025:
“When I arrived at the Clairmont Hotel where Baycon was held, I got in line to register myself.
“There were two men in medievals near the tables, staging a discussion. The larger and harrier one I came to know as Randall Garret. (Who loved putting on a show. It was Randal who began the tradition among West Kingdom heralds of making horrible puns.) The discussion was about proper forms of address for the son of a lord. He was clearly too young to be called a master. One wouldn’t want to confuse him with a Master of Arms. But he didn’t rank the same title his parents had earned. They eventually settled it that he should be addressed by name in his absence, but as “Master John” in his presence. His youth would prevent people from concluding that he was a hardened man of his hands.
During the Convention, Raymond purchased a copy of the then-new Handbook of the [Current] Middle Ages
On the last day of the Convention, the SCA held a BayCon Tourney. This was where Raymond first saw SCA combat.
Though he returned home to Olympia, he corresponded with SCA folk using the contact information for The Chronicler (1535 Arch St. Berkeley, Calif. 94708) from the Handbook of the [Current] Middle Ages, a copy of which he brought home with him.
At some point in 1969 Raymond and his wife Sheen of Eire (Cheryl Harris) made a visit back to Berkeley to visit “Rivendell” as the early SCA household was called.
The front door has a placard reading:
Ere William rose and Harold fell
There dwelt great lords at Rivendell
“Among the residents were Lady Diana—the same who hosted the first tourney, Edwin Berserk, Jon de Cles, and a few others I don’t remember. The general idea was to meet us before risking turning us loose as representatives of the SCA.
“The Rivendell crowd spent some time with us, and introduced us to collating parties. Then they turned us over to Bonceur. Who showed us around. Both to SCA members and such Bay Area sights as the Crookedness Street in the World. We left with official blessings to start a barony.”
“I had contact information with Sir Fredric. He was starting the Barony of Three Mountains at the same time I was starting the Barony of Madrona.”
By early 1970, Raymond (listed as Seneschal) went to the first official event held in Madone, “A Sewing Fest and Practice Session”, held at the home of Maid Laurellen of Evergreen on Mercer Island at 3705 90th Ave S.E. on 31 January 1970.
He said: “I remember driving to Mercer Island for that sewing/organization meeting. I don’t remember how Maid Laureleen got involved. Not many people showed up, and Laureleen lost interest. Not a roaring success. Except for one potential consequence.”
The new group didn’t have a name, but Raymond is listed as Seneschal in the event announcement.
Given that he lived in Olympia but the first advertised event was held on Mercer Island, it’s unclear what sort of organizing had been occurring or when, nor how Laurellen became involved.
Raymond has stated that there was never a ceremony making him Baron. Nor did he ever have a crown or coronet. He was simply baron because he was the founder.
The first year of events the vast majority were held in Olympia, with a few in Seattle.
“When visitors from Madrone and Three Mountains lined up in order of chronology, Madrone used to go first because we held the first tournament in the Pacific Northwest. Until they lined up first. I asked what was going on. They had looked at the Page and found Three Mountains had held an organizational meeting prior to the tourney.
“I didn’t object because—fair is fair—and—I didn’t much care. What difference did it make where we stood in line to be presented to Their Majesties?
“Sir Fredric did most of the combat instructions. He was the only one around who had real training and experience. In the early days there was a lot of passing around of carpet armor and head protection.
“We didn’t have access to rattan. What we used for swords was 1” thick plywood, cut into blade, quillons, grip, pommel. They were a lot more dangerous than rattan. So we didn’t strike as hard as was standard in the West Kingdom.
“The Current Middle Ages pamphlet showed a mace that was essentially a sword with a weight on the end. On my first visit to the Bay Area I met Jon the Lean. He showed me a short mace. That’s what I fought with ever since. A hickory shaft about 18”. About 5”of striking surface, though I padded the rest of the shaft down to my grip, to avoid injury if a strike overshot someone’s arm or shoulder or such. There was a wrist strap so it could hang while I was using a long ax, maul, long sword, or such. If someone closed on me I had that mace to hand. All of which I learned from Jon.
“Once we got things started, Bonceur came up to check things out. He helped us design our personal arms, and arms for the Madrone barony.”
The first use of Madrone as the name for the Washington state Barony appears in The Page, March 1970. The first time Raymond is titled Baron in an SCA publication is in The Page, July 1971.
As to the pronunciation of Madrone, Raymond has written “There was argument about pronouncing the name of the barony. I called it Madrone because when I moved to this area and asked about that tree, that’s how they pronounced it. But the Seattle crowd pronounced it Madron-a. I just let anyone pronounce it as they chose to.”
Raymond and Sheen moved out of Washington state in about 1971 or 72, leaving Madrone in the care of Castellan Liam of the Barque.
Raymond has said: “The Baron and Baroness who replaced me were John and Bubbles [Liam of the Barque and Deirdre Muldomhnaigh, John and Mildred Downey-Broxen]. They had a houseboat, I think on Lake Washington. I remained founding baron, but they did very well at the same job. We didn’t have that set up when we moved to the Bay Area. The Seattle group was self organizing. And did very well at it.”