Unofficial Court Report: Siege of Castle Theo d'Ore III
This Unofficial Report was narrated by Mistress Gwenhywfar dinas Emrys who was assisted in court by Tir Mara’s Badger, Tíarna Díarmait Ó Bríain, and Lord Snarfi Snorrisson.
On Friday evening, we gathered at a place called LORDA, where a great siege was to take place the next day. Lo and behold, even the King and Queen of the East were there to see the battle! As the people came together that evening the King and Queen called all those around to hear Their words. They requested the presence of the Baron of these lands, His Excellency Guthfrith Yrlingson, for it seems the King was concerned with the taxes that he received from our Barony, thinking them a little light. And as the Baron looked for assistance from his Baroness, the King grinned and said he was joking! for this was a ruse to have His Excellency before him. And so, the King and Queen called for their Order of the Laurel to join them and asked Guthfrith Yrlingson to contemplate joining the order.
And as he bowed his head in shock, Mistress Bess begged the boon that another be added to the order, her apprentice, Mergriet Van Wijenhorst. And so Mergriet Van Wijenhorst joined the other laurels in front of the Rulers of the East and she was also asked to contemplate joining the Order of the Laurel.
And then the Laurels led both candidates to their respective vigils, and the King and Queen thanked the populace gathered and closed the Friday court.
On Saturday morning, before the armies gathered to battle at the Siege of Castle Theo d’Ore, the King and queen did gather their populace together for an announcement. In their midst was one Gnaues Aurelius Andronicus, newly arrived from the shores of Ar n-Eilean-ne, who happened to be traveling through to his homelands. And the called Gnaeus in front of them and told him his peer had told them of his deeds in the far lands of the Barony of L’ile Dragon Dormant. And then they did call forth the Order of the Pelican, and asked Gnaeus if he would sit vigil and contemplate joining the order of the Pelican during the evening court. The pelicans gathered led him away and the King and Queen thanked those gathered, and closed the morning court.
After the battles had been fought and the Arts and Sciences had been seen and the arrows had been shot, the populace gathered for one last time to hear the words of the King and Queen of the East. Their Royal Majesties did process into court, and called in to join them the Baron and Baroness of Ruantallan, Baron and Baroness of Havres des Glaces and the Baroness of L’ile Dragon Dormant. The Baron and Baroness of Ruantallan did open a Baronial Court and handed out newcomer tokens to all those for whom the event was their first event or first court. They then closed the Baronial court.
The King and Queen of the East then opened their court. The first order of business was to award all the various winners who competed in the ten Arts and Sciences Challenges with their prizes, and to award the Silver Arrow for the Archery Tournament to Lord Otto Gottlieb.
King Darius called Omega and Queen Etheldreda called before them Wolfgang Hummel, and told him They had seen him working very hard in the shop with his wife, and that They had heard of his good deeds and works and would make him a Lord of Their Court. They then called for Catherine Annot de Bruges, for whom They had heard about her brewing and work within her Shire. They made her a lady of Their court as well. They then called the wide eyed Anna of the Island to come before them, for they had heard that she was a member of the commodores privateers but also a member of the foresters, and that she counted the coin for Ynys Y Gwaed and for all those acts they did make her a Lady of the Court. They also called upon Gaston le Cordier, for whom They had seen him on the field at the Great Pennsic War and at the Siege of Castle Theo D’Ore, and heard of his other works of chivalry, honor and service and did make him a Lord of the Court.
The Serpent King and Queen Orientalis then called forth The Foresters, who protected the green spaces between the shores of Ruantallan to the far west reaches of L’ile Dragon Dormant from Brigands, Mercenaries and Cutthroats! After learning of their great deeds They did bestow upon them a Royal Charter.
Turning to the younger generation, Their Majesties called before them Matthew nic Angus. They told him they had heard of his prowess in the youth rapier list and the King asked Matthew if he remembered the conversation they had on the field. Matthew said yes, but the Queen suspected the conversation meant more to the King than young Matthew! They then called forth the Order of the Tygers Cub, and added Matthew to their ranks. They then called for Seamus of Ruantallan to present himself before the court and asked Seumas if he enjoyed shooting archery, as They had heard he enjoyed that past-time. He did enjoy archery, and the Royals added Seumas to the Order of the Tygers cub. Yet the order was still not complete. They requested the presence of Decimus Tromentina Serverus to come before Them where They remarked They had seen him working in his parents shop. They asked him if he enjoyed it and he said yes. They then asked what his pay was, and he remarked he worked for free! They then asked him if he would follow in his parents steps running the shop and he said… No. Then inducted him into the order of the Tygers cub as well.
And while the children stood their greeting their order, The Queen called for all the children of the East to join Them in court. She told them, of the Royal Toy Sack, but that she ALSO knew that it was Rue of Red Bears birthday and had all the children sing happy birthday to her. Then The King called forth for the Royal Toy sack, and for Sir Angus McHaley to make himself available for the King. They handed the bag of toys to Sir Angus and told him to “run”. And he did so, with the children of the East trailing behind, where it was reminiscent of the Pied Piper. And then the scene turned dark, and Sir Angus McHaley fell at the hands of the children like a scene from Faust!
But court must carry on, and so the Queen called forth Mistress Gwenhwyfar Dinas Emrys, their herald, to receive an award of Seamstress to the Crown. And when the Queen was finished with her, she was called on by the King, who told her how she had helped Them throughout the reign and for that, he honored her with a King’s Cypher.
And so it came towards the end of the court, when Their Majesties called before Them Guthfrith Yirlingson, whom They had sent on vigil the night before to contemplate joining the order of the Laurel. They asked him if he had enough time to make a decision on joining the order and he had, and he did wish it. So They heard the words of Duchess Thyra Eiriksdottir for the Rose, Master Kenric for the Chivalry (read by Sir Gareth Grey de Wilton), Mistress Elizabeth Darnley for the Laurels, Mistress Ygraine for the Pelicans, and Master Frasier for the Masters of Defense. A medallion was presented, made by the children of Ruantallan, and a cloak was presented worked on by many people, and a wreath made by Lord Hugh. And Guthfrith was made a companion to the Order of the Laurel.
Mergriet van Wijenhorst was then called into court and asked if she had also had enough time to contemplate joining the order to wish she said she had and she wished to join them. She was then released from her apprenticeship to Mistress Elizabeth Darnley, with tears of joy. Their Majesties then heard the words of Countess Gwen a Brooke for the Rose (read by Mistress Bridget Greywolf), Syr Yesungge Altan for the Chivalry, Mistress Anetje Van Woerden for the Laurel (read by Magister D’Unstable), Mistress Elizabeth Darnley for the Pelican, and Mistress Acilaldai for the Masters of Defense. A medallion was presented from Syr Yesungge, The cloak was presented from Mistress Bess and a wreath made by Master D’unstable. Mergriet van Wijenhorst was then inducted into the Order of the Laurel. Before she left court, she did swear fealty to the King and Queen. As the order greeted the newest members of the order, the Ruantallan choir sang a song for Master Guthfrith.
Before the next order of business had chance to happen, Sir Angus McHaley, disheveled and limping, stumbled back into court, his jacket torn from his immense shoulders, and returned the toy sack to the King. The King did note that Sir Angus had braved the mighty forces of the children, and commended him for living to serve another day.
Their Majesties once again turned back to the business at hand and called in Syr Yesungge Altan to come before them. As he knelt there, wondering what he was doing in court, the Queen turned to the heralds and asked for the coronet. Syr Yesungge was then presented with a mongol coronet and made a Baron of the Court.
Last, but not least, Dominus Gnaeus Aurelius Andronicus was called into court. They asked him if he had time to think about his answer to Their question of whether to join the order of the Pelican at which he said Yes. The King asked for that answer and Gnaeus replies yes as well. The King then asked his peer, Mistress Gwenhwyfar if she had released him from service to which she looked at her Protégé and replied “You are released” and gave him a thumbs up.
King Darius and Queen Etheldreda then heard from Duchess Avelina (read by her protégé Baroness Allessandra) for the Rose, newly recovered Sir Angus McHaley for the order of the Chivalry, Mistress Alisay for the order of the Laurel, Mistress Tadea for the order of the Pelican, and Master Jean Paul Ducasse for the Masters of Defense (read by Mistress Acilaldai). A medallion was presented to him made by Lady Camilla di Bruno, a cloak was presented, made by Mistress Gwenhwyfar and a hat of maintenance was mentioned to be forthcoming, as it was left behind at the Crimson Hall.
Gnaeus was then inducted into the order of the Pelican.
The East Kingdom Seneschal made an announcement wishing to speak to members of various groups in the Crown Principality of Tir Mara, and the King and Queen thanked the scribes of the East for their outstanding service, noting that The Kingdom of the East was one of the few Kingdoms who gave out original artwork scrolls for almost all awards. They then asked the Siege of Castle Theo d’Ore III event staff to rise and be acknowledged, and lastly thanked all those for coming to court, and the Barons and Baronesses for hosting. The Court was then closed.