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Dreiburgen News - December 2003

The DREIBURGEN NEWS (DN) is published by and for the populace of the Barony of Dreiburgen, in the Kingdom of Caid of the Society for Creative Anachronism Inc. The DN is not an official publication of S.C.A. Inc. and does not delineate the policy of S.C.A. Inc.

CORRECTIONS/ERRORS: If you espy an incorrect name, address, phone number, email address and/or a misspelling or error in your contact information, PLEASE contact the Chronicler immediately with the correct information via email: .

Deadline for submission to the DN: Two weeks prior to newsletter release date.

For upcoming events and regnum information, please see the relevant section of the Dreiburgen website.

Enjoy this month's newsletter.

Dreiburgen Baronial Council Meeting - November 11, 2003 in Cabazon, CA

Baronial Welcome: Thank you for starting the meeting on time.

Upcoming Events: Their Excellencies will be at Coronation, not Queen Champion after Coronation, Queen's Champion Equestrian on Dec 7, and Dreiburgen Yule on Dec 13, 12th Night and Steinsee Anniversary in January.

Seneschal Welcome: Please make sure to sign in. There are three sign in pages: the regular roster, a Baronial and cantonal regnum page for corrections, and a permission roster if you want more than your SCA name to be listed on the Baronial website. All Baronial officers will be added to the Dreiburgen Baronial Officer mailing list.

A&S: No Report.

Chatelaine: Nothing much to report. Lord Medwyn stepped up to the office at Dreiburgen Anniversary. He has made a call for Gold Key loaner garb in all sizes. He is compiling a list of local resources to direct newcomers.

Chirurgeon: No Report.

Chronicler: The November Dreiburgen News (DN) is now available. Steinsee is producing a newsletter. Gallavally is working on one. Articles and photos are desired.

Constable: Lady Chana is the new Baronial Constable. There is one red and blue drawstring bag to be claimed. The wallet left at Anniversary has been returned to its owner.

Exchequer: Not present. We have $10765.60 in our account. For more information please contact Baroness Allaine.

Herald: No Report. Two names and 1 device were submitted from Dreiburgen at the last Kingdom Heraldry meeting.

Historian: We had history at Dreiburgen Anniversary with our new Baron and Baroness. Please send THLord Donal your impressions for the Baronial History.

Keeper of the Baronial Forge: Baronial Forge is still going. The next meeting will be the Sunday after Coronation.

Librarian: We have four new books for the Baronial Library thanks to Lord Medwyn.

Lists: Lord Aelbryce is under the weather. Lady Una is the new Baronial Lists officer as of this Council meeting.

Marshal: We have fighters. We have had one event in the past month - Dreiburgen Anniversary. We had 6 period fence and 27 heavy combat fighters. The winner of the Period Fence was Senor Lot Ramirez. The winner of the heavy combat was Lord Rhys ap Llewellyn. Everyone had lots of fun. We have two fighter practices - Tues in Riverside and Sunday in Gallavally. We have loaner armor. On Saturday, December 6, there will be a Kingdom War Practice at Sylvan Park in Redlands.

Minister of Children: She has put out a call of craft supplies to build a box for event. In contact with other Ministers of Children throughout the kingdom.

Web Minister: Updates are being done. New page for Marshal information will be created.

Gallavally: Report sent in via email. Business as usual through the month. A silk banner workshop is planned for March 27, 2004. GWW VI T-shirts are still available. There will be no November or December meeting due to the holiday schedule.

Mons Draconis: No Report.

Pagus Sancti Geronimi: The Pagus had a great feast. The Great Hall décor was beautiful.

Steinsee: Had their meeting. Talked about the upcoming Anniversary in January. More cantonal offices are being filled. Fighter Practice Sunday 10 am, Archery practice Sunday 2-5 pm.

Kingdom Equestrian Guild Liaison: Normally give reports at Dreiburgen meetings in Corona.

Moniers Guild: Making site tokens for Crown 2004.

Scriptorium: Going well on the 2nd and 4th Monday of the month at the Baron and Baroness' house in Riverside. Time is 7:30 pm to 9 pm. There will be meetings in December.

Jewelry Arts Guild: December meeting will be the 1st Tues of the month and they will be coving wire jewelry.

Gadfly (Master Aldred): He is there is help.

Baronial Events

Dreiburgen Anniversary: The Baroness said thank you very, very much for everyone's great help at the event, especially the autocrat staff, the cooking staff, her incredible court and guard, and for everyone who helped setup and take down Big Blue. The Baron said thank for so many people who helped setup Big Blue so smoothly. We made $250 on the event. The Final Report will be given at the December Baronial Council meeting.

Dreiburgen Yule: Reservations are now being taken. Dreiburgen Yule will be on December 13 in Gallavally. The Pre-Reg Deadline is December 3. Please see Lady Islyle for reservation info.

Steinsee Anniversary: The date has changed to January 17, 2004. The location is Covington Park in Morongo Valley. Please come, have fun, and volunteer.

Sancti Geronimi Anniversary: The event will be March 14, 2004.

Spring Crown (April) 2004: No autocrat report.

Upcoming Events: Coronation this weekend, 12th Night in Pasadena. Reservations are a good idea.

Dreiburgen Yule: It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Yule

Caid Twelfth Night: A Midwinter's Night Dream

New Business: Lord Darius is sponsoring a food drive, setting a $20 limit for individual to try to make it go as far as possible. He is asking for receipts.

For the winning individual Lady Elana will make hand done trim. The best group will win Darius' Thanksgiving Turkey. He is accepting donations up to November 18. He is asking for volunteers to go and deliver the food to KFRG donation box. Donations should not require refrigeration or be in glass.

THLady Miriam and THLord Eoin want to form a Baronial Cooks Guild. Signup forms are going around.

Closing Comments: The Baron was blown away by all of the help at Anniversary. The roof on Big Blue will need to be replaced. He is currently drawing up a new pattern that might be ready by the end of December.

The Baroness hopes everyone has a great Thanksgiving.

After 13+ years of service "Big Blue", the Dreiburgen pavilion, is showing its age. The roof is failing and will need to be replaced soon. Below follows an article which appeared in a 1991 issue of the Dreiburgen News; it relates the history of our pavilion's creation. Plans are being made to replace the roof, and I hope I can count on your support to see this project through to completion.

Malcolm Alberic

The Dreiburgen Baronial Pavilion
and How It Grew

The new Dreiburgen pavilion was the culmination of at least five years of planning and working towards its financing, design and construction. The beginning started with the recognition that the barony was going to soon require a new pavilion. Back in 1985, when Lady Iana of Tallowcross was the baronial exchequer, it was decided to start accumulating funds for the new Baronial Pavilion.

Origins of the Design

Informal discussions took place between groups and individuals favoring different design approaches, but all seem to agree that something more imposing, a little larger and, if possible, more period looking than the sunshade type we were using was desired.

Three years ago, as our treasury began to grow, more serious discussion took place about the type of pavilion we should make. The consensus at that Council meeting was that it should be as much "period-like" as possible. About this same time, we at Montrose were studying period pavilions and built a small, parasol type pavilion designed for two (four in a pinch) that would emulate small period parasols, be put up by one person, and fit in the back of a small Honda Civic. We didn't know it then, but this was the original ancestor of the new Baronial Pavilion.

What this little tent proved was the practicality, durability and light-weight characteristics of ripstop, UV resistant, fire-retardant nylon as a good SCA pavilion material. It also stood up in high winds where some other SCA tents went down.

A few people pointed out that nylon is not "period." True. But, the SCA has always accepted "look alike" materials where practical considerations dictate. Nylon was developed to simulate silk. To illustrate how well nylon succeeded, Drusilla ran a contest at the Baron's War in Calafia where she found that many people confused various samples of silk for nylon, and nylon for silk.

In the "Western European Medieval Tents" section of "Tensile Architecture" by Phillip Drew, we learned that these tents were made of canvas painted with tar then covered with exotic cloth such as linen or silk for decorative purposes. Great! We could simulated the silk outer covering with the nylon and, for economy and practicality, eliminate the canvas underlayer.

Three and a half years ago, Baron Leo asked for sketches for a baronial pavilion. Several were submitted at a special meeting to consider the possibilities. We submitted a round-ended, four center pole design having a medieval, quadruple "crow's-foot," roof tie-down ropes and the walls separate from the roof as was virtually universal in medieval and renaissance tents. Our criteria was a large pavilion with a period look but light in weight and able to stand-up in the high winds encountered in Dreiburgen and other sites about the Southwest. Another requirement was that it should be possible to erect it with as few as two persons.

After these ideas had been submitted, Lady Lizbeth of Ravensholm decided to build a pavilion and visited Montrose to firm up a design. She and Lord Aladric evolved a smaller version of the proposed Baronial Pavilion utilizing two central poles and having the walls sewn to the roof for simplicity. Many of you have seen this striking blue and yellow pavilion. She took it to Rowany in Australia where it survived both wind and rainy weather. This encouraged us in the adequacy of the basic design. Then in the fall of 1989, Baron Leo de Coronado selected this type of design and, since the baronial treasury now had adequate funds, urged the start of the construction.

Pavilion Construction

After the holiday season and early events of the year, construction started in earnest in March with the purchase of 70 yards of white 60 inch wide nylon and 120 yards of blue nylon along with a roll of white insignia tape and 8 yards of white insignia cloth. Lord Aladric determined the dimensions for cutting the roof pieces and a day was spent using the parish hall floor of St. Michael's Episcopal Church for marking and cutting out the principal roof pieces.

Lord Wilhelm obtained the wood poles: both 1½ inch for wall support and the 2 inch diameter for the main center poles. Montrose (Lords Aladric, Mornay and Malcolm) obtained the metal parts: chain-link fence top rail and fittings for the side wall frame tops and posts for joining the sections of the center poles, pulleys for the top center post joiners and 3/4 inch electrical conduit for the end wall frame tops.

3/8 inch diameter polypropylene, hollow core blue/white rope was employed for the crows-foot tie-downs and hoisting the roof, and similar 1/4 inch diameter rope was used for erecting and wind bracing the central poles. Lord Aladric had to braid all of these crows feet and the hoisting ropes, a fair task all in itself. Some have speculated that the rope cost as much as the fabric and, while we certainly did have problems with the rope company delivering our blue and white cordage, this did not affect the cost which was only about 1/3 that of the fabric.

Lord Elgil donated the many pieces of steel reinforcing bars used for tent stakes. These were cut, bent, hammered and welded by the Lords Malcolm, Aladric, Elgil, Edvin of Runedin, Quinton Reis and Thomas Bordeaux.

Pavilion Workers

The following members of the barony worked on this mammoth project which required several man-months of time. (A pavilion of this size is not recommended for any organization less than a barony and then only if a number of very dedicated and skilled people are available.) The following list includes all who worked at least an hour towards the construction of the Dreiburgen pavilion (some worked at least a man-week or more). This list is as complete as I could make it and if anyone has inadvertently been omitted or names misspelled they have my abject apologies.

In service to the Barony of Dreiburgen, I remain,
Mornay of Montrose

(Reprinted from a 1991 Dreiburgen News article.)

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