The Kingdom

In Our Words

(From Triton’s Trumpet, June 1997) In preparation for kingdom status, Meridies has formed three regions: I – Louisiana, Mississippi and Arkansas. II – Georgia, Tennessee, and Alabama. III – Florida. Region II is calling themselves “The Lair of the Phoenix.” The suggestions for Florida I have heard are Jacynth (French for Hyacinth) Tritonia, Terra Trilittora (Latin for land of three shores), Southmoor, Merimar, Suus Marus, Austramus, Tamassee (Indian for sundown of the Gods i.e. Valhalla), Wacunda (Indian for fire), Trimaris (Latin for three seas). Suggested symbols: Water Hyacinth, Trumpet Shell, Whelk shell, Proteus (a merman carrying a shepherds crook), the heraldic fountain (a rondle, barry wavy argent and azure), rayonne or. Regional officers are Seneschal – Eric of Skaan; Herald – Yari the Seeker; Sciences – Lord Bronislous of Vilnius; Arts – Lady Elysoone of Arrowood. No regional Marshal as yet. https://www.trimaris.org/trimaris-history-1977/

The History of Meridies

The below is from The History of Meridies, 2nd edition.

In those days the Knowne World was divided into four parts -- the East, the Middle, the West and Atenveldt. The greatest of these was the kingdom of Atenveldt, whose lands stretched southward to the burning lands of the Steppe and eastward to the wave tossed beaches of Trimaris. It was a land of rich principalities and provinces, and the fairest jewel in the Crown of Atenveldt was the far flung Principality of Meridies. Given its own Prince to rule over its lands and peoples in the time of King Deaton Claymore, Meridies was Atenveldt's gateway to the Eastern Ocean and the source of much wealth, the greatest being the loyalty and honor of its people and the Princes and Princesses who ruled in the King's name.

Then there came to the throne of Atenveldt a man of far-reaching vision whose name was Koris Naterhelm. He foresaw says ahead when the Old Order would pass away and a new one would rise up. So he took counsel with his advisors, princes and captains. King Koris heard the voices of the Meridian People asking for a heritage of their own, as the grown child asks of a loving parent, and he saw that this was a goodly boon and within his power. So King Koris and Queen Leah, with the approval of the legendary Imperium, and theagreement of the Prince, Princess, and people of Meridies, were raised up to be an equal with the four other realms of the Knowne World, and a new kingdom banner was unfurled across the face of the lands.

The first stir of interest in the region now known as the Kingdom of Meridies began late in AS I , when Ulric of Wolfhaven, residing in what would be the future Barony of Iron Mountain (Birmingham, AL), heard that Jon de Cles and some other individuals had started a medieval group in California. After checking around for some time through various sources to find out what this was all about, Ulric managed to get in touch with them and in the beginning of AS II made the first efforts to found a group.

In the beginning of the next year, the Barony of the Fens was formed in New Orleans by Hewlin of Fenland, working with Ulric. Shortly thereafter, the Fens worked with Ross o the Ridge to found the Canton of Draconia. During AS III, the groups of that area, as well as a fledgling group north of Atlanta founded by Sven of Vandelalven, struggled to maintain themselves via long distance and the few times a year that their widely scattered members could congregate.

Given the preponderance of males in the region at the time, activities were centered around fighting. Although no "official" events or tourneys were held at this time, there was a great deal of fighter training, as well as avid interest in various forms of live weapons training.

The loosely structured groups banded together in approximately AS IV and named the region now known as Meridies and Trimaris the Southern Marches. At this time, more serious efforts were made to communicate with the East Kingdom, to whom the Southern Marches were officially assigned.

In April AS VI, what has come to be regarded as the first tournament in the Southern Marches was held in the Barony of the Fens. In attendance were individuals from Iron Mountain (Birmingham, AL), South Downs (Atlanta, GA), Wyvernwoode (Gainesville, FL) and the Fens (New Orleans, LA). There was no feast, although several of us reveled mightily in the French Quarter after the event. Shortly after this tournament, the Barony of the Fens went into a decline, and from it emerged the Barony of Draconia, and several years later, the Barony of Axemoor.

In the fall of that year, Wyvernwoode (under the guidance of Eric of Ravenscold), Draconia, South Downs and Iron Mountain all began to thrive. Almost all of the new groups gained new members and officers, and held their first events.

In preparation for more assertive efforts to organize into groups, the Southern Marches, led by Ulric, prepared the Iron Crown. The guardianship of the Iron Crown would be maintained by that fighter (at this time this meant male as females were not yet allowed to fight) who won the Iron Crown tournament each year in Draconia, which under the leadership of Ross o the Ridge, had now become a Barony.

Communication difficulties and distance factors culminated in a letter to the Board of Directors from the Southern Marches for the region to be transferred from the East Kingdom to Atenveldt. Although the East Kingdom appeared to be the closest kingdom to the Southern Marches, as the shortest distance between an active kingdom group and an active region group was Washington DC (Storvik) to Atlanta (South Downs), the greatest population density of the Southern Marches was in the Louisiana area, which was on the Atenveldt Border and far distant from the East Kingdom.

Apparently the petition engendered a furor in the East Kingdom as all of the details were being worked out. The Board notification was sent to Sven in South Downs. However, since Sven had moved between the time the Board received the petition and the time they acted on it, and his former roommate didn't forward it to him for several months, the people of the Southern Marches were unaware of all of the hoopla.

Since communications with our new mother Kingdom Atenveldt tended to be slow, and with the Board of Directors close to non-existent for the two years, the Southern Marches took any available information andbegan interpreting it as best we could. Since the Meridian interpretation was "This is what they said, this must be what they meant for us to do," unique regional attitudes were developed which would distinguish the new Kingdom of Meridies from all other areas of the Knowne World. Isolation from our fellow anachronists in other kingdoms reinforced these differences, as the closest groups to the Southern Marches at that time were in the mundane cities of Louisville in the Middle Kingdom, Washington DC in the East, and our fellow fledglings in Houston, which also happened to be the closest group outside of the "Old South" but still in the Kingdom of Atenveldt.

In the late winter of AS VII, officers of Draconia, South Downs and Stargate were invited to a meeting in Draconia with the Kingdom Seneschal of Atenveldt, Michael of Moria. This was the first face to face meeting of members and officers of the southern and western portions of the kingdom. The meeting led to better efforts by the Kingdom of Atenveldt to attend to the needs and the problems (including many of the communications problems between the Southern Marches and Atenveldt) of their fledgling southern groups. However, due to the situation in Atenveldt and our inability to get to the capital in Phoenix, the Southern Marches were still to be left pretty much on her own for day to day functioning, with guidance from the officers of the Kingdom.

Long distances between the groups in the Southern Marches continued to make holding and attending events major undertakings. For years, the two closest groups were Iron Mountain and South Downs, which were 3 1/2 hours apart. The most distant groups were Wyvernwoode and Draconia. For years, Wyvernwoode's closest neighbor was South Downs, an eight hour drive. Additionally, most of the intestates within the Kingdom were not yet finished, causing less than desirable travel routes.

Despite this difficulty, tournaments were held on a regular, if somewhat infrequent, basis, and the groups of the Southern Marches not only flourished but pursued the idea that one distant day, the Marches would become an independent Kingdom.

In last fall of AS IX a conclave was held in the Shire of the Misty Mountains (Northern Alabama) to discuss the future laws, arms, and organization of the Southern Marches. The name Southern Marches having been vetoed by the Laurel Sovereign of Arms, a new name, Alderland, was chosen for the region. The members of the conclave chose for Alderland the colors of red, purple and gold, in order to represent the heat and light omnipresent during many months of the year. The heralds, elaborating on this theme, chose fire names for their offices. These colors were later denied to the area by Laurel, who felt that the incipient region should have unique colors against the day that it would one day become a kingdom. After much negotiation, it was determined that the only unique colors were black and white. Since those colors were easily distinguishable to bashed-about fighters, Alderland agreed to use them, but the heralds retained the fire names.

Efforts continued at this point to unify the region into a principality, as the effort of dealing with a kingdom that was 2000 miles away necessitated a lot more effort and phone bills than were initially realized. Between the fall and winter of AS IX, the number of groups in Alderland more than tripled under recruitment efforts.

Thanksgiving weekend of AS IX marked the first visit to the region by Aten Royalty, King Pontius. Pontius' visit brought home to the region that it was indeed time to begin the process of becoming a principality. Shortly thereafter, the incipient Principality of Alderland held its first event, a Twelfth Night Revel in the Barony of the South Downs.

In the winter of AS IX, the regional seneschale, Cynthia FitzColline, began work in earnest with Atenveldt to prepare a petition to the Board of Directors for the region to become a Principality. Shortly before this effort, the groups met and decided that almost no one liked the name Alderland, almost no one wanted to become the Kingdom of the South, and almost no one had any better name. Eventually, the populace agreed to calling the region Meridies, which is Latin for "South". In early April AS IX, with permission from the Kingdom of Atenveldt, the first Meridian Coronet List was held in Northern Florida, near the present Barony of Arenal (Pensacola). Shortly after this, Cynthia, combining mundane and SCA traveling, hand-delivered Meridies' principality petition to the Board. On April 27, AS IX, the Board granted this request , and gave permission for Francois du Vant and Anne, the victor of our first Coronet List and his Consort, to be invested as the first Prince and Princess of Meridies.

On June 25, AS X, Francois and Anne were invested as the Prince and Princess of Meridies by his Aten Majesty, Deaton Claymore, who, fascinated by the fireflies outside the court hall, spent the rest of the court looking out the window. (Historical note: Deaton comes from the Arizona area, where there are no such bugs and was delighted to learn of this wondrous animal residing in His kingdom's southern reaches.)

During the next year, the principality became actively involved with other kingdoms, holding Border Raids with the Middle Kingdom and Interkingdom Tournaments with the East. In addition, the size of the Principality doubled in group size and more than tripled in population. Groups were founded in almost every major population area of the Principality, particularly in the western regions and what was to later become Trimaris (the Florida peninsula). Due to the rapid growth of Meridies, the rapid growth of the region of Ansteorra, and the somewhat volatile and difficult political situation in Atenveldt, by the winter of AS XI, it was becoming clear to the Coronet and to the Principality officers that Meridies would have to become an independent kingdom. Our rapid growth was too much to handle with the center of the decision making process ostensibly in Arizona.

A series of closed Curias were held in the spring, and early that summer, with the approval of the Coronet and the populace, the Principality Seneschale, Rebecca of Twywn, requested permission from Atenveldt to petition the Board for Kingdom status. This petition was hand-carried by Mistress Rebecca for the Board's consideration, and on September 13, AS XII, after approving Ansteorra's petition for Principality status, the petition approving Kingdom status for Meridies was approved. Also approved were the plans that Meridies' first crown list be held in October, and the victor of that list to be crowned in January. This was a departure from SCA tradition; until our first Coronation, all new kingdoms held their first Crown List and Coronation at the same event. The fact that we wished to separate the two and allow the new Crown Prince and Crown Princess to have time to prepare themselves and their wardrobe for their new status was somewhat baffling to those who were not Meridiens and led to some mighty problems in the three months between Crown List and Coronation.

The remaining months under Atenveldt were spent tidying up offices, preparing expanded laws, and dodging the efforts of His Aten Majesty to crown Their Royal Highnesses John and Kassandra before the day that the populace had chosen, despite the explicit instructions of the Board and the Steward.

On January 14, AS XII, despite a cold front that destroyed the balmy 30 year weather average for the Shire of White Buck Forest and threatened to ice the King of Atenveldt in Alabama and the Crown Prince and Crown Princess in Grey Niche (Memphis), His Majesty Koris crowned John the Bearkiller and Kassandra NicKraken as the first King and Queen of Meridies, thus ending the protectorate of the Iron Crown, and establishing the rightful Crown of Meridies.

Rebecca of Twywn, the Demanding Collegium Meridies July, AS XXI

Source Material

There being no books in the Meridian library on the History of Meridies, conversations with individuals were about the only source available to the author. All of these persons were officers at one time or another (some of them several times) during the periods of time discussed. All disavow any errors or omissions that may have been made due to the vagaries of their memories. Wherever possible, the information has been checked with written records. The author also wishes to state that in the interest of time, some events of historic note to individual groups and some situations were not elaborated upon. The author therefore suggests that anyone wishing to "read more about it" contact one of the individuals listed below. Their group name is listed after their name, but the author can put you into contact with all of them.

Source Persons for This Class

• Cynthia FitzColline von Schlussel (West Kingdom)
• Gilrae of Moorburn (South Downs)
• Rebecca of Twywn, the Demanding (South Downs)
• Rondallynn of Golgotha (South Downs)
• Sven of Vandelalven, the Fierce (when active, South Downs)
• Taliesynne Nychymwrh yr Anghyfannedd (Trimaris)
• Ulric of Wolfhaven, yclept Graywolf (when active, South Downs)