Heraldry

Heraldry is the  decorative art form of the medieval age of Europe. Begun as a way to identify friends and foes in combat and tournament, it grew to become the chief means of expressing presence, ownership and affiliation across Europe. Its bold colours, destinctive designs of  objects and creatures and specialised language became a feature of European courts; it persists today as part of  the high ceremonies of the United Kingdom.

In the Society, heralds advise people about designs for their arms, and help them research and develop historic names for themselves. You have the option to register your name and arms with the Society just as heralds registered arms with noble families throughout the late middle ages.

Heralds also serve the royalty by organising and conducting court. Court is the ceremonial side of the Society, where the royalty of the Society recognise excellence, leadership and service contributions from the members.

Arnaut, Genevieve, Lyonet and Robert are all experienced heralds, who are happy to advise you about armory design, choosing a name, or submitting your name and arms to the Society College of Heralds.

This one-page article from Poore House is a beautiful summary of how heraldic arms can work in the Society.

The heraldry section of the Drachenwald website outlines the policies of the kingdom College of Heralds, and has many helpful articles, and the submission forms as PDFs.

Some other useful reading:

• Heraldry on the SCA website.
• Modar’s heraldry page – a large website with plenty of reading about SCA heraldry
• Medieval Names Archive This collection of articles on medieval and renaissance names is intended to help historical re-creators to choose authentic names.
• Medieval Heraldry Archive This collection of articles on medieval and renaissance heraldry is intended to help historical re-creators to choose authentic armory.

Brewers’ Guild

Brewing is a fun form of do-it-yourself home chemistry, with results you can drink! It’s also an excellent social pastime, and doesn’t require a lot of experience. “The Wrecked Angle Brewery” in Thamesreach has supported brewers of all skill levels.

Brewing in Thamesreach is sporadic, but AS 46 (2011) saw the launch of the Insulae Draconis Brewers Guild, dedicated to the learning and development of brewing skills, as wel las the appreciation of all things fermentable.

If you are a brewer and feel a bout of brewing coming on, please don’t keep it to yourself! Post to the Thamesreach list, and see if you can find some fellow brewers, or drop Lord Guy a line via the Thamesreach list.

(past) Wrecked Angle Guildmistress: Lady Meesha de Valence

Culinary Guild

Thamesreach is home to many keen cooks and willing experimenters, and we typically roll away from our revel feasts stuffed to the gills with delicious medieval food.

There is no formal structure to the Culinary Guild, and unless otherwise declared, everyone in the Shire is assumed to be a member! All level of cooks (from the culinarily-challenged meal-in-a-can cook to the hobby chef) are very welcome, as you can all learn from and offer something to the Guild. All you need is the ability to peel apples and eat.

The aim of the Culinary Guild is to teach people about the techniques, ingredients, health theories and other such matters of early, medieval and renaissance cuisine, mainly through practical experience. Also the skills of menu selection, budgeting, goods acquisition etc etc that are necessary in cooking for Society events. At the end of the day however, we do it because we like to eat good food and have fun.

Event and recipe enquires welcome. For details please contact the Guildmistress, HE Lucrezia-Isabella di Freccia (Tina Nevin)

Cooking Guild Yahoogroup, the mailing list for the cooks of Drachenwald.

SCA-Cooks Mailing List – a very informative, helpful and fun list on medieval and other cooking open to anyone. Expect to learn a great deal. Put only the following line in the BODY of the message:
subscribe sca-cooks