The History of
St. Martin de Tours
One cannot really address the inception of St. Martin de Tours without discussion of our beginnings in the SCA.
Sir Arion was mentored and trained by Lord Phillip of Meade and Kyr Yaroslav the Persistant of House Meade, from the Shire of Heatherwyne, Caid. Back in the day, this was a hard fighting and hard drinking bunch of ruffians who were a small but cohesive group of fighters. This house goes back to the early days of Caid, and was started at Cal Poly, Pomona.
Dame Juliana is/was/and will always be a member of the Abbey of Leng. Her primary trainers were Sir Aethelred the Jute, Lord Tunok and Sir Kamal Mishwa Khanadin. For many years she fought as Abbey shield wall, sometimes as right wing commander, then later fighting as a spearman. She will still fight with the Abbey on occasion, but has decided to help grow a new war band in Northern Calafia to bolster the Iron Brigade numbers.
When Arion and Juliana were married, House Meade became a reserve unit to the Abbey's shield wall.
Sir Arion and Dame Juliana had been running a fighting practice at their home in Vista (the Canton of Summergate) or some years. Over time, Sir Arion gained several fine Squires. This group decided to fight together, especially at GWW, where the Abbey often did not turn out in force. The group really congealed around the time of GWW, 2001. Over time additional fighters and Squires joined our ranks until we were of a size to become a "Real Unit" TM. We decided to use the Abbey Commands of Doom so that we could link up with the Abbey or Drafn easily if we were under numbers.
At the May Potrero War in 2002, we fielded about 10 fighters. We were a rag tag bunch and had no shields yet, but we did ok. We had a start of a period encampment, but we camped at the fated "site 13" at the back of Potrero. This was not the best of sites and we decided to try a different spot the next Potrero. Arion and I were the Archduke and Archduchess of Brandenburg, a subdivision of the Adrian Empire during that Summer through January of 2003. A number of us that play in Adria created a beautiful period encampment at the Adrian Imperial War in September instead of going to Potrero. Without us there, the group did not fight together, but paired off in subgroups. At GWW 2002, we fielded between 8 to 10 fighters and put up a nice period encampment. But we'd practiced a bit and did much better, even though we still had no "visual identification" as a group.
In Spring of 2003, we finally made up some shields. These first debuted at May Potrero, 2003. Very few were able to make it to Estrella, including Arion and I, so the unit did not fight as a group there. May Potrero was just awesome. Our group turned out a nice period encampment and unit of 14 were on the field. We had practiced hard with drills and the practice held up on the field. We started the event as a new unit "who are those guys with the blue and white shields?" to "St. Martins - take that gap!" ..and we did. Our newest fighters did great deeds of valour on the field. Sir Arion and I heard great praise of our fledgling unit from many quarters.
Our unit was split for September Potrero, some going to the Adrian Empire Imperial War and a few going to Potrero, where the few linked up as back up for the Abbey. Great Western war we again showed up in force, fielding about 15. Our encampment was lovely and Lord David Whitaker sponsored our first period tournament (the tournament company part of our company), by holding an Elizabethan Prize tournament on Thursday night. Though no armored combatants participated, we know that we need to do a bit more advertisement next time, because many of the weapons forms used in Elizabethan prize tourneys can only be replicated with armored combat. Lord David made up a list field that was a part of our encampment.
St. Martin's is a big supporter of the fighting activities and demos of the Canton of Summergate as well as the Adrian Empire subdivision of the Archduchy of Brandenburg (rebated steel).
In December, 2003, Arion and Juliana gathered their favorite songs and put together a songbook for the group.
On January 3, 2004, an Holiday party is planned "in costume" where lots of singing and eating and investing of new members will occur. During the day a fighting practice and banner making workshop is planned.
Written this day, December 30, 2003,
Dame Juliana Neuneker Hirsch von Schutzhundheim
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All material on this site is ©Copyright Julia Adams, 2003.