Month: June 2026

Due to the impending heat wave, mid-week archery practice for this Wednesday, 7/1, is cancelled.

YIS, Niall

Hi folks, just wanted to make sure people know, Ariella will be running fencing practice this Sunday. Thank you Ariella!

At the Iris Festival last month, Baronessa Violeta and Praetoria Prima announced their intent to retire. That means that we the citizens of The Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands must elect new Baronage. We start the process with the nomination meeting at the garb swap in North Park on July 12th. Nominated candidates, must be paid members of the SCA and adults, (18 or older), and reside within the Barony zip codes or be a registered non-resident barony citizen.

After the nomination meeting, the nominated candidates must respond within a month whether they accept the nomination. That’s when election season starts. We will mail ballots to our members. If you are 17 years old paid member* that resides in the Barony we will mail you a ballot to the address that is on record with SCA corporate. If you are a non-resident citizen we will mail the ballot to your address on record with the seneschal and herald. If you aren’t a paid member, or don’t live in barony, or your address isn’t current in the records, you can ask for a ballot in writing to the committee chairman: Hara Kikumatsu, address: Sharon Booth, 1105 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA, 15232, or email bmdl@aethelmearc.org.  NOTE: You must request a ballot by the nominating meeting, on Sunday July 12th.

*17 years of age as of October 18th, 2026 (our best guess for ballot counting day).

Hello Brewers and Friends!

Alaric and Elsbeth invite you to their home to have a sekanjabin day! Bring your Mint, Favorite Vinegar, or other preferred flavorings and get some hands on experience in medieval refreshment!

If you need the address please reach out to Muirgheal or Alaric or see the dark pages.

Sunday June 28, 2026 – Noon

Cheers!
Muirgheal

muirgheall@gmail.com

Hi folks! The Stellar Fencing Tournament has been rescheduled for this Sunday around 2pm, due to the weather cancellation last Sunday. Come join us for a weapons rotation bear pit!

The weather forecast for tomorrow shows rain for most of the day, so fencing practice is cancelled. Stay dry!

Hi all, from Niall!

With a relatively clear schedule between now and Pennsic, I will be bringing back our official mid-week archery practices at our regular martial practice location in Highland Park, starting this Wednesday, June 17, from 5:30 pm until 8:00 (or until we’re done). I will continue to do these on Wednesday evenings through July 22 as the weather permits.

These mid-week practices tend to draw a much smaller group than our regular Sunday practices, meaning we can get many more ends in. Because they’re official, these practices are good for working on Royal Rounds (which will be submitted to the SCA Scores site) and drilling down on refining technique.

I will not plan on bringing loaner bows and arrows to the mid-week practices unless specifically requested. If you are planning to attend and require loaner gear, e-mail archerymarshal@debatablelands.aethelmearc.org no less than 24 hours beforehand, include your name and the type and poundage of bow you normally use. I will continue to bring all the loaner gear to the regular Sunday practices, however.

YIS, Niall.

Hello Debatable Lands! Our next Stellar Fencing Tournament will be this Sunday at practice! The format will be rotating weapons form bearpit.

At the Iris Festival, Baronessa Violeta and Praetoria Prima announced their intent to retire. Our Barony will need to select the new Baronage. The process, the requirements candidates must meet to serve as Baronage, and the requirements to be allowed to vote are outlined in Section V of the Barony Governance Policy document. Here is that document: https://debatablelands.aethelmearc.org/resources/policies-and-forms/downloads/BMDL_Governance_Policies_FINAL_Dec2023.pdf.

At the June 3rd business meeting the selection committee members were identified: The selection committee currently consists of the current Baronage, Violeta and Prima, myself, Hara, the Seneschal, the Knight Marshal, Patrokles, the Chronicler, Emilia, and the Exchequer, Forveleth. Depending on who is running for Baronage, the committee members may change. It may change if a committee member is running, is a partner or living with someone who is running, or has a teacher/student or belt relationship with someone who is running. At that June meeting, the committee voted myself, Hara Kikumatsu as Chairman of the Selection Committee.

Here are the steps for selecting our next Baronage and approximate timing:
1. Announcement of the upcoming election. It was announced at court at Iris Festival on May 24th
2. Approximately one month later, nominations – this has already been scheduled for Jul 12 at the garb swap.
3. Approximately one month later, acceptance of nominations.
3.a Ballots mailed to eligible barony citizens.
3.b Candidate town hall meetings ideally one in person and one online, for candidates to introduce themselves, and to answer questions from the populace.
4. Two month later, ballots counted. (Exact date and location will be announced once we have a better idea of whether the process in running on schedule.)

Note that nominations can be sent in writing to the Chairman of the Selection Committee. The written nomination must be received before the nomination meeting. Send a written nomination to Hara Kikumatsu: Mailing address: Sharon Booth, 1105 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. You can also send email to bmdl@aethelmearc.org. No text or social media requests please.

The requirements of the office: The Territorial Office of the Baronage, must meet the requirements stated in Corpora and Kingdom Law, be 18 years of age or order as of the date the votes are to be tallied, and must be a citizen of the Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands. The Office of the Baronage of the Debatable Lands is not subject to a term limit. 

Note: Individuals or couples may be nominated, but no individual can occur on the ballot more than once.

Eligible Voters: Any person residing the the zip codes of the Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands who is 17 years of age or older, as of the date the votes are to be tallied, and is on the corporate membership list may vote or is a Non-Resident Citizen of the Barony-Marche of the Debatable Lands and has their contact information on file with the Offices of the Seneschal and Herald. Under exceptional circumstances,the Selection Comittee may consider a written request for a ballot from a person who would not otherwise receive one. Such a request must be received be the Chair of the Selection Committee by the date of the Nominating Meeting.

Send a written nomination or a request for a ballot if you would not otherwise receive one to the Chairman of the Selection Committee, Hara Kikumatsu: Mailing address: Sharon Booth, 1105 Shady Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15232. You can also send email to bmdl@aethelmearc.org. No text or social media requests please.

If you are not a current member, or your address is not up-to-date with Corporate, please correct that. If you are a non-resident citizen make sure your contact information is up-to-date with the Senechal and Herald. We will be requesting the list of members from corporate in early July before the nominating meeting.

After the nominating meeting, the chairman will notify the nominated candidates in writing within one week of the nominations. In order for the candidate to be considered, they must accept the nomination in writing to the Chairman of the Selection committee within one month of the nomination meeting.

Ballots will be mailed to eligible voters. There will be numbered ballots, and a record will be kept of the total number of ballots, but no record will be kept of which number was mailed to a voter. Voters are not required to put their name on the ballot. Voters can return in ballots by mail or in person to the Chair the the Selection Committee.

The ballot will contain a group status question that the voter must answer. The groups status question asks if the Barony should remain a barony. Then it will contain a list of candidates be ranked in order of preference with 1 being the favorite candidate. A voter can leave a candidate blank or unranked. A voter can also mark a candidate unacceptable, UA.

A duplicate, invalid, or missing ballot number will be considered invalid ballot and not counted. If the ballot doesn’t have unambiguous and legible ranking of candidates including UA and blank responses it will be considered invalid.

Any candidate receiving unacceptable, UA, votes from more than 33% of the valid ballots will be eliminated.

General Summary of Tallying. The voters rank candidates from most favorite to least favorite. Take the ballots and make a pile for each candidate, based on just the first-place votes (ignoring all the other rankings on the ballots). Then eliminate the candidate with the fewest votes and re-distribute those ballots to the other piles, using the second-place votes. Keep eliminating the candidate with the fewest votes until one candidate is left. This is a summary only. Please refer to the governance document listed at the beginning of this post

Here is a news update about baronial things that happened recently or are happening in the coming months. First, Noble Gerschon de Gervoi l’amiot is the newest officer in the barony. Gerschon is our new Minister of the Lists. You may have seen them at the MoL table last Pennsic, at War Practice, or at barony stellar tournaments. They were also the MoL for the fencing tournament at the Japanese Iris Festival and Iron Comet Challenge event.

At the Archery Muster at the Castle this year, we had a tournament to select our Baronial representative for the Scarlet Guard Challenge. Lady Arthes MacLeod won that tournament, and Ramir was second. Then at War Practice Arthes won Kingdom archery champion tournament and was elevated to the Scarlet Guard. Thus, she was no longer eligible to participate in the Scarlet Guard Challenge. Ramir will represent the Barony at the Scarlet Guard Challenge.
We also have a new barony archery champion, The Honorable Lady Arthes MacLeod won the Barony archery tournament.

The Iris Festival was held on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend. We had martial tournaments in heavy, fencing, thrown weapons, and archery. We also had an Arts and Sciences competition and a display. We also had Japanese lawn games thanks to Fine and her helpers. There was an iron skillet dessert making competition organized by Arthes and her team of helpers and judges. Between Michi-san’s terrific bento boxes, the iron skillet desserts, and the vendor with coffee, tea, and cookies, everyone was quite full of food and the day was full of fun activities.

At the end of court at the Iris Festival, Baronessa Violeta and Praetoria Prima announced they plan to retire and are starting the Baronage Selection Process. The nomination meeting will be held at the end of the general business meeting at the July garb swap. I will be posting further information about the upcoming Baronage selection when we have dates and locations.

The Garb Swap is coming soon. The Garb Swap is an annual tradition that started years ago and the is coordinated by Baroness Constance Glyn Dwr. It will be help on Sunday, July 12th, at the Avalon Shelter in North Park, From 10:30 until 5pm. There will also be the baronial fencing tournament. Fencers should cone early to warm up and sign-up for the tournament at 11:30. The tournament will start promptly at noon, so it will be done in time for everyone to participate in the swap. There will also be a barony meeting starting around 2pm or so. The nominations for new Baronage candidates will be held at the end of the Barony meeting.

For directions and more information see the garb swap calendar entry on the baronial calendar: https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0/event?eid=NWlxb2lpcDhtMHNzNTV2djNhc3NnbGZpNmYgaWJiNGVmajA3N3IzZ2M5a2txdmdjaWszOXNAZw.

The Baronial Tournament to select the next heavy Baronial Champion will be held on Sunday, June 21st and the outdoor martial arts practice. Heavy practice usually starts at 2pm once archery is done. Practice is held in LAPR field in Highland Park, located at the intersection of Washington Blvd and Allegheny River Blvd. The thrown weapons baronial champs tournament date is still TBD.

If you are planning to attend Pennsic this year, the Barony will be holding a reception in Aethelmearc Royal on Sunday August 2nd from noon-4pm. There will be both Baronial and Royal Count. Royal Court is currently scheduled from 1-2ish. Please note that the actual time of Royal Court may vary depending on Their Majesties schedule. THL Robert Pour Maintnon’s elevation to the Order of the Pelican is scheduled for that royal court.

My last bit of new is that there will be a social media transition to Aethelmearc managed social media in November. For discord that is nothing more than changing the owner of the discord server. The barony google email lists will also transfer, but the members of the email list can be imported into the new email group. Facebook is a different issue. There is not a member or content transfer process. If there is content or contacts that you want to save, do so. Note that if content is not yours, you cannot upload it to the new server without written permission via online form or email. Please see the social media policy document regarding this. https://www.sca.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Society-Social-Media-Policy-April-2021.pdf. The transition for our barony is scheduled for November. It was scheduled this late so that the baronial election process won’t be interrupted by the transition.