SCA Life

There are many rules and guidelines that a newbie needs to know regarding what jewelry is appropriate to wear at a Society for Creative Anachronism event or local meeting. There are certain pieces of jewelry that indicate a specific status within the society and others that indicate that the wearer has won various awards. So here are the most important bits you needs to know.

1 – Crowns and Coronets
Only a king or queen can wear a crown, and only a prince or princess can wear a coronet. To become a kind or queen you must win a crown tourney or be the consort to someone who wins such a tourney. To become a prince or princess, you must win a coronet tourney or be the consort of someone who wins one. The appearance of the crowns and coronets vary from kingdom to kingdom and principality to principality.

2 – Circlets
The rules regarding circlets vary by kingdom. In some kingdoms, only those who have won an Award of Arms can wear circlets. In other kingdoms, such as the Kingdom of the West, anyone can wear a circlet so long as it is a simple metal circle with no resemblance to a crown or coronet. I myself almost always wear a circlet when attending events in the West.

Since all coronets are circlets, but all circlets are NOT coronets there are certain things to look for when making certain that what you are wearing IS a circlet but not a coronet. Coronets have at least one or more raised points on them, but a basic circlet does not. Coronets may also be jeweled. Circlets are not. A good rule of thumb is this, if everyone bows to you when you wear your circlet, then what you’re wearing isn’t appropriate.

3 – Symbols
Certain symbols are reserved for special use by the Society for Creative Anachronism.
For example, fleur di lis and laurel leaves are only for use by royalty. The pelican is the symbol of a specific award and therefore can only be worn by those have won that award. A complete list of all the society awards would be much, much too long, so just be sure and check with your local herald. They can tell you what’s acceptable in your area.

4 – Finally, as always I recommend that you keep all aspects of your persona harmonizing with each other. So be certain that the jewelry you wear isn’t out of period with your clothing, country of origin, background story. My own persona is a traveling Saxon merchant so I have a little more room to experiment in what I wear clothing and jewelry wise.

SCA, Society for Creative Anachronism, medieval, middle ages, renaissance, history, jewelry, crowns, crown, coronets, coronet, circlets, circlet, pelican, laurel leaves