[Sca-cooks] IKA - head table seating?

[K C Francis]

Greetings,

Here in the West, the hosting Royalty (K&Q or P&P)  or the hosting landed 
B&B take center stage on the long table with all facing the hall.   All 
other Royalty can expect to be seated in order of precedence sitting 
left/right/left/right of the center.  Same way they are seated in court as a 
matter of fact.    Simply a matter of 'precedence'.  And you should see the 
mad scramble to swap back and forth to reorder the table if an unexpected 
Royal shows up.  Oh, and this includes Heirs.  Here in the West we have 2 
local Principalities.  So, there may be anywhere from 1 to 5 sets of Royalty 
and we also often get visitors from out of Kingdom.  We have had some very 
large high tables!

FYI, here in the West, a landed B&B may hold court in their Barony and host 
their feasts but are otherwise not considered included  as 'royalty' in 
other settings.  I know that in Kingdoms where there are no Principalities, 
they are considered minor Royalty and I believe they can give armigious 
awards, which ours cannot (please correct me if I am wrong).

A single Royal may ask someone to accompany them (gives them someone to talk 
to) as space is usually arranged for 2 people.  When the table is sparsly 
populated or there is room, others may be invited to sit with them.  I have 
sat with my Queen and with my Princess while a member of the court, when 
they attended a feast solo.  As Princess I have invited a member of my guard 
to join me when the Prince attended another event.   A courtesy to the Royal 
and an honor to the guest.

In the Province of Golden Rivers (having no B&B), puts their Champion and 
consort, the Lord and Lady of Golden Rivers in their copper 'coronets' at 
the center of their feast head tables.

And, others may be normally included, such as the Bard of the Mists has the 
right by law and custom to sit at the right of the Prince in court and at 
feast table.    Do not know when/why this came into law, but has been this 
way since I joined in AS 19.  No other bard in the West has this right.  
FYI, the Bard of the West is relatively new.

At a Baronial feast in Vinhold, a Lord/Lady of Misrule is selected by the 
Baron and seated at the high table.   Sometimes one of the Royalty has an 
S.O. that is also seated at the table, usually at one end but near enough to 
chat.

So you see there are conventions and there are exceptions.  In planning for 
a feast and the head table, one usually checks to see which Royalty is 
coming, 1 or 2,  w/ or w/o guests, etc. and plans for at least that many 
total.  Bad form to scramble for an extra table at the last minute.  But it 
does happen of course.  As for space, if They plan to use a throne instead 
of a regular chair, the extra space needed must be considered.

I am sure there are things done differently in other Kingdoms and I am 
curious to hear about them myself.

If you don't want to post this somewhat OT topic to the list, you may reply 
directly to me.

Thank you,

Katira

>From: iasmin at comcast.net
>Reply-To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
>To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org (SCA Cooks)
>Subject: [Sca-cooks] IKA - head table seating?
>Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2005 17:20:20 +0000
>
>Although I'm interested in the inter-kingdom anthopology of a much wider 
>issue than this, I'm a bit afraid of the mountainous responses I could get 
>asking this question too broadly....
>
>When your feasting halls have a head table, what are the seating 
>arrangements of the head table? That is, who sits next to whom and when 
>does this change under various circumstances? What size and shape are the 
>tables?
>
>My knowledge of table seating and the intricacies involved therein are 
>based on surviving the hell of charm and poise school (modern high society 
>protocol) and working on royal reigns in the Middle Kingdom. I'm quite 
>aware that other kingdoms simply don't do things the same way. I'm curious 
>to know how seating is treated in other kingdoms, but I'm especially 
>interested in hearing *why* its done a particular way, or at least an 
>opinion on why. Anyone willing to share?
>
>Iasmin
>
>Iasmin "I was trained to walk with a book on my head" de Cordoba
>iasmin at comcast.net
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>Sca-cooks mailing list
>Sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
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