Letters of Venancy

Issue #4 of Chronique: Journal of Chivalry has several articles on Pas d'Armes tournaments, upon which our "Emprises" are based. These articles do a pretty good job of explaining the concept of venans (invited challengers) and tenans (those holding the field against the challengers). Rather than duplicate that information here, this site merely attempts to provide some guidance on the writing of a fancy, flowery letter.

For a typical Emprise, the following information should be included for each member of the lance:

Their name
All titles, awards, and offices held or holding
Name of home group and Kingdom
A description of their device
A description of their crest
Motto if they have one
The name of the person whose favor they bear (who they are riding for)
If they are an associate of a Peer then include their lineage (ie, squire/prot?g?/apprentice to Sir/Master/Mistress so-and-so of Sir/Master/Mistress such-and-such, etc.etc)

Be sure to check with the herald in charge of the tournament you are entering to verify that you are including all the information needed. It's never a crime to put too much information in your letter, but putting too little could cause extra headaches for the gentlefolk organizing the tournament.

The following gentles have been kind enough to allow their letters from past tournaments to be posted here as examples of how to write letters of venancy:

Letters on behalf of a lance (2 or more people competing as a team):

Lady Eleanor fitzPatrick
Lady Nastasiia Ivanova Medvedeva
Lord Duncan Kerr
Lord Angus O'Niall
Catherine of Glastonbury
Hascouf de Moyaux
Lady Anna Dimitriova Belokon
HL Briana Kassia of SwanHaven
HL Brenna Caitlin MacGrioghair of Renwick example 1
HL Brenna Caitlin MacGrioghair of Renwick example 2

Last Modified: 06/23/2003 23:30:29
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