The Order of the Flos Australis
(Badge image created by Lord Kieran Blake)
Second Constitution for the Order of the Flos Australis:
I. There shall exist in the Barony of the Citadel of the Southern Pass an award, known as the Order of the Flos Australis, which may be given by the Baron and / or Baroness, subject to the pleasure of the Crown, to those persons who have demonstrated excellence in the arts and sciences, giving freely of their talents to enrich the Barony.
II. The holders of the award shall be styled as Companions of the Flos Australis and shall be entitled to place the initials C.F.A. after their names.
III. The insignia of the order shall consist of a medallion bearing the registered badge of the Order: Azure, a sunflower slipped and leaved argent between two piles inverted Or.
IV. Arms and Precedence
A. The award shall carry with it, subject to the pleasure of the Crown, an Award of Arms. Companions of the order shall take precedence after principality orders but before a simple Award of Arms. B. If the award is given to a person who bears an award carrying higher precedence than given above, his/her precedence shall remain unchanged.
C. If the award is given to a person who has previously received an Award of Arms, his/her precedence shall date from his/her election to the Order.
V. Amendments to this constitution shall be made by the Coronet after due consultation with the Crown.
VI. The companionship of all previous recipients of the Order is hereby confirmed.
First Constitution:
By our hands this 17th day of January, A.S. XXI, being 1987 in the Common Era.
Jochen, Baron Monika, Baroness
Johann, Rex Kathryn, Regina
Keridwen of Montrose, White Stag Principle Herald)
By our hands this 24th day of May, A.S. XXXIII, being 1998 in the Common Era
Berold, Baron Eirianedd, Baroness
Hrothgar II, King Madigan, Queen
Pendar the Bard, White Stag Principal Herald
History of the Order:
The Flos Australis is the Latin translation for “Flower of the South”. Our Barony is famous for the amount of sun filled days we get every year and therefore it was only natural that the ‘sun’flower be the inspiration for the Flos. The inverted piles upon all the badges of the Order signify the Pass which the Barony of the Citadel eternally guards. Our mundane city was first named by the Spaniards as El Paso del Norte or the Northern Pass since they had begun their conquest of the region from the south in Central America. The Citadel of the Southern Pass was named for the southern most Pass in the Rocky Mountain chain in the Kingdom of Atenveldt which we were a part of at the time.
When a person or persons takes the Baronial Thrones, they become the head of the Baronial Orders whether they create those Orders themselves or the Orders are already established. They may not be an actual member of the Order, but they are the head of said Order. As in the cases below, incoming Baronial Coronets felt it was well deserved and necessary to elevate one of their predecessors into an Order which their predecessors had created.
During the reign of Rutor and Morgana, one of their items of business as Coronets of the Citadel was to admit Baron Jochen into the Order of the Flos Australis. Jochen was a past principal of the Order having established it during the first Baronial reign.
During the reign of Gareth and Signy, one of their items of business as Coronets of the Citadel was to admit Baroness Monika into the Order of the Flos Australis. Monika was a past principal of the Order having established it during the first Baronial reign.
When the Order was originally confirmed, the Barony was three and a quarter years old. The original constitution has in its’ wording the insignia of the Order being ‘subject to the approval of the SCA College of Arms’. The badge for the Order was approved on 23 April 1988, a year and three quarters after the original constitution was signed. As would be the case for other Orders in the future, the constitution was written by one Baronial couple (Jochen & Monika) but the badge was not passed by the College of Arms until the next Baronial couple (Rutor & Morgana) sat the thrones. The Barony was now a part of the Kingdom of the Outlands, and by coincidence the Aten Principle Herald who had signed the Astrums’ constitution was now the White Stag Principle Herald.
It was one of two of the original three constitutions of the Baronial Orders to specify that recipients must already be armigers.
The second constitution written for the Order was done during the Baronial Reign of Berold and Eirianedd (she whom we all know now as Bahiyyah). During this time all of the Constitutions of the Baronial Orders to date were re-written to bring them up to date as far as heraldry and precedential position were concerned. The second constitution includes the approved badge of the Order.
The Premier of the Order was Baron Erasimierz Waspanieski and his induction happened at Citadel 12th Night, January 17th, 1987. He has since left the Society and has renounced his membership in the Order. By attrition, the current Premier of the Order is Mistress Nicole St. Clair. Her induction happened nine months before the badge of the Order was passed. The next inductee was Lady Laeriel Fayrehale, again before the badge was passed. The first member of the Order to receive admittance after the badge was passed was Lord Rahlahn of Mulberry on the 19th of May 1988, just shy of one month after the badge was passed.
[Link] to the most current listing of the members of the order.