Scroll Texts Archives - Page 8 of 13

November 3, 2013July 13, 2015

Chivalry Scroll for Sir Brennan

HWAET!
Hear hall-men of brave Brennan,
Bring him before bear-armed blade-brood.

To his Kyng,                   kneeled at calling.
Fearless fought,             that MacFergus.
Born of sword            the warrior traveled
All he met                         allowed great praise.
All respected                        regent, peasant
king, queen, kin,              bard, and brothers.

Girded guardian                 great in actions
Family-fierce,                      esteem is earned
at the haudin,                      by the barmkin,
dirk is ready                         for the realm.

Boldly boast I of Brennan.

Solid stood                           valorous tyger
Honored for                         great courtesy
Keen combat                     keeps his kinship
Champion                      of strong chieftains
Weighty work                 bore his body,
Answered he                     when courage called.
From loyalty,                    swore his mentor,
Deft desire                          gave him promise,
Well-refined                       tenacity.

Rare treasure                    find in this man.
Of the hoards                  in the war-chest
Poets see                        none so golden,
Nor liege lords,              nor great ladies
None rich as                    ring-bright Brennan.

Heed the wolves’           silver howling
In the night                      calling kinsmen.
Chivalry                      now come, gather
For your pack                  needs this voice.
All ages shall                    bear in mem’ry
Regal day of                       elevation.
No blood spilled              yet red was shed
Bound by belt                    bled in whiteness
Noble gold                          inspired proudly,
Simple chain                     now marks man’s measure.
This is his                       arrhae splendor,
Raise the quaich           drink his honor.
All within                       say now Slàinte.

With his hand                    Kenric oath-signed
Blessed it too                      Avelina.
Promised arms                   patent lettered
Sable,                                    two wolf’s heads
couped close                        respectant argent,
a base checky                      sable, argent
augmented                           a sinister canton
Or a tyger                           passant azure.

On the day                            of crown contest
Fighting day                         to name their Heirs.
Fitting day                            for such acclaim.
Brothers stood                     for Sir Brennan.

Samhain pass’d               by one sun rise
We have mark’d           ending summer,
Two-years ‘till                     half-century
In history                          of Society
In long-hall                       Carolingian.
Remember                         great ones gathered
Where you were           as Brennan rose
Knelt a soldier            and a squire-man
Stood a son                        of Chivalry.

To the stones may it be told.
Swear to truth all have seen it.

Swear do we Eastern chieftains.
Kenric Kyng Avelina Cwene

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This is the text of the Scroll of Chivalry for Sir Brennan MacFeargus, who I am proud to call friend. When I was King’s Bard, he bore the burden of protecting me from grievous harm on the field (“You may die, but you won’t die-die,” I remember him saying.) It was he who helped tape the purple and gold banner to my spear. It was he who helped arrange all manner of things. Since then he, and his lady, have become part of my SCA family.

I read this in the morning, and after Brennan was knighted, I hugged him and said, “Brother, I am so happy that this morning I am reading your words as you are knighted, and tonight I will see you become Prince of the East.” He laughed…..then.

We all laughed later through our cheering as Sir Brennan became Prince of the East that same day and made his beautiful wife, my friend Caoilfhionn, Princess of the East.

Reading back, the scroll does have this prophetic sound to it. Weren’t bards considered magical in some Celtic cultures? (grin!)

Rock. Star. Day.

(arrhae – 13 silver coins given to the minister or priest by the groom as part of the wedding ceremony. In any situation something given to bind a bargain between parties. Haudin – home, house, holding. Quaich ~ ancient drinking cup with two handles and used with both hands. Slàinte ~ (slawn-cha), health, salvation; barmkin ~ a Medieval defensive enclosure found around smaller castles, tower houses, pele towers, and bastle houses in Scotland. As well as the residence, outbuildings were also included, plus a place to protect livestock during cattle raids. From the Roman barbican, meaning an outer fortification of a city or castle. Kirkhope and Smailholm are castles on the Scotttish borders that had a barmekin. )

September 30, 2013July 13, 2015

Baronial Scroll – Ane and Sylvia du Vey, Baron and Baroness of Endewearde

Heed good folk of Endewearde noble and fine –
Their Majesties shall enact their will and thine
That Ane and Sylvia du Vey may now
Take possession of these lands as rights allow.
Know now Baron, Baroness, of the white tow’r
We give you this demense, every stone and flow’r,

Each river, stream, and pond; trees both great and small;
Coastline, fields, and hills; and mountains short or tall,
Hold in fiefdom all these things and thus employ
Ornaments thereof in ready, tempered joy.
While the years dance by in graceful roundelay
Apply these wild and northern places as you may.

Mark well the society year forty eight
Our inaugural year of granting this estate,
On September’s 28th, this joyful day
We invest both Sylvia and her Ane.
By Our hands sign’d Gregor King, sweet Kiena Queen
In Endewearde’s Baronial lands long foreseen.

* * *

About
Each line is a painful 11 syllables, which is the form from which was a request from the calligrapher: “It would be a huge bonus if the words were in metered verse (I can’t tell how many syllables per line, between 9 and 11?) split into three “equal” parts like the example , but definitely not required. I know that adds a lot to the complexity.”

So, I did. The poem was made with three groups of 6, a/a, b/b, c/c scheme.

August 5, 2013July 13, 2015

The Garden of Sir Jibril – Words for the Knighting of Jibril al-Dakhil

The Full Chapter from the Book of Jibril on the Occasion of His Knighting

1. Into the kingdom came a man. 2. He was only a man, nothing more and nothing less, bestowed with the gifts which all men may access. 3. He took a name for himself, and was called Jibril. 4. This man could have taken his own gifts and done with them for himself. Many men do this, neither to their credit nor demerit. They are not judged. 5. Jibril took his gifts as though they were the seeds of fine trees. Each one he planted and tended.

6. After many years the trees did grow, to the height of a man, each green with leaves. 7. Though the growth was slow, he nurtured them with his deeds. The things he did for himself made the leaves brighter. The things he did for others made the trunks stronger. The things he did because they were the right things – those went deep into the soil.

8. In time the trees gave shelter and shade. Each limb he trimmed was fashioned into an object of beauty or a finely wrought weapon. The trees became a grove where people gathered around him in friendship. 9. All had come to respect this man who so tended his grove and was generous with his property and riches it had granted him. 10. One day Jibril was with his beloved company among the grove he had planted when, in the heat of the summer sun and its monsoons of rains, every tree burst into bloom. 11. The blossoms shone in the light, reflecting the gifts he had planted long ago, each branch weighty with his virtues.

12. The trees could now be named: Courage, with blossoms red as blood; Justice, blooming with orange fire; Generosity, as gold as honey; Hope, as green as the first spring; Mercy, as blue as lapis lazuli; Nobility, as purple as the dusk; Prowess, indigo so dark as to be night. 13. The last tree which opened did so at dusk, and it bore a flower of the most pure and shining white ever seen. All who saw it understood that Jibril, in all his ceaseless tending, had brought forth the rarest flower of them all – Chivalry.

14. And so it was that a blossom from this tree was shown to all the land. 15. Thus was Prophet summoned before the King and Queen in his own garden with those of greatest honor, each of whom wore about them the white of the sun reflected in the moon. 16. They bade Jibril sit vigil in his garden to consider the deeds of his life. 17. After the moon had set, the white blossoms fell before him and a single great fruit grew upon the tree. 18. When the crowd returned, the white-bearers plucked this blossom and did open it into the hands of Jibril. This was the fruit of his labours and love – a belt of white and a chain of gold. 19. It is said that this, while seeming miraculous, was indeed not so, for it was merely the fruits of labor well-earned. 20. And so it was that he who was known as Prophet was now known also as Knight.

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The Abbreviated Court Version as read by Queen Kiena at Pennsic’s East Kingdom Court
upon the Knighting of Sir Jibril al-Dakhil

Into the kingdom came a man.He took a name for himself and was called Jibril. Jibril took his gifts as though they were the seeds of fine trees. Each one he planted and tended.

Though the growth was slow, he nurtured them with his deeds. The things he did for himself made their leaves brighter. The things he did for others made their trunks stronger. The things he did because they were the right things – those went deep into the soil.

In time the trees gave shelter and shade. Each limb he trimmed was fashioned into an object of beauty or a finely wrought weapon. One day Jibril was with his people among the grove when every tree burst into bloom. The blossoms shone in the light, reflecting the gifts he had planted long ago, each branch weighty with his virtues.

The trees could now be named: Courage, with blossoms red as blood; Justice, blooming with orange fire; Generosity, as gold as honey; Hope, as green as the first spring; Mercy, as blue as lapis lazuli; Nobility, as purple as the dusk; Prowess, indigo so dark as to be night. The last tree which opened, did so at dusk, and it bore a flower of the most pure and shining white ever seen. All who saw it understood that Jibril, in all his ceaseless tending, had brought forth the rarest flower of them all – Chivalry.

Thus was Prophet summoned before the King and Queen in his own garden with those of greatest honor, each of whom wore about them the white of the sun reflected in the moon. After the moon had set, a single great fruit grew upon the tree. The white-bearers plucked this blossom and did open it into the hands of Jibril. This was the fruit of his labours and love – a belt of white and a chain of gold. And so it was that he who was known as Prophet was now known also as Knight.

July 15, 2013July 13, 2015

Jesca de Hunteleghe – AoA

Fair East, heed this throne and hear Our sonorous will, as we, Gregor Rex and Kiena Regina, pray you attend she who kneeleth here, Jesca de Hunteleghe,, who hath for many years now served with ever-pleasant countenance. Surpassing are her many gifts, given oft and generously with willing hand and open heart. A beacon of sweet hospitality at home in Huntly’s highland hills or in travels caring for kin and kith, she ever-bears a basket of delights to refresh the soul. Long did this maid dream o’er the thistle, moor, and cliff of oliphants and orange trees and far off lands fine ladies see. These dreams were heard by Our own ears, now she shall herself a Lady be.

As befits a Lady of Our Court, we do award unto her arms to bear from this day ever forth, vert, an elephant passant contourny and on a chief nebuly argent three orange trees couped fructed proper.

Done by Our hands and given on Our behalf by Our Heirs at the War of the Roses in the Barony of Concordia of the Snows on the 25th Day of May, anno societis XLVIII.

___________________________________

I had the pleasure of meeting Jesca at the EK Bardic Champions event where she charmed me with her kind smile and homemade truffles. Later on when she and her husband hosted me and three members of my household as we traveled to an event far from our home, I was so pleased to get to know her better.

When I had the opportunity to write words for her AoA scroll, I jumped at the chance. Knowing her in person gave me the ability to write about her persona (Scottish) and also some of her traits beyond the write-up. Her arms are evocative and exotic, and add an interesting flair to the AoA, since many AoAs do not have any arms when they become a Lord or Lady of the Court. I also had the joy to see her get this award, since weather pretty much destroyed the event it originally was going to be delivered at. The actual scroll may have a different event listed. (I am not sure…)

July 15, 2013July 13, 2015

Lady Anna Serena – AoA

AoA Scroll by Christiana Crane; Words by Aneleda Falconbridge

All harken to the Eastern throne as we, King Gregor the Good and Queen Kiena the Kind bid you heed our loyal subject Anna Serena of fair Malagentia. She hath inspired us with her great service to the realm, by her bearing the weight of water, and more, yet ever with light heart.

As Eastern sun doth rise upon the sea
Spreading its brilliance all across the shores
Same brightness in this maiden-smile all see
As like the sun she harkens and restores
All who would wilt upon the noble field
Without her ministration so supreme.
From the parching war-winds she does shield,
Cool waters pour forth from her hands serene.
All find her of good cheer and kindest word
Admiring her grace, her poise, her joys
As swiftly she alights, a summer bird,
Her good nature on all that she employs.
Observe her well, this Anna, in Our view,
A Lady of the noblest kind, and true.

Thus do we Eastern Monarchs award her arms, to be borne by her alone throughout the Known World and make her a Lady of Our venerable Eastern Court.

In witness whereof we have set Our hand on this, the thirteenth of July, in the forty-seventh year of the Society, in Our Province of Malagentia at the Great Northeastern War.