Cornelia van der Brugghe - Maunche

Cornelia van der Brugghe

One of all trades, adept of none 

Journeyman level we will not begrudge 

On the many projects she's spun 

They are what is done, and done well 

For her skills fit the Maunche, with talent none can quell 

A most impressive list

and, no doubt, incomplete at that

Sews for folk: a true altruist

leather and steel: armor and hats 

Weaving trim, tailors garb and tents 

Forging, Carving, Chef, and builds targets for events

Their Royal Majesties of the august Kingdom East: Ryouko'jin Demon King of the Three Heavens and Rani Indrakshi in the Year of the Tyger 

AS Fifty Seven 

The 27th day, so clear 

At Iberian Reception

in this, the 8th month of the year 

Have today made the Maunche increased 

In the Barony of Ruantallan, of the East! 

Argent, a Catherine's wheel sable, a bordure rayonny gules

Word Count 144

KEY

ABABCC - Rhyme Scheme & Syllable count is noted before the Rhyme scheme

Higher or lower syllable count

6A Cornelia van der Brugghe

8B One of all trades, adept of none 

8A Journeyman level we will not begrudge 

8B On the many projects she's spun 

8C They are what is done, and done well 

12C For her skills fit the Maunche, with talent none can quell 

6A A most impressive list

8B and, no doubt, incomplete at that

8A Sews for folk: a true altruist

8B leather and steel: armor and hats 

8C Weaving trim, tailors garb and tents 

12C Forging, Carving, Chef, and builds targets for events

Their Royal Majesties of the august Kingdom East: Ryouko'jin Demon King of the Three Heavens and Rani Indrakshi in the Year of the Tyger 

6A AS Fifty Seven 7 

8B The 27th day, so clear 

8A At Iberian Reception

8B in this, the 8th month of the year 

8C Have today made the Maunche increased 

12C In the Barony of Ruantallan, of the East! 13

Argent, a Catherine's wheel sable, a bordure rayonny gules

Word Count 144

**************

Hallo. Vould you like a roll in ze BLOG?

It's fun.

Roll, roll, roll in ze BLOG!

~Inga, Young Frankenstein 

The recommendation noted that the recipient was mundanely from Germany and had chosen a German persona of the  13th century. I immediately went to investigate their late period poetry, to correlate it with her persona.

I found New High German. I Rapidly decided that was not the area to pursue as, Syntax and Discourse Factors in Early New High German: Evidence for Verb-Final Word Order had this to say about poetry: “Poetry was not included as it is known frequently to be unrepresentative of the common language, retaining archaic features and employing innovative (ungrammatical to the prose speaker) syntax.”

I went back and reexamined the Minnesang and discovered the Meistersinger.

And fell straight into the same problem I had with the Minnesang, a lack of information about it available in English

From my first laurel scroll, and I have used this same format any time I use this poetry form - used a Sixains or a Stanza of 6 lines with an ABABCC rhyming scheme.

Syllable Count/Rhyme Scheme:

6A
8B
8A
8B
8C
12C

6A Cornelia van der Brugghe
8B One of all trades, adept of none 
8A Journeyman level we will not begrudge

The sheer amount of the various arts that the recipient was known to create immediately drew to mind the phrase "Jack of All Trades, Master of none." My first task was researching the origins of the phrase. 

Much to my delight, I learned Through the Phrase Finder that it has its origins in 14th century and an example is found in Confessio Amantis; Or, Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins by John Gower

"Therwhile he hath his fulle packe,

They seie, 'A good felawe is Jacke'."

John Gower was a contemporary of Chaucer.

While there is some argument that the term has a derogatory tenor, that is a modern interpretation of the phrase.  As far as I found, in that period, it was not used negatively at all. With that in mind I chose to use it.  My emphasis was that they were not acknowledged by a mastery or peerage (as far as SCAdians rank the arts) in any one subject but a journeyman level of many. Journeyman level in the medieval sense of someone who can go out and earn a living at a high level of quality and workmanship. That of an excellence worthy of a Maunche in a variety of different arts.

As an aside, when researching the phrase, I discovered a line that quoted Shakespeare and  Robert Greene use that begins with “O, Tiger’s heart…” Of which I am most definitely filing that phrase away for future use!

8B On the many projects she's spun 
8 C They are what is done, and done well 
12C For her skills fit the Maunche, with talent none can quell 

I spent the rest of the verse emphasizing the quality and quantity of the projects the recipient has done and introducing the name of the award being given out.

6A A most impressive list

8 B and, no doubt, incomplete at that

I used these 2 sentences to introduce the enormity of the list that I was about to recite.  And one the award recommendation was quick to assure that it was an incomplete list!  Truly the contribution to the arts that the recipient displays is vast and impressive.

8A Sews for folk: a true altruist

8B leather and steel: armor and hats 

8C Weaving trim, tailors garb and tents 

12C Forging, Carving, Chef, and builds targets for events

Not only did I want to convey the magnitude of the works the recipient accomplished, but the service they embody while doing so.  They create for other folks on an individual basis, with sewing and armoring, but events at large by cooking and creating accouterments for events.

It should be noted that I wrote the line, “leather and steel: armor and hats” many, many times and almost deleted it twice before I came up with the right combination of words that suited the narrative, syllable and rhyme scheme that I was looking for. In the end I am glad that I put as much time and effort into it as I did, I think the resulting section flows beautifully.

Their Royal Majesties of the august Kingdom East: Ryouko'jin Demon King of the Three Heavens and Rani Indrakshi in the Year of the Tyger 
I ended up putting some of the required information into the scroll separately from the Minnesang rhyme scheme.  I used this same technique at the end with the recipient's arms. With these particular Royals and their preferred requirements for their titles, I felt this was the best solution.  I may have broken the rhyme and meter , but it fits into the flow of the scroll.

6A AS Fifty Seven 7 
8B The 27th day, so clear 
8A At Iberian Reception
8B in this, the 8th month of the year 
8C Have today made the Maunche increased 
12C In the Barony of Ruantallan, of the East! 13
As with many scrolls, I wrote this paragraph very early on in the composition process.  The required information of a scroll can be incredibly frustrating in composing period poetry.  Conversely it can also serve as excellent practice for diving back into a style that you haven’t addressed in a while.  Which is how I used it here.
There were 2 moments in the first line and the last, where I ended up having one extra syllable than required.  Since this was the information that I absolutely had to include, I kept  them in.  And lay my errors bare in this blog for all to observe.

Argent, a Catherine's wheel sable, a bordure rayonny gules
I chose to end the scroll with the recipient's arms written out.  I never change the heraldic latin for the sake of a scroll.  As I had broken the poetry in the verse above,with other scroll-pertinent information I felt this was a safe place to do so, and it made for a nice little endcap to the scroll.

I definitely enjoyed the little research dive into the “Jack of all trades” phrase.  It has given me several other routes to explore for future scrolls.

East Kingdom Gazette: Iberian Reception Court Report

Faoiltigherna ni Bhroain - Order of the Dragon's Heart

 Faoiltigherna ni Bhroain
Staunch member of  Midrealm's terrain 

Appears before us today 

Her actions We will not downplay 

Decades of retaining the sums

Keeping records of all outcomes

Quiet Dedication to her canton 

With skills of a mathematician 

Their Majesties Runa & Arch

In these Debatable Lands of Barony-Marche 

Both agree Faoiltigherna needs

Recognition for her deeds 

The Order of the Dragon's Heart 

For one who makes service her art

Done this August 11th so

At Pennsic, this award We bestow

Wordcount 80 

Come not between the dragon, and his BLOG
- William Shakespeare

I was asked to write the words for a Midrealm award. While I had briefly lived in the Mid during mundane grad school, I had barely gone to any events, and certainly hadn't picked up much knowledge as to their award names. Thankfully most of the information I needed was readily available. I looked up the Midrealm Awards and found "The Order of the Dragon's Heart: given to those who have performed services on behalf of the kingdom above and beyond that normally expected."
 I wanted more detail on what the award was, and if possible, confirmation of the recipient's preferred pronouns, so I reached out to the Dragon Signet of the Midrealm. 
The Signet gave me the information I needed, the Midrealm Scribes Handbook, as well as a Google doc pertinent to the current reign. This reign had requested that Her Majesty's name go before His Majesty's in any court documents. 
 As for the composition, there wasn't much information on the recipient's persona and time period. But their name is Faoiltigherna ni Bhroain, which indicated somewhere in Great Britain, so I chose to use Octosyllabic Rhyming Couplets. This poetry form was found in England, Scotland and Wales at different centuries. 

Faoiltigherna ni Bhroain
Staunch member of Midrealm's terrain 
I took an educated guess about whether this rhyme would work. 

Appears before us today 
Her actions We will not downplay
Decades of retaining the sums
Keeping records of all outcomes
I am particularly proud of this couplet. I would rather describe what the recipient does than just say, "They were Exchequer for 20 years."

Quiet Dedication to her canton 
With skills of a mathematician
The write-up also mentioned that the recipient was the type of SCAdian who always helped out, but the emphasis was on their exchequer work. 

Their Majesties Runa & Arch
In these Debatable Lands of Barony-Marche 
I was pleased to rhyme His Majesty Midrealm's name with the Barony Pennsic is held in. That doesn't happen often. 

Both agree Faoiltigherna needs
Recognition for her deeds 
The Order of the Dragon's Heart 
For one who makes service her art
The Dragon's Heart appears to be equivalent to the Silver Crescent in the East Kingdom. Aesthetically it's beautiful: a heart-shaped shield filled with dragon scales. I felt very honored that I could contribute to this award! 

Done this August 11th so
At Pennsic, this award We bestow

I repeated the word "award" in the first and last couplets. It makes for nice end caps!

This was a very rewarding scroll to write and Hua Mulan made a visual extravagance. I hope the recipient loves it.

Ellyn Grene - Apollo's Arrow

The gentle before Us is Ellyn Grene
Who wears a sheaf of arrows bright and keen

And in her hands, a mighty bow she bears 
Achieved Bowman in her many affairs 

Upon her arm she wears a bright bracer,
Which she'd lend to support, never waiver

With such courtesy and skill set before Us
A noble we find she truly is. Thus:

We, Demon King of the Three Heavens
Ryouko'jin and Rani Indrakshi, even 

Declare the Apollo's Arrow Elkyn's now
With all accouterments upon their brow

Done in the Barony of the Debatable Lands
As 57, Pennsic, by Our hands 

Word Count 100 

Because, unlike some other Robin hoods-I can BLOG with an English accent 

The recipient's EK Wiki entry was light, but held several key points of information. They were primarily an archer, and their persona was "a 14th c. Englishwoman living in Leicestershire." So I immediately thought of Chaucer! Simple, right?
 I googled "Chaucer" and "archery."   
And got nothing. 
"Chaucer" and "archer." Nothing.
"Chaucer" and "bows." Nothing.
"Chaucer" and "arrows" ... success! Sort of. I found one quote, with no further attribution. But it was a quote from Chaucer: "A sheaf of peacock arrows bright and keen."
I plugged that sentence into the search engine and got a palpable hit! 
The General Prolog of the Yeoman 
It was perfect for what I needed. The recipient was even wearing green and a hood in their photo. Not exactly as described, but more than close enough!
 For the bulk of the scroll I set out to incorporate the Chaucer quote with the required information. 

The gentle before Us is Ellyn Grene
Who wears a sheaf of arrows bright and keen
This was adapted from the second line of the Yeoman:
And he was clothed in coat and hood of green.
A sheaf of peacock arrows bright and keen
I was absolutely delighted to work the recipient's name into the rhyme - using the original Chaucer rhyme. Greene was even spelled the same way! 

And in her hands, a mighty bow she bears 
Achieved Bowman in her many affairs 
Bowman is the recipient's rank in the East Kingdom Royal Round Rankings when the scroll was written.

Upon her arm she wears a bright bracer,
Which she'd lend to support, never waiver
The write up particularly mentioned the various forms of aid and courtesy the recipient offers to new archers.

With such courtesy and skill set before Us
A noble we find she truly is. Thus:
The Apollo's Arrow is the first award this gentle has received. I like to allude to this in the Silver awards. Rarely do I state outright that they are also receiving an AoA. I think the allusion makes for better poetry. 
This led to the couplet with Their Majesties names, the couplet naming the award and the final place and date couplet. 
The words, "in the year of the Blue Tyger," didn't fit with this verse form. Alas, that sometimes happens, even with Chaucer. 

The resulting scroll is gorgeous. The C&I artist Magdalena used a 13th century exemplar that matched the words perfectly.  Altogether it came out wonderfully and I am justly proud of what I helped create.

East Kingdom Gazette: Court Report: Pennsic War 49