Describe their skills from hip to haunch:
She takes water with honey sweet
Boils it well and then scums it neat
Sets it aside three days, at that
Puts barm thereto in milk-warm vat
Covers it with cloth and ties fast
Waits a day to throw out the mast
Switch barrels and stops it up close
Pale clear liquid will have arose
Months past, it will be right to drink
Fit to enjoy for all We think
Mark Fionnghuala the Volatile's
Talents, that are phenomenal
Her art has many paths to roll
Known to illuminate the scroll
She will research, redact then take
First rate ingredients and make
As above: cisers, and mead,
beverages for the sick as they need
Mohammad! Corotica! agree
The Maunche is hers by Our decree
At Mudthaw this tale is spun
AS LVII tis done
Word Count 147
Any errors in the recipe herewith are due to the wordsmith
RAINBOW - Rhymed Couplets
For to make members of the Maunche
Describe their skills from hip to haunch:
She takes water with honey sweet
Boils it well and then scums it neat
Sets it aside three days, at that
Puts barm thereto in milk-warm vat
Covers it with cloth and ties fast
Waits a day to throw out the mast
Switch barrels and stops it up close
Pale clear liquid will have arose
Months past, it will be right to drink
Fit to enjoy for all We think
Mark Fionnghuala the Volatile's
Talents, that are phenomenal
Her art has many paths to roll
Known to illuminate the scroll
She will research, redact then take
First rate ingredients and make
As above: cisers, and mead,
beverages for the sick as they need
Mohammad! Corotica! agree
The Maunche is hers by Our decree
At Mudthaw this tale is spun
AS LVII tis done
But WHAT to write?
I started by trolling the internet for articles on ale and beer: Medieval Ale & Beer, OF PORRIDGE, POETRY AND THE PHILOSOPHERS’ STONE and Brewing Ale in Walter of Bibblesworth’s 13c French Treatise for English Housewives
While informative, they didn’t provide much in the way of inspiration.
Another random internet search yielded the article How to brew like a Medieval Knight. It had a recipe for ale in it in RHYMING COUPLETS!!!
Alas only the original German rhymes were included. The only translations were redacted for using the recipe and none of the rhyme of syllable count was redacted. However, I now had the elusive inspiration! I was going to write this like a medieval rhymed recipe.
I first looked up rhyming recipes and found: The Old Foodie: A Rhyming Recipe. The recipe it listed was from The Woman Suffrage Cook Book: Containing thoroughly tested and reliable recipes for cooking, directions for care of the sick, and practical suggestions... by Hattie A.Burr was published in Boston in about 1886. Decidedly Victorian, but between this and the German recipe from above, I was very encouraged and then found PAYDIRT!!! THE SOURCE!!!
An English cookbook dating from around the year 1430 and originating from County of Lancashire. Unusually for a cookbook, the recipes are written in octosyllabic rhyming couplets, the LIBER CURE COCORUM.This was the best source ever!!! OR at least the best source for this scroll. It included the full text with modern translation!
Now for what to write?
I toyed with the idea of writing the entire scroll as if it were a recipe for becoming a Maunche, but that got muddled very quickly and I decided to use the research of the recipient themselves as my guide. I went to their website The Volatile and followed a recipe from their own blog for the scroll.
A RECEIPT FOR MAKING OF MEATH, Full text of "The Goodman Of Paris."
Between the Liber Cure Cocorum, Goodman of Paris and the recipient's own redaction, I put a recipe for the scroll in Octosyllabic Rhyming scheme.
For to make members of the Maunche
Describe their skills from hip to haunch:
Maunche is a surprisingly difficult word to rhyme! This introductory couplet is the remains of the idea of turning the whole scroll into a recipe to make a Maunche, rather than a scroll with a recipe in it.
She takes water with honey sweet
Boils it well and then scums it neat
It was great fun to distill the recipe down to its basics and turn that into a rhyme.And one of the reasons I included a caveat for the back of the scroll which reads, “Any errors in the recipe herewith are due to the wordsmith'' I certainly wouldn’t be sure of the accuracy of my redaction. I can confirm, however, that the recipients' brewed libations are amazing.
Sets it aside three days, at that
Puts barm thereto in milk-warm vat
I learned a great deal in the writing of this scroll. I didn’t know the word barm was for yeast.
Covers it with cloth and ties fast
Waits a day to throw out the mast
Likewise my experience with the word mast was either nautical or the tangled debris on a forest floor, which seems to me to be in the same contest as mast is used here in brewing – the sediment that accumulates in the bottom of the brewing vat.
Switch barrels and stops it up close
Pale clear liquid will have arose
I feel that my redaction here sort of glosses over a great deal of the work and effort that this whole process is to include. Hence why this version is not to be adhered to and I would recommend that anyone interested in brewing look to the blog and contact the recipient outright for further information on the topic.
Months past, it will be right to drink
Fit to enjoy for all We think
Fit for all is an oblique reference that The recipient not only presents their fine wares to the royalty but makes it for all around them to enjoy.
Mark Fionnghuala the Volatile's
Talents, that are phenomenal
It may be a stretch, but I say that Volatile and phenomenal rhymes.
Her art has many paths to roll
Known to illuminate the scroll
You may know the recipient through their work in the scribal world. While their focus is on illumination, they are known for their improving skills in calligraphy as well.
She will research, redact then take
First rate ingredients and make
I know how important brewing and being recognized for brewing is to the recipient. While I did dedicate one couplet to illumination, I immediately brought it back to brewing.
As above: cisers, and mead,
beverages for the sick as they need
Beverages for the sick references that most cordials in the SCA period were concoctions intended to cure or ease the ill. Our modern interpretation of the sweet cordial is just that, a modern one. The recipient has made the medicinal ones and documented them in their blog.
Mohammad! Corotica! agree
The Maunche is hers by Our decree
I hope the exclamation points indicate to the voice herald how I would like it to be read. With strident lifting syllables that positively lead one to the second half of the couplet and the declaration that They have strongly proclaimed this award for the recipient.
At Mudthaw this tale is spun
AS LVII tis done
The pleasure that is taken from working in all the required information into the rhyme scheme is enormous!!!
Over the years, I have had many conversations with the recipient about the Arts and Sciences community and our places in it. The conversations have run from theoretical to practical. To have this opportunity to put so much love and personal touches into a scroll is a pleasure that is immeasurable. I am so glad I had the opportunity to be a part of this project.
I am pretty sure that this is my 100th Blog entry: My Century of Entries! A century of words, if you will!
East Kingdom Gazette - Court Report: Mudthaw
No comments:
Post a Comment