Geoffrey Le Thressher - Silver Rapier

Even as one cannot make some composition of beautiful writings without employing the letters of the alphabet, so does it occur that this, the art of fencing: without its principle steps, one would have no foundation.  Geoffrey uses the footwork of practice, of study, and of the experience that earns, without which, one cannot move and advance.

Today We Majesties Matthew and Fiamuin, stand in the public hall of Rusted Woodlands, Our Royal Shire, with representatives of all the other places of Our ample dominion, The East Kingdom in this Year of Our Society, Fifty Nine.

And thus Geoffrey Thressher stands in possession of the Silver Rapier:

Argent, a chevron gules and in base a penguin affronty proper, on a chief gules three crosses crosslet fitchy argent

That which clearly represents how necessary, how useful, how honorable Geoffrey is using said disciplines, and how it was earned by him, by good habits and maximally in valor, in execution of his art.

Word Count 160

Calligraphy and illumination by Fiona O Maille

Photo by Fiona O Maille

Naturally, you must expect me to BLOG with Capo Ferro.

-Inigo Montoya

This began with a great conversation with the scribe, where they mentioned using the actual manuscript by Capo Ferro as the source. Which made my BLOG title a no brainer.
I got my hands on Great Representation of the Art of and Use of Fencing by Ridolofo Capoffero Translated by Jerek Swanger and William E Wilson Translated by Jerek Swanger and William E Wilson and began scouring the text to get a handle on how the language was used. 
I made judicious use of the first section: “Dedicated To the Most Serene Signore Don Francesco Maria Feltredella Rovere, sixth Duke Urbino”
With a few from particular plates further in the portfolio.

Even as one cannot make some composition of beautiful writings without employing the letters of the alphabet, so does it occur that this, the art of fencing: without its principle steps, one would have no foundation.  

Gotta love a 36 word sentence! When working within the strict and measured meters of the past it's nice to be able to stretch out and put an effusive amount of words into a scroll.

Much of this scroll is taken straight from the translated words of Capo Ferro himself.  He wrote so loquaciously it was appropriate to quote him as verbatim as I could.

“Even as one cannot make some composition of beautiful and judicious writings without employing the letters of the alphabet, so does it occur in this, Our art of fencing, that without the following….”

Geoffrey uses the footwork of practice, of study, and of the experience that earns, without which, one cannot move and advance.

Continuing the footwork theme throughout the scroll, while also expanding the praise of the recipient.

Today We Majesties Matthew and Fiamuin, stand in the public hall of Rusted Woodlands, Our Royal Shire, with representatives of all the other places of Our ample dominion, The East Kingdom in this Year of Our Society, Fifty Nine.

You can see how I adapted this quote from the dedication:
“...that it can stand alone in the public hall of your Royal Palace, and in the other public places of your ample Dominion…”

In this sort of format the spelling out of the Arabic numerals and eschewing the Latin in favor of writing the translation  of Anno Societatis seemed more appropriate for the scroll.  

And thus Geoffrey Thressher stands in possession of the Silver Rapier:

Argent, a chevron gules and in base a penguin affronty proper, on a chief gules three crosses crosslet fitchy argent

The recipient was referred to as Lord in two entries available on the EK wiki. I found one entry in Order of Precedence of the Kingdom of AEthelmearc by Order of March and by Alphabetical Order. They have no entry in the EK OoP. Their name and Arms had passed, via the East at the beginning  of 2024. This investigation process took up almost the same amount of time as the composition process.  There is a great deal of hidden work in the creation of the scroll, and it can end up falling on any participant of the process.
With all this in mind, even though their Golden Alce is an armigerous award, the scribe and myself deemed it appropriate to include the recipient’s Arms in the scroll. That and there is a penguin in their Arms. Who doesn’t want to put a penguin on a scroll?

That which clearly represents how necessary, how useful, how honorable Geoffrey is using said disciplines, and how it was earned by him, by good habits and maximally in valor, in execution of his art.

The conclusion is generally a reiteration of what the body of the scroll. In this scroll the final sentence is the summation.  No less effective, but definitely a different structure than I normally use. When read out loud this will be emphasized as the recipient receives the scroll.

This Was my first attempt at writing a fencing scroll directly from Capa Ferro.  Like so many geeks I can recite the fight scene from the Princess Bride by heart, but it is another thing to actually study what he wrote and his style. Definitely an experience worth having.

Dimitri Alekhin of Buckland Cross - Tyger's Cub

Youth: We, the Youth of the East, do entreat you, Great Majesties East: Matthew and Fiamuin, to speak of Dimitri Alekhin of Buckland Cross. For we fear the people of the East are unlearned about them.
Majesties: What do you wish to talk about?
Youth:  We want to hear of why they do not have the Tyger’s Cub?
Majesties: Let Us ask you then; what do you say? What have they pursued?
Youth: They have arrived early to events, and left late; aiding as they can. 
They have attended to the needs in the kitchens. 
They have attended to the needs of Your Majesties. 
They have sewn and crafted, for clothing and gifts.  
They have drawn and gamed, for their joy and others.
Majesties:  Well, Youth of the East: We have heard you.  
We will now do what you have entreated Us so, for your words bear truth.
Today at 100 Minutes War, AS 59, in the Shire of Rusted Woodlands,  let it be so stated that Dimitri Alekhin now stands amongst you as a member of the Order of the Tyger’s Cub!

Wordcount 183

Calligraphy and Illumination by Veritas

Photo by Veritas

I am immortal, I have inside me BLOG of kings, 

I have no rival, no one can be my equal

Take me to the future of you all!

-Queen

I started this Tyger’s Cub pondering about what was actually written FOR children in the middle ages. A google search rendered Childhood in Medieval England, c.500-1500. Medievalists.net  is, frankly, a poor source.  The article appeared to be merely a summation of the academic article it quoted.  I opted to follow their source and found a pdf of Childhood in Medieval England, c.500-1500 by Nicholas Orme, University of Exeter.

Which while informative was not what I was looking for.  I followed its bibliography to Medieval Literature for Children 1st Edition by Daniel T. Kline (Editor) 

“This volume will be a critical anthology of primary texts whose main audience was children and/or adolescents in the medieval period. Texts will include theoretical and interpretative introductions and commentary.”  

Which seemed perfect, but with an Amazon listing at 200$, not feasible for me without knowing more about what was inside the book.

Going further I found Ælfric's Colloquy Book by, Ælfric of Eynsham cited… somewhere.  I thought it was in one of the bibliographies that I had looked at previously. I couldn't find any link to how I found it.   I was being so careful to track my rambling searches too! ARGH 

Then found the translated Elfrics Cpllquay by Stephan J Harris , Old English Ælfric's  Colloquy on the Occupations, Aelfric’s Colloquy and Ælfric Bata’s Colloquia: Reassessing an Eleventh-Century Latin Textbook 

I initially prepared for it to be in Old English and I had dug out my standard key in preparation for composition:

Old English

Alliteration

Compound Words
Kennings
Kenning Meaning

Heraldic Language

Then promptly threw the Old English Key Out the Window.  The uniqueness of Aelfric’s Colloquy, a Latin piece created for teaching, suggested that (possibly a different) scholar had added the Old English between the lines. 

While a magnificent piece for the translation of the two languages, it was not an example of the poetic structure of Old English. Aelfric’s Colloquy is designed to teach Latin through an extensive list of questions and answers.  Similar in style to The Confessions of Saint Augustine from the 5th century, and The Owl and the Nightingale from the 10th century. A style of writing that was used for centuries.
In regards to the scroll, I opted to follow the translations of Aelfric's Colloquy as a guide with this scroll instead of the poetic form seen in pieces like Beowulf.

Youth: We, the Youth of the East, do entreat you, Great Majesties East: Matthew and Fiamuin, to speak of Dimitri Alekhin of Buckland Cross. For we fear the people of the East are unlearned about them.

The original , and first line of the Colloquy was:

“Scholar: We boys beg you, Master, to teach us to speak Latin correctly, for we are ignorant, and we speak badly.”

Right off, I changed the role of the scholar to that of the youth.  I went through several iterations using different terms we use, Urchins,Kids, Children, Cubs, Young Tygers, etc.  I wanted the word to encompass all the children of the East, so a particular reference to the youth award seemed awkward.  Urchins and kids, while period terms for children, I deemed too informal for the piece. Children could possibly be interpreted to exclude teenagers and so I settled on youth as the best word to use.

I had initially changed beg to bid, to entreat as the petitioners are asking the respondent (TRM) to do something.  While bid is certainly an acceptable word, its modern connotation seemed too demanding whereas in this context it ended up being entreat.
The rest of the first question was also used to include three of the required pieces of information for the scroll.

Majesties: What do you wish to talk about?

This is taken verbatim from the translation and was the inspiration for using these words. What I liked about this technique is that the Respondent, the Scholar in the original and Their Majesties in the scroll,are having the Petitioners, the Youth extol the virtues of the award recipient and why they are in need of the Tyger’s Cub.  Like any good teacher, the petitioner figures out the answer.

Youth:  We want to hear of why they do not have the Tyger’s Cub?

The naming of the order. 

Majesties: Let Us ask you then; what do you say? What have they pursued?
Once again the respondent leads the petitioners to answer the problem themselves.

Youth: They have arrived early to events, and left late; aiding as they can. 

They have attended to the needs in the kitchens. 

They have attended to the needs of Your Majesties. 

They have sewn and crafted, for clothing and gifts.  

They have drawn and gamed, for their joy and others.

I specifically wanted the petitioners to list the attributes of the recipient. 

Here I borrowed from The Instructions of King Cormac, written in the 9th century.  Translated by Kuno Meyer. In the repetition of the answers that they give. The inspiration poem of Aelfric's Colloquy, written in the late 900s rarely goes over two lines of answer before moving to the next question.  Given what the scroll needed at this moment, the description of the recipient, I deemed it a fair compromise in styles, though they were separated in time as well as location.

Majesties:  Well, Youth of the East: We have heard you.  

We will now do what you have entreated Us so, for your words bear truth.

Today at 100 Minutes War, AS 59, in the Shire of Rusted Woodlands,  let it be so stated that Dimitri Alekhin now stands amongst you as a member of the Order of the Tyger’s Cub!

At last the conclusion answer. I would have liked to include phrasing from the conclusion in the original piece: 

“Master: O good boys, and pleasant scholars, your instructor exhorts you to be obedient to the rules of divine discipline, and to behave yourselves decorously, wherever you may be. Walk with steadiness when you hear the bells of the church, enter into the house of prayer, and bend reverently before the holy altars. Stand in good order, and sing together, ask forgiveness for your faults, and go out again, without playing the fool, into the cloister or the schoolroom.”

However the language in the original did not fit well with the concluding information that the scroll needed to say. Instead, Their Majesties answer the Youth’s entreaty and announce the recipient a member of the Tyger’s Cub, with the last of the required information tucked in as well.

This ended up being a very high word count for a Tyger’s Cub.  That’s something that happens when working with translations of the original piece, rather than composing something original using the syntax. The scribe loved it!  And I can’t wait to see it go out in court.