Who will now shine in East’s great hall?
The one that We wish to convey,
For following his protocol
And such field demeanor heartfelt,
Our Royal praise for good Alverik Wyntervelt
We feel he represents:
For his actions that so impress,
Such fine gallantry he presents,
Excellence in warring prowess!
With fellows that stand side by side
Alverik, newest Silver Tyger, beams with pride
The Eastern Majesties
Culann and Honig with all pomp
Go through all these formalities
In Barony of Settmour Swamp
At Ducal Challenge circumstance
Celebrating Our Alverik’s glad happenstance
Anno Societatis LXI
Illumination and Calligraphy by Magdalena Lantfarerin
KEY Minnesang
ABABCC - 6 8 8 8 8 12
Syllable count:
6A
8B
8A
8B
8C
12C
Imperfect syllable Count
Heraldic Language
6A We question forth today -
8B Who will now shine in East’s great hall?
8A The one that We wish to convey,
8B For following his protocol
8C And such field demeanor heartfelt,
12C Our Royal praise for good Alverik Wyntervelt.
6A We feel he represents:
8B For his actions that so impress,
8A Such fine gallantry he presents,
8B Excellence in warring prowess!
8C With fellows that stand side by side
12C Alverik, newest Silver Tyger, beams with pride.
6A The Eastern Majesties
8B Culann and Honig with all pomp
8A Go through all these formalities
8B In Barony of Settmour Swamp
8C At Ducal Challenge circumstance
12C Celebrating Our Alverik’s glad happenstance
Anno Societatis LXI
-Dr Horrible’s Sing Along BLOG
When first cracking into this assignment I went straight to the recipient’s wiki page.There was a fairly good description of their persona, “from the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation's Circa 1300's.” Which turned me directly to the troubadours or Minnesingers of the 1200s through the 1400s of Germany. I had done a great deal of previous research for this poetry form here and here. Considering the fast turn around for this project, there wasn’t going to be much additional research.
I do like working from a period source, translating into modern English. From Selected poems of Walther von der Vogelweide, the minnesinger and the particular poem:
THE DECAY OF COURTESY
Who now shall shine in honour's hall?
The young knights' chivalry is small,
And squires now flaunt their boorishness
In word and action, unashamed.
Virtue as folly now is blamed.
Look, how ill customs spring and spread apace !
There was a time one whipped the young
Who kept no curb upon their tongue ;
Now it is held a gentle art
To shout, and slander each pure woman's name.
Now woe betide your hides and hair.
Who never for a pleasure care,
Unless it break a woman's heart !
Lo ! Thus we see sin side by side with shame.
In which too many have a part
When working with a translated piece, I break down the rhyme schemes that translation includes. The chosen poem does not have the same scheme as the key used in the scroll. Given that trans;lations do not always include the rhyme scheme and the time involved with this scroll, the decision was made to use my rhyme scheme. Much influenced by the inspiration poem above. In particular I was enamoured of the question format it used in the first line and answered in the first verse.
Minnesang Poetry Forms, specifications and examples: This was particularly useful as it identified how the syllabic lines were grouped together. In this case in Iambs or poetic feet with the stress on the second syllable of the foot.
This common rhythm in English became the pattern that was followed in the composition.
Further searching discovered the Introduction to The Minnesanger, Medieval German Poetry. A class on the minnesang that was recorded a few years ago. This was a gold mine of information and I look forward to watching it in more depth in the future.
VERSE ONE
6A We question forth today -
8B Who will now shine in East’s great hall?
The poems influence can be seen in intriguing the opening lines:
“Who now shall shine in honour's hall?
The young knights' chivalry is small”
While right away you can see that a poem called the Death of Courtesy is not going to align with the praise poems that are created for giving awards. As such, the original poem's question was kept but was changed to reflect the positive nature of the award document.
8A The one that We wish to convey,
8B For following his protocol
Hall/protocol is a weak rhyme and the onus will be on the herald to pronounce it in such a way so that it will rhyme correctly. This is the sort of performance note that are included in the cut sheets that are sent to the heralds before the event.
8C And such field demeanor heartfelt,
12C Our Royal praise for good Alverik Wyntervelt.
The Heartfelt line is about the recipient, followed by the last line which answers the question with the recipient’s name. Identifying them as the subject of praise.
VERSE TWO
6A We feel he represents:
8B For his actions that so impress,
The next two couplets focus on the recipient using praise language and fighting terms to describe them. There was considerable agonizing over rhymine represents/presents as audibly they are so similar. But in context it is clear that the meaning is in what the recipient represents the award, and how the recipient presents himself to others.
8A Such fine gallantry he presents,
8B Excellence in warring prowess!
There are often repeated words heard in scrolls, such as “fighting” and “service.” This scroll definitely stretched the thesaurus for different ways to say, “fighter” in the effort not to use them.
8C With fellows that stand side by side
12C Alverik, newest Silver Tyger, beams with pride.
This couplet takes the perspective both to the audience and the recipient.
In this reign the Silver Award recipients are asked to stand in place in support of the newest member. In the original poem there was the line:
“Lo ! Thus we see sin side by side with shame.”
It evoked that image and therefore was included in the scroll.
Throughout the many iterations of this line, the final result encompasses the moment of receiving this award.
VERSE THREE
6A The Eastern Majesties
8B Culann and Honig with all pomp
The last verse was the easiest to write. In this final verse is that all the rhymes were exact. Same number of syllables as its matching couplet. It makes the last verse really tight, poetically speaking.
8A Go through all these formalities
8B In Barony of Settmour Swamp
Pomp/Swamp is definitely my favorite rhyme.
8C At Ducal Challenge circumstance
12C Celebrating Our Alverik’s glad happenstance
Circumstance is being used here in its other definition of a state of affairs: eventuality
It is most often used in this context in its plural form of “circumstances” but the syllable count here had more precedence. As is so often the case I will sacrifice proper grammar for a better rhyme.
Anno Societatis LXI
At the very last the Society year is tacked on at the end, outside of the rhyme scheme.
While this scroll had a relatively short turnaround, it came out wonderfully. Discovering new sources and paths for further research makes every foray into a particular verse is worth it. All in the effort of making scroll composition better.
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