Katryne Morgant Telardottier - Award of Arms

By all the graces, Wilhelm, King of the East, and Vienna, Queen of the East, rulers of the lands and seas, to all those present, shall hear and see Our will this day.
For so much as the diverse people of Our realm have given us varied and diverse service and dedication, before-time toward Our wars, Our events, Our offices, of their own good-will, so likewise these positions taken throughout the realm for Our name; We have acknowledged, for Us and Our heirs, that We shall recognize these services and good works heretofore and hence for the common profit of all the realm. 

 We call upon one such Katryne Morgant Telardottier, which were made by common assent of all the realm, shall be Awarded Arms in every point without breach, now henceforth to be known to keep these arms

************SPACE FOR ARMS*****************

To be worn by her and her alone.

Moreover We have deemed for Us and Our Heirs, as well to Dukes, Counts, Barons, and to all the community of the land, that from henceforth that nothing will cause this to be undone.

Given at Kings and Queens Bardic and Dragonship Haven Investiture February 23rd Anno Societas Fifty three.

Wordcount 197

Unofficial Court Report: Kings and Queens Bardic and Dragonship Haven Investiture

Baronial Investiture & King's and Queen's Bardic Championships

The Volatile Handed in January 4th, 2020 THIS BLOG UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Patrick Michael - Silver wheel

 Willhelm the king  and Vienna the queen
Garbed resplendent in gold and aubergine
Magnificent Crowns of this Mighty East
Sense one of Our Orders to be increased
One who’s been here since a very young age
Fighting and working On a martial stage
Patrick Michael is before us today
For his service, past his sense of fair play
Volunteering, key for the Silver wheel,
The reason today that for us, you kneel
Done at Baronial Investiture
And kings and queens bardic champions with alure
A grey day, this February 23rd
Anno Societas the fifty third

Word count 97

Wilhelm the king  and Vienna the queen

Garbed resplendent in gold and aubergine

Magnificent Crowns of this Mighty East
Sense one of Our Orders to be increased

One who’s been here since a very young age
Fighting and working On a martial stage

Patrick Michael is before us today
For his service, past his sense of fair play

Volunteering, key for the Silver wheel,
The reason today that for us, you kneel

Done at Baronial Investiture
And kings and queens bardic champions with alure

A grey day, this February 23rd
Anno Societas the fifty third

Unofficial Court Report: Kings and Queens Bardic and Dragonship Haven Investiture

Baronial Investiture & King's and Queen's Bardic Championships

The Volatile

Handed in January 4, 2020

THIS BLOG IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Ástríðr Musi - Silver Tyger

 Wilhelm, great King, giver of the all-bright
And Vienna, the Queen a gold-ring Gerð 
Exalted escourts of the pure elk-sea 
The East Kingdom’s personified presence
Far from the floor-steed We have forayed
And wandered to a weather of weapons
With unWavering King and his war needle
she fiercely drove through the wolf-feeder foes
We've seen soldiers skirmish in sound fight
Ástríðr has shone above a sea of spears
At this time, We award Ástríðr Musi
The Silver Tyger, a testament to her
Done this Day may 14th down at Gulf Wars
In Anno Societas Fifty Three

Word count 98

KEY
Alliteration
Kenning definition 

Wilhelm, great King, giver of the all-bright (KING)
And Vienna, the Queen a gold-ring Gerð (QUEEN)

Exalted escourts of the pure elk-sea (LAND)

The East Kingdom’s personified presence

Far from the floor-steed (HOME) We have forayed
And wandered to a weather of weapons (WAR)

With unWavering King and his war needle (SPEAR)
she fiercely drove through the wolf-feeder (WARRIORS) foes
We've seen soldiers skirmish in sound fight
Ástríðr has shone above a sea of spears (BATTLE)
At this time, We award Ástríðr Musi
The Silver Tyger, a testament to her
Done this Day may 14th down at Gulf Wars

In Anno Societas Fifty Three

Viviana Silvarin - Award of Arms

Vibrant Monarchs Brian and Vienna 
Interested in all their glorious and 
Various, and dedicated vassals 
In this the incandescent East Kingdom 
Accordingly searched for those active in 
Needlework and other niche fiber things 
Alerted to Us a Viviana 
She’s skilled with the needle, thread, and scissors 
Interweaving  intellect and study 
Legions of the East led us to award 
Viviana Silvarin vivid arms 
***** SPACE FOR ARMS  ******   
Accomplished at  the Market Day of Birka, January 26th 
Nigh unto the Barony of Stonemarche, AS, numbered 53 

Wordcount 80

Vibrant Monarchs Brian and Vienna 

Interested in all their glorious and
Various, and dedicated vassals
In this the incandescent East Kingdom 

Accordingly searched for those active in 

Needlework and other niche fiber things
Alerted to Us a Viviana

She’s skilled with the needle, thread, and scissors
Interweaving  intellect and study 

Legions of the East led us to award 

Viviana Silvarin vivid arms 

***** SPACE FOR ARMS  ******   

Accomplished at  the Market Day of Birka, January 26th
Nigh unto the Barony of Stonemarche, AS, numbered 53 

Market Day at Birka
News from Court at the Market Day at Birka in the Barony of Stonemarche

THIS BLOG UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Ambrosius Duro - Award of Arms

 Lo, that Wilhelm, Our king is paramount,
with Vienna, his Queen seek to account

For all the people of the mighty East
That our praise be as sumptuous a feast

We have found We share a love of axes
Making things go thunk; it just relaxes!
We’ll shout the name of Ambrosius Duro
And as such we can no longer forego
The Award of Arms Given unto thee

****** SPACE FOR ARMS ******
Full of form and line and beasiary
Done this day at Market Day at Birka

January 26th, Barony of Stonemarche, AS 53

Word count 90

Lo, that Wilhelm, Our king is paramount,
with Vienna, his Queen seek to account

For all the people of the mighty East
That our praise be as sumptuous a feast

We have found We share a love of axes
Making things go thunk; it just relaxes!

We’ll shout the name of Ambrosius Duro
And as such we can no longer forego

The Award of Arms Given unto thee
Full of form and line and beasiary

Done this day at Market Day at Birka
January 26th, Barony of Stonemarche, AS 53

Market Day at Birka

News from Court at the Market Day at Birka in the Barony of Stonemarche

Handed in January 4, 2020

Faolán an Sccreccain Order of the Maunche

Traveling roads caked in dark sienna
This day We have come to this hostelry
We Majesties Wilhelm and Vienna
With all the East Kingdom in company
Called to our thrones, before us on bent knee
We have here the scribe Faolán an Sccreccain
A lord known for skill with parchment and pen

His skill has grown from scribbles of knotwork
Done sitting on stairs while dancers did lurk
Now crafts manuscripts, full of the graces
done fine, in the tiniest of spaces
A combat scribe, Our Faolán an Sccreccain
Calligraphy skills used time and again
Imagine him clad in drab olive-black
Hiding behind trees, wary of attack
Inscribing scrolls lost or suddenly inspired
Avoiding onslaught with muck, not desired!
Creating words in a Barony blue
Working with inks to achieve varied hue
He collects fonts and letters a plenty
His portfolio will ne’er be empty
Today he joins the Order of the Maunche
His great artistry for the East, most staunch
These arms which we grant for him alone:
Argent, two porcupines statant erect respectant maintaining between them two pens in saltire, a mountain of three peaks sable.
The wearing of these, We will condone

In Concordia, Barony of Snows
We Celebrate fellowship straightaway
Surrounded with this ridiculous prose
27th, October is the day
Expressly pleased are We, with all surveyed
On Anno Societatis fifty three
In Our Copious Lands from shore to sea

 Key 

Rhyme Royale:

ABABBCC

Chaucerian Couplets:

Rhyming couplets

Heraldic Language

Traveling roads caked in dark sienna

This day We have come to this hostelry

We Majesties Wilhelm and Vienna

With all the East Kingdom in company

Called to our thrones, before us on bent knee

We have here the scribe Faolán an Sccreccain

A lord known for skill with parchment and pen

His skill has grown from scribbles of knotwork

Done sitting on stairs while dancers did lurk

Now crafts manuscripts, full of the graces

done fine, in the tiniest of spaces

A combat scribe, Our Faolán an Sccreccain

Calligraphy skills used time and again

Imagine him clad in drab olive-black

Hiding behind trees, wary of attack

Inscribing scrolls lost or suddenly inspired*

Avoiding onslaught with muck, not desired!*

Creating words in a Barony blue

Working with inks to achieve varied hue

He collects fonts and letters a plenty

His portfolio will ne’er be empty 

Today he joins the Order of the Maunche

His great artistry for the East, most staunch

These arms which we grant for him alone:

Argent, two porcupines statant erect respectant maintaining between them two pens in saltire, a mountain of three peaks sable

The wearing of these, We will condone 

In Concordia, Barony of Snows

We Celebrate fellowship straightaway

Surrounded with this ridiculous prose

27th, October is the day

Expressly pleased are We, with all surveyed

On Anno Societatis fifty three

In Our Copious Lands from shore to sea

Bloggy Bloggy, Bo-Bloggy Banana-fanna fo floggy

When Faolán an Sccreccain's name came up on the lists of those to be inducted into the Order of the Maunche for the upcoming reign, Lady Æsa Sturludottir and I were approached by his wife, Baroness Maria Erika von Ossenheim and his Laurel, Mistress Fiona O'Maille o chauncoille to do his scroll for the Manche.  Æsa and I both sent in the request and were given the go  ahead to do the scroll.

Apparently Faolán had fallen in love with the humerus AoA we had worked on together, the Pennsic before.  He actually had to do the calligraphy twice as he was giggling too much and had messed up his first attempt. 

This became a Damocles Sword hanging over my head!  I had done funny! I needed to do funny again! But my inspiration for funny was turning up nil!

So I took a break from figuring out what the content would be and concentrated on the writing style.  Faolán had adopted a late 1300s persona and that meant Chaucerian English!  One of my favorite time periods to write in.  Rhyming couplets are fun.

Standard Chaucerian English consisted of Rhyming couplets, 10 syllables long in Iambic Pentameter.  He also used The Rhyme Royal, stanzas that consists of seven lines, in in iambic pentameter. The rhyme scheme is ABABBCC.  

I had never attempted the Rhyme Royal before and wanted to challenge myself.  I decided to use the Rhyme Royal in the beginning and the end of the award, specifically the parts that identify Their Majesties and the location and date of the event.  Using the Rhyme Royal for Their Royal Majesties certainly seemed appropriate at the time.  In future awards I may not split the rhyme scheme,  Chaucer didn’t mix them in any of his separate stories.

I decided to forgo funny and draw upon our many decades of friendship to craft the points I wanted to mention in rhyming couplets.

The first was my earliest memories of him, which, unknown to me, was before he considered himself to be a member of the SCA at all!  At that time our local Dance Practice was in the top floor of a building on the RPI campus.  Before the practice would start in the nice weather at least, many of us would hang out outside at the bottom of a long flight of stairs.  He would sit there and doodle knot work.  I remember being amazed that anyone could freehand celtic knotwork! What I had not realised was this was before he considered himself in the SCA.  He  lurked for a few years before he fully committed to joining the Society.

The phrase “in the tiniest of spaces” is a direct reference to a scroll he worked on with me for Birka that year.   I had done the illumination and the wordsmithing for a scroll.

I found myself unable to do the calligraphy. My stroke affected eyesight and hand tremors were too much.  I called Faolán and begged for his help.  It was days before the event and I was a panicked, desperate mess.  He agreed to do the calligraphy for me and the Friday night before Birka in the (then) Radisson hotel, he sat down and wrote the words in a beautiful hand with the smallest pen imaginable.  The spaces for the words were only in one inch circles. He not only went out of his way to help me, but suffered through a very restrictive and difficult space.  As “payment” for his help he only made me promise never to give him anything that small to work on again!

Mere words can’t express how grateful I am for his help.

The next reference was to Faolán being a “Combat Scribe.”  A tern he applied to himself after having to craft unexpected scrolls for awards at the event that the awards were meant to be handed out!  I had often observed him at events with his portable scribal kit  working on scrolls throughout an event.  What I didn’t know was that he had coined the term, “Combat Scribe” at the first Tourney of the Daffodils.  The first event of the new Shire of Midland Vale and one that I was the Head Steward for!  

Then came the stanza where I had to include his arms.  The language of the arms are finite and I couldn't change them to fit into any rhyme scheme or syllable count.  So I didn’t.  And I inserted the arms in between the 2 sentences of the rhyming couplet.

The final stanza I switched back to the Rhyme Royal.  For the AB rhyme I wrote 

“In Concordia, Barony of Snows

We Celebrate fellowship straightaway”

I was particularly fond of reference to the Concordian Order of the Friends with “fellowship.” An order that both I share with the recipient.

So while it didn’t end up funny, per se, the scroll did end up representing the many ways in which our lives and friendship  Being able to make this scroll was a privilege and an honor. Faolán wrote about the scroll here. I am grateful to Baroness Maria and Mistress Fiona for thinking of me and for Lady Æsa in being a willing partner in crime.