Scolastica Caparellia Silver Brooch & Award of Arms

Scolastica Caparellia, Our

Abounding, creative, Eastern flower

Known for stitches with beautiful design 

Embroidery, meticulously fine 

For innovative outfits done in themes

Hand sewn garments with feathers, stripes and seams

She presents herself before Us today

Tindal and Alberic will not downplay

A gentle receiving her Silver Brooch,
With Award of Arms! Earned above reproach

As Eastern Consules in Ethereal Court 

Her wondrous skill set that We will purport 

Wordcount 69

Scolastica Caparellia, Our

Abounding, creative, Eastern flower

Known for stitches with beautiful design 

Embroidery, meticulously fine 

For innovative outfits done in themes

Hand sewn garments with feathers, stripes and seams

She presents herself before Us today
Tindal and Alberic will not downplay

A gentle receiving her Silver Brooch,
With Award of Arms! Earned above reproach

As Eastern Consules in Ethereal Court 

Her wondrous skill set that We will purport

~Blogtastica Scolastica~

This assignment came with the recipient’s lovely and detailed blog. It detailed varied embroidery projects they had worked on as well as two wonderfully detailed garb projects, which I remember seeing and admiring - I definitely wanted to include a reference to them.  Although no persona information was given, I chose Chaucerian English because of the inspiration pieces that the illuminator and scribe Magdalena Lantfarerin sent me.

Scolastica Caparellia, Our

Abounding, creative, Eastern flower

 I am particularly proud of these opening lines. The recipient’s name was nine syllables long.  At first I toyed with rhyming Caparellia, but after rejecting "Cinderella" and "Mozzarella," I was inspired to add the word "Our" to the end of the line and form a complete thought with the couplet.

Known for stitches with beautiful design 

Embroidery, meticulously fine 

For innovative outfits done in themes

Hand sewn garments with feathers, stripes and seams

 These verses reference the wealth of wonderful details I found about the recipient's accomplishments in their blog.  I managed oblique references to their two outfits, which they called “Ye Old Night Owl” and “the Betsy Rossenrock."  These lines went through many iterations before I found a version I was pleased with.

She presents herself before Us today 

Tindal and Alberic will not downplay

A gentle receiving her Silver Brooch,

With Award of Arms! Earned above reproach

Like the first couplet above I feel like these run through the couplets - something I have seen Chaucer do in some of his works. I seldom achieve it myself, and I'm happy to have done so twice in this scroll - while still having the appropriate rhymes.  

As Eastern Consuls in Ethereal Court 

Her wondrous skill set that We will purport! 

 This was a little different for me in that I separated the names of TRM with their rank by a whole couplet.  I also separated the reference to the kingdom by including that in the first couplet.  By peppering the essential information throughout the scroll I challenge myself and avoid repetition from other scrolls I've done in this style.
This scroll was a struggle for me and I'm not sure why. Unlike some recipients, this one had a gorgeous personal blog with detailed photos and outfits that I had seen in person. I had a style I’ve worked well with in the past and yet I struggled.  Some scrolls are like that, even in Australia. I am happy with how it turned out though.

Went out at 22:04 of the Ninth Ethereal Court

Sparky photo from Matthias von Würzburg

East Kingdom Court Report – May 16, 2021

Jonathan Miles - Court Barony

Our first look at Jonathan Miles saw 

Partner and Parent starting a journey 

A Knight with Tyger strength of tooth and claw 

Who’s clout was proved in many a tourney 

Stalwart and true his boundaries not blurry

Passion for his land was then afire 

He planned to Defend, Support, Inspire

Our view anew saw what he was doing 

Work toward increasing representation 

Inspiring fledgelings: what they’re pursuing 

Passions became serious vocation 

Then plague arrived causing complication

Though times turned unexpectedly dire

He’s advanced: Defend, Support, Inspire 

And today, We, Alberic and Tindel 

Eastern Councels grant: Baron of Our Court 

Knowing he will continue to propel 

The many good folk of Our Sinking Fort, 

With superb cause to revel and cavort 

WordCount 130

This BLOG’s just six words long (Yah, right)

Fiona had an inspiration piece and based it on the recipient’s persona and photos. I decided on Chaucerian English to match. I found Selected poems by Geoffrey Chaucer, translated by A. S. Kline. I was struck by Chaucer's short poem on “Nobleness," written in the Rhyme Royal.  The final refrain of each verse was: “Whether of mitre, crown or diadem.”

 

That started me thinking of the “hats” particular to the SCA.  I tossed around ideas: circlet, coronet and crown. Bare head, circlet or coronet (because the only ones who can wear a “crown” are the Heirs or Their Majesties).

I was discussing the scroll with the Baroness of Settemore Swamp and she emphasized the Baron’s dedication to making connections for folk, inspiring volunteers and defending the rights of the unrepresented. That gave me my inspiration: To end each stanza with, "defend, support, inspire."

I went to Rhymezone and quickly found appropriate rhymes for the CC couplets in my tercet and two couplets (ABA BB CC) as befit the Rhyme Royal.

Rhyme Royal, 7 line stanza.

The stanza is constructed as a tercet and two couplets.

Color Coded:  ABABBCC

Our first look at Jonathen Miles saw 

Partner and Parent starting a journey 

A Knight with Tyger strength of tooth and claw 

Who’s clout was proved in many a tourney 

Stalwart and true his boundaries not blurry

Passion for his land was then afire 

He planned to Defend, Support, Inspire

Our view anew saw what he was doing 

Work toward increasing representation 

Inspiring fledgelings: what they’re pursuing 

Passions became serious vocation 

Then plague arrived causing complication

Though times turned unexpectedly dire

He’s advanced: Defend, Support, Inspire 

And today, We, Alberic and Tindel 

Eastern Councels grant: Baron of Our Court 

Knowing he will continue to propel 

The many good folk of Our Sinking Fort, 

With superb cause to revel and cavort 

What will he do next? We hear you inquire:

He’ll ever Defend, Support, Inspire

I quickly had the final couplets of my 3 verses. Once I built the rest of the Rhyme Royal verses built on top of the CC couplets, I would refine them so that the 10 syllables of Iambic pentameter were exact.

I noticed that the translation of the Nobleness poem started the first two stanzas with the same phrase, “Our first stock.” Fiona had particularly requested that I start with O, C or D, in the second stanza as it fit with her inspiration piece. “Our” works well into what a scroll needs to say. I initially wanted to extend it to all three verses, but that didn't hold up; the last stanza of the third verse needed to change to work better in the scroll. I can imagine Chaucer going through a similar process centuries ago. 

The three stanza format lends itself quite well to a beginning, middle and end. The first verse, indicative of a beginning, I tried to describe a bit about the recipient himself:

Partner and Parent starting a journey

I made sure to mention his family, his knighthood and his passion for his baronial lands.

In the second verse, I wanted to touch upon subjects that were important to the recipient during his tenure as Baron of Settmour Swamp:

Work toward increasing representation 

This was a more literal use of what was in the recommendation, but the word was appropriate. I couldn’t resist the Representation/Vocation rhyme.

Inspiring fledgelings: what they’re pursuing 

This was my way of working in the recipient’s pride in making connections and inspiring the volunteers of the barony.

Passions became serious vocation 

This last line was a reference to the recipient's research of period armor techniques. It also referred to the saying, “turn your vocation into your avocation" - something we can all try to do.

In the last verse, I wrapped up the piece while putting in the required scroll information. This scroll went out at an Ethereal Court at a virtual event, so I made another reference to Settmour Swamp and Mudthaw with the line:

The many good folk of Our Sinking Fort

I ended the piece with the third repetition and variation of my CC rhyme scheme:

What will he do next? We hear you inquire:

He’ll ever Defend, Support, Iinspire 

What was unusual for me here was that I broke up the first C line with a question to the audience. This is not a technique I use often - breaking the fourth wall, almost - but it worked out for the best.

I'm very happy with how this piece came out. Unlike some of my other scrolls, I didn’t really use any direct quotes from the original work - instead, I used the same form and line breakdown. I felt I captured aspects that I hope will lead the recipient to appreciate and reflect upon his time in the Baronial seat.

This went out at the Mudthaw Investiture 2021 at 19:33

Court Report: Mudthaw Returns

Caterina Lombardi Award of Arms

Our gentle, Caterina Lombardi

Known for her diligent works, most hardy 

She helps with marvelous demonstrations

As officer, exceeds expectations 

Caterina’s leading in many ways 

Learning the ropes, steering Us through the quays 

She stands before the mighty tyger beast

Tindal and Alberic, Counsels East  

Today an Award of Arms We bestow

For her alone, all the days to show 

And done with no presence material
Singing praise in our Court Ethereal

Word count 71

Calligraphy Violet Hughes and Illumination by  Fionnghuala the Volatile

Rhyming Couplets in colors

Our gentle, Caterina Lombardi
Known for her diligent works, most hardy

She helps with marvelous demonstrations
As officer, exceeds expectations

Caterina’s leading in many ways
Learning the ropes, steering Us through the quays

She stands before the mighty Tyger beast
Tindal and Alberic, Counsels East

Today an Award of Arms We bestow
For her alone, all the days to show

And done with no presence material
Singing praise in our Court Ethereal 

I’m going slightly mad. I finally blo-ogged.. 
 
Knowing that the recipient of this scroll is a “major nerd,” I first tried to work in a rhyming couplet that ended with "Who." After several tries I gave up on that - nothing was seeming to work out.

Today with no presence material
Singing praise in our Court Ethereal
This was the first couplet I completed, and the last in the scroll. Sometimes when I'm searching for a theme or a direction, I go to the last line of the scroll to help me find it. I began to contemplate the phrase, "ethereal court." I took a lesson from working with Norse kennings and how mixing up individual words won't change the meaning - but might help with some alliterative patterns.

This couplet written, I went to the recipient's name:

Our gentle, Caterina Lombardi
Known for her diligent works, most hardy
That set the order of the rest of the scroll, and I was tickled to use their name in a rhyme.

Then I set a rhyming couplet each for her works in attending/working demos, as an autocrat, a chatelaine and a deputy seneschal.

She helps with marvelous demonstrations
As officer, exceeds expectations
This was the only couplet in which I mentioned one of the items she was written in for.
I then moved on to referencing her work as chatelaine and deputy seneschal:

Caterina’s leading in many ways
Learning the ropes, steering Us through the quays
As I have learned, nothing rhymes with "seneschal." As this was a deputy position I ended the couplet with, "learning the ropes," which became a nautical reference with the word, "quays."
I felt this encompassed both positions and exemplified all of Caterina's hard work.

She stands before the mighty Tyger Beast
Tindal and Alberic, Counsels East
This was one of my problem couplets and I worked and reworked it many times. I tried rhyming Alberic with esoteric, and consuls with ... well, nothing rhymes with consuls. I ended up with Beast/East. It's nice to give Sparky a little mention now and then.

Today an Award of Arms We besow
For her alone, all the days to show
This was another difficult verse. No matter what I did, one line would end up with 12 or 11 syllables or 6 or 8 syllables. The one time I had the proper 10 syllable count the sentence was horribly awkward to read outloud.

For this couplet and the preceding one, the second lines are just 9 syllables long, but as I finally had the rhythm sounding correct, I let it go. 

(Of course, I'm sure I'll think of the perfect wording after the scroll goes out in Court.)

Just after I'd sent the words out for calligraphy, I discovered I had started the last two verses with the word “Today." Thankfully I caught it early enough to correct it.

Changes to the final verse:
Today with no presence material/Singing praise in our Court Ethereal
To
And done with no presence material/Singing praise in our Court Ethereal

This was my first scroll after the holiday season, which was a particularly bad one this year. It helped me get back into the swing of things and hopefully I'll jump head first into a new year of writing.

This went out at TRM Sixth Ethereal Court at the 55;41 mark.

Sparky photo from Matthias von Würzburg

EK Court Report: February 21, 2021

Runa of the North - Award of Arms

East Kingdom clad with Kindred of Rulers Assess all. We, Tindal and Alberic Seek sterling gentles to raise their stations Runa of the North runs demos, races Creates clothing crafted with thread and wools Boosting her group she hatched “Viking Hiking” She’s known to send hailstones from the bowstring Now the Award of Arms Runa attains Lady, at last! Valkyrie of linens Concluded in Our Court in the Cloud-Lands Word count 69

Color Coded Version

KEY
Red letters - alliterative text
Yellow Highlighter - Kenning
Blue all caps - Meaning of the Kenning

East Kingdom clad with Kindred of Rulers PRINCES, PLURAL

Assess all. We, Tindal and Alberic 

Seek sterling gentles to raise their stations

Runa of the North runs demos, races 

Creates clothing crafted with thread and wools

Boosting her group she hatched “Viking Hiking”

She’s known to send hailstones from the bowstring ARROWS

Now the Award of Arms Runa attains

Lady, at last! Valkyrie of linens  WOMAN/LADY

Concluded in Our Court in the Cloud-Lands SKY/HEAVEN/ETHEREAL COURT

This was read out at the Fourth Ethereal Court of the Eastern Consules, Tindal & Alberic

36:05 - 38:51

I am Loquacious of BLOG.  Prepare to be assimilated.

Ciaran ua Meic Thire put up a call for a Norse scribe on the EK Scribes page. Mistress Leonete tagged me to bring it to my attention. A brief conversation later and I had the job! 

I was lucky, in that the recipient not only had a long and detailed write up, but also a wonderfully detailed East Kingdom Wiki page. With those in hand I got to work. 

I decided to stick with the Beowulf format and planned for alliterative text, 10 syllables per line. 

Then I hit my favorite source for kennings, the Skaldic Project. (Much to my dismay, I discovered that the site had been redone and my ability to search for kennings and copy and paste them into my working document seriously curtailed. I quickly sent them an email, explaining how I used the site and inquiring about how best to use it in the future. I did find an older version of the site and proceeded to use it as normal.)

There I found the kenning that kicked my scroll into gear - a kenning for plural kings!

I used a couple wraparound sentences in the scroll - that is, a sentence that trails onto the next line. This device is uncommon in iambic pentameter, the rhyme royal or rhyming couplets of Chaucer. 

I worked and reworked the sentences many times. None of these sentences had a rhyming cadence and I wanted to make sure that the herald would be comfortable reading the text. 

Kennings, and how I used them:

Kindred of Rulers - Kings, plural

Although the Consuls prefer thar title, they do accept titles specific to a recipient's persona. 

This is a direct use of an extant kenning, meaning kings, plural. It perfectly fit our reigning monarchs and the recipient's persona.

 

Hailstones from the bowstring - Arrows

This seems like a cheat to modern eyes, for 2 out of the 3 alliterative sounds are from the middle of words of the kenning - but they are both compound words and the sounds are the important parts of alliteration. 

Valkyrie of Linens - Woman/Lady

Here I used the kenning to illustrate their new rank. 

What was more interesting to me was the mention of linen. On the recipient's Wiki page it specifically mentions their garb was made with either linen or wool, and I wrote "linen and wool" in an early draft. But when I found this kenning for "lady," I desperately wanted to include it - so I opted to change "linen" to "thread" and use the kenning unchanged. 

The Cloud-Lands - Sky/Heaven/Ethereal Court

Cloud-Lands is a kenning for both "sky" and "heaven."  While I do not know if this is due to Christian translators throughout history or a specific mention of an afterlife, it is listed differently from other kennings for the sky. 

I choose to use it for Ethereal Court - an apt metaphor for these strange times.

Sparky photo from Matthias von Würzburg

Court Report: 4th Ethereal Court of Their Royal Majesties Tindal & Alberic

Yasemin Bin Al-Hajjar - Maunche

We have mudh to say to the East this night 

Yasemin Bin Al-Hajjar puts stars to flight 

We Declare her skills earn augmentation 

She raises the East with her hand and light 

We directly seek to raise her station 

For calligraphy and illumination 

Her raiment, as well, elegant and sleek 

The Order of the Maunche meets this vocation 

Counsels, Tindel and Alberic bespeak 

Of this fine alchemist with paint and ink 

Granted at Ethereal Court with delight 

With copious speech that is not oblique

Word count: 84

VERSE STRUCTURE COLOR KEY AABA BBCB CCAC We have mudh to say to the East this night Yasemin Bin Al-Hajjar puts stars to flight We Declare her skills earn augmentation She raises the East with her hand and light We directly seek to raise her station For calligraphy and illumination Her raiment, as well, elegant and sleek The Order of the Maunche meets this vocation Counsels, Tindel and Alberic bespeak Of this fine alchemist with paint and ink Granted at Ethereal Court with delight With copious speech that is not oblique

Went out at The Third Ethereal Court of the Eastern Consules, Tindal & Alberic
At the 7:57 mark through 10:22

BLOG POST! WOO! OOO! Fiona presented me with doing a Maunche scroll and I jumped at the opportunity. I have known the recipient, Yasemin Bin Al-Hajjar for many years and we both live in the Shire of Midland Vale. In this time of COVID, it was specifically requested that we not give a particular time or place in the scroll and as such I left it as merely an Ephemeral Court. Fiona showed me the inspiration piece, "Bahman-Ardeshir swallowed by a dragon," 1580-85, and I quickly set to some internet searching to learn more about the rhymes and metres of Middle Eastern poetry. I found "A Thousand Years of the Persian Book Classical Persian Poetry" and particularly the authorJalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī - better known simply as Rumi - who was definitely within the recipient’s time period. So I looked into what forms the poet would have used and discovered the Ruba’i, which included one of the first western translations of this poetic form by Edward Fitzgerald in the mid 19th century. I decided to follow Fitzgerald's translation of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam." While this is a later piece, it follows the same poetic form as Rumi, and seemed to be the best compromise between Yasemin’s time period and the time period of her scroll. Fitzgerald uses a particular verse structure known as the Rubáiyát Quatrain - the same form Robert Frost used in "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening." I broke down the verses of the scroll into the cyclical structure, linking the unrhymed line of the final stanza back to the first stanza. 

This was an exciting project and I enjoyed working with a new poetic form. The illumination and the calligraphy were incredibly gorgeous and all together we made an incredible piece that, I hope, reflects the incredibly talented recipient and her wonderful achievements in the East Kingdom.

Sparky photo from Matthias von Würzburg

Wymarc of Dragonship Haven - Award of Arms

Tindel! Alberic! Great Eastern Consules
Measure Our folks worth in more than ounces
Seeking the best, not those that are craven:
Finding Wymarc of Dragonship Haven
As a fencer, she swashes and buckles,
She’s won contests! No skin off her knuckles!
She’s a volunteer and picks up a broom
Gives their hard won time making events bloom
These traits We value, for which Arms We give
For Wynmarc to wear, long as she may live
Done today in this Our ethereal court
The praises of Our Wynmarc all will purport 

 
Word Count: 90

Blather:

Fiona the Volatile tapped me to write the words for this scroll. Neither of us knew the recipient and we didn’t get much more information than was in the original write up. This is not a hindrance, but a delightful challenge! An early idea was to put Roman references in the scroll to reflect our reigning Consuls. It didn’t really work out, though I explored a few wiki pages as an initial path to take. I will keep the idea for possible future scrolls. Fiona decided to go with murder-bunnies as the theme. This matched Chaucerian rhyming couplets, which are always fun, and both of us went to our respective drawing boards. When I am writing rhyming couplets, I write the first line, rhyme the end word, and write the next line of the couplet backwards. The hardest line in the text often becomes my favorite one and this scroll was no different. The favored couplet - 

As a fencer, she swashes and buckles, She’s won contests! No skin off her knuckles! - originally was written as: As a fencer, she can swash and buckle She won Baronial Thrown Weapons, no trouble!

The couplet went through several revisions, because in the description I received she was listed as the Baronial Thrown Weapons Champ, but her primary focus was Rapier fighting. I wanted to mention both interests in the scroll. But given the requirements of Chaucerian English, I couldn’t fit it all in the line. I also wanted to refer to the swash and buckle of fencing without directly naming it, but "buckle" didn’t have as many rhymes as I thought it would.

The original near rhyme of "trouble" did not sit well, nor did the syllable count match up as that line was 12 syllables long. I went back to look at rhymes for buckle and focused on knuckle. I wasn’t particularly worried about the plural. I could easily change swash and buckle to swashes and buckles and still remain in my syllable count. So that left the body of the sentence to work on, and I simply couldn’t fit “baronial thrown weapons champ” in. So even though the contest Wynmarc won was for thrown weapons, not fencing, for the sake of the poetry I decided to shorten it to an unnamed contest. The information conveyed is technically correct - which, some would say, is the best kind of correct.

The rest of the words went together pretty easily. If a sentence had too many syllables I would winnow it down or switch phrases around until I got to the right amount. Arthur le Taverner helped me out as beta for a couple of the lines I needed to reshuffle to get the correct syllable count. It isn’t all quite iambic pentameter yet. I am still working on that. As much as I read about that meter, I am beginning to suspect that I need to attend or watch a class on it to truly grok it. I ended it with the couplet: Done today in this Our ethereal court The praises of Our Wynmarc all will purport This would normally have been where the date, event and location would go, but as it was an ethereal court I specifically did not to include the dates. I felt a little bad not being able to include them, but felt the ending couplet was sufficient to once again praise the recipient for this well deserved award. Sources used for this scroll were: Rhymezone, Thesaurus and some wiki entry browsing on Roman words and language. Went out at First Court of the Eastern Consules Tindal & Alberic at the 23:23 mark.

Sparky photo from Matthias von Würzburg