Fealty Oath

So . . . . +Stephen Wright  was sworn in as the new Kingdom Rapier Marshal yesterday.  On Thursday he asked if I would write him a period fealty oath in Scots for him.  Sure, I said.

Because I had a short time frame in which to turn around the product, I resorted to the easiest formula for homage and fealty to find on the Internet:  Modus Faciendi Homagium & Fidelitatem (The Manner of Doing Homage & Fealty), c. 1275.  As these formulas continued to be cited in charters and statute books well into the 15th century, relying on them wasn't too much of a cheat.   After some digging in the Dictionary of the Older Scots Tongue, I put the language into very late 16th century Scots spellings so that they would be fairly close to modern (since I anticipated at best ten minutes to go over the pronunciation with Frasier at the event).

Here's what I came up with, in modern English and then in Scots:

Hear you my lord Edward and my lady Thyra; I, Frasier MacLeod, shall be to you both faithful and true and shall owe my Fidelity unto you and unto the Kingdom of the East, and lawfully shall do such Customs and Services as my Duty is to you and to the Kingdom as Marshal of Fence, from this day henceforward and for as long as I hold of you the office aforenamed.


Here yow my laird Edward and lady Thyra, I, Frasier MacLeod, sall be to yow boith faithfull and trewe and sall ow my fidelitee unto yow and unto the kyngdome of the Hest and laufullie sall doo sich Customes and Serwices as my Duety is to yow and to the kyngdome as Marschael of Defence from thys daye henceforward and for as long as I hald of yow the offyce beforesaid.

Beautiful, right?

Then someone left the paper with the words on it in his pants at the hotel . . . . .