Thursday, September 21, 2017

Alys's Eight Easy Ways to Make Your Scroll Text Sound More Like A Period Document

All of the italicized examples are from texts that I've written or adapted.  Feel free to "steal" them but give me an "inspired by" credit if you do.

1.       Use only the given names of the Kings and Queens, not their full SCA names.
2.       Open with a greeting from the Crown. 
[name] and [name], King and Queen of the East, to all good people of our land, greetings.
[name], King by right of arms, and [name], his Queen, to all to whom these present letters come, greetings.
3.       Refer to the Crown’s authority to give awards, or to the Crown who created the award.
The King and Queen of the East are charged by ancient custom with recognizing those persons who perform great labors for the good of the Kingdom . . . .
Forasmuch as Our predecessors of blessed memory Viktor and Sedalia created and constituted the Order of the Sagittarius to honor and acknowledge excellence with arrow and bow . . .
4.       Use multiple (usually three) verbs and nouns that mean more or less the same thing (buy a good literary Thesaurus!)
We hereby award, invest and endow [person] with the Order of the . . . .
and all rights, privileges and advantages . . .
forasmuch as our good and honorable [person] has proven himself to be diligent, doughty, vailaunt and laudable,
and we do further command, instruct and ordain that the said [person] shall henceforward bear the emblem of the Order upon his person in sign and token of the establishing of him therein
5.       Is today a saint’s day for the recipient’s persona or culture?   Check out the Online Calendar of Saints Days (http://medievalist.net/calendar/home.htm), which tells you the medieval saint’s feasts for each calendar day and the region in which that saint was honored.
For example, the entry for November 14 has (among many others) the following:
Modanus, bishop, confessor [GTZ: Scotland]
When writing a text for a Scottish persona, you would refer to November 14th as “the feast of Saint Modanus
6.       Avoid SCA-isms like “troll” or “feastocrat” or “autocrat” in favor of more general (and period!) terms like “gatekeeper” or “cook” or “steward.”
7.       Refer to the fact that the award recipient is getting rights and privileges in addition to the award, such as the right to wear the badge of the Order upon his/her person.
8.       Refer to the fact that we write things down to make sure they are remembered.
Because human memory is fallible, and knowledge of works done may be lost to time, good and notable deeds should, in a plenitude of wisdom, be committed to writing.
Lest the good and noble deeds of [person] be lost to the passage of time, we have caused these matters to be rendered in writing.
That the present award may be held firm by all our successors, we have had the present page drawn up and have fortified it with the authority of our ensigns manual upon 10 September in the fifty-first year of the Society.

More scribal Mad Libs!!

Some of my favorite scribes asked me to write short fill-in the blank texts for the East's Silver Tyger (AoA rattan combat) and Silver Brooch (AoA arts) awards.    So that they can find these in the future, I'm planting them here.


For a Silver Tyger:

Whereas the practice of the arts martial is a good, noble and worthy pursuit; and Whereas [name] excels in those arts and applies them in honorable defense of our realm; Therefore, We [king and queen], King and Queen of the East, do hereby invest and endow the said [given name] with the Order of the Silver Tyger, to have and hold in perpetuity.  Done upon [date] at [place of event].


You can replace "Whereas" with "Forasmuch as" if you like F as a initial capital better than W


If the person doesn't have an AoA yet, add the following sentence before the "Done upon. . . . "

And We do further Award the said [first name] Arms in the form following: [blazon]

OR


And We do further Award the said [first name] with such Arms in metal and color as are fit for him/her to bear, and charge him/her to consult with our heralds forthwith.


For a Silver Brooch:

Noble men of wise countenance have written that, while the body
perishes, a work of art lives forever.[1]  Likewise, while memories
may wither and fade, the written word endures.  Therefore, to honor
the fine, excellent and eternal works of art created by [name],  We, [king and queen], King and Queen of the East, by these present and ever-certain letters, do hereby invest and endow the said [first name] with the Order of the Silver Brooch.  Done upon [date] at [place].


If the person doesn't have an AoA yet, add the following sentence before the "Done upon. . . . "

And We do further Award the said [first name] Arms in the form following: [blazon]

OR


And We do further Award the said [first name] with such Arms in metal and color as are fit for him/her to bear, and charge him/her to consult with our heralds forthwith.



[1]  "A beautiful body perishes, but a work of art dies not." - Leonardo da Vinci


Monday, September 4, 2017

Thomas delbroc's MoD Text

I've had the pleasure of knowing Thomas delbroc ( +Steve B.  ) for nearly 25 years.  So, I was delighted to be able to work on the scroll text for the Order of Defense.  Thomas's persona is English circa 1500, so the words are from that era, in appropriate spelling.

Ioannes, Kynge of þe Est-londes[1], and Ro Honig, his Quene, to alle to whom þese presents shal come, Greeting.  Be it knowen þat we haue giuen and granted, and by þese presents do giue and grant for vs and our heirss to our welbeloued Thomas delbroc þe stasion, estate and renowne of a Maister of Defence, with all freedams, prevelages, acquietaunces[2], protexions[3], concessyons[4], lyberties and allowaunces as any oþer Maisters of Defence haue resonfully[5] vsed or enioyed; And We do furþer giue and grant to þe sayd Thomas þe ryȝt to beare armes by lettres patents in þe forme folwyng: Sable, a cuppe golde and a base ermine.  And the sayd Thomas shal likewise haue licence to displaie, beare vppon his persone and set vp banners and standarts with þe representacion and signacle of þe Ordre of Defence, to witt: þre swords in pall weþir-turned[6] tippes iwarled[7].  In witnesse whereoff we haue caused to be made þese our lettres patents. Doune at Pennsic Warre in þe fiftie-secound yere of þe Societie.



[1]  There is no good way of saying "Kingdom of the East" in Middle English.  Est-londes is "lands of/to the East," which seemed to me the best approximation.

[2] acquietaunce = a letter of indulgence

[3]  protexions = protections, referring either to the protection or maintenance which a lord or a patron provides a servant or retainer, or to safe-conduct

[4]  concessyon = granting (of land)

[5] resonfully = rightly or rightfully

[6]  weþir-turned = inverted

[7]  iwarled = interlaced