A Poem and a Card

Wrote a poem! Did my first calligraphy! Threw in some illumination from the Book of Kells!

I was sick so the poem wasn’t as dramatic as I wanted it to be and the whole thing was late!

Text:

To Cuan, king of      considerable worth:
Your bard begs you     a brief moment
of time, attention,     tolerance, and reprieve.
A report of a birthday     reached my ears–
so a chronicle I conceive     for the King of Atlantia,
a poem of his prowess,     praising his might
with words of wisdom     to warn and advise,
extolling the integrity     of one .viii. times a king.
But unbidden, an illness     attacked my form,
muddled my mind     and mystified my pen.
Now my reason returns,     revived and hale,
But the moment is missed!     Mournfully thus
I weakly write     a wish, with all goodwill
of a belated birthday     from your King’s Bard.

Scroll Text for Thea de Nes’s Pearl

I was honored to collaborate with Lady Clara Brauer and Lady Kaaren Valravn on Thea de Nes (“Aunt Nessie”)’s Pearl scroll. Clara did the majority of the illumination and all of the calligraphy, Kaaren painted the portrait and the cherubs, and I wrote the text. You can find more pictures on Kaaren’s site.

Text:

Endless delight is found in pearls: precious prizes, their gentle beauty is formed through great toil. Know that We, Cuan and Signy, King and Queen of Atlantia, have found such a pearl in Thea de Nes. Crafting wonders from fiber, pen, paint, and bead, she shares them freely; her generosity warms Our hearts and soothes Our spirits. Thus do We induct Thea de Nes into Our Order of the Pearl. Done this 8th day of February, A.S. LIV, at Bright Hills Baronial Birthday in the Barony of Bright Hills.

Opal Text for Iron Scribe

On February 16, Kaaren Valravn took part in the first Atlantian Iron Scribe competition. She needed some scroll text, so once she had her name, Ollam Lanea and I riffed on each other to write a text that would fit into the constrains of Kaaren’s design:

Text: Fires dwell in opals and light Our way! Such fire burns in Muriel MacArtur, so We, Michael & Seonaid, King and Queen of Atlantia, must induct her into our Order of the Opal. Given 3 March A.S.XLIX

Finished calligraphy by Kaaren. She won for best calligraphy and best illumination in the expert category.

Spinning for a Vigil Shawl

In addition to sewing Mistress Ysabeau’s Laurel cloak, I spun the wool for her vigil shawl. Ysabeau has made several vigil shawls for other people, so my friend Lucy (Lucy of Wigan) and I decided that we must make Ysabeau her own. Unfortunately, I don’t have any pictures of the yarn-in-progress. The wool was off-white merino from Paradise Fibers, and it was an utter delight to spin. Once the yarn was spun up and washed, I threw together a simple triangular shawl pattern, did a tab cast-on, and passed it off to Lucy to knit. Once she was done with her beautiful knitting, we blocked it together.

In-progress picture from Lucy

Finished shawl before blocking

Ready to be presented!

Translation for Mistress Rosalind

Calligraphed version courtesy of Mistress Rosalind

Before Gideon ap Stephen was Laurelled at Ymir 2020, Mistress Rosalind asked me to translate the poem she had written to release Gideon from his apprenticeship into Old English. I happily did so — I love translations and find it a great challenge! Below is the text that I sent her; I also sent her a (very rough) recording for pronunciation. While I usually don’t use ċ (/ch/) or ġ (/j/) in my translations as they are entirely a modern conceit for transcription, I included them here to help indicate the pronunciation differences from c (/k/) and g (/g/) for performance.

Original Translation
Gideon ap Stephen     great of heart Gideon ap Stephen     great in breostsefan
A word-warrior     for the Knowne World Cyneword-ċempa     for þære cuþre worulde
Famed for ferocity     in defense of humble folk Rof for reþnesse     in randġebeorh eadmede-folces
Awesome of hair     a voice ocean-deep Seldlic in feaxe     stefn ġeofon-sidu
In prose and poetry     you have shown your prowess þurh wordcræft ond woþcræft     þin ġewald þu ġeseþe
Our path together     of time and travel Ure gomenwaþu to-gædere     on geongum ond byrum
Late night counsel     creation and craft Nihtlangum leoþurunum     listum ond sceaftum
We, your mentors     you, a man of our houses Wit, þin rædboran,     þu, reord-berend unċer inhireda
Now ends your oath     of fealty to us Nu endaþ þin aþ     to us of heldan
We take back the belt     once gladly bestowed Wit oþfeorraþ þone fetel     fore fuslice ġelacodon
But our heart-bond     can never be broken Ac ure breostsefa-bend     ne abirsteþ næfre

 

Translation Translator’s Notes Regarding Particular Choices
Gideon ap Stephen     great in breostsefan Breostsefa  = mind or heart, literally “the mind in the breast”
Cyneword-cempa     for þære cuþre worulde Cyneword-cempa = champion of fitting words
Rof for reþnesse     in randgebeorh eadmede-folces Randgebeorh = protection such as that afforded by a shield
Seldlic in feaxe     stefn geofon-sidu Seldlic = rare, strange, wondrous, extraordinary, having unusual good qualities
Sid = wide, broad, spacious, and is specifically usually applied to the ocean, world, and universe
þurh wordcræft ond woþcræft     þin gewald þu geseþe Syntax of second half-line is “your prowess you show”
wordcræft = the art of speaking and writing
woþcræft = the art of poetry or song
gewald = power, mastery (I chose it for the latter meaning)
Ure gomenwaþu to-gædere     on geongum ond byrum Syntax of second half-line is “of travels and times”; I chose to make plural because there was presumably more than one
Byre has many meanings, but I particularly like the translation of “an event, a favourable time, an opportunity”
Nihtlangum leoþurunum     listum ond sceaftum Syntax of second half-line is “craft and creation”
nihtlang = night-long
leoþurun = counsel conveyed in verse (I thought this meaning was appropriate!)
list = art, skill, cunning, craft, artifice
Wit, þin rædboran,     þu, reord-berend uncer inhireda Wit = dual for Mistress Rosalind and Master Dunstan
reord-berend = fig. person/man, lit. voice-bearer/one gifted with speech
in-hired = family, household, house (I liked the triple meaning)
Nu endaþ þin aþ     to us of heldan
Wit oþfeorraþ þone fetel     fore fuslice gelacodon
Ac ure breostsefa-bend     ne abirsteþ næfre Repeating breostsefa from the beginning

 

Mistress Ysabeau’s Laurel Cloak

Photo by Lady Adelaide

When Baron Hamish MacLeod found out that his wife, Baroness Ysabeau ferch Gwalchaved, was going to be surprised with her Laurel at Bright Hills Baronial Birthday in February 2020, he asked me to create her Laurel cloak. Now-Mistress Ysabeau is a spinner, weaver, and sewer who handsewed garb for one of her first events 32 years ago (in a time and place when handsewn garb was actually looked down on — how far we have come!) so I knew I had to pull out all the stops I had.

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The Spinner of Fate (Clotho)

Photo courtesy of Kaaren Valravn

At some point in the murky past (that is, 2019), Kaaren, Adelaide, and I made a joke about how we’re the three Fates. I am, of course, the spinner Clotho, Adelaide the measurer Lachesis, and Kaaren the inflexible/cutter Atropos. When we discovered that we all had bought (or wanted to buy) the same grey linen, we decided to make Fates-themed garb in our preferred styles (we also managed to be chronological as well!). For a deadline, we set Twelfth Night 2020.

Because I was doing early period English, I felt a little guilty that my garb wouldn’t be as complicated and require as much hard work as Adelaide and Kaaren’s. So I decided to make everything I wore.

Everything.

I already had shoes, anyway.

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The Great 2020 Dyeing Project (Fade Test Part 1)

After taking a class on natural dyeing using different yellows and indigo in May 2019 at Maryland Sheep and Wool, I decided it was finally time to dye the Romney fleece I bought in 2017. However, I wanted to test sun-colorfastness first, as I had noticed some garments that I dyed with commercial dyes were fading significantly after 2 years of SCA wear and washing.

I decided I wanted to test weld, madder, and indigo (the great triumvirate of medieval dyes) plus cochineal; I also wanted to test these dyes in combination.

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New-To-Me Skills

For this competition, I entered items from a natural dyeing class I took in May 2019, a silversmithing class I took in June 2019, a fingerloop braiding class I took in July 2019, and a lyre I am still trying to complete (as of January 2020). Because these are all either from classes or small/unfinished items, I do not have individual posts for them. However, you can read about my next silversmithing exploits under my Spinner of Fate (Clotho) garb and my next dyeing adventure under the Great 2020 Dyeing Experiment, Part 1.

Poetry Translation for Master Eldred Ælfwald Þegn’s Scroll

In early 2019, Master Eldred Ælfwald requested that Lady Kaaren Valravn create his court baron scroll (scroll information here). In turn, she asked Lord Ishmael Reed to write an original poem and me to translate the poem into Old English. Ishmael wrote the poem in the style of the 14th-century alliterative revival, which I then translated into Old English alliterative verse.

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