Matildis II: The Scroll

Gentle Matildis la Libraire we know
To be a master of the limner’s art
In skill and dedication set apart–
For years uncounted we have watched her grow.

Proclaim, declare and by this missive show
And to all of the Middle Realm impart
Gentle Matildis la Libraire we know
To be a master of the limner’s art,

Untiring with the Kingdom’s good at heart,
Of spirit generous, her hand ne’er slow,
Therefore Runa and Arch this day bestow
On her the Laurel wreath—it must be so.
Gentle Matildis la Libraire we know
To be a master of the limner’s art.

[Done by our hand at Middle Kingdom Academy of Defense in our Shire of Caer Gwyn,
3 September A.S. LVII]

As I posted earlier, I had the privilege to be on the small team to surprise Matildis la Libraire with her vigil and elevation to the Laurel. A good friend from another kingdom was creating her scroll, but it would not be available in time. Yet some words had to be ready or else a blank place would be left in the ceremony.

Not knowing how Matildis thought about receiving the Laurel, and unable to ask her, I thought about what her elevation meant to the Crown, the Kingdom and the Order. I also considered her persona and her character, and I settled on a rondel an an appropriate form.

I knew the Crown held Matildis’s artistic prowess in very high esteem. As I had collaborated with her several times and been thrilled at how the visual beauty of her art elevated my words, I strongly agreed. My admiration found its voice in the repeated lines of the rondel, declaring Matildis’s mastery again and again. On the day of her elevation, I had the opportunity to read the scroll as herald, and I very much enjoyed being able to speak that assertion on behalf of the Crown.

After the elevation, I let Matildis know that if she wanted another wordsmith for her scroll, I would completely understand. But she chose to keep my words. Her friend Kit (Wellner) used a phoenix theme in creating this spectacular scroll.

Collaborating with the Crown: Angus Gordon’s scroll text

Angus champion at arms     now accept
from Annelyse Drottning     your deeds’ due
and hear her words     from the heart spoken
Finest of friends     I never can forget you
or the service of your sword     selflessly given
Proudly you protected me      proving ever loyal
close as a kinsman     you kept my counsel.
All hear and do honor     to Angus Gordon
Deliver to him     this day the Doe’s Grace

process notes

In my final weeks as Royal Poet, I was delighted to receive a request from Queen AnneLyse. She was creating a scroll for her champion with her own hands, but couldn’t find the right words, and she asked me to create them. She explained the service that Angus had given, and we talked about his persona and the style of the scroll.

The text is in alliterative verse patterned after the Anglo-Saxon style of narrative poetry. As the giving of the award was so personal to the Queen, I made her a first-person speaker.

A Laurel Scroll for Lote Winterborn

Four months after being elevated to the Order of the Laurel, I got to be part of a benevolent conspiracy to elevate Lote Winterborn. Lote (pronounced “Lottie”) had requested that if she ever be raised to the peerage, it was done on the spot and as a surprise. Ullr Konungr and AnneLyse Drottning decided to elevate Lote and were eager to surprise her, so her team, led by Dame Eleanor von Atzinger, worked hard to arrange all the details while still keeping Lote in the dark.

Mistress Bianca offered to create Lote’s scroll and recruited me to compose the text. I had recently completed the Cleftlands baronial lineage in the rime royal stanza, and I decided that form would be fitting for Lote’s scroll as well. The scroll art features miniature paintings of Lote executing the skills described in the text.

We succeeded in pulling off the surprise and a fine time was had by all present.

Here stand three Graces worthy of renown:
A needlewoman whose embroidery
May fitly ornament a Royal gown--
A cook whose dishes rich in piquancy
She serves forth in warm hospitality--
A teacher eager to impart her skill
Whose joyful heart bestows on all goodwill.

Behold, in one fair lady all these gifts
We find, that three nymphs might be proud to claim,
One whose good deeds our Kingdom’s fame uplift
And Lote Winterborn her honoured name.
Thus from Our Throne we gladly do proclaim
For craft and character exemplary
Companion of the Laurel she must be.

So by our hands and seal be it disposed, 
Ullr Konungr and Annelyse Drottning 

Photo and art by Mistress Bianca Rosamund di Firenze (Marlene Broderick)

A present from the 14th century

I just received a most thoughtful gift from my friend Ezra Ha-Yona, poet and calligrapher.

He has turned the poem I wrote recently for the Kentucky tornado benefit into a calligraphed page. It’s beautiful!

He writes: “”The style is a compromise between our two personas: your culture” (Elizabethan) “and my century” (the 14th). “The basis for the layout is a 14th century English psalter found in the Walters Museum online manuscript collection.”

The page. Ezra’s work is square; I am bad at photographing flat things.

Thank you, Rav Ezra!

A Pelican scroll text

These lines were composed for the Pelican scroll of Mistress Gwyneth Banfhidhleir, O.P., of the Middle Kingdom. Her scroll was commissioned from me (text) and Steve of Tirnewydd (calligraphy and illumination) ten years after her elevation. Notes follow.

Great nobles of Our Kingdom, know Our Word–
Eikbrandr King and Runa Queen decree
By all Our Populace must now be heard
What doom to Gwyneth Banfhidhleir shall be.
The captain of a doughty band though few,
Whom she inspires in skilful cookery
To do what erst they knew not they could do,
And folk wide scattered o’er the Dragon’s land
She makes one company in service true.
So to reward that ever-eager hand
Whose praise resoundeth in Our ears full oft,
Now Gwyneth, do We give you Our command
To seek your noble seat, your apron doffed,
As Pelican, the merit of your zeal.
Your sister raised this day, join her aloft.
We do commend your faith to that ideal
That’s best upheld by deeds—‘tis a rare art
To serve our dreams forth tangible and real,
And give your many gifts with modest heart,
As a great voice in a chorus may sound
And seldom rise to take the solo part.
Thereto commands the Middle Kingdom Crown
Whose pow’rs draconian none can gainsay
The said Gwyneth: proclaim her just renown,
A Pelican in its piety display
Which honours she shall nevermore lay down
Till Sky be fallen and great Earth shall drown.
~~ Given Fifth of September, A.S. 44

Process Notes

Mistress Gwyneth–my friend Ginny–asked me to create a text for this scroll in the summer of 2019. I interviewed her at Pennsic XLVIII for details of her experience as a Pelican and of her elevation. She has generously allowed me to publish the text, although as of December 31, 2020, she does not yet have the scroll in her hands because of the pandemic.

I’ve posted poems before that seemed to fountain out of my pen. Some were finished the same day they were begun, or the next day. Under Siege was one of those, as was Master Peter. This is not one of those poems. From the initial interview to completion was over 11 months.

Gwyneth favors Italian verse and had asked for the form to be terza rima. I was excited to do it because terza rima is one of the great medieval forms; Dante used it for the Divine Comedy. But Italian has many fewer ending sounds–and therefore many more rhyming options–than English. The patterns of accents in the words are different, too. And there were things I had to say, things that could not be left out. And I had to write precisely 30 lines so that they would fit neatly onto the page that Steve, the artist, was already creating.

All of these challenges and constraints combined to make the writing process slow and painstaking. I started, got stuck, came back to the text, sought my Laurel’s advice, got stuck again, put it aside, came back, got stuck, sought another Laurel’s advice…it was a long process. If it had been a personal piece, I might have let it lapse unfinished. But one of the advantages to accepting a commission is that, once promised, the thing has to be done. And so, at last, it was, I hope to the credit of all involved.