I picked out the exemplar on Mar. 25. It's BL MS Burney 216 f. 14, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=3612, and I sketched the layout and initial on Apr. 10, and inked in the initial. Then I wrote the text, which reads:
Nasr et Eleanorae, prin cipium insulenses draconenses, haec verba sunt.
1. It is, in the laws of the is lands, that people go by rank, each according to his condi tion, Martlet, Ffraid, Fox.
2. And if there a scholar is, who through learning thrives, so that he has good education and art, then is he thence forth Martlet-right worthy.
3. And if a gentleman thrive, so that he serves the prince, then is he then ceforth Ffraid-right worthy.
4. And if there a fighter is, who through diligence thrives, so that he attains the acclaim of his fellows, then is he thenceforth Fox-right worthy.
5. And one such fighter is Irminric æt Eo forwic, and we the aforenamed princes enscribe him as a member of the order of the fox during the Oxford Roll Tournament, xxv aprilis anno societatis xlviii.
The text is based on extracts from early Anglo-Saxon laws concerning people's ranks.
While at the Scriptorium Nordmarkensis over the weekend, I was able to complete the painting of the initial, on Apr. 12. I also took "before white-work" and "after white-work" pictures, because it's always good to be reminded of just how awful the before versions are, and how much improved the after ones are:
I'm not entirely satisfied with it, but I cannot articulate why, which is part of why I am unsatisfied with it! I did the calligraphy the evening of Apr. 14, and overall, I'm actually rather pleased with the result, even given the misspelling and the misplacement of the "iv", and my reservations about the initial.
© 2014, Sara L. Uckelman.
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