AoA for John Yarrowe

Given the recipient's name, it was so obvious what I needed to do -- find a medieval MS with yarrow in it and make a page that looked like it could've come from a medicinal. I found a variety of MSs, but liked the best this De Materia Medica image of yarrow from a 10th C Turkish MS.

The text on the left reads:

Achilleos sive yarrow, alias dictam vulgariter gearwe, est herbiferum flos ad solantem spirituum et animorum.

Which translates to:

Achilleos or yarrow, otherwise commonly called gearwe [the Anglo-Saxon name of the plant] is an herbaceous flower for the soothing of spirits.

The right-hand side was intended to read as if it were a translation or gloss of the Latin, but without being a translation:

Yarrowe, otherwise commonly known as John, soothes the spirits of all and is now named a lord of our court.

I'm exceptionally pleased with the calligraphy which I did freehand without even drawing any lines. I feel like I've finally figured out how to write rather than the draw.

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© 2019, Sara L. Uckelman.

Sun and Chalice for Agatha of Norwich

I've had this blank, done by Saraswati man-Ikkam, for absolutely ages. It was a pleasure to use it for such a wonderful lady as Agatha.

The text reads:

Go forth and spread the words of Constanza and Duncan rulers of Insulae Draconis who by the power invested in us by the authority of law and custom do recognize our dear subject lady Agatha of Norwich as a member of the Order of the Sun and Chalice on the xix day of October, anno societatis liv. hac testamur (here we witness).

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© 2019, Sara L. Uckelman.

Ffraid for Johanna af Hucka

The text reads:

To all present and to come these letters seeing or hearing greetings from the soverigns of insulae draconis, Duncan and Constanza. For the love we bear our cousin mistress Johanna aff Hucka and for all she hath done we invite her into our order of ffraid. xxi*ix*liv.

I had had an entirely different design planned, but then I found a scroll I'd earlier done with this style of bordure and it reminded me of how much I love it, so I changed plans. (I had also forgotten how fiddly all that gilding is!).

I was a bit under pressure time-wise, so the scroll came along with me to Würzburg and I painted in my hotel room. Here's some inprogress photos!

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© 2019, Sara L. Uckelman.

Winged Pouch for Lara the Tall

When you're at a castle and your princess comes to you and asks for a combat scroll, you say "of course" and whip out your pre-cut vellum squares and your gold. This may not be my nicest gilding, but it is by far my quickest. (Usually I let my gesso cure overnight. After moving house in May, to a much less humid house, I found I could let it cure for 30-90 minutes and then gild. In this case, I let it cure for...probably closer to 15. It was definitely too wet in some places, so it smudged and smeared and I had to do a bit of scraping, but I figured a bit of wonky gold would still be better than no gold at all. And I'm told the recipient was quite happy with it.

The text reads:

To all present and to come seeing or hearing these words know the will of Duncan and Constanza, prince and princess of Insulae Draconis, aving seen the great works of our subject Lara the Tall especially her scholarship are minded to make her a member of the Order of the Winged Pouch. Datum viii augusti a.s. liv.

The thing I most proud of is the fact that I drew the margins and the lines without a ruler. I am super pleased that they are roughly parallel to each other, and the lines are basically equidistant.

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© 2019, Sara L. Uckelman.

Hild for Catherine Weaver

Done on vellum. The "C" is based on the Macclesfield alphabet; I'm quite happy with it so long as I don't compare it to the original.

The text reads:

Constanza princess and Duncan prince to our right worthy cousin lady Catherine Weaver. This present charter confirms you as a member of the Order of Hild, created at Raglan Fair in august in the first year of our reign anno societatis LIV and here witnessed.

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© 2019, Sara L. Uckelman.