Queen's Order of Courtesy for Sela de la Rosa

My scroll	Exemplar
	BL MS Arundel 66 f. 53

The chance to do one of the special end of reign awards for a wonderful queen and a dear and valued lady? SIGN ME UP! I recently received a number of vellum offcuts (a kilo of them!) as part of a generous gift to the kingdom scribes, and while to many people they are useless scraps, for me they are exactly the size I like to work at. I am thrilled with almost every aspect of this scroll, and the one part that I'm not completely satisfied with (the whitework on the initial; I was using a type of paint I'd not used before) I'm still reasonably happy with it; it could've been better, but I don't think it sucks.

The text in unabbreviated Latin reads:

Isabella regina drachenwaldensis carissimae amicae meae Selae Rosae. Offerimus tibi admissionem in nostris regali ordonis liberalitatis. Fit manibus nostris in v die januarii liii.

The translations is:

Isabel Drachenwaldish queen to our most dear friend Sela de la Rosa. I offer to you admission in our royal order of courtesy. Done by my hand in the fifth day of january fifty-three.

I tracked the initial progress on twitter; the thread starts here:

The start of something beautiful. pic.twitter.com/xcwGyQ4RHY

— Doctor Logic (@SaraLUckelman) December 30, 2018

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© 2019, Sara L. Uckelman.

Queens Order of Courtesy for Joel

There is nothing more satisfying than being able to recognize the services of the one closest to you. It cannot be easy to be the husband of the queen, especially in addition to being the father of the petite-reine, who was 4 months old when Paul won Crown and 13 months when I stepped down.

The text was written on Dec. 30, and calligraphed Dec. 31. It reads:

To him whose life I hold dearer than my own, I recommend me to you. It is one thing to follow the pursuit of glory so that one might bring honor to the one he loves, but another thing entirely to bring praise to his beloved by stepping aside and letting glory pass. Such act of true virtue, humility, modesty, and generosity has gone not unnoticed, and equity demands that it go not unrewarded. Wherefore let these presents serve as notice to all that my privy clerk and confessor is hereby and henceforth entered into the rolls of the members of the Queen's Order of Courtesy. Written by the hand of her who is and always will be yours, on the morn before Epiphany,

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© 2012, Sara L. Uckelman.

Queens Order of Courtesy for Lyonet de Covenham

Scroll	Exemplar

The exemplar is BL MS Harley 2253, fol. 131, a late 13th/early 14th C manuscript. I still find this type of secretary hand perplexing.

This manuscript contains a number of secular and religious lyrics, and I adapted the lyrics from one, the song of "Annot and John", appearing at fol. 63 of the MS. The text reads:

Þese are the wordes of Caoimhe drachenwaldish quene
Ase saphyr in seluer semly on syht,
Ase iaspe þe gentil þat lemeþ wiþ the lyht,
Ase gernet in golde ant ruby wel rhyt
Ase onycle she ys on yholden on hyht,
Ase diamaund þe dere in day when she is dyht;
Ase all þese ys þe ladie lyonet of covenham,
pearle of grace and goodenesse and þus we
Caoimhe make her a member of oure Order of
Courteisie, on augst seventh, a.s. xlv, at raglan.

Lines two through six are copied from the song.

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© 2011, Sara L. Uckelman.

Queens Order of Courtesy for Judith de Northumbria

The text reads:

To owre dear cousin the countess Judith de Northumbria. Right worthy and worshepefull ladye, I recomaunde me to yow and thank yow for þe good, trew, and diligent labour ye have hadde for the mattier of the quenes of Drachenwald. For yowr conseil and thee manhede yow have shewn to us and otheres, we wish and firmly command þat ye be everilkquar accompted, nombred, accepted, and receyued into our Order of Corteisie. My wille is that ye shew þe chief signes of this honour, ane whight edelweiss wyth a centre of redde.

Written at Knightes Crossing þe x day of Iuyl, a.s. xlv. Yowre frend and lege ladye, þe quene of Drachenwald,

This is based (very loosely) on some of the Paston letters, with a liberal dose of my own invention. Two comments on vocabulary:

Manhede: the Middle English Dictionary s.v. Manhede gives in sense (2) the following gloss:

(a) Manly virtue, character, or dignity; manliness; (b) the character befitting a knight or monarch; chivalric nature or dignity; courageous behavior, bravery, valor; (c) courteous behavior, good manners, gentility; (d) humanity, compassion, kindness, generosity.

Everilkquar: a form of 'everywhere', which I have been dying to use.

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© 2010, Sara L. Uckelman.

Queens Order of Courtesy for Saraswati-man.ikkam, aka Ruth

The exemplar is a 15th C Dutch MS, Codex S 1399, fol. 2054. The design was picked, layout drawn, text written, and calligraphed on May 24, and all the illumination (drawing, inking, and painting) done June 2.

The text reads:

Vistors comes from far away lands et many make this realm their home. Yet few of them shine so fair as the flower of India lately bloomed in Drachenwald, Saraswati-mán.ikkam, whom we know well and love greatly and whom it is our pleasure to call Ruth. For her deeds and largesse and delicacies brought from abroad, we, Fiona, queen of Drachenwald, make her a member of our Order of Courtesy. Done the 19th day of June, a.s. xlv, at the coronation of our heirs and in witness whereof we have set our hand below.

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© 2010, Sara L. Uckelman.