Three blanks for Caid

My original idea for a contribution to Drachenwald's gift basket to Caid at Gulf Wars didn't materialize, but I wanted to send something, so I decided that blanks are always welcome -- especially to a kingdom that does almost all of their scrolls on commission because they have such a backlog.

The first was based on BL MS Harley 3769, fol. 2. Unfortunately, the original was much neater than my rendition, though I'm not entirely sure where the blame is to lie.

   

I picked the initial, sketched the outline, and painted the skeleton (blue and red) on 26 Feb, and did all the flourishes Feb. 27.

The second was based on BL MS Harley 4903, fol. 153v.

   

I picked the initial, sketched it, and painted the blue and the pink and orange inside the O on Feb. 27. The gold, white work, and black work were done 28 Feb. I like this one. As I did it, I was thinking that I'd like to do it again on a much smaller scale, about half the size, and maybe with real gold, instead of paint. Well, the real gold will have to wait until it is acquired, but I had some more free time Thursday night and so decided to do a smaller-scale version of a similar initial, from fol. 93:

   

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© 2013, Sara L. Uckelman.

Hospitallers of Albion for Haldan Skjoldklifr

 

The exemplar is BL MS Harley 2621 f. 1. The text reads:

Hearken now how we, Thorvaldr and Tofa, send halsings (1) to the most Honourable Haldan, hewer of shields, most handy and helpful is he, for we have been happily housed within his homelike and habitable herbergerie (2) and hospitality. His horn of plenty hath made our sojourn neither half-holiday nor hardship, his hearth is always hot, he has in all happenings kept us neither hamed (3) nor harmed nor hamperned. A hearty haven has he provided handling all our health, habitually and hendly (4), and before we hie ourselves homeward, with high happiness we hallow him with the honor of the Hospitalers of Albion such that henceforth and hereafterwards he shall always be hight a high-standing member of their company. Here we mark the date: xv.iii.xlvii. Here we set our hands:

124 words, of which 52 begin with "H". Unfortunately, I chose both the wrong nib and the wrong line-spacing, and thus the calligraphy is nothing to write home about. However, I'm relatively happy with the overall result. The color of the scan is also rather wonky, but I haven't figured out how to correct for this yet.

Notes:

1. MED s.v. halsing(e): (2) 'greeting, salutation'.
2. MED s.v. herbergerie: (a) 'A temporary lodging place; also, the tents or camp of an army in the field'’.
3. MED s.v. hamed: 'restrained, hampered'.
4. MED s.v. hendeli: (2)(a) 'humbly, meekly'; (b) 'beautifully, pleasantly'; (c) 'quickly, sharply'

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© 2013, Sara L. Uckelman.

Three blanks for Aarnimetsa

Next group of three to be finished in my blanks for regions project are three penwork initials for Aarnimetsä:

Blank 1	Blank 2	Blank 3
BL MS Arundel 325 fol. 36	BL MS Burney 212, fol. 14	BL MS Harley 666, fol. 30

All three took about 1 hour a piece, and they were done Feb. 19, 20, and 21. I'm happiest with the first; the second has foliate fill which I'm bad at, but think turned out OK; the third I was actually quite unhappy with midway through but I think in the end it turned out OK, despite the, again, foliate fill that I don't like.

I picked the exemplars by flipping through my collection of printouts of puzzle initials from the BL, and found that I hadn't noted the citation for the "C". This isn't the only printout I have where I don't have a citation, so I decided once and for all to fix this, by going through all the hits in the BL simple search for "puzzle initial" and then indexing them. The index is available here: An Index of Puzzle Initials in the British Library Online.

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© 2013, Sara L. Uckelman.

Three scroll blanks for ID

After I completed my 30 day challenge, I had an idea for my next one, but there was something I wanted to do in between.

Over the last 2.5 years as signet and then as Queen, I have benefited tremendously from the generous and amazing scribes of this kingdom, particularly in the supply of blanks, since I have always been a better calligrapher than illuminator, with the result that I have used far more blanks than I have produced -- especially in the last 6 months when Paul and I were laggardly in arranging our court lists!

So in return and as thanks and some small recompense, I decided to produce a set of three blanks each for the signets of Drachenwald, ID, Nordmark, Aarnimetsä, and also for my new home, Knights Crossing. They won't be flashy, they won't be fancy, but I hope they will be pretty and I hope they will be useful. The plan is to do each set of three in a matching style, but hopefully pick very different styles for each of the five.

For ID, I picked borders from the Manesse Codex. Here are the three:

Based on 13r	Based on 158r	Based on 120v

I used a different shade of blue in each one in an attempt to match the one in the MS. The final choice I think was the best.

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© 2013, Sara L. Uckelman.

Sun and Chalice for Duncan Forbes

Done on a blank by Saraswati. The text is in an attempt at Scots, and reads:

Quhosoevir by reasoun and wit, by gud countenans and counsell, by deedis and werkes has set himselfe abofe his peeris is by these thyngis woorthie to be known throuchout the land for the ensaumple whilk he hast set. And so it is syc that we Richarde and Lena celestiaul princes wish and desyre to make the loird Duncan Forbes of owre most high esteme a member of the nobil, aunciant, and honorabil Companye of the Sunne and Challis, ande by the tokens sygnis and badges of whilk order he shall be knowin amongst alle deinseinis of this reaulme and in hothers as a member of the said compainie. Doun yhe Fredday the i day of thei mownth of Fabruarii in the year of the society xlvij. In witness quhereof we haue set owre oune handis and markis.

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© 2013, Sara L. Uckelman.

Dragon's Bowle for Robert of Canterbury and Genevieve la flechiere

Done on a blank by Lady Mærith af Weselax. The text reads:

 Reck ye the wordis wyse and wonder-full
of Paul and Aryanhwy, Drachenwaldish kings:
A preyse-woorthi lyfe values but vertu merritt-ful
and to a chast lyfe the wertws one clings;
commits no vyce, has grace and reddie witt,
ys meete and modest yn beryng and speche
bringys report to all of all wich be fit,
teches and succors all within reche
yn daunsynge and plaie; eke, to serue and leade.
Stond twoo here nowe, the moost bright and blest,
that kings deme moost hie of werdis and dede,
of curteys berying, with Goddes grace imprest.
Nowe from our hondis the dragonnes bowle take,
Genevieve Rouge Mauche and Caversham who Robert hight,
in token of owre esteeme and for owre own dere sake.
This do we both on this eue of twelft nyght
yn Dragonnes-schyre of auncient fayme
and sett to owre hondes to scele the sayme.

The poem was mostly written by my Evil Twin, on the basis of this poem that I hacked together, with the help of Joel, a bottle of Raspberry Tart, and Newy Year's Eeve:

Rede ye now the wyse and wonderful words
of Paul and Aryanhwy, Drachenwaldish kings
A praiseworthy life values virtue above swords,
And a life pure and clene .... sings
To commit no vice, to have good grace, redie wit
To be meet and seemly in garb and in speech
To stand as witness to others of all that is fit
And teaching and enriching all in their reach,
To dance and to play, to serve and to lead.
Before us stand the best and the brightest
Who have set themselves above the rest by deed
By word, by dress, by kenning of all things blest.
Now from our hands the bowle of the Dragon take
Genevieve la flechiere and Robert of Canterbury
As witness of our esteem and for our own sake
So done we this day, the fourth day of January
The eve of 12th Night, anno societatis forty-three
Signed by our hands in Lyndhurst, by Burley.

The end result was much nicer than the beginning!

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© 2013, Sara L. Uckelman, liana@ellipsis.cx.

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.