Mi Contra Fa

Roman Curse Tablets

Themed competition at Storvik Novice Tourney this year on religious/spiritual items.  I decided to look into the curse tablets of Roman Britian.

http://curses.csad.ox.ac.uk/index.shtml: Nice introductory site to the tablets, including 27 examples with images, text and translation of text.

http://www.csad.ox.ac.uk/rib/ribiv/jp4.htm: A more specific essay by the same folks.

http://bathsbloggers.blogspot.com/search/label/Curse%20tablets: Workers at the ruins of Bath, England have a blog. Some of the posts are about the curse tablets, and contain some more examples.

http://www.glasgowsteelnail.com/romans.HTM: Curses were often nailed shut (because the verb for 'to nail' and 'to curse' were the same) so here's a picture of a Roman nail found in Scotland.

I ordered a sheet of pewter (because the Bath 'lead' was actually a lead/tin alloy, aka pewter - and even though this is probably a lead-free pewter, I don't actually want lead in the house around the kids).  AMOCO ArtEmboss Pure Metal Sheet, medium weight. I also ordered some square cut-nails from a specialty hardware store that looked about right. 

I had been trying to learn Roman Rustic capitals (not the most common hand used on the tablets, but well-represented); last time I picked up a calligraphy pen was probably two years ago, but it's time to dust it off.

Now: just have to compose a curse or two!  They come in a variety of flavors, but there are definitely common features.  The ones from Bath are actually very consistent among themselves, and different from ones elsewhere in the Empire.  In Continental cases, you often have the curse's victim named specifically.  But many of the curses in Bath were placed on thieves who apparently stole the tourists' stuff while they were bathing!  So they are phrased against a thief, 'be he man or woman, boy or girl, slave or free,' and so on.

Germanic Lyre Roundtable at Pennsic!

I am going, I am organizing a roundtable!

Details as I have them - the class did not have a date/time right after I registered it.

Birthday Invitation

We invited TRM Vladimir and Kalisa to Storvik's baronial birthday in 2009 with a poem.  It sketches Storvik's early history as well.  Another way poets can involve themselves in baronial activities. 

Seanan, sovereign  stalwart king of East
Saw in his south  separate shires
Aster, fair flower  farthest to south
Caer Cladach  created from stone
Mighty Murklndr  men of strong arms
Also Tarhvassir      talented scholars

A single shire  Seagate they formed
At royal request  they reduced their numbers
But better, they thought  to be barony
Seanan agreed  So south he sailed

Doughty duchess        deserved his trust
Ysabeau Cameron  crowned by king
Bright baroness  of a-borning lands
By the Great Bay  bathed in salt spray
Storvik is formed  by Seanan's hand

Storvik has stood  strong by the bay
Baronies birthed,  battles well-fought
Thirty years old  come autumn's chill

Vladimir, prince,  we pray and implore
Not for bright riches  rings from your hand
But blessed our birthday  if bold foe-slayer
And clever queen  Kalisa most kind
Came to celebrate  with kinfolk and friends
Our hearth and home  Our hall and mead-bench
We open for you  We ask that you come
No better boon  for barony's birth

By Your Side

Written July 13, AS XLII (2007), upon receipt of a letter from Blackspear Warlord Finn O'Donovan. Original tune in the Atlantian style.

Five long and four deep
Our swords and shields keep
Our spears from the sweep
Of the foe

By your side, by your side
I will march
By your side

The shield-on-shield clash
Lifts hearts bold and brash
We battle and lash
At the foe

By your side, by your side
I will fight
By your side

Your heart's blood to stain
The ground was his aim
Instead I lay slain
By the foe

By your side, by your side
I will die
By your side

We win or we lose
But battle we choose
And none of rues
Us our fate

By your side, by your side
I find glory
By your side

By your side, by your side
Blackspear, I will be
By your side

------------------

Lord Finn O'Donovan published a short letter to our local email list, telling the story of a fighter who insisted on fighting alone, pursuing his own goals, rather than stand with a unit.  He said:

The purpose of fighting together is that two of us can always beat one opponent.  Many of us, working together, can always best many more than our numbers.  I have been on the field with many of you as we crushed multiple lines of fighters, reformed, and crushed another line.  We, Blackspear, have chosen to set aside our singularity, our personal motives, for the benefit of us all.  Ironically, in doing so, we each grow.  As individuals we are inspired, strengthened, and elevated.

I have a strong inclination to individualism myself, but this testimony to the power of a warrior community moved me to pick up my pen and reply with the song, above.

Something Completely Different: Anglo-French Beef-Cherry Pottage

My first ever (and so far, only) redaction, from 2002.

The Recipe:
An early 14th century Anglo-Norman cherry pottage, translated in Speculum vol 61:4, pp.859-882.

The original:
14. Sirisee.  Let d'alemaundes lye' ou amydoun, siryzees moudre' sauntz les pieres, partie de sucre issi qu'il y eit bon savor des syryzees; char grosse; syryzees plaunte' desuis; colour, vermaille.

The translation:
14.  Cherry pottage.  Almond milk thickened with wheat starch, cherries ground without stones, a measure of sugar to bring out the flavor of the cherries; beef, pork or mutton; cherries set on top; the color, red.

What I cooked:
1 1/4 lb cubed stew meat
oil to brown meat
~ 2 c. almond milk
~ 1 Tb. corn starch in cold water*
1 tsp. cinnamon**
2 c. thawed frozen red cherries

* Substituted for wheat starch. Now that we are in the days of gluten awareness, I can probably discover how to extract wheat starch from flour.

** I neglected to print out the recipe and worked from memory.  The preceeding recipie for strawberry pottage had called for cinnamon.  End result still tasty.

Since the modern cherries were quite sweet and the commerical almond milk claimed to have some sweetener in it, I skipped the added sugar called for in the recipe.

• Browned meat in oil.
• Covered with almond milk, added cinammon and stirred.  When boiling, added corn starch and stirred.
• Simmer 30 min.
• Added cherries.  Simmer 30 more minutes.  Serves 4.

It ended up as more of a beef and cherry stew than how I imagine a pottage (something more uniform).  I think that I ought to grind both cherries  and meat... and indeed, after the fact, I noted that the recipe actually calls for the cherries to be ground.  Stellar reading comprehension, there. 

Reviews from Scadian and mundane test subjects were favorable, and there were no leftovers.

A Household Initiation Ceremony

More stuff from years past, although this one is more recent than I thought it was.  In 2009, someone asked on the Merry Rose mailing list for a structure for an initiation for new household members. I replied at length, first with a general format and then with a specific example.

 

I. Welcome and Invocation

The leader welcomes the initiate(s) and attendees and states the purpose of the gathering. 

II. The Initiate Is Informed

The initiate(s) are called forward.  The leader (or an assistant) describes the ethos and goals of the household and the duties, responsibilities and privileges of its members.  A brief history of the household may be included.

III.  A Pact Is Made

The leader asks the initiates if they understand their responsibilities, and the initiates reply with some version of "I do."  The leader asks if the initiates if they wish to join the household, and again they reply something like "I do."  Depending on the structure of the household, the attending members may be asked if they agree to accept the initiates and guard and train them, or the household's leader (may or may not be the ceremonial leader) may make the decision unilaterally.

IV. Tokens Are Given and Received

Some items symbolic of the household or of the pact are given to the initiates, and their symbolism explained to the attendees.

V. New Members Are Welcomed

The leader presents the initiates to the attendees as new members of the household.  There is cheering, hugging, ceremonial buffeting, whatever works for you.  If possible, a shared meal or refreshment should be offered.

Example:

For an imaginary household named Glad-Wood Hall.  It's main focus is A&S (early period and Anglo-Saxon in particular) although some members fight, and it's starting to become active in service.  Several founding members have small children, and keeping things kid-friendly is a priority.  Glad-Wood Hall is run by its founding Lord and Lady, and the household's scop will serve as the ceremonial leader.

Scop:
Hwaet! Hear me,   hearken my words
Welcome all comers   to wide Glad-Wood Hall
Travelers come  from Kingdom Atlantia
Seeking our fire   solace of hall

Aethelstan and Godwin, come before the high seat of Bertwald our ring-giver and Cynwise who bears the mead-horn.

Initiates:
(approach the lord and lady on their bench)

Scop:
Brave Bertwald   in bygone day
Raise our high hall    happy were we
Cynwise loves music     scops were well-fed
Glad-wood sang      Wonderful sound
So our hall named    for noise most merry

Know you, Aethelstan and Godwin, that Bertwald seeks peace in the land.  No coward he, and warriors welcome to our hall, but he seeks not out strife and blood.  Glad-Wood Hall he fills instead with learning and with art.  Bright Cynwise passes the horn to scribe and to scholar as well as to soldier - all are honored here.  Even the smallest, babes at the breast, be welcome when we set our tables.

Bertwald and Cynwise seek ever out new knowledge to ornament our hall.  They seek also a willing spirit, to help our hall-mates according to need and to ability.  Know that if you are in need, the men and women of Glad-Wood Hall will help you best they can, offer they knowledge or time or a strong back.  If you seek knowledge, it will be shared; your knowledge, you will share freely.  Do you understand our compact?

Initiates:
We understand.

Scop:
Lord Bertwald, Lady Cynwise, to you I present these far-travelers, seeking shelter in Glad-Wood Hall.

Lord:
You, Aethelstan, I have heard you are a scribe and also a tailor.  Is this so?

Aethelstan:
It is, your lordship.

Lord:
I have need of a scribe and a tailor in my hall.  Will you join your gifts to my household?

Aethelstan:
Gladly, my lord.

Lord:
Then take from my hand this ring of bright gold, and also this quill, so that you may do good work for us.

Lady:
You, Godwin: it is said that you are a gleeman of note, a singer of fine songs.  Is this so?

Godwin:
It is, your ladyship.

Lady:
Music is always welcome in Glad-Wood Hall.  Will you join your gifts to my household?

Godwin:
Gladly, my lady.

Lady:
Then take from my hand this silver penny, and also this cup, that your throat shall never be dry.

Lady:
Now drink you both from my mead-horn, and be welcome in our hall.

Scop:
Behold! Our guests   brothers become
Gleeman and scribe    great their gifts
Welcome them warmly    well-wishes bestow
Then sit for feast    food shared as family

A Poem for... Some Thing or Another

Written Februrary 2004.  Ragnar, king; Johanna, baroness; Sylvanus Perrin, warlord. 

...What melee event happens in February?

Eager and ready     are Eastern warriors
Strong, hardy men     from snow-covered reaches
Bold, brave battlers      border our north
Atlantia's best     must bar their way
Wise is Ragnar    right choice made
Good battle-king     great in wisdom
Seeking in Storvik    a stalwart man
His thane Johanna     offers her best
From these warriors     a warlord of old
Many campaigns     called forth has he
Keen of mind     mettlesome man
Sylvanus Perrin     praised in men's songs
Well will he lead     large armies now
From broken black tower     borders are watched
Fear, foemen!     The fight will be hard.

Poetry for All Occasions

Back in 2003, then-Lord William le Younger asked on the Storvik list:

Hey, can a bard help me here with a poetic way of saying “come and drink beer and socialize”

And I replied:

Riders rode out      on ruddy steeds
Glad news they bear:    Beer in the hall!
William Beer-Gifter    generous man
Hearth and home opens    this holiday time
Let harp be strummed    and song spill forth
And brave boasts made    while byrnies repaired.

Then in 2012, now-Baron William told me, with a smile, that he had saved "that armoring poem I wrote for [him.]"  I had no idea what he was talking about, until I began to clean out my inbox and found this.

I am such a big fan of writing poetry at the drop of a hat, y'all.  It advances the art of poetry by bringing it visibility and incorporating it into more workaday situations.  It usually gladdens the people who inspire it.  If you're fluent in one or more forms, you can shake out a quick quatrain or sextet, maybe a bit rough, but that's okay.  This isn't for someone's award scroll - it's a disposable reply on an e-list.  It's for fun, for practice, for a bit of unexpected art.

I'm trying to get back into the habit of it, myself.

Storvik's Bloody Warband

Written in 2006 at the request of Baron Sean DelaMar of Storvik as something for the Storvik warriors to sing into battle.  To the tune of 'Garyowen,' or something sort of like it.  It was around this time that I hit on calling songs like this 'in the Atlantian style.'

CHORUS
Our shield are locked, our spears are raised
We march to war and none afraid
No quarter given, no treaty made
With Storvik's bloody war-band

So listen you lads and hark to my lyre
I'll sing you an anthem that's sure to inspire
And always remember that Storvik means fire
Marching with Storvik's war-band

They drink all night by then by day
They lead Atlantia into the fray
When shield walls clash, the disarray 
Of foes we see quite plainly

They're doctors too but give no pills
No concoctions, never bills
A spear to the head cures all of your ills
When you stand against Storvik

Our Very Authentic Order of Precedence

A tongue-in-cheek reply to a new-to-the-SCA gentle on the baronial list who apologized for using 'Mistress' as a courtesy title for a non-noblewoman.

Our Precendental Order
In Ye Olde S. C. A.
Can be a bit confusing
If you're new to our play

A baron's higher than a lord
Well, yes, that makes sense
And counts and dukes rank higher still
As we count precedence.

But a guild man who's a Master
Or a simple Knight
Stand well above our titled lords
By several feet of height!

You'd think the role of servant
Might not be so great
But Mistress Pelican o'erflies
The barons at their gates

(And though we bow to King and Queen
- At least that's not complex! -
Our events and all their trimmings
Come from Exchequer's lowly checks!)