Easy Document Wording Guide
Creating simple, and oftentimes wordy, text for document style scrolls
One thing I love that I am not very good at in the world of wording, are texts for lovely book style scrolls. These are usually very artistically written passages, sometimes as story or song and poem that praise the person receiving the award being given out in court...
Well failing in this area, often I have turned to period wording, or at least attempting it to the better part of my abilities. In my quest for decent examples of period documentation is this website: http://verysleepy.itgo.com/grants.htm however there is also a treasure trove of transcribed documents and transcriptions of these a google search away (though not always easy to find). The easier searches have been for grants and patents and occasionally charters. For those who use pinterest, I also have a bunch of documents saved there (and many more people sharing similar): https://www.pinterest.com/landverhuizer/early-documents/
So... to get started:
First off, we need to keep in mind the structure of an SCA award scroll.
There are various SCA scroll guides to be found, but this is the overall structure:
Address- example: "let it be known"
Who is giving out the award -"We, king and queen..." (in period grants, this seems to be where the King of Arms name is inserted)
About the person getting the award - "We have heard about this persons great deeds..."
The award itself- "we bestow onto him/her the" or int he case of an AoA, "we bestow onto him/her the right to bear <blazon>"
Conformation and date- "By our hand on this <number> day of <month>, <year>
Space for signatures- usually for Rex and Regina
Period Letters of Patent etc.: These tend to follow the same pattern mostly, though I tend to find a great deal of these starting with the name of the monarch.
Here are some examples that are quite different from the ones transcribed in the above link and you can see how the first two parts of the scroll are flipped:
From a 1496 letter patent from King Henry VII
"Henry, by the grace of God, king of England and France, and lord of Ireland, to all to whom these presents shall come, Greeting. Be it knowen that we haue giuen and granted"
1394, Richard II
"Richard by the grace of God King of England and France and Lord of Ireland to all to whom the present letters shall come greeting. Know ye that whereas..."
and for something a little different, a Closed Roll of Henry III, 1264
"Henry by the grace of God, King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitaine, to the..."
Technically, with the way we tend to give Award of Arms scrolls out in courts, the example given in letters Patent seem to make more sense as monarchs in the SCA maintain the right to give out these out in court rather than these being a paper being given out by a King of Arms.
Possible wording could go be adapted as thus, for an SCA award scroll:
"<King first name> and <Queen first name> the King and Queen of the <Kingdom Name> to all whom these presents shall see send due and humble greetings and recommendation"
Often the very first part is skipped and not embellished on scrolls like we see here:
The first image is a patent from the late 16th century, featuring Elizabeth's name with her seated in the throne within the letter "E" of her name. The same can be found for her father Henry, her brothers, sisters and for James I. The next one is a later patent from the 17th century featuring a royal herald in the familiar "To all and Singular..." for which many 17th century + patents feature.
So without introducing the Monarch at entry, we can start with text similar to the 17th century example above.
"To all those who shall see or hear this present letter. Greeting" (13th century)
"To all present and to come who these present letters shall see or hear" (15th century)
"To all those who shall see or hear these letters" (13th century)
"To all gentlemen and women these present letters hearing or seeing. (15th century)
"... these present letters hearing, seeing or reading" (15th century)
"To all present and to come these presents seeing and hearing" (early 16th century)
Much of this wording continued to be standard much later on.
Who is giving out the award
After this we typically read an introduction from the King of Arms who is giving out the patent etc. on behalf of the monarchy.
In our case, we can take this opportunity to change the wording a bit and insert our own embellishments on their behalf.
"Greeting. We *king name* and *queen name*..."
"Do we *king name* and *queen name*...."
"King name* and *Queen name*, King and Queen of the East, send greeting and love..."
"King name* and *queen name*. King and Queen of the East, greeting and all humble commendations..."
These are basic examples based on period text, however more flourish can indeed be added.
About the person getting the award
Next we get into talking about the person actually receiving the award.
Here the King and Queen come to recognize their subject....
here is some wording I put together for a scroll, that was given in court, based on period texts:
"... send commendations and greetings as it appertaineth in our will and reason that those of noble character and with merits renowned be rewarded, of which persons, one that is especial called...."
other snippets from period examples that can be easily used to some effect:
"Equity requires and reason ordains..."
"Equity wills and reason ordains that all men (persons), virtuous & of noble courage, be rewarded for their merits and good renown..."
"All due and humble recommendation..."
"has truly deserved and is worthy..."
"...not only by common renown but also by the report and testimony of others..."
"also by mine own knowledge and the report of many other credible and noble persons am verily ascertained that..." (this especially being useful where the person giving the award wrote in or supplied information on the subject)
"Reason ordaineth that virtuous men (and women) and of noble courage be by their merits renowned and rewarded..."
"by report and testimony by other noble men (nobles) worthy of credence am truly advertised and informed that..."
After this it gets more personal, should you be able to find enough in the write-up or from others. Note: looking up their name on FB and on the EK wiki (if you are in the East Kingdom) can provide a lot of clues about the recipient if you do not know them.
If you are still coming up with nothing, here are some snippets that are somewhat generic in nature from period text that could be inserted in the scroll noting these are specifically chosen as fitting in well within the SCA.
"to the intent that by their example others shall the more enforce them to make use of their days in feats of arms & virtuous deeds" (16th century)
"reverenced and recommended for showing of certain signs and tokens of honour and gentleness" (15th century, note: signs and tokens refer to the blazon, helm and crest)
"That by their example other persons may sooner and the more enforce and apply them themselves to dispend their lived in honorable work and virtuous deed..." (15th century)
"Be moved and stirred to exercise good virtues and commendable manners and noble conditions..." (15th century)
"carried himself (herself) valiantly, and honorably governed himself (herself) so that he (she) has well deserved and is worthy"
(has)"great honour perpetually before others, shining by certain signs and demonstrations of honour and courtesy" or "honour and gentility" (15th century)
naming the recipient (a few examples):
"who not only by common renown but also by the report and testimony of many noble men worthy of credence are truly advertised and informed that **name of recipient**..." (1528)
"Not only of common fame but also by the report and testimony of many noble men worthy of belief we are verily advertised and informed that **name of recipient**..." (1520)
"ratify and confirm unto unto the said **name of recipient**", "to use all of his (her) posterity for ever more (1494)
The award and/or the blazon when receiving an award of arms:
Here it is important to pay attention to language, in the SCA we have to be cautious about only using "grant" when the award comes with a grant, otherwise we must refrain from using that word, however we can use terms such as "gift" and "given", "awarded", "have the right of arms", "ratify and confirm" and other similar language
An example of a more recent scroll:
"be awarded and given right to arms"
Similarly, one can write something such as "and given right to these arms"...
After this, a space can either left for the blazon or filled in if the blazon is known.
If one is not included in the assignment, it sometimes doesn't hurt to ask a herald and/or check places like the op. When asking other people for information, as always, be discrete.
Conformation and date
Here are a few examples:
"...signed... with mine own hand and sealed the same with my seal..." "at London the x day of November the xxij yere of the Regne of King Edward the iiijth. (15th century)
"Given at Berwick-upon-Tweed the 28th day of August in the twenty fourth year of the reign of our Lord the King of England aforesaid." (1296)
"We have signed these presents with Our hand and sealed them with our seal. Given in our Castle of Pontefract the 8th day of June in the year of Grace 1484 in the 1st year of our reign. And these our letters shall be to you sufficient warrant. Given under our signet at our Castle of Pontefract on the 10th day of June in the 1st year of our reign." (1484)
"have signed with my hand and sealed with my seal these present made and given the first day of march in the year of grace one thousand four hundred and fifty nine."
Now to translate this into something more befitting to the SCA...
A large number of awards are awarded by two people rather than one, so generally you will be replacing "my" and "mine" with "our", as seen in the 3rd example.
Also, reigns last for 6 months out of the year so if you wanted to use wording such as "The 3rd year of our reign", try replacing year with "month", choosing the appropriate month.
Seals are another issue in the East Kingdom, though not so much in a few other kingdoms. Yes, we do have them, but no, we do not use them much. *if* you can arrange a seal to be used on the award scroll, then mention of it is a nice touch, otherwise it is best to just not use that part.
Some versions of text I have used:
In witness and signed by our hands at *group name*, the *number* day of *month*, Anno Societatis *number*, at the first court of our reign
By our own hands on the first day of *month* A.S. *number* at the *event name* in the *group name*
This, signed by our hands *king and queen name*, king and queen of the east, in the *group name*.*event name*. *number* *month*. AS *number*.
and that is the end, just be sure to leave space enough for signatures at the bottom!