Sea Stag Scroll Text -- Hélinand Strophe
Sea Stag Scroll Text -- Hélinand Strophe
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Original Poetry by THL Ishmael Stedfast Reed
Original Poetry by THL Ishmael Stedfast Reed
Calligraphy & Illumination by Lady Kaaren Valrafn
Calligraphy & Illumination by Lady Kaaren Valrafn
My Original Text:
My Original Text:
We stared in fear from gatehouse tall
On Evil, who had mustered all
The Ignorance of Man to war.
By siege would they have breach’d the wall
Of Castle Reason, would enthrall
The men therein to dullard’s corps!
Too soon, they pass’d the drawbridge o’er,
Benighted ram brought ‘gainst the door.
Above Our groans, there came a call:
O’erhead a giant raptor soar’d,
Aquila brought to life once more,
Within Our yard to land withal.
When down the falcon bowed, a friend,
Sir John the Peregrine, did descend.
The Count of Restormel called out:
“I’ve gathered Virtues to defend
The Castle Reason to the end;
First, Patience will arrive, my scout!”
And nigh, We spied a bloody spout!
The enemy scores lost, each a lout,
As through the mass, a Lion wend,
His rider, fighting, sought Us out.
She leapt the wall, the only route
Inside. Hear Patience, pray, attend.
“Thy constancy for each thy ward
Doth honor thee -- thou hast my sword.”
Wore Patience pair of lozenge jet;
Blue sash ‘cross shining breastplate poured.
Just then o’erhead, a black drake roared.
Spake John, “Here, by my coronet!”
That dragon, Rigor, was the pet
Of she, chevalier Diligent --
They, too, drove back the brutish horde.
With lance long as three pines in set,
She bested Ignorance’s threat,
Then shouted down to her right Lord:
“Omnis gloriae, Count Sir John!
For fortitude thou built upon
Thy squires, thou hast earned my spear.”
And yet remained one echelon
Of Callowness with steel still drawn
With which to pillage the frontier.
Though clearly lost the battle here,
Dull darkness would yet domineer
The villages around ‘til dawn.
What miracle should next appear?
Three shooting stars flown from their Sphere;
Gold Charity did speed them on!
“Unstinting of thy time and skill,
Sir John, I follow as you will.”
Caritas routed what remained,
Her comets’ light did Evil kill.
Count John holds Castle Reason still:
By Patience t’ward all those untrained,
By Diligence for prowess gained,
By Charity always unfeigned
With mastery thy students fill.
Thus A.S. Fifty-Five, We reigned:
And on October 10th ordained
To Sea Stag’s Order, We thee instill.
Description
Description
This was a fantastic challenge as a poet! Count Sir John Peregrine of Restormel has had such a storied career in the SCA, and Lady Kaaren knew that she wanted to include small nods to the other kingdoms he had lived in. Further, we learned from some initial research that Sir John's persona was early medieval, Anglo-Norman specifically, and that the symbolic accouterments of knighthood were really important to him. To that end, I knew I had to write a knightly story that worked in as much of these elements as possible.
This text takes inspiration from French-language poems of the 11th-13th century, most strongly based on the Mirreur l'Omme by John Gower, which was a morality tale involving pitched combat between the Seven Virtues and their opposite Vices. In that text, the reason why Satan cannot easily claim humanity is their Reason, which is defended by their Virtues. I knew this was going to be a fruitful line to follow in my own poem about the virtues the strongest teachers engender in their students, and the qualities of good educators -- the Sea Stag is an Atlantian Award for martial instruction specifically.
In my research, I learned that Gower himself based his stanzas on the earlier French poet Hélinand de Froidmont, an 11th c. poet who popularized a stanza of 12 lines, rhyming aabaabbbabba, each line being iambic tetrameter. So my meter was settled.
Finally, I worked to connect all of these elements into a single narrative. In the poem, Sir John flies in on a giant peregrine to defend the Castle of Reason from the Army of Evil Ignorance. This kind of direct, didactic moralizing allegory was quite common in this style of poem, and I felt it would best suit the pedagogical nature of the award. Sir John summons the powerful Virtues he has earned to aid him in battle against Ignorance:
Patience, riding on a Lion, in the figure of his wife, Honor of Restormel, wearing her arms. She offers her sword in battle for his "constancy for each [his wards]"., who "honor" him.
Diligence, riding the Dragon named Rigor, flies in overhead, wielding a lance "long as three pines in set" -- an extended anthropomorphism of the arms of Drachenwald, where he reigned. She is summoned "by [his] coronet" and offers her service in battle in return for the "fortitude [he] built upon / [His] squires".
Charity steers the coup de grace on the Army of Ignorance, delivered by shooting stars which rain from heaven. These "three" stars of "Gold" reference his arms, as well as the star of Ansteorra, where he received his knighthood. She fights for Sir John because he is "unstinting of [his] time and skill".
The fifth stanza summarizes the moral of the allegory as Castle Reason is saved:
Castle Restormel as it may have been -- an important part of John's persona, and the inspiration for the Castle of Reason .
(© Historic England (illustration by Terry Ball) )
Detail on the manuscript containing the Mirreur l'Omme by John Gower.
(Cambridge University, MS Add. 3035, (Upper Portion f. 149)
"By Patience t'ward all those untrained, By Diligence for prowess gained, By Charity always unfeigned With mastery thy student fill."
"By Patience t'ward all those untrained, By Diligence for prowess gained, By Charity always unfeigned With mastery thy student fill."
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