Bridei, first Queen
of Northshield, and Siegfried, our king, send greetings unto our
masters and mistresses of the Laurel, our companions of Brigits
Flame, our recipients of the bale fire, the aegis, and all among our
subjects who do hold of our cousins of the Midrealm, Ealdomere,
Calontir, and all other laurel Kingdoms such similar honors. As
patroness of the Arts and Sciences, we do command your attention to
our subject Eliane Halevy. For the love we do bear her, we are
minded to commend her before our realm and all the known world.
Therefore, in recognition of her work in our bardic community, her
own considerable bardic skill, and her work with and participation
in the Northshield choir, we hereby give and grant unto the said
Eliane membership in our order of Brigits Flame. Henceforth, she
shall enjoy all rights and bear such burdens as accompany this
elevation. This We Do on this the fourth day of December, being the
third month of our reign, from our barony of Caer Anterth Mawr, upon
the occasion of the return of the cherries. Merouda Pendray me
fecit. (Bridei) Regina (Seigfried) Rex
RESEARCH
AND DESIGN:
This
scroll’s wording is based on period English formulary (usual legal
wordings) of the 12-15th century. The calligraphy is an
English bastarda of the late 13-14th centuries; the
primary illumination element is from the Ashkenazi Haggadah, a
mid-15th c. Hebrew manuscript made in Germany by Joel ben
Simeon.
Eliane,
I opened that manuscript straight to the page I used and knew it was
perfect for this scroll; there were the oak leaves, to symbolize
your relationship with Owen, there was the little man holding a jar,
making the jar easily switched out for the current design of the
order badge, and the top element was easy to replace with
gillyflowers.
MATERIALS:
Gesso,
gold leaf, ink, commercial and handmade opaque watercolors on
vegetable parchment.
Questions, suggestions, comments, concerns? I welcome email at
merouda (at) hotmail (dot) com.
