The Most Efficient And Informal Bardic Competition

The Most Efficient And Informal Bardic Competition

By Mistress AElflaed of Duckfield

I joined the Society because of my interest in music. I started learning ballads seven years before I joined. I had played the recorder for four years, and was doing performances in costume, and recorder presentations for schools. I had been in All State Choir and school chorus and hated the modern stuff but loved the Palestrina. When I came in, bardic circles were the entertainment at events. Grand Outlandish would have impromptu circles Friday nights which would last three or four hours, and the formal, scheduled circle on Saturday which would last at least six hours (with a break for the kissing auction). Whoever was left on Sunday night would get together to repeat the best songs they had heard over the weekend.

When I told this story to a young duke in our kingdom, he said "No way," and he meant it. There had never, in his experience been a long bardic circle at Outlandish, let alone three long, centralized sessions. He didn't believe it. We got to talking about the first Outlandish he went to, and it was the first year of the drums.

Drums are getting smaller; bardic circles are coming back. I was assigned a few years ago to run a bardic competition on Saturday night at Outlandish, but to make it as fast as possible because it would be a strain on the drummers to wait too long before they could drum again. (I had said I wouldn't do it if there was going to be drumming at the same time.)

In just over two hours we ran about 65 entrants, in an aesthetically pleasing order, with all pieces announced in advance, with over 20 judges, and without requiring advanced sign-up[1]. I waited until morning to tally the votes, and announced them at morning court. People chose from the available prizes, in the order in which they placed (by vote count). It worked! I surprised myself.

Reading this article will take more work than running the contest will. Feel free to borrow as much or as little of this as you want. If you make improvements on the system, I would love to know about them.

Advance Work:

Print sign-up cards (heavy paper is best, so you can shuffle them quietly during the competition, and because they need to be handled several times.

Option: With enough volunteers,or enough time, you could do these all by hand, rather than print or copy.

Decide on categories. (see below for suggestions)

Print judge's ballots. I've used long strips of card stock or heavy stock. The first couple of times I printed on the end with a little home screen printer I have. You could photocopy on 8.5 x 11" cardstock, and either cut it in two strips or leave it whole. Strips are easy for outdoor lap-writing. The problem with regular-weight paper is that people won't be able to write on it without a desk, and by firelight they would see the markings from the other side, the pencil would poke holes in it, etc. Use heavy paper if you can.

Option: You could do these all by hand too, pretty easily.

Gather up lots of pencils.

Be sure you have a time and a place scheduled, and have someone in charge of getting the fire lit, and announcing that it's time to gather.

The Theory:

One entrant might win more than one category. One piece can be judged best in more than one category. One member of an ensemble can win a category on his own (such as best male vocal) and someone's accompanist might win best instrumental.

Entrants don't need to know what they're doing until just before the contest. Entrants can join late without ruining anything.

Judges don't need to know if they can judge until just before the contest. They do need to be able to stay for the whole contest, but if someone has to leave early, he can just destroy his ballot and it's no problem. You can have as many judges as you have ballots and paper for, or as few as one. The more judges you have, the fairer the choices should be, but don't worry if you only have a few judges. If you only have two or four, though, either give two prizes in case of tie, or decide a way to have a tie-breaker. I don't think this will be a problem.

Remind the entrants that such competitions are always subjective no matter what safeguards are in place, and that we might never pick the piece that is The Best, but the one the judges liked best that day.

You can have several categories all going at once. The judges just need enough light to take notes in. Since there's not a big old form to fill out on every entrant, it won't take long. Judges don't need to be taught their forms, because they can make up their own format as they go.

How To Schedule:

Performer(s) ____________________________________________________

Home Group and Kingdom:______________________________________________

NAME OF PIECE ____________________________________________________

CIRCLE ONE, PLEASE: (this is solely for scheduling performances in a pleasing order, and not a declaration of category; one entry can qualify for many categories at once)

• tale or poem
• instrumental only
• unaccompanied vocal
• accompanied vocal
• other _________________

After each entry is categorized by the entrant, just shuffle the cards in such a way that two tales don't come together, nor two a capella pieces (unaccompanied vocals), etc. If what you have the most of is accompanied vocal, you might need to have those be every other piece, but you can arrange them quickly and mechanically, without having to consider what the pieces are about, or who's best, or what's longest. You don't have to know those things. If someone comes late, put his card between two that don't match his. Since you haven't numbered your entrants (and don't except in progress), you haven't ruined anything.

Tell people that you'll announce them three performances before their spot so that they can prepare. If someone wants to come by and see how far down the list he is, you can flip through and show him, but tell him the order might change a little.

You might want to have an assistant for announcing the pieces, or you might do it yourself. Just before the first piece say, "Beau and Elinor, prepare yourselves; Leif make ready (or '...you'll be next'); The next performer is Allegra, performing Lady Maisry. This is entry #1." While she's getting set to go, say, "Leif make ready ; Beau and Elinor, prepare yourselves." (or 'Leif will be next, followed by Beau and Elinor.')

Give the judges a ballot with plenty of room to take notes (or extra cardstock) with something like this on it: [2]

• ____best male vocal (may be either one voice in an ensemble or a soloist)
• ____best female vocal (same as above)
• ____best tale (either a spoken or sung tale)
• ____"best transporter" (most evocative of the period)
• ____best instrumental (might be an ensemble, or a solo, or an accompaniment)
• ____best original piece (need not be performed by the author; best if recent)
• ____most amusing
• ____best performer (any criteria)
• ____piece we'd most like to hear again and again

The judges don't have to write down or remember the name of the performer or the piece. They only need "#1." Some people have turned in their note-taking portion and comments too, and most of them had been putting enough information down that they could remember what they liked best about the piece, but it's not important to repeat the performer's name or spell the name of the song or any of that.

As the contest continues, you'll only announce the name of the piece once, and then as you know the number is coming up (they've already been told to make ready) you can put the number on the corner of the entry card.

At the end the judges will probably ask questions like "What was #17?" and you can flip quickly to it and name the piece and performer, or "What number was Rowazna's dance?" and another judge can tell them that. At this point you can either open the bardic for general performance, and let the judges sit as long as they need to, or you can request repeats of some of the best-received entries.

To tally, you only need to list the numbers which got votes. Put tic-marks by the number for each additional vote (so a number plus one tic is two votes), and when you have the winner, get a judge's form and put the winning number by each category. Before court, pull the cards of the winners and put the number of votes received somewhere on there.

Lay down all the prizes you have (at least one for each category-more if you have them). Let the person who received the most votes choose first; second most choose second, etc. You won't announce the winners in the order they appear on the ballot; set the cards in order of the number of votes received. You might announce in court who came in second in each category too.

Advantages

• Judges pay more attention than they would if they were just observing.
• Entrants can also judge.
• Entries don't have to be categorized in advance. Someone entering a piece which could fall into two different categories doesn't have to pick one or the other.
• It's not much work for the organizers or judges.
• The method makes for such a group effort that everyone involved feels involved in the process.
• Many people win, not just one.
• Sign-up is loose, and late people aren't sent away.
• All of the traditional advantages of bardic circles and of formal competitions are retained.

If something here isn't clear, email me. [3] (AElflaed/Sandra)

Some of these methods could probably be applied to other kinds of contests-judging foods at a pot-luck kind of feast or judging best campsite by asking lots of people at the event to go out and judge. At an event with only about 50 people once we asked every single person there what their favorite costume was on Saturday evening, and we emerged with clear first and second place winners. It's really pretty special to get an award decided by the "whole town" that way.

[1] The next year I think we did about fifty in an hour and fourty-five minutes, and we had even more judges, because they'd had fun the year before. The number of judges won't slow you down, in fact having so many keeps any of them from feeling crucial enough to say "Wait for me."

[2] You can have fewer categories, or more, and especially if you're doing these by hand you could leave out all explanations and "best" so that it just says "male vocal, female vocal, tale, instrumental" etc. I left out "filk" because I'm not too fond of it. At a local event you could have a "best thing written just for this contest" or you could have a theme category. "Best dragon tale" was a regular in Lonely Mountain, and they always allowed stories or poems to qualify for that.

Articles on Language

Language

By Mistress Mistress AElflaed of Duckford

[Source: AElflaed of Duckford's SCA page]

Just as a zipper can ruin otherwise acceptable garb, and velcro on armor is serviceable but grating, a modern word or phrase can spoil a great speech or scroll text. Each word has a history, some are period and some aren't, and it's worth at least being aware that we have options. It's not as hard as you might think to bend your language use in a more period direction.

Everyday Language Use for the SCA

Just as a zipper can ruin otherwise acceptable garb, and velcro on armor is serviceable but grating, a modern word or phrase can spoil a great speech or scroll text. Each word has a history, some are period and some aren't, and it's worth at least being aware that we have options. It's not as hard as you might think to bend your language use in a more period direction. Consider these examples:

If you would like to request that people be quiet, you have some choices. Consider the tone and level of usage (formal/informal, respectful/insulting, etc.) which is appropriate to the situation. Read these and see what you think of each:

Shut up	Excuse me, but shut up.
Be quiet	I pray you, be quiet.
Hush (or hush up)	Hust ye
Be still	Peace; be still.
Keep silence	Pray, silence.
List now	List to hear [whatever]

If you're a herald, how about "Their Majesties demand silence" or "Keep peace in this hall." "Pray attend" is overused and it would be nice to use different phrases different times. Some of these shouldn't be used, because they're too rude or too archaic. Somewhere betwixt too rude and too modern and too archaic are some great, underused phrases.

Here are various bits of trivia for your consideration.

"Bear them hence" (Henry V says, of the traitors). It means literally carry them away from here. We would say "Take them away" or "Get them out."

"Thank you" as a parting is lame. At least address the phrase, as "I thank your Majesty," or "Your Excellency has my thanks," or "My Lord, I thank you."

For the end of a formal discussion, try "You have our leave to depart" (if you're important) or "By your leave," if you're the lower-ranking party. The "leave" in these phrases is "let"-permission.

"Good bye" - do you know what it means? "God be with you."

"Fare well" means "Have a nice [however long]." It can also mean "Have a nice trip."

"Come here" is what is used commonly in the 20th century - try replacing it with

• If you please. . .(with a beckoning motion or encouraging look)
• If it please you.
• If it please you, my lord, a word [which is short for "I would have a word with you"] 
• May I have a word with you? [. . . with Your Excellency?] 
• My lady, attend me 
• My lord, if you will attend me. 
• I crave your attention 
• A moment, your lordship

Ranking people shouldn't have to say much to get someone to come closer. The concept of being at someone's "beck and call" means close enough that a gesture (beck) or call will get them there in a jiffy (or, more likely, in the nonce, meaning "in an instance")

They can't come quick, because "quick" meant "alive" in period, not fast (besides, even now teachers will tell you to use "quickly."). If someone said "quickly" it meant "lively," which can also be used in terms of speed, as in "step lively." Fast meant stuck, constant, or fixed. Supper was "fixed" when it was put on the table. (In the southern U.S. people still "fix supper" even though it's not broken.)

"Fix" meaning "to make favorable to one's purposes," is late 19th century and thoroughly American. If someone says a tournament or contest was "fixed," it's a very modern usage.

"Thank you" is just okay, but it stands for more. To say "I thank you" is better but still weak. If you really want to show that you "thank" someone (rather than say you thank them), you might want to say other real words, like "bringing this gift was a gracious act of kindness" or "without your work this tournament might not have succeeded." Just to say "thank you" is like saying "greeting." It's better to say "My thanks go to you," or "Our thanks are with you." Thanks is a form of "think/thought" that goes back to Old English, and it has to do with grateful thoughts. "I thank you" means "I think nice thoughts of you." "You have my thanks" is good. "Thankful" is really good, and very old. "We are thankful for your work" and "We are thankful that you have come here" are great.

"Greetings" is no greeting. "Good morning" is a greeting. "I hope you are well" is a greeting. "Welcome," "Your Majesty" [and a bow], "Well met!"-those are greetings. In letters, greetings are expressions of wishes for health, happiness, good fortune, all that. When we write "greetings" at the beginning of a letter, it's actually sort of obnoxious-it means "here's where a greeting would go if I had one." But if you say "Lord A doth greet Lady B," and then you go on to greet somehow (even "Good wishes to you") then you have greeted and that's good.

Many good phrases can be gotten from reading Victorian novels, or their versions of classic tales and legends. The Victorians were 1) picky about language details and 2) nuts about the Middle Ages. Be careful, though, to check some of these words before you imbed them forever in your kingdom's traditions. I'm thinking in particular of "chivalric," a very Victorian word meaning having to do with the entire idea of chivalry. It's not a medieval word, according to The Oxford English Dictionary. If you've read this far and don't own one of those or know right where it is at the library, feel free to write me to find out what the going rate is to get one as an introductory offer for joining the Book-of-the-Month Club. For what used to be $19 in the late '70's and in mid-1990 was up to $32 (plus shipping) you could get one, and then have to buy three books over some couple or three years. It's worth it. You can document foods and prove heraldic points sometimes, just by looking up certain words. You can look up names of armor parts and learn fascinating bits of stuff. It's a blast for those interested in historical trivia, and you know you're one of them. If you have one and you haven't used it lately, go in there and flip pages. Look up the word that's closest to where your middle name would be - just look. If you find something neat, send me a postcard!

Don't be afraid to read period or near-period works. The King James Bible is a good start. It has simpler, more everyday phrases than Shakespeare, and smaller bits can be taken in at a time. (A related article will be found elsewhere in this section.) If you'd like to read Shakespeare but find it difficult, I recommend getting a videotape of a play you like, and read along in the book. Have a remote control handy, and if they skip a part stop the tape to see what they left out (and see if you can figure out why). If you read enough period material, before you realize it you'll develop a feel for the odd pronouns and phrases, and begin to know instinctively what's right and what's not.

Back to the subject: Speaking in public is not my forte, but I'm a pretty good speechwriter. If you've seen me in public and think that I don't practice what I preach, it's that I'm not usually able. My nervousness expresses itself in humor and goofiness. Me, a piece of paper and a person who isa good speaker make a great team. If you do no more with all this than to write one great letter of recommendation someday, or say one thing better while making an announcement in court, that will be enough. On the other hand, this may inspire you to spruce up a coronation ceremony and dazzle the multitudes. You know English well enough to read this far - it's your language. Go for it.

Reading the Bible Without Fear of Religion

A good way to learn about Renaissance English is to read it. The two most available sources are the works of Shakespeare and the King James version of the Bible. Of those two, the Bible is the easier to read and is closer to everyday speech and writing of the period.

You can't learn to use the phrases and vocabulary of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries until you have a feel for how they do and do not fit together. You can use the "thee"s and "thou"s without the pain of conjugation and memorization by reading them until they sound natural.

Here are some interesting passages that can be read painlessly and without fear of religious effect. The first number is the chapter, and the second is the verse. There will probably be a list of the books in order in the beginning of the Bible.

• Esther 2:12 (harems)
• Genesis 38:8-10 (birth control)
• Judges 20:16 (a left-handed army)
• Zechariah 5:1-2 (a flying roll)
• Genesis 38:27-30 (a great story about unborn twins, and one sticks his hand out. . .)
• Leviticus 11:30 (unclean creeping things)
• Isaiah 11:8 (cockatrices)
• Genesis 30:14-16 (sex for mandrakes)
• I Kings 16:9 (drunkenness, murder and confusion—and read verse 11 for an interesting description of male-persons.)

For a little more serious reading, try Genesis 27, the entire chapter. It's the story of Jacob and Esau - disguise and intrigue. The chapters following that are good, too (including the mandrake story recommended above, and a genetics lesson).

If you read a more modern version of the Bible you won't get the effect we're after. Language like "And the King said unto Haman, The silver is given to thee, the people also, to do with them as it seemeth good to thee" will be changed to "'Keep the money,' the king said to Haman, 'and do with the people as you please.'" (Esther 3:11, chosen at random, first King James and then New International)

I don't recommend using "seemeth" in everyday speech, but the word order can be used with our own verbs and pronouns. "Do with this as seems good to you" sounds more formal and exotic than "Do whatever you want to do with it." "If I have found favor in the sight of the king, and if it please the king to grant my petition, and to perform my request, let the king and Haman come to the banquet that I shall prepare for them, and I will do tomorrow as the king hath said. Then went Haman forth that day joyful and with a glad heart. . ." See? Even the verses that don't say anything weighty and wonderful can be pretty. If you don't own a King James Bible, check a thrift store, used book store, or ask an older protestant friend of yours if you can borrow one or have an extra. The library may have one you can check out. Regular bookstores probably have them, and most religious supply houses will have. Don't steal one from a motel room if you can help it.

A word to the devout: Please don't be offended by my suggestion that it's possible to read lots of the Bible without finding much of religious value. I've scouted out these passages, and they're unlikely to bring anyone closer to or further from God.

Titles

Quiz: Which of the following constructions is the most ridiculous?

• Professor Mrs. Simons
• Mr. Doctor Benjamin Spock
• Dr. Mr. Seuss
• Princess Lady Diana
• Mr. Lord Jim
• Mr. Sir Alec Guiness
• Mr. Senator Gary Hart
• Queen Madame Elizabeth
• King Sir Arthur Pendragonson
• Prince Sir Thorndike
• Count Sir Billy-Bob
• Princess Mistress Ravina
• Mistress Lady Maria
• Baron Sir Anything

Answer: They are all equally ridiculous.

I know German uses "Herr Doktor Professor" and that current Britain uses "Captain Sir" in the military. Any more exceptions to declare? They're not applicable to the period and language we're using. In English (which is the language of the Society) before 1600 (which is the period we're studying) I don't know of any double titles being used. If anyone does know of any, please write to me and show me documentation. (I will not consider "Duke Sir Master Horatio says so" as convincing documentation.)

Use the highest title you know unless a person requests otherwise. If a Viscount prefers "Sir" or a Countess prefers "Mistress" that's fine. A way you can manage to indicate both on occasion is to introduce a person as "His Excellency, Sir Rodrigo" or "His Grace, Sir Rolf." If you're addressing someone to his face you should just use the address form rather than the title anyway. To get someone's attention it's better to say "Your Grace" than "Duke Archie."

(There is a bit more on this in the section on heraldry.)

Names of People and Places in the SCA

When you're choosing a name for yourself or for a new group the usual considerations are making it unique and making it impressive. I think the first consideration should be making it sound like a period name, but often that's an afterthought - an irritation when trying to justify your choice for registration with the College of Arms. It would be better in terms of time spent and final affect if people looked to choosing a period name which is unique and impressive. That way names are passed by the heralds in the absolute minimum amount of time, other groups and individuals are inspired to choose better names for themselves when the time comes, and the atmosphere of our activities is improved.

One of my favorite SCA placenames ever is "Seashire." Maybe that group is a barony now, or defunct, but it was a simple, elegant, realistic name. If Seashire became a barony it could do what the English x-shires did if they "became" counties - nothing. They can do what Pietown, New Mexico will do if it ever becomes a city - nothing. There's York and there's Yorkshire. There's New York and there's the other New York. They are differentiated when necessary (New York City, the State of New York), but the state and city are both "New York." Oklahoma has Oklahoma City. Atenveldt has the Barony of Atenveldt (which is just called "Atenveldt" locally, when it's clear that the barony is meant and not the kingdom).

If Seashire had been called "The Shire of the Sea" it would not have been a good name. "The Shire of Sea" and "The Shire of Seashire" are neither one to be even momentarily considered. I think Seashire's a canton anyway and that doesn't matter a bit.

I don't want to name names, but some of the names of SCA groups are stupid. They're embarrassing. They don't sound like the names of places anywhere on this planet, now or in the past. There's no excuse for people not to know what does or doesn't sound like a place name, since we're surrounded by them all the time. Unfortunately, there's a tendency in the Society for people to look to SCA sources for models, rather than mundane sources. You may have noticed that people in a certain area will have similar armor and costumes, for good or ill. A really great and perfect method of constructing a helm or a 15th century German costume will be copied by other people in the area. Sometimes a really ludicrous shield or costume will be copied, too. With place names, sometimes a pattern gets going in a kingdom and three or four or ten groups pick it up. It would seem that some of these people have no better patterns to follow.

I recommend reading an atlas. The names of towns in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland would be good to read, but perhaps easier to find and just as fun are the towns of the eastern U.S. and Canada, many having been settled in the 17th Century. If you don't want an English name for your group, you might read French or Spanish town names, or whatever language you're after. The thing I've seen in the Society I like the very very least is for someone to take a name that sounds like something out of "Masters of the Universe," use it a while, and then translate it (sort of) into what someone told them was Middle English, or Gaelic, or something else unpronounceable and unrecognizable. There was probably no period or place in history where people purposely named their places anything which the inhabitants couldn't pronounce or understand.

Personal names are absolutely more personal. If an individual wants to have an unpronounceable name, it's his or her own business. If an individual wants to have an unpronounceable name and then expect every herald to magically deduce it and every chronicler to unfailingly spell it, this is about like putting a chip on your shoulder and then knocking it off yourself. If your name is odd or foreign, you must graciously live with the inconvenience and you should be the one to apologize if a herald mispronounces it.

Various Problems of the Olden Days

The following letter was distributed to nearly 100 people (quite a few in those days) in a fit of frustration. It did some good, for a while. There are nearly 20,000 people in the Society now, though, and I'm putting it out once more. The original was dated April 16, 1981.

---

Mistress AElflaed of Duckford sends fair greetings To Whom it may Concern (and it ultimately concerns us all):

I had planned to wait and write a fancy knock-'em-dead formal letter but this'll have to do; I can wait no longer. I'll get right to the point: A person is not an officer to a group. A king is not king to a country. This nasty usage is creeping into print more and more and has lately been even inTournaments Illuminated, whence it could spread throughout the kingdoms, carried by those who trust all they see in print.

Is Mr. Reagan President to the United States? [1] Is Elizabeth Queen to England? No. The preposition should be "of." Since we're using a perfectly good language we might as well use it correctly.

WRONG	WRONG	RIGHT
Prime Minister to Canada	Prime Minister for Canada	Prime Minister of Canada
Secretary to State	Secretary for State	Secretary of State
Governor to New Mexico	Governor for New Mexico	Governor of New Mexico
Seneschal to Ansteorra	Seneschal for Ansteorra	Seneschal of Ansteorra

To be fair to the word "to" here, there is a way in which "Seneschal to ..." might be used properly." "He serves as seneschal to the king" as someone could be "secretary to the president" or "in service to the Crown." "In the service of the Crown" is still better. I am Seneschal of Atenveldt [2] and I could say I'm Their Majesties' seneschal, seneschal in service to Their Majesties, or Seneschal to Their Majesties, but the last can be avoided.

"Creative" can go too far. We do have to create and repair our anachronistic culture bit by bit but the English language has already been through the Middle Ages and all the forms we need have been established.

While I still have an audience I may as well throw in two more items of a similar nature:

• knight marshal
• lord marshal
• earl marshal
• field marshal
• provost marshal
• parade marshal

All these are marshals. In each case "marshal" is the noun and the preceeding word is the adjective. The plural of "knight marshal" is "knight marshals"; "knights marshal" as a singular or a plural just doesn't make sense. I think part of the confusion comes from the fact that the plural of "court martial" is "courts martial." The great difference is that "court" is the noun and "martial" is the adjective.

Two further points:

A knight marshal doesn't have to be a knight and an earl marshal doesn't have to be an earl. If it's really too confusing for everyday SCA use, perhaps we should just call them all marshals.

The modern spelling (meaning the most accepted spelling for the last few hundred years) is "marshal." Historical spellings included marescal, mareschal, maresshall, mareschaul, mareshall, mershall, marschaele, and a dozen others.

My last crusade is for the word "lists." The "lists" (and the noun is plural but can take singular or plural verbs) at a tournament refers to the fighting field. The particular verb "to list," from whence comes this noun, means to enclose or to shut in, as with rails, or to put a border around. When the Lists Mistress or Mistress of the Lists (please note the plural) writes your name down you're entering the tournament or signing up for the lists. When you walk onto the field you enter the lists.

So with this I claim the linguistic field, declare myself King-of-the-Syntactic-Mountain, and invite any comers to disprove my claims by honorable research. I further call on all officers and chronicler to cease these foul abuses unless and until my information may be proven wrong by some better scholar.

I am at your service, 

(and it was signed)

P.S. If you don't believe me, check a good dictionary ("good" meaning, of course, one that will back me up). I used the Oxford English Dictionary and Webster's. American Heritage had no opinion one way or another, the matters being not American enough, I suppose.

---

Ten years later, there being no dispute, I consider to have won that battle, but I didn't pass it out as a flyer at the door to all the thousands of people who came later. I occasionally see a spurt of misuse still, especially in the confusion between the list of names on the sign up sheet and the lists/field. [3]

[1] I'm just going to leave that in for historical amusement. The first time I ever heard anyone talk about the SCA, the introduction to the talk went "Unbeknownst to President Nixon, the United States has been divided into four kingdoms." That's a funny memory; I like it.

[2] Remember we're in ancient history here - early Reagan days.

[3] Many in the Society call the lists "the Eric," some with the mistaken belief that is is a period term of some sort. It's a West Kingdom name for a red cloth field marker they had years ago which they called "Eric the Red." Countess Bevin Fraser of Stirling taught me that, and I understand from others that it is so. Twenty years from now if I read a historical novel that talks of knights entering the eric, I will know absolutely that the author (or his mom and dad) was in the SCA.

Writing in the SCA

WRITING IN THE SCA

AElflaed of Duckford
[Source: AElflaed of Duckford's SCA page]
NEW at the end, note about "really," and letter-writing and other links.

This is not about writing period sonnets or Renaissance-sounding letters, although those are worthy endeavors in which many of us have dabbled. This is a quick checklist for expository and "technical" writing for the SCA—the practical everyday stuff. If you write the same way for everything it won't work out very well. I'll go VERY briefly through what's important to consider when you're writing event announcements, documentation, how-to articles, reports, scroll texts, and ceremonies.

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENTS need to be fun. They need the full journalistic who, what, when and where, and the specific information required by the Society (address of the site, directions, starting time, whether the site is dry, who exactly is the autocrat, and which group is sponsoring, and whatever else the seneschal and chronicler direct you to include). If they're completely dry and boring, you will have a smaller turnout than you will have if the article is enticing, inspiring, intriguing, and amusing.

DOCUMENTATION for A&S or other purposes needs to be easily and quickly readable. It's no time for long artsy sentences or complicated theories. Tell what you know to be period and how you know it. Tell what exceptions you have made and why. Have clear breaks between sections so the judges can scan and then re-locate things they want to read again.

HOW-TO ARTICLES can use humor almost as much as they need clarity. A light and personable tone will calm the fears of intimidated readers. Try to separate the actual directions from the side commentary in some fashion. Assume the person following your directions knows very little; the experienced can skip the easy parts, but beginners can't fill it in on their own if it's not there.

REPORTS should make sense ten years later, so write for historians, not just for the officer to whom it's going. Reports should include dates (with the modern year in there at least once), full names, and clear particulars. "More than last year" isn't real information; use numbers.

SCROLL TEXTS are formal letters from the Crown to the people of the kingdom. They are proclamations, and there are many period examples and traditional forms (although by the time we take out the religious bits there's not a lot left). The kingdom scribe has default scroll texts which should be used until and unless a scribe has seen, read and thought about enough different texts to mess with it. Changes should be approved by the scribe's office. Anyone unsure of earlier English forms shouldn't rewrite any texts without close help by someone who is familiar with period usage. Don't use out-of-period words and phrases if they can be avoided.

CEREMONIES are the hardest of all. Ceremony should be heraldically correct, theatrically workable, historically sound, period in tone, and true.

By "theatrically workable" I mean can the words be understood aloud? Some phrases are fine on paper, but don't work well loudly spoken. Try the phrases aloud. And where are the "props"? Once we left the sword "onstage" when it needed to be off (or vice versa)—big oops. Can people see? Can they hear and understand? If not, the ceremony isn't well designed and will not serve its purpose as well as it should.

By "true," I mean true to the purpose and laws and traditions. They need to be educational, illustrative, not misleading. It is through ceremonies that many SCA members learn about what it means to be king, what it means to be a peer, and what awards are for. If ceremonies don't reflect what is true and traditional, they become misinformation. Confusion and unrest can follow from people misunderstanding the responsibilities of peers from seeing an aberrant ceremony. A crown tournament that doesn't clearly reveal to the spectators the several ways in which tradition and law were followed will fail to teach them law and tradition.

The reason people travel to and pay to attend coronations, crown tournaments and other formal courts and tournaments is so that they will be witness to the business of the kingdom. Those events are required to take place publicly, and so it follows that those in attendance should see the crowning, should hear the oaths, should understand the words of the sword oath, etc. They should understand how the lists are run and all can bear witness to the rightness and fairness, and all can learn how it should be done.

Because of writers, SCA members can be lured in by an event announcement, wear clothing and sit on stools and eat food they have prepared from written directions, hear beautiful scroll texts in ceremonies that make clear what the person has done to deserve recognition, and they can learn how and why people become Kings, Queens, Knights, Laurels and Pelicans.

Writing is rarely recognized for the contribution and art that it is. When you do hear well-composed and thoughtfully prepared ceremonies that add to the period atmosphere and the education of the populace, remember that writing is a learned and practiced art with depth and subtlety which can affect the kingdom's peace and future.

AElflaed of Duckford
November 2001 (A.S. XXXVI)

REALLY! I was reading along in a text written in English in 1478, and came upon the phrase “…for which I am really glad.” Really glad? Cool! So I mentioned this to Aindrea who said the scroll text naming her a Countess “really ennobled” her. The phrase had been adapted from the “Creation of Edward Courtenay as Earl of Devon–Letters Patent” of 1553. The phrase is “…we have marked, invested and really ennobled…”