Calon Lily scroll for HE Countess Elspeth of Stonehaven

Caligraphy, Illumination and Text by THL Konstantia Kaloethina

King Ashir exercising the royal authority and power, with the assent and consent of Ashland the Queen, his wife, to the dukes, duchesses, earls, countesses, barons, etc., announces that he has granted in perpetuity to one such Countess Elspeth of Stonehaven her entrance into the Order of the Calon Lily, and all responsibilities, rights, and privileges of said Order. He also grants to the same Countess use of the badge of this order, to wit: Per pale purpure and Or, a fleur-de-lys within a bordure counterchanged.  Also granted to the same Countess a full toft for her use in embroidering fine cloth, beside the church in the shire of Lost Moor. He orders that 1/10th of 1/10th of the tax on wool gathered in the Shire of Lost Moor shall be granted to her for the upkeep of this toft. In addition Ashir grants the ploughgate of land from the desmesne neighbouring Stonehaven with three tofts and thirty acres of moor, fifteen acres on one side of the vill and fifteen on the other, and a croft of meadow surrounded by an old ditch of which the raising of sheep may occur.

Full documentation at Konstantia’s blog

Calon Cross for THL William Douglas

Text by Master Mathurin Kerbusso, Calligraphy and Illumination by Lady Ayisha bint Asad

Calon Cross Scroll for William Douglas

As word-fame is woven
by works and by wonders,
Who labors in lord’s hall
is a pearl of great price.
Lo the keeper of keys,
falcon-perch of the people.
Proved is the good man by
the love of his lady

Acolyte of Egil,
the wielder of wound-reeds.
Mead-worthy the marshal,
Field-steward of flax-pole.
But best is the bearer
of wands of the willow
to lessen the lacking
of those with the bow-thirst

A maker of money
well-marked is his merit.
Good guild-man of graving
the bright dew of Draupnir.
Full four has he fashioned
Crown-gild of bright coinage.
No hire nor no barter
Save his fealty fulfilled.

Well-honed are the wound-fires
blood-dewed from the battle.
Well skilled in the steel-dance
and doughty is Douglas.
Good, too, as the teacher,
sword-tender, helm-bringer,
and bearer of baton
on the field of the fray

Now told is the tally,
the were-gild of William.
The Khan pays in purple,
Qatan in bright wave-flame;
the Cross of the Khanate,
for neck-ring and parchment.
In the waning of winter,
the ebb of the Men’s Month.

Pellican Scroll for Mistress Neathery de Safita

Text by Master Mathurin Kerbusso, Calligraphy and Illumination by THL Violetta Yolent Saint-Clairen von Stuttgart

Pelican Scroll for Neathery de Safita

Sing, my tongue, a most glorious elegy

For dearest noble lady, born of the City

And risen amongst the gentle Calontiri

Foretold by omen comet and by crosses red

With brush feeds anima, spiritum with her pen

Gladdens hearts with drawn silver, jewels and pearls

With her vielle she calls the dancers to the dance

And with kind heart and gentle voice bids scribes to draw

Laudable seamstress, and domina of scholars

Servant and guide to regia Calontiri

Phoeban with bow who brings to ruin Calon foes

Unending is the record of her advantage!

With Cross and Hammer stamped, and bearing Lily blooms,

Upon her brow a diadem of gold and pearls.

Now to this add cloak and cap of a Pelican

Heeding now the populus cries of “Ave! Ave!”

The gens and nobilium gather now together

As Rex and Regina at the end of vigil

In grant of boon, and in the shade of Aventine

Raise her up a Peer and take her pledge and oath

Neathery de Safita

Invited into the Order of the Pelican

On VI Idus Aprilis, Anno Societas LI

From the hands of Ashir, Rex Calontirii and Ashland, Regina Calontirii

Words in italics are Latin.

The verse is based on elegiac verse, maintaining the hexameter form but substituting iambic feet for the dactylic feet that would have been Period appropriate. It borrows themes from some works of Venantius Honorius Clementianus Fortunatus (c. 530 – c. 600/609 AD), specifically Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminis (“Sing, O tongue, of the glorious struggle”) and examples from the book Poems to Friends