Monday, September 24, 2007

The Hague Manuscript Collection online !

Medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands on the web

www.mmdc.nl

The Hague, September 21 - Today all medieval manuscripts in the
Netherlands are available on the website Medieval Manuscripts in
Dutch Collections (MMDC), www.mmdc.nl. The website provides a portal
to a database with short, uniform descriptions and photographs of all
medieval manuscripts in the Netherlands, about 6000 items in all. Jos
Biemans, Special Professor of Medieval Manuscript Studies launched
the website today in the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, by making the first
click on the homepage.

Medieval snapshot
Medieval manuscripts provide a fascinating snapshot of the cultural
and intellectual life of this period. Until now, information about
these manuscripts and the related knowledge and expertise was
dispersed, but MMDC brings all of this material together. MMDC has
been set up by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek, the university libraries
of Leiden, Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen, and the
Atheneumbibliotheek Deventer and it is partly financed by the
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).

One website for all manuscripts MMDC is focussed on creating
possibilities for progressive research based on medieval manuscripts,
by building a database with uniform descriptions, digital images and
links to facsimile editions and subject-specific websites. This way,
all the disseminated information about medieval manuscripts in the
Netherlands has been brought together and made available through one
database. To benefit international use, all information is published
in English.

Virtual platform
The website also contains more information on medieval books in the
Netherlands. This website will function as a virtual platform for
researchers and students in palaeography, art history, philology and
other fields. Visitors will find an overview of all Dutch
institutions with medieval books, along with information on the
history of the collections, contact information and procedures of
requesting manuscripts. The website also contains digital versions of
several key out-of-print books about medieval manuscripts and an
illustrated overview of medieval script.

Latest work


The first time I set eyes on the "Mira Calligraphiae Monumenta" I fell in love, not only with the illumination but also with the beautifully flourished calligraphy. It is just splendid and made me squeal with delight :o)


Last week, after a quick email for help from Baroness BarbHaRah I decided to give this style a first try, and here're the results. Sorry for the quality of the pictures. These are digital photographs, and I guess after my marathon scribal session my hands weren't all that steady anymore :o)



Ingredients are Bristol Board paper, WN gold ink, black sumi ink and WN Gouache
.
Cheers
-Maeva

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Update from the Signet

Dear Scribes !

I've had the chance of updating the folio and its list of contents and
here's the new "Wanted - dead or alive but without ink smudges" list of
scrolls. Our current Crown - may Their reign be prosperous and blessed - has
not requested any specific style so you are free and welcome to paint and
calligraph to your heart's delight in whatever way fancy strikes you *S*

* I ask you to please not add the following
o Year AS
o rex/regina, etc. in the signature line
o your name on the front of the scroll
o [Please sign your name on the back so it can be read during court and we
know who created the beautiful artwork for our kingdom. If you prefer to
use a "Maker's Mark" - a little symbol to represent you - you may place
it on the front if it's small and unobtrusive. If you don't sign your
name and I know your work I will do it for you because I'm a firm
believer in "credit where credit is due" *S*]

* Honors [very simple small illumination like an illuminated capital]
o Trimarian Lancer
o Lion D'Or

* Non-armigerous awards [slightly more complex than honors: a simple one-sided
border, a more complex illuminated capital]
o Arent EstoileArgent Estoile
o Argent MorningstarArgent Morningstar
o Argent Trefoil Argent Trefoil
o Silver SaddleSilver Saddle

* Armigerous awards [more complex than non-armigerous awards: 2-sided border and illuminated capital or small miniature, or 4-sided border]
o Trade Winds Trimaris Trade Winds Trimaris
o Silver ShieldSilver Shield
o Argent Scales Argent Scales
o AoAs

* Grant-level awards [very complex illumination, 4-sided border with miniature]
o GoAs
o Arc d'Or Arc D'or
o Triskele Trimaris
o Argent Sword Argent Sword

* At this point we have plenty of the following
o Order of the Greybeard
o Heraldic Display
o Crown's Order of Gratitude
o Flower of Chivalry
o Trimarian Order of Gratitude

Wordings for all of the award and their respective badges can be found here
http://www.melessee.org/Scribes/awards/awardindex.html

Order of the Bard's Laureate wording

Corrected Order of the Bard Laureate Wordings

* 1.) Blessed are We with those whose facility in the performing arts graces Our Kingdom. We the Crown Trimaris are pleased to commend _____________ to the Order of the Bard's Laureate of Trimaris for service as _______________, witnessed by Our hand on the _______ day of ______, __________ Anno Societas.


* 2.) Come forth ______________, for the fellowship of troubadours and poets who are the Bardic College do welcome you to the Order of the Bard's Laureate Trimaris, for your performance as ___________. So witnessed by Our hand upon the __________ day of _____, A.S. _______.


* 3.) Many are inspired by those who show their skills in public performance, and are worthy of recognition. The fellowship of the Bardic College acknowledges _____________ , and extends welcome to the Order of the Bard's Laureate, Trimaris for service as _______________. Thus made by Our seal upon the __________ day of _____, A.S._______.


* 4.) Unto the populace We do confirm that We the Crown Trimaris recognize the contributions to the Bardic Arts of Trimaris, and so appoint _____________ to the Order of the Bard's Laureate of Trimaris, for service as _______________, done in tribute to the Arts upon this ______ day of _____, A.S.__________.


* 5.) For as much as there are many whose facility in the performing arts graces Our lands, We the Crown Trimaris are pleased to commend _____________ to the Order of theBard's Laureate of Trimaris for service as _______________, witnessed by Our hand on the _______ day of ______, _________ Anno Societas.


* 6.) Verily all shall know that We do recognize ___________ for their contribution to the Bardic Arts of Trimaris, and appoint them to the Order of the Bards Laureate of Trimaris for service as ______________, done in tribute to the Arts upon this ______ day of ______, A.S.__________.

A scribal poem

Scribal-Talkie
A poem in honor of the scribes of the SCA.
(c) Copyright 1989 Stephen Goldschmidt. Used by permission.
Trademarks are property of their owners.
'Twas scribal, and the peerage text
was inked with nibs 'pon the Bristol.
All period were the ligatures
and the uncial, artificial.

"Beware the interlace, my son,
the inks that fade, the leaves that scratch.
Beware the fixatives the shun
the Herald's sealing wax!"

He took his cobalt blue in hand,
long time acanthus leaves he wrought,
the laid it by for the guache to dry
and limned awhile on a trefoil knot.

And as the trefoil knot he limned,
his interlace in cadmium red
came bleeding through the Bristol board
and on the peerage bled!

One-two! One-two! and through and through
Xacto blade went snicker-snack.
He made it whole and with his scroll
he went triumphant back.

"Hast thou learnt to interlace?
Show me thy work, my warranted boy!
Oh frabjous day! Callig! Callay!"
he chortled in his joy.

'Twas scribal, and the peerage text
was inked with nibs 'pon the Bristol.
All period were the ligatures
and the uncial, artificial.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Scribes at Coronation

After confirming with the autocrat here is the updated scribal information
for Coronation.

*Scribe's Point:* Scribes point will be located in the front classroom of
the lyceum in the usual spot. The point should be set up friday night and
will remain available until Monday morning pack up.

*Scribe's Tea:* The Scribe's Tea "Pirates and Princesses" will be held in
the main hall of the Lyceum starting Saturday at noon. Due to schedule
conflicts, we will need to work with the heralds to make sure they have
space for name/device consultation and a quiet place for herald testing if
necessary.

*Scribe's Contest:* The contest winner will be announced at the tea. Please
turn in all pieces to be counted before the tea begins. Please leave a tally
sheet with the pieces so to help keep this count timely. Most recent scores,
that I am aware of, are posted on the College of Scribe's webpage. The
prizes will be at the Tea and winners will be able to choose prizes in order
of rankings.

*Scribe's Library:* Will be located at Scribe's Point for the weekend along
with the copier. HL Gwenhwfyr will be happy to assist with both.

*Post Scriptum:* At the tea we will be announcing the first edition of Post
Scriptum. The hope is that Post Scriptum can be published quarterly and
address issues and information specific to scribes in Trimaris. The first
issue is in response to a whole lot of questions about entering Art/Sci and
is entitled: *Art/Sci for Scribes*. There will be a limited number of copies
on this first run to help determine interest in such publications. Post
Scriptum issues will also be converted to .pdf files and will be made
available on the College of Scribes website in the near future. We will be
looking for contributors for articles and information for upcoming issues.
Please contact me if you are interested in this project.

Friday, August 24, 2007

61!

A huge thank you to Lady Allesandra who is turning in 61 calligraphed pages. However, as Allesandra has been away from events for some time, she wishes not to enter our current calligraphy contest. After consulting with a few of the other College officers we thought it fair to award her a prize anyway. She chose a book donated by HL Gwenllyan verch Morgan, The Lindisfarne Gospels. There are still many great prizes left for the contest, but that one is now spoken for.

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Scriptorium 2007 -

http://maeva.eiriksdottir.googlepages.com/scriptorium

Saturday 8th of September 2007
St. Luke's Metropolitan Community Church
1140 South McDuff Avenue
Jacksonville, FL 32205

" Come one, come all ! It is the year of the Lord 849. We have suffered through many attacks of the fierce berserker of the North and we have prevailed. Alas, the time draws near that we will have to abandon our monastery on Iona in favor of safer shores at last. Our Scriptorium is busy with the last preparations and many scribes are copying the words of our forefathers. Many hands are needed to finish this challenging task - will you travel the the lands and the seas to join us ?"

Enjoy our all-day all-class event about the scribal arts, heraldry and more !
The Site opens at 9:00 am and closes at 11:00 pm. Some limited crash space is available. Please inquire with the registrar upon making your reservation !

Event Fees:


* Daytrip $8/person (Non-Members add $3.00)
Children: 6 and under free, 7-14 half price

* Feast (limited to 60 ) $7/person
* Lunch $3/portion
No Family to pay more than 3 adult event fees!

Please make checks payable to " SCA dba Shire of Castlemere" and include your drivers license number and proof of membership.

Event Steward
HL Énnae "Innis" Catha an Dún
* mka Dale Compton
* Phone 904-346-0278 no calls after 9PM
* email: dcomptonjr@comcast.net

Registrar

HL Kenet of Ravenscourt
* mka Kenet Muir
* 6626 Blackwood Dr.
* Jacksonville FL 32277
* Phone: 904-744-8732 no calls after 9PM
* email: ckenet@bellsouth.net

Class Coordinator

HL Cara Angiola de Boccaccio
* mka Cara Schaffer
* Phone 904- 745-7744 no calls after 10:30PM
* cschaffe@unf.edu

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Pigment Starter Kits

These period pigment kits are made by a group of Scribes in Northshild. Period pigments already mixed into paints and available at about $25 per 10 color set. Neat!

Windhaven Scribal Guild

Monday, July 23, 2007

Scroll Update

Good morning dear Scribes !

I was happy to be able to catch up with a few scribes at Art-Sci just a week ago and I'm hoping everybody else I missed is enjoying a lovely summer
[with or without Harry Potter :o) ].
'Thank you' to everybody who turned in scrolls at Art-Sci. Your help is invaluable and your assistance make this office a pleasure to hold. I returned
home with a veritable stack of scrolls, ready to be sorted into the big black portfolio or to be handed over to the wonderful calligraphers among us, and
was able to update the list to help determine which award scrolls we need to create in the weeks to come to help fulfill Their Majesties' requests.

Award scrolls needed :

Honors (simple illumination: illuminated capital)
- Lion D'Or
- Trimarian Lancer
- Crown's Acclaim for Heraldic Display

Non-Armigerous Awards (slightly more complex than honors: a simple one-sided border, a more complex illuminated capital)
- Emerald Seas
- Argent Estoile
- Argent Morningstar
- Argent Trefoil
- Order of the Bard's Laureate (please don't specify which ie not Poet Laureate, etc.)
- Order of the Cross of St Joan
- Herald's Tressure for Heralds
- Golden Galleon for Feast Chefs
- Silver Saddle
- Watchful Flame

Kingdom Armigerous Awards (more complex than non-armigerous awards: 2-sided border and illuminated capital or small miniature, or 4-sided border)
- Argent Scales
- Trade Winds
- Silver Shield
- Award of Arms

Illumination blanks are -always- welcome :o)

Friday, July 20, 2007

More on Medieval bestiary

http://bestiary.ca/etexts.htm

From the webpage : "The texts listed here are believed to be in the public domain. They have been scanned from the original sources and converted to text. Most are in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) files, so to read them, you will need the free Adobe Acrobat Reader (version 4+), available from the Adobe Web site. Some documents are also available as simple text files, which can be opened with any word processor."


An Account of the Μυρμηκολέων or Ant-lion
Animal Symbolism in Ecclesiastical Architecture
Animals in English Wood Carving
Le Bestiaire de Gervaise
The Bestiary (Eton College Natural History Society)
The Bestiary (History)
The Bestiary of Philippe de Thaon
Birds and Beasts of the Greek Anthology
The Caladrius and its Legend, Sculptured Upon the Twelfth-Century Doorway Of Alne Church, Yorkshire
The Early English Bestiary
An Encyclopedist Of The Dark Ages: Isidore of Seville
The History of Reynard the Fox
Introduction to Queen Mary's Psalter: Miniatures and Drawings by an English Artist of the 14th Century Reproduced from Royal MS. 2 B. VII in the British Museum
On the Legend of the Serra or Saw-Fish
The Old English Physiologus
Physiologus: A Metrical Bestiary of Twelve Chapters by Bishop Theobald
Reynard the Fox
Some Twelfth-Century Animal Carvings and Their Sources in the Bestiaries
S. P. N. Epiphanii, Episcopi Constantiæ Cypri, ad Physiologum
Symbolism of Animals and Birds Represented in English Church Architecture
The Symbolism Of The Goat On The Norman Font At Thames Ditton

PS: Since these are all older text compare them to more recent documentation - some things might have changed significantly with new research !
Enjoy !
-Maeva

Monday, July 9, 2007

"The foolish scribe

Just to get this thing started I'll simply post one of my latest award writs. I apologize for the picture quality but a pair of scissors happened to come too close to the scanner cable and I need to replace it before I can scan scrolls again :o)


This is an Order of the Trade Winds Trimaris blank loosely based on a 16th century German wood cut I found in the book "Landsknechte und Reislaeufer" by Matthias Rogg. It's W&N Gouache on 9x12 Bristol and black Sumi ink for the calligraphy. I have recently fallen in love with the cadels and pen flourishes of the Renaissance and this is a first attempt. It was a lot of fun and I'll continue to play with this particular artform with all its variations.

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Gallery listing

Dear scribes !

Do you have an online gallery with your scrolls ? Does your local scriptorium have an online gallery of scrolls created over the year ? How about your personal scribal webpage ?

Send me your link and I'll include it in the gallery listing !

-Maeva

Scribes Yellow Pages

Would it not be great if we had a booklet, "Yellow Pages" style, with the best sources for all things scribal ?
Who is your preferred merchant for parchment ? Who has the juiciest walnut husks ? Where do you go if your paper supply is low and who has the best deals on brushes ?

Write up your best experiences in customer service and share it with your scribal buddies. I'd like to collect this knowledge here in the "comments" and then later turn it into a little booklet to hand out to veteran and new scribes.

What do you think ?
-Maeva

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

Check Out Our Library

Out Trimaris College of Scribes Library catalog is online [hosted at Library Thing] and is fully searchable!

Put your own library catalog online and join the Trimaris Scribes Group!

Call for Articles

The Trimaris College of Scribes is calling for articles relating to the scribal, painting, and book arts of the middle ages.

We are seeking articles especially in digital form [pdf format] for inclusion on the Trimaris College fo Scribes website, possible inclusion in class and print materials for scribal education in Trimaris, and possible inclusion in Trimarian publications to assist with scribal education.All articles will be credited to the author with each use.

Please send articles [PDF format preferred] to melessee @ gmail . com

Sincerely,
Mistress Melesse,
Chancellor of the Trimaris College of Scribes