Lion-Wolf of Ealdormere

By THlaird Colyne Stewart, January AS 49 (2015)

From West he came    to wed the north

Strong-armed and true                        and stalwart bold

He took a crown         in clawed paws strong

Blood-song brightened           and to battle sworn

In Shire he came         sweet song sung his blade

Cloak-danced with foes          clad bright in mail

Breaker of rings          brought forth wound-sea

Fed eagles bold           and foes he tamed

Then jarl of old           earl among earls

Trod the spread cloak             two blood-worms held

Former prince-king      Foe-man hammer

David, raven feeder    dared all to battle

In spear-din met          swift lion and wolf

Slayer of giants           singing of the deed

Took note the skalds   took note the mighty

Slaughter-dew flew    as sun light fell

They battled long        bold fighters both

Found honour there    in foe-man’s fierceness

When din was done    down fell the jarl

The Western lion        had won the day

At Tournoi de Coeur des Glace in 2015, His Royal Highness Steinnar met Syr David Martin Failsworth in the finals of the grand tournament. Syr David was the first Prince of the Principality of Ealdormere, and the first King of the Kingdom of Ealdormere, and is one of our greatest fighters. His Highness gladly met this living legend in honourable combat and was able through his own great skill to carry the day.

This poem, written in an Eddic verse form called Fornyrðislag, is to commemorate this meeting of giants. Fornyrðislag consists of 4-line stanzas, with each line broken into two half lines. The first half line had to have two stressed and two unstressed syllables, while the second half had to have two stressed and either two or three unstressed syllables. It was an alliterative form, with either the first or second stressed syllable in the first half-line alliterating with the first stressed syllable in the second half-line. As was not unusual with Nordic verse I also made liberal use of kennings.

Below I have included a foot-noted version of the poem.

From West[1] he came   to wed the north

Strong-armed and true                        and stalwart bold

He took a crown         in clawed paws strong

Blood-song[2] brightened          and to battle sworn

In Shire[3] he came        sweet song sung his blade

Cloak-danced[4] with foes        clad bright in mail

Breaker of rings[5]         brought forth wound-sea[6]

Fed eagles[7] bold          and foes he tamed

Then jarl of old           earl among earls

Trod the spread cloak             two blood-worms[8] held

Former prince-king      Foe-man hammer

David, raven feeder[9]   dared all to battle

In spear-din[10] met       swift lion[11] and wolf[12]

Slayer of giants[13]         singing of the deed

Took note the skalds[14]            took note the mighty

Slaughter-dew[15] flew  as sun light fell

They battled long        bold fighters both

Found honour there    in foe-man’s fierceness

When din was done    down fell the jarl

The Western lion        had won the day

---

[1] HRH Steinnar originally hailed from An Tir, whose heraldry features a lion.

[2] Battle.

[3] Bastille du Lac.

[4] When the Norse dueled they sometimes put down a cloak, upon which the combatants had to stand.

[5] A chieftain or king, here referring to the fact he is Prince of Ealdormere.

[6] Blood, indicting that he is hitting his opponents.

[7] Defeating enemies.

[8] Swords.

[9] Warrior.

[10] Battle.

[11] Steinnar is a lion, the symbol of his former home An Tir.

[12] David is a wolf, a symbol of Ealdormere.

[13] Thor.

[14] Norse poets and bards.

[15] Blood.

The Kidnapping of Badrielle

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, January AS 49 (2015)

Badrielle was stolen at Septentria’s Twelfth Night;

Adrielle’s eyes were burning with a vengeful fire.

Badrielle was stolen at Septentria’s Twelfth Night,

Stolen from her husband, the ducal northern knight;

Her students knew the matter to be of utmost dire;

Across the land soon many knew of the puppet’s plight

And friends and OAFs and strangers picked up weapons for a fight;

The duke set out to searching, sending forth his squire,

Who searched the hall and field and keep, the basement and the spire;

And guilty parties felt compelled to put to pen and write,

For they had taken her to drinking around a hearty pyre,

They prayed her Grace’s anger would therefore be slight,

Adrielle’s eyes were burning with a vengeful fire.

A fatras simple, halfway between being a fatras possible and a fatras impossible. Based on an event that occurred at Septentrian 12^th Night 2015. A well meaning prankster “kidnapped” Adrielle’s puppet alter-ego Badrielle, but failed to return her before the event ended. To say this made Adrielle’s hair stand on end would be an understatement. Badrielle is so well loved in Ealdormere (and in lands beyond) that many people were beginning to be upset. Thankfully, the “kidnapper” contacted Adrielle, and all was again well with the world. 

For Ysemay Sterlyng, on Becoming a Vigilant of the Order of the Laurel

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, January AS 49 (2015)

From Eastern lands

Glad tidings flow around the knowne worlde spann’d

For Ysemay Sterlyng’s deft and graceful hands

Glad tidings flow around the knowne worlde spann’d

For Eastern royals

Will glad increase the standing of Their Laurels

With Ysemay Sterlyng, both kind and loyal

Will glad increase the standing of Their Laurels

With Eastern grace

She stands a Peer, forever in her place

Bright Ysemay Sterlyng of the smiling face

She stands a Peer, forever in her place

Notes on the Piece

You’ll have to bear with me on this one. Ysemay is being made a Laurel for her knowledge of 16^th century Germany (an era I know nothing about). So, I looked into what kind of poetic traditions were common in that time and found the Meistersingers, guilds of professional poets and singers who lived by dozens if not hundreds of rules (Die Kunstausdrücke der Meistersinger, a rule book written in 1887, is almost 300 pages long).

I could only find basic information about the Meistersingers in English, so my attempt at writing lyrics in their style may be WAY off. Further research will have to discover how close or far I got.

Meistersingers apparently wrote their verse in three strophes (or stanzas). I could not find out what kind of strophe they used (as there are many kinds), so I based mine on a piece of musical notation I found for Veilchenweise by Hans Folz. The lyrics were not included so I could not see the rhyming scheme, but it did allow me to see exactly how the strophe was constructed from its parts. I decided to go with an AAAA BBBB CCCC rhyming scheme.

Each strophe was divided into two stollen (confusingly also referred to as stanzas, and collectively known as an aufgesang). They were followed by an abesang (the after-song). It was apparently not uncommon for the stollen to be of different lengths. Melodically, the abesang would mirror the end melody of the aufgesang. I have included this mirroring by repeating the second stollen as the last line of the abesang.

So, deconstructed, here is the first strophe of my poem:

Aufesang

[Stollen 1] From Eastern lands

[Stollen 2] Glad tidings flow around the knowne worlde spann’d

Abesang

For Ysemay Sterlyng’s deft and graceful hands

Glad tidings flow around the knowne worlde spann’d

Technically, this should be written to music, but I know next to nothing about writing music.