Ealdormere’s First Master of Defense

For Baron Giovanni de Enzinas

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, December AS 50 (2015)

In northern lands the swords were drawn

And scholars faced epee and foil

‘Til one impressed the sitting royal

Was told to face the coming dawn

In northern lands the swords were drawn

About his neck white collar’s clasped

To mark him as entitled peer

The first, like him, of Ealdormere

While in his hand a sword is grasped

About his neck white collar’s clasped

A man of metal and of art

Who studies words of written worth

And teaches with both joy and mirth

He who has a generous heart

A man of metal and of art

In northern lands the swords were drawn

And scholars faced epee and foil

‘Til one impressed the sitting royal

Was told to face the coming dawn

In northern lands the swords were drawn

A ballata. This poetic and musical form was in use from the late 13th to the 15th century in Italy. It was one of the most prominent secular musical forms at the time.

Its rhyme scheme is usually AbbaA, with the first and last stanzas having the same text. It is similar to the French virelai (not the ballade, as the name would suggest). The first and last A are called aripresa, the b lines are piedi (feet), and the fourth line is a volta. Longer ballate (the plural of ballata) may be found with different rhyme schemes such as AbbaAbbaA. The two b lines usually have exactly the same music, though eventually they would have an open and close ending.