For
Maiwen Skrautibroka upon being placed on vigil for the Order of the Laurel
By
Maister Colyne Stewart, March AS 53 (2018)
Lo,
praise we power / of people-kings
Of
spear-armed Danes / in days long sped
Yet
power shows / in strength of word
And
bone-led cord / and battened cloth
Oft
Maiwen worked / as Welanduz
Her
anvil lace / her ‘ammer thread
Each
stitch a blow / each bolt an ingot
Her
smithy adorned / with swords of horn
With
rippers of cloth / and coveted
Pins,
spools and bob/bins, scissors, shears
Of
Frijjō fond / her fashion fierce
As
Skrautibrok/a she’s known
Her trews a treas/ure telling much
Now
Kyng and Cwene / she comes before
So
hailed as Hlaef/dige her now
call
Of
famed Maiwen / far flies her boast
A
scion of Val / in Scadian lands
This
poem is written in the Old English style to match Maiwen’s original 7th
century Anglo-Saxon persona. Anglo-Saxon versification were written in what are
known as Siever’s Types, with different types of lines based on where the
stressed and unstressed syllables lied. For this poem I used what is called the
B-line, which contains four syllables, with the stress on the second and fourth
syllables. Each line in the poem is divided by a caesura (a pause, denoted by a
slash). The poems were alliterative, with the third stress alliterating with
the first and/or second stresses. (All vowels and dipthongs alliterated.) These
poems made common use of synonyms, compound words, variation (referring to the
same thing by different names) and, to a lesser degree, kennings. Sometimes
Anglo-Saxon poets would “borrow” word patterns or even whole lines from other
poets, so I have quoted and paraphrased Beowulf
in the opening and closing lines.
A
foot-noted version of the poem is below with the alliteration marked in bold.
Lo,
praise we power / of people-kings
Of
spear-armed Danes / in days long sped[1]
Yet
power shows / in strength of word
And
bone-led[2] cord
/ and battened cloth
Oft
Maiwen worked / as Welanduz[3]
Her
anvil lace / her ‘ammer thread
Each
stitch a blow / each bolt an ingot
Her
smithy adorned / with swords of horn[4]
With
rippers of cloth / and coveted
Pins,
spools and bob/bins, scissors, shears
Of
Frijjō[5] fond
/ her fashion fierce
As
Skrautibrok/a she’s known
Her trews
a treas/ure[6] telling much
Now
Kyng and Cwene / she comes before[7]
So
hailed as Hlaef/dige[8]
her now call
Of
famed Maiwen / far flies her boast
A
scion of Val[9] /
in Scadian lands[10]
[1]
These two lines are translations of lines 1 and 2 of Beowolf.
[2] A
needle.
[3] A
mythical smith.
[4]
More needles.
[5]
Goddess of love who was also associated with weaving.
[6]
Maiwen’s byname of Skrautibroka literally means “fancy pants”
[7]
Maiwen is to elevated to the Order of the Laurel at Kingdom A&S AS 53
(March 2018).
[8] An
Anglo-Saxon title used in the SCA to refer to (among other things) a Mistress
of the Order of the Laurel.
[9]
Maiwen is a protégé of Master Valizan.
[10]
The last two lines are edited translations of lines 18 and 19 of Beowolf: “Famed
was this Beowulf: far flew the boast of him / son of Scyld, in the Scandian
lands.”
