Maiwen

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 7^th 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.”

Gazel for Shahid al-Hasan

By Maister Colyne Stewart, March AS 53 (2018)

Forth came the proud hare from a desert of snow

In fame and good fortune his legend to grow

Bound to a wolf-prince by cords woven bright red

Fierce as the badger and as fleet as the doe

With pole he commanded in far off An Tir

As vassal to baron he forded war’s flow

Now pearl-rich himself he holds land of the north

Stood peik for the queen for her honour to show

Adorned with the crescent called forward to kneel

His boots tread the flagstones, he dropped to his toe

As Sultan proclaimed him his might and his worth

And told all assembled what honour he’d owe

A faris, he called him, a lord of the horse

And girt him with leather, the white of the snow.

Background Information

According to Bachvarova, a gazel was an improvised song based on earlier works with a singer using an existing quatrain as a basis for their improvisation. Though other cultures (such as the Greeks) used the term interchangeably for lament poetry (the amané or amanés sometimes also being called gazel), to the Ottomans the form was used to explore love (both romantic and spiritual). Gazels were sometimes improvised during long, highly structured songs that would display the singer’s knowledge of the makamlar (or modes of Ottoman music).

According to Bradley, gazels (or qazels) in Iran featured a rhyming couplet, followed by couplets whose first line was unrhymed, and whose second line rhymed with those of the first couplet. There were at least seven couplets. Each couplet usually put forth separate images that were unified by the idea expressed in the first couplet.

The gazels I looked at from the sixteenth century (though translated into English) seemed to follow the rhyme scheme laid out by Bradley, though they claimed to be from the Ottoman Empire and not Iran. It is possible that the quatrains the poets used in my examples just happened to rhyme AABA though I cannot corroborate that at this time.

Three examples of gazel are below (all from Horne):

My pain for thee balm in my sight resembles
Thy face's beam the clear moonlight resembles.
Thy black hair spread across they cheeks, the roses
O Liege, the garden's basil quite resembles.
Beside thy lip oped wide its mouth, the rosebud;
For shame it blushed, it blood outright resembles.
Thy mouth, a casket fair of pearls and rubies,
Thy teeth, pearls, thy lip coral bright resembles.
Their diver I, each morning and each even;
My weeping, Liege, the ocean's might resembles.
Lest he seduce thee, this my dread and terror,
That rival who Iblis in spite resembles.
Around the taper bright, thy cheek, Muhibbi
Turns and the moth in his sad plight resembles.
 ---Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566)

If 'tis state thou seekest like the world-adorning sun's array,
Lowly e'en as water rub thy face in earth's dust every day.
Fair to see, but short enduring is this picture bright, the world;
'Tis a proverb: Fleeting like the realm of dreams is earth's display.
Through the needle of its eyelash never hath the heart's thread past;
Like unto the Lord Messiah bide I half-road on the way.
Athlete of the Universe through self-reliance grows the Heart,
With the ball, the Sphere---Time, Fortune---like an apple doth it play.
Mukhlisi, thy frame was formed from but one drop, yet, wonder great!
When thou verses sing'st, thy spirit like the ocean swells, they say.
 ---Prince Mustafa (1515-1553)

Ta'en my sense and soul have those thy Leyli locks, thy glance's spell,
Me, their Mejnun, 'midst of love's wild dreary desert they impel,
Since mine eyes have seen the beauty of the Joseph of thy grace,
Sense and heart have fall'n and lingered in thy chin's sweet dimple-well.
Heart and soul of mine are broken through my passion for thy lips;
From the hand of patience struck they honor's glass, to earth
The mirage, thy lips, O sweetheart, that doth like to water show;
For, through longing, making thirsty, vainly they my life dispel.
Since Selimi hath the pearls, thy teeth, been praising, sense and heart
Have his head and soul abandoned, plunging 'neath love's ocean-swell.
---Sultan Selim II (r. 1566-1574).

As you can see, some of these gazels have less than seven couplets, which would seem to contradict Bradley. The first gazel has lines of 11 beats, while the following two both have lines of 15. You will notice that in the first example each A line ends with the same word, not just a rhyme.

I have, so far, not been able to find much information on the form, and it would appear that what little information exists is not consistent. I therefore decided to base my poem off of Bradley’s description (since it seemed to fit my exemplars best) and use lines of 11 beats.

Below is a footnoted version of the poem:

Forth came the proud hare[1] from a desert of snow[2]

In fame and good fortune his legend to grow

Bound to wolf-prince[3] by blood-cords woven bright red[4]

Fierce as the badger and as fleet as the doe

With pole he commanded in far off An Tir[5]

As vassal to baron[6] he forded war’s flow

Now pearl-rich[7] himself he holds land of the north

Stood peik[8] for the queen for her honour to show

Adorned with the crescent[9] called forward to kneel

His boots tread the flagstones, he dropped to his toe

As Sultan proclaimed him his might and his worth

And told all assembled what honour he’d owe

A faris[10], he called him, a lord of the horse

And girt him with leather, the white of the snow[11].

Sources

Anon. “Ottoman Turks Poetry.” Ottoman Souvenir. http://www.ottomansouvenir.com/General/Turkish_Poetry.htm Accessed online on March 6, 2018.

Bachvarova, Mary R., Dorota Dutsch and Ann Suter, eds. The Fall of Cities in the Mediterranean: Commemoration in Literature, Folk-song and Liturgy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. pp. 258-259.

Bradley, D. L. Farsi for English Speakers. United States: Lulu.com, 2014. pp. 242-243.

Horne, Charles F. ed., The Sacred Books and Early Literature of the East, Vol. VI: Medieval Arabia. New York: Parke, Austin, & Lipscomb, 1917.  pp. 259-325. Available online at https://archive.org/details/sacredbooksearly06hornuoft

Parfatt, David. Turkish Makamlar. http://oudipedia.info/makamlar.html Accessed online on March 6, 2018.

---

[1] Shahid is from the Barony of Skraeling Althing, which is symbolized by the hare.

[2] I tried to call up images of where Shahid’s persona would have dwelled by comparing the snow of Ontario to a desert.

[3] His Highness Baldric Leeman of NewCastle Emlyn

[4] Shahid’s squire’s belt.

[5] Shahid was once polearm commander for the Tree House Armoured Combat unit in An Tir.

[6] Shahid was once man-at-arms to HE Ming Lum Pee of An Tir.

[7] Shahid is now a baron himself (Baron of Skraeling Althing). This is a reference to the pearls on his coronet.

[8] A member of Suleiman the Magnificent’ halberdier bodyguards, referencing the fact that Shahid once stood as huscarl to Queen Rylan.

[9] Shahid’s heraldry contains three crescents.

[10] Meaning horseman in Arabic, a title used in the SCA to refer to knights with Arabic personas.

[11] At Winter War AS 53, Shahid was put on vigil for the Order of the Chivalry.

The Rozakii Poem of Colyne Stewart

For Duchess Kaylah the Cheerful upon her Elevation to the Order of the Pelican

By TH Laird Colyne Stewart, Feb AS 51 (2017)

Serving is a calling            sloth is retreating before it          ·

Study of noblesse            the serious woman is knowing

Based on “The Mongolian Poem of Muhammad al-Samarqandi” (1290s), which, in English, reads:

Knowledge is an ocean, the jewel retreats before it, the law of knowledge, the wise man knows

In the original Mongolian, the poem consists of four verses. The first, third and fourth verses alliterated with other. As well, the verb endings repeated in the first, second and fourth verses. I have imitated this by alliterating the letter S (the fact that the second verse also alliterates is either an added bonus or a failure on my part to adhere to the original) and by having three verbs ending in “ing”. The only punctuation in the original was a single dot between the first two verses and the last two (which I have also done).

Just as the original poet (who was Persian) wrote of a culture other than his own, do I write of a household not my own (which also allows me to mimic the original poem’s title).

Sources

The Poem of Muhammad al-Samarqandi, http://www.linguamongolia.com/Muhammad%20al-Samarqandi.pdf

De Rachewiltz, Igor. “The Mongolian Poem of Muhammad al-Samarqandī ,” Central Asiatic Journal,

Vol. 12, No. 4 (1969), pp. 280-285, Published by: Harrassowitz Verlag. Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41926793

Kalenda Martius

For THL Marie l’Englois upon her elevation to the Order of the Laurel

By TH Laird Colyne Stewart, February AS 51 (2017)

This month will see awe

When at Faire, all a draw,

This lady will kneel at feet of law,

Her voice without flaw.

Woven from rough straw

Music, like gold, flows forth from her jaw;

The iciest hearts her tunes can thaw,

Emotions, felt deeply, and so raw.

All in awe,

See no flaw,

Her place her foretold by ka.

Like owl claw,

I here draw,

Dame Marie, I have estampida.

Based on the 14^th century estampida “Kalenda Maya” by Raimbaut de Vaqueiras. The original poem was six stanzas long (each with identical structure) but as estampida are mono-rhyme poems I only wrote one stanza. (Italian has a lot more words that rhyme than English, making recreating Italian poetic forms in English a challenge.) You may notice that I did repeat a few of my rhyming words, but even with the glut of possible Italian words to choose from Raimbaut sometimes repeated words himself. (So I don’t feel as bad about that.) I based the structure of my stanza on the structure of Raimbaut’s. The last line also directly reflects the last line of the original which states: “N'Engles, ai l'estampida.” [Dame Engles, I have the estampida.]

Below is a version of the poem with footnotes.

This month will see awe[1]

When at Faire[2], all a draw,

This lady will kneel at feet of law[3],

Her voice without flaw.

Woven from rough straw

Music, like gold, flows forth from her jaw[4];

The iciest hearts her tunes can thaw,

Emotions, felt deeply, and so raw.

All in awe,

See no flaw,

Her place her foretold by ka[5].

Like owl claw[6],

I here draw[7],

Dame Marie, I have estampida.

---

[1] The title refers to the first of March, as it is in March 2017 that. Marie will be elevated.

[2] The elevation will occur at Kingdom A&S.

[3] Referring to kneeling at the feet of Their Majesties.

[4] Marie is being made a Laurel for her knowledge of Medieval music. I here draw attention specifically to her singing, likening it to Rumpelstiltskin’s ability to weave gold from straw.

[5] Ka is an Egyptian term for part of the soul.

[6] The owl is the bird of wisdom, as Laurels are supposed to be wise as well as learned.

[7] As in I am drawing (or writing) the poem.

The Praise of Kaylah

(Upon being named a Vigilant of the Order of Defense)

By TH Laird Colyne Stewart, Feb AS 51 (2017)

Let me eloquently praise in rhymes

The might of worthy skill

That with sword can foe-blood spill.

Your frame, adorned in chosen pink,

Through the battle seen to slink,

Weapons ring the foes like chimes.

Kaylah, Rozak, you fight like fire

Consuming wood; you drink

In joy in field or shire,

Until you’ve had your fill.

Axe-adorned, most dire,

In the press you find your thrill,

Your smile seen by all.

Monarchs now demand you

Take on burden, kneel until

A collar drapes you. On the hill

And in the lists where renown grew

Teach and fight on ever higher

In your heart be held not thrall

Except to honour. Now with wink

Of defence be you master now

Never from the call to shrink.

Based on “The Praise of Mahākāla,” a Mongolian Buddhist poem written by Choiji Odser around 1305. I have tried to emulate the rhyme scheme of the first twenty-two lines as closely as possible.

Her Royal Heritage

By TH Laird Colyne Steward, Lupine Bard, November AS 51 (2016)

My Queen has asked me to recite

Fair words about her forebears bright—

“My regal mothers, were they fierce,

And with sharp spears the foemen pierced?

Or were they kind and debonair,

With flowers in their braided hair?

And did they work with silk and thread,

Or were they bookish and well read?

Of horses did they know their way,

And could they lead the hounds that bay?

Oh tell me, poet, of my past,

And of my line, my mothers passed.”

“My fairest queen, hear now your lore,

So many others gone before,

Lo each of them were royal true,

And many were the things they’d do;

But there was one who did them all,

Who led her folk in field and hall,

With those of wolf and of the bear,

Met strong the tygre’s steely stare,

She rode her stead in battle’s hell,

And strode with spear and never fell.

She bled her blood, she worked her hands,

For betterment of all our lands.

With needle, thread, she knew her art,

And always giving from her heart,

She clothed so many ‘gainst the cold—

Yet, wait! For more there must be told!

Around her children laughing play,

While hounds, obedient, panting stay;

Within her rooms are piled tomes

Among her pins and fancy combs,

And red and yellow hair bound flowers,

From which she’s read in midnight hours.

So worthy she, so right and true,

A Pelican and Laurel too,

Countess, Duchess and Baroness,

Her name to you I will confess

‘Tis Adrielle, the Iron Queen,

Whose virtues I see in your mien.

Xristina, ruler, sovereign,

My duty now is duly done.”

During the reign of Siegfried II and Xristina, the people of Ealdormere were challenged to write a song, poem or story about one of the Queens of Ealdormere. I choose Her Grace, Adrielle Kerrec, who I feel epitomizes all that is noble within our Society. I wrote my poem as an amas, which was a genre in 7^th century Ireland that extolled the virtues of a local saint. 

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.

For Baroness Eleanor von Atzinger upon being named a Vigilant of the Order of the Pelican

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, August AS 50 (2015)

In service she’s known for her toil,

In name of both low-born and royal;

To Crown both loving and loyal;

So El,nor is called with a cheer.

At king’s word she bends down to kneel,

Astonished that this could be real,

And great ones bring treasure to heel,

So El’nor is draped with new gear.

They speak of her virtues with pride,

As of her great deeds they confide,

All true words that can’t be denied,

So El’nor’s proclaimed far and near.

The Queen now she bids her to stand,

And raises her up with her hand,

To show her to all in the land,

And El’nor stands proudly as Peer.

Written as a zéjel, a Spanish form likely originally Arabic in origin. I used the most common four verse form (rhyming aaab, cccb, dddb, eeeb) and the most common kind of line (octosyllabic). 

For Percival de la Rocque upon His Elevation to the Order of the Pelican

By THLaird Colyne Stwart, July AS 50 (2015)

Exordium:

I must now praise a man of worth

Quite tall of form with argent hair

Well known for love of drink and mirth

An archer with a herald’s flare

Who well can fire bow in clout

And once stood as a bear-lord stout.

With fingers nimble on the bow

And keen mind bent on ancient lore

Face bordered by white hair like snow

Eyes purpled by the hint of war

The bee-loved man stands proper, proud,

Is brought before a Royal crowd

And all achievements he has earned

Are loud proclaimed for all to hear

As from him heralds all have learned

And archers could cock bow to ear

For of his time he freely gives

And through him Ealdormere bright lives

Glad from his arms he gives his strength

His mettle shown with all he does

For service he will go to length

And ever this is how it was

This man of worth, this man so true,

Who shows great merit through and through.

Envoi:

And so the Royals name him Peer,

A Pelican of Ealdormere.

A blason written as a grand chant. A blason was a 16^th century French ordered poem of praise, or blame, usually directed towards a woman which praised her physical features using metaphors. I decided to write a blazon as it takes its name from the heraldic term “blazon” which forms the root of the word “emblazon” which means to celebrate or adorn (with heraldic markings). This seemed appropriate given Percival’s love of heraldry. I also tried to use a few heraldic terms sprinkled throughout the verse.

The gran(d) chan(t), also known as the courtois, was an Old French genre of lyric poetry devised by the trouvères in the 12^th to 13^th centuries. It was adapted from the Occitan canso of the troubadours. Like the canso it explored courtly love, but it could also be used to expound on many other topics or themes.

Typically, a canso had three parts: the exordium (the first stanza where the composer explained his purpose), the main body of the text and then one to three envois (which were not always present). Except for the envois, the stanzas all had the same sequence of verses (each verse had the same number of metrical syllables). The envois took the form of a shortened stanza, containing only a last part of the standard stanza used up to that point.

Each stanza had the same internal rhyme scheme (so if the first line rhymed with the third line in the first stanza, it will do so in each successive one).

Singing in the Quire

For Athrawes Tarian verch Gadarn

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, February AS 49 (2015)

In master’s hands the boards turn,

By gimlet and plane they churn;

As at her knee pupils learn,

And for new books their hearts yearn.

Yearn to sew the quires straight,

Bind the folia of eight,

Band to board and mate to mate,

Save it from unworthy Fate.

Fate can be athwarted sore

With skin of the goat or boar,

Corner-pieces numbered four,

And catch-plate, bosses and score.

Score the end-band, sing it loud,

Hold end product to the crowd;

Nimble fingers never cowed,

Makes her kingdom ever proud.

I tried to write this poem using the Welsh cywydd metrical form, but I didn’t get it quite right. In cywydd each first line of the couplet should end on a stressed syllable, while the second line ends on an unstressed syllable. All of my lines ended up stressed. It is a very foreign concept to me to end on an unstressed syllable. I also found working with seven syllable lines to be odd (I usually write even numbered lines).

I did however manage to use two Welsh poetic devices (cerdd dagod). The first was using a single end-rhyme in each section of the poem (in this case quatrains). In Welsh this is known as awdl simpliciter (though poems written in awdl simpliciter were usually much longer in length. A *lot* longer.) The second was cyrch-gymeriad, which is using the last word of a stanza as the first word of the following stanza.

Final verdict: it’s ok. I need more practice in trying to adapt Welsh poetics into English. Or learn Welsh. You know, whichever.

For Siegfried Brandbeorn upon being named a vigilant of the Order of the Pelican

By THLaird Colyne Stewart, February AS 49 (2015)

Siegfried, bold knight,

Look now to light;

Behold what waits,

What monarch states:

For service done,

For honour won,

For duty full,

For grace’s pull,

Bow down your head.

Be not in dread,

As rulers speak

Of phoenix beak,

Of hands hurt raw,

Of wolfen paw,

Of feet sore tread,

Of oaths you said,

Of feasts you cooked,

Of halls you booked,

Of land you tilled,

Of roles you filled.

For service done,

For honour won,

Unbend your knee,

We look to thee,

With glory gird,

We wait your word,

Not done by half,

Most worthy Graf.

Written as a Sprechspruch, a German form employed by the minnesingers. It consists of 4-beat lines, arranged in rhymed pairs. It is unstrophic (that is, it is not divided into regular stanzas) but could be divided into sections of various lengths at the poet’s whim. The form is fairly simple, except for the fact that 4-beat lines are hard to write, what with them being so short! 

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.