So,
in the interests of building more interesting scrolls, I used a letter from the
Devil for the wording for Kersteken's Pelican very recently. It's not from the devil, really (I'm mostly sure), but it is purported to be a letter sent to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, who reigned between 1404 and 1419).
I
had used this original piece of period text many, many years ago in the reign
of Edouard and Genevieve I, for a writ, and I thought it would be sufficiently
naughty to please Kersteken. The problem
is, that I forgot where I found it.
Fortunately, I know this fellow named Helpful Evan who was able to reach
out to the Kalamazoo crowd, and I had a copy of the original text in short
order.
In
putting together this article, I did a quick search, and ironically, found the
original source that inspired me -- a source of several period texts on the
Kingdom of Lochac website. You can find
several awesome text sources at http://lochac.sca.org/scribes/articles/period_text.htm
So,
thanks to Helpful Evan, the Kalamazoo scholars' community, and Lucifer I would
share the following with you -- here is the wording I crafted:
Siegfried, King of Northern
Ealdormere, Defender of the Five Baronies, and Ragni, Queen of the Lands of the
Inland Seas, Jewel of the North, both sovereigns, guardians and governors of
all those of mortal account alive in their rightful lands who prefer to commend
themselves to the scarlet banner and the white wolf, to their dearest and well
beloved Kersteken Janzdochtere, baroness and lady of the court, known through
her service to the Barony of Skraeling Althing and various offices of the
seneschalorum, greetings.
We pray and request, indeed we order and command you to perservere, as you have for so many years, in serving the good will and common need of the Kingdom of Ealdormere. Ever since you attended your first event hall we have known your good works, and as such we would grant you by letters patent the full power and irrevocable authority to inspire others and be a pillar of our realm, in your new station as a Mistress of the Order of the Pelican, being fitting to your further deeds.
Rest assured that we shall remember your promises before us made this day, and the promises made by the Crown to you, through our sovereigns of this X day of Y, anno societatis Z in the persons of Siegfried and Ragni. And let it be known that our court is devoid of want this day, as you have entered the hearts of our trusted people, officers, and allies. The crown shall uphold you in your proclaimed station, should you ever have need.
In witness whereof, we have sealed these presents with our noble mark, in the presence of numerous peers of good repute, in our honoured constitory of our Barony of Septentria.
Siegfried, Ragni
We pray and request, indeed we order and command you to perservere, as you have for so many years, in serving the good will and common need of the Kingdom of Ealdormere. Ever since you attended your first event hall we have known your good works, and as such we would grant you by letters patent the full power and irrevocable authority to inspire others and be a pillar of our realm, in your new station as a Mistress of the Order of the Pelican, being fitting to your further deeds.
Rest assured that we shall remember your promises before us made this day, and the promises made by the Crown to you, through our sovereigns of this X day of Y, anno societatis Z in the persons of Siegfried and Ragni. And let it be known that our court is devoid of want this day, as you have entered the hearts of our trusted people, officers, and allies. The crown shall uphold you in your proclaimed station, should you ever have need.
In witness whereof, we have sealed these presents with our noble mark, in the presence of numerous peers of good repute, in our honoured constitory of our Barony of Septentria.
Siegfried, Ragni
And
from that, here is the original period wording.
Note that I purposely changed as little as possible (except for the part
about the adversary Jesus Christ, legions of devils, and the mortal rewards for
carrying evil to the world). Note that I
kept the sentence structure which is a bit stilted compared to our traditional
SCA verbiage. However, the bit about the
constitory had to stay -- awesome word!
"Lucifer,
emperor of the deep Acheron, king of Hell, duke of Erebus Chaos, prince of the
Shadows, marquis of and of Pluto, count of Gehanna, master, regent, guardian
and governor of all the devils in hell and of all those mortal men alive in the
world who prefer to oppose the will and commandment of our adversary Jesus
Christ, to our dearest and well beloved lieutenant and protector-general in the
West, John of Burgundy.... We pray and request, indeed we order and command,
you to persevere, as you have begun, in obeying and carrying out the wishes of
Satan. Ever since you were old enough to carry arms we have given - and we do
give you by these presents - full power and irrevocable authority, and we are
very well informed of your evil enterprises, which we shall help you to
accomplish. Rest assured that we shall keep the promises that we have made to
you... through the... grand proctor of our court, Satan, inviolably and without
fault. Furthermore we wish you to know that our court is completely devoid of
devils in our service, they having all entered the hearts of your trusted
people, accomplices and allies... It is true that the greatest joy and pleasure
we can have is in the destruction... of churches, cathedrals... abbeys,
monasteries, chapels, oratories and all buildings dedicated to our adversary
Jesus Christ, and you deserve praise for the good start you have mead with
this. After you have carried out our orders in the area of our commission... we
shall help you to cross the sea... and then we shall cause you to be crowned
king of Turkey, emperor of Constantinople... king of Jerusalem, Babylon and
Carthage and of several other kingdoms, both Christian and pagan... In witness
whereof we have sealed these presents with our very horrible signet, present
several troops of devils, in our most dismal consistory, in the year of our
doleful reign six thousand, six hundred and six."
(A Letter from the Devil
to John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy)
Cheerfully slaving for my feudal masters,
Brand, Barenwalde Herald