So this past week, I was asked to do wording for a Scarlet Banner, and the scribe Nicolaa de Bracton told me that she was doing a scroll with vicious rabbits wielding weapons … and while we might have seen pictures of killer rabits, the original manuscript that they come from the Decratus Gregorii IX from 1234. It’s odd that a declaration of papal edicts would have such irreverent marginalia, but those scribes must have been heady from dye and ink fumes, or the long hours got to them ...
So, I thought it would be interesting and symmetrical to base the wording of the scroll on the original document. Finding an English translation was challenging, but I found it and used the following snippet (inspirational phrases and language are bolded. The connective tissue wording added was in the same style as the Decratus
“in order that the beauty of
the universal church might not simply be
preserved – a beauty fashioned from
its separate members, which while not all performing the same
action, nevertheless serve one another with harmonious charity – but also
function more dutifully according to the image of the court of the heavenly
kingdom, it has been separated into an assortment of different orders and
embellished with office titles, with which men of worth may be appropriately
awarded according to their different God-given abilities, so they might endeavor to serve in the vocation
to which they have been called. So lest one member appear to cause offense to
the entire body, it is appropriate that
those who occupy a lower order should never refuse to come after their superiors
[in regards to the distribution of benefices
or other privileges], since otherwise it would seem ridiculous if those
promoted to higher orders were to occupy an inferior position.”
Orig: “Ut universalis eccelsie pulchritudo menbris effigiata distinctis, que non eundem actum habentia, invicem sibi unanimi caritate ministrent, non solum servetur integrus, verumetiam officiosius operetur instar curie Regni celestis, ordinum varietate distinguitur et insignitur titulis dignitatum, quibus viri digni decorati decenter secundum differentes datas a Domino gratias, [ut] in ea qua vocantur vocatione digne studeant famulari. Unde ne menbrum in corpore scandalum facere videatur, expedit ut qui minores sunt ordine, nequaquam postponi maioribus dedignentur, cum alias ridiculum videretur, si provecti ad ordines altiores in locis inferioribus remanerent.”
Orig: “Ut universalis eccelsie pulchritudo menbris effigiata distinctis, que non eundem actum habentia, invicem sibi unanimi caritate ministrent, non solum servetur integrus, verumetiam officiosius operetur instar curie Regni celestis, ordinum varietate distinguitur et insignitur titulis dignitatum, quibus viri digni decorati decenter secundum differentes datas a Domino gratias, [ut] in ea qua vocantur vocatione digne studeant famulari. Unde ne menbrum in corpore scandalum facere videatur, expedit ut qui minores sunt ordine, nequaquam postponi maioribus dedignentur, cum alias ridiculum videretur, si provecti ad ordines altiores in locis inferioribus remanerent.”
I went through several rewrites, and it was originally pretty dry even after adding in the society award verbiage, so I went back and played up the violence and mayhem of fencing for Petra’s entertainment.
In order that the carnage of The Honourable Lady
Petra of Septentria might not simply be preserved in writing – fatal wounds fashioned from many separate maneuvers, which
while not each performing a single fatality, nevertheless serve one another
with harmonious violence, so they might endeavor to display her vocation to
which she has been called. So lest one
lady has appeared to cause lacerations and bloodloss to many others with thrust
and edge, it is appropriate that she now receive benefices or other privileges,
such as the Award of the Scarlet Banner.
Arranged for this letter to be settled through ourselves and our scribe, given to Petra of Septentria under our seal, this 4th day of May, in the 1st day of our Reign, Anno Societatis LIV.
Arranged for this letter to be settled through ourselves and our scribe, given to Petra of Septentria under our seal, this 4th day of May, in the 1st day of our Reign, Anno Societatis LIV.
Roak Hyrrokin
Here’s the link to the PDF of the Decretals: https://academiccommons.columbia.edu/doi/10.7916/D8PK0P3Q
And here’s a gallery of the manuscript itself and the marginalia:
https://www.google.ca/search?q=decretals+of+gregory+ix+rabbits&tbm=isch&source=univ&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjr5ujszIXiAhVEQ6wKHbexCRkQ7Al6BAgKEBc&biw=1366&bih=623
Brand, Barenwalde