Cedric Campbell, in his youth, wanted to learn fencing and the art of combat. Also he wanted to know of the temper of iron, and the qualities of each weapon, as much for defense as for offense, and most of all matters of mortal combat. And the aforesaid Cedric did learn the aforesaid things from many Society masters, namely Westerners and An Tiri, and in Drachenwald in many cities, with great fatigue and with great expense from so many masters and scholars. And in so many courts of great lords, princes, dukes, countesses and counts, knights and squires did he undertake this art, so that the aforesaid Cedric was more and more retained by many lords and ladies and armigers for learning the art of fencing and of combat. Thus Tyndal and Emerson, Kings to the Eastern Throne, seeing that the aforesaid Cedric had studied the sword for 30 years, while asserting that he is not a perfect master in this art, did decide to induct him into the Order of Defense, and declare to all that witness or read these words that he be a Peer of the Realm.
That was done at the Court of Great North Eastern War, in the Kingdom of the East, AS [Date goes here].
----------
Have you ever done the words for a scroll and then forgotten you did them?
You ever sit in court thinking... "oh man... the words for that are *so good*. Who is that? I got to talk to them?" And then you realize that's you?
In case you are wondering, that is mildly mortifying.
Good thing those thoughts were in my head and no one heard them.
So Cedric has had a military career and has been posted all over the world. This has given him an SCA world filled with friends, but an SCA resume that is fragmented and broken. By the time he came to the attention of the Crown in whatever Kingdom he was in, he was already on to the next thing. He's retired now, and the Eastern Crown has caught up to him, so we are all pleased that he is now a member of the Order of Defense.
My regret with the research for these words is that I could not fit his nickname, "Cedric of the Floppy Hat" into his scroll text with the 200 word limit. I told Camille, who was doing the illumination, and she made marginalia of his cats wearing floppy hats.
So Good.
Source Material: https://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Fiore_de%27i_Liberi Specifically the Michael Chidester translation of the Edition housed at The Morgan
"Fiore Friulano de Cividale d'Austria, the son of Sir Benedetto of the noble house of the Liberi of Premariacco in the diocese of the Patriarchate of Aquileia, in his youth wanted to learn fencing and the art of combat in the barriers (that is, to the death); of lance, ax, sword, and dagger, and of wrestling, on foot and on horse, in armor and without armor.
Also he wanted to know of the temper of iron, and the qualities of each weapon, as much for defense as for offense, and most of all matters of mortal combat.
…
And the aforesaid Fiore did learn the aforesaid things from many German masters. Also from many Italians in many provinces and in many cities, with great fatigue and with great expense, and by the grace of God from so many masters and scholars.
And in so many courts of great lords, princes, dukes, marquises and counts, knights, and squires did he undertake this art, that the aforesaid Fiore was more and more times retained by many lords and knights and squires for learning from the aforesaid Fiore to do the art of fencing and of combat ….
….Thus I, Fiore, knowing how to read and to write and to draw, and having books on this art, and having studied it for 40 years and more, yet I am not a very perfect master in this art. (Though I am well-held, by the great lords that have been my students, to be a good and perfect master in this art.) And I do say that if I had studied 40 years in civil law, in canon law, and in medicine, as I have studied in the art of fencing, then I would be a doctor in those three sciences. But in this science of fencing I have had great contentions and strain and expenses just to be a good scholar."
Comments
Post a Comment