SCRIBES



Greetings and salutations to all Scribes - either 'warranted' or 'would-be'.

Greetings to all Warranted, Working or Would-be SCRIBES
From the new Scribe in Lochac, Rowan Perigrynne.

I had hoped to write to you all before now but getting married took up a lot of time. I am now safely holed up in bed, suffering from some mysterious infection & whilst I cannot eat much or talk I can write.

Firstly: I have come into this post with less information than I would have liked to. At the moment, I am unsure who is warranted, who is working as a scribe or illuminator in their own area and who would like to know more about it and become a scribe.

To work backwards - if you are interested in becoming a scribe, I'd love to hear from you. You can learn from warranted or working people in your area, or from books or other info I can send you or from workshops (see later in letter) depending on where you are.

Next: working scribes - by this I mean people who's ink adorns the various newsletters, flyers etc around Lochac or who are scribing letters or whatever but aren't warranted - PLEASE TELL ME OF YOURSELVES! We need more WARRANTED SCRIBES - and you people are the people to become such.

And: Warranted . What is it & why bother? It means that you are officially recognised as a scribe and can work on Principailty & Kingdom scrolls, become well known, famous & sought after! Why bother? Well for a start we NEED more scribes. The West Kingdom has a huge backlog of scrolls & only 30 (!!) warranted scribes. Even the awards our own people have earned (over 30 awards to date for those whose device & name have passed - let alone those who haven't submitted yet!) would keep all warranted scribes busy at minimum level for a year. To stay a Scribe you need to do 1 scroll per year of adequate quality. To become a scribe you need to submit an EXEMPLAR. This is an example of your work - for eg an A4 sheet of paper with a few sentences, and alphabet, your name and the name of the style. If you wish to illuminate too, do an illuminated capital & border etc. If you only wish to illuminate, send some samples. Send and exemplar of each style you do eg. blackletter, half-uncial, secretarial hand etc.

Enough of that.
While I was Seneschal, I had to write regularly to all the local Seneschals, which was great. I knew how they were going & what was happening. So I'm going to try writing regularly to you too - if it develops into a Scribes' Newsletter well & good, if not I'll keep writing to keep in touch.

The College of Scribes has several goals
  1. To provide a source of completed, accurate scrolls: service to the Kingdom.
  2. To practise and produce beautiful things: enhancing the arts
  3. To research and produce ever more accurate & historical examples of the art: research and authenticity
  4. To pass on to others our love & knowledge of the art: teaching
I must warn you from the beginning that I am an authenticity buff - I strive to be as faithful as I can in style, colour & form to the period. I am re-creating & that is what I will encourage. I will aid as I can with text, sources, ideas, materials etc but I am not very rich.

So what would I like you to do?
  1. If you are warranted, ask for a scroll assignment (I have over 30 to chose from - from AA's to Duke scrolls).
  2. If you are not, send an exemplar PLEASE or ask for perhaps a Baronial scroll to work on.
  3. If you are just beginning, alert me to your presence & tell me where you are up to -so I can help.
I have much information, for people at various levels.

For beginners to calligraphy and illumination
- names of good books to get ideas and techniques from.
- pages of how to's for text & illumination in all sorts of hands
- the Lochac College of Scribes book*
- lists of the RIGHT SORT of materials - inks, brushes, paints

For those who know something about it
- more & different hands and styles
- ideas & sources in examples from the times
- anything that might be suitable from above
- what we look for in a warranted scribe

For warranted scribes
- scroll texts
- layout ideas
- procedures for starting - ... working - finishing a scroll
- scroll assignments

* useful for all

So where do you stand & what do you need?

I'd love to get a letter/card from everyone even vaguely interested in scribing & Illuminating, with
- your name(s) and address
- an idea of your standard
- an exemplar (doesn't have to be brilliant - I just want an idea!)
- what you need

The following people are warranted to Kingdom level:
Dermod ui Niall, Rowan Perigrynne, Haos Windchaser, Bryony of the Bees, Mark Caulderwood

The following people are doing Baronial level scrolls (& one close to K level):
Marit the Wanderer, Pjota, Frederik van der Meer, Hugh Louis de la Lautrin.

The following people are doing work in newsletters - I'd love to see more!
Bryn of the Quavers (thanks for the exemplar!), Thorfinn Hrolfssen.
- many others whose names I don't know.

PLEASE WRITE!!

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