fridrikr

Hi,

If you are looking for Fridrikr Tomasson, try at academia.edu. My blog there is at

http://independent.academia.edu/tomdelfs

Hope to see you there!

One of the things I love reading is the Medieval Review’s book reviews that come through my e-mails regularly. The site for them is «https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/handle/2022/3631». Most of the reviews are for books I can never afford, but they still make good reading.

One of the places I love for research is The Rossel Hope Robbins Library «http://www.library.rochester.edu/robbins/home» & the Koller-Collins Center for English Studies «http://www.library.rochester.edu/kcenglish/home». They are located in the same space on the fourth floor of the University of Rochester’s Rush Rhees Library.

Recently, I was struck by a review of Ruth Harvey and Linda Patterson, The Troubador Tensos and Partimens, a Critical Edition. Boydell & Brewer Ltd., 2010. «https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/9160/10.09.15.html?sequence=1». Upon checking the UR’s catalog and finding this three-volume set, which costs $450, I made sure I had a day to visit the Robbins Library to do some research.

What I found is a poetry form that essentially is a poetic debate. Harvey and Patterson define the two forms, partimen and tenso as follows:

Partimens [sing. Partimen]: Pieces in which a question in the form of a dilemma is posed by the first interlocutor, while the second interlocutor, by choosing to defend one side, leaves the original proposer to defend the case for the other.

Tensos [sing. Tenso] on the other hand are characterised by the absence of an explicit original "either ... or" choice: "A tenso is an altercation or debate in which each [interlocutor] maintains and pleads in favor of some proposition or action" (Harvey:xix)

“Broadly speaking, the criteria ... lead us to accept pieces which feature a change of interlocutor with each stanza and which in their surviving copy constitute a single text of more than two stanzas. We include poems involving at least two living, human participants whose historical existence we have no compelling reason to doubt." (Harvey:xix-xx)

Both of these forms deal with themes that were of importance to Occitanian troubadors..The themes which are presented by the editors are: Courting, Sex, Marriage, Reputation, Troubador life, "Personal" questions [such as "why have you stopped singing, why did you abandon a lady, what do you think of a certain lady and should her lord be concerned about your attentions toward her], Wealth Knowledge and Knightly prowess, Religion, Politics, Miscellaneous [which is better; Catalans or French, what is your opinion of a knight's sisters]. (Harvey:xxxii-xxxix)

The real joy of these volumes is the presentation of the partiments . I’m reprinting two of them below. What you will see is first, the poems transcribed in the original Occitan, followed by a prose English translation. The “PC” number is a cataloguing number assigned by Pillet and Carstens, Bibliographie der Troubadors.


Partimen of Ademar (lo Negre?) and Raimon de Miraval - PC 1.1

Should a man abandon a lady who has grown old, and for no other reason?

I. [Ademar]
Miravel, tenzon grazida
voil qe fassam, si·us sap bon.
E digatz mi ses faillida
s'om deu laissar per razon
sidonz pos es veillezida,
ses negun'autr'uchaizon.
Respkindez d'oc o de non.

II [Raimon]
N'Aàëmar, tost hai chauzida
la part del preç e del pron:
drutz q'a domna conqezida
non du moure partizon
q'ades val mais la guazida
qan dura longa sazon.
Per q'aiqi non veig tenzon.

III [Ademar}
Miraval, molt m'es estragna
dompna pos h·al pel ferran,
per q'eu lau q'ab vos remaigna,
q'ambdui seretz d'un semblan:
veils e veilla s'acompagna
e joves ab joves van.
Per q'eu veill domnei desman.

IV [Raimon]
N'Aësmar, pos e mesclagna
voletz tornar vostre chan,
ben voill sapch'om en Espagna
qe vostra dompna val tan
qe per nien se gazagna;
e·l partir no vos ten dan
per q'es bon'a viandan!

I [Ademar] Miraval, I wish us to make an agreeable dispute, if you please. Tell me frankly whether a man should rightly abandon his lady because she has grown old and for no other reason. Answer yes or no.

II [Raimon] Sir Ademar, I have quickly chosen the side of the argument which corresponds to good repute and proper advantage: a lover who has won a lady ought not to propose separation from her, for the pleasure that is long lasting is always of more value. That is why I see no cause for dispute here.

III [Ademar] Miraval, I should find a lady revolting once she has gray hair; that is why I recommend she should remain with you, for you will be two of a kind: an old man and an old woman suit each other, whereas the young go with the young. That is why I abandon old loves.

IV [Raimon] Sir Audemar, since you are determined to turn your song to vulgar brawling, I would like the people of Spain to know your lady is of such high repute that she can be had for nothing; but separation can do you no harm, for she is welcoming to any wayfarer.

(Harvey:1-4)

Partizen of Gui d'Uisel and Elias d'Uisal. PC 194.2

Is it better to be lover or husband of the lady you love?

I [Gui]
Era·m digatz vostre semblan,
n'Elias, d'un fin amador
c'ama ses cor galiador
et es amatz ses tot enjan.
De cal deu plus aver talan
segon drecha razon d'amor
qe de si donz sia drutz, o maritz,
can s'esdeve qe·il n'es datz lo chauzitz?

II [Elias]
Cosin, cor ai de fin aman
e non jes de fals trichador,
per qe·m tein a maior honor
s'ieu ai domna coind'e prezan
totz temps qe s'ieu l'avia un an
e pren marit domneiador
qe de si donz sia tostemps aisitz
c'autres dompneis ai maintz vezutz partitz.

III [Gui]
La ren per c'om vai meilluran,
n'Elias, tenc eu per meillor
e cella tein per sordeior
per c'om vai totz jorns sordeian:
per dona vail bos pretz enan
e per moiller pert om valor;
e per donei de dona es om grazitz
e per donei de moiller escharnitz

IV [Elias]
Cozin, s'amassetz tan ni can
vos aurias dig gran folor,
qe re non cost'a fegniedor
si n'a un plazer e pois n'an;
mas ieu voil remaner baizan,
qe res tant n·om plairi'allor,
qe per bon dreit n'iria pois faiditz
se, can mi vol, ieu l·in era faillitz

V [Gui]
N'Elyas, s'ieu mi donz soan
per moiller, no·ill fatz desonor,
q'ieu non o lais mais per paor
e per onor q'ieu·l port tan gran;
qe s'ieu la pren e pois la blan
n·on puesc far failliment maior,
e s'ieu li sui vilanz ni deschauzitz
faill vas amor, e·l domneis es delitz

VI [Elias]
Cozin, be·m tengatz per truan
s'ieu posc aver gardador
e ses parier e ses segnor
zo q'eu plus voill, s'alre deman!
Maritz a son joi ses afan
e·l drutz l'a mesclat ab dolor,
per q'eu voill mais, cal qe sia lo crtiz,
esser maritz jauzenz qe drutz marritz.

VII [Gui]
A Na Margarita lo man,
N'Elias, com a la meillor,
qe jutj'est plai, et eu en sia aunitz
s'eu mai non am mi donz qe sos maritz.

VII [Elias]
Cozin, ben conosc q'ill val tan
q'ill sap jutjar en dreit d'amor;
e, car sos pretz es tan fis e chauzitz,
sai qe dira qe vos i etz faillitz.

I [Gui] Tell your opinion, now, Sir Elias, about a sincere suitor who loves without deceitfulness and is truly loved in return. Which ought he to desire more according to the laws of love, when it comes to pass that he is given the choice: to be his lady's lover, or her husband?

II [Elias] Cousin, my heart is that of a true lover, not a false deceiver, and so I consider it is a greater honour if I have a charming and worthy lady for ever than if I has her for a single year. And so I choose the loving husband who will always be pleasured by his lady, for I have seen many other sorts of love affair broken off.

III [Gui] That whereby a man is improved, Sir Elias, I hold to be better, and I hold that to be worse whereby a man grows ever more base. Through a mistress a man's good name is advanced but through a wife he loses his worth; for paying court to a mistress a man is esteemed, but for paying court to his own wife he is mocked.

IV [Elias] Cousin, if you were at all in love what you have said would be a great foolishness, for a deceiver thinks nothing of it if he receives a single favour from his beloved and then goes on his way. I on the other hand want to kiss and go on kissing, for other creature could please me so much, for I would rightly be banished from her presence once I had been founding wanting when she needed me.

V [Gui] Sir Elias, if I decline to take my lady for my wife, I do her no dishonour, for I refrain from this solely because of the great awe and respect in which I hold her: if I take her as a wife and then pay court to her I can do her no greater wrong, but if I am boorish and discourteous to her I am sinning against love, and the love relationship is destroyed.

VI [Elias] Cousin, think me a deceiver if, when I can have what I most desire, without the attentions of any guardian or rival or husband, I then ask for something else! A husband has his joy without burdens whereas the lover's is mingled with suffering: that is why I prefer, whatever the outcry, to be a joyful husband rather than a downcast lover.

VII [Gui] Sir Elias, I send this dispute to Lady Margarita as being the best of women, that she may pass judgement on it; and may I be shamed by her if I do not love my lady more than her husband does.

VIII [Elias] Cousin, I acknowledge she is of such worth that she is well able to pass judgement according to the law of love; and, since her good name is so pure and so exalted, I am sure she will say it is you who are the loser.

(Harvey:464-473)

As usual, these poems got me to thinking about applying this form in the SCA. And that thought leads to this one: What are themes from the SCA that could be used for partimens or tensos? One the first I thought of is something like: "Which is superior: to fight to win honors or to fight for honor itself?" I'm open to other suggestions...... Post them in comments.

Just because it's Monday & Friday the 13th all at once.....

There is a little known school of scholars who celebrate the writings & leavings of the Boreal Master.  The BM (as I refer to him) was either the most misunderstood scholar & collector of  (deservedly) obscure & (mostly) forgotten Old Norse-Icelandic wriings or a raving megalomaniacial Snorri-wanna-be who would make Rush Limbaugh look like Polyanna .. but I digress.

Every year at the Pennsic Wars, the followers of the BM meet to compare & share their new findings.  I have been working assiduously on collecting a group of verses from the South-Vestergotland Bad Boy Folk Songr Tradition.  I have found many, though I still search for the words of the Holy Grail (Flikkar flokkr Sven, or the Song of a Girl Named Sven) still elude me.

Here however is one - the fragments of which were found serving as a cover for a copy of Girls from the Vik, a tawdry collection of marginalia cut from various 12th & 13th c. liturgical texts.....:

Viking flokkr Number 17

Just a little þattr about Haakon and Sven
Two viking boys moving out of the fen
Haakon's got an axe wants to be a berserk
Sven's a blacksmith's son shirking his work

Hey--Hey Life goes on, 
Long after the thrill of raiding is gone....
Oh yeah, life goes on, long after the thrill of raiding is gone.....

(missing lines... something about Haakon & Sven's marriages to various sheep, ewes, goats, and the occasional Irish princess who was captured into slavery, but that's another saga)

Bridge:

So Ragnarok, Ragnaroll
Let the Valkyries come & claim my soul
Go out a Viking as long as you can
Way to soon you'll be farmers again

Just a little þattr about Haakon and Sven
Two Viking warlords heading for Miðgarðr again.....

(Here the MS stops)

Later this week, more serious stuff, I promise

Back when I was a young garden gnome named Friedrich vander Delft, Thescorre was known as the Shire of the Mire, and later as the Barony of the Bog.  We all wrote songs & poems about our beloved, boggy, bloated Barony.  This one which I wrote is to a traditional Elizabethan (or earlier) tune, which was "featured" in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night.  I adjusted it for Thescorre.

When that I was and a little tiny bud
With a Hey Ho the wind and the rain
I lived in Thescorre, land of mud
Where the rain it raineth every day

But when I grew to a man's estate
With a Hey Ho, the wind and the rain
Then Thescorre swelled my sinuses great
For the rain it raineth every day

And, when at last, I came to wive
With a Hey Ho the wind and the rain
The Thescorre floods, they drown'd five
And the rain it raineth every day

Then when at last I brought her to bed
With a Hey Ho the wind and the rain
The Thescorre rains dripped on my head
Ah, the rain it raineth every day

A great while ago when the world was begun
With a Hey Ho the wind and the rain
They say that Thescorre knew the sun
Now the rain it raineth every day

Now I finish up my mildewed tune
With a Hey Ho the wind and the rain
Oh the Thescorre folks, we look like prunes
For the rain it raineth everyday.

And as a Bonus, because you read all the way to the bottom:

Yesterday, at Summer's End, I took a new protégé, Kaðlin Sigvaldiskona.  And, after finishing heralding a long-ish court, I was visited by the Brain Dead Bard who offered me a verse or two.  His Excellency of Rising Waters brough a lovely child (or two or thee) with him from beautiful Ealdormere.  And the Kingdom's name must have stuck, because the best Three-Syllable-Place-Name-Title ever came to mind ("Galveston" by Jimmy Webb, in which Glenn Campbell sang ... "I clean my gun and dream of Galveston").  Anyway, here goes:

Ealdormere, o Ealdormere, I still hear you'r angry waves a clappin, and I see the peers all lappin up the beer, from up in Ealdormere...

Thankfully, the BDB went back to sleep after that.

 Here is an example of a drottkvaett that I've written.  It is a scroll wording that I put together for Hrefna fruðikona on her Laurel at Pennsic, during the reign of Khalek and Branwyn.  I've put some notes on the kennings that I used following the poem.  The SCA-specific kennings are one's that I invented for the poem.

A flokkr for Hrefna fruðikona

war-hawk soars to sing the
songs of praise and raises
high the roof-beams. rock ribs
ring with joyous noises.
Hugin brings his bright words
bracing song for longing folk
listen Odin's ever-loved
all believe dream weaver

long now raven righthand
roosts to think and drink of
Odin's wine - the world's
wisdom slowly flowing
drunk with love of lore
learning bead-ways needful
blood-swan gives her gift to
gathered wisdom wishers

bringing pen to parchment
pouring brew of truth for
new-made Aetheling nobles
knowledge deep flows sweetly.
wielding silk prop's sword on
sleeve ends - red fire thread she
twists and turns in torrents
tangles our ends to mend us

crying raucous ravens
rally bring to king's hand
wisdom's wreath to ring
Raven's brow. All bow as
lighting green bird greets Khan
gracious Khatun calls her
noble Hrefna rightly
rises Laurel lauded

Kennings used:

SCA-specific kennings:

• brew of truth: calligraphed scroll texts;
• silk-prop’s sword: a needle;
• bead-ways: necklace making;
• wisdom’s wreath: the Laurel;
• lighting green-bird: Hrefna, after the main charge on her device

There are also several classic kennings:

• War hawk, Odin’s ever-loved, Hugin, blood-swan: raven;
• Odin’s wine: poetry or wisdom;
• silk prop: woman.

 Some years ago, I was asked to write something for Baron Tofi Kerthjalfadsson, who was going to receive his Pelican at the Vetrlthing event in the Barony Marche of the Debatable Lands. At that time, I had merely dabbled in Norse poetics, reading the Elder Eddas and pulling small bits from them to perform at bardic circles. I viewed Tofi’s Pelican as an opportunity to delve further into the world of Snorri Sturulusson and Old Icelandic poetry. This proved far more challenging than I originally thought it would. While the end result for Tofi was a pretty fair scroll text in the “Old Norse Style”, it was no where near the form I was aiming for. That form is drottkveitt, or Old Icelandic Court Poetry.

Since then, I’ve primarily written “praise poems” for various friends who have become peers, including one that I wrote last year for Baron Leonard the Younger when he was elevated to the Order of the Laurel. I have also written two “topical” drottkveitt, one for Viscount Hakkon Oaktall and another for Sir Khalek Shurag Od and Countess Branwyn fetch Gwythyr upon Their coronation. Throughout all this time, I have tried to get a better grasp of the drottkveitt and the variants of it that Snorri describes in Prose Edda. The summer of AS 43, I wrote a flokkr for Hrefna fruthikona (aka Hrefna in heppna Þorgrímsdóttir) on her elevation to the Laurel.

Since then, three more: A short srapa for Sir Óláfr Þorvarðarson and two erfidrapar (eulogies) for Duke Sir Morguhn Sheridan & Viscountess Rannveigr Haakonarsdottir;

So, what is a drottkvaett? Drottkvætt, is an Old Icelandic poetic form that has some essential features:

1. The stanzas consist of eight lines (four couplets). each having six syllables
2. In the first line of each couplet, the third and fifth syllables are accented and display alliteration.
In the second line of each couplet, the first syllable continues the alliteration, and the third and fifth syllables are accented and display rhyme.
As is often true in all Norse and Anglo-Saxon poetry of the early period, the drottkvætt makes fairly liberal use of kennings, a form of figurative speech which matches nouns and adjectives together to form a metaphor. For example, a kenning for clouds is "high barrels of rain"
(See Gade, Turville-Petre for detailed information on the drottkveitt structure)

It is pretty common for the wordings in drottkvætt to be convoluted due to the stringent syllable, alliteration, and internal rhyme requirements. Due to the inflected nature of Old Icelandic in which the part of speech is determined by the ending of the word, a twisted word order can be used without losing meaning. However the technique does make understanding the poems a challenge. Often, phrases or clauses that are completely unrelated are interspersed with other clauses. also, sentences may be turned completely inside-out. Here is one example from the Morkinskinna (the earliest history of Iceland and the kings of Norway). In it, the interjected clause sections are marked by parentheses; it is followed by a transposition into sentence form and then a translation into English:

Vann (Þás Vinðr of minnir)
vápnhríð konungr síðan)
sveið of ám at Jómi
illvirkja hræ stillir:
búk dró bráðla steiktan
blóðugr vargr af glóðum
rann á óskírð enni
allfrekr bani hallar

Konungr vann síðan vápnhríð, þás Vinðr of minnir; stillir sveið of ám illvirkja hræ at Jomi. Blóðugr vargr dró braðla steiktan búk af glóðum; allfrekr bani hallar rann á óskirð enni.

“Later the king launched a weapon-storm [battle] that the Wends will remember. The lord scorched rust-red corpses of pirates at Wollin. The bloody wolf pulled the fast-fried body from the fires. The greedy slayer of the hall [fire] flickered on heathen foreheads. (Andersson and Gade: 114-115)

The challenge for a writer of English in writing poems in this form is that English is not inflected (at leas 90%+ is not inflected). Because of this, the English poem cannot mix-and-match parts of clause, changing the order of the wording without changing the meaning. As a simple example: "dog bites man" and "man bites dog" have two opposite meanings in English. The same word orders in Icelandic: hundur bítur mann (Dog bites man) and Mann bítur hundur (Man bites dog) both have the same actual meaning "Dog bites man". In this clause, hundur (dog) is in the nominative case and performs the action, while mann (man) is in the accusative case and is the direct object of the verb bítur (bites). So, I could mix the three words & still be understood as saying "dog bites man." Not so in English.

Combine the non-inflected nature of English with our use of articles, prepositions, and conjunctions, and the six syllable, four line limit for a single sentence can become a headache.

Drottkvaett can be challenging and often results in very image heavy, concentrated poetry. Dense. Fast. Difficult. Drottkvaett.

If you want to know more:

Roberta Frank. Old Norse Court Poetry. (Cornell U Press, 1978)

Kari Ellen Gade, The Structure of Old Norse Drottkveitt Poetry (Cornell U Press, 1995)

If you want to read more Drottkvaett in Old Icelandic - Old Norse & in translation:

O. G. Turville-Petre. Scaldic Poetry. (Oxford U Press, 1976)

Diana Whaley, ed. Poetry of Arnorr jarlaskald. (London, 1988)

Theodore M Andersson and Kari Ellen Gade, eds. Morkinskinna: The Earliest Icelandic Chronicle of the Norwegian Kings. (Cornell U Press, 2000)

Skaldic Poetry of the Scandinavian Middle Ages <<http://skaldic.arts.usyd.edu.au/db.php?table=home>> (last checked 4 September 2010)

Yesterday, I wrote about Contrafacta, which are secular lyrics set to well-known sacred music.  Today, I bring you ax example.  I wrote this lyric to the tune of the Maguns Hymn, a 12th-13th century hymn dedicated to St. Magnus (here it here).  MY lyrics are dedicated to the Three Ravens on Thescorre's banner: Huginn (Thought),  Muninn (Memory) and Bob. 

Three Ravens Hymn
(Magnus Hymn)

Flying high soaring high battles carnage he espies
Seeking truth speaking sooth to his baron beardless youth
Making plans for bloody wars Hugin teaches all
Bringing wisdom Odin's corpse hawk leads our troops to war

Keeping lore learned before singing bloody songs of war
Calling names saving fame to heroes glory cowards blame
To our memories bring the flame Munin past recalls
Bringing tales Odin's cup-mate leads our folk in song

Fighting foes bedding hoes armored talons tearing toes
Singing filk staining silk croaking voice could curdle milk
Bingeing til the break of day Black-helmed Bob flies forth
Making merry, Loki's minion reminds us "It's a play."

Fridrikr inn gamli

Any questions or commnts?

Hi, I'm Fridrikr, and I'm a bard [Hi Fridrikr] It has been about five weeks since I last wrote a filksong.

Let me explain - when I talk about writing "filk", I'm talking about this: "One definition is based on filk as a genre: filk is folk music, usually with a science fiction or fantasy theme. But this definition is not exact. Filkers have been known to write filk songs about a variety of topics, including but not limited to tangentially-related topics such as computers and cats." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filk_music} And, well, there is a lot of filk music written and sung in the SCA. Some of it is silly; some, serious. As you see, if you look at "Lord of Chivalry", some of it is sad and proud and, if I got it right, uplifting. I confess that I have written and sung many silly songs about the SCA.

And, I have written some very serious songs about our Society and what makes it special.

However, that's not why I'm writing this, even though the thought of a 12-step program for inverterate, incorrigible bards is an intriguing one (undoubtedly doomed yo fail). I'm writing today about contrefactum (pl. contrafacta) which is authentic medieval lyric style. Let me quote:

What is a contrafactum? 

[The absence of contrast between 'secular' and 'sacred' styles of music in the Middle Ages] 'can be shown simply by the observation that a secular song, if given a set of sacred words, could serve as sacred music, and vice versa. Only recently has it been recognized how frequently such interchange took place, and the more we learn about medieval music, the more important it becomes. The practice of borrowing a song from one sphere and making it suitable for use in the other by the substitution of words is known as "parody" or contrafactum.'

(Manfred F. Bukofzer, 'Popular and Secular Music in England', in The New Oxford History of Music 3: Ars Nova and the Renaissance, 1300-1540, ed. Anselm Hughes and Gerald Abraham (London: Oxford University Press, 1960), p. 108.) (http://www.soton.ac.uk/~wpwt/notes/contraf.htm)

What examples are there from period?

Here is a very good one from the same webpage:

Examples of this can be found particularly in Goliardic verse, which sometimes parodies the forms of hymns and the church services; for instance, the first line of the sixth-century Latin hymn for Prime, Iam lucis orto sidere, which celebrates control of both the emotions and the appetites, potus cibique parcitas ('restraint in food and drink'), is borrowed to introduce a twelfth-century drinking song:


Iam lucis orto sidere
Deum precamur supplices
ut in diurnis actibus
Nos servet a nocentibus . . .

Now at the dawning of the day
To God as suppliants we pray
That from our daily round he may
All harmful beings keep away . . .

becomes:

Iam lucis orto sidere
statim oportet bibere;
Bibamus nunc egregie
Et rebibamus hodie . . .

Now at the dawning of the day
We must start drinking straight away;
Let's drink now till the drink's all gone,
And have another later on . . .

(Texts from F.J.E. Raby, ed., The Oxford Book of Medieval Latin Verse (Oxford: Clarendon, 1959), nos. 41 (p. 53) and 237 (pp. 362-3); my translations).

This would pass in most camps at Pennsic as a solid drinking song.

Contrafactum in the SCA?

That is what I strive to write: new lyrics to old songs - lyrics that apply to our "secular" SCA life and are set to music that we all know. Songs that remind us of the people, history, and values that inspire us all. There are certain songs that have, indeed, become somewhat sacred to us. The prime example that comes to mind is "Born on the Listfield". Done in the right setting, at the appropriate time, it is one of the most moving and significant songs ever written about the SCA. A couple of others come to mind: "Burden of the Crown" and "Behold, I Give You the Kingdom"

Less seriously, I have one written to a 12th-3th century hymn, the Magnus Hymn (http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number901.asp). The song itself is dedicated to the Three Ravens of Thescorre: Thought, Memory, and Bob. I'm posting it in a separate entry.

So?

I believe strongly that we shouldn't refer to our so-called "filk music" by that term. Yes, for the very silliest, it may apply. However, I think that contrafactum is a lyric form that we should write, perform - in the appropriate venues at the appropriate times - and cherish. In the future I'll try to write new lyrics to period music, thus have true contrafacta. But, as long as the SCA exists, we'll have new lyrics to current music, and they'll be part and parcel of our history and culture.

 This is the song / contrafactum that won the Blackfox.  It is dedicated to His Grace, Morguhn.

Lord of Chivalry
(Seminole Winds)

It is said in days of old
Men went searching for fame untold
Spurs of silver and chains of gold
The Lords of Chivalry
They kneel to kings and an oath they speak
Save the poor protect the weak
Honor for the right they seek
Til the world's time shall cease

Ride Lords of Chivalry
Ride til the people of the land are free
Evil hears your battlecall
And flees for it dares not stay
Ride into battle with banners bright
Drive away darkness, bring the light
Ride into the glorious fight
For a gold chain never fades

From the East a young man rides
With flaming hair and laughing eyes
A soaring soul and a battle cry
A true lord riding free
He rides for glory and he rides for fame
His ladies' honor and a noble name
A wild spirit whom none can tame
A Lord of Chivalry

Ride Lords of Chivalry
Ride til the people of the land are free
Evil hears your battlecall
And flees for it dares not stay
Ride into battle with banners bright
Drive away darkness, bring the light
Ride into the glorious fight
For a gold chain never fades

The kingdom's glorious service called
In the list, at war, or in the hall
With love and laughter let all recall
The Paragon of Chivalry
For the honor of his ladies the Crown he bore
In times of peace, on the field of war
His fames resounds in legend and lore
The Lord of Chivalry

Ride Lord of Chivalry
Ride til the people of the land are free
Evil hears your battlecall 
And flees for it dares not stay
Ride into battle with banners bright
Drive away darkness, bring the light
Ride into the glorious fight
For a gold chain  never fade

In final battle with the dauntless foe
He fought to his last, stood toe to toe
At Valhalla's Gates, the gods now know
The Lord of Chivalry
His joy in battle his heart's desire
In death let the glory of his life inspire
His memory brings our souls to fire
The Lord of Chivalry

Ride Lord of Chivalry
Ride til the people of the land are free
I still hear your battlecall
Where you've gone I cannot say
Ride into battle with banners bright
Drive away darkness, bring the light
Ride on forever, our valiant knight
For a pure heart never fades
No, a true knight never fades

 Hi, all.

I'm Fridrikr Tomasson, called inn gamli (the Old One), from the Barony of Thescorre in the Kingdom of Aethelmearc.  My primary purpose in setting up this page is to give me a place to post the things I write.  I'll try to stay current, and to post a poem/song or two every week.  That should keep me going for a week or two :)

Enjoy!