Richard of Salesberie, Scribe and Illuminator

 My fourth illuminated poem.  Having written the last two about an accountant and an insurance salesman, it occurred to me that I had unintentionally written them about the two careers my children had recently started, so it seemed appropriate to see if I could write one about my wife's career.  She is an aircraft engineer, and aircraft were notably absent in the mediaeval period, but I was aware of one... that built by Eilmer of Malmesbury, an 11th century monk mentioned in the histories of William of Malmesbury, a later monk from the same abbey.   I tinkered with the story a bit... the real Eilmer broke his legs in his first flight and never flew again, whereas mine kept trying.  But in the end, my Eilmer was out-classed by flying nuns, in tribute to my wife who has succeeded as a woman in a very male-dominated sphere of work. Stylistically, the inspiration for the illuminations is the "Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berry"

 The two scrolls shown here were a collaboration, in which my role was the calligraphy of the text, which the recipients had requested should be in Old Slavonic style.  The paintings were by Kay Ellis (SCA name, Agatha of Norwich), and the text, was composed by Fiona Scerri and translated into Ukrainian (preferable to Russian at present!) by Lesley McIntee.