Richard of Salesberie, Scribe and Illuminator

 Edward Boreham has two personae in the SCA, one Welsh, one Japanese.  His choice was to receive his Laurel award in his Japanese persona, and so I attempted a Japanese style scroll in ink on rice paper.  It is not an area in which I have any previous experience, and I did not do justice to the quality of the superb pieces of work I was using as exemplars, but I did the best I could.  Fortunately a mutual friend who is Japanese was able to translate the text into Japanese for me... I suspect my rendition will contain a number of errors!

  Knighting “Scroll” for Richard Rampant   Richard asked me to do a scroll to mark his knighting. His persona is pre-Christian Norse, and this always causes a problem, because prior to the conversion, there really is little in the way of Nordic written material.   Although runic lettering from the period exists, it is carved rather than written, on materials such as stone, wood or bone.   The use of parchment or other paper equivalents belongs to a later date, or to other cultures. Richard is head of household for Brighthelm, and this gave me inspiration for how to tackle the problem.   The “Bright Helm” that gives the household its name is based on the Sutton Hoo helmet.   I decided to create a scroll based on designs used on the helmet.   The helmet was, of course, found in an Anglo-Saxon context, but is either a Scandinavian import or evidence of a trans-boundary cultural style which is usually called the Vendel culture in Scandinavia, but wh...