SCRIBE NOTES



Volume 4, Number 3




Editorial

Unto all known Scribes in the Principality of Lochac

Richard de la Croix sends greetings.

Welcome to the third edition of Scribe Notes. Hopefully, this edition should be a little shorter than the last since there hasn't been all that much admin work to do over the Christmas season. I have had a suggestion that Scribe Notes come out less frequently from one of our number. I would be interested in any comments the rest of the College had on this account.

In addition, I would like to issue an errata on last month's Feature Article. Sir Haos has pointed out that the Celtic AA was solely the work of Mistress Bryony of the Bees, in contrast with a joint effort as mentioned in the Article.



Thanks and Welcomes

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome Branwen of Werchesvorde, from Dismal Fogs, to our number. Since the lady concerned expressed interest in working for the College (earlier this year) she has already completed 6 AA's, and provided first drafts for 3 original scrolls.

While on the subject of work completed in the new year, special mention must go to Baroness Alarice Beatrix von Thal for her tireless efforts. Alarice has since Christmas completed the illumination on 1 GA, 3 ORL's, and 14 pre-printed AA's. Her efforts have been much appreciated.

I would also like to welcome renewed interest from Mistress Rowan, Mistress Marguerite and Lady Filippa. Their work has been sorely missed, and its a pleasure to see such enthusiasm from not only them, but also what seems to be a veritable horde of promising scribes. More on this later.



David and Goliath

The news of the day is the markedly improved backlog of unassigned AA scrolls. Thanks to the amazing efforts of our scribes, there are now 15 unassigned AA's according to the College records. This figure is all the more impressive when one realises that there were almost 115 not four months ago.

Of course, assigned does not mean completed, but the number of outstanding scrolls has also improved since late last year. Even allowing for 10 new AA's, the number of scrolls still incomplete has fallen by 30.

What does this mean to you and I? Well, for one thing, I am now issuing assignments for awards granted after July last year. Of course, there will be a few exceptions to this. For instance as a result of the article placed in Pegasus last month I have had to resurrect 8 AA assignments. Consequently, you may from time to time receive an overdue assignment, and this may be the reason why. Which brings me to my next point.

The only reason I can think of for an assignment being incorrectly noted as completed is that the scroll never made its way to the recipient. Since the Heralds no longer have the scroll, I am assuming a representative was given the scroll to pass on and never has. This is clearly unfair to not only the award holder but the scribe who worked on the piece in the first place. In trying to ensure this doesn't happen in the future, I will be asking the Heralds to write down the names of the people actually receiving the scroll in Court. This should hopefully help in some way to fix this potential problem.

Anyway, to sum up the results of the Battle of the Backlog so far........

David - 1 Goliath - 0

Keep you all posted.



Workshop Nears

I have set Saturday 4th March as a fairly concrete date for the promised Scribe's Workshop. The venue will be Woodstock in Burwood, a suburb of Sydney. The 'event' will run from 9.00 am to 5.00 pm, with about an hour scheduled for lunch.

The primary activity will be producing AA's. If you have an assignment or two that you are working on (pre-printed or otherwise) bring it along to do in the company of others who share the same interests. I will be able to issue assignments there as well, so don't let that stop you from attending. There are a few rules and/or points that should be made if you or your friends wish to attend.

First, you should be prepared to work, as I can't think why anyone would wish to spectate. Even if you don't think you're up to Calligraphing or Illuminating a scroll, there are always lines to be ruled or devices to be drawn for anyone with the inclination to help. I don't mind onlookers, but it will be costing me $1.00 a head, so I'd rather not have people there talking loudly and acting as a disturbance.

Second, I don't require bookings. If I'm the only one to turn up then I will still work anyway - I'll just have to eat chicken for the next 3 weeks lunch at work.

Thirdly, and finally there is no cover charge, site fee or involuntary donation required for attendance. Your time is the only thing that I would like you to donate. That said, there will be a jar at the door if any-one feels 'morally' obliged to pay the per head charge the venue requires. This is purely voluntary, and whatever is put in the jar will go to the College anyway.

Lunch and unlimited tea and coffee will be provided. Probably at this stage just chicken, mixed salad, bread and maybe some roast beef. The food I supply will not be fancy, but there should be enough. If you want to make or buy something to bring, either for yourself or others, let me know so I buy less. Again there is no obligation on your part.

I hope to have a good day of honest work. Other people with other arts and sciences projects are most welcome to add atmosphere and get the scribes into that 'period' mood. They will have to front with the $1.00 surcharge, however, and depending on the turn-out there may not be enough food for them as well.

If you have any questions about the get together, you know where I can be reached. Hope to see you there anyway, even if only to put faces to names once again.



College Structure.

You may remember in the first SN I made reference to instituting some form of hierarchy within the Lochac College of Scribes. Well, after much consideration I have decided to implement a system very similar to the West Kingdom structure used and maintained some time ago.

I am unsure if this system still exists in the West, but I have bitten the bullet anyway, and will bring in the following structure within our group over here. I will omit the quotes but almost the entirety of what follows has been taken from the old Handbook of the West Kingdom College of Scribes.
Basic Organization

The College of Scribes is composed of three main sections: The Office of the Provost, The School of Calligraphy and Illumination, and the Royal Scribes. These groups are not exclusive and members of The College are encouraged to study and work with more than one group.
I will not dwell on the first or last of these sections. For the moment I will cover only the school of Calligraphy and Illumination.
The School of Calligraphy and Illumination

The first rank in the College is that of Apprentice. The apprentice has two major responsibilities: first to follow the guidance of the Journeymen and Scribes so that he/she may attain the rank of Journeyman as quickly as possible; second, to keep the Principality Scribe informed of his/her current address and phone number for the roster.

The Apprentice's next level within the College is the rank of Journeyman. In order to accomplish this, each of the various groups have requirements, which when fulfilled, will cause the person to be brought to the attention of the local Principality Scribe for possible advancement.
I have instituted a points system here. In effect the following guidelines for points apply within the Principality of Lochac.

Calligraphy Only or Illumination Only

Grant or Patent of Arms (3 pts)
Leaves of Acievement (2 pts)
Original AA (2 pts)
Pre-printed AA (1 pt)

Calligraphy and Illumination

Grant or Patent of Arms (6 pts)
Leaves of Acievement (4 pts)
Original AA (4 pts)
Pre-printed AA (2 pts)

The number of points, in any combination required to advance to the rank of Journeyman will be 12. Thus, as an example someone who had done the Calligraphy and Illumination on one Viscountal Scroll (Patent of Arms) and the Calligraphy on 6 Pre-printeds would be able to advance to the status of Journeyman at the Provost's discretion (although this will I'm sure prove academic). The West Kingdom Handbook makes mention of the point of discretion as follows;
It should be remembered that these are minimum requirements and do not guarantee advancement within the College. The quality of work is important, and it may be necessary to extend a member's time at this level.
It should also be noted that I have doubled the existing requirements for advancement to Journeyman. I don't consider one original Grant or Patent should be sufficient for advancement and therefore have made the milestone a little more challenging and rewarding.

The role of the Journeyman is also covered in the Handbook as follows here:
The Journeyman

The second rank in the College is that of Journeyman. The Journeyman's next step up in the hierarchy of the College is that of Scribe. It is expected that at this level the member becomes very much concerned with the period applications of their craft, or in the case of the Office of the Provost, with the smooth running and organization of the College. A rule of thumb is that it takes three times as much work to make a Scribe as it does to make a Journeyman. The following minimum requirements must be met by each Journeyman to attain the rank of Scribe.
Here I have followed the Handbook. There are two ways to advance to the rank of scribe within the College in Lochac.

Office of the Provost - serve as Provost of Scribes for a period of at least two years.

School of Calligraphy and Illumination - attain 36 points in work for the College of Scribes in Lochac. Thus as examples someone completing the Illumination on 12 Grants or Patents of Arms or 36 Pre-printeds would be eligible for advancement.

I appreciate that this is a lot of work but I feel that this is justified, and besides this provides a noble goal for which members of the College can aspire. I am working on tokens of rank at the moment for all levels within the College. I will report back on this issue later.

I have had my database add up points to date and assigned ranks accordingly. The list of standings within the College appears at the end of this issue. Surprisingly enough, the results of the points system generally agreed with my original assessment of where everyone should theoretically be within the hierarchy. There were some pleasant surprises, and overall I was pleased that there were so many people at the Journeyman and Scribe level.

I should point out a few things though, before you madly rush to read the report.
  1. Only scrolls for Lochac recipients have been counted. This didn't affect many people, with Mistress Rowan (who I personally know has done numerous scrolls for mainland West Kingdom recipients) a noticeable exception.

  2. Original work on the Design, Calligraphy and/or Illumination of Pre-printed blanks has been counted as an original Grant or Patent of Arms for the purpose of points.

  3. To be counted, work has merely to have been returned completed to the Provost of Scribes and not necessarily signed sealed and/or delivered. After all, the Scribe has done the work at that stage, for which he/she should be credited.


Mail Box

Christmas was slow for mail. I assume the Holiday Season interfered with the lives of most people. Most of my mail was in response to the Article placed in Pegasus. Ten people have contacted me thus far. Nine have said they never received their AA Scroll, while one said they had. This increased the backlog by 8 AA's.

Leonie de Grey

My lady I trust you received my e-mail regarding the Scribe's Workshop. The date and venue are fairly well established. Hope you can make it.

Branwen of Werchesvorde

My lady, the device submission forms I promised you should be with this posting of Scribe Notes. I must apologise for the delay, as I have recently been away from work on leave and upon my return was rather inundated with mundane matters.

I received your re-worked scroll for Felice d'Avignon (The blazon was correct this time so there should be no other problems. I should be giving it to Tancred for sealing along with the other 30 or so I have in my possession in the not too distant future.

Feature Article

This month's Feature Article again comes from Mistress Rowan. I had the pleasure of observing the talk Rowan gave in River Haven on this very subject. For anyone wishing to analyse period work in an effort to improve their skill this is a must read. It is well written, succinct and contains a wealth of information on how to get the most from your research into the Scribal Arts.

In Service

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Written by my hand this Wednesday, 1st February in the year nineteen hundred and ninety-five of the Common Era


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