From time to time it is fun to branch out from award scrolls for the SCA. Below is 3 texts for friends from a larp I started with and still help out at. First two are for writs, last if for a presentation of a gift after a hard battle.
Since human memory is short and does not suffice for a crowd of things, the authority of those who preceded our age, has decreed that those things were to be written down which the progress of fleeting time generally removes from the knowledge of men. Wherefore Alexander Cecil, mighty king of these lands, having heard the good, worthy and valorous deeds of our subject Sakariasvafnir Keeneye not least being his works in training, protecting and sustaining Chimeron as its Warlord, advising the King on all and sundry matters as a member of the Royal House of Chimeron, and protecting the crowns honor as a former member of the Kings twelve.
Thus do we command Sakariasvafnir Keeneye to come before us at a mutual agreeable time and answer the question put before him, namely will he accept all honors, trappings and duties as an Avatar of Chimeron!
Based on excerpts from the The Gelnhausen Charter; April 13, 1180 A.D.
King Alexander Cecil to all the lairds, sheriffs, earls, barons, bishops, abbots, justices, faithful subjects and honored guests, greetings. Know that we have heard of the valorous deeds of Orion Mars in able serving as the Captain of our militia, co-crafting quests to train the foresaid milita, and protecting Chimeron as the Warlord’s second. Being so moved, we command the foresaid Orion to sit vigil and contemplate the question put before him, namely will he accept the honors, trappings and duties as a Avatar of Chimeron! Furthermore, so Orion can sustain his teachings do we award him a virgate from our lands with soke and sake, toll and team, and infangthief of said parcel.
Done this day, at our Black and White Masquerade ball.
Inspired by Charter granted by Henry I to London
Infangenetheof (infangthief) is the right of the lord of a manor to try and to punish a thief caught within the limits of his demesne.
Virgate – A virgate is a measure of land which can be roughly thirty acres.
Sake and soke are defined by the Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages, as literally ‘cause and suit’, a formula found in later legal documents denoting jurisdiction over a court or property. Holding these rights was often taken as synonymous with land ownership. Grants of sake and soke allowed the granter to intercept the fines and other profits of justice relating to his own estate which would otherwise have gone to the king. The formula included toll and team, denoting a lord’s right to tax the sale of goods within his estates and to adjudicate civil disputes on property under his jurisdiction.
To King Alexander Cecil, known as Matt Brenner, from all the princesses, lairds, sheriffs, reeves, earls, lords, barons, bishops, abbots, petitioners, militia, faithful subjects, and honored guests of the nation of Chimeron, greetings.
Since human memory is short and does not suffice for a crowd of things, the authority of those who preceded our age has decreed that those things were to be written down which the progress of fleeting time generally removes from the knowledge of men.
All who have known him have benefited from Matt’s steadfast, faithful, and caring demeanor, and have seen the courage in which he meets all manners of trials, travails, and tribulations. In addition, all have seen Matt’s desire to continue giving to all who may pass his way in the mien of Father Christmas, but know his fight will prevent him from doing so naturally.
Therefore do all assembled here today, whether in person, or in thoughts, present to Matt the wig, mustache, beard, and other accoutrements of Father Christmas so Matt will always be able to carry out his heart’s desire.
So none may have cause to gainsay these words do we seal them with our Ensigns Manual.