Words for Andrixos’ Herald Extraordinary

I was contacted back at the beginning of the year by Konstantia that Andrixos, or Drx, of Calontir Trim fame, was being awarded his Herald Extraordinary by the Principal Herald of Calontir. With their blessing, we took over the scroll duties: I would write the words, and Konstantia would do the illumination on one of her signature “tiny scrolls”.

You can see the final product here  (which features the two of us to the scrolls’ left/reader’s right): https://kaloethina.wordpress.com/2019/04/13/andrixos-herald-extraordinary

Drx’s persona is a bit earlier than mine, so I scoured the internet for sources based on that, and his notability for rallying the Calontir troops at war. The material I chose was a military hymn dated to the mid 10th Century. With a few tweaks, I was able to pretty much keep the meter and feel.

Source material, from Paul Stephenson’s collection of translations available online:

Let us gather together people of Christ
And celebrate the memory
Of our brothers who died in battle
And those who perished in intolerable captivity.
Let us entreat on their behalf.

 They were valiant until their slaughter
Your servants, Lover of Man;
They received
Blows pitilessly
Persevering in fetters;
Let it be that these men for these things
Achieve atonement of their souls, Lover of Man.

 You alone who are without sin,
Took in those
who are your servants,
Illustrious generals ( stratêgous ),
commanding commanders ( taxiarchas ),
Brave soldiers ( stratiotas ),
Judge them worthy of your repose.

My words:

Let us gather together people of Calontir
And celebrate the verbiage
Of our brother who sings us to battle
And those who listen
Let us entreat on his behalf

We the people of Calontir
Your servant, Gold Falcon;
Has received
Petitions mercilessly
Persevering in letters;
Let it be that Andrixos Seljukroctonis for these things
Achieve Herald Extraordinary for his soul, Lover of Words.

You Andrixos who are with song,
Praise in those
who are your contemporaries,
stratêgous, [Illustrious Generals]
taxiarchas, [Commanding Commanders]
stratiotas,  [Brave soldiers]
You deem them worthy of your reverbs.

Done this day __________ at our Spring Crown Tournament, Anno Societatis LIII

Rumor has it that we may be relegated to a convent for this endeavor. I say the only good gotcha, is a nice sneaky one. 😉