About the Scroll

Scroll by Mistress Dorren of Ashwell, wording assistance by Mistress Eloise of Coulter (from 'Grant of a crest to Thomas Cathorne of Pembrokeshire', 1553, among others); Pendant seals carved and stamped by THL François Thibault.

This page covers:

Historical details and side-by-side comparison
Seals & example
Time investment

Take this link to a Very Large (352K) picture of the scroll.

Historical details and side-by-side comparison

Mistress Eloise of Coulter <krisbenysek@att.net>writes:

The spelling is amazing (we kept the weird spelling in Rod's scroll - but the copy we gave the herald was in modern usage), and a *** means I just couldn't make out the word. Just something to look at to get a feel for the flow - think lists. Never use one adjective where three will do! [Ed. note: I've put in spaces for easier reading. The scroll has none, nor, perhaps the original.]

Grant of a crest to Thomas Cathorne of Pembrokeshire, 1553 Patent of Arms for Cynthia du Pre Argent, AS 36

To all Nobles and Gentills these presente lettres redyng hering or seyng Thomas Hawley as Clarentieux principall herauld and King of armes of the Soueth Easte and West pice of this Realme of england from the Ryver of Trent Sowthward sendith dew and humble commendation and gretyng.
Equyte Willeth and reason ordeneth that men vertuous and of noble courage be by there merytes and good renowne rewarded not alonly there *** in this mortall lyfe so brief and transitory but also after them those that shalbe of theire bodyes desendid to be in all placye of honor with other renowned accepted and *** taken by certeyne enseignes and demonstrauncye of honor and nobles that is to say blason healme and tymber.
To all nobles and gentles these present letters reading, hearing or seeing Kenrick Burne as Brigania Principal Herald and King of Arms of the East Realm sendith due and humble commendation and greeting.
Equity willeth and reason ordaneth that men virtuous and of noble courage be by their merits and good renown rewarded not alone by their deeds, but to be placed with honor with other renowed, accepted, and esteemed, taken by certain enseigns and demonstrations of honor and nobles that is to say peerage of the realm and blazon of arms by Letters Patent.

And forasmuch as Thomas Cathorne of prendegast in the Countye of pembroke gentillman is desendid of an auncyent house beryng Armes he Nevertheles *oncerteyn *** under what sorte and maner his predecessore bore the same with the dew difference and not willing to *** any thing that shuld be pre*** to any gentillman of name and of armes hath desyered me the saide Clarencieux to ordeyne assu*** and serfuth his saide armes and Crest with the difference dew and *** to be borne.
And therfore I *** his request and resonalbe by thautoritiee and power annexed attributed geven and graunted to me and to my office of Clarencieux Kyng of Arms by expresse wordes under the great seale have ratifyed confirmed and set furth for hym and his posteritie the Armes and Crest in maner as herafter foloweth that is to saye geules on a fesse engrailed silver thre hathorne branches in their proper coler betwene thre caluppus hedds *** silver horned gold upon his healme on a wreth gold and asur a Calippus standyng in his proper couler horned gold holdyng in his right pawe a hathorne braunche leved vert budded silver stalked sable mantled geules dobled silver as more plainly aperes dipicted in this margent.
And forasmuch as Cynthia du Pre Argent of Hartshorne-dale-shire, gentlewoman, is recommended for her unstinting devotion to, and teaching of, the divers arts in the field of millinery, and inasmuch as the said Lady has met with much acclaim from the fellows of our Order of the Laurel, have their most august majesties Hanse and Olivia desired me, the said Briganita, to ordain and certify her said arms to be borne henceforth by these letters Patent as is merited by her skilled works and demeanour and befitting to a Peer of the Society.
And therefore I am at their request and responsible by the authority and power annexed, attributed, given, and granted to me and to my office of Brigantia Herald by express words under the great Eastern seal have ratififed, confirmed and set forth for her the Arms in the manner as hereafter followeth, that is to say: Per pale argent and azure, a seeblatt and a bordure counterchanged, as more plainly appears depicted in this margin.

To have and to hold to the saide Thomas Cathorne he being at this presente tyme on of the gentillmen *** to the Quenes Reall Majestie and to his posteritie and they hit to *** and emoye for evermore.
In wittnce wherof I the saide Clarencieux have signed these presentes with my hande and sete thereunto the seale of my Armes with the seale of my office of Clarencieux King of Armse. Geven and graunted at London the fifte daye of December in the firste yere of the Reigne of the Quence Majestie *** sovereyne Mary by the grace of god Quene of England Fraunce and Ireland defender of the faithe and of the church of Englande and Ireland under Christ the Supreme hedd.
To have and to hold to the said Cynthia du Pre Argent, she being at this present time recognized in her due station as a peer of our realm and worthy Companion of our order of the Laurel and Arms by these Letters and assigns given to bear forevermore.
In witness whereof I the said Brigantia have signed these presents with my hand and and set thereunto the seal of the Eastern Arms. Given and granted at Bergental on the first day of September in the thirty-sixth year of the Society by soverign Hanse by the right of arms King of the East and his fair Queen Olivia.

Some of the information I sent Dorren came from Master Morgan de Villarquemada originally. Essentially, the information I emailed her was my work, the information I sent USPS was Morgan's work.

Seals & example

His Lordship François Thibault did the seals, after a period example which we can no longer find on the web. We think it had something to do with a Princess in what is now Germany or Sweden, and it had at least 20 pendant seals. Here is an amusing page about medieval seals, which will take you to one that is more, er, scholarly. Here's a selection from the Florilegium about seals and making them.

As most of the nobles who wished their seals appended did not actually have seals, he made stand-ins from polymer clay, and used those to stamp the hot wax. It took about 10 hours of work. He plans to do a writeup of his experiments.

The seals on Cynthia's scroll are from: Dame Siobhan Medhbh O'Roarke, Mistress Janelyn of Fenmere, Mistress Cyrstal of the Westermark, Mistress Dorren of Ashwell, Master Geoffrey Matthias, Knight, Master Justin du Coeur, Mistress Caitlin Davies, Mistress Teresa le marchant, Mistress Nicolette Bonhomme, Master Alessandro chi Maestrale, Master Trahaern ap Ieuan, Countess Mara Teodora Kolarova, Duchesa Juana Isabella de Montoy y Ramirez, Sir John Theophilous.

Time investment

Mistress Dorren writes:

If anyone would like more details, please write to me at <blding@yahoo.com> -- but be certain to put something meaningful in the subject line, or I'll assume it's junkmail.

Making this scroll took many steps.

Front end research and planning - 4 hours (would have been about 6 if I'd had to also transcribe a text from the original)

Transcribe (from original document) and learn new calligraphy style - 10 hours (with an incidental "practice" benefit of 5 additional backlog scrolls lettered, amounting to approximately 6 hours of the learning curve) For a commission, I would probably not charge for time such as the "practice" scrolls that I lettered. I might charge for the practice time if the hand required was not one I do regularly, and there was no productive "practice" project available.

Do actual layout - 1 hour
Draw border - 3 hours
Calligraphy - 4 hours (two sessions)
Lay gesso for gold leaf - 2 hours
Gild - 5 hours
Paint borders - 10 hours
Add penwork squiggles and erase guidelines - 4 hours

43 hours not including various transportation, ongoing communication with François, etc.

Also not including his time for carving and painting the seals, experimenting with the wax impressions, rearranging them (at least once), etc.

At my professional rate of $50/hour plus materials, to purchase this as a commission piece would cost approximately $2,300.

Back to the Laureling page
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Grant of a crest to Thomas Cathorne of Pembrokeshire, 1553	Patent of Arms for Cynthia du Pre Argent, AS 36
To all Nobles and Gentills these presente lettres redyng hering or seyng Thomas Hawley as Clarentieux principall herauld and King of armes of the Soueth Easte and West pice of this Realme of england from the Ryver of Trent Sowthward sendith dew and humble commendation and gretyng. Equyte Willeth and reason ordeneth that men vertuous and of noble courage be by there merytes and good renowne rewarded not alonly there * in this mortall lyfe so brief and transitory but also after them those that shalbe of theire bodyes desendid to be in all placye of honor with other renowned accepted and * taken by certeyne enseignes and demonstrauncye of honor and nobles that is to say blason healme and tymber.	To all nobles and gentles these present letters reading, hearing or seeing Kenrick Burne as Brigania Principal Herald and King of Arms of the East Realm sendith due and humble commendation and greeting. Equity willeth and reason ordaneth that men virtuous and of noble courage be by their merits and good renown rewarded not alone by their deeds, but to be placed with honor with other renowed, accepted, and esteemed, taken by certain enseigns and demonstrations of honor and nobles that is to say peerage of the realm and blazon of arms by Letters Patent.
And forasmuch as Thomas Cathorne of prendegast in the Countye of pembroke gentillman is desendid of an auncyent house beryng Armes he Nevertheles oncerteyn under what sorte and maner his predecessore bore the same with the dew difference and not willing to * any thing that shuld be pre* to any gentillman of name and of armes hath desyered me the saide Clarencieux to ordeyne assu* and serfuth his saide armes and Crest with the difference dew and * to be borne. And therfore I * his request and resonalbe by thautoritiee and power annexed attributed geven and graunted to me and to my office of Clarencieux Kyng of Arms by expresse wordes under the great seale have ratifyed confirmed and set furth for hym and his posteritie the Armes and Crest in maner as herafter foloweth that is to saye geules on a fesse engrailed silver thre hathorne branches in their proper coler betwene thre caluppus hedds *** silver horned gold upon his healme on a wreth gold and asur a Calippus standyng in his proper couler horned gold holdyng in his right pawe a hathorne braunche leved vert budded silver stalked sable mantled geules dobled silver as more plainly aperes dipicted in this margent.	And forasmuch as Cynthia du Pre Argent of Hartshorne-dale-shire, gentlewoman, is recommended for her unstinting devotion to, and teaching of, the divers arts in the field of millinery, and inasmuch as the said Lady has met with much acclaim from the fellows of our Order of the Laurel, have their most august majesties Hanse and Olivia desired me, the said Briganita, to ordain and certify her said arms to be borne henceforth by these letters Patent as is merited by her skilled works and demeanour and befitting to a Peer of the Society. And therefore I am at their request and responsible by the authority and power annexed, attributed, given, and granted to me and to my office of Brigantia Herald by express words under the great Eastern seal have ratififed, confirmed and set forth for her the Arms in the manner as hereafter followeth, that is to say: Per pale argent and azure, a seeblatt and a bordure counterchanged, as more plainly appears depicted in this margin.
To have and to hold to the saide Thomas Cathorne he being at this presente tyme on of the gentillmen * to the Quenes Reall Majestie and to his posteritie and they hit to * and emoye for evermore. In wittnce wherof I the saide Clarencieux have signed these presentes with my hande and sete thereunto the seale of my Armes with the seale of my office of Clarencieux King of Armse. Geven and graunted at London the fifte daye of December in the firste yere of the Reigne of the Quence Majestie *** sovereyne Mary by the grace of god Quene of England Fraunce and Ireland defender of the faithe and of the church of Englande and Ireland under Christ the Supreme hedd.	To have and to hold to the said Cynthia du Pre Argent, she being at this present time recognized in her due station as a peer of our realm and worthy Companion of our order of the Laurel and Arms by these Letters and assigns given to bear forevermore. In witness whereof I the said Brigantia have signed these presents with my hand and and set thereunto the seal of the Eastern Arms. Given and granted at Bergental on the first day of September in the thirty-sixth year of the Society by soverign Hanse by the right of arms King of the East and his fair Queen Olivia.