Good Gentles,
I would like to announce that there are 2 A&S competitions slated for 12th Night on January 2nd in the Barony of Lonely Tower.
The first is a "Body of Work" competition.
For those who are a jack of all trades, but master of none. Are you one of those folks who research a project, does it once, and then moves on to the next project....a lot? This competition is for you. Bring your many "Done it once" A&S projects to 12th Night for our Body of Work competition. Please let one of our autocrats know ahead of time if possible, so that we can have ample space available.
Secondly, we will be holding an On Site letter writing competition entitled "Letters to Leonardo.
DEAR LEONARDO
To the right worshipful gentles who wouldst be attending the Barony of Lonely Tower's 12th Night and Baronial Investiture to be held on 2 January A.S. XLIII (being 2010 in the common accounting), I Lord Miklos Farma greet you well.
I pray that you would consider undertaking a contest which is being held at the 12th Night event, for which a prize shall be offered.
I would ask each of you to take pen to paper, and write a letter to "Leonardo". Now one might ask "Leonardo who?", and one would have a fair question in the asking.
Perhaps he is the learned Leonardo da Vinci, and you write him a letter regarding art or math or design or perhaps about the flying machine which he has recently invented. Or perhaps Leonardo is your servant, and you are writing to give him instructions on what foods he is to purchase for an upcoming feast? Yet Leonardo might be your lover, or your husband, or your son? Or he might be a craftsman which you are sending an order to?
The answer of who Leonardo is, good gentle, is that you yourself, the gentle who writes the letter, shall decide who your Leonardo shall be.
One point which must be brought up is the style of the letter you are challenged to write. It should be written in a style which is appropriate and fitting for the periods which our good Society encompasses, namely the periods which span from 450AD to 1603 AD. In plain english, the letter you write should be written in as Medieval/Renaissance a style as you can. As an example of what one would seek to avoid, might I simply say that "OMG" and "automobile" are both most non-period things to place upon the page of a medieval letter.
This next is MOST IMPORTANT. Period handwriting is *NOT* required, as this is not a contest to see who can do the prettiest calligraphy.
A gentle might wonder how a medieval letter was composed. To aid you in that area, I would refer you to three most excellent sources.
The first two are books, namely "The Lisle Letters" and "The Paston Letters". Both are collections of letters written during our period of interest, and both have multiple examples of period letters. The final source which I would recommend is a website - http://www.dragonbear.com/letters.html . Again, it has multiple examples of medieval letters which can help to inspire your endeavors.
Additional information will be available at the table at 12th Night.
The contest, as has been said, will be held at the 12th Night event itself. If you wish to undertake the challenge, you have but to come to the table and ask for a piece of paper upon which to write your letter. The piece of paper will be roughly 4 inches by 6 inches, but that is not writ in stone. Your piece might be 4.5 inches by 5.5 inches, or 2 inches by 12 inches, or some other variation.
It is completely acceptable to write out what you want to put onto the paper prior to 12th Night, but the actual letter writing will take place at 12th Night.
If one has questions, feel free to contact me at miklos.farma@earthlink.net , or at 12th Night where I shall often be found sitting at the contest table.
Know good gentles one and all, that I am but your humble servant in this challenge, and do pray that you shall join in the contest and write a most goodly letter to "Dear Leonardo" !!
Written upon the day of the December Baronial Revel in the Barony of Lonely Tower, by my own hand, Lord Miklos Farma