From the Frontlines: Champions Part I

This Saturday was Aquaterra's All Champions. Every year the Barony's subjects compete in Heavy Combat, Rapier, Archery, Thrown Weapons, Youth Combat, Games, Arts & Sciences, and Bardic.

Unlike most events, where the contest is simply between whoever happens to show up, Champions are required to submit a letter of intent in advance, and have duties for the year they hold their title. Here's my letter of intent for this year:

Unto Their Excellencies Wyll Hauk and Rosamund of the Misty Meadows,
by Right Baron and Baroness of Aquaterra,
AND
Unto Countess Octavia Laodice, by Fealty Seneshal of Aquaterra
AND
Unto Her Ladyship Soelig Swetegle, by Skill Bardic Champion of Aquaterra,
AND
Unto Lady Tara, by Grace the Inspiration of Roger Gridley,
AND
Unto all those to whom these words may come,

Know that Roger Gridley doth bid you:
Greetings and Good Cheer!

And does by this message Request the permission of Their Excellencies Hauk and Rosamund of Aquaterra to enter into Competition for the Position, Title, and Honor of Bardic Champion of Aquaterra.

That their Excellencies and such Judges as they may deem proper may determine whether Roger be worthy of this office, he is prepared to perform two pieces to demonstrate his skill in the Bardic Arts.

Therefore to be judged,
He shall Recite Bassanio's Speech before the Caskets from The Merchant of Venice.
AND
He shall Sing a new Warsong of An Tir, of his own composition.

Long live Their Excellencies Hauk and Rosamund!

By the hand of Roger Gridley, this 10th day of March, AS XLIV.

Bardic and A&S competitors also have to submit documentation for their work. Minus the pretty pictures and the pieces themselves, here's what I had:

The Speech Before the Caskets
from The Merchant of Venice
Act III, Scene 2
Introduction
The Merchant of Venice was first printed in 1600. Like many of Shakespeare’s plays, we can be fairly certain of this date but rather less certain of the date of its first performance- probably sometime between 1596 and 1598. The play is best known today for the conflict between Shylock the money lender and Antonio the merchant. Less remembered but equally central are Bassanio, a friend of Antonio’s, and the woman he is in love with: Portia.

Portia has inherited a somewhat cruel legacy from her father. He has left her a large fortune, but also three caskets: one made of gold, one of silver, and one of lead. Portia is to marry the man who chooses the correct casket, which will contain Portia’s portrait. Each suitor is permitted but a single chance, and has only the message written on each casket to guide him.

Upon the gold casket is written: “Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire.”

Upon the silver: “Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves.”

Upon the lead: “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” (Act II, Scene 7)

If the suitor chooses the wrong casket, he must swear “never to speak to lady afterward/ in way of marriage.” (Act II, Scene 1)

Prior to Bassanio’s arrival at Portia’s, we see two of her other suitors make their choice, and learn that the gold casket contains a skull and a scroll:
All that glitters is not gold/ often have you heard that told.
Many a man his life hath sold/ but my outside to behold.
Gilded tombs do worms infold. Had you been wise as well as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgement old/ your answer had not been enscrolld.
Fare you well, your suit is cold. (Act II, Scene 7)

Likewise, the silver casket has the image of a fool, and a different scroll:
The fire seven times tried this; seven times tried that judgement is
That did never choose amiss. Some there be that shadows kiss;
Such have but a shadow’s bliss. There be fools alive, iwis,
Silvered o’er – and so was this. Take what wife you will to bed,
I will ever be your head. So begone; you are sped. (Act II, Scene 9)

Thus by the time Bassanio stands before the caskets to make his choice, we have learned that Portia, who despised her other suitors, favors him, and which casket he must choose to win her. But will he choose rightly?

Performance Notes

Shakespearian plays are famously lacking in what modern theater calls “blocking” and “stage notes.” A great deal of action on stage is implied by text, but aside from entrances and exits, very little is explicit. Modern movie scripts even call for pauses in speeches with the term “beat”: wait a heartbeat before continuing. Not so the Bard of Avon.

Partially, this is because the printed versions of the plays that survive today are not the scripts the actors themselves would have used. Those would often have only the individual’s lines in full, with his cues and such to guide him when to speak. These are called “sides.” Giving the actors ‘sides’ neatly conserved paper and ink while making it harder for anyone to steal a complete script, and thus be able to perform the play without paying the author. The printed versions (First Folio, etc.) that came later were not put together as working scripts, which would have made any blocking that was in the originals unnecessary.

We must thus make some guesses as to how the plays would have been performed. One thing I have learned is that in Shakespeare’s time there was no such thing as “over the top” on the stage. Even a contemplative speech such as Bassanio’s would have to be spoken loud enough to be heard all through the theater. It might well be played as a speech to the audience – “breaking the fourth wall” in modern terminology – much as Prince Hal’s “herein will I imitate the sun” speech from Henry IV.

In Shakespeare’s time men were men and women were played by men. In The Merchant of Venice we are thus treated in Act IV to a male actor playing a female character (Portia) pretending to be a man (Balthazar, a lawyer) – a common device in plays of the time. It is in this guise that she gives one of the most famous speeches of the play, on the quality of mercy. It is (s)he who passes judgment upon Antonio… and then on Shylock. “Balthazar” thus earns the gratitude of Bassanio for saving his friend, and can’t resist testing her fiance’s loyalty by asking for her engagement ring as Balthazar’s fee. As this is one of Shakespeare’s comedies it all works out in the end.

War Songs and other Cheerful Subjects

We have documentation of music as part of warfare almost as far back as we have documentation of warfare. The Romans had their Cornicens, used for everything from scaring off attacking elephants to passing orders between units. Nicollo Machiavelli in his The Art of War (1521) comments that:
For this purpose, the ancients had their pipes, fifes, and other sorts of military music perfectly adapted to different occasions… depending upon whether they wanted to excite, abate, or reflect their soldier’s ardor. (Book II, Page 76)

Military music is used to inspire troops, to help them keep time on the march, and sometimes as psychological warfare (for example, bagpipes). War songs are also used to boost civilian morale or glorify war – the better to boost recruitment.

One example is the Agincourt Carol, written shortly after the subject battle (1415). It tells of the glory of the campaign and how God was on the side of King Henry V. One point worthy of note is that this is not a marching tune; there is no beat to keep troops marching in step.