Recently, a post on the Ask the SCA Laurels Anything Facebook Group had me thinking about the messages we give to members about what it takes to become a laurel. Indeed, most of the questions of late have been about the same thing, "What do I have to do to become a laurel?" phrased in innumerable ways. Rather than flood that feed with my own thoughts, here is my commentary, which will undoubtedly delivered in many parts.
PART 1: What is a laurel? A laurel is a person who has been recognized by a kingdom within the SCA for their excellence in the arts and sciences. Most often referred to as a Master or Mistress of the Laurel. Excuse me, but in the world of documentation and policy, this is a rather vague description, isn't it? And, that is kind of the point with descriptions in documentation and policy or organizations. The descriptions are intentionally somewhat vague to allow the group to interpret what that description may mean at the time any decision may be made. So, that description, excellence in the Arts and Sciences, can mean a host of different things about the work and achievements of different people across the span of the history of the organization. So, if you were asking yourself, why don't I understand what that description means, well, you are in good company. Every person who participates in the Arts and Sciences will ask themselves that question if they are seeking to take the journey to recognition as a Laurel. PART 1b: What do they mean by excellence and why are they described as a Master or Mistress? During the middle ages, craftsmanship of goods, standards of quality, and prices were controlled by groups called guilds. In order to conduct business in a town or community, you may be required to be a member of a guild. In order to become a member of a guild, one may be required to become an apprentice for a designated time with a member of the guild. Once the apprenticeship was complete, the person then could seek full membership and conduct their business within the trade. The members of the guild were recognized for their Mastery of the trade, and thereby called Masters. In the SCA, we have co-opted that description, of Master/Mistress for our purposes. Mastery of the trade (Excellence)-- what constitutes mastery? In the Renaissance, mastery of the trade could be very specific. Cennino d'Andrea Cennini wrote "IL Libro dell' Arte" (The Craftsman's Handbook) during this period to provide a guide for anyone who wanted to enter his profession, painting. He describes what one needs to consider to become a painter: "This occupation known as painting, which calls for imagination, and skill of hand, in order to discover things not seen, hiding themselves under the shadow of natural objects, and to fix them with the hand, presenting to plain sight what does not actually exist... The painter is give freedom to compose...as a labor of love for all those who feel within them a desire to understand; or as a means of embellishing." To be a good apprentice, one should have "natural enthusiasm, [with] their intellect will take delight in drawing, provided their nature attracts them to it of themselves, without any master's guidance, out of loftiness of spirit. And then, through this delight, they come to want to find a master, and bind themselves to him with respect for authority, undergoing an apprenticeship in order to achieve perfection in all this...through a sense of enthusiasm and exaltation." From this point forward in Cennini's text is a description of each skill a painter should master in chapter descriptions. He concludes the text indicating with the indication that if God "will grant them grace to study well and to retain it well, so that by their labors they may live in peace and keep their families in this world, through grace," one may become a master. O conclude through Cennini's description that if you are enthusiastic and inspired to do art, and you practice it well to the ability to inspire and entertain others with that art, then you can one day be a master. --------------------------- There are many works written during the Middles Ages and Renaissance describing what it takes to become a Master/Mistress in an Art or Science. The one collective requirement that they all cite is a desire or inspiration to perform that art or science to its mastery. Part C: Art or Science, or both? Is it art? Not a question we will be answering here today, but I return to Cennini for a subtle description differentiating between art and science: "Man afterward pursued many useful occupations, differing from each other; and some were, and are, more theoretical than others. They could not all be alike, since theory is the most worthy, [and] close to that, man pursued some related to the one which calls for a basis of that, coupled with skill of hand." "Skill of hand" or "theoretical pursuit", according to Cennini, ..."justly deserve to be enthroned" next to each other. The theorist must compose as inspiration directs as the artist is inspired to create. Cennini further explains that those who have the skill can do both, create the art which inspires and compose the knowledge of the theorist to describe that art. He hoped that his book would do a little of both with what ability he had to share his knowledge and art. --------- I hope you found this commentary helpful and I am sure there will be more as inspiration dictates. Thank you for reading. Reference: Cennini, C. (1954). The Craftsman’s Handbook/trans. by DV Thompson. New York.
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Baronessa Franca DonatoVandy Pacetti-Donelson is a milliner, costumer, illuminator and calligrapher, and researcher who is interested in all that is the Italian Renaissance. A true Florida Native originally from Saint Augustine, she now calls Daphne, Alabama her home. Vandy is known in the Society for Creative Anachronism as Baronessa Franca Donato, OL and resides in the Barony of the Osprey in the Kingdom of Merides. Archives
March 2021
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