Crown Poems
Caid Crown Poems (aka fighter poems) are poetry chronicles of Caid's Coronet and Crown Tournaments.
History
The tradition of writing fighter poems comes to us from the West Kingdom. Begun by Sir Steven MacEanruig (who is no longer with us) [1], as president of the College of Bards, the first set of poems were written by Countess Diana Listmaker [2], Master Ruthven of Rockridge [3], Mistress Rima of Rockridge [4], Sir Bela of Eastmarch (also no longer with us)[5] and Gwydion pen Derwynn.
Sir Robear du Bois recalls: "When we were a Principality, one of the great things about going to fight in Crown was the Fighter Poems. You might spend 8 hours driving up, spend less than a minute on the field fighting in a single elimination Tournament, and 8 hours driving back, but you got your own poem handed to you at Coronation a month or so later. The poems were shorter then, but I can still recite two of them, both written by (Count Sir) William the Lucky [6].
Lady Miranda Douglas of Schiehallion organized the first collections of poems in Caid when we were a Principality, and I think we had been a Kingdom for a few years when she passed the duty on to Natalya, if I remember correctly. I think Natalya did it for about 2 years, but do not recall if she then passed it to Phillipa, or if there was another person in between.
For many years, the only way to get a complete copy of the collection was to win the Crown, be on the Throne, or to organize the writing of poems, type them all, fill in for any late poets, and make the copies, so it is very nice to be able to buy the complete collection each reign." (June 9, 2008)
Mistress Lavendar of Lorne remembers: "Miranda Douglas of Schiehallion told me when I was first approached about fighter poems that she wished to initiate this custom in Caid, based on the long tradition in the West. Certainly, Robear, Natalya, and I are among the earliest contributors to the fighter poems collections here. I gather from an earlier post that the custom is not universal in the Society; indeed, we are fortunate in William and Philippa, and in all their predecessors, for this happy service we perform." (June 10, 2008)
In those days, each fighter received a single copy of the poem but no formal booklet was produced until Mistress Philippa Llewelyn Schuyler and Sir William Schuyler took over production in 1992. As Mistress Lavendar notes, "We all work very hard on our assignments, and I do my best to personalize each poem, assuming that all the fighters would at least see one of the booklets. Numerous fighters have made an effort to thank their poet, and many poets have improved their efforts over the years through study, innovation, and practice. I might add that when Miranda asked me to contribute, I'd never written anything but haiku!" (June 10, 2008)
Mistress Philippa recalls that Natalya may have handed the task to Sir Edward Ian Anderson and Lady Eichling von Amrum. (June 9, 2008)
Chronicles
- A Chronicle of Fall Crown Tourney A.S. XLI - Fall Crown 2007
Purchase
You can buy the booklet at Coronation from the Schuylers. You can also contact Mistress Philippa for back issues. The price for the booklet is usually very minimal, just enough to cover the printing cost (a few dollars). Write to poetry at schuylerhouse dot com for more information
Copyright
Copyright of the poems belongs to the original author. The Crown Poem Staff has consented to have the poems reprinted on the CaidWiki, but you need to obtain permission from them before reprinting in any other medium. See Crown Poems for contact information.
