[Bards] Bards in the SCA - Questions

[barrett1 at cox.net]

---- Fields Family Farm <fields at texas.net> wrote: 
> I can't sing.  When I try, it sounds more than anything like a tomcat
> howling.
> 
> The only instrument I play is the drum, and that not for a while.
> 
> But, I enjoy verse.  I happily memorize ballads, and as long as they can be
> spoken or chanted, I can perform them.
> 
> I also write a bit of original verse.  And I don't mean the 'free verse'
> that many call poetry these days.  I mean with meter and/or rhyme, and I
> enjoy learning and using the old forms.
> 
> Actually, that's how I decided to join this list and ask about bards.  I was
> at the Bryn Gwlad fighter practice/populace-in-the-park (I live between Bryn
> Gwlad and Ffynnon-gath, and attend both), and was talking to the heralds
> there about my name, Hrethric, and how it is taken from Beowulf, as my
> persona is Anglo-Saxon (viking father, Scottish mother taken in a raid,
> settled in Anglo-Saxon territory) from about the year 1000.  A gentle,
> listening and also speaking with the heralds, showed interest at that and
> started talking to me about Beowulf, and verse, and such.  Somewhere in the
> conversation he asked me if I'd ever considered being a bard.  I told him
> that I hadn't really, that I wasn't sure what a bard was these days, in the
> SCA.
> 
> We traded emails so that he could tell me more about it.  His name is
> Thomas.  I don't think he gave me his last name, but I'm told that he was a
> previous baron of Bryn Gwlad.

Wouldn't be Master Thomas of Tenby, would it? If so, you were speaking with a well-established, highly-respected performer and scholar.

> 
> As far as I understand it, the Anglo-Saxons had no bards.  But, both the
> vikings and Scottish did.  If working with verse but having no ability to
> sing could lead to a bard-like pursuit, I'm willing to give it a try in the
> SCA.
> 
> 
> Hrethric/Rick

I was under the impression the Saxon version of the historian/poet was called a Scop, which was similar to the Norse Skald, and the Saxons had the Gleeman, more of a regular minstrel and local entertainer.
I also have reference to professional storytellers in the 12th century called Joculators.

I may need correction on the Saxon thing, but the reference to the Joculator was in the first chapter of "Writing Aloud: Storytelling in Late Medieval England"
http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Aloud-STORYTELLING-MEDIEVAL-ENGLAND/dp/0252024036

I can scan through it and see if earlier Saxon vocal professions are mentioned, as the book does make a few references to earlier medieval periods, despite the title.

~Finnacan