Sooooooooo...

Baronial scrolls...I can has to do them. 

I am, evidently, batshit crazy.  I mean, we all knew this, but now, there is  proof.  (Again.  Like we needed more, right??)

I have been asked to do the Bryn Gwlad fall Baronial event scrolls.  Yes, three of them.  One for heavy combat, one for light, and one for archery.  Honesty, since the event is "harvest festival" themed, with no real time or place nailed down, I was at a bit of a loss as to where to start looking for ideas.  There are TONS of illuminations out there, and when you've got "use your judgement, I trust you!" as your guidelines, it can get intimidating.  FAST.

So, I poked The Laurel Brain of Awesome and Niceness (really, she's amazing.  And REALLY sweet.  And doesn't mind me asking six million questions, thank God).  She did a bit of thinking and mentioned that the event falls on the feast of Michaelmas.  From Wikipedia: "Michaelmas, the feast of Saint Michael the Archangel (also the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael, the Feast of the Archangels, or the Feast of Saint Michael and All Angels) is a day in the Western Christian calendar which occurs on 29 September. Because it falls near the equinox, it is associated in the northern hemisphere with the beginning of autumn and the shortening of days. In medieval England, Michaelmas marked the ending and beginning of the husbandman's year, George C. Homans observes: "at that time harvest was over, and the bailiff or reeve of the manor would be making out the accounts for the year."^[1]"

So, she suggested maybe using St. Michael, at least for the heavy scroll, and I think it's a fabulous idea!  After doing some research, though, I'm going to use the Archangel Michael for the light scroll, St. Sebastian for the archery scroll and St. George and the Dragon for the heavy scroll.

Below are some of the images I've been looking at for the scrolls.  (Yes, St. Sebastian is usually depicted as a human pincushion in his undies.)

The Archangel Michael.  Yes, that's a dragon.  Evidently, St. George was not the only dragon-slayer. 

This is a very modern take on it, I think but it's still GORGEOUS.

St. George and the Dragon.  I REALLY like this one.

St. Sebastian.  I think I like this St. Sebastian the best.  And yes, he's always in his undies, doin' the Human Pincushion.

I think this is the most striking Archangel Michael I've ever seen.  I'm in total love with this.

An awesome Archangel and Dragon.  I think if I didn't include the wings, this would make a decent St. George.

An amazing Archangel Michael. 

It's a pub sign, but still.  WOW.

I'm guessing this is a post-period Russian icon, but it's still a great depiction of St. George and the Dragon.

St. Sebastian.  I don't think I like this one as much.

The last St. Sebastian.