Sir Mons von Goarshausen


Sir MonsThe rime royal, also known as the Chaucerian stanza, was a popular Renaissance poetry form in England and France, and remained quite popular with Scottish poets.  The stanza is 7 iambic pentameter lines, with the rhyming pattern ababbcc.  It is rarely seen as a single stanza poem, but often used as a narrative stanza for storytelling.

I chose to write this, not only as a poem of praise for Sir Mons, but as a recollection of the day he honored Caid with his most honorable skill and demeanor.

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Sir Mons von Goarshausen
fallen in Spring Crown Tourney, A.S. XLVI

(rime royal)

As morning sun relieved the cold of night
And fading embers died into the day
Her sleeping soldiers wakened for the fight
That would determine who would lead our way
And be the muse of every minstrel’s lay.
One eager knight, aspiring, of the Rhine
Foot sure against the siren Lorelei.

First, chivalry would be this fighter’s call
His honor bound to see his lady’s needs
While others worked to turn back earthen pall
And free the stinging armies lying beneath
Then herald would call battle to proceed.
Now eager knight with lady at his side
Approached the field for victory he vied.

With towering confidence he took the field
And bested cat and wyvern with sure blows
Until not less than three would make him yield
And lay him fallen on that tourney field
To fill the waiting tomb that lay below.
This tale is one of honor for Caid;
For him that day who lauded Her, god spede.

– Bannthegn Beathog nic Dhonnchaidh

. . . is a 14th century bard who can often be seen traveling far from her home in the Highlands with her lord husband and muse.  If a good tale crosses her path, she will sing a song about it, pull out its hair and spin it, or throw it in a pot and cook it up.