Cerdic the Scop, 584AD
(aka Nicole Kipar)Meet Cerdic the Scop (Poet/storyteller). Cerdic is Gilla's scop, who recites poems such as 'Beowulf' and 'The Battle of Finnsburgh' at the gesith's hall. Now Cerdic will tell you more about himself:
I, Cerdic, was born in Wessex in the year 556. My father, a wealthy West-Saxon named Heardred had married a Frankish lady (born in Aachen/Aix-la-Chapelle), the second cousin of king Clotaire, named Rothaide. They lived and prospered on a great estate in Winchester, paying their rent to their hlaford, while owning land in their own right and slaves for the hard work. I have two older brothers and one older sister. My siblings are much older than me, my mother was expecting me at an age, where it was unusual for a woman to bear children. But both my father and my mother were thankful when I was born, 18 years difference in age from my eldest brother.
My father served King Ceawlin, son of Cynric, as a free man in a battle and was wounded in 562, dying slowly and painfully from the infected wound. He had given me the name Cerdic, because he was proud of his West saxon origin. My mother was devastated and therefore refused to marry again. She decided to go back to her homeland, thus bequeathing her inherited land from her late husband to my older brothers, dividing the land between the two. She took me with her and we crossed the water, heading towards the North-Western Frankish territory, towards Neustria. Neustria extended from the Scheldt to the Loire river (now northern France), and was bounded by Aquitaine on the south and by Burgundy and Austrasia on the east. When my mother had left the Frankish kingdom of Clotaire I the kingdom had not been divided, but when we came back the four sons of Clotaire (Gontran, Charibert, Sigebert and Chilperic), were ruling the four parts. My mother was invited to stay at the court of Chilperic as distant relative, and I was brought up there. But all the time, even as a child at the age of six, I was homesick for the land that was covered with rich forests and fertile fields.
My mother had already been converted to Christianity before she married my father, who was deeply embedded in the pagan religion of our West Germanic ancestors. I had been fascinated as a child by the beliefs of my father, not paying attention to my mother's practices. I was aware of the power of nature surrounding us, the fertility of the lands, the power of our gods and goddesses. My father had not interfered with my mother's beliefs, as long as she didn't try to convert their children. When I arrived in Neustria, at the court of Chilperic, I felt lost in their world of Christian beliefs, that had been practiced since 496, when king Clovis, the great king who had conquered so many peoples, had been converted. I never really took over Christianity, I didn't let go of our gods. And I also never completely forgot the language of my father, although I was speaking in the Frankish tongue by now, and had to re-learn much of the Old English language when I came back to the land of the Angles. But before I was able to return home, I had to learn, and I had to grow up, and travel.
Already as a very small child I had listened attentively to the stories and poems of old, to the heroic epics, being told at the fire. I had shown so much interest and skill that I was given a whistle by my father and I learned to play the instrument all by myself. Now, in the land of the Franks, my talent became even more apparent. So I was given over to the king's poet, minstrel and storyteller, to be taught the skills of a scop, and I learned fast. I was eager to memorize the ancient epics, to learn to play the lyre and to aquire the ability to compose verses in the correct metre. For many years I was taught and for many summers and winters I learned and memorised the traditional stories of old. There were scops coming from distant lands and I listened to them as well, trying successfully, to remember the stories and poems they told and thus learning much about the world. This helped me not to forgot my father's language, the beautiful language of the Anglo-saxons, my beloved Angelisc, and all the time I could never forget my father's country, the soil that I loved so dearly, the rivers and forests, the meadows and trees.
At the age of 16, in the year 572, after ten years of education, I left Chilperic's court and set off to wander into the world, being told I had learned enough to be a scop, to wander the lands and to seek for employment; and to learn even more of the wonders of this world. I wandered around the Frankish kingdom, traveling as far as Britannia, Suabi, the land of the Alamanni, and Liguria, when I decided after four years that it was time to go back to Neustria, because king Chilperic, who had been impressed by my skills and who was in need of a scop, had promised to employ me and to protect me when I came back and when I had aquired even more skills. Thus I became the scop of the Frankish king Chilperic in the year 576. But it was not a peaceful life and my former noble king had changed while I was away. He had, so the people said, killed his wife Galeswiğa, the sister of Brunehilde, wife of Chilperic's brother Sigebert, who ruled Austrasia, the kingdom of the east. It was said that his mistress, Fredegonda, a fromer slave, had manipulated him to take over the throne as his Queen. It was a time of strife and quarrels, of battles and murders, and it was difficult for me to sing the king's praise, because there was not much to be praised, apart from his courage in battle and his fierce determination to become king of all the Frankish land. So I stuck to the old lays, wishing I could leave the court and find a master whose praise I could sing wholeheartedly and with loyalty and pride. But Chilperic wouldn't let me go once I had come back. He kept an eye on me, he didn't want to lose his skilled scop, who was praised during the feasts by the entertained guests. So I had no chance to leave, and what would I have been if I had succeeded? A lordless man, deprived of securiry and protection, being looked upon inquiringly, once it had been found out that I had been the scop of a king. Had he dismissed me? Was I worthless? Had I committed a crime? It was not possible to go back to the state of a wandering minstrel, once I was the king's scop. So I stayed.
Chilperic was a generous giver of gifts, and he showered me with precious braids, rings, clothes, jewellery, but he could never win my love. Yet I was loyal to him, not because my heart told me so, and not because he managed to bribe me with the many gifts, but because loyalty is a sign of a man's woth. Being disloyal would have diminished my worth, and I could not do that. In 575 Sigebert had challenged Chilperic, who had fled to Tournai, but before the battle started Sigebert was assassinated and his wife had to escape. And indeed, they were not peaceful times, because until 584, for the eight years that I stayed with Chilperic, there were battles between the kingdoms after the rivalry between Neustria and Austrasia had grown. And then, finally, the nobles of Austrasia, with Brunehilde as their regent, led the campaign against Chilperic, who was assassinated in 584. I had lost my king, I had lost my position, security, protection, everything. I was in danger. I had to leave the Frankish kingdom and so I decided at last to return to the beloved land of my father. I had to hurry and so I fled to the coast where I entered a vessel that took me over the sea to the shores of the land of the Angles where the rugged coastline greeted me in fog, promising a new start, promising a new life, where I could choose my new master, love my new lord and be loyal until the end of my days. I had not forgotten my father's tongue, although I now spoke with a Frankish accent. When I set my foot on English soil I was everwhelmed by joy, and I knew that I had found the land of my fathers, the land where I belonged. I did not travel to my brothers' farms, I didn't belong there, but instead I went to explore Kent to seek a new lord. I trusted in wyrd, not in the Christian god of the Franks. I trusted in the gods of my ancestors that they would lead me to the place where I belonged. And indeed they did. Only after days of travelling I reached the house of a noble gesiğ, of Gilla, the brave cynges gesiğ. I was welcomed under his roof, fed and given a bed for the night, and when I had told him that I was a scop, he bid me to recite the old stories for him - and so I did. He was content and asked me to stay and I knew suddenly that this was the place where I was meant to be, that this was the noble warrior whose praise I would sing until the end of my days. rendereing his word fame immortal. I have been his scop for months now, and I hope that I will stay my noble lord's scop for many years to come.
The Scop
The scop was an important figure in Anglo-Saxon England, and could often achieve a high status in his lord's hall, receiving gifts of rings and precious metals. The scop not only recited songs and poems, but also composed them. These songs and poems were often the only forms of history in the non-literate world of the pagan Anglo-Saxons.
In Anglo-Saxon England the role of the Scop seems to have been exclusively a male one. Although Angelcynn does not usually encourage people taking on characters of the opposite sex, an exception has been made in Nicole's case because of her knowledge of the Old English language and poetry.
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Last updated 6th August 1997
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