Trimaris Book of Kings

An Overview


More than 10 years ago, Master Rolant created a grand book for the Kingdom of Trimaris. This book was meant to house the history and unbroken lineage of the Crowns of Trimaris. Starting this year, we will make this dream a reality. Our Kingdom is brimming with talented artisans in the arts of calligraphy and illumination. This project will highlight the progress and achievements of each Royal Reign in Trimaris and will also be used as a stage upon which we will show the skills of our best and brightest illuminators and calligraphers.


Each reign will be represented as a page in this book.

Our first step in making this project a reality will be to collect information from our former Crowns of Trimaris. Each reign will receive an interview sheet asking for information concerning their page in the Book of Kings project. Each previous set of royals will receieve an interview sheet that will collect information from them about their reign page. Royal pairs that have reigned more than once will be given an interview sheet for each reign.
  • What style would they like the illumination/calligraphy to be rendered in.
  • If any, do they have a preference of a particular scribe to complete their page.
  • What colors would they like strongly represented on their page.
  • What achievements from their reign would they like highlighted on their page.
Once we have collected this information, we will contact their preferred scribe for the project. If no preference has been given, the information about the requested style of illumination and calligraphy will be presented to the College of Scribes so that artisans may volunteer for the project. By providing the illumination and calligraphy style information we will hope to attract those who are most comfortable with a particular style to come forward and volunteer for reign pages.

Once a scribe is found for a reign page they will be supplied with the interview page from the formal Crown and one sheet of pergamenata per reign page.
  • Pages will be marked for cut down size and usable space. Sheets will be given whole to scribes, rather than pre-cut down so that the scribe will have some test page area to work with as scratch paper.
  • All pages will be done on the recto (front) side of the sheet with the verso (back) side left almost entirely blank. Information about the artist will be calligraphed at the bottom of the verso side of each page. The verso (back) side of each page will be left mostly empty to serve as a page protector for the next reign page.
  • Natural pergamenata is selling at $2.85 a sheet for 19.5"x27.5" natural colored text weight. 100 loose pages will be purchased at a cost of $285.00 plus shipping. This will be a one time expenditure by the Triskele Herald.
Scribes will each receive an instruction sheet that outlines sizing, material requirements and content requirements. For archival purposes artists will need to conform to certain material standards.
  • All gilding should be flat gilded on the page, not raised gilded. Raised gilding will be more difficult to house in book form and gesso used to achieve the raised gilding may chip or crack as pages are turned. Gilding adhesive will be a modern, store purchased, gilding size. Period recipes generally contain honey, sugar or gum Arabic which may attract insects to the artwork. As the book cannot be stored in a frame, we would rather avoid the chance of luring Florida's many insects to this piece of art by making it less delicious.
  • Modern purchased pigments will also be utilized for the same reason. Many period paint binders contain compounds that are tasty to insects. Many scribes in Trimaris have already encountered missing paint of long-stored art pieces. Using modern gouache helps to minimize the use of binders and again, make the book less delicious.
  • Each scribe will be provided with a handout of preferences for each reign page. These preferences will be solicited from the King and Queen of each reign and passed on to the scribe.
Process, delivery and display:
  • Scribes will be asked to photo document their process.
  • Pages, when complete, should be delivered directly to the project coordinator.
  • New pages will be publicly displayed at the next Kingdom event after they are completed.
  • New pages will be presented in Royal Court to Their Majesties Trimaris at the event where they are displayed.
  • The Book of Kings project will be displayed at Kingdom Arts and Sciences Faires.
  • The Book of Kings project will have a companion website. Each reign page will be a page on the website so that we may display this work, the process, our artisans and our history to the world.
We will start with out most recent sets of Royals and work our way back to the earliest beginnings of Trimaris. An attempt will be made to contact each set of former royals for information about what they would like included on their page. If the Royal pair cannot be found, assistance will be asked of those who knew them well to attempt contact and get them in touch with the project coordinator. In the event that the Royal pair cannot be found, persons close to that reign will be sought so that the story and flavor of each reign can be gathered from those who were close to the Royals.

The physical Book of Kings made by Master Rolant is a masterpiece of leather work that will be a proud and fitting home for this repository of the glorious history of Trimaris and for such gems of scribal arts as will be created.

If you would like to assist, please do contact us.

Project Coordinator
Mistress Maol Mide ingen Medra OL, OP
Email: melessee@gmail.com
Kristen Gilpin