Society for Creative Anachronism

College of Arms

16308 SE 165th St

Renton, WA 98058-8221

+1-425-277-0763

herald@sca.org

For the December 2005 meetings, printed February 28, 2006

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Elisabeth Laurel, Jeanne Marie Wreath, and Margaret Pelican, greetings.

The December Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, December 10, 2005 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, December 18, 2005. The meetings considered the following letters of intent: Calontir (20 Aug 2005), Artemisia (24 Aug 2005), Middle (24 Aug 2005), Caid (25 Aug 2005), Drachenwald (26 Aug 2005), Lochac (27 Aug 2005), Outlands (27 Aug 2005), Atlantia (28 Aug 2005), An Tir (31 Aug 2005), Atenveldt (31 Aug 2005), and Trimaris (31 Aug 2005).

The January Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, January 28, 2006 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, January 22, 2006. The meetings considered the following letters of intent: Laurel (2 Sep 2005), Gleann Abhann (19 Sep 2005), East (20 Jul 2005), Middle (20 Sep 2005), Meridies (21 Jul 2005), Drachenwald (23 Sep 2005), Ealdormere (23 Sep 2005), Siren (25 Sep 2005), Atlantia (27 Sep 2005), Lochac (27 Jul 2005), Outlands (27 Sep 2005), Palimpsest (27 Sep 2005), Atenveldt (28 Sep 2005), West (28 Sep 2005), An Tir (30 Sep 2005).

The February Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, February 12, 2006; the Estrella Roadshow held on Sunday, February 19, 2006; and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, February 26, 2006. The meetings considered the following letters of intent: Middle (15 Oct 2005), Laurel (l7 Oct 2005), Artemisia (25 Oct 2005), Æthelmearc (25 Oct 2005), Meridies (25 Oct 2005), Siren (25 Oct 2005), Caid (26 Oct 2005), Drachenwald (26 Oct 2005), West (26 Oct 2005), Atlantia (27 Oct 2005), Lochac (27 Oct 2005), An Tir (31 Oct 2005), Atenveldt (31 Oct 2005), Trimaris (31 Oct 2005).

For the information about future scheduling please review the status table located on the web at: http://www.sca.org/heraldry/status.html.

Not all letters of intent may be considered when they are originally scheduled on this cover letter. The date of mailing of the LoI, date of receipt of the Laurel packet, or other factors may delay consideration of certain letters of intent. Additionally, some letters of intent received may not have been scheduled because the administrative requirements (receipt of the forms packet, receipt of the necessary fees, et cetera) have not yet been met.

REMINDER: Until all administrative requirements are met, the letter may not be scheduled.

From Pelican: On Wikipedia

Submitters are turning to Wikipedia as a source for name documentation. In recent commentary, Nebuly summarized what is good and bad about this approach:

The content of Wikipedia is in a constant state of flux, and there are many articles written by people who have no business writing an article. I say this as someone who has recently begun contributing to Wikipedia (mostly in botany thus far). Though there are some very fine articles by very knowledgeable people, often it is not possible to distinguish the reliable information from a pile of dingo's kidneys.

We wish to remind heralds that, while Wikipedia is a fine starting point for name documentation, it should not be an ending point for any name element. Recent publicity has shown that Wikipedia is about equal to other standard reference works for scientific articles. However, there has not been an evaluation of articles about history or onomastics. Because of the nature of collaboration that goes into this source, its accuracy runs from excellent to atrocious. Unfortunately, in most cases it is often impossible to tell what is accurate and what is not without recourse to other more scholarly sources. Furthermore, as with many general reference works, most articles give present-day normalized forms of names which is not useful for the purposes of name documentation. Therefore, articles from Wikipedia are not sufficient as sole documentation for any name element.

Send What to Whom

For all Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera, send one paper copy directly to each of the Sovereigns of Arms, Laurel, Pelican and Wreath at their mailing addresses as shown on the College of Arms Roster.

Send Laurel office copies of all submissions-related paper, including

-	Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera (note: such paper copies are in addition to the personal copies for Laurel, Pelican and Wreath mentioned above)

-	Submission packets (one copy of each name form plus documentation, including petitions; two colored copies of each armory form plus two copies of any associated documentation, including petitions)

to the SCA College of Arms, PO Box 31755, Billings, MT 59107-1755.

Send the required electronic copies of all submissions-related files to submissions@sca.org. This applies to all LoIs, LoCs, LoRs, et cetera.

Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent directly to the Society Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is temporarily acting as Laurel's chancellor of the exchequer, at Laurel Chancellor of Exchequer, 4N400 Church Rd, Bensenville, IL 60106-2928.

Send roster changes and corrections to Laurel. College of Arms members may also request a copy of the current roster from Laurel.

For a paper copy of a LoAR, please contact Laurel, at the address above. The cost for one LoAR is $3. Please make all checks or money orders payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms". For subscriptions to the electronic copy of the LoAR, please contact Laurel at herald@sca.org. The electronic copy is available free of charge.

For all administrative matters, or for questions about whom to send to, please contact Laurel.

Pray know that I remain,

In service,

Elisabeth de Rossignol

Laurel Principal Queen of Arms