Society for Creative Anachronism

College of Arms

1731A 10th St

Hampton, VA 23665

+1-757-848-5813

herald@sca.org

For the March 2008 meetings, printed July 31, 2008

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

Items listed below in square brackets have not been scheduled yet. For information about future scheduling, please review the status table located on the Web at http://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=137.

The March Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, March 22, 2008 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, March 30, 2008. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Trimaris (31 Oct, 2007) (delayed for administrative reasons), Atenveldt (20 Nov, 2007), Outlands (21 Nov, 2007), East (23 Nov, 2007), An Tir (26 Nov, 2007), Northshield (26 Nov, 2007), Atlantia (27 Nov, 2007), Ansteorra (28 Nov, 2007), Lochac (28 Nov, 2007), Meridies (29 Nov, 2007), West (29 Nov, 2007), Artemisia (30 Nov, 2007), Æthelmearc (30 Nov, 2007), and Trimaris (30 Nov, 2007). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, February 29, 2008.

The April Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, April 26, 2008 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, April 13, 2008. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (03 Dec, 2007), Ealdormere (12 Dec, 2007), East (16 Dec, 2007), Lochac (17 Dec, 2007), An Tir (22 Dec, 2007), Drachenwald (23 Dec, 2007), Ansteorra (24 Dec, 2007), Outlands (24 Dec, 2007), Atlantia (29 Dec, 2007), Calontir (30 Dec, 2007), Meridies (30 Dec, 2007), Artemisia (31 Dec, 2007), Atenveldt (31 Dec, 2007), Caid (31 Dec, 2007), Northshield (31 Dec, 2007), and the Palimpsest Rules Letter (31 Dec, 2007). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, March 31, 2008.

The May Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meetings held on Saturday, May 10, 2008 and Sunday, May 11, 2008, and Wreath meeting held on Sunday, May 18, 2008. These meetings considered the following Letters of Intent: Laurel LoPaD (03 Jan, 2008), Ealdormere (10 Jan, 2008), East (19 Jan, 2008), Drachenwald (20 Jan, 2008), An Tir (26 Jan, 2008), Calontir (26 Jan, 2008), Artemisia (29 Jan, 2008), Atlantia (29 Jan, 2008), Lochac (29 Jan, 2008), Atenveldt (30 Jan, 2008), Caid (30 Jan, 2008), Gleann Abhann (30 Jan, 2008), Meridies (30 Jan, 2008), Trimaris (30 Jan, 2008), Palimpsest Rules Letter (31 Jan, 2008), and West (31 Jan, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, April 30, 2008.

The June Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meetings held on Saturday, June 7, 2008 and Saturday, June 28, 2008, and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, June 29, 2008. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Laurel LoPaD (02 Feb, 2008), Outlands (02 Feb, 2008) (Redated from 31 January based on OSCAR posting date), East (18 Feb, 2008), Drachenwald (20 Feb, 2008), An Tir (22 Feb, 2008), Calontir (23 Feb, 2008), Atenveldt (25 Feb, 2008), Æthelmearc (25 Feb, 2008), Atlantia (26 Feb, 2008), Lochac (28 Feb, 2008), Ansteorra (29 Feb, 2008), Outlands (29 Feb, 2008), and West (29 Feb, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, May 31, 2008.

The July Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, July 5, 2008 and the Wreath meetings held on Saturday, July 12, 2008 and Sunday, July 13, 2008. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Caid (01 Mar, 2008), Laurel LoPaD (19 Mar, 2008), Albion (20 Mar, 2008), Atenveldt (20 Mar, 2008), Drachenwald (21 Mar, 2008), Gleann Abhann (25 Mar, 2008), Lochac (25 Mar, 2008), Calontir (26 Mar, 2008), Æthelmearc (28 Mar, 2008), An Tir (30 Mar, 2008), Ansteorra (30 Mar, 2008), Atlantia (30 Mar, 2008), Meridies (30 Mar, 2008), Artemisia (31 Mar, 2008), and Outlands (31 Mar, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, June 30, 2008.

The August Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held Sunday, August 17, 2008 and the Wreath meeting held at Pennsic. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Northshield (02 Apr, 2008), East (05 Apr, 2008), Gleann Abhann (09 Apr, 2008), Middle (12 Apr, 2008), Ealdormere (15 Apr, 2008), Laurel LoPaD (15 Apr, 2008), Lochac (17 Apr, 2008), An Tir (20 Apr, 2008), Batonvert LoItP (20 Apr, 2008), [Atenveldt (21 Apr, 2008)], Drachenwald (21 Apr, 2008), Atlantia (28 Apr, 2008), Calontir (29 Apr, 2008), [Ansteorra (30 Apr, 2008)], Meridies (30 Apr, 2008), Northshield (30 Apr, 2008), Outlands (30 Apr, 2008), Trimaris (30 Apr, 2008), and West (30 Apr, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Thursday, July 31, 2008.

The September Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in September 2008. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [Gleann Abhann (20 May, 2008)], Drachenwald (21 May, 2008), East (21 May, 2008), Lochac (21 May, 2008), Outlands (21 May, 2008), An Tir (25 May, 2008), Atenveldt (25 May, 2008), Laurel LoPaD (26 May, 2008), Northshield (27 May, 2008), [Ansteorra (30 May, 2008)], Atlantia (30 May, 2008), Laurel (30 May, 2008), West (30 May, 2008), Æthelmearc (31 May, 2008), [Artemisia (31 May, 2008)], Calontir (31 May, 2008), and Meridies (31 May, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Sunday, August 31, 2008.

The October Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in October 2008. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [Middle (05 Jun, 2008)], [Æthelmearc (15 Jun, 2008)], [Ealdormere (22 Jun, 2008)], [West (23 Jun, 2008)], [Lochac (24 Jun, 2008)], [Atenveldt (25 Jun, 2008)], [Caid (27 Jun, 2008)], Atlantia (29 Jun, 2008), Drachenwald (29 Jun, 2008), [East (29 Jun, 2008)], [An Tir (30 Jun, 2008)], [Ansteorra (30 Jun, 2008)], [Calontir (30 Jun, 2008)], Laurel (30 Jun, 2008), [Meridies (30 Jun, 2008)], [Outlands (30 Jun, 2008)], and [Trimaris (30 Jun, 2008)]. All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, September 30, 2008.

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 the Outgoing Laurel: Some Unfinished Business

The College of Arms has a rank of Herald Extraordinary that has a long and honored history. The rank was formally created and defined in the July 1981 cover letter by Wilhelm Laurel. The intent of the rank is to recognize and reward "... those heralds who have greatly served the College of Heralds and/or the College of Arms and have achieved the highest level of competence in heraldry."

In recognition of their outstanding service to the College of Arms, and with the concurrence of the current Laurel Sovereign, I hereby announce the bestowal upon Margaret MacDubhshithe and Jeanne Marie Lacroix the rank of Herald Extraordinary and the right to a personal heraldic title.

Ladies, you are Heralds Extraordinary indeed. I owe you more than I can ever say, but a heartfelt 'thanks' is a good start.

Shauna, Istvan, Mari, Juliana, Ghita, Gwenllian, Herveus, Gisela, Robin, Bruce, Zenobia, Christopher, Gwenlian, Teceangl, David, and everyone else who helped, suggested, and sometimes just listened I will never forget all you've done these past three years to make a hard job easier and sometimes even fun. I am ever grateful.

Congratulations to Olwynn, the new Laurel Sovereign of Arms, Istvan Wreath and Aryanhwy Pelican. Fine armory, good names and smooth sailing to you.

From the Incoming Laurel: Yet More Unfinished Business

In recognition of her outstanding service to the College of Arms, and with the concurrence of the other Sovereigns of Arms, I hereby announce the bestowal upon Elisabeth de Rossignol the rank of Herald Extraordinary and the right to a personal heraldic title.

It is going to be difficult to step into her shoes. I am grateful that she has agreed to be on the other end of the phone when I need her.

From the Incoming Laurel: Team Transition Schedule

As I'm sure all of you know, the Sovereigns are changing. We felt that it might be nice if everyone knew the schedule. The Board of Directors signed my warrant at their meeting on the 12th of July and Elisabeth has joyfully run off screaming into the night.

This tenure it was felt that a staged transition of the decision makers would be less painful for all concerned. Aryanhwy and Margaret split the May and June Pelican duties, and July was entirely Aryanhwy's. Istvan and Jeanne Marie opted to split the July duties, and August will be entirely Istvan's responsibility.

The addresses laurel@heraldry.sca.org, wreath@heraldry.sca.org, and pelican@heraldry.sca.org all forward to the new team; all new correspondence, including Letters of Intent, should be addressed to them. Please note the change in addresses - the old ones will forward, but these are now the canonical addresses, so that Codex can change them without having to get the sca.org system administrator involved.

From the Incoming Laurel: Paperwork Issues

It has come to our attention that there are increasingly issues with submissions packets. Recently, they have been frequently arriving with the following problems:

-	required copies of documentation missing

-	petitions missing

-	kingdom changes to names not updated on forms

-	kingdom changes to blazons not updated on forms

-	paperwork not in alphabetical order

There have also been issues with excessively late payments.

While it pains us to penalize submitters, the administrative requirements for paperwork are, and have been, in place for some time. Please re-read section V of the administrative handbook. With the exception of V.C.1, which requires hard copies, and other changes required for OSCAR, it is still in force and violations are cause for return of an entire letter without consideration of the items at a meeting, regardless of any commentary on their merits.

At a minimum, consideration of the letter will be delayed if deadlines are not met. We will be enforcing hard deadlines. Paperwork and payment is due six weeks from the issuance of the Letter of Intent. If this deadline is not met, consideration of the items will be delayed one month and a new deadline for receipt of paperwork and payment wil be set four weeks from the original deadline. Failure to meet this second deadline will result in a final month of delay. Additionally, appropriate authorities will be contacted regarding these problems to ensure their resolution. These authorities include, but are not limited to, the kingdom royals, kingdom seneschal, kingdom exchequer, society seneschal, and society exchequer. Missing the third deadline will cause the entire letter to be administratively returned.

We remind submissions heralds that the Administrative Handbook IV.C says that "no submission...shall be considered for registration until a complete set of paperwork is provided to the appropriate heraldic officer," and IV.C.2. says "Except for documentation from items in Appendix H (the No-Photocopy List), such documentation must include copies of cited source material." Documentation added during the kingdom commentary process is included in this requirement. It too must be printed out or photocopied and included in the packet.

Beginning in August, Letters of Intent will not be scheduled for decision until the full packet, including all copies of required documentation, are received.

Please contact Olwynn Laurel or Shauna Ragged Staff if there are any sections that you do not understand, need clarification or a variance on, or to know if the requirement is still in force. We would be happy to provide any assistance we can in helping kingdoms resolve the above issues. We prefer to deal with questions before letters are issued, rather than clean up after things are done incorrectly.

From the Incoming Laurel: Call for Bids

We remind all that bids for KWHSS 2009 are due by 15 August, 2008. All bids should be posted to OSCAR as "other" letters so that the College can comment on them. When posting, please remember to redact all legal names, addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information. A complete copy of the bid should also be emailed to Laurel at herald@sca.org. If you can not post letters to OSCAR, please email your bid to Laurel and we will handle posting the bid.

From Wreath: Strawberries Proper

We have registered strawberries proper 17 times, the earliest in 1973 and the latest in 2007. Over that period the tinctures of a strawberry proper have never been defined. In examining the emblazons of the registered armory, it is clear that the implicit definition of proper has been gules capped vert. There has not been a clear consensus on the tincture - or even presence/absence - of the seeds. This is true even in the case of multiple pieces of armory registered to the same person. At this time we are making the definition explicit: a strawberry proper is gules capped vert; the seeds, if present, are generally sable or Or but they count for naught. The seeds are an artistic detail; their presence (or absence) need not be blazoned.

From Wreath: Saltorels

The submission from Meridies of Clas Hebenstreit's device raised the question of using the term saltorel in blazons. Batonvert provided a nice summary:

The term saltorel refers to a "diminutive" of the saltire, in the same way bar refers to a diminutive of the fess. Since we don't consider "skinniness" when judging diminutives, an ordinary's diminutive term is only used when there's more than one of them: a fess but three bars, a saltire but three saltorels. And for the vast majority of period examples [of saltorels], that means couped.

Now, this was not the case in earlier blazons. In the Bigot Roll, c.1254, the arms of Arguelms d'Olehaun are blazoned l'escu de geules a cinc sautors d'argent (Gules, five saltires argent). It was understood that the saltires were couped, simply by the fact that there were more than one of them. (Brault, Eight Thirteenth-Century Rolls of Arms, p.17) And I believe crosses were treated the same way: three crosses were understood to be three crosses couped.

But blazonry style changed, and just as six lions on a shield could be blazoned as lionceaus or lioncels, so too did a special term come into use for multiple saltires (couped). Thus in the Randall Holme Roll, c.1460, the arms of Alam are blazoned with iij sawtreys of sabyll engrelyd. The diminutive of the saltire was applied to multiple saltires... which were perforce couped, not throughout.

An examination of the registered saltorels show that, in most cases, the term is in fact used to mean saltire couped not a skinny saltire. The few cases that did refer to a skinny saltire have been reblazoned as either saltires (when primary charges) or as saltorels throughout (when tertiary charges). As for the saltorels couped, they're on a par with lion rampant: redundant, but harmless.

From Pelican: Citing Dates from "Index of Names in Irish Annals"

We request submissions heralds who cite names from Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, "Index to Names in Irish Annals" (http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/), to please cite the dates given in the article for when the name is found. This helps the commenters in evaluating temporal edge cases (and determining when they are viewing an edge case).

Society Pages: A Death in the Family

We are saddened to learn of the recent, sudden passing of Ciaran Cluana Ferta of An Tir. We are told that he was a hard-working and well-loved herald who inspired and helped many people. We would like to extended our condolences to those who knew and loved him.

Send What to Whom

Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera are to be posted to the OSCAR online system. No paper copies need be sent.

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.

Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to: 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, please contact Laurel.

Pray know that I remain,

In service,

Elisabeth de Rossignol and Olwynn ni Chinnedigh

Laurel Principal Queens of Arms