Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
16308 SE 165th St
Renton, WA 98058-8221
+1-425-277-0763
laurel@heraldry.sca.org
For the June 2011 meetings, printed Wednesday, August 31, 2011
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Elisabeth Laurel, Istvan Wreath Emeritus, Emma Wreath, and Juliana 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 June Laurel decisions were made at the Wreath meetings held on Saturday, June 4, 2011, at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, June 19, 2011, and at the Known World Heraldic & Scribal Symposium roadshow on Sunday, June 26, 2011. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Meridies (28 Feb, 2011) (pushed due to lack of packet), Laurel LoPaD (10 Mar, 2011), West (15 Mar, 2011), Atenveldt (20 Mar, 2011), Æthelmearc (21 Mar, 2011), Atlantia (23 Mar, 2011), Atlantia (24 Mar, 2011), East (24 Mar, 2011), Ansteorra (26 Mar, 2011), Calontir (27 Mar, 2011), Lochac (28 Mar, 2011), An Tir (31 Mar, 2011), Artemisia (31 Mar, 2011), and Outlands (31 Mar, 2011). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, May 31, 2011.
The July Laurel decisions were made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, July 9, 2011, at the Calontir roadshow on Saturday, July 23, 2011, and the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, July 24, 2011. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Caid (29 Mar, 2011) (pushed due to lack of packet) Drachenwald (03 Apr, 2011), West (08 Apr, 2011), Atenveldt (15 Apr, 2011), Trimaris (20 Apr, 2011), Laurel LoPaD (23 Apr, 2011), Ansteorra (26 Apr, 2011), Meridies (27 Apr, 2011), Gleann Abhann (28 Apr, 2011), Laurel LoPaD (29 Apr, 2011), Lochac (29 Apr, 2011), Middle (29 Apr, 2011), Atlantia (30 Apr, 2011), Calontir (30 Apr, 2011), Drachenwald (30 Apr, 2011), and Outlands (30 Apr, 2011). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Thursday, June 30, 2011.
The August Laurel decisions were made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, August 20, 2011 and at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, August 28, 2011. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Caid (30 Apr, 2011) (pushed due to lack of packet), Northshield (09 May, 2011), An Tir (11 May, 2011), Æthelmearc (12 May, 2011), West (15 May, 2011), Atenveldt (20 May, 2011), East (21 May, 2011), Middle (23 May, 2011), An Tir (27 May, 2011), Meridies (27 May, 2011), Ansteorra (28 May, 2011), Lochac (29 May, 2011), Outlands (29 May, 2011), Artemisia (30 May, 2011), Gleann Abhann (30 May, 2011), Atlantia (31 May, 2011), Drachenwald (31 May, 2011), and Ealdormere (31 May, 2011). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, July 31, 2011.
The September Laurel decisions will be made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, September 10, 2011 and the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, September 17, 2011. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Middle (05 Jun, 2011), Laurel LoPaD (07 Jun, 2011), Æthelmearc (08 Jun, 2011), East (16 Jun, 2011), Atenveldt (20 Jun, 2011), Caid (22 Jun, 2011), Drachenwald (28 Jun, 2011), Meridies (28 Jun, 2011), Caid (29 Jun, 2011), Lochac (29 Jun, 2011), Trimaris (29 Jun, 2011), An Tir (30 Jun, 2011), Ansteorra (30 Jun, 2011), Calontir (30 Jun, 2011), Gleann Abhann (30 Jun, 2011), Laurel (30 Jun, 2011), and Outlands (30 Jun, 2011). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, August 31, 2011.
The October Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in October 2011. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (10 Jul, 2011), East (13 Jul, 2011), Laurel LoPaD (13 Jul, 2011), West (13 Jul, 2011), Atenveldt (15 Jul, 2011), Middle (17 Jul, 2011), Æthelmearc (18 Jul, 2011), Calontir (26 Jul, 2011), [Drachenwald (27 Jul, 2011)], Meridies (29 Jul, 2011), [Ansteorra (30 Jul, 2011)], [Artemisia (31 Jul, 2011)], Atlantia (31 Jul, 2011), Caid (31 Jul, 2011), and Lochac (31 Jul, 2011). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Friday, September 30, 2011.
Not all letters of intent may be considered when they are originally scheduled on this cover letter. The date of posting 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: Kepe in placenames
One element that has been popular in SCA submissions but had not been documented in placenames is the Middle English Kepe and the Early Modern English Keep. Current precedent says that Keep and its Middle English form Kepe are registerable in contexts suitable for surnames, but not as placename elements (see the November 2001 and May 2011 LoARs for more details).
The complete lack of it in placenames or as a word was somewhat odd, as it is found in personal bynames as a generic toponymic through much of the Middle English period. Well, we've found it. Studies on Middle English local surnames by Mattias Teodor Löfvenberg dates le Kepe as a placename to 1425 (along with Kepeland 1204 and Kepe mede 1530).
Therefore we can overturn the precedent disallowing the element Kepe or Keep in placenames; Kepe is found both as a standalone placename and as a protheme (first element) in English placenames and can be used as such. It is not clear that the element here is in fact the word meaning "castle," as that word is not otherwise attested before the 16th century. But it is registerable in contexts where a placename can be registered. This does not allow the registration of Keep as a deuterotheme (second element) in placenames; it remains unattested and will not be allowed without further evidence. We are also giving it the benefit of the doubt regarding the meaning and allowing the use of keep as a designator in the same contexts that we would allow a word like Castle.
From Pelican: New Names Resources
As many of you may have noticed, thanks to Edelweiss, we have a new resource that allows us to search parish records that have been transcribed as part of the IGI (International Genealogical Index) project. Most data in this project is not useful for us, as it is submitted by modern researchers doing genealogical research. However, this project also includes a large number of names transcribed by researchers directly from parish records; these names are reasonable documentation. The program can be found at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/nmfadams/Edelweiss/IGI_Deliverable.zip.
People have asked how to cite these items as documentation. A simple printout, which you may have to produce by cutting and pasting the results into a word processing program, is sufficient documentation. Be sure to include all the information generated by the program, not just a summary of what you found.
I'd also note that we have been finding a variety of names in this data that I'd have never guessed were period names, including Erin, Jade, and Marci. So, I'd encourage submissions heralds to check this resource for undocumented names. If you can't do it yourself, ask for help. Or even send it up, and we'll give it a shot at the Laurel level.
We have checked several of the old SCA-compatible names, like Bronwyn, Rhiannon, and Keridwen; unfortunately the only two that we have found are Ian and Kathleen (both in English in the late 16th century).
From Pelican: Some Name Resources (a series)
This month I celebrate a year writing this series. In honor of that, I'm going to open a new set of issues: the articles and books I most frequently use to document names from a given time and place. I've already talked about Old English sources (in August 2010), so now let's talk about Middle English.
Middle English is the term we use for medieval English, from the time of the Norman Conquest in 1066 until aroud the middle of the 15th century. It is followed by Early Modern English, which lasts until well after the end of our period.
For Middle English, the print resources are superb. For surnames, Reaney and Wilson's A Dictionary of English Surnames is still in print, and Bardsley's A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames is downloadable from Google Books (though some other books by him are mislabeled as this book; one copy is at http://books.google.com/books?id=RbkEAAAAIAAJ). For given names, Withycombe's The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian names is unfortunately out of print, but copies of it are readily available on the used book market. For placenames, Ekwall's The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Place Names is out of print, but easy to find, and Mill's Dictionary of British Place-Names has replaced the earlier Dictionary of English Place-Names (the former is in print, the latter readily available as a used book).
Given these easily accessible and not very expensive print resources, it's not surprising that the online resources are not used as much. However, there are some good articles. One I use a great deal is Talan Gwynek's "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames" (at http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/reaneyintro.html among other places). Another is Jeanne Marie Lacroix's "'Misplaced'" Names in Reaney & Wilson" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/misplacednames.htm), both of which take data from Reaney and Wilson, one of these important print resources, and make it easier to find.
At this time, there's also a lot of regional variability in names and even in the language itself. If you're aiming for a particular time and place, Aryanhwy merch Catmael and others have collected data from particular parts of England. These can be found at the Academy of Saint Gabriel Library (under http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/eng1066to1300.shtml and http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/eng1300to1450.shtml, depending on whether you want 1066 to 1300 or after 1300).
In Middle English, then, we have an embarrassment of resources. Curiously Early Modern English data is somewhat harder to come by; we'll talk about that next month.
From Wreath Emeritus: Lamps
Commentary on a submission this month raised the question of the depiction of our default lamp in the SCA. Lamps in medieval times appear to have been short, flared cups, similar to the bowl area of a Champagne cup, but not as wide. They can be seen in the arms of Witwang, c.1520, in Heraldry by Bedingfeld & Gwynn-Jones. In contrast, the Society has uniformly not blazoned the type of lamp solely when the emblazon uses an Arabic lamp.
Since there does not seem to be a way to blazon the default real-world lamps with a qualifier, this month, we have reblazoned all the 'default' lamps in the Ordinary as 'Arabic lamps' and declare that the SCA-default lamp will match the real-world default. At least, it will once someone registers one.
From Wreath Emeritus: Mullets and Estoiles
Commenters this month raised the question of whether or not we should grant difference between mullets and estoiles in Society armory. In some times, in some places, they were considered interchangeable. Under our current standards regarding interchangeability, no difference should be granted. The cover letter to the June 1991 LOAR cites some evidence of their interchangeability, and we feel that it is time to once again discuss difference in these charges more thoroughly.
Therefore, commenters are asked to discuss, and to provide period evidence of, whether or not these charges should be considered equivalent for purposes of conflict, or we should continue to treat them as significantly different.
There is also evidence that the number of points on a mullet is interchangeable in period, while we grant difference in some cases. Commenters are asked to address the subject of whether or not a mullet should be a mullet and we should discontinue granting difference for the number of points on the mullet in all cases.
From Wreath Emeritus: So Long, and Thanks (For All The ... Fish?)
"We have reached the part of this evening's performance where we must advise those with weak constitutions to leave our audience" - Daffy Duck
Not that I intend to do anything remotely like Daffy did. I learned to duck. So to speak.
Folks, it's been an amazingly fun time. Traveling during my tenure to five kingdoms I've never been to, meeting tons and tons of people, and you've all been so patient with me. Thanks for all the support while I did this job.
Immense thanks to the heralds and non-heralds who attended the Wreath meetings: Brunissende Dragonette, Lillia de Vaux, Kolosvari Arpadne Julia, Palotzi Marti, Marie de Blois, Ailis Linne, Evan da Collaureo, Ellesbeth Donofrey, Astrid Olafsdottir, Thomas Ouswood, Gisela vom Kreuzbach, Alys of Foxdale, Kolosovar Arpad, Jeanne Marie Lacroix, Shauna of Carrick Point, and all those who participated in the online versions of the meetings as well as the proofreaders and commenters, and anyone who I might have missed: you weren't slighted intentionally, it's been three years, my memory isn't that good!
I hope you're not sick of me, since I'll be sticking around, commenting, doing things with OSCAR, and the like. I also have all sorts of ideas to make being a herald somewhat easier, and to make more CoA expenditures go away.
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 be sent to David Duggar, Attn: Laurel Chancellor of Exchequer, 1705 Holiday Pl, Bossier City, LA 71112-3706.
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". The electronic copy of the LoAR is available free of charge. To subscribe to the mailings of the electronic copy, please see the bottom of http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/lists.html#lists for more instructions.
For all administrative matters, please contact Laurel.
Pray know that I remain,
In service,
Elisabeth de Rossignol
Laurel Principal Queen of Arms