3 Las Palomas
Orinda, CA 94563
20 August XI (1976)
Karina of the Far West, Laurel Queen of
Arms,
to the Heralds of the four Kingdoms,
Greetings.
I much regret that I was unable to open
the office in Julythough the regret is not on my own
account. My motherinlaw, Lady Astrid of the Two Towers
(now eighty years of age), was in sufficiently good health to
prolong her visit for two additional weeks. Also, we found that
not only was Sir Bela invited to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
for the Viking landing, but I was as well. After that there was
too little time to return the guest room to it office mode before
we left for guestship at a convention in Kentucky. My clerk and
I have now put the office in order; we have worked ten days in
the past two weeks. There will be another hiatus until midSeptember,
when the convention and travel season will be over. We will then
resume our normal Monday, Wednesday and Friday work schedule.
Meanwhile, I urge all Kingdom heralds to
check their submissions carefully. It is a disservice to the individual
applicant to submit something I must reject, and to others to
take up time I might spend passing acceptable applications.
The acceptances and rejections covered in
the accompanying letter were concurred in by Master Harold Breakstone,
Laurel Emeritus and Clarion King of Arms.
There are twice as many rejections as acceptances.
You will observe that the average length of a rejection is considerably
longer than an acceptance. It takes disproportionately more though.
I would be able to cover three or four times as many submissions
in a workday if they were all acceptable. Kingdom heralds should
own at least an uptodate revision of Boutell's
Heraldry (published by Warne) and Parker's Glossary
(published by Tuttle). They should also have access to Papworth's
Ordinary; a large city or university library will have
it. It would be desirable to consult Rietstaap's Armorial Generale,
but as this is in French it is probably inaccessible to the more
recently appointed Kingdom heralds.
Kingdom heralds should ideally have consultants
for frequently used languages. If they have some experience of
inflected languages, an assortment of paperback dictionaries is
useful: Larousse's French and Langensheidt's German are published
by Pocket Books, and Mondadori's Italian by Washington Square.
Also very useful is the Concise Dictionary of 26 Languages,
published by Signet. If you haven't studied an inflected language,
you don't know about agreement of adjectives, for instance; once
you know the principles you can apply them to languages you haven't
actually studied.
The Condensed Oxford English Dictionary
is currently available at $17.50 for joining the BookoftheMonth
Club. It cites the dates and contexts of usages. I find it invaluable
for determining whether a given product or article is in period.
I might add that if I did not have to spend my time correcting
such flagrant errors I would approach my work with far more enthusiasm.
As it is, I feel as though I have been set to teaching fifthgrade
English grammar when I ought to be conducting a graduate seminar.
For that is what the work of the Laurel
Office can be: a process of joint exploration, the discovery
of all the wide tapestry of medieval history. One application
least to the story of a Provencal festival, another to glass vessels
used by surgeons and alchemists, another to details of cloth manufacture.
I'll be able to put those stories into the
handbook of Society blazon if I ever have time to compile it.
But I'll never have time if I have to keep correcting grammar
lessons.
A few remarks about format. Please use 8
1/2" x 11" paper only; we have to fold legalsize
to get it into the files. Please see that applicants include their
mundane name on their applications. All information will
be kept confidential, but two years from now we may need to get
in touch with this person to ask about a similar application,
and the Post Office won't even attempt to forward mail for a medieval
name.
Finally, please list the names on your letters
of intent alphabetically, not by branch. It makes it a lot easier
to find our way through the submissions. (We don't need to know
from which branch of the Kingdom the applicant comes, because
we will send them all straight to you.
I will arrive at the Muehlebach Hotel, Kansas
City, Missouri, for MidAmeriCon the evening of Thursday, September
2. I will be available to talk to heralds attending the convention,
but would like to set up a time and place to meet several at once.
Please notify your pursuivants and other heraldic officers, and
whoever else might want to see me, passing the work through the
Kingdoms as necessary. Anyone who wants to see me should leave
a note at the desk with instructions on how to reach them, and
I'll communicate with them when I have set a time and place. For
heaven's sake don't stop me in the hallways; it takes a few minutes
to get my brain into heraldic mode and by that time I might be
late for some engagement.
I remain at your service,
Karina of the Far West
O.L., Pel., Baroness
Laurel Queen of Arms
KFW:dem
Encl. Addendum: 6 pages
Eastmarch
3 Las Palomas
Orinda, CA 94563
20 August XI (1976)
(Addendum)
Karina of the Far West, Laurel Queen of
Arms
to the Heralds of the four Kingdoms,
Greetings.
EAST
Peregrynne Wyndrider.
Argent, in saltire a garden rose gules slipped and leaved vert
and a thistle slipped and leaved proper, in chief a falcon (Falco
peregrinus anatum) proper.
Thomas of Brefni. Azure, an arrow between two trefoils slipped Or.
Beautiful!
MIDDLE
Acelmore of Zweifelmore. Argent, a demilion winged rampant azure, issuant from flames gules.
Very strikingI'm surprised it
wasn't taken long ago!
Aonarach na Cailleach.
Per pale embattled: sable, a cross formy fitchy argent, and argent,
a wyvern erect vert orbed, langued, bellied, webbed and armed
gules.
ArnotDelling of Hobbitwood. Argent, on a pile bendwise sinister throughout azure an eagle's head erased Or, orbed sable.
Do not use the soubriquet Halfling unless
you are one. 4'5" is generally considered the maximum height.
Caellyn y'Vearn Fitzhugh. Change from former device. Per pale argent and sable, two crosses erminee in pale within a bordure, all counterchanged.
Pretty! See Returns for Badge.
Faigunn of the Silver Shuriken. Tierced per pale Or, gules, and sable, on the middle tierce a shuriken of eight points argent.
Note: A shuriken resembles a mullet. It is a Japanese throwing weapon.
ART WORK HERE
Hieronymus Dernome. Gyronny argent and sable, an estoile of seven points argent fimbriated sable.
This is all right as it stands, but would
lose the lopsided effect if fimbriated counterchanged. If he wishes
to change it, there will be no charge.
Joserlin, Cigfran Myddrael. Argent, a raven rising reguardant, wings disclosed, proper, in dexter claw a sword gules.
Cigran is a Mithraic rank, "raven",
about equivalent to subdeacon. Personal name is followed
by religious rank for purposes of indexing.
Jowell Toledero. Azure, a lion rampant regardant Or, langued and armed gules, the sinister paw maintaining an estoile of seven points argent; on a chief arched embattled Or a shawm proper.
The soubriquet "de Sympatique"
is ungrammatical and misspelled. Consult someone who speaks
French.
Kennegrae Gilchrist. Azure, a chevron rompu between a cross moline and a dexter gauntlet clenched, all argent.
Handsome!
Moonwulf Starkaaderson of Rivenstar. Azure, a winged wolf volent argent.
See Returns for Household Badge.
Shimitsu Komura.
Sable, within an annulet two chevronels couped countercouched,
all argent.
Thomas of the Oaks. Azure, above a bend argent an oak leaf erect Or.
Beautiful!
Wilhelm von Armfelt.
Per chevron vert and gules, a dexter arm embowed erased at the
shoulder, fist clenched, armed argent.
MIDDLE
Caellyn y'Vearn FitzHugh.
The badge (in the application but not on
the letter of intent) conflicts with Sylvanus Andere, whose
badge is Argent, a cross erminee saltirewise sable, surmounted
by a cross erminee Or fimbriated sable. you may wish to alter
your new arms in order to have a corresponding badge; if we receive
the new application by October 1, there will be no fee.
Coly Cuthbert.
Infringes on Barkeley, Argent, a
trefoil slipped sable. The chief is insufficient difference, and
the green snake drawn too small in relation to the trefoil to
count as a difference. In future represent argent by leaving the
paper white, not by gray paint.
Coumarin of Rivenstar.
"Coumarin" is an organic compound
present in cumaru beans, named in 1830 when it was first extracted.
Choose a name that is in period. Note that Lord Brigantia has
pointed out the resemblance of your application to Leigh,
Gules, on a cross engrailed argent a mullet sable.
Corin de la Soleil (sic).
The correct form is du Soleil (masculine
noun). The picture is a striking piece of decorative art, but
it is not heraldry, nor is it accurately described by the blazon
given. Blazoning the head "of the second" caused the
tincture to be read as gules instead of Or. We do not use numbers,
but repeat the word. Start over.
Cynathrith na Gwent.
The Celtic cross should have been blazoned
"throughout". Infringes on Anne Tannith Court,
Azure, a Celtic cross argent, charged on the annulet with twelve
mullets sable, in chief a crescent argent; Gormflaitni Guallachat,
Gyronny Or and azure, a Celtic cross argent fimbriated sable;
St. Hilda's College, Melbourne, Azure, an equalarmed
Celtic cross argent; and St. Columba, Argent, a Celtic
cross azure. Start over.
Deborah of Olmstead.
The torse, when represented as a charge,
is shown circularnot edgeon as you have it.
Your first submission was without a blazon and Ioseph, in accepting
it, took the horizontal object for a branch. Actually it look
more like a short piece of rope; Lord Breakstone commented that
it might be acceptable as a rope with a knot and tassel at each
end. Talk to your local herald.
Elestron a'n Tor Howlsedhas.
What does the name mean? The device looks
as thought it might be corporate arms in Atenveldt. And it's very
complicated. Start over, avoiding the sun on a blue field.
Gundemar Clovenshield.
The figure on the emblazon is tapered, whereas
the width of an endorse is the same at top and bottom. Endorses
are normally borne in pairs. Find another way to cleave the shield.
Halfdan Sigurdsson Greenleaf.
Infringes Gwaefren (Rietstaap), and
the Superior court of Santa Barbara: Argent, a holly leaf
vert; and van Hulst, Or, three holly leaves vert.
Johannae of the Hawks Flying.
The blazon says "a Scotch thistle stemmed and leaved proper". The emblazon shows a spray of three thistle heads gules stemmed and leaved proper; that is, parts 1 and 2 in the sketch are solid red. ART WORK HERE.
Lord Breakstone ruled as Laurel King of
Arms (acceptance letter of 14 December 1971) that in a thistle
proper part 1 is purple and the rest is of course green. This
is the natural color of the thistles I saw in Scotland, as well
as the common North American ones. Resubmit.
Kendrick of Paisley.
The single tree is not distinguishable from
the forest. Also, if you must have a landscape effect,
be logical: don't put the moon in front of the foliage. Try one
tree, and the crescent in sinister chief.
Kya Atwood.
Color on color is forbidden.
Megan, Mikula, and Misha Murometz.
You will have to send me photographs of
these weapons before I believe them. (Lord Breakstone's lady says
that they would make attractive Dungeon artifacts. So they would,
but we aren't playing Dungeons and Dragons, we're playing at being
lords and ladies.)
Meri the Wandering Minstrel.
Submit an accurate picture of a lyre. The
drawing is either an eccentric gridiron or a radiator.
Moonwulf Starkaaderson of Rivenstar, badge for House Wulfhaven.
Conflicts with Erlbach (Rietstaap)
and Bain (Papworth, p. 912): Azure, a wolf's head couped
argent. Also far too close to the North Woods, Azure, a
wolf's head couped argent vorant a sun Or, in chief a laurel wreath
Or. You may wish to alter your device in order to have a corresponding
house badge; if we receive the new application before October
1, there will be no fee.
Morgur the Wise of Acre.
The dragon's head is not "displayed",
and in fact I cannot think how that could be done; it is merely
facing dexter, the default position. Its shoulders appear to be
those of a man in a plaid shawl. The figure referred to as an
"estoile" is not one, nor is it any figure we
recognize. Altogether it is too fussy, what with the fimbriation
and the (very narrow) bordure. Start over.
Nathan von Daritz.
Resubmit with the correct blazon. Your "crosscrosslet
stitchee" is familiar to the rest of us as a crosscrosslet
fitchee, but no one would have know it without seeing the drawing.
Thus it has not been effectively been circulated to the Kingdom
heralds.
Rivenstar, Barony.
Remove or replace the outofperiod
coronet. Send a history form giving the seneschal's name and address,
and explain how the baronial arms are to be (as you put it) "borne
in arms by recipients of the baronial Order of the Riven Star".
Recipients of other Orders do not therewith receive augmentations
of their arms.
Sengeli von Zauberberg.
You first submitted "a marmot proper"
without giving genus and species. Guessing that you mean a European
best, the acceptance gave it as "Arctomys sp".
You now wish it altered to "a woodchuck proper", but
still do not give species. Do you mean the North American Marmota
monax? If so, tell us. Don't make us guess.
Three Hills, Canton.
The name is too close to the Barony of Three
Mountains. The proposed arms are too much of a landscape. Start
over; correspond directly with me concerning the name. (The Board
of Directors will issue a ruling to this effect for branch names,
if it hasn't already.)
UniCorn, Order.
Submit a history form giving the name and
address of the head of the Order, its official status, if any,
and its purpose. Why the pun in the name? I like a good pun, but
this one seems to lack a purpose. What is the reason for the field
of red drops on black? Drops almost invariably follow the rule
of tincture in English heraldry, and in Society heraldry we have
(I believe) no exceptions.
I remain at your service,
Karina of the Far West
O.L., Pel., Baroness
Laurel Queen of Arms
KFW:dem