May 15, 1980 XIV

To: All Members of the College of Arms

From: Master Wilhelm von Schlüssel, OL, OP, OLM, QOC, Laurel King of Arms

Greetings:

Enclosed with this letter is the Letter of Acceptances and Rejections for May, which covers the Ansteorra 1/30/80 letter, the Atenveldt 2/3/80 letter, the Caid 2/10/80 letter, the Atenveldt 2/10/80 letter, the West 2/11/80 letter and the Ansteorra 2/24/80 letter. The backlog now stands at March 1980, or two months. If any of you have a submission that was submitted to Laurel before March 1980 which has not been acted upon through this letter let me know.

This month I processed six letters of intent totaling 105 submissions (counting a few miscellaneous appeals I received piecemeal). Of these 93 were accepted, if somewhat modified, and 12 were rejected. You're all doing much better at catching the problems before they get to me. Fourteen of the members of the College sent in letters of comments on these letters of intent. Only Dragon, Brigantia, and Sable Swan Herald did not. There were as many as eleven letters on a given letter of intent. This made my job much easier. Please keep up the good work. On the negative side, I continue to receive comments on letters on intent three months after the letter of intent was mailed out. Sometimes the comments come in after I have processed the submissions, and so they are not considered and are a waste of time. I value your comments. Please try to have them in my hands within at least two months, if you cannot make the official thirty days. If you are going to comment on them anyway you might as well do so immediately. Then the Principal Herald who sent out the letter of intent will have a chance to reply before I come to that batch of submissions for processing.

Add to the Mailing List Marta as tu Mika­Mysliwy, Solar Herald for the Principality of the Sun (Linda M. Miku, 2210 C North 4th Ave., Tucson, Arizona 85705). She got her letter of comments in just in time. Delete Daemon de Folo, Dragon Principal Herald, from the list and substitute his representative, Thomas von Langenfeld (Thomas Langenfeld, 261 Tahoe Dr., Chicago Heights, IL 60411).

I have had a number of short questions asked of me, and rather than send a lot of letters out with one paragraph answers I will answer them all now. Current monarchs may, as far as I am concerned, sign scrolls in the name of the monarchs who actually gave the award the scroll is for. If the original monarchs are no longer available to sign scrolls this is the only way they are going to get signed.

If an armiger who has already registered his arms decides to change his arms he need not obtain the approval of the monarch who made him armigerous. The Kings give rank, but the College give the rank, but the College gives the actual blazon of the arms.

I do not need financial reports from branch offices, just once a year from the Kingdom Principal Heralds.

I have not yet received the forms and fees for the Middle Letter of Intent of March 1, 1980 nor for the East Letter of Intent of January that was sent out in March.

Complete difference of charge between two submissions is sufficient difference, even if the field, the tinctures of the charges, the number and positions are the same. In order for there to be complete difference the charges must look totally different. A lozenge is completely different from a horse. A unicorn is not. This was stated in my published rules.

It is the consensus of the College and my decision that the counterchange of a submission is no longer registered along with the submission. Counterchanging is now a single point of difference, with the stipulation that no badge, device, or arms can be the counterchange of another badge, device or arms without the written permission of the holder of the latter. Thus when one submits a device now it is no longer necessary to worry about what its counterchange conflicts with, or whether the device itself conflicts with the counterchange of other devices or arms.

Please, all Principal Heralds, put the documentation on names on the Letter of Intent next to the blazon of the submission, so name and submission can be checked at the same time without turning a page. Virgule: Please send me the full information on the Brigg's reference you cite, so I can see if I can get a copy from the library or else purchase a copy for the Laurel office.

The Corpora states that the lady of a Count/Duke is a Countess/Duchess by courtesy, even if she has not sat the throne. By this is meant that she is addressed as "My Lady Countess/Duchess," or "Your Grace," and has the title of duchess and the surname of her lord follow her name when it is written. The right to bestow this honor on one's lady is gained by he or she who wins the Crown Lists and rules as Sovereign. Normally the Queen did not actually win the Crown Lists herself, and so the lord of a Countess/Duchess is not a Count/Duke by courtesy. Should a lady fighter win the Crown List on or more times then her lord would become a Count/Duke by courtesy. In this case the Count/Duke who ruled as King along with this Queen Regnant would not have won the Crown Lists, and would not have the right to make a later lady a Countess/Duchess by courtesy.

Recently there have been a number of persons who have submitted society names that include a nickname as well, such as John Farmersson of Trent, called the Peacemaker (to pick a fictional example). The latter part is a nickname. There has been a question raised as to whether or not it is appropriate to do so or to register a nickname as a formal part of one's official society name. It is my opinion that this is not appropriate, since there is no limit to the number of nicknames a person can have, but they do not change the person's actual name. They can be listed under the nickname section on the information sheet, but they are not an actual part of the official name, and so should not be registered. The College should not be in the business of registering nicknames. People can use any nickname they want, but the College will register only the formal name. I will therefore no longer accept such nicknames as I have shown above. I will accept an epithet that is used as a second name in a proper manner. Therefore John the Peacemaker would be an acceptable period style name. This policy takes effect now, but I am also putting the matter up before the College. If you disagree let me know. If enough of you disagree I will reverse my stand.

Master Baldwin: I like your compiled precedents. You have my permission to distribute them as you like, so long as your letter of disclaimer accompanies them. I would in fact like to see you send a copy to each of the College of Arms members, as it is a handy reference to have. There are, of course, errors in that some of Karina's pronouncements have been overturned or changed, and indeed some of my own earlier ones have been changed, but it is by and large a useful reference.

Lady Rhonwen y Llysieuydd, White Stag Herald: Mistress Margaret of Griffin Tower's file has a submission set for Argent, gouttee de sang, a wyvern's head erased sable, beaked and orbed gules, within a bordure sable. She also has a set for Per pale counter­ermine and ermine, a demi­griffin segreant gules issuant from a tower Or, masoned sable. The registered blazon changes the field of the latter to just ermine. Which of the three versions does the lady really want?

That completes this letter.

I remain

Your Servant,

Wilhelm von Schlüssel, OL, OP, OLM, QOG

Laurel King of Arms