May 25, 1982 XVII A.S.

TO: The Members of the College of Arms

FROM: Master Wilhelm von Schlüssel, Laurel King of Arms

Greetings:

Enclosed is the letter of Acceptances and Rejections for May, containing 84 acceptances and 26 rejections, for a total of 110. My next meeting will be on Saturday, June 12, 1982, at which time I will process the following LoIs: Caid (3/3/82), East (3/5/82), Caid (3/16/82), An Tir (3/22/82), Atenveldt (3/23/82). The following meeting will be on Sunday, July 18, 1982, at which time I will process the following LoIs: Caid (4/6/82), Atlantia (4/8/82), and West (4/12/82).

This month concludes my first term of office. While I expect to be reappointed for another term by the Board of Directors, I thought it would be a good idea to review what has been done in the last three years. Since I took office on July 1, 1979, this office has issued 4,163 acceptances and rejections, an average rate of 116/month or 1388/year. The first and second codifications of the Rules for Submissions were issued, two editions of the Ordinary & Armorial were printed, the number of commenters on the mailing list was increased from 5 to 30, lists were compiled for awards, orders, titles, heralds' titles, royal surnames, and branches, four new kingdoms came into being and thus four new Principal Heralds' offices were created, a heraldry symposium was held and another scheduled, a heraldic quarterly began, a whole process of heraldic discussion was begun, a searching review of the Rules was completed, and most kingdoms caught up with their backlogs. The College of Arms has done well in the last three years. I look forward to my next term and hope we can continue this progress.

Along this line, I want to put the College on the road towards setting a good example. We can hardly expect the populace to be diligent about submitting their names and devices if the heralds neglect to do so themselves. Therefore, I am decreeing that henceforth all warranted heralds of any rank in all kingdoms must, as a condition of being warranted and remaining warranted, submit their Society name. If a name is rejected, the herald has three months from the date s/he is notified of the rejection to resubmit another name. Failure to submit a name for more than three months after being warranted or after a previous name is rejected shall constitute a de facto resignation. While a newly warranted PE may not have had sufficient time to devise a suitable device, this cannot be said of titled Pursuivants and Heralds. Therefore, to set a good example, I hereby decree that all titled Pursuivants, Heralds, Heralds Extraordinary and Principal Heralds must register a device or arms as a condition of being warranted and remaining so. If the submission is rejected, then they have three months from the date they are notified of the rejection to resubmit or appeal. Failure to submit more than three months after being warranted or after a rejection shall constitute a defacto resignation from office. Both of these decrees shall have a six-month grace period starting now. As of December 1, 1982, I want to see these enforced.

There are a number of documents that each Principal Herald should have and make available on a regular basis. These are rosters, Orders of Precedence, books of ceremonies, scroll texts, scroll achievements, and a list of all orders, awards and titles in use in the kingdom. In order for me to know that you have them, and for my own reference and use, I ask that updated copies of these be sent periodically (at least once a year) to me. I have copies of all kingdoms' OPs, but some are rather out of date. I do not have copies of rosters for the East or the West, and most of the others are out of date (only An Tir and Atlantia have rosters dated within the last six months). I have scroll texts from Atenveldt and the West and scroll achievements from Atenveldt and Caid. I have ceremonies from Atenveldt, Atlantia, Meridies and the West (the East doesn't have written ceremonies). I ask you all to compile and send to me what is missing.

Remember that the Principal Herald is responsible for what is said on all scrolls and for the emblazons. In those kingdoms where there is a separate College of Scribes, the head of the Scribes should confer with the PH to establish approved scroll texts for each award, approved achievements for each award, and procedures for ensuring that the correct names, dates, blazons and emblazons are used on each scroll. No scroll other than a promissory note may be given out with an unregistered name or an unregistered arms. The scroll should not even be begun until the name and arms are registered. Once the texts and achievements are agreed upon, the head of the Scribes can then handle all scrolls, but the PH is still responsible for seeing that no scroll is signed, sealed or presented which has an unregistered or incorrect name, blazon or emblazon. It is permissible for the PH to allow scrolls in other languages, so long as the translation of the scroll text is accurate.

It has now been six months since I point out that many branches had not satisfied the Corpora requirement of registering their names, and, in the cases of baronies and provinces, their arms as well. I will wait no longer. This disgraceful situation must be rectified. The solutions is simple and easy: I will send to each PH A list of the branches in their kingdom that have not registered their name and/or arms. Each PH shall then place these names in his/her next LoI, along with as much name documentation as they can get. Fill out an information sheet for each name. The requirement for a petition from the populace of the group is waived for this batch. The Middle, the East and Meridies should send out a special LoI consisting of just these names, given the numbers of branches involved. This process will eliminate the backlog in one sweeping registration.

By my count, there are 400 branches in the SCA at this time, several of which are incipient and so new they haven't chosen a name yet. The 409 branches comprise 9 kingdoms, 8 regions, 7 principalities, 84 baronies and provinces, and 301 subsidiary branches (shires, cantons, ridings, colleges, etc.). As of this date, 163 subsidiary branches have not submitted their names. In addition 5 baronies have not done so and 3 more have only submitted their names and not their arms. These are the Baronies of: Andelcrag (Middle), Bordermarch (Ansteorra; name only), Freehold of the Great River (Atenveldt), Gladenfeld (Meridies; name only), Nordskogen (Middle; name only), Western Sea (Caid), and the Province of the Setting Sun (Caid). These 8 must submit their arms as well as names. If the PH knows what arms they are displaying, then submit them now. If not, find out and submit them as soon as possible. If you know of any subsidiary branch that is displaying arms they have not registered, then see to it they do register those arms. Having 42% of the branches violate Corpora is a really bad situation, so let's take care of the problem quickly. (For your information, the June 1982 Registry Count showed 7,058 current members, 2,244 members with recently expired memberships, and 543 suspended members for a total of almost 10,000 people who have been members in the last year. This means that there are between 50,000 and 100,000 attendees at SCA events throughout the SCA, as the ratio is between 5:1 and 10:1.)

Enclosed with this letter is a new (typist's note: **sign**) mailing list and a new roster. The roster includes everyone on the mailing list plus all Principal Heralds, Principality Heralds, and Regional Heralds, as well as my staff. As always, there are changes. I have warranted Morimoto Koryū as Monshō Pursuivant and charged him to check our names and submissions against Japanese names and mōn. He has sent out a very handy collection of corporate and civic mōn. The Pale Herald has changed his name to Morgan Griffith of York. I have added the Oaken Herald back to the mailing list, as Graidhne has begun commenting. I have deleted the Lantern Herald, as Domenica has not commented. Mistress Oreta has resigned as Beacon Herald. Replacing her on the mailing list is the new Beacon Herald, Lord Sinclair Dumas. The following heralds are in danger of being dropped from the mailing list if I do not receive a LoC from them by my next meeting: Schwarzdrachen (last LoC was February), Black Lion (December, then April), White Stag (never), and Archive (February).

I have established a checklist to monitor who sends in LoCs each month, so I will be watching to see if somebody stops commenting. The best record for commenting goes to Virgule, who only missed one month in the last 16. 1 also checked the Registry printout and was pleased to see that you are all members. Please make sure that all warranted heralds in your kingdom are members of the SCA, as required by the Corpora.

Besides the quarterly reports I would like from the PHs, I would like copies from each Principality or Regional Herald of the reports, if any, that they send to their PH so I can be kept informed about what is happening in each area. Too many times in the past, the Laurel Office has been cut off from the happenings in the local areas. I have no plans to meddle, but I do want to be kept informed.

Please add to your list of names of orders the following orders from the Barony of the Middle Marches in the Middle: Gilded Reed, Golden Affodil, and Watchful Tower. If you know of any other names of orders, whether they are precedence carrying or not, principality or shire level, let me know. Lord Jean Fitz-Roye, Earle Marischalle of Logres, will be making sure that our submissions do not conflict with those of Logres. In return, I, Virgule, and Crescent will be checking their submissions against our registrations. In order to facilitate this process, I am placing Lord Jean on the mailing list. He has stated a willingness to comment on the submissions in general, as well as check them against Logres arms. Please send copies of your LoIs to him. I hope our submissions will serve as a good example to his group.

Master Ioseph has send me some arms used in the White Rose Society International. Most of what the WRSI uses are actual arms, some of which are rather obscure. Here are some of what they use:

The White Rose Society: Gyronny gules and Or, a rose argent.

Lord Ogilvey's Regiment, 2d Bat.: Azure, a St. Andrews cross couped argent and in chief, below a moltoe scroll argent, enarched, reading "memo me imune lacassel," a thistle proper.

Prince Charles "Glenfinnan flagg": Gules, a delf argent, within a bordure azure.

Hanoverian military badges: Gules, a horse courant argent.

We should try not to conflict with these. He will be gathering a more complete list of the arms in use in the WRSI. Virgule informs me that he will now be checking our submissions against the arms passed by the American College of Arms, so our sources are broadening.

Brigantia has asked, What makes an award legal? I asked the Board, and here is their ruling. An award is legal when the Sovereign or the Sovereign's authorized representative bestows the award at an official SCA event and announces the award to the populace. The recipient need not be present for the award to be legal. The recipient need not give consent for the award to be legal, although the recipient can always refuse the award or resign it later. In practice, membership in a peerage order should not be given without the recipient's approval, but it is legal to do so. Awards made by the Sovereign outside of official SCA events are not legal. An award mistakenly published in a newsletter is not legal. A scroll wrongly made is not legal, even if it is signed and sealed. The award or membership in an order must be publicly made at an official event. An award given by one not authorized to give the award is not legal. Kingdoms may impose additional requirements as to what constitutes a legal award. The West has just done this by requiring any royalty who give out an award to send the details on the award to the kingdom newsletter within three months or else the award is null and void.

While I am on the subject of kingdom laws, there have been some other kingdom heraldic laws you may not have heard of. Caid for some time has had a law that an armiger must register arms within one year of becoming an armiger or else the Caid College of Heralds will register arms for her/him, of the College's devising. This is based on the idea that it is the responsibility and obligation of an armiger to device suitable and unique arms and register them on a timely basis. This law is legal, and other kingdoms might think about it. In England, when a person applies for or is granted arms, the College of Arms devises the arms, not the armiger.

Meridies has a new proclamation to the effect that only those armigers who have registered or submitted their arms may march in the Grand March. Only those households and guilds which have registered a badge may march and be announced. If a household has a badge and its members have registered arms but the head of the household does not have registered arms, then the head cannot march but the household can. This is legal, as the Order of March is up to the Crown. The Order of Precedence is fixed, but the Order of March can be changed at the Sovereign's command. If the King wants the march in reverse precedent, he can order it so. If he wants it in random order. he can order it so. Only armigers are eligible to march and be announced, but, like fighting on the field, marching and being announced is at the pleasure of the Crown. I expect to see a lot of submissions out of Meridies shortly. Please note that Meridies is not taking away the Awards of Arms, just the privilege of marching.

Speaking of Orders of Precedent, Mistress Rebecca of Twywn has volunteered to compile an SCA-wide OP. All PHs are directed to send a copy of their most recent OP to her and set up a procedure for somebody to send her periodic updates. She will be entering them on a computer and generating an SCA OP. Each award should have the complete date it was given. All awards and orders of a given level will be merged and sorted by date received or admitted to. The Board of Directors has decreed that the titles of Baron and Baroness carry with them an Award of Arms if the recipient is not already armigerous, so these titles now carry precedence. Thus a Court Baron/ess will be treated as if s/he were a member of an order. Thus a Court Baron with an Award of Arms would be merged into the group of orders carrying Awards of Arms. A Court Baroness or a Territorial Baron with a Grant of Arms would be merged into the group of Orders carrying Grants of Arms. Holding the title of Baron/ess shall not alter the precedence of a peer or royal peer. Each person will appear once in the OP, at the position of highest precedence held. The OP shall be, in increasing precedence: 1) Awards of Arms, 2) Companions of Orders and Barons/esses with Awards of Arms, 3) Grants of Arms, 4) Companions of Orders and Barons/esses with Grants of Arms, 5) Members of the Orders of Chivalry, the Laurel and the Pelican, 6) Viscounts/esses, 7) Earls and Count/esses, 8) Dukes/Duchess, 9) Territorial Princes/esses, 10) Crown Princes/esses, 11) Kings/Queens. Note that this is an Order of Precedence, not an Order of March, and thus the Offices are not listed. There is the question of whether Territorial Barons/esses should have a separate category. What do you think, and where should it go if there is one? Should we list non-armigerous awards or awards below Principality level? These should be settled by the time she begins the compilation, which is in October, after the Symposium.

I have decided to bring our practice on rainbows into agreement with mundane heraldry. This means that a rainbow proper is an arching band between two white clouds consisting of four bands, from chief to base Or, gules, Vert and argent. Like a sword proper, a rainbow proper should be treated as a metal charge. A natural rainbow proper shall consist of the same band between two white clouds but with the natural spectrum, from gules in chief to purpure in base. This type of rainbow would count as a combined metal/color charge and thus be neutral. Any other color combination will have to be specified. A rainbow without clouds is a rainbow couped. I will reblazon the submissions with proper rainbows next month. Note that, when blazoning a rainbow with different color bands, the clouds need not be mentioned unless they are other than argent. Thus a rainbow of four stripes red, blue, green and silver would be a rainbow banded gules, azure, vert and argent.

The College of Arms in the early days based its heraldic practices upon the practices in Boutell's Handbook of Heraldry. In particular, charges placed along a line of partition were oriented as if they lay upon the corresponding ordinary. Thus charges placed in bend were by default bendwise unless otherwise specified. I have found that there is considerable disagreement among the standard references on this point. Fox-Davies is of the opinion that the orientations should always be specified. Woodward and Copinger are of the opinion that charges placed along lines of partition are in their normal orientations, not along the line of partition. Thus two swords in bend would be palewise in bend, not bendwise in bend. When I took office I continued the previous practice of using Boutell's method, as that was how I had learned heraldry from Mistress Karina.

Unfortunately, it seems that most of the populace agrees with Woodward and Copinger, because by far most of the submissions with charges placed along a line of partition have the charges in their normal orientation, not along the line of partition. The result has been an excessive use of the word palewise in describing all of the charges in bend, in cross, in chevron, etc. I have decides, after a lot of thought to give in and switch to Woodward's system. Hereafter, if charges are placed upon an ordinary, then by default they will follow the orientation of the ordinary (a sword placed on a bend will be bendwise by default), but charges placed along a line of partition will retain their normal default orientation. This will allow us to say that two charges placed in 1st and 4th quarters on either side of a cross are in bend, without having to then say they are palewise. The submissions in this month's LOA&R have been treated in this manner. I know that this will cause considerable confusion, until everyone is told, but please begin to switch to this system and tell your local heralds. If you are in doubt, specify all orientations and I will delete redundant words. I believe this will be beneficial in the long run. It should make for shorter blazons.

I have been working on my Heralds' Handbook and have now completed a new set of illustrations. I will be updating the chapters from my old handbook and incorporating the new Rules for Submissions. I hope to have the handbook finished by the Symposium. Does anyone have any suggestions on what should or should not be in it, or how it should be organized? I am willing to accept material for inclusion if it is suitable, and I do not already have it. The Handbook, like the Symposium Proceedings, will be printed by the SCA and kept in stock at the Stock Clerk's office. The Registrar and the Chronicler are currently dickering over the republishing of the Caerthan Heraldry Symposium Proceedings. I will let you know when I find out more re: the date of publishing and the cost.

It has been an interesting and satisfying term of office as Laurel, and I am looking forward to an even more rewarding second term, now that the worst is behind us. Pray believe my Lords and my Ladies, that I remain

Your service,

Master Wilhelm von Schlüssel

Laurel King of Arms

Wvs:CFC

Enclosure