May 26, 1984 A.S. XIX

TO: The Members of the College of Arms

FROM: Master Wilhelm von Schlüssel, Laurel King of Arms

Greetings:

Enclosed is the May LoA&R, with 132 acceptances and 27 returns, for a total of 159 actions. By June 9, 1984, I will need all LoCs on the following 8 LoIs (which will be processed at my June 17 meeting): East (2/29), Ansteorra (3/6), Caid (3/12), Calontir (3/12), West (3/12), East/Middle (3/17), Middle (3/23), and Meridies (3/28), totalling 149 submissions.

By July 14, 1984, I will need all LoCs on the following 8 LoIs (which will be processed at my July 22 meeting): Ansteorra (3/23), Calontir (4/l), Calontir (4/7), West (4/8), Ansteorra (4/16), Caid (4/17), Middle (4/19), and East (4/26), totalling 156 submissions. (I moved Meridies (3/28) up to June to even out the workload.}

By August 4, 1984, I will need all LoCs on the LoIs that will be considered at my August 12th meeting, and at the Symposium on August 26, 1984. Those received so far are Ansteorra (4/7), Atenveldt (4/29), Atlantia (5/7), Meridies (5/10), and Middle (5/19). The Atenveldt (4/29) LoI will be the one that will processed at the August 26, 1984 CoA meeting at the Symposium.

Changes to the Mailing List and Roster: Lord Wilhelm von Westfalen is the new Black Lion Principal Herald. Mistress Catherine Winifred of Tor Bitterroot will remain on the Mailing List as a commentor. Lady Keridwen of Montrose (M. A. Foster, 1709 Lead S.E. #7, Albuquerque, NM 87106; 505/242-2603) is now Aten Principal Herald. Mistress Rhonwen y Llysieuyddes will remain on the Mailing List as a commentor. Lady Vanora of Kintyre is resigning as Pennon Herald. Her replacement will be Mistress Ammalynne Starchild Haraldsdottir (Linda S. Helm, 2889 Karen Road, College Park, GA 30337; 404/766-5284). Mistress Ammalynne will be on the Mailing List. Master Richard of Seahaven has resigned as Vesper Principal Herald. The new Vesper is Duke Frederick of Holland (Flieg Hollander, 808 - 61st Street, Oakland, CA 94608; 415/653-3652). The West files will remain with Brachet, and Vesper will not be on the Mailing List, so correspondence to the West should continue to go to Brachet's address. The Lincoln Herald has a new address: Daniel Eyesham of Tweed (Robert D. Twitty, 212 West Healay, #104, Champaign, IL 61820; 217/356-8317). Greenwood, Dolphin and Schwarzdrachen have not commented since February and are in danger of being dropped from the Mailing List.

I received the Middle's final bid for the 1985 Heraldic Symposium, and there are no other bids. The deadline having now passed, I hereby award the bid to the Middle. Mistress Graidhne ni Mhaire Ruadh, Dragon Principal Herald, will be the chairman of the symposium, to be held August 9-11, 1985, on the Ohio State University campus at Columbus, Ohio. This is a week before Pennsic and the site is a 4-hour drive from the Cooper's Lake war site. Enclosed is a copy of the final bid, with further information. I am sure Mistress Graidhne will put on a fine symposium.

I would like to remind you that, when a Principal Herald sends out emblazon sheets along with an LoI to the College, a copy of those emblazon sheets should also be sent to Laurel along with the packet of forms so that Laurel can see what the rest of the College had to work with. If there is to be any delay between the mailing of the LoIs to the college and the mailing of the forms to Laurel, a copy of the LoI should be sent to Laurel with the forms following later. Please be sure that the blazon is filled in on the emblazon sheet and that it matches the blazon on the LoI. All submissions, including appeals, name changes, heraldic titles, names of orders, etc., must have at least an information sheet so there is some record in the file that something was sent out in an LoI. Please be sure that the submittor's Society name is spelled the same way on the information and emblazon sheets.

It turns out that the question of residency requirements for those claiming allegiance to a kingdom other than the one they legally reside in was postponed for further consideration by the Board. (Such a regulation needed very careful wording.) The Steward wishes to clarify the matter of branches needing officers to be official branches. Those branches at the Barony or Province level or higher must have a complete set of warranted officers in order to become and remain official, with due allowances made for resignations and acting officers while replacements are sought. In the case of subsidiary branches (shires, cantons, colleges, etc.), the requirement is that the group have three warrantable (not necessarily warranted) officers willing and qualified to hold the three required officers of herald, seneschal, and either marshal or arts/sciences. The other offices are highly recommended, but are not required. Kingdoms may impose further requirements on branches to become and remain official. What this means to us is that every branch must, in order to be official, have a herald, although for subsidiary branches this herald could be an unwarranted cornet. Such a cornet should be warranted as a Pursuivant Extraordinary as soon as possible. All groups at or above the baronial level must have a warranted herald.

The Board does not wish to encourage the Crown to admit people to closed orders. Admission to an order is the privilege of baronies, principalities, and kingdoms, and should remain so. The Crown should only be called upon in special situations, such as the case of persons erroneously admitted after the order was closed but before the people were informed that the order was in fact closed (i.e., before last month's LoA&R).

I would like to compliment the Principal Heralds for the high quality of submissions this month. There was an overall 83% acceptance rate, and 25 citations for good heraldry. Top honors go to the West (13 citations), with honorable mentions to An Tir (4), the Middle (4), and Calontir (3). Keep up the good work.

Pray believe, my Lords and my Ladies, that I remain Your servant,

Master Wilhelm von Schlüssel

Laurel King of Arms

WvS:CFCvS

Enclosure-LoA&R