Unto the members of the College
of Arms,
from Baldwin of Erebor, Laurel
King of Arms.
Courteous greetings,
Enclosed herewith is the letter
of acceptances and returns from my meeting of 16 September, consisting
of 141 approvals, 44 returns, and 1 pending submission, for a
total of 186 entries and a nominal approval rate of 69%. The
letters processed at the meeting were Atenveldt (5/17), Caid (6/19),
Middle (6/19), West (6/20), An Tir (6/25), Ansteorra (6/25), Atenveldt
(6/25), and Meridies (6/28).
Schedules
My next meeting is scheduled
for October 21. At this meeting I will process the following letters
of intent: Calontir (7/4), Caid (7/17), West (7/17), Atlantia
(7/21), East (7/22), East (7/25), Middle (7/26), and East (7/28).
At Star's request, the Ansteorra letter of 7/24 has been moved
to the November meeting.
The November meeting is scheduled
for the 11th. Letters of comment should be in by Monday, October
29. The letters scheduled for the November meeting are: Ansteorra
(7/24), West (8/5), Middle (8/9), Atenveldt (8/11), and Caid (8/22).
My December meeting will be
on the 16th. The deadline for LoCs is Saturday, December 1. Slated
for action in December are letters of intent from the East (9/9),
Caid (9/12), West (9/13), Middle (9/25), and Meridies (9/26).
Mailing list
Please restore the Third Shield
Herald, Lady AElfhaelen Dracasidth, to the list of corresponding
members of the College of Arms. Her address is: G. Dee Redman,
309 South Sixth Street, Lafayette, IN 47901. Please remove Asterisk
Herald (Mistress Clare RosMuire St. John) from the list.
Rules for Submissions
During his class on points
of difference at the heraldry symposium in Loch Salann, Lord Garin
de Gramercy questioned the need for rule XIII.7 (page 29), which
lists "Permutation of tinctures between the field and the
charges" as a minor point of difference. He stated that,
in the two years he has been researching conflicts for the West
Kingdom, he has never had occasion to invoke this rule. Master
Wilhelm responded that the rule was a carryover from earlier
days; he and Lord Garin agreed that it had probably been superseded
by the outline rule (X.5, page 20). Barring any serious objections
from the College, rule XIII.7 is a prime candidate for deletion
the next time the rules are revised.
Crescent Herald has called
to my attention the following apparent errors in the Rules for
Submissions:
The discussion for IX.4 (page
15) lists azure and purpure as having sufficient contrast for
gyronny of six or eight. I do not believe this is correct.
The discussion for IX.6 (page
16) states that "Wreaths of red heraldic roses are reserved
for queens." It should read, "Wreaths of heraldic roses
in any tincture are reserved for queens and former queens."
The discussion for XIII.B.3
(page 29) lists "voided vs. fimbriated" as being worth
a minor point of difference. The heraldic difference between voiding
and fimbriation is negligible.
Perchevrapilé
(Pronounced pearCHEVrapeelLAY
if you're a French speaker, and purrCHEVruhpilelee
if you're a silly English herald. It's a portmanteau word made
up of "per chevron," "a pile," and "chapé,"
and was invented for the sole purpose of providing a catchy heading
for this part of the letter.)
Heraldry provides for a number
of roughly triangular shapes and sections of the field. English
heraldry by itself isn't all that picky, but we have compounded
the problem in Society heraldry by admitting several terms from
Continental blazon. Since it behooves us to agree upon our terminology,
particularly where conflicts are concerned, I'd like to present
the following definitions, which are the ones currently being
used by the Laurel office:
Per chevron
intersects the sides of the field, even if the line of partition
is enhanced (raised) or abased (lowered). The angle
is fairly shallow. Per chevron throughout raises the point
of the division until it touches the chief, but it doesn't affect
the sides.
A pile does not intersect
the corners of the chief. A medieval pile is approximately onethird
the width of the chief, and is always throughout
it resembles a tapered pale more than anything else. A modern
or Tudor pile is about twothirds the width of the chief,
and extends most of the way to the base (at least as far as nombril
point). A pile inverted does the same thing from the bottom
up.
A chief triangular
is formed by two lines issuing from the corners of the chief and
meeting in honor point. It's like the top third of a perpall
division. The term is an anglicization of cheftriangulaire;
I got it from the French glossary in Woodward's lo, these many
years ago.
Chaussé
is the reason we have to draw our piles carefully. It's a Continental
term for a treatment of the field formed by drawing two lines
from the corners of the chief and uniting them in base. The blazon
describes the outlying parts of the field a field "vert,
chausse argent" has a green center and white sides. (Chaussé
means 'shod'; the white parts are the field's "shoes.")
The complement of chaussé
is chapé, which means 'coped' (i.e., covered with
a cape). A field "Or, chapé azure" has two lines
issuing from the corners of the base and meeting in the middle
of the chief; the center part is gold, and the part covering the
"shoulders" is blue.
[Note:scanned LoAR - pictures
missing.]
The above illustrations show
(1) per chevron, (2) a medieval pile, (3) a modern pile, (4) a
chief triangular, and (5) chaussé.
Et cetera
Principal heralds (and CoA
representatives): when you are preparing a letter of intent, please
remember to include any diacritical marks or accents that are
part of a name. These marks often have grammatical significance.
If the omission is intentional, you should correct the submission
forms (use whiteout), so the accents aren't accidentally
reinstated.
Please believe me to be,
Your servant,
Baldwin of Erebor
Laurel King of Arms