Mistholme
Box 1329,
Manhattan Beach,
CA 90266-8329

2 July 1992

Unto the College of Arms entire, and to all who may read these presents, does Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme, Laurel King of Arms, send Greeting!

Herein are the Acceptances and Returns for the Laurel meeting held at the Known World Symposium in An Tir, Sunday, 29 June 1992. We considered the following Letters of Intent: An Tir, 15 March 92, and Trimaris, 15 March 92. Master Da'ud ibn Auda ruled on the Trimarine submissions, while I ruled on the An Tirian submissions.

The July Laurel meeting will be held on Sunday, 19 July 1992, and will consider the following Letters of Intent: West, 27 Feb 92; West, 4 April 92; Calontir, 14 April 92; Caid, 15 April 92; West, 15 April 92; East, 16 April 92; An Tir, 21 April 92; Middle, 26 April 92; and Atlantia, 26 April 92. Responses and rebuttals to commentary on these LOIs should be in my hands by 12 July 92.

The August Laurel meeting will be held on Sunday, 23 August 1992, and will consider the following Letters of Intent: Atenveldt, 23 April 92; Meridies, 26 April 92; East, 10 May 92; Trimaris, 15 May 92; Middle, 16 May 92; Atlantia, 17 May 92; Calontir, 19 May 92; An Tir, 21 May 92; Atenveldt, 25 May 92; and Caid, 25 May 92. Commentary on these LOIs should be in my hands by 24 July 92; responses and rebuttals to that commentary, by 16 Aug 92.

The September Laurel "meeting" looks to be the second-largest Laurel meeting in CoA history. I say "meeting" advisedly: we'll likely have to split the work over two separate weekends. One of our meetings will still be held on Sunday, 27 September 1992, as planned. The combined September "meeting" will consider the following Letters of Intent: Ansteorra, 1 May 92; Outlands, 26 May 92; Ansteorra, 29 May 92; Middle, 6 June 92; Atlantia, 9 June 92; Ansteorra, 14 June 92; West, 15 June 92; An Tir, 17 June 92; Meridies, 17 June 92; Caid, 22 June 92; Calontir, 22 June 92; and Atenveldt, 24 June 92. Commentary on these LOIs should be in my hands by 28 Aug 92; responses and rebuttals to that commentary, by 20 Sept 92.

Da'ud ibn Auda (David Appleton) will be taking the title of Clarion Herald. Please add him to the Laurel Staff, at his home address: 1610 Vinecrest Circle, Garland, TX 75042; (214) 276-2129.

Sable Crane Pursuivant of Ansteorra has a new address for the summer: Cyndcyrn Conn Corr (David Heiligmann), P.O. Box 3419, E.T. Station, Commerce, TX 75429; (903) 468-3893.

Please add to the mailing list the Ember Herald of Meridies: Ammalynne Sternjekrekki Haraldsdottir (Linda Helm-Little), 2500 21st Street West, Birmingham, AL 35208.

Outlands has a new Trefoil Herald: Dulcinea Margarita Teresa Velazquez de Ribera (Kimberly C. Shaw-Parker), 1435 Fewel, El Paso, TX 79902; (915) 532-0182. Please add her to the mailing list, and please retain the former Lord Trefoil, Freodhoric Jorgenssen Sjoaureborg -- he wishes to continue commenting, presumably as a Pursuivant at large.

Please add to the mailing list the Coracle Herald of Trimaris: Taliesynne Nycheymwrh yr Anghyfannedd (Ken Cason), 1205 Mosley Ave. S, Palatka, FL 32177.

Finally, please remove Baron Erasimierz Waspanieski, Codex Herald, from the roster. He has decided to pursue other activities and forgo heraldry for now. We will miss his wit, his insight, and his ever-questioning mind. Best wishes to him in his new endeavors.

Some of the commenters on the mailing list have grown dilatory in their LOCs. Remember, all commenters are expected comment actively and regularly; failure to comment three months running is grounds for automatic removal from the mailing list. I'm taking the opportunity afforded by the change of administration to "wipe the slate clean", as it were; I'll start counting the three months from now. I'd like to see everyone on the mailing list commenting regularly henceforth.

The Known World Heraldic Symposium was held in An Tir, over the weekend of 27-29 June 1992. Everyone, I think, had a delightful time -- myself not least. The hospitality suite was very aptly named; my compliments and gratitude to the new Canton of Porte de l'Eau.

The classes were well attended, the entertainment quite diverting, and the bonhomie refreshing. The high point for many was the College of Arms meeting Sunday morning, which yielded more "gotchas" per minute than any event I've attended. ("'Tis a judgement call for Lord Laurel, I'm afraid." You really had to be there.)

A few announcements were made about the two Laurel staffs: public and private. The public Laurel staff are those members of the College of Arms to whom I have assigned titles and duties. These include Lady Brickbat and Lord Green Anchor, who have agreed to retain their current positions. Other announced positions on Laurel staff:

The private Laurel staff are those hard-working souls who come to my home and help with the paperwork every week. These include Mistress Astra Christiana Benedict, my lady wife, who's in charge of most of the administrivia; Baron Hrorek Halfdane of Faulconwood, Chevron Herald; Master Jasper Greensmith of the Seagirt Glen, Dolphin Herald; Lady Selene of the Sable Fox, Seraph Pursuivant; Countess Leonora Morgana, secretary extraordinaire; and Mistress Angelina Nicollette de Beaumont, herald-symp and long-suffering neighbor.

All in all, it was a wonderful event. In fact, we should do it again next year. Therefore, I am calling for bids for the 1993 Known World Heraldic Symposium. The bids should be sent to the entire College for commentary, and should include: site (college, hotel or whatever); date; cost; autocrats' names and phone numbers; and transportation (directions, airports, etc.). Additional information that might enhance the bid would be the experience of the autocrats, local attractions (if any), and so forth.

The bids should be out to the College by the end of August, and comments to me in time for the November Laurel meeting. The decision will, with any luck, be announced in December.

A reminder from the Laurel Office Administrator: we really appreciate getting LOIs and LOCs on diskette. Either 3-1/2" or 5-1/4" diskettes are fine; the preferred format is Word Perfect 5.1, for DOS or Microsoft Windows. But don't let that stop you; we can also read many other formats, for IBM and Macintosh.

The only way to find out is to try it.

Recently, we've had two large submission packets go astray in the Post Awful. One of them was lost permanently; the submissions herald had to recopy all the forms and send out a duplicate packet. The other packet turned up: it had been sent Express Mail, and required the recipient's signature upon delivery -- something hard to do when sent to a P.O. box.

If anything has to be sent to me quickly, I would appreciate not having to sign for it. For Express Mail, or other services that will deliver to the Laurel Office P.O. Box, it's enough to mark the place on the form that waives the need for the recipient's signature. UPS or Federal Express are better not used, for two reasons: First, they won't deliver to a P.O. Box, but to my home address -- and only if I'm home. Second, if I'm not home when the packet arrives, I have to go pick it up at the UPS or FedEx office -- and they're in South Central Los Angeles. Granted, it's been several months since the civic unrest in South Central L.A., but I'd still rather not tempt fate.

It was suggested at the Symposium that, for the moment, submissions packets be sent by registered mail. Registered mail can be traced if it goes astray, and we'd know exactly where the problem lay. Since then, one of our disappearing packets has resurfaced, so it isn't as large a priority as it seemed at the Symposium. Still, we have had a packet disappear so far, so registered mail might still be a wise choice for those who can.

We've received several LOI and packets recently, where the names on the LOI didn't match those on the submissions forms. Yes, I know mistakes happen. And yes, I know that June was a busy month for submissions heralds. But this still seems to be a growing problem, and I'd like all submissions heralds to be particularly careful henceforth.

When the forms don't match the LOI, I have to assume one of two things: 1) The name on the form is correct, and there was a typo or mistake on the LOI; 2) The name on the form is wrong, and the kingdom heralds had corrected the name before putting it on the LOI. Both assumptions are equally valid; and I can't always tell which is the case, just from the forms and LOI. (Moreover, if the mistake is with the LOI, the commenters won't have complete information on which to base their comments.)

Please make every effort to see that the names on the LOI match those on the forms. If the name is changed in kingdom, alter the forms to match the LOI. Double-check the LOI to catch typos -- and if one creeps in, be sure to send out a Letter of Correction.

Regarding Households:

One of the submissions from the Symposium meeting (Ian Mackynnes' House Nighthunter) raised the question of acceptable style for household names. The general feeling seems to be that, if we are to continue registering household names, they should meet the same criteria for period style as any other SCA names. Which begs the question: What is correct style for period household names?

Households, as they are generally known in the Society, don't appear to have historical equivalents; they seem to be unique to the SCA. My best definition would be: "A household is a non-official group of people who like to do things together in a Society context, to the point where they can be treated as a single unit." That definition covers groups of friends, small families, professional guilds (entertainment, brewing, waterbearers, &c), fighting units, and even businesses.

While there were no exact parallels in period to SCA households, there were historical groups that shared one or more functions with the latter. These include the Scots clans (Clan Stewart); ruling dynasties (House of Anjou); professional guilds (Baker's Guild of Augsburg, Worshipful Company of Coopers); military units, including mercenaries (The White Company); and inns (House of the White Hart). Such names as these groups took, then, should be the pattern on which SCA household names are built.

Some house names were taken from the place of origin: House of York, House of Lorraine, House of Valois. Some were taken from a personal epithet of the founder, shared by neither his father nor siblings: House Capet. Some were taken from the founders' surnames -- which, in turn, might be derived originally from a patronymic (Clan MacGregor), a toponymic (Clan Kerr), or an occupation (Clan Stewart). Guild names were straightforward descriptions of their crafts. Mercenary units might be more fanciful, and inn names most fanciful of all; but these still referred to livery or signboards -- in short, to a badge, which was a tangible thing.

House names in period don't seem to have been overly fantastic. For the most part, they come from the same linguistic well as period bynames. In particular, since a period house name was so often simply the surname, byname, or epithet of its founder, any such epithet that is acceptable in a Society personal name should be acceptable as a Society household name.

This is the rule of thumb I've formulated for determining the acceptability of householnd names henceforth. If we would register John X, we should register House X as well. We would not permit John Starwalker, so we should not permit House Starwalker. We would register John of the Red Sickles (wincing, perhaps, but we would), so we should register House of the Red Sickles.

The principle is consistent, fair, and in keeping with period practice. If it also results in household names that some of us find, um, gacky, the solution is better education of the populace -- and a renewed feeling of tolerance on the College's part.

Your servant,

Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme,

Laurel King of Arms.