Cover Letter [dba]
SCA - College of Arms
P.O. Box 742825
Dallas, TX 75374-2825
(214) 276-2129
April 12, 1994

Unto the members of the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive does Shayk Da'ud ibn Auda, Laurel King of Arms, send Greetings!

The March Laurel meeting was held on Saturday, March 12, 1994, to consider the following Letters of Intent: Meridies (10/25, mailed 11/5), East (11/10), Middle (11/11), Atlantia (11/14), Outlands (11/20), An Tir (11/21), Calontir (11/21), Trimaris (11/25), Caid (11/25), and Atenveldt (11/27). The Letter of Intent from the West (11/15) was considered at a "roadshow" Laurel meeting held the March 19, 1994, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The April Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 23, 1994, to consider the following Letters of Intent: Ansteorra (11/24, mailed 12/1), Meridies (11/27, mailed 12/2) An Tir (12/10), Atlantia (12/12), West (12/13), East (12/15), Caid (12/18), Calontir (12/19), Outlands (12/20), Middle (12/21), Ansteorra (12/24), and Meridies (12/28). Commentary on these LoIs should have been in the College's hands no later than February 28, 1994. Responses and rebuttals to commentary on these LoIs should have been in the College's hands no later than March 31, 1994.

The May Laurel meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 21, 1994, to consider the following letters of intent: Middle (1/12), Atlantia (1/14), An Tir (1/17), West (1/17), Calontir (1/22), Caid (1/25), Trimaris (1/25), East (1/26), and Ansteorra (1/28). Original commentary on these LoIs should have been in the College's hands no later than March 31, 1994. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than April 30, 1994.

The June Laurel meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, June 11, 1994, to consider the following letters of intent: Outlands (1/25), West (2/7), Middle (2/9), Drachenwald (2/10), Atlantia (2/11), An Tir (2/17), Outlands (2/17), Calontir (2/19), East (2/24), and Meridies (2/25). Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than April 30, 1994. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than May 31, 1994.

The July Laurel meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, July 9, 1994, to consider the following letters of intent: Ansteorra (3/1), West (3/14), Outlands (3/20), Middle (3/22), An Tir (3/25), Calontir (3/26), and Atlantia (3/28). [I expect that there are more LoIs for March out there, but these are all of which I have received official notice and complete packets as of April 11, 1994.] Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than May 31, 1994. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than June 30, 1994.

Not all Letters of Intent may be considered when they are scheduled on this Cover Letter. Date of mailing of the LoI and date of receipt of the Laurel packet may delay consideration of certain Letters of Intent.

ROSTER CHANGES AND CORRECTIONS

As of April 9, Meridies has a new Beacon Principal Herald. Mistress Sionyn has stepped down, but will remain on the mailing list as a commenter. Her successor as Beacon is Catherine MacAlpine (Beth Wood-Bednarcyzk), 140 Stone Meadow Lane, Madison, AL 35758-2539; (205) 461-8799. Please add her to your mailing lists.

Crescent asks that you change the title of Jasper Greensmith from Dolphin Herald to Sable Argent Herald. Jasper's successor as Dolphin Herald is Catrin ferch Daffydd (Angela Martin), 59015 Sunway Drive, Yucca Valley, CA 92284; (619) 365-7321. Neither will be commenting at this time. (Although Dolphin will be filling in for Crescent while he spends three months on a job in Phoenix, Arizona. She will, however, be picking up the mail at his address, so all mail for Crescent should continue to go to his current mailing address.)

There are a number of roster changes in An Tir. The majority of these will not affect the mailing list.

Black Lion has a new address. It is: Eric Ward of Winchester (Dean Schnurr), 2223 Benson Road South #H102, Renton, WA 98055. His current phone number will have a message giving his new phone number when it is known.

Please remove Argent Scroll and Black Lion Signet from the roster.

The new Queue Forchée Herald is: Torric inn Bjorn (Floyd Bullock), 4848 NE 99th, Portland, OR 97220; (503) 257-0014. [Not on Mailing List]

The Chief Scribe should be added to the roster: Hlutwige Wolfkiller (Lois Meeker), 5322 NE 47th, Portland, OR 97218; (503) 282-8274. [Not on Mailing List]

The new Rivers Regional Herald is: Fionn ban MacAoidh (David Stredwick), 1204 N. Pacific Avenue, Kelso, WA 98626; (206) 425-7425. [Not on Mailing List]

Please add the Avacal Crown Principality Herald to the roster: Reanna Wheatenfield (Nancy A. Niles), 1435-2A Street NE, Calgary, AB T2M 2X5, Canada; (403) 277-5736. [Not on Mailing List]

There are several corrections to the roster for the Middle Kingdom.

Please add the Rouge Scarpe Herald to the mailing list.

The new Constellation Herald is Damian Nihthauk (Rey Barreto), 54867 Timothy Road, New Carlisle, IN 46552; (219) 654-7018. His is not on the mailing list.

Fenris Herald's new address is: Alan Fairfax Aluricson (Alan Terlep), 2359 Joswick, Auburn Hills, MI 48326; (810) 373-4991 [Not on Mailing List]

The Green Mantle Herald is actually the Green Mantle Pursuivant.

Please remove the Shield Herald from the roster.

The title of the Wisconsin Regional Herald is Evergreen Herald.

If you have not already done so, please add the Kraken Herald (Atlantia) to the mailing list. His address is: Evan da Collaureo (Dave Montouri), P.O. Box 220414, Chantilly, VA 22022-0414.

As of May 1, 1994, the office of Triton Principal Herald will change. Mistress Jaelle is stepping down (please retain her on the mailing list, as she will remain in the CoA as a commenter), and Nereid will be filling the office of Triton. Please adjust your rosters accordingly.

FREE TRUMPET PRESS WEST (or, Old Stuff, New Stuff, Spend Your Money Here)

Enclosed is the very most recent price list for Free Trumpet Press West. [He'd sent me a new one already, and before I had a chance to mail it out to you, I received another, even newer, one.] New items of note are Update #13 to the Armorial and Ordinary and the Proceedings of the 1993 Known World Heraldic Symposium. Please feel free to copy and distribute this list to any and all who might be interested.

1994 KNOWN WORLD HERALDIC SYMPOSIUM UPDATE

The autocrat of this year's symposium has asked me to pass on to you some vital information regarding hotel reservations. When calling the Howard Johnson Plaza, Orlando Airport (407/859-2711), you may be told when requesting a room reservation that they have no rooms available. Tell them you are with the Society for Creative Anachronism (they will sometimes mispronounce it when they look it up, but it's us), and that there is a block of rooms set aside beginning on June 22. This last date is important, because under their system, if you tell them June 25 or 26, they won't find it. Once the connection with the SCA and June 22 is made, you should have no further difficulties. (Trust me on this one. I went through this process making my reservation.)

1995 KNOWN WORLD HERALDIC SYMPOSIUM, PART DEUX

We have received another bid to host the 1995 Known World Heraldic Symposium, this one from the Barony of Montengard in An Tir. The three bids are summarized here for you in order of their receipt. Please consider them carefully, and let me know by the end of May which one(s) you most prefer. An announcement as to the host of the 1995 Symposium will be made at the 1994 Symposium in Orlando, Florida.

Caerthe (Denver, Colorado)

Dates: June 1995

Location: Holiday Inn Coliseum

Room rate: $56.00 per night

Site fee:

Classes: Up to six classes at a time in conference rooms

Feast cost: $24.00; prepared by the hotel (who have experience in theme dinners)

Transportation: Denver International Airport (scheduled to open March 1994); AMTRAK; Greyhound; I-70 and I-25.

Tentative guest speaker: Commander of the U.S. Army Heraldry Unit

Local attractions: Zoo, museums, downtown, shopping areas

Tir Ysgithr (Tucson, Arizona)

Dates: June 23-25, 1995

Location: The Windmill Inn at St. Philip's Plaza

Room rate: $50.00 per night for up to two people; add'l persons $6.00 each. All rooms are suites with wet bar, refrigerator, microwave

Site fee: $10.00 to 4/30/95; $12 to 6/15/95; $18 thereafter

Classes: Three tracks of classes: heraldry, onomastics, scribal arts

Feast fee: $12.00

Transportation: Tucson International Airport; AMTRAK; Greyhound; I-10.

Local attractions: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, Biosphere 2, Old Tucson Movie Studios, San Xavier del Bac Mission, Mexico (70 miles away), Pima Air Museum, Tumacacori Mission, Titan Missile Museum

Montengard (Calgary, Alberta)

Dates: June 16-18, 1995

Location: The Marlborough Inn and Convention Center

Room rate: C$69.00/US$51.75 per night

Site fee:

Classes: Heraldry (book, field, court), onomastics, scribal arts

Feast fee:

Transportation:

Tentative guest speaker: from the College of Arms of Canada

Local attractions: Tyrell Museum of Paleontology, Banff National Park, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (a UNESCO World Heritage site)

BANNING THINGS, PART DEUX (or, Cease and Desist?)

As several commenters noted in the discussion of Amber Lang in the attached LoAR, the registration of "Amber" as a given name in the SCA has been based on faulty evidence. Unless new evidence is found demonstrating the use of Amber as a given name in period, we will cease to register it after the Laurel meeting held in July 1994.

Having read all the commentary on my request regarding whether we should continue to register snowflakes as charges in the SCA, I have come to the conclusion that either I worded my request weakly, or there are no strong feelings about this issue one way or the other out there. As a consequence, I will reword it and make the following proposal: Unless there is significant commentary or compelling argument to the contrary, I propose to ban, after the July 1994 Laurel meeting, the further registration of snowflakes as charges SCA armory on the grounds that they are not a charge used in period and that there is an acceptable similar charge, the escarbuncle, which could be used to the same effect.

Likewise, unless there is significant commentary or compelling argument to the contrary, I propose to ban, after the July 1994 Laurel meeting, the further registration of garden roses and rosebuds as charges SCA armory on the grounds that they are not a charge used in period, that the "tea rose" depicted as garden roses in SCA armorial submissions was not a period rose, and that there is an acceptable similar charge, the standard heraldic rose, which could be used to similar effect. An additional argument made against garden rosebuds is that we do not register baby fauna; why then should we register baby flora?

MISCELLANY

Well, here are the answers to last month's questions, taken from "The Pursuivant", "A Newsletter for Young Members of The Heraldry Society". How many did you get right without looking them up in the books?

1. What is a Cordeliere?

A knotted gold or silver cord encircling the arms of a widow, particularly in Scotland.

2. What is another name for an Ogress?

A pellet or gunstone.

3. Where is the Numbril point?

A point of the shield which is sited between the fess point and the base of the shield.

4. What are margin lines?

In English patents, the blue lines separating the text from the armorial bearings.

5. What is an Alerion?

An eagle without beak or legs.

6. What are the famous arms of Fitzgerald?

Argent, a saltire gules.

7. What does Forcene mean?

Properly used to describe a horse rearing up or salient, but it has been incorrectly used to describe a horse rampant.

8. What is a Gimmel Ring?

Two annulets interlaced.

9. What are the current Scottish heralds titles?

Albany, Ross, and Rothesay.

10. When the letters "Ob.s.p." are used on a pedigree what do they mean?

"Obit sine prole", that is, died without issue.

11. How many tassels has a Cardinal's hat?

Thirty, fifteen on each side.

12. Gyronny Or and Sable. To which Scottish family do these arms belong?

The Campbells.

13. What is an Ypotryll?

An unpleasant and rare monster. It appears to have a face like a boar, with tusks, the body of a camel with two hairy humps and the legs, hooves and mane of an ox.

14. What is sinople?

The tincture green or vert.

15. To what order of Knighthood does this motto belong? "Nemo Me Impune Lacessit"

The Order of the Thistle.

16. What is the difference between the supporters granted to a peer and those granted to a Knight Grand Cross?

A Peer's are hereditary.

17. What is the difference mark for an adopted child?

Two interlaced links of a chain.

18. What is "crenelle"?

Another word for embattled.

19. Whose arms are supported by a hippopotamus and a crocodile?

The arms of Speke.

20. What do heraldic mermaids usually hold in their hands?

A comb in the sinister hand and a mirror in the dexter hand.

Until next month, I remain, as ever,

Your servant,

Da'ud ibn Auda

Laurel King of Arms