Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
1194 Firwood Dr.
Pittsburgh, PA 15243
412-306-0416
kvs+@cs.cmu.edu

Unto the members of the College of Arms and all others who may read
this missive does Dame Elsbeth Anne Roth, Laurel Queen of Arms, send
greetings.

The January Laurel meeting was held January 16, 2000, and considered
the following letters of intent: Drachenwald (August 8) (delayed due
to late receipt of paperwork), Meridies (August 31) (delayed due to
late receipt of paperwork), Nebuly Letter of Intent to Protect
(September 13), {AE}thelmearc (September 15), Caid (September 15),
Outlands (September 15), Drachenwald (September 20), West (September
20), Atlantia (September 22), Artemisia (September 25), An Tir
(September 28), Ansteorra (September 30), and Meridies (September 30).

The February Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 12,
and will consider the following letters of intent: Middle (August 31)
(delayed due to late receipt of paperwork), Middle (September 27)
(redated to October 6 based on postmark), Atenveldt (October 1),
Drachenwald (October 11), Lochac (October 11), Artemisia (October 16)
(originally dated September 30), Atlantia (October 21), Middle
(October 21), {AE}thelmearc (October 29), An Tir (October 29),
Ansteorra (October 30), and Meridies (October 30).

The March Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 11, and will
consider the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (November 1), Caid
(November 1), Lochac (November 8), Caid (November 15), West (November
15), Drachenwald (November 16), Atlantia (November 17), Ansteorra
(November 29), Laurel (accidentally dated in July, should be November
30), and Meridies (November 30). Responses and rebuttals to commentary
must be in the College's hands no later than February 29, 2000.

The April Laurel meeting is scheduled for Sunday, April 2, 2000 (which
affects the commentary deadlines - see below), and will consider the
following letters of intent: Middle (November 28) (redated to December
9, based on postmark), Atenveldt (December 1), Lochac (December 1),
Artemisia (December 6), Drachenwald (December 13), Meridies (December
15), Outlands (December 15), Atlantia (December 16), {AE}thelmearc
(December 21), Caid (December 22), Middle (December 24), An Tir
(December 30), Ansteorra (December 31), and East (December
31). Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands
no later than February 29, 2000. Responses and rebuttals to commentary
must be in the College's hands no later than March 26, 2000.

The May Laurel meeting is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 13,
2000, and will consider the letters of intent from January.

Not all letters of intent may be considered when they are originally
scheduled on this cover letter. The date of mailing of the LoI, date
of receipt of the Laurel packet, or other factors may delay
consideration of certain letters of intent. Additionally, some letters
of intent received may not have been scheduled because the
administrative requirements (receipt of the forms packet, receipt of
the necessary fees, etc.) have not yet been met.

A Pelican King of Arms

I have been discovering that I lack the time to do everything I want
to or should do in this office. Therefore I have designated Lord
Pietari Pentinpoika Uv, Koira Herald, as Pelican King of Arms in
charge of names.  As of the April LoAR (with the exception of the
Midrealm November LoI), he will be making decisions on any name
submissions and any appeals of armory decisions.  I will continue to
make all of the armory and administrative decisions and will handle
any appeals of name decisions.  I will also be handling all the
paperwork - do not send Pietari any forms; send them all to me.  He
has currently scheduled meetings for Sunday, April 9, Sunday, May 14,
and Sunday, June 11.

As the appendix to the administrative handbook does not list these
duties of Pelican, I hereby update Appendix E (at least until after
the general revisions of the handbook) to the following:

The Pelican Sovereign of Arms shall be a deputy of the Laurel
Sovereign of Arms. The specific duties of Pelican must be published in
the cover letter for a Letter of Acceptances and Returns and may
include one or more of the following:

1. Administrative duties 

* Maintaining the mailing list and roster of the College of Arms

* Monitoring the performance of College of Arms members with regard to
Laurel office requirements for producing letters of intent, letters of
comments, and reporting

* Notifying College of Arms members, their kingdom heralds, kingdom
seneschals, and Crowns when they are not in compliance with Laurel
office requirements

* Removing any such non-complying COA members from the mailing list
and/or roster as necessary

* Preparing quarterly reports, in consultation with Laurel, to the
Board on the status of the College of Arms

2.  Submissions-related duties

* Making decisions for a pre-defined part of the submissions,
e.g. either name submissions or armory submissions

* Making decisions on appeals of returns by Laurel Sovereign of Arms

3.  Other duties

* Performing any other tasks as assigned by the Laurel Sovereign of
Arms

And now a word from the new Pelican King of Arms;

An Owl? No, a Pelican.

Most of you should know me by now -- I've been commenting for almost
exactly five years, including a two-year term as a principal herald.
Compiling Letters of Intent is great fun and commenting on them even
more so, but some poor sod has to read the comments and make
decisions.  I've agreed to help with that part for a while, but with a
firm intent to eventually return to commenting. So beware: some day it
may be your turn, and when that time comes I'll be back.

Meanwhile I'll try to do my best with this new job. Expect me to be
unfair and to make stupid mistakes, though, especially in the
beginning.  Feel free to call me about these or any other issues, but
please note that there is a seven-hour time difference between Finland
and the eastern coast of North America. Also, for all of you except
Edelweiss it'll be an international call. E-mail is your friend.

On Owls and Eagles

The question arose this month of how we count conflict between owls
and eagles.  Past precedent is clear on this point: they are only
insignificantly different ("raptors is raptors").  For the most part
we are overturning this precedent, based on rule X.4.e.

The standard in this rule is that when comparing two charges both of
which were used in period heraldry, we consider them significantly
different if they were "considered to be separate" in period.  When
considering owls in their default posture of close guardant it is
difficult to construct an argument based on period evidence against
granting this difference.  The owl is found as a heraldic charge as
early as 1308 (cited in Parker's Glossary p. 434) and in constant use
ever since.  Eagles displayed are found from earliest heraldry, and
birds of the eagle/falcon/hawk family in the close posture date at
least from the reign of Edward II (who died 1327).  We have no reason
to believe that there was ever any confusion between owls and the
eagle/falcon/hawk family.

This raises the question of how the SCA's current interpretation
arose.  The likely answer is found in the precedents of the tenure of
Bruce Draconarius.  In the LoAR of 9/92 he considered an eagle
displayed vs. an owl displayed, and wrote that "The owl and the eagle
are both raptors, and the main difference between them - the head
posture - is specifically worth no CDs per Rule X.4.h."  This was
reiterated on the 3/93 letter with "[There is not a CD] for type of
raptor in similar postures."  In both of these rulings the birds were
displayed.  That this was a general ruling is made clear on the letter
of 8/93, considering an owl [close] affronty vs. an eagle displayed,
he wrote "There's a CD for the change in the bird's posture, but
nothing for its type: eagles and owls are both raptors, and the main
heraldic difference - the head posture - is specifically worth no
difference under the Rules (as well as having been subsumed into the
rest of the posture change)."

Note that the earlier two submissions, of 9/92 and 3/93, involved owls
displayed.  This is unattested in period heraldry, where owls are
invariably close guardant.  The conflict rules make a rigid
distinction between the type of a charge and its posture.  This works
well most of the time, but less so for birds, where the type and the
posture are often closely connected.  In particular, with vanishingly
rare exceptions the eagle is the only bird found displayed in period
heraldry.  Therefore any other bird displayed will arguably be
visually similar to an eagle.

The dilemma is that, keeping the rules' rigid distinction between
posture and type, either granting a difference for type between owls
and eagle or not granting this difference creates undesirable effects.
Granting it would encourage more owls displayed, which is certainly
inauthentic style and is arguably visually over-generous.  Not
granting it discourages registration of owls even in their attested
posture and is inconsistent with both the spirit and the letter of
rule X.4.e.  Laurel chose the former path as the lesser evil.

The new solution to the problem is to sacrifice some of the
theoretical purity of separation of type and posture.  Because only
eagles among birds are attested as displayed in period, any other bird
in a displayed posture will be compared to any bird in a displayed
posture usuing the visual test of rule X.4.e for non-period charges.
Thus there will not be a CD between an owl displayed and an eagle
displayed, because they are too visually similar, but there will be a
CD between an owl displayed and a penguin displayed, because there is
still significant visual difference.  Additionally any bird other than
an eagle in a displayed posture will be considered a "weirdness".
Henceforth owls, being distinct charges in period, are generally
considered significantly different from other birds, but are subject
to the preceding visual comparison if displayed.

The end result of this is that there is still no difference granted
for owls displayed vs. eagles displayed, but there now is a difference
for type between owls close guardant and eagles/falcons/hawks close.
In the future I will be more likely to grant difference between
different types of birds when they are (a) different in period, (b) in
a period posture, (c) drawn correctly, and (d) there is some visual
difference.  This also means that in the future I will be stricter
about requiring that a bird be drawn with its defining attributes
(i.e., a dove should have a tuft). Without the defining attributes,
the bird may just be blazoned as "a bird."

Documentation in Letters of Intent

Please remember that it is always necessary to at least summarize the
documentation for a name or a charge in the letter of intent. I (and
soon Pietari) depend on the commentary from the College of Arms to
make an informed decision. The College cannot properly comment when
the documentation is simply listed as "enclosed". In particular, if
the documentation is from an e-mail correspondence the LoI should list
the evidence given in the letter instead of simply stating that there
is a letter.  If the documentation is a letter from the Academy of
S. Gabriel it is also helpful to give the client number of the letter,
but a summary of the evidence is far more critical. Furthermore, it is
often necessary for them to know the intended gender of the name, the
intending meaning of the name (if there is one), whether the meaning
or sound is more important, whether the submitter wants an authentic
name (and when/where), whether major or minor name changes are not
allowed, what changes were made at kingdom, and the history of any
prior submissions when doing resubmissions.

Similarly, for armory submissions, if there is any documentation
needed for the submission, it must be summarized as noted above. It is
also very helpful to include the date of registration of the primary
name if it is already registered.  This not only ensures that the
submission herald checks that the name is registered, but it makes
finding the previous registration, if necessary, much easier.

Essentially, when writing a Letter of Intent, write it so that as much
as possible decisions can be made without looking at the forms
(excluding purely administrative requirements such as a petition and
excluding color in armory) and without requiring someone to use the
internet.  Such letters are much easier to comment on and we are more
likely to have adequate information to make a fair and accurate
ruling.

The Administrative Handbook

Both because of a requirement by the board of the directors and
because of various recent commentary, I will be revising the
Administrative Handbook this year.  While I will be working out many
of the logistical details this month, I will be immediately taking
suggestions for substantive changes to the handbook.  I want these
suggestions as soon as possible so they can benefit from as much
commentary as possible.  Please send me your suggestions - my hope is
that I can include a letter similar to Palimpsest's rules letter with
the February or March LoAR.

Title Equivalencies

Nebuly Pursuivant made some suggestions for alternate titles in
Lithuanian and Estonian.  I've placed his suggestions in a separate
document along with this letter. Please make any comments and
suggestions by June 1, 2000.  I have saved commentary from Nebuly's
Letter of Intent to Protect so those comments do no have to be
repeated.

Roster Changes

First, anyone in the College of Arms who wants a copy of the roster in
Access or Excel format can contact my roster deputy Symond directly to
get a copy. His contact information is at the end of this letter.

Pietari Pentinpoika Uv, Koira Herald (Drachenwald) is now Pelican King
of Arms on Laurel staff.  He also requests that anyone calling him use
the phone number +358 400 812 354 instead of the current one.

Dagonell Collingwood, Garnet Herald ({AE}thelmearc), is added to the
roster and the mailing list. He is the new submissions herald for
{AE}thelmearc.  His address is David P. Salley, 136 Shepard Street,
Buffalo, NY, 14212-2029, salley@klaatu.canisius.edu

Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, Bordure Herald (Ansteorra) has a new address:
Kathleen M. O'Brien, 7323 Potters Trail, Austin, TX, 78729. Her phone
number and e-mail address remain the same.

Caid has changed principal heralds.  Thus Eirikr Mjoksiglandi
Sigurdson, former Crescent Principal Herald, is now Golden Phoenix
Herald (and is still on the mailing list) and has a new email address:
eirikr@astrid.upland.ca.us. The new Crescent Principal Herald is the
former Dolphin Herald, Madawc ap Caradawc (listed in the roster as
Madawc Seumus Caradawg).  Also please add Jeanne Marie Lacroix of Caid
to the roster and mailing list as a staff commenter.  

Gerulf, Schwarzdrachen Principal Herald (Drachenwald), has a new
address: Marcel Kramer, Henri{e:}ttedreef 12, 3561 JV Utrecht, The
Netherlands

Elena de Vexin, Buckler Herald (Middle Kingdom), is removed from the
mailing list (but not from the roster). She has informed me that she
lacks the time to do commentary.  Similarly, Kiena Munro, Fretty
Herald (Outlands) is removed from both the roster and the mailing
list. She has informed me that she is no longer able to keep the
title.

Cairbre mac Siomaigh, Lambent Herald (Meridies) has a new address:
John Pate, 1002 Upper Kingston Rd, Prattville, AL, 36067,
334-365-8336, jtpate@mindspring.com

Clarissa Wykeham, Dragon Principal Herald (Middle) has a new e-mail
address: herald@midrealm.org or nancy.rivers@netzero.net.

Alicianne de Montfort of Sprucewood, Vesper Principal Herald (West),
has a new address: Ann Clark, 824 Cape May Place, San Jose, CA
95133-1506, 408-251-9787, turtleann6@yahoo.com

A new roster is included with this letter.

Administrivia

Send roster changes, roster corrections, and LoAR subscriptions to
Lord Symond Bayard le Gris, Bruce R. Nevins, 2527 E. 3rd St., Tucson,
AZ, 85716-4114, (520) 795-6000, (520) 795-0158 (Fax),
bnevins@nexiliscom.com.  To request an electronic copy of the roster
send e-mail to Lord Symond above. Please make all checks or money
orders payable to "SCA Inc. - College of Arms." The cost for an LoAR
subscription is $25.00 a year.  Send all other administrative requests
or payments to Laurel.

Until then, I remain

In service

Elsbeth Anne Roth
Laurel Queen of Arms