Unto the members of the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive do Dame Elsbeth Anne Roth, Laurel Queen of Arms, and Master Pietari Pentipoika, Pelican King of Arms, send greetings.
The September Laurel meeting was held Saturday, 9 September, 2000, and considered the following letters of intent: Ealdormere (February 15) (redated to March 25 based on postmark, and delayed due to late receipt of paperwork), Artemisia (March 17) (delayed due to late receipt of paperwork), Middle (April 20) (redated to May), Trimaris (April 25) (redated to May based on postmark), Outlands (April 30) (redated based on postmark), Artemisia (May 1), Caid (May 1), West (May 5), Drachenwald (May 18), Æthelmearc (May 20), Atlantia (May 22), Lochac (May 22), Middle (May 22), Outlands (May 29), An Tir (May 31), and Ansteorra (May 31). The September Pelican meeting was held Saturday, 30 September, 2000.
The October Laurel meeting was held Saturday, October 14, 2000, and considered the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (May 1) (delayed due to late receipt of paperwork), Atenveldt (June 1), Caid (June 1), Middle (June 19), Artemisia (June 22), Outlands (June 27), Trimaris (June 29), An Tir (June 30), Ansteorra (June 30), and Meridies (June 30). The Pelican meeting was held Saturday, October 21, 2000.
The November Laurel was held Saturday, November 18, 2000, and considered the following letters of intent: Lochac (January 1) (mailed to the College in July), Atlantia (June 17) (redated to July 11 based on postmark), Lochac (June 18) (redated to July 11 based on postmark), East (June 30) (redated to July 6 based on postmark), Atenveldt (July 1), West (July 8), Æthelmearc (July 10), Middle (July 12), Lochac (July 16), Atlantia (July 20), Caid (July 24), Drachenwald (July 24), An Tir (July 31), Ansteorra (July 31), and Meridies (July 31). The Pelican meeting was held Saturday, December 2, 2000.
The December Laurel meeting was held Sunday, December 10, 2000 and considered the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (August 1), Caid (August 1), Æthelmearc (August 6), Drachenwald (August 9), Artemisia (August 13), Atlantia (August 13), Nebuly Letter of Intent to Protect (August 16), Middle (August 20), Lochac (August 23), Atlantia (August 25), An Tir (August 29), Atlantia (August 29), Meridies (August 30), and Ansteorra (August 31). The Pelican meeting was held Sunday, December 17, 2000.
The January Laurel meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 14, 2001, and will consider the following letters of intent: Outlands (July 29) (delayed due to late receipt of paperwork), Outlands (August 30) (redated to September 6 based on postmark), Middle (September 10), Caid (September 17), Atlantia (September 20), Drachenwald (September 25), Trimaris (September 28), An Tir (September 29), Ansteorra (September 30), and Meridies (September 30). The January Pelican meeting is scheduled for Sunday, January 21, 2001. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than December 31, 2000.
The February Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, February 10, 2001, and will consider the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (September 1) (redated to October based on postmark), Atenveldt (October 1), Atlantia (October 19), Drachenwald (October 19), Outlands (October 19), East (October 22), Middle (October 25), An Tir (October 30), Artemisia (October 31), and Meridies (October 31). The February Pelican meeting is tentatively scheduled for Sunday, February 18, 2001. Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than December 31, 2000. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than January 31, 2001.
The March Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, March 10, 2001, and will consider the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (November 1), Caid (November 10), Caid (November 15), West (November 15), Drachenwald (November 16), Middle (November 18), Trimaris (November 28), An Tir (November 30), and Meridies (November 30). Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than January 31, 2001. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than February 28, 2001.
The April Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, April 14, 2001, and will consider the letters of intent dated December.
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.
REMINDER: Until the packet containing the paperwork is received, the letter may not be scheduled.
As you should have noticed by now, LoARs have recently been inordinately late. This is in major part my fault.
When I accepted the position of Pelican King of Arms I knew my lady was due to have a baby in early September. I even tried to make arrangements so that this would not disrupt the submissions processing too much. However, there have been some things I did not foresee.
The first one was that we bought a new apartment in late August and moved in mid-October. This in itself would not have been too bad, although it did cause a two-week period during which I had neither the time to do any SCA-related work nor the books necessary for it.
The second one was that our daughter was eventually born two weeks overdue. This meant that while I had the September Pelican meeting in time I did not have the time to write my part of the LoAR right afterwards. It also cut the period between her birth and the move rather drastically.
The third — and final — problem was that our daughter had to spend a week in hospital in early October. I'm happy to be able to tell that she is fine now and did not suffer any permanent damage; still, this did cut my SCA time even further.
While none of these would by themselves have caused major delays like what you have seen, the combination was rather disastrous. Without the help of Argent Snail and Edelweiss it would have been even worse. They have not just given me all the help they could; rather, they have given me all the help I could use (without turning over the office, which I did not wish to do even temporarily).
The attacks of real life seem to have ceased, so the delays with these letters should also shorten relatively rapidly. As of December my own schedule is back to normal, but I would expect Laurel and her LoAR-producing staff to need some time to cope with the backlog.
Discussion of some of the more substantial proposed changes to the Administrative Handbook will be found below for commentary. A complete draft of the revised Administrative Handbook will be sent out with the next LoAR. Deadlines for commentary will be established at that time. I anticipate that there will be a second draft after this round of commentary, in the late spring. This means that the revised Handbook will not be ready for distribution until the summer.
After weighing the commentary, I have come to the conclusion that there is not sufficient support in the College of Arms to remove the requirement that crowns be an element of kingdom arms. Therefore I am withdrawing that change from the list of changes I had proposed.
The commentary was also mixed on the issue of the protection of ancient arms. One reason was that many people felt that former arms could be protected by registering the old arms without the laurel wreath. However, this overlooks the fact that the arms without the laurel wreath are not necessarily free from conflict. In addition, it would allow the registration of devices that would conflict with the arms, but not with the badge (without the laurel wreath).
In commentary, it has been pointed out that we currently protect "ancient arms" of Drachenwald, Azure, a demi-aurochs rampant, couped invected, environed of a laurel wreath argent. While this was done before we established our current policy on badges, it provides a precedent for allowing us to do the same for kingdoms and principalities. Given the small number of kingdoms and principalities, as well as the arduous process involved in changing kingdom arms, it is unlikely that allowing the use of ancient arms for principalities and kingdoms will cause an undue burden on the College or future submitters.
I am therefore planning to allow this category for kingdoms and principalities. I would like commentary on whether we should allow it for other groups and whether we should impose limitations on the number registered. Limitations would be most important for baronies, which are not limited (as are shires and the like) in the number of items registerable, nor is the process for registration overly arduous.
There was general support for the standardization of the rules regarding heraldic wills. Below is a draft of the proposed rules for the review of the College:
IV.F. Heraldic Wills - The owner of any registered item may submit a heraldic will, which is a statement of transfer that specifically transfers registered items to another at the owner's death. (See Appendix D for a standard form for a heraldic will.)
1. Anyone may designate a heraldic heir. To do so, the legator ("parent") sends copies of the heraldic will to the principal herald and to Laurel, bearing the Society name of the parent and signed with the name used outside the Society by the parent. Any item may be transferred this way.
2. A heraldic heir to a device may bear, without registration, the parent's device with a suitable cadency difference. The heir may also register the cadenced device without needing to get (an additional) letter of permission to conflict from the parent, although all other rules will apply.
3. If more than one parent designates the same person as an heir to their devices, the heir may also display, but not register, their parents' devices quartered and differenced.
4. Upon the actual death of a parent, the heir may ask for a transfer of the items willed to him. This is done as any other transfer, except that instead of a letter of permission for the transfer, the heir notes that there is a heraldic will.
5. If, upon the death of someone with registered items, there is no heraldic will, then the legal heirs of the deceased have the right to give permissions to conflict, release, or transfer the registered items as they see fit.
There was no substantial opposition to allowing the registration of heraldic titles to the local group. Therefore, we plan to implement this proposal. Below is a draft of the proposed rules for the review of the College. It also formalizes the current policy allowing the transfer of names to individuals.
II.C.3. Heraldic Titles - Titles for the use of heraldic officers at all levels. Titles for Laurel staff are registered to the Society. All other heraldic titles are registered to the branch in which they will be used, but must be approved by the kingdom to which the branch belongs. Heraldic titles may be transferred to individuals with the approval of the owning branch and the kingdom to which it belongs, but titles cannot be registered directly by individuals.
The Administrative Handbook, Appendix H, says: This is a list of 'standard books' that do not require photocopies to be sent to Laurel. The Laurel office has copies of all of these books, and urges the Kingdom Colleges to acquire copies of any they do not have. Several proposals have involved additions and/or deletions from this list. Some proposed additions are simply books that have been published since the list was last revised; others include websites and SCA-published materials.
As we have examined proposed revisions to the no-photocopy list, the question has arisen: what does this list represent? One point of view is that it simply reflects the books that Laurel and most kingdom submissions heralds own. In that case, we should poll submissions heralds and the Laurel office (which does not currently own all of the books on the no-photocopy list) to discover what books they actually own, and revise the list accordingly. The second point of view is that the no-photocopy list reflects "best practice" and that inclusion of a book on the no-photocopy list is an explicit recommendation that this book is one of the best sources to use for this language/culture. In that case, we should review the list to decide if some books are not included that are part of our current "best practice" and if other books have been supplanted by more recent resources.
We welcome commentary on the no-photocopy list, both on the general issue of what purpose the no-photocopy list serves and on specific proposals for the addition and deletion of items.
Send roster changes and roster corrections 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. College of Arms members can also request a copy of the current roster from Symond. Send all other administrative requests or payments to Laurel.
For subscriptions to the paper copy of the LoAR, please contact Symond, above. The cost for an LoAR subscription is $25.00 a year. Please make all checks or money orders payable to "SCA Inc. – College of Arms." For subscriptions to the electronic copy of the LoAR, please contact Laurel at herald@sca.org. The electronic copy is available free of charge.
Until then, I remain
In service,
Elsbeth Anne Roth
Laurel Queen of Arms
Created at 2001-01-03T20:54:06