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 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 meeting 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), Ćthelmearc (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), Ćthelmearc (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 was held Sunday, January 14, 2001, and considered 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 was held Sunday, January 21, 2001.
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). 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), 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 following letters of intent: Drachenwald (November 16) (redated to December 28 based on postmark), Atlantia (November 25) (redated to December 28 based on postmark), Atenveldt (December 1), Caid (December 6), Ćthelmearc (December 16), Drachenwald (December 18), Lochac (December 18), Middle (December 19), Atlantia (December 21), Outlands (December 27), An Tir (December 30), Ansteorra (December 31), and Artemisia (December 31). Original commentary on these LoIs must be in the College's hands no later than February 28, 2001. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the College's hands no later than March 31, 2001.
The May Laurel meeting is scheduled for Saturday, May 5, 2001, and will consider the letters of intent dated 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.
REMINDER: Until the packet containing the paperwork is received, the letter may not be scheduled.
As promised, a copy of the first draft of the administrative handbook is enclosed with this letter. It contains a number of minor wording changes as well as proposed implementation of the major changes already noted. It also includes a proposed wording for the change made by Jaelle as Laurel regarding blanket letters of permission to conflict. The goal is not to change her policy, but to implement it. Also, there are some new items on the "No Photocopy" list. Lastly, it has been proposed that Appendix E be removed in its entirety as its original purpose no longer applies.
Commentary on this draft must be sent by March 31. Responses and rebuttals must be send by April 31. I await your comments.
One submission this month, Randwulf aet Blacwulveslea, Per pale checky argent and vert and sable, a wolf rampant counterchanged, contained both a field and a charge each divided so that half was a solid color and half was evenly divided between color and metal, creating armory with a charge that was 75% color and a field that was 75% color. Rfs VIII.2, "Armorial Contrast" does not define this division of tincture as metal, color, or neutral. To make this case even more confusing is that each half of the device has acceptable contrast: we would probably accept Sable, a wolf rampant checky vert and argent or Checky vert and argent, a wolf rampant sable
A check on period examples was of only limited help. I found no examples like Randwulf's: fields multiply divided rarely have central charges over them. I did, however, find examples where either the charge or the field contained a metal or color combined with a neutral tincture (usually gules and vair). Examples are listed below:
From Foster, Dictionary of Heraldry:
From Seibmacher, Wappenbuch
From Wappenrolle von Zurich
From Riquier, Heráldica Castellana
While there were not enough examples to make a conclusive decision solely from them, particularly as several examples are cadenced version of more standard arms, it is notable that most of examples the three-quarters dark field or charge was combined with metal. There were two examples combining three-quarters light fields with light ordinaries. These examples were found in late-period German armory, which has more examples than most other sources of cases violating the standard rules of contrast; furthermore the low contrast charge was an ordinary in both cases.
These examples are not sufficient to draw conclusions about period practice. However, they do not refute the most obvious interpretation of the rules: that a charge or field that is primarily (that is, at least two thirds) a metal should be considered equivalent to a metal and a charge or field that is primarily a color should be considered equivalent to a color. This means that Randwulf's device is color-on-color and must be returned.
Note that this holds even though each half has arguably acceptable contrast. One reason to disallow Randwulf's particular case was mentioned by several commenters outside of the general contrast issue: The wolf is that much more unidentifiable when you combine the borderline contrast with counterchanging. Therefore the contrast rules as interpreted above describes why identifiability fails in this case, as it also would for Per pale checky vert and argent and sable, a wolf rampant azure.
Enclosed is a flyer for the next Knowne World Heraldic Symposium, to be held June 1-3, 2001 in Bloomington, Minnesota (Barony of Nordskogen, Northshield, Midrealm).
It is not too soon to start thinking out putting in a bid for 2002. We usually hold the symposium in one of the latter weeks of June, but, as noted above, other weekends might be considered. So that there will be time for the College to discuss dates before this year's symposium, the deadline for bids is May 1, 2001. For more information, please contact Laurel; there will also be more information in the next letter.
Dagonell Collingwood, Garnet Herald (AEthelmearc), address was incorrectly changed. His current address is David P. Salley, 5294 Webster Road, Fredonia, NY, 14063.
Rafaella d'Allemtejo, Lions Blood Herald (An Tir) is removed from the roster and mailing list. Submissions are currently handled by Elisabeth de Rossignol, Black Lion Principal Herald.
There is a new Bordure Herald (Ansteorra): Griffin ap Rhys (Samuel Moon), 14800 Memorial Drive #240, Houston, TX, 77079-5262, 281-556-8085, bordure@ansteorra.org. He is on both the mailing list and the roster as the Ansteorra submissions herald. The former Bordure Herald, Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, should remain on the roster and mailing list as Orle Herald.
Kenrick Burne of Northampton, Brigantia Principal Herald (East) has a new address: Michael Perry, 339 Grove Ave, Warwick, RI, 02889-5427, 401-769-8573.
There is a new Diamond Pursuivant (Meridies): Brónach ua Mochonne (Robert Brownell), 2807 N. Frankfort St., Russellvile, AR, 72802-8933, 501-968-8059, diamond@gleannabhann.org. Brónach should be on the roster but not the mailing list.
There is a new Ruby Pursuivant (Meridies): Astrid in hasvarta Thorvaldsdottir, Angi Shirley, 762 Holt Dr., Baton Rouge, LA, 70815-7222, 225-273-6240, ruby@gleannabhann.org. Astrid should be on the roster but not the mailing list.
Clarissa Wykeham, Dragon Principal Herald (Middle) has a new address and phone number: Nancy Rivers, 11080 Langdon Drive, Clio, MI, 48420, 810-686-7127.
Mary Elizabeth Fairweather of Prios Hardwick, Vesper Principal Herald (West) had an incorrect change of address. It should be Mary Seabrook, 824 Cape May Pl., San Jose, CA, 95133, 408-251-9787, mary@hal.com.
Send roster changes, 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,Created at 2001-01-30T21:32:13