Society for Creative Anachronism College of Arms 15910 Val Verde Drive Houston TX, 77083-4921 713-918-2947 herald@sca.org For the October 2002 meetings, printed January 21, 2003 To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Fran{c,}ois Laurel, Zenobia Wreath, and Mari Pelican, greetings. The following is a table showing the status of Letters of Intent, Laurel Letters of Pend and Discussion, and Letters of Intent to Protect. The header rows are the dates of the meetings that will consider them, the dates when primary commentary is due, and the dates when responses to primary commentary are due. The key follows. Wreath mtg Oct 19 Nov 23 Dec 21 Jan 18&19 Feb 08 Mar 22 Apr 19? Pelican mtg Oct 05 Nov 16 Dec 21 Jan 18&19 Feb 08 ? ? Comment by too late Dec 31 Jan 31 Feb 28 Reply/ Dec 31 Jan 31 Feb 28 Mar 31 Respond by LoIs being considered: {AE}thel- Jun 27 Jul 17 Aug 17 Sep 17 Oct 22 Nov 23 (Dec 19) mearc [P Oct 30] An Tir Jun 28 Jul 30 Aug 30 Sep 30 Oct 30 Nov 29 Dec 27 Ansteorra Jun 17 Jul 14 Aug 17 Sep 15 Oct 20 - (Dec 18) [P Jul 22] [P Oct 30] Artemisia Jun 18 Jul 30 - Sep 30 - Nov 30 - Atenveldt Jun 15 Jul 15 Aug 20 Sep 15 (Oct 20) - (Dec 20) [P Jun 25] [P Jul 25] Atlantia Jun 27 Jul 18 Aug 20 Aug 30 Oct 26 & (Nov 24) (Dec 20) [P Sep 30] Oct 27 Caid - - - Sep 10 Oct 01 & - Nov 10 Oct 25 [P Dec 03] Calontir - - - Sep 03 Oct 16 Nov 13 - Drachenwald Jun 18 Jul 16 Aug 22 Sep 19 - (Oct 25) & (Dec 23) Nov 23 Ealdormere - - Aug 19 - - (Nov 22) - East Jun 09 & - - Sep 01 & Oct 27 (Nov 24) (Dec 15) Jun 23 Sep 22 Lochac Jun 16 - Aug 20 - - - - Meridies Jun 30 Jul 31 Aug 31 Sep 30 - Nov 30 Dec 31 Middle Jun 17 Jul 12 Aug 19 Sep 16 Oct 14 Nov 11 (Dec 14) Outlands - Jun 17 & Aug 23 Sep 23 Oct 23 Nov 23 Dec 23 Jul 17 Trimaris Apr 29 Jun 28 & - Sep 30 Oct 15 Nov 15 (Dec 14) Jul 30 West Jun 25 - Jul 24 Sep 25 Oct 29 Nov 27 - [P Aug 01] Kraken LoItP: Jul 16 Laurel LoPaD [LoAR date] Oct: Jun 21 [Apr LoAR] & Jul 20 [Apr LoAR] Nov: Jul 20 [May LoItP] Dec: Aug 31 [Jun LoAR] Jan: Sep 19 [Jul LoAR] Feb: - Mar: Nov 14 [Aug LoAR] Apr: Dec 18 [Sep LoAR] Month day: the date on the Letter of Intent, Letter of Pend and Discussion, or Letter of Intent to Protect. (Month day): for administrative reasons, this LoI has not yet been scheduled. [P Month day]: postmarked on that bracketed date, so the LoI is redated or postponed. "-": no LoI is scheduled for that meeting from that kingdom. ?: tentative. Jan: Pelican and Wreath are both having two-day meetings due to the number of items to process. Apr: Wreath's meeting is tentatively scheduled for April 19. May: Wreath's meeting is tentatively scheduled for May 17. 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, et cetera) have not yet been met. REMINDER: Until all administrative requirements are met, the letter may not be scheduled. ------------------------------------------------------------ From Laurel: Clarification of the Grandfather Clause This month we had several submissions that wished to use the "Grandfather Clause" when submitting a new name. From these submissions it is evident there is confusion about what the clause is and how to use it. The "Grandfather Clause" refers to section II.5 of the Rules for Submission. For the full text I refer you to the Rules for Submission. In 1995 the clause was extended to include immediate family in the precedent: [W]e allow the original submitter to register further instances of the problematic element provided that they introduce no new violations of the rules; and secondly, we extend the allowance to the original submitter's nearest kin. [Roxanne Blackfeather, East-R, LoAR December 1995, p. 20] The clause also allows for family to use the same name element. I know that many consider some relationships inside the SCA to be family, but in this context, "nearest kin" is real-world family only. Support for use of the "Grandfather Clause" by family members must be included with the submission. Such support may be a letter signed by the family member with the original registration indicating the family relations, or it may be other documentation such as a birth certificate. ------------------------------------------------------------ From Laurel: Additions to Appendix D, Suggested Standard Form Letters The following sample letters are being added to help submitters and their local heralds provide the required information when submitting items for registration that include either the use of the "Grandfather Clause" (Rules for Submission II.5) or a transfer of a registered item. These suggested letter formats are additions to those currently defined in Appendix D of the Administrative Handbook of the College of Arms. Documentation of Legal Relationship for Grandfather Clause I, [Legal name], known in the SCA as [Society name], attest that [Legal name of submitter], known in the SCA as [Society name of submitter], is my legal [father / mother / wife / husband / son / daughter / brother / sister]. I understand that this letter cannot be withdrawn once [Legal name of submitter]'s name is registered. [Date] [Signature of [Name]] A transfer of a name or item of armory requires both a letter of transfer from the owner and a letter of acceptance of transfer from the recipient. Letter of Transfer of Name I, [Legal name], known in the SCA as [Society name], transfer to [Name of submitter], known in the SCA as [Society name of submitter], the [household/personal] name "[Registered name]". I understand that this transfer cannot be withdrawn once made. [Date] [Signature of [Name]] Letter of Acceptance of Transfer of Name * I, [Legal name], known in the SCA as [Society name], accept the transfer from [Legal name of submitter], known in the SCA as [Society name of submitter], the [household/personal] name "[Registered name]". I understand that this transfer cannot be withdrawn once made. [Date] [Signature of [Legal name]] Letter of Transfer of Armory * I, [Legal name], known in the SCA as [Society name], transfer to [Legal name of submitter], known in the SCA as [Society name of submitter], the armory "[Blazon of registered armory]". I understand that this transfer cannot be withdrawn once made. [Date] [Signature of [Legal name]] Letter of Acceptance of Transfer of Armory * I, [Legal name], known in the SCA as [Society name], accept the transfer from [Legal name of submitter], known in the SCA as [Society name of submitter], the armory "[Blazon of registered armory]". I understand that this transfer cannot be withdrawn once made. [Date] [Signature of [Name]] * A transfer of a name or item of armory requires both a letter of transfer from the owner and a letter of acceptance of transfer from the recipient. ------------------------------------------------------------ From Pelican: Conway's Celtic Book of Names - A Source to be Avoided A submission this month documented a given name from D. J. Conway, The Celtic Book of Names. Siren provided an evaluation of this source: The entire name is: "The Celtic Book of Names: Traditional Names from Ireland, Scotland, and Wales" [...]. There are sample pages at www.amazon.com. The first page mixes Anglicized forms (Aideen), Gaelic forms (Ailbhe), and Latinized forms (Affrica) as header forms without notation. The names listed include human names used in period, names which were adopted more recently, deity names, bynames, and just words. There is little attempt to distinguish when names came into use, what spellings might be appropriate for period, or when names fell out of use. Given these problems with this source, it is not useful for our purposes and should be avoided. ------------------------------------------------------------ From Pelican: Regarding Capitalization in Norse Bynames In the Cover Leter to the April 2002 LoAR, I called for comments regarding the requirement that descriptive bynames in Old Norse be written in lowercase. When registering transliteration of non-Roman alphabets (including Norse runes), we register the name using modern transliterations standards. We will also register period transliteration standards where such exist. In the case of Old Norse, there are period manuscripts of sagas and other works that are rendered using the Roman alphabet. From these, we can determine that the period standard was to transliterate descriptive bynames in lowercase. (See the cover letter for the April 2002 LoAR for more information.) The modern transliteration standard, both in Europe and the U.S., is to transliterate descriptive bynames in lowercase. It is important to remember that transliteration is different than translation. Mass-market modern English translations of Old Norse sagas show a wide variety of levels of scholarship. In general, these translate Old Norse names using modern English naming standards - and so capitalize bynames. But these are translations and so are not relevant to the current issue under discussion. Gold Phoenix provided examples from E.V. Gordon's An Introduction to Old Norse and describes this work for those not familiar with Old Norse resources: The work in question is one of the standard texts in the study of the Old Norse language. It was first published in 1927 by the University of Oxford. After several reprints, a revised edition was edited by A.R. Taylor in 1957. This edition was corrected at its second printing in 1962, and subsequently reprinted at least seven times, including the 1983 printing that is in my possession. The author and editor appear to have been professors at the University of Leeds at the time of their writing. An important part of this discussion is whether or not the transliteration standards used by Gordon follow accepted standards. Gunnv{o:}r silfrah{a'}rr (formerly Gunnora Hallakarva) provided an evaluation of Gordon's work and compared a number of the capitalized bynames found in Gordon to period manuscripts: (1) Alexandr Paue Pope Alexander. From a Vita of King Eric the Saint, who ruled 1150-1160. This is a translation into Old Norse from a now-lost Latin Vita. Occurs in a phrase of Latin, "...quinto decimo Kalendas Iunii, i Alexandri Paua..." (2) {A'}sl{a'}kr H{o'}lmskalli Aslakr the bald of Holm. From the J{o'}msv{i'}kinga saga, in Heimskringla, authored by Snorri Sturluson. The best text we have of this is ca. 1260, but it was lost in a fire in 1728, and we're now working from paper copies. Other mss. exist, from c. 1325. Going to the normalized Icelandic text at Net{u'}tg{a'}fan (http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/jomsvik.htm), it has "...en annar heitir {A'}sl{a'}kur og er kalla{dh}ur >>>>{A'}sl{a'}kur h{o'}lmskalli<<<< ..." (3) Awair Strabain Avarr Straw-legs, from Gutasaga, c. 1350. When you go look at a non-normalized text, this appears as *all* lower case: "Mangir kunungar stridu agutland mithan hathit war. thau hieldu gutar e iemlica sithri Oc ret sinum. Sithan sentu gutar sendumen manga tjl suiarikis En engin thaira fic frith gart fyr than >>>>awair strabain<<<< af alfha socn hann gierthi fyrsti frith withr suja kunung." http://www.lysator.liu.se/runeberg/gutasaga/04.html or http://spraakdata.gu.se/ktext/Delsingfiler/Mos-KS_mfl/Kronikor/GS-txt for instance... (4) Bj{o:}rn Sv{i'}akonungr Bjorn Swedes'-king, capitalized because "Swede" and "Sweden" are proper nouns. (5) B{u'}i Digri Bui the Stout. From the J{o'}msv{i'}kinga saga. Going to the normalized Icelandic text at Net{u'}tg{a'}fan (http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/jomsvik.htm), it has "Og hefir heiti{dh} son {th}eirra B{u'}i er kalla{dh}ur var >>>B{u'}i hinn digri<<< ..." (6) B{o:}{dh}varr Bjarki As Gordon is at pains to point out, "Concerning B{o:}{dh}varr Bjarki's name, however, it is to be noted that Bjarki is not really the cognomen, as it is taken to be in Hr{o'}lfs saga, but is his original name; as he says in the Bjarkam{a'}l (in the Latin translation of Saxo): belligeri (=B{o:}{dh}varr) accepti cognomen. The name in Icelandic would properly be B{o:}{dh}var-Bjarki, 'battle-Bjarki'." p. 26-27. In other words, this one is [odd] just to start with and shouldn't be relied upon in this particular controversy. (7) Domnal Selsh{o:}fu{dh} This one is from a runic inscription. Having access to the actual Rundata database (http://www.nordiska.uu.se/forskn/samnord.html) of all runic inscriptions, this one is from Ireland and is known as "IR 1": < tomnal selshofoth a soerth| |theta >. In normalized Old Norse this would be "Domnal selsh{o:}fu{dh} {a'} sver{dh} {th}etta" or "Domnall seal's-head owns this sword." (8) Eadmund inn Helgi St. Edmund, king of England. This is from Islendingab{o'}k, aka Libellus Islandorum, written by Ari {TH}{o'}rgilsson, who lived from 1067-1148. The text depends on two 17th century copies of a lost 12th century vellum ms. Gordon says of this, "The copyist, J{o'}n Erlendson, reproduces the spelling of the old manuscript, but in the following selections the spelling has been normalized on the same plan as the other Icelandic texts in this volume." p. 34. I had a tough time finding a source of the Old Norse text other than Gordon, but finally found the paragraph mentioning Edmund in normalized Icelandic (http://netla.khi.is/greinar/2002/001/005.htm): "...er {I'}var Ragnarsson lo{dh}br{o'}kar l{e'}t drepa >>>>Eadmund hinn helga<<<< Englakonung..." (9) Eir{i'}kr Bl{o'}{dh}{o/}x Erik Blood-axe. This is from Egils saga Skallagr{i'}mssonar, which we have from vellum mss. from ca. 1350 and paper mss. from the 17th century, with some fragments from one ms. ca. 1250. Going to the normalized Icelandic at Net{u'}tg{a'}fan (http://www.snerpa.is/net/isl/egils.htm), it is shown as: "Eir{i'}kur, son Haralds konungs, er kalla{dh}ur var bl{o'}{dh}{o:}x..." (Eric, son of King Harald, who was called blood-axe...) Just looking at this handful, I believe that Gordon's normalizations don't bear much resemblance to current scholarly usage (nor to what modern Icelanders do with it). Reviewing the Icelandic normalized saga texts at Net{u'}tg{a'}fan, I am unable to find any by-names that are capitalized, unless they are (a) prepended bynames or (b) contain a proper noun such as a place-name or god-name. Gordon is an excellent and indispensable tool for students learning Old Norse. But it should be remembered that this is a basic, introductory text for first year students of Old Norse. It's most certainly not a text on Old Norse name usage or normalization. Given the analysis above that was provided by Gunnv{o:}r, to the best of our knowledge Gordon does not follow either period transliteration standards or modern transliteration standards. Therefore, we are upholding the current policy of requiring descriptive bynames in Old Norse to be registered in lowercase. The exceptions to this policy are (1) pre-pended descriptive bynames and (2) descriptive bynames based on proper nouns. ------------------------------------------------------------ Roster Updates A new roster should be enclosed. Please check your own entry, and if there is any error, please contact Symond and Laurel Clerk (using our roster entries). Also, if you have an address label file for mass-mailing the College of Arms, please check and update it in toto. A large number of changes, especially in July, were noted only on the roster but not on the LoAR cover letter (for which Laurel Clerk is heartily sorry). The new CoA Ombudsman on the Board of Directors is Andre Jean Faucon (Gary Raine), [snipped]. He is added to the roster only. Our previous Ombudsman, Beth Morris (Keilyn FitzWarin), is removed from the roster. Artemisia has completed their half do-si-do. As announced in the cover letter for the July 2002 LoAR, Tanglwyst de Holloway, formerly Sage Herald, has become Golden Wing Principal Herald, and Shauna of Carrick Point, formerly Golden Wing, is now Sage. Both ladies were and continue to be on the roster and mailing list wearing their new hats. Shauna Sage also has a new e-mail address, [snipped]. There is a new Gold Falcon Principal Herald (Calontir): Lyriel de la Foret (Debra Vigil), [snipped]. As with all principal heralds, she is on the mailing list and roster. The previous Gold Falcon, Mikhail Nikolaevich (Michael Straatman), is no longer on the mailing list or roster. Giles Leabrook (Braddon Giles), Crux Australis Principal Herald (Lochac), has a new address: [snipped]. The roster will not list a phone number. There is a new Green Mantle Herald (Ealdormere's internal and external submissions): Percival de la Rocque (Keith Crawley), [snipped]. The former Green Mantle, Edmund de la Haye (David E. Hayward), now Stave Herald (Ealdormere, heraldic display), is no longer on the mailing list or roster. For Ealdormere, Erick of Longacres (David Carswell), [snipped], is added to the roster and mailing list as a herald without title (for now). Asterisk Herald (Ansteorra's internal submissions) has changed. The new Asterisk is Medb Liath (Rhonda Hays), [snipped]. She is added to the roster only. The previous Asterisk, Cahira of Bonwicke (Traci Thompson), is removed from the roster. The office of Rampart Herald (internal and external submissions for the Outlands) has changed. The new Rampart is Alia Marie de Blois (Lillith Lesanges), [snipped]. She is added to the roster and mailing list. The previous Rampart Herald, Pendar the Bard (Pendar Munro), remains on the roster and mailing list as Musimon Herald (Outlands). Anne Aliz de B{a^}le (Annaliese Mayette), has resigned as Fretty Herald (Outlands, commentary), so she is removed from the mailing list and roster. We have hitherto neglected to specify that the former Fretty, Kiena Munro (Ronda Munro), is also no longer on the mailing list or roster. A new Palmer Herald (administrative and emergency replacement deputy for White Stag Principal Herald, Outlands) has taken office: Sorcha MacLeod (Tammy Ackerson), [snipped]. She is added to the roster and mailing list. The former Palmer Herald (Outlands), Naitan de Yerdeburc (Scott Petty), will remain on the mailing list and roster as Stag's Attire Herald (Outlands). The previous Crux Australis Herald (Lochac), Uberto Renaldi (Nigel Castle), is no longer on the roster or mailing list. Laurel Clerk has a new e-mail address for questions, quick-turnaround conversations, and other general correspondence. It is tmcd@panix.com (replacing tmcd@jump.net). For e-mailed LoIs, LoCs, et cetera, please continue to use submissions@sca.org, as mentioned in the "Send What to Whom" section below. ------------------------------------------------------------ Send What to Whom For all Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera, send one paper copy to each of Laurel PKoA and Wreath QoA at their mailing addresses as shown on the College of Arms Mailing List. Send Laurel office copies of all submissions-related paper, including - Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera (note: such paper copies are in addition to the personal copies for Laurel and Wreath mentioned above) - Submission packets (one copy of each name form plus documentation, including petitions; two colored copies of each armory form plus two copies of any associated documentation, including petitions) - Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" to [snipped]. Send Laurel office copies of all submissions-related electronic files to submissions@sca.org. In particular, the Laurel Clerk would very much appreciate e-mailed copies of all LoIs, LoCs, LoRs, et cetera. Send roster changes and 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), symond@tirysgithr.org. College of Arms members can also request a copy of the current roster from Symond. For subscriptions to the paper copy of the LoAR, please contact Symond, above. The cost for an LoAR subscription is $25 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. For all administrative matters, or for questions about whom to send to, please contact Laurel Principal King of Arms, whose contact information heads this letter. Pray know that I remain In service Fran{c,}ois la Flamme Laurel Principal King of Arms