To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from François Laurel King of Arms, Evan Wreath, and Margaret Pelican, greetings.

From Laurel: Long over due.

The College of Arms has a rank of Herald Extraordinary that has a long and honored history. The rank was formally created and defined in the July 1981 cover letter by Wilhelm Laurel. The intent of the rank is to recognize and reward "... those heralds who have greatly served the College of Heralds and/or the College of Arms and have achieved the highest level of competence in heraldry." Further, each Herald Extraordinary shall have a personal title.

There are two people that have proven beyond a doubt they are "Heralds Extraordinary" and I wish to remedy the oversight in not having recognized them sooner. Each of these Heralds has served in the office of Sovereign of Arms and continue to this day to be active in heraldry in their respective kingdoms and the College of Arms.

In recognition of years of service, I do hereby awarded unto Elsbeth Anne Roth and Pietari Pentinpoika Uv the rank of Herald Extraordinary. Each may at her or his convenience choose and submit a personal heraldic title to be registered to them for their use.

From Laurel: Applications Wanted for Electronic Clerk

I am requesting applications for a electronic clerical staff assistant to Laurel. The duties of the position include the following:

• receiving Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, et cetera, marking them up for Laurel office tools, and producing collated commentary for Pelican and Wreath decision meetings.

• taking the decisions written by the Sovereigns of Arms, producing LoARs in various file formats, and e-mailing them to the required places.

• maintaining LoI and LoC tracking charts

• helping to produce miscellaneous text on the LoAR cover letters.

The clerk will ideally be able to do all those tasks and will be responsible for seeing that they are done, but they may delegate parts to others. Some of the work can be done during the month; some of the work must be done at the start of the month, after the end-of-month rush of LoIs and LoCs.

A nice feature: since the position involves only exchanging e-mail, the location of the clerk (or of any assistants) is unimportant. (Exception: if the cost is reasonable, I plan to fly the previous clerk, Daniel de Lincoln, to the successful applicant to provide a few days of hands-on training.)

The applicant must be a computer "power user", very comfortable with computers, capable of maintaining a computer and using a variety of software tools, able to deal with occasional odd error messages in tools that evolved without design. They must have reliable e-mail access. Pluses include knowledge of XML, HTML, and Microsoft Word.

Pluses that I don't expect as much: abilities to maintain and improve the software, to know or learn about Visual Basic for MS Word, Perl, Java, Cygwin tools, Bash, Gnu Emacs, and DSSSL (the love child of XSLT and Lisp), and ability to shoot rainbows from your ears, convert snot into kittens, and convince CoA members to send out letters earlier each month. Since I obviously can't expect anything like perfection, please don't let imperfections hold back your application.

Applications can be e-mailed to Laurel at herald@sca.org. Questions can be e-mailed to the incumbent, tmcd@panix.com.

ps: The above was actually composed by the current Laurel Clerk.

From Pelican: On Summarizing Name Documentation

I and many other members of the College of Arms spend an inordinate amount of and energy chiding folks for inadequate summarization of documentation. I assume that these lacks are due to not knowing how to summarize documentation. Therefore, here are some thoughts and guidelines for summarizing documentation on a Letter of Intent.

First, what is the purpose of documentation and what should a summarization of documentation include? The purpose of documentation is to show the following:

• that all elements of a name and all spellings used are found before 1650 (or are specifically allowed by the Rules for Submission or Laurel precedent)

• the specific language or culture where each name element/spelling is found

• Demonstrate that the entire name, as well as each name phrase, is constructed properly and that the grammar of each element is correct.

Good summarization pulls out the main points of the documentation and shows how they support the items listed above. It also provides a roadmap that others can use to find, double-check, and evaluate documentation.

Always name your sources. Always cite information so it is easy for others to find.

Bibliographical information is very important to our name game. Because none of us actually live in the middle ages, we must rely on written information to document our submissions. Sometimes we use documents found in period, sometimes we use dictionaries that include dated forms of words and names, and sometimes we use books and journals about historical subjects. Every letter of intent and letter of comment should include some form of bibliography. This can be a list of all works cited in a letter included at the end of the letter, a list of all works cited for an item at the end of each item, or information about a work as you cite it in the course of your letter. Whichever way you choose is acceptable. Bibliographical information should include the following:

• For books, note the name of the book, the author and/or translator, and, for works with multiple editions, the edition number. Other information, such as publisher, or year published, or ISBN can be useful, but is not crucial for our purposes.

• For print articles, note the name of the article, the author, the journal in which the article appeared, and the date of publication.

• For Web pages, note the name of the article, the author (if that information is available), and the URL.

• For Academy of Saint Gabriel letters, note that it is a Saint Gabriel letter, the URL, and the client number.

So, once you've named the work where the documentation is found, how do you make it possible to find the particular bit used as documentation? For works in dictionary format, include the head word, for example, "This name is found in Black, Surnames of Scotland s.n. Lucasson." For other books, include the page number; for books with double columns, include the column number as well. For Web articles, include headwords if the article uses them, or list the particular section if the article is divided into sections.

Be specific. Include examples. Include dates. Associate dates and spellings appropriately.

If the documentation shows the exact form of the name submitted, say so. If there is a date or multiple dates associated with the exact spelling, say so. If the spelling is a header form, say so.

Sometimes you are showing that a constructed name follows a period pattern or that a spelling follows a pattern found in period forms of a name. In this case, include all of the names used to form the pattern and include their associated dates. Note that one example is NOT a pattern. My preference (although this is not a requirement) is for at least three examples of any given pattern.

Sometimes the context in which the name appears matters; sometimes context can show the grammatical case of a name, how it's being used, and whether the name is allegorical or a name used by humans in period. In these cases, it is useful to include a short quote from the documentation showing the name, or the pattern, in question. When citing Laurel precedent, include a quote of the most recent confirmation of the precedent or the most descriptive version.

Translations of documentation are also important - make sure to include a translation of any quote included in your documentation. It doesn't have to be a good translation (although good translations are appreciated), but\it does need to be there. The Babblefish website, http://www.babblefish.com/babblefish/language_webt.htm, can often give enough of a sense of a non-English language that you can use it for your summarization (although it is not a good tool for primary documentation of non-English words and phrases.

I hope this article proves useful to submissions heralds with questions about what is expected when summarizing documentation. Remember, you are not alone out there. If you need help, ask. I am always happy to answer questions about summarizing documentation, as are most members of the College of Arms. There are many online resources and mailing lists where questions about documentation and summarization can be answered. Good luck, and good writing!

Roster Changes

The new Rouge Scarpe (external submissions for the Middle) is Phebe Bonadeci ..., e-mail: rougescarpe@midrealm.org. She is added to the roster and mailing list. Elena de Vexin ... is no longer on the roster and mailing list.

Send What to Whom

For all Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera, send one paper copy directly to each of the Sovereigns of Arms, Laurel, Pelican and Wreath 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)

to the SCA College of Arms, PO Box 31755, Billings, MT 59107-1755.

Send the required electronic copies of all submissions-related files to submissions@sca.org. This applies to all LoIs, LoCs, LoRs, et cetera.

Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent directly to the Society Chancellor of the Exchequer, who is temporarily acting as Laurel's chancellor of the exchequer.

Send roster changes and corrections to Laurel. College of Arms members may also request a copy of the current roster from Laurel.

For subscriptions to the paper copy of the LoAR, please contact Laurel, 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.

Scheduling and Status Information

Wreath and Pelican held a joint meeting in the greater Washington D.C. area on September 25-26, with Wreath holding another meeting in advance on September 11.

The November Wreath meeting was held on November 13, and completed on November 26 and 28.

The December Wreath meeting was held December 18 and completed December 27.

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.

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.

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.

Pray know that I remain

In service

François la Flamme
Laurel Principal King of Arms

Created at 2005-03-03T21:31:29