March 2007 Letter of Acceptances and Returns

Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms

16308 SE 165th St
Renton, WA 98058-8221
+1-425-277-0763
[email protected]

For the March 2007 meetings, printed June 15, 2007

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Elisabeth Laurel, Jeanne Marie Wreath, and Margaret Pelican, greetings.

For information about future scheduling, please review the status table located on the Web at http://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=137

The March Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican held on Saturday, March 24, 2007, at the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, March 18, 2007, at the Gulf Wars Roadshow on Wednesday, March 14, 2007, and at the Northshield Heraldic Symposium Roadshow held Saturday, March 24, 2007. The meetings considered the following Letters of Intent: Laurel (13 Nov 2006), Lochac (13 Nov 2006), Atenveldt (17 Nov 2006), Ealdormere (18 Nov 2006), Drachenwald (20 Nov 2006), Ansteorra (21 Nov 2006), Æthelmearc (22 Nov 2006), Caid (22 Nov 2006), East (22 Nov 2006), Atlantia (27 Nov 2006), Meridies (27 Nov 2006), Northshield (27 Nov 2006), Outlands (27 Nov 2006), and An Tir (28 Nov 2006). Original commentary on these letters should have been in the College's hands no later than January 31, 2007. Responses and rebuttals to commentary should have been in the College's hands no later than February 28, 2007.

The April Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held Saturday, April 28, 2007 and Wreath meeting held on Sunday, April 29, 2007. The meetings considered the following Letters of Intent: West (6 Dec 2006), Calontir (11 Dec 2006), Gleann Abhann (14 Dec 2006), Laurel (15 Dec 2006), Middle (16 Dec 2006), Ansteorra (20 Dec 2006), Artemisia (20 Dec 2006), Atenveldt (20 Dec 2006), Æthelmearc (20 Dec 2006), Caid (20 Dec 2006), Drachenwald (20 Dec 2006), Atlantia (26 Dec 2006), Middle (26 Dec 2006), Outlands (27 Dec 2006), and Trimaris (30 Dec 2006). Original commentary on these letters should have been be in the College's hands no later than February 28, 2007. Responses and rebuttals to commentary should have been in the College's hands no later than March 31, 2007.

The May Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held Sunday, May 13, 2007 and the Wreath meeting held Sunday, May 20, 2007. These meetings considered the following Letters of Intent: West (17 Jan 2007), Atenveldt (19 Jan 2007), [Drachenwald (20 Jan 2007)], [Lochac (22 Jan 2007)], Ansteorra (23 Jan 2007), Calontir (23 Jan 2007), Caid (24 Jan 2007), Artemisia (24 Jan 2007), Æthelmearc (25 Jan 2007), Ealdormere (26 Jan 2007), Outlands (27 Jan 2007), Atlantia (28 Jan 2007), Meridies (29 Jan 2007), East (30 Jan 2007), and Laurel (31 Jan 2007). Original commentary on these letters should have been in in the College's hands no later than March 31, 2007. Responses and rebuttals to commentary should have been in the College's hands no later than April 30, 2007.

The June Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held Sunday June 10, 2007 and at the KWHSS on Sunday, June 17, 2007. These meetings will consider the following Letters of Intent: East (6 Feb 2007), [Drachenwald (19 Feb 2007)], Gleann Abhann (20 Feb 2007), [Lochac (20 Feb 2007)], Meridies (21 Feb 2007), West (21 Feb 2007), Calontir (22 Feb 2007), Laurel LoPaD (23 Feb 2007), Laurel LoI (23 Feb 2007), Atlantia (26 Feb 2007), Ansteorra (27 Feb 2007), Atenveldt (27 Feb 2007), Outlands (27 Feb 2007), and Trimaris (28 Feb 2007). Original commentary on these letters should have been in the College's hands no later than April 30, 2007. Responses and rebuttals to commentary should have been in the College's hands no later than May 31, 2007.

The July Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held Saturday, July 21 and Wreath meetings held in July 2007. These meetings will consider the following Letters of Intent: East (6 Mar 2007), [Middle (11 Mar 2007)], Artemisia (20 Mar 2007), Lochac (20 Mar 2007), Laurel (23 Mar 2007), [Caid (24 Mar 2007)], [Drachenwald (24 Mar 2007)], Æthelmearc (25 Mar 2007), Atenveldt (26 Mar 2007), Calontir (26 Mar 2007), Meridies (26 Mar 2007), [Atlantia (27 Mar 2007)], Outlands (27 Mar 2007), [Ansteorra (28 Mar 2007)], [Ealdormere (29 Mar 2007)], West (30 Mar 2007), and [An Tir (31 Mar 2007)]. Original commentary on these letters should have been in the College's hands no later than May 31, 2007. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the Colleges hands no later than June 30, 2007.

The August Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in August 2007 and at Pennsic. These meetings will consider the following Letters of Intent: East (3 Apr 2007), Northshield (6 Apr 2007), [Æthelmearc (15 Apr 2007)], [Middle (15 Apr 2007)], [Drachenwald (21 Apr 2007)], [Caid (25 Apr 2007)], [Meridies (25 Apr 2007)], West (25 Apr 2007), [Ansteorra (27 Apr 2007)], [Atenveldt (27 Apr 2007)], Laurel (27 Apr 2007), [Outlands (27 Apr 2007)], [Atlantia (29 Apr 2007)], [An Tir (30 Apr 2007)], and [Trimaris (30 Apr 2007)]. Original commentary on these letters should be in the College's hands no later than June 30, 2007. Responses and rebuttals to commentary must be in the Colleges hands no later than July 31, 2007.

The September Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in September 2007. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [Calontir (06 May 2007)], [Lochac (13 May 2007)], [AEthelmearc (15 May 2007)], [Drachenwald (20 May 2007)], Laurel LoPaD (21 May 2007), [East (21 May 2007)], [Artemisia (22 May 2007)], [An Tir (23 May 2007)], [Lochac (27 May 2007)], [Atlantia (28 May 2007)], Ansteorra [(29 May 2007)], Atenveldt [(29 May 2007)], and [West (31 May 2007). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by August 31, 2007.

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: Format for Letters of Intent

Quoth the Administrative Handbook, V.B.2.b.: "Enumeration - Each proposed submission should be numbered using a standard numbering system (usually Arabic numbers). A name submission and a single piece of closely associated armory should bear the same number, but otherwise each submission should be separately numbered."

Some Letters of Intent have been posted in which a submitter's name and armory have been enumerated as two separate items. As per the above, please remember to keep them together, under the same number.

From Laurel: Call for Applications

The Laurel Principal Sovereign of Arms (Laurel) is the principal heraldic officer of the Society and the head of the College of Arms. Laurel is responsible for fostering the study and practice of heraldry, supervising the processing of submissions, and overseeing the heraldic activities of the Known World.

Laurel is an unpaid position, currently requiring approximately 20 hours a week. The position requires considerable tact and patience, armory and onomastic knowledge, supervisory ability, the ability to work within tight deadlines and coordinate closely with Wreath, Pelican and other staff to produce a Laurel letter of Acceptance and Return monthly, some computer literacy and word processing skills, e-mail and telephone access, and time and ability to travel.

Resumes must be made in hard copy to Laurel Resume, SCA Inc., Box 360789, Milpitas CA 95036. Resumes must be received by December 1, 2007. The present Laurel's warrant expires in April 2008.

The Wreath Sovereign of Arms is an educational deputy of the Laurel Principal Sovereign of Arms, responsible for the consideration of and decisions concerning armory submitted for registration by the College of Arms.

Wreath is an unpaid position, currently requiring approximately 25 hours a week. Some knowledge of period heraldry is useful; knowledge of SCA heraldry is essential. The position requires considerable tact and patience, research and reasoning ability, a clear understanding of the Rules for Submission and past Laurel rulings, the ability to write clearly and succinctly, the ability to work within tight deadlines and coordinate closely with Pelican, Laurel and other staff to produce a Laurel letter of Acceptance and Return monthly, some computer literacy and word processing skills, e-mail and telephone access, and time and ability to travel. Given the current structure of the office, a high-speed internet connection is useful but it is not required.

Resumes must be made in hard copy to Laurel Resume, SCA Inc., Box 360789, Milpitas CA 95036. Resumes must be received by December 1, 2007. The present Wreath's warrant expires in June 2008.

The Pelican Sovereign of Arms is an educational deputy of the Laurel Principal Sovereign of Arms, responsible for the consideration of and decisions concerning names submitted for registration by the College of Arms.

Pelican is an unpaid position, currently requiring approximately 25 hours a week. The position requires considerable tact and patience, onomastic knowledge, research and reasoning ability, a clear understanding of the Rules for Submission and past Laurel rulings, the ability to write clearly and succinctly, the ability to work within tight deadlines and coordinate closely with Wreath, Laurel and other staff to produce a Laurel letter of Acceptance and Return monthly, some computer literacy and word processing skills, e-mail and telephone access, and time and ability to travel. Access to a good research library is desirable but not required.

Resumes must be made in hard copy to Laurel Resume, SCA Inc., Box 360789, Milpitas CA 95036. Resumes must be received by December 1, 2007. The present Pelican's warrant expires with the present Laurel's in April 2008.

From Pelican: Changes to Alternative Titles for Turkish

In January and February 2007, Ursula Georges, Loyall Herald, submitted Letters of Intent to change the Turkish alternative titles for Queen, Prince, and Princess.

In light of the arguments presented in these letters, the following titles are no longer approved alternative Turkish titles:

These are the list of new approved titles for Turkish for Queen, Prince, and Princess:

Three more changes were submitted on these letters - the addition of Hatun and Khatun for Princess and the change of Bey from Baron to Prince. While Loyall demonstrates that the title Hatun or Khatun was used by concubines and children of various sultans, her article "16th C Turkish Names" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ursula/ottoman/) states, "Several people in this list were identified by titles such as Hatun, 'lady' or 'Mrs.'." While there is a long and honorable tradition in the SCA of restricting titles used by large ranges of social groups to a particular rank, in this case, there is no pressing reason to do so. There are already adequate period alternative Turkish titles for the rank of Princess. The fact that the available information suggest this title was used by women of a variety social class, from members of the royal harem to freed slaves, is a strong argument against restricting its use to a particular rank. Therefore, we decline to add Hatun or Khatun to the list of alternative Turkish titles for Princess.

This leaves the matter of whether Bey should be released as an alternative title for Baron. Loyall presents this information about the title:

Given this, it does not seem unreasonable to let this title remain on the alternative titles list. While the title was used across a range of ranks, those who used it appear to have been either of royal rank, or recognized as tribal leaders or governors; they are men of rank and station. The duties and station of Baron in the SCA, especially a territorial baron, is a fairly good fit for a tribal leader or a member of the elite not connected by blood or marriage to the ruling dynasty. Therefore, we are not inclined to drop Bey from its place in the alternative titles list.

From Wreath: Invected and Engrailed

A couple of recent submissions have caused us to revisit the College's definitions of field divisions invected and engrailed - particularly Per pale invected/engrailed. There has been a great deal of confusion regarding these lines, due to their inherent asymmetry.

The engrailed line is one of the earliest complex lines, dating from the 13th Century at least. The term was used interchangeably with indented, but was frequently drawn as it's commonly known today: a series of semi-circles carved into the edge of the ordinary to form little cups ("grails"). Invected (or invecked), on the other hand, is a relative latecomer: our earliest citation of it is from Tudor times, in the Book of St. Albans. It's the opposite of engrailed: a series of semi-circles forming lobes out from the ordinary, rather than notches into it.

Both invected and engrailed were originally applied to charges, not field divisions. While there are frequent period examples of divisions with symmetric complex lines (e.g., indented, wavy or embattled), there were few that were engrailed or invected. This may well have been because, being asymmetric, it was difficult to apply them to a field as opposed to a charge.

Fox-Davies' Complete Guide to Heraldry, p. 73, cites a single example, and gives the rule by which modern heralds define invected/engrailed divisions:

The Society has, of course, evolved its own rule. Probably because, in most heraldry texts, the complex lines are shown as though they were the top edge of a fess, the Society defined Per fess engrailed with the points to chief, rather than to base as described by Fox-Davies; and the other divisions were treated likewise, with the exception of Per pale. In that case, the College chose to follow the known mundane example.

This mix of Society and mundane convention has caused considerable confusion over the years. Reviewing past registrations, it turns out that the same complex Per pale line was registered variously as Per pale invected and Per pale engrailed, even though they all had their points to sinister. If we cannot remember the default for the line, it becomes almost meaningless to try to blazon it... or register it.

Period heraldic tracts are mostly silent on this point, but Bossewell's Workes of Armorie, 1572, does give some insight. Fo. 29 shows an example of Per fesse envecked, so blazoned - and the points of the line are to base, following the Society default and not the modern default. Similarly, on fo. 27 we see an example of Quarterly engrayled, which is treated like a combination of Per fess engrailed and Per pale engrailed. The points are to chief and to sinister.

It would therefore seem that, in period, heralds defined the engrailed/invected in the same manner as we do in the Society ? with the same confusion. Given the difficulties in remembering exceptions to the rule, we intend to bring our perennial problem child Per pale into line with the other field divisions. We therefore confirm and expand our current definition: A field division engrailed has the points to the "honorable" part of the shield: Per fess, per chevron, per bend and per bend sinister engrailed have the points to chief, while Per pale engrailed now has the points to dexter. A field division invected has the points to the less honorable part of the shield: Per fess, per chevron, per bend and per bend sinister invected have the points to base, and Per pale invected has the points to sinister. This will require only a handful of blazon corrections, all of Per pale fields.

And what of Quarterly, per saltire, and per pall engrailed/invected? I was afraid you'd ask... These could either be drawn as in Bossewell, as combinations of the above lines (e.g., Per fess and per pale for Quarterly), or else the line could "revolve" around the center of the shield (e.g. a Quarterly invected line would have points to sinister at top, points to chief on the dexter limb, points to dexter on the base limb, and points to base on the sinister limb). As long as the emblazon is unambiguous, we'll accept either form.

Send What to Whom

Letters of Intent, Comment, Response, Correction, et cetera are to be posted to the OSCAR online system. No paper copies need be sent.

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.

Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to: Laurel Chancellor of Exchequer, 4N400 Church Rd, Bensenville, IL 60106-2928.

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

For a paper copy of a LoAR, please contact Laurel, at the address above. The cost for one LoAR is $3. 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 [email protected]. The electronic copy is available free of charge.