Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the June 2008 meetings, printed November 20, 2008
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Olwynn Laurel, Istvan Wreath, Aryanhwy Pelican, Margaret Pelican Emeritus, and Jeanne Marie Wreath Emeritus, greetings.
Items listed below in square brackets have not been scheduled yet. For information about future scheduling, please review the status table located on the Web at http://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=137
The June Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meetings held on Saturday, June 7, 2008 and Saturday, June 28, 2008, and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, June 29, 2008. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Laurel LoPaD (02 Feb, 2008), Outlands (02 Feb, 2008) (Redated from 31 January based on OSCAR posting date), East (18 Feb, 2008), Drachenwald (20 Feb, 2008), An Tir (22 Feb, 2008), Calontir (23 Feb, 2008), Atenveldt (25 Feb, 2008), Æthelmearc (25 Feb, 2008), Atlantia (26 Feb, 2008), Lochac (28 Feb, 2008), Ansteorra (29 Feb, 2008), Outlands (29 Feb, 2008), and West (29 Feb, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, May 31, 2008.
The July Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, July 5, 2008 and the Wreath meetings held on Saturday, July 12, 2008 and Sunday, July 13, 2008. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Caid (01 Mar, 2008), Laurel LoPaD (19 Mar, 2008), Albion (20 Mar, 2008), Atenveldt (20 Mar, 2008), Drachenwald (21 Mar, 2008), Gleann Abhann (25 Mar, 2008), Lochac (25 Mar, 2008), Calontir (26 Mar, 2008), Æthelmearc (28 Mar, 2008), An Tir (30 Mar, 2008), Ansteorra (30 Mar, 2008), Atlantia (30 Mar, 2008), Meridies (30 Mar, 2008), Artemisia (31 Mar, 2008), and Outlands (31 Mar, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, June 30, 2008.
The August Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, August 17, 2008 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, August 3, 2008 and the Pennsic roadshow. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Northshield (02 Apr, 2008), East (05 Apr, 2008), Gleann Abhann (09 Apr, 2008), Middle (12 Apr, 2008), Ealdormere (15 Apr, 2008), Laurel LoPaD (15 Apr, 2008), Lochac (17 Apr, 2008), An Tir (20 Apr, 2008), Batonvert LoItP (20 Apr, 2008), Atenveldt (21 Apr, 2008), Drachenwald (21 Apr, 2008), Atlantia (28 Apr, 2008), Calontir (29 Apr, 2008), Ansteorra (30 Apr, 2008), Meridies (30 Apr, 2008), Northshield (30 Apr, 2008), Outlands (30 Apr, 2008), Trimaris (30 Apr, 2008), and West (30 Apr, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Thursday, July 31, 2008.
The September Laurel decisions were made at the KWHSS roadshow on Sunday, September 7, 2008, the Pelican meeting held on Saturday September 13, 2008, and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, September 13, 2008. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (20 May, 2008), Drachenwald (21 May, 2008), East (21 May, 2008), Lochac (21 May, 2008), Outlands (21 May, 2008), An Tir (25 May, 2008), Atenveldt (25 May, 2008), Laurel LoPaD (26 May, 2008), Northshield (27 May, 2008), Ansteorra (30 May, 2008), Atlantia (30 May, 2008), Laurel (30 May, 2008), West (30 May, 2008), Æthelmearc (31 May, 2008), Calontir (31 May, 2008), and Meridies (31 May, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, August 31, 2008.
The October Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, October 11, 2008 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 4, 2008 and at the roadshow at Great Western War on Saturday, October 11, 2008. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Artemisia (31 May, 2008) (pushed from September due to lack of payment), Middle (05 Jun, 2008), Æthelmearc (15 Jun, 2008), Ealdormere (22 Jun, 2008), Lochac (24 Jun, 2008), Atenveldt (25 Jun, 2008), Caid (27 Jun, 2008), Atlantia (29 Jun, 2008), Drachenwald (29 Jun, 2008), East (29 Jun, 2008), An Tir (30 Jun, 2008), Ansteorra (30 Jun, 2008), Calontir (30 Jun, 2008), Laurel (30 Jun, 2008), Meridies (30 Jun, 2008), Outlands (30 Jun, 2008), and Trimaris (30 Jun, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, September 30, 2008.
The November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday , November 9, 2008 and at the University roadshow on Saturday, November 8, 2008 and at the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, November 9, 2008. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: West (23 Jun, 2008) (pushed from October due to lack of payment and packet), Laurel LoPaD (05 Jul, 2008), East (15 Jul, 2008), Middle (15 Jul, 2008), Northshield (15 Jul, 2008), Calontir (19 Jul, 2008), Gleann Abhann (22 Jul, 2008), Atlantia (23 Jul, 2008), Drachenwald (26 Jul, 2008), Artemisia (30 Jul, 2008), Atenveldt (30 Jul, 2008), Ansteorra (31 Jul, 2008), An Tir (31 Jul, 2008), Outlands (31 Jul, 2008), and Siren LoItP (31 Jul, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, October 31, 2008.
The December Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, December 6, 2008 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, December 27, 2008. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Caid (31 Jul, 2008) (pushed from November due to lack of packet), Siren LoItP (13 Aug, 2008), Æthelmearc (26 Aug, 2008), Northshield (26 Aug, 2008), Atlantia (27 Aug, 2008), Meridies (27 Aug, 2008), [An Tir (29 Aug, 2008)], Trimaris (29 Aug, 2008), Ansteorra (30 Aug, 2008), Drachenwald (30 Aug, 2008), Atenveldt (31 Aug, 2008), Calontir (31 Aug, 2008), East (31 Aug, 2008), Laurel LoPaD (31 Aug, 2008), Lochac (31 Aug, 2008), and Middle (31 Aug, 2008). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Sunday, November 30, 2008.
The January Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, January 10, 2009, and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, January 17, 2009. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Ansteorra (22 Sep, 2008), East (22 Sep, 2008), Atenveldt (25 Sep, 2008), [Drachenwald (28 Sep, 2008)], Middle (28 Sep, 2008), An Tir (29 Sep, 2008), Atlantia (29 Sep, 2008), Trimaris (29 Sep, 2008), [Artemisia (30 Sep, 2008)], [Caid (30 Sep, 2008)], Calontir (30 Sep, 2008), Gleann Abhann (30 Sep, 2008), Lochac (30 Sep, 2008), Meridies (30 Sep, 2008), Northshield (30 Sep, 2008), and [Outlands (30 Sep, 2008)]. All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, December 31, 2008.
The February Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in February 2009. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: [West (2008-10-06)], Laurel LoPaD (2008-10-07), [An Tir (2008-10-20)], [Ansteorra (2008-10-20)], [Atenveldt (2008-10-20)], [Northshield (2008-10-20)], [Meridies (2008-10-30)], [Outlands (2008-10-30)], [Atlantia (2008-10-31)], [Caid (2008-10-31)], [Calontir (2008-10-31)], [East (2008-10-31)], Lochac (2008-10-31), [Middle (2008-10-31)], Siren LoItP (2008-10-31), and [Trimaris (2008-10-31)]. All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Saturday, January 31, 2009.
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.
As we mentioned last month, we are listing decision responsibilities for the month here, as we are producing a single combined letter.
The June name decisions for the kingdoms of Æthelmearc, An Tir, Ansteorra, Atenveldt, Atlantia, and Calontir were made by Aryanhwy Pelican; name decisions for Drachenwald, the East, Lochac, Outlands, the West, and the Laurel LoPaD were made by Margaret Pelican Emeritus. The June armory decisions were made by Jeanne Marie Wreath Emeritus.
Over the last few months we have been seeing many names which have been altered from the originally submitted form by the kingdom submissions herald, but where no indication of these changes is made in OSCAR. I would like to clarify the proper handling of such cases.
While not all kingdoms use an internal Letter of Intent process for considering their submissions, all kingdoms do have an internal procedure of some kind. When a name has completed this internal procedure, there are three things that could be the case:
(a) so far as the commenters and the submissions herald can determine, the name is registerable with no changes needed (in which case it is put on the next external Letter of Intent).
(b) so far as the commenters and the submissions herald can determine, the name is not registerable as submitted or does not meet the authenticity request as made on the forms, but there is a change which would make the name registerable, and the change is either one that the submitter allows (based on the check-boxes on the forms) or the submitter is contacted and explicit permission for the change is received. In this case, the original submissions forms should be altered in such a fashion that the changed name is clearly represented, but the originally submitted spelling is still legible. The best way to do this is to draw a single line through the originally submitted form of the name and print the changed spelling above it. New submissions forms should not be made. On the external LoI, both the originally submitted form of the name and the reason why the name was changed in kingdom need to be provided.
(c) so far as the commenters and the submissions herald can determine, the name is not registerable because it has conflicts, lacks documentation, or otherwise violates a rule or precedent, and there is no change that the submitter allows that can be made to make it registerable. In this case, the name should be returned and any further submission should be made on fresh forms and go through the internal process from the start.
There are two things which submissions heralds should try to avoid. The first is returning names which may not be registerable as submitted but which could be registered with changes that the submitter allows. When returning a name, the submissions herald should always be able to point to a specific precedent, rules violation, or conflict. Discrepancies between the submitted form and the documentation when the submitter allows all changes are, by themselves, not a reason for return in kingdom. The second is putting resubmissions on an external LoI without having put them through the standard internal procedure. Only in very rare cases will it be anything but a disservice to the client to omit the first level of review; if there is a problem with the new submission, it is always better to catch it as early in the process as possible. If the internal procedure is omitted for a resubmitted name, and it is put directly on an external LoI without being given the opportunity to be vetted for potential problems in internal commentary, this increases the chances that the name will be returned at Laurel level. In general, a good rule of thumb is that if the changes to a name are minor enough that it doesn't have to go through the internal process, then new forms should not be created but instead the old forms should be modified. If the changes are major enough to require the creation of new forms, then the submission should start at the beginning and go through the entire internal process.
It is extremely important that registerable names not be returned in kingdom; that resubmitted names be treated to the full heraldic processing procedure of the receiving kingdom; and that any changes made to a name in kingdom be clearly marked on the forms and specified on the external LoI. If information about changes made in kingdom is not provided in OSCAR, this omission will result in names being pended until the information is received, and systematic failure to provide this information will result in names being administratively returned.
A name submission was considered this month for which no documentation was provided for either element on the Letter of Intent, and no explicit request for help documenting the name was made. This is in violation of Admin Handbook V.B.2.d and V.C.2 which requires that a name be accompanied by supporting documentation and that this documentation be summarized on the Letter of Intent. Loyall argued that:
Kingdoms can't create holding names, and the submitter has allowed any changes. If the kingdom commenters don't have the expertise to fix the name but believe that something close is registrable, and an associated device or badge submission looks reasonable, there's a certain pressure on kingdom to send the whole package up.
We would like to remind submissions heralds that only in very exceptional circumstances (for example, names in obscure cultures where few sources are available in English) should a name be sent forward without documentation, and in those cases a specific request for help should be made to the commenters. It is not the job of the commenters to document names which were not documented in kingdom, and it is poor practice to send forward undocumented names solely so that the associated armory does not have to be returned in kingdom. Precedent more than 20 years old notes that:
"Holding names are for use at the Laurel level only. Problems found at the kingdom level should be dealt with before the submission is sent out on a letter of intent. [BoE, cvr ltr, 29 Dec 85, p.4]"
This is still good advice which should be followed whenever possible.
For several years now, we have been returning armory that uses fimbriated ordinaries with overall charges, based on the following precedent from October 1992:
Cerridwen nic Alister. Device. Vert, on a pale purpure fimbriated ermine two axe-heads, blades to chief, overall a lion passant Or.
The device is overly complex. Ermine fimbriation is disallowed (LoAR of 3 Aug 86, p.17), as are overall charges surmounting fimbriated ordinaries (9 March 86, p.12). Reblazoning this as Vert, on a pale ermine a pallet purpure charged with two axe-heads ... overall a lion passant Or would remove those objections, but then the axe-heads would be obvious quaternary charges. No matter how blazoned, this is unacceptably complex.
A submission this month, that of Faolán Ó Sirideáin, challenged this ban in appealing a kingdom return, on the basis that the precedent from 9 March 1986 did not exist and that at least one piece of armory was registered that month with this motif, that of Dak Ulfredsson, Pean, a bend sinister azure fimbriated Or and overall a goat's head erased Or.
The submitter is correct, at least, in stating that the precedent being quoted does not appear to exist on that letter. The only reason for return of this motif that we have found, other than for conflict, before October of 1992 was the June 1988 return for identifiability reasons of the submission of Alaric Kelson Palamon (Per bend sinister vert and azure, a pile issuant bendwise sinister from dexter base gules, fimbriated, overall a hawk striking Or). No absolute prohibition on this practice surfaces until the October 1992 return of Cerridwen's armory, citing a non-existent precedent. Indeed, the standard set in November of 1989 reads as follows:
Crimson River, Shire of Azure, a pall wavy gules, fimbriated, in chief a horse's head couped, overall a laurel wreath argent.
The combination of the old rules with their wording on "thin-line heraldry" and the standing Laurel precedent indicated that the pall with a complex line should not be fimbriated. To allow comment on this subject, this item was pended from the August meeting. Although little commentary has been elicited, the bulk of commentary on the rules ran to the direction of allowing latitude where identifiability was not unacceptably reduced. This resulted in the wording of the new rules which limit voiding and fimbriation to "simple geometric charges placed in the center of the design" (Armorial Identifiability, VIII.3, p. 11). PRECEDENT: For the purposes of the rule on Armorial Identifiability, any ordinary placed at the center of the shield (e.g., a pale, pall, bend, fess, etc.) may be fimbriated, even if it uses a complex line of division, provided that the identifiability of the charge and the line of division are not significantly reduced by the voiding or fimbriation or any other element of the design (e.g., the placement of superimposed charges). [emphasis added]
...which explicitly states that overall charges are acceptable over fimbriated ordinaries.
The 1992 precedent was applied in November 1992 in the return of Dyryke Raleigh's device and then appears to be forgotten for quite some time. In May 1993, the armory of Brychen Silverfist was returned for complexity - a combination of a complexity of eight and fimbriation, and also for an arrow drawn with unrecognizably small fletching and point. The 1992 precedent was not mentioned.
Starting in May 1994, 14 items with this motif were registered without comment, all returns being for other reasons, until October 2002, in the return of the device of the Shire of Rivenvale. Curiously, the very next month, a device with a fimbriated ordinary and an overall charge was accepted without comment (Thomas de Carisbourg).
From that point onward, however, the precedent has been applied, leading to returns in February 2003 and January 2004. It was mentioned in the acceptance of Bj{o,}rn blundr Tomasson in December 2006, noting that his previous return of the same armory had not mentioned the issue, nor had it been raised in commentary, so it was being allowed. There is also a June 2007 acceptance of this motif using the grandfather clause.
While several commenters have called for a continuing ban unless period evidence can be found for the motif, this standard exceeds our usual standard. Both fimbriated ordinaries and overall charges are found in period. The combination of two motifs found in period armory would be at most a single step from period practice.
We are hereby returning to the original standard: the use of an overall charge surmounting a fimbriated ordinary is henceforth acceptable as long as identifiability is maintained.
We would like to remind commenters that items registered with permission to conflict do not set a ruling on whether or not there is difference granted between particular designs unless otherwise stated. Standard policy is that we do not declare a difference if we are not forced to as part of the ruling. The presence of a Letter of Permission to Conflict removes the necessity for this declaration to be made.
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.
For all administrative matters, please contact Laurel.
Pray know that I remain,
In service,
Olwynn ni Chinnedigh
Laurel Principal Queen of Arms
Created at 2008-11-20T23:20:35