Society for Creative Anachronism

College of Arms

1702 Sea Ventures Ln

Hampton, VA 23665-2429

+1-757-848-5813

laurel@heraldry.sca.org

For the November 2009 meetings, printed Tuesday, December 22, 2009

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Olwynn Laurel, Istvan Wreath, and Aryanhwy Pelican, 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 November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held on Saturday, November 07, 2009. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Ealdormere (12 May, 2009) (pushed due to lack of packet), Artemisia (31 May, 2009) (pushed due to lack of payment), Caid (15 Jun, 2009) (pushed due to lack of packet), Caid (25 Jun, 2009) (pushed due to lack of packet), Gleann Abhann (14 Jul, 2009), Atenveldt (15 Jul, 2009), Æthelmearc (19 Jul, 2009), An Tir (19 Jul, 2009), Atlantia (24 Jul, 2009), Outlands (24 Jul, 2009), Calontir (26 Jul, 2009), Ansteorra (28 Jul, 2009), Meridies (29 Jul, 2009), Trimaris (30 Jul, 2009), Artemisia (31 Jul, 2009), East (31 Jul, 2009), Lochac (31 Jul, 2009), and Middle (31 Jul, 2009). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, October 31, 2009.

The December Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, December 05, 2009 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, December 19, 2009. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Northshield (09 Aug, 2009), An Tir (17 Aug, 2009), Atenveldt (20 Aug, 2009), Æthelmearc (21 Aug, 2009), Atlantia (26 Aug, 2009), Caid (26 Aug, 2009), Meridies (28 Aug, 2009), Calontir (29 Aug, 2009), Drachenwald (30 Aug, 2009), Gleann Abhann (30 Aug, 2009), Middle (30 Aug, 2009), Ansteorra (31 Aug, 2009), Drachenwald (31 Aug, 2009), Ealdormere (31 Aug, 2009), Lochac (31 Aug, 2009), and West (31 Aug, 2009). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, November 30, 2009.

The January Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held on Saturday, January 16, 2010. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Outlands (07 Sep, 2009), Atenveldt (15 Sep, 2009), Palimpsest Rules Letter (18 Sep, 2009), An Tir (21 Sep, 2009), East (25 Sep, 2009), Drachenwald (26 Sep, 2009), Gleann Abhann (28 Sep, 2009), Meridies (29 Sep, 2009), Outlands (29 Sep, 2009), Ansteorra (30 Sep, 2009), Artemisia (30 Sep, 2009), Atlantia (30 Sep, 2009), Northshield (30 Sep, 2009), Trimaris (30 Sep, 2009), West (30 Sep, 2009). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Thursday, December 31, 2009.

The February Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held on Saturday, February 6, 2010. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Caid (21 Sep, 2009) (pushed due to lack of packet), [Middle (29 Sep, 2009)] (pushed due to lack of payment), Atenveldt (15 Oct, 2009), East (24 Oct, 2009), Æthelmearc (25 Oct, 2009), Northshield (26 Oct, 2009), Ansteorra (28 Oct, 2009), Meridies (28 Oct, 2009), Gleann Abhann (29 Oct, 2009), Laurel LoPaD (29 Oct, 2009), [Middle (30 Oct, 2009)], [An Tir (31 Oct, 2009)], Artemisia (31 Oct, 2009), Atlantia (31 Oct, 2009), Ealdormere (31 Oct, 2009), Outlands (31 Oct, 2009), Palimpsest Rules Letter (31 Oct, 2009), and West (31 Oct, 2009). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Sunday January 31, 2010.

The March Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, March 6, 2010 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, March 7, 2010. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [Lochac (31 Oct, 2009)] (pushed due to lack of packet), Calontir (05 Nov, 2009), Æthelmearc (14 Nov, 2009), Atenveldt (15 Nov, 2009), [Drachenwald (16 Nov, 2009)], [An Tir (25 Nov, 2009)], [Gleann Abhann (27 Nov, 2009)], Laurel LoPaD (27 Nov, 2009), Meridies (28 Nov, 2009), Ansteorra (30 Nov, 2009), [Artemisia (30 Nov, 2009)], Atlantia (30 Nov, 2009), [Lochac (30 Nov, 2009)], [Middle (30 Nov, 2009)], Outlands (30 Nov, 2009), Palimpsest (30 Nov, 2009), [Trimaris (30 Nov, 2009)], [West (30 Nov, 2009)]. All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Sunday, February 28, 2010.

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: Schedule Change

The advent of OSCAR has eliminated the need for a designated period of time for comments on commentary. Since we are no longer dependent on the post office to carry our discussions, but can get nearly immediate feedback from our colleagues, this period is no longer necessary.

Therefore, we are reducing the commentary period to eliminate the month that was originally used for responses. Starting with January 2010 Letters of Intent, the full commentary period will be two months after the month of publication. All January 2010 LoIs will be decided at the same time as the December 2009 LoIs, and they will be published together on the April 2010 LoAR.

From Laurel: New Administrative Handbook

While the new Administrative Handbook has been released for some time, and can be found at http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/admin.html, we have never officially announced or enforced it.

As of the publication of this Letter, the new Administrative Handbook is fully in force. We will be lenient on some requirements and deadlines for a few months. However, the packet deadline of one month following the month in which a Letter of Intent is posted to OSCAR will be enforced immediately, since the schedule change leaves us with less wiggle room. The deadline for payments will be the last day of the commentary period for the LoI.

From Laurel: Extending RfS II.5, Registered Names

As our Society ages, it is becoming more and more apparent that we need to find a way to honor those whose footsteps paved the way and whose hands shaped our Society. One thing we can do is to allow orders to be named for these treasured individuals. As our understanding of names and naming practices have advanced over the years, many of the names of these individuals can no longer be registered. Following discussion of the rules change to the Grandfather Clause allowing branches to honor a past member with an order name in the Cover Letter to the March 2009 LoAR, the final wording is as follows. Italicized text is the addition or change in wording:

New wording for RfS II.5:

Once a name has been registered to an individual or group, the College of Arms may permit that particular individual or group to register elements of that name again, even if it is no longer permissible under the rules in effect at the time the later submission is made. This permission may be extended to close relatives of the submitter if the College of Arms deems it appropriate. In addition, this privilege may be extended to a branch in whose territory the individual lives or has lived, or with which the individual is closely associated. In general, branches will be expected to use only elements from registered primary names of individuals.

New wording for the Admin Handbook, IV.C.2 Documentation:

Documenting evidence must be included for all name elements, constructions, and patterns, as well as any non-standard armorial elements or practices. Such documentation must include references to specific pages and/or entries in the source material. Citations must be sufficiently complete to allow identification of the source and its usefulness, which generally includes author, title, and publication information (for print sources) or URL (for online sources). Except for documentation from items in Appendix H (the No-Photocopy List), such documentation must include copies of cited source material. While the kingdom college and College of Arms may assist with research and documentation, the submitter bears responsibility for providing documentation for all submissions.

Documentation must also be presented for any elements allowed under the mundane name allowance or by mundane relationship under the grandfather clause. For branch submissions relying on grandfathered elements of personal names of individuals, the branch must document both the individual's relationship to the branch and the owner's permission to use the name element.

From Palimpsest: The Rules Discussion Redux

The Laurel office is reviewing our policies and procedures for submissions. We expect that the eventual outcome will be a complete rewrite of the Rules for Submissions. As part of this process, we're asking the populace and heralds to give us feedback about the heraldic submissions process and how it should work. A survey which asks some basic questions can be found at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/GLJZDDZ; we'd appreciate it if interested people would take time to answer the questions there. Additional comments about or ideas for this process can be sent to rules@heraldry.sca.org or posted to the existing discussions on OSCAR.

We have several goals for this process:

-	to make the Rules for Submissions easier to use for heralds and submitters alike

-	to reduce discrepancies between the Rules as written and the Rules as applied

-	to reflect on the degree of authenticity we want for the registration process and how best to codify rules to evaluate it

-	to reconsider the level of difference we should require between names and devices for registration

In all areas, the Society for Creative Anachronism has moved towards progressively better understandings of what people did in our period. Given this trend, we are not interested in discussing rules changes that would substantially lower our standards for registration of names and armory. But we are interested in exploring ways to make it easier for people register items that are in period style, whether or not they fit the rules as they currently exist. We welcome ideas about how to do that from all sources

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 be sent to David Duggar, ATTN: Laurel Chancellor of Exchequer, 1705 Holiday Pl, Bossier City, LA 71112.

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 herald@sca.org. 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