July 2012 Letter of Acceptances and Returns

Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms

2212 S 64th Plz Apt 418,
Omaha, NE 68106-2840
+1 952 412 4112
[email protected]

For the July 2012 meetings, printed Saturday, September 8, 2012

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Gabriel Laurel, Juliana Pelican, and Emma Wreath, 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 July Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, July 1, 2012 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, July 28 2012. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Artemisia (31 Mar, 2012) (pushed due to lack of packet), Caid (01 Apr, 2012), An Tir (02 Apr, 2012), Calontir (03 Apr, 2012), Atlantia (07 Apr, 2012), Laurel LoPaD (08 Apr, 2012), Northshield (08 Apr, 2012), Ealdormere (19 Apr, 2012), Middle (20 Apr, 2012), Atenveldt (25 Apr, 2012), East (25 Apr, 2012), West (27 Apr, 2012), Lochac (28 Apr, 2012), An Tir (29 Apr, 2012), Ansteorra (30 Apr, 2012), Gleann Abhann (30 Apr, 2012), Meridies (30 Apr, 2012), and Outlands (30 Apr, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, June 30, 2012.

The August Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, August 19, 2012 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, August 18, 2012. The Pennsic Pelican roadshow was cancelled. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Æthelmearc (04 May, 2012), Trimaris (04 May, 2012), Laurel LoPaD (06 May, 2012), East (12 May, 2012), Northshield (18 May, 2012), Atenveldt (20 May, 2012), Caid (25 May, 2012), Artemisia (28 May, 2012), An Tir (29 May, 2012), Lochac (29 May, 2012), Ealdormere (30 May, 2012), Middle (30 May, 2012), Outlands (30 May, 2012), Ansteorra (31 May, 2012), Atlantia (31 May, 2012), Drachenwald (31 May, 2012), Gleann Abhann (31 May, 2012), Meridies (31 May, 2012), and West (31 May, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, July 31, 2012.

The September Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, September 9, 2012 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, September 8, 2012. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Laurel LoPaD (07 Jun, 2012), Middle (07 Jun, 2012), Atenveldt (25 Jun, 2012), East (25 Jun, 2012), [Æthelmearc (28 Jun, 2012)], Lochac (27 Jun, 2012), Atlantia (28 Jun, 2012), Caid (29 Jun, 2012), Æthelmearc (30 Jun, 2012), An Tir (30 Jun, 2012), Ansteorra (30 Jun, 2012), Drachenwald (30 Jun, 2012), Gleann Abhann (30 Jun, 2012), Meridies (30 Jun, 2012), and Outlands (30 Jun, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, August 31, 2012.

The October Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in October 2012. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Northshield (08 Jul, 2012), Calontir (10 Jul, 2012), East (20 Jul, 2012), [Atlantia (21 Jul, 2012)], West (23 Jul, 2012), Outlands (24 Jul, 2012), [Atenveldt (25 Jul, 2012)], Meridies (25 Jul, 2012), [Trimaris (25 Jul, 2012)], Lochac (27 Jul, 2012), Middle (28 Jul, 2012), Caid (29 Jul, 2012), [Æthelmearc (31 Jul, 2012)], An Tir (31 Jul, 2012), [Ansteorra (31 Jul, 2012)], [Artemisia (31 Jul, 2012)], Gleann Abhann (31 Jul, 2012), and Laurel (32 Jul, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Sunday, September 30, 2012.

Not all letters of intent may be considered when they are originally scheduled on this cover letter. The date of posting 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: Job Opening - Exchequer of the SCA Inc. College of Arms *

The Exchequer of the SCA Inc - College of Arms is a Deputy to the Society Exchequer and the 'treasurer/financial officer' for the Laurel Sovereign of Arms and College of Arms. The Exchequer of the College of Arms works on a day-to-day basis with Laurel Sovereign of Arms' heraldic staff, roughly seven people: Laurel Sovereign of Arms, Wreath Sovereign of Arms, Pelican Sovereign of Arms, Ragged Staff Herald (filing secretary; handles submission paperwork), Archivist (aka Scanning Project), Palimpsest (Rules/Education), and Wreath Emeritus (aka Laurel IT Deputy); the most frequent being the Ragged Staff Herald and the Laurel Sovereign of Arms. He/she will hold a financial warrant and send all financial reports to the Society Exchequer.

Candidate should have several years experience as an exchequer, preferably kingdom level. Candidate should also be passing familiar with heraldic registration process, but in-depth knowledge is not necessary.

Candidate should be able to transition to the office during the spring of 2013. The candidate would work with the current Exchequer on the 1st Quarter Report for 2013, learning the budget, ledger and reporting forms, and submissions tracking process, and coordinate bank account changes to be able to "fly on their own" as of April 30, 2013. If you are interested in filling this office, send your modern and SCA resumes to both the Society Exchequer ([email protected]), and Laurel ([email protected]), by October 31, 2012.

From Pelican and Wreath: Submissions Analysis for July *

During this transition period, we are sharing our counts of the results of considering submissions this month under both the Rules for Submissions and the Standards for Evaluation. These counts include registered or returned items only; no administrative actions such as transfers or acceptances, associations of existing armory, heraldic wills, or other such letters will be included in these counts.

"Armory style" and "armory conflict" indicate if a submitted item could only be passed under one rule set or the other due to conflict or style issues. For example, a submission that could not be registered under the old rules due to conflict but could be registered without conflict under the new standards will be counted as "passed under the new standards, but not old" as armory conflict.

If math is not your thing, it may be interesting to note that if all submissions were considered only under the Rules for Submissions, there would be an 87.8% success rate. Considered only under the Standards for Evaluation, there would be an 87.5% success rate.

From Pelican: Legal Name Attestation *

This month questions were asked about how heralds may attest that they have seen legal identification for the legal name allowance. Let me begin by saying that for most submissions, we expect photocopies of the submitter's identification. Attestation should be used only at locations where photocopies cannot be easily made (like camping events) or where making photocopies is prohibited by law.

Where photocopies cannot easily be made, heralds may attest that they have seen the identification. Such attestation must include the following: the type of identification, the complete name exactly as it appears on the identification (for example noting that the name is rendered completely in capital letters), the names and titles of two heralds who have seen the identification (herald/pursuivant at large is a title), and the signature or initials of those heralds. If signatures cannot be obtained, the herald may confirm that he or she has seen the documentation in commentary (internal or external - in the case of internal commentary the Letter of Intent should note that it was confirmed). At a local event where only a single herald is available, another officer (seneschal, for example) can serve as a second witness. An attestation that fails this standard will not be considered adequate documentation for a name element that depends on the legal name allowance.

From Pelican: Registerability of Matronymic Bynames in Gaelic *

One big change between the Rules for Submissions and the Standards for Evaluation is the removal of the idea of steps from period practice for names. Most steps from period practice were lingual and temporal mixes, which are dealt with in a completely different way under the Standards. However, there are a few other naming practices that are a step from period practice. They will be either allowed or forbidden on a case by case basis.

This month, a name pattern that was ruled a step from period practice has come up: the use of matronymics (names derived from the mother's name) in Gaelic. Should such bynames be allowed under the Standards for Evaluation? In discussing this, there are several pieces of data you might look at. The data that we have for matronymics in Gaelic is summarized at Mari Elspeth nic Bryan's "Index of Names in Irish Annals: Matronymic Bynames" (http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/Matronymic.shtml). We also have a great deal more data from Anglicized forms of Gaelic names than we did when that ruling was made in 2003; a great deal of it can be found at Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada's "Names Found in Anglicized Irish Documents" at http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnglicizedIrish/. I'd be interested in any data that sheds further light on this subject.

From Wreath: On Abacuses *

A submission this month led to a discussion of period European and non-European abacuses. The European abacus, from Roman times through the end of our period, used grooves or lines drawn on a board, with counters placed in the grooves or simply on the lines. As a European artifact, this will be our default in the Society. The Oriental abacus, either Chinese or Japanese, used beads strung on a wire. While no evidence of its use in Europe has been presented, either in armory or in art of the period, it is similar enough in function and form to the European version, and there was enough contact between the East and the West that it is plausible that its existence was known. Therefore, as a non-European artifact, its use will be deemed a step from period practice.

From Wreath: Revisiting Brown Animals Proper *

We feel this is too strict. While many brown animals proper in period heraldry are indeed tinctured solidly brown, others have minor details tinctured differently. We see no reason that minor artistic details of a brown proper charge may not be tinctured differently in the same manner as details on a non-proper charge would be. For example, a brown bear proper may be armed and langued gules, just as a bear sable might be.

Therefore, a brown X proper may have minor artistic details in another tincture, as long as the charge retains identifiability and does not encroach upon the ban on "Linnaen proper" for being too naturalistic.

Society Pages *

On Saturday, July 14, 2012, Istvan Wreath Emeritus and Marie Palimpsest and Clarion were married in a very small, very private ceremony.

On Saturday, July 21, 2012, Caitrina inghean Aindriasa, former Silver Yale Herald of An Tir, was elevated to the Order of the Pelican.

On Friday August 17, Lord Nicholas de Estleche dictus le Tardif, Edelweiss Herald, was made a member of Drachenwald's Orden des Lindquistringes, with special thanks for his long service as internal submissions herald.

On Saturday August 18, Lady Lyonet de Covenham, Sans Merci Herald, was made a member of Drachenwald's Order of Panache; as the scroll noted, anyone who has heard her herald a tournament knows that in her hands, heraldry is an art rather than a service.

On Saturday, August 18, 2012, Genevieve la flechiere, current Rouge Maunche Herald and a former Schwartzdrachen Principal Herald, was made a member of the Order of the Pelican by Paul and Aryanhwy, king and queen of Drachenwald.

On Saturday, August 18, 2012, Cormac Mor, currently Crescent Principal Herald of Caid, was asked to join the Order of the Pelican. His elevation is scheduled to be on the first weekend of Great Western War in October.

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 17207, Bristol VA 24209-7207.

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 71112-3706.

Roster changes and corrections to contact information must be performed by the rostered individual on OSCAR. Changes and corrections to heraldic roles and titles must be performed by the kingdom's principal herald on OSCAR. The current roster is always available on OSCAR for all College of Arms members with an account.

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". The electronic copy of the LoAR is available free of charge. To subscribe to the mailings of the electronic copy, please see the bottom of http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/lists.html#lists for more instructions.