Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms

2212 S. 64th Plaza, #418
Omaha, NE, 68106
+1 952 412 4112
[email protected]

For the February 2013 meetings, printed April 3, 2013

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 February Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, February 10, 2013 and at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, February 16, 2013. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Æthelmearc (25 Oct, 2012) (pushed due to lack of packet), Artemisia (30 Oct, 2012) (pushed due to lack of packet), Æthelmearc (31 Oct, 2012) (pushed due to lack of packet), Laurel LoPaD (03 Nov, 2012), Northshield (07 Nov, 2012), Middle (08 Nov, 2012), Atlantia (09 Nov, 2012), Caid (11 Nov, 2012), Calontir (12 Nov, 2012), An Tir (20 Nov, 2012), Ansteorra (21 Nov, 2012), Outlands (25 Nov, 2012), Ealdormere (26 Nov, 2012), Æthelmearc (30 Nov, 2012), Drachenwald (30 Nov, 2012), Gleann Abhann (30 Nov, 2012), Lochac (30 Nov, 2012), and Meridies (30 Nov, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Thursday, January 31, 2013.

The March Laurel decisions were made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, March 9, 2013 and at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, March 10, 2013. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (30 Nov, 2012) (pushed due to lack of packet), Laurel LoPaD (04 Dec, 2012), Trimaris (08 Dec, 2012), Caid (09 Dec, 2012), Middle (13 Dec, 2012), Palimpsest Rules Letter (15 Dec, 2012), Northshield (17 Dec, 2012), East (21 Dec, 2012), Laurel (21 Dec, 2012), Lochac (27 Dec, 2012), Ansteorra (29 Dec, 2012), Æthelmearc (31 Dec, 2012), An Tir (31 Dec, 2012), Artemisia (31 Dec, 2012), Atlantia (31 Dec, 2012), Ealdormere (31 Dec, 2012), Laurel LoPaD (31 Dec, 2012), Outlands (31 Dec, 2012), and West (31 Dec, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Thursday, February 28, 2013.

The April Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, April 7, 2013 and at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, April 13, 2013. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Meridies (30 Dec, 2012) (pushed due to lack of packet upload), East (17 Jan, 2013), Calontir (20 Jan, 2013), Palimpsest Rules Letter (20 Jan, 2013), Atenveldt (25 Jan, 2013), Palimpsest Rules Letter (25 Jan, 2013), Lochac (28 Jan, 2013), Outlands (29 Jan, 2013), Æthelmearc (31 Jan, 2013), An Tir (31 Jan, 2013), Ansteorra (31 Jan, 2013), Atlantia (31 Jan, 2013), Caid (31 Jan, 2013), Drachenwald (31 Jan, 2013), Meridies (31 Jan, 2013), and Middle (31 Jan, 2013). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, March 31, 2013.

The May Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, MAy 5, 2013 and at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, May 11, 2013. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Ealdormere (31 Jan, 2013), Northshield (03 Feb, 2013), An Tir (05 Feb, 2013), Gleann Abhann (06 Feb, 2013), Laurel LoPaD (09 Feb, 2013), Middle (11 Feb, 2013), Æthelmearc (20 Feb, 2013), East (21 Feb, 2013), [Calontir (24 Feb, 2013)], [Atenveldt (25 Feb, 2013)], Ealdormere (25 Feb, 2013), Lochac (25 Feb, 2013), [Atenveldt (26 Feb, 2013)], An Tir (28 Feb, 2013), An Tir (28 Feb, 2013), [Ansteorra (28 Feb, 2013)], Artemisia (28 Feb, 2013), Atlantia (28 Feb, 2013), Meridies (28 Feb, 2013), [Outlands (28 Feb, 2013)], Palimpsest Rules Letter (28 Feb, 2013), and [Trimaris (28 Feb, 2013)]. All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, April 30, 2013.

The June Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, June 2, 2013 and at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday June 22, 2013. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [West (28 Feb, 2013)] (pushed due to lack of scans), [West (28 Feb, 2013)] (pushed due to lack of scans), Laurel LoPaD (03 Mar, 2013), [Northshield (04 Mar, 2013)], [Middle (11 Mar, 2013)], [Drachenwald (21 Mar, 2013)], [Ealdormere (22 Mar, 2013)], [Calontir (25 Mar, 2013)], [Gleann Abhann (25 Mar, 2013)], [Atenveldt (26 Mar, 2013)], [Outlands (26 Mar, 2013)], [Atlantia (30 Mar, 2013)], [Caid (30 Mar, 2013)], [Caid Other Letter (30 Mar, 2013)], [East (30 Mar, 2013)], [An Tir (31 Mar, 2013)], [Lochac (31 Mar, 2013)], and [Meridies (31 Mar, 2013)]. All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Friday, May 31, 2013.

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

Istvan, wearing his hat as the post-meeting clerk, has announced his desire to retire from this position, which he has held continuously since September of 2005. Therefore, we are seeking applicants for this position. Please note that, if everything goes well, this position will not exist in another few years, when the required functionality is folded into OSCAR.

The successful candidate will have strong computer use skills, including the ability to install and use open source command-line programs, an understanding of more than just basic XML, the ability to keep deadlines, and the ability to maintain confidences.

The current job responsibilities include doing the following, reliably, every month:

Istvan would like to be retired from this position by mid-July. Accordingly, applications should be emailed to Laurel at [email protected] and copied to [email protected] by June 15, 2013.

* From Pelican: Some Name Resources (An Ongoing Series)

One popular kind of household names are the so called inn-sign names, derived from the names of charges used on signs found on inns and other buildings. These names take forms like House of the White Horse, Haus zum Wolf, or Hostel du Croissant. These types of names are found only in certain parts of Europe, and thus are only registerable in those places where this pattern is found. The pattern is known in English, French, Italian, and German. As of the moment, it is not known in Spain or Eastern Europe.

Information about inn-sign names in English can be found in Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada's "English Sign Names" (http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/inn/) and Margaret Makafee's "Comparison of Inn/Shop/House names found London 1473-1600 with those found in the ten shires surrounding London in 1636" (http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~grm/signs-1485-1636.html). Latinized inn-sign names can be found in English context as well.

Information about inn-sign names in French can be found in Juliana de Luna's "Inn Signs and House Names in 15th Century Paris" (http://medievalscotland.org/jes/ParisInnHouseNames/). Examples of these names in bynames can be found in Aryanhwy merch Catmael's "French Names from Paris, 1421, 1423, & 1438" (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/french/paris1423.html); they use a or aux instead of de.

Information about inn-sign names in Italian can be found in Aryanhwy merch Catmael's "Names from an Early 16th C Census of Rome: Household Names" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/leohousehold.html, third grouping). Larger groups of people, equivalent to neighborhoods, also sometimes use inn-sign style names; see Nicholas Eckstein's book The district of the Green Dragon: neighbourhood life and social change in Renaissance Florence (gonfalone del Dragho Verde). A list of Florentine gonfalone is forthcoming, as soon as Pelican can get it done.

Information on German house names has not been put together by an SCA source in English. However, examples of them have been found in a variety of sources and included in Letters of Acceptances and Returns as well as OSCAR. I'm going to summarize the data here to put it in one place.

From December 2009:

Die Hausnamen und Hauszeichen im mittelalterlichen Freiburg, by Karl Schmidt, published 1930 (The housenames and housesigns of medieval Freiburg)... P 32 considers names based on Bär (bear), including ze dem Bern 1326, zum schwarzen Beren 1565, hus zum guldin Bern der schuchmacher trigstuben 1394, zem roten beren 1390, haus zum weissen Beren in der Vitschivisgasse 1444, zum blawen Beren 1565.

From the February 2011 Letter of Acceptances and Returns, " Commenters were able to find a 1590s byname zum schwarzen Schild (among other places, in Ernst Grohne's Die Hausnamen und Hauszeichen)."

Bahlow dates Cunrad zum Grifen to 1297 s.n. Greif(f), a Haus zum Eichhorn to 1460 s.n. Eichhorn, J. van deme Drachin to 1363 s.n. Draa(c)k, Walther zem Sterne to 1255 s.n. Stern, and Vren zergigen (=zur Geige) to 1357 s.n. Geiger.

Brechenmacher dates Burchart zem Rosin to 1295 and Wernher zum Rosen to 1311 s.n. Rose. He also dates Jacobus dictus zum Hirze to 1304 and N. dictus zem Hirtze to 1300 s.n. Hirsch.

Thanks to Aryanhwy Sans Repose and Lillia Diademe, who tracked down many of these citations (taken from commentary on various items over the years).

* From Wreath: Straight Trumpets and You

A submission this month caused discussion of whether or not a sheaf of straight trumpets inverted used the reserved crossed trumpets motif. The reservation, as currently stated in the Glossary of Terms, is for "two straight trumpets in saltire", reserved to "heraldic offices". Long-standing practice, however, has reserved the motif to tinctureless badges for Principal Heralds' seals, not just any heraldic office.

A similar design with three straight trumpets in a sheaf has come up at least once before:

[(Fieldless) Two straight trumpets in saltire, surmounted by another palewise...] ...As for the badge, it still uses the crossed trumpets currently reserved to official heralds in the Society for a non-official organization, even if these are surmounted by a third trumpet.... [Taliesynne Nycheymwrh yr Anghyfannedd, R-Trimaris, Sep 1989 LoAR]

[appeal of badge return] ...The List of Reserved Charges is still available, in the Glossary of Terms sold by the Stock Clerk, and is still in force. The use of the crossed trumpets is still reserved to the College of Arms; the only new submissions that may use them are the seals of Principal Heralds. Nor can one argue that the current submission, by using three trumpets instead of two, is clear of the problem. The design uses a reserved motif, and additional charges don't remove the presumption; that would be like saying that the use of one crown is reserved to Royal Peers, but the use of two crowns is not.... [Taliesynne Nycheymwrh yr Anghyfannedd, R-Trimaris, Dec 1992 LoAR]

Some commenters argued that this is not necessarily a valid argument, as it confuses reserved charges with a reserved motif. There is no restriction on the use of a straight trumpet, nor on two straight trumpets, only on two straight trumpets in saltire. This then leads us to consider whether the reservation should indeed cover a sheaf, as heraldic shorthand for two straight trumpets in saltire surmounted by another palewise, or if the addition of that third trumpet removes presumption. Likewise, the Glossary of Terms is silent as regards orientation. While a reserved charge, such as a crown or a pelican, is reserved in all possible orientations and numbers, two straight trumpets in saltire is not a charge, it is a motif.

As far as orientation goes, Metron Ariston noted that in a letter from Ioseph of Locksley dated Jan 26, 1973, he listed the official blazon of various offices. The College of Arms was listed as Vert, two straight Trumpets in saltire, bell in chief Or. This implies, at least, that it was always the intent for the bells of the trumpets to be in chief. Furthermore, the Admin Handbook in section II.E.5 discusses tinctureless Principal Heralds' seals, and specifically states that "Such seals must contain two straight trumpets in saltire, bells to chief." We are therefore clarifying that the reserved motif is two straight trumpets in saltire, bells to chief, and that the reservation is for the seals of Principal Heralds.

We decline to rule at this time whether or not a sheaf of straight trumpets, bells to chief is presumptive of two straight trumpets in saltire, bells to chief.

* Society Pages

On February 1, Cecilia Ysmerelda Santi, daughter of Gisela vom Kreuzbach, Triton Principal Herald of Atlantia, delivered twin daughters. All those who refer to Gisela as "Momma Gise" should consider switching, instead, to "Grandma Gise".

At Fortuna's Champion on February 9th, Conrad zer Rüben, a voice and research herald, was inducted into Drachenwald's service order, the Orden des Lindquistringes.

* 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, 3101 Lee Hwy Ste 18/19 #178, Bristol VA 24202.

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.

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". 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.

For all administrative matters, please contact Laurel.

Pray know that I remain,

In service,

Gabriel Kjotvason
Laurel Principal King of Arms


Created at 2013-04-03T23:19:55