Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms

253 Tranquility Mtn
Buda, TX 78610
+1 512 942 7005
[email protected]

For the December 2015 meetings, printed February 17, 2016

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Andrewe Laurel, Lillia Pelican, and Brunissende 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 December Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, December 20, 2015 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, December 13, 2015. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Drachenwald (29 Jul, 2015) (pushed due to lack of packet) , Lochac (14 Sep, 2015), Gleann Abhann (16 Sep, 2015), Laurel LoPaD (16 Sep, 2015), Northshield (20 Sep, 2015), Atlantia (24 Sep, 2015), West (24 Sep, 2015), Atenveldt (25 Sep, 2015), Ęthelmearc (26 Sep, 2015), Ealdormere (27 Sep, 2015), Lochac (27 Sep, 2015), Middle (28 Sep, 2015), Drachenwald (29 Sep, 2015), Outlands (29 Sep, 2015), An Tir (30 Sep, 2015), Avacal (30 Sep, 2015), Caid (30 Sep, 2015), Calontir (30 Sep, 2015), East (30 Sep, 2015), Meridies (30 Sep, 2015), and Trimaris (30 Sep, 2015). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, November 30, 2015.

The January Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, January 10, 2016 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, January 24, 2016. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (20 Oct, 2015), Northshield (21 Oct, 2015), Middle (25 Oct, 2015), Outlands (27 Oct, 2015), Ęthelmearc (28 Oct, 2015), Meridies (28 Oct, 2015), Middle (28 Oct, 2015), Atenveldt (30 Oct, 2015), Drachenwald (30 Oct, 2015), Lochac (30 Oct, 2015), An Tir (31 Oct, 2015), Atlantia (31 Oct, 2015), Avacal (31 Oct, 2015), Caid (31 Oct, 2015), Calontir (31 Oct, 2015), Ealdormere (31 Oct, 2015), East (31 Oct, 2015), and the Laurel LoPaD (31 Oct, 2015). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Thursday, December 31, 2015.

The February Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, February 14, 2016 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, February 21, 2016. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Ansteorra (05 Oct, 2015) (pushed due to lack of packet) , Ansteorra (31 Oct, 2015) (pushed due to lack of packet) , Ansteorra (03 Nov, 2015), Artemisia (03 Nov, 2015), Atenveldt (20 Nov, 2015), West (21 Nov, 2015), Northshield (26 Nov, 2015), Middle (27 Nov, 2015), Outlands (27 Nov, 2015), Ealdormere (28 Nov, 2015), Lochac (28 Nov, 2015), Calontir (29 Nov, 2015), Meridies (29 Nov, 2015), An Tir (30 Nov, 2015), Ansteorra (30 Nov, 2015), Artemisia (30 Nov, 2015), Atlantia (30 Nov, 2015), Avacal (30 Nov, 2015), Caid (30 Nov, 2015), and East (30 Nov, 2015). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, January 31, 2016.

The March Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, March 13, 2016 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, March 20, 2016. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Trimaris (07 Dec, 2015), Laurel LoPaD (18 Dec, 2015), Atenveldt (20 Dec, 2015), Outlands (20 Dec, 2015), West (25 Dec, 2015), Ealdormere (26 Dec, 2015), Middle (26 Dec, 2015), Atlantia (28 Dec, 2015), Caid (29 Dec, 2015), Artemisia (30 Dec, 2015), Calontir (30 Dec, 2015), An Tir (31 Dec, 2015), Ansteorra (31 Dec, 2015), Avacal (31 Dec, 2015), East (31 Dec, 2015), Lochac (31 Dec, 2015), Meridies (31 Dec, 2015), and Northshield (31 Dec, 2015). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Monday, February 29, 2016.

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: Order Names and Award Names are Not Interchangeable

Greetings! On this letter we have registered the Company of Noble Touch, for the Barony of Wintermist in Caid. This was done as a courtesy to the Barony as their cited precedent did not apply to order names, but rather only household names. As of this writing, we will no longer change an unregisterable order name to a registerable household name. The courtesy was extended to the Barony of Wintermist as we had not previously prohibited this practice. Order and Household names are not interchangeable. Corpora requires that groups register their award names. As such, this practice amounts to rules abuse, and it will no longer be endorsed by the College of Arms. For more information on acceptable patterns for order and award names, please see Juliana de Luna's article "Medieval Secular Order Names" at http://heraldry.sca.org/names/order/new/.

* From Pelican: The Use of Iron in Household Names

A submission this month documented the use of Iron as part of the substantive element in a household name following an inn-sign name pattern. One example of Iron was found in period: the gray period la Crois de Fer ("the Iron Cross"). Given this example and other examples of inn-sign names using the pattern material + heraldic charge, we allow the use of Iron in similar household names.

Several kinds of non-personal names can be derived from descriptions of devices, sign names, and badges; these include order names, heraldic titles, and household names. These household names, derived from the signs used to identify houses and inns, follow a different and wider set of models than similar order names and heraldic titles, derived from personal and order badges. Houses are sometimes marked by metal objects such as tin or pewter pots or dishes, and brass fittings (like Brasenose, from a doorknocker). Iron Cross fits in this pattern. This pattern is not found for order names or heraldic titles, which only use the vernacular forms of heraldic titles. For this reason, this pattern and other patterns found only in household names cannot be used to construct order names and heraldic titles. To register an order name using Iron or similar materials in period order names, evidence for that usage in order names, not just in household names, would be required. Other patterns documented from household names similarly are not evidence to create new order names and heraldic titles.

* From Pelican: Protection of Real-World Heraldic Titles

In the July 2015 Letter of Acceptances and Returns, we pended the heraldic title Faraute Flores to allow discussion on whether it presumed upon a real-world heraldic title from the 15th century. In the case of that submission, Flores served the king of Castille, but no further information about this service or individuals who have held the office could be found.

We asked commenters which real-world historical titles are important enough to protect: any title used by royal appointees, or only the more prominent titles? And how should we characterize the prominence? Some titles are protected because of the importance of the positions (e.g., Garter and Montjoy), whereas others have been protected because a herald who held the title wrote a heraldic book (e.g., Gelre). Others are important because they are still in use (e.g., Bluemantle).

In the past, a number of real-world heraldic titles were unprotected, and several (like Sans Repose and Fleur-de-Lys) have since been registered to Heralds Extraordinary in the Society. However, both of these registrations were made without comment, and did not set precedent. At the time, the issue of presumption was not raised in the Letters of Intent or in commentary.

Therefore, we are settting new protection standards for real-world heraldic titles. In general, we will protect notable heraldic titles, particularly those used by Kings of Arms (e.g., Garter and Cronista Kings of Arms) and/or that are still in use. We also protect titles created by important royals and important titles created by minor royals. Protection of minor titles created by minor royals, or of heraldic titles associated with authors of well-known heraldic treatises will be considered on a case-by-case basis. If a heraldic title shares a name with an order that is itself worthy of protection, the title is also worthy of protection.

* From Wreath: Should the triskele get a step from period practice?

Since Karina Laurel allowed it first in the mid-1970s we do not seem to have seriously questioned whether the triskele, a.k.a. the triskelion arrondi, as the Society defines it (as opposed to modern real world usage) was actually a period charge.

The triskelion arrondi was first registered in the Society under Karina Laurel in 1975. Its second registration was to the (then) Principality of Trimaris, in 1981; when Trimaris registered its arms in 1982, the same charge was blazoned by Wilhelm Laurel as a triskele, and the terms have been synonymous in Society blazonry ever since. But while the charge has had a steady run in Society armory, no documentation for it was ever supplied. Thus we have no examples of its use as a period charge, or even a period artistic motif.

The period heraldic examples of triskelions were composed of three human legs (as in the arms of the Isle of Man c.1280) or three human arms (as in the arms of Tremaine c.1470). There may be examples of other animate charges, or portions thereof, conjoined in a way that could be characterized as a triskelion. But the geometric stylization of the triskelion arrondi is unknown in period heraldry. There were period artistic motifs that we'd consider to be triskelions - e.g., the triskelion of spirals found in Celtic art - but none of them quite match the charge we've been registering as a triskelion arrondi/triskele.

The triskelion of spirals has already been ruled to be a step from period practice. Given the current absence of evidence for the triskelion arrondi or triskele, we are proposing to rule it a step from period practice as well. We ask for commentary on this matter, and in particular for any documentation of the charge (as it's defined in Society heraldry) from period heraldry or period art.

* Society Pages

Baroness Jamila of Bhakail (known as Jamilia al-Suba al-Hadid min Bhakail al-Sheika), Troubadour Herald for the East Kingdom, was served a writ at Bhakail Yule to contemplate elevation to the Order of the Pelican. She is to be elevated at King's & Queen's Bardic Champions in March.

Please send information about happenings to major heralds and major happenings to all heralds to Laurel, so that it can be published here.

* 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. All submission forms plus documentation, including petitions, must be posted to the OSCAR online system. While black-and-white emblazons must be included in the Letter of Intent, only colored armory forms need to be posted in the forms area.

Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent to Stephanie Ray-Solum, Blue Bug Bookkeeping, 2144 Westlake Ave. North Suite F Seattle, WA 98109.

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,

Andrewe Bawldwyn
Laurel Principal King of Arms


Created at 2016-02-17T21:43:25