Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms

601 S Washington #137
Stillwater OK 74074
+1 405 428 3662
[email protected]

For the August 2022 meetings, printed October 13, 2022

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Emma Laurel, Elisabetta Pelican, and Oddr Wreath, greetings.

* From Laurel: Call for bids for vKWHSS 2024 (yes really)

With vKWHSS 2023 creeping up on us, we'd like to get a jump on finalizing the team to handle vKWHSS in January 2024. This need not be hosted by a specific kingdom, but it may be easiest if all concerned are in the same kingdom.

We'd like for this team to be able to help the Avacal team with running the January 2023 vKWHSS, and gain valuable experience in time for their turn at the wheel for 2024. Interested parties should have good communication skills, excellent Zoom, and/or Discord knowledge, and good scheduling ability. As a reminder, the vKWHSS is intended to run expanded hours so as to be more accessible to all parts of the SCA. We can provide the Zoom large meeting license and Discord channel.

Please email applications to [email protected]. Applications are due December 1, 2022.

* From Pelican: Abstract Qualities and Order Names

Recently, we had a number of order name submissions attempting to use the pattern of abstract quality as shown in "Medieval Secular Order Names" by Juliana de Luna (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/order/new/). There seems to be some confusion as to what is meant by this term. For the purposes of constructing order names, abstract quality should be considered synonymous with virtue; this is reinforced by the examples given in the article of Love (representing the virtue charity) and Hope. Other examples include the registered order names Order of Chivalry and various groups' Order of Courtesy. At this time, we do not have evidence of abstract concepts that are not virtues appearing in this category. Therefore, until such evidence is provided, this category will remain confined to nouns describing virtues.

* From Pelican and Wreath: Expansion of Tincture Names for Non-Personal Names

Previous precedent has disallowed the use of sanguine in the registration of order names. [Order of Sanguins Thorn, 03/2020, A-An Tir] After extensive consultation with Wreath, for the reasons set forth below, Pelican hereby explicitly overturns this precedent. We hereby allow tenne, sanguine, and sinople as period heraldic tinctures in non-personal name submissions as outlined below. We also expand the use of ordinary color words to those that can be found in period heraldic treatises and armorials to describe blazon terms.

Past precedents have demonstrated a progressive approach to using blazon terms for color in certain types of non-personal names. For example, on the April 2012 Cover Letter, Pelican wrote,

Several French terms are identical to the terms used for heraldic tinctures, including vert, Or, and argent (which is found in sign names but not order names). This means that half the colors used in order names (vert, Or and argent) are at least sometimes identical to the heraldic terms. Even vaire is found in French inn signs. Similarly, early blazon seems to have sometimes used the everyday color terms rouge and noir. Given the variability in the use of heraldic and everyday terms, and the confusion this causes for submitters and commenters, we are hereby allowing the use of heraldic color terms in order names as well as the everyday terms.

This approach was reinforced on the March 2020 Cover Letter, where Pelican expanded this precedent to allow the use of single-name furs in order names,

Commenters pointed out that we already allow the use of some heraldic tinctures in order names and heraldic titles for which we do not have evidence in period. For example, we do not have examples of purpure/purple in period order names, yet we allow it in order names and heraldic titles in the Society.

We now expand these precedents to include all types of non-personal names, including household names. The data that has emerged between April 2012 and today has only increased the potential for confusion, not decreased it. The overlap between everyday color words and blazon terms extends to other languages spoken outside of England instead of just French; in some of these languages, ordinary color words are used in blazon into the 16th century. Given this, it is unfair to continue the division between which color words can be used for different types of non-personal names.

Continuing this progressive approach, Wreath and Pelican have considered whether all blazon terms for colors found in period armorials, whether or not they are registered by the Society, should be usable in non-personal names. We concluded that they should, based on the following data.

In his 1562 book The accedence of armorie, Gerald Legh describes nine heraldic tinctures and their ordinary color words as follows: Or (gold), Argent (silver), Gules (vermillion), Azure (blue), Sable (black), Vert (green), Purpure (purple), Tenne (tawny, brusk), and Sanguine (murrey). John Bossewell's book Workes of armorie, published in 1572, lists nine heraldic tinctures and their ordinary color words as: Or (gold), Argent (silver), Gules (red), Azure (blue), Sable (black), Vert (green), Purpure (violet), Tenne (orange, tawny), and Sanguine (murrey). Similarly, in 1610, John Guillim's book A Display of Heraldry describes nine heraldic tinctures and their ordinary color words as: Argent (white, silver), Sable (black), Gules (red, vermillion), Or (yellow, gold), Vert (green), Azure (blue), Purpure (none given), Tenne (tawny, brusk), and Sanguine (murrey). Additionally, in the 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries, armorials and heraldic treatises in French, Dutch, Spanish and Italian provide further proof of concept. Accordingly, by the beginning of the 17th century, there was a standard set of up to nine heraldic tinctures with fairly consistent ordinary color words that would help period artists to reproduce them.

Though terms like tenne, sanguine and sinople may or may not be blazoned by Wreath, this has no bearing on whether or not they were considered heraldic tinctures in the SCA period. Our blazonry conventions were created for easy color recognition; in this way, all shades of red are gules so that they can be easily reproduced by artists for any project without quibbling over slight differences in color choice. This concept does not constrain non-personal names in the same way that it does armory. Therefore, tenne may be used as a period English heraldic tincture, sanguine may be used as a period English and Spanish heraldic tincture and sinople may be used as a period French, Dutch and Spanish heraldic tincture in non-personal name submissions.

Evaluating ordinary color words was a little more difficult. Not all of the heraldic tinctures that are used in SCA blazon were used in all cultures with a strong heraldic tradition in our period. Where there is no ordinary color word found in a period armorial or heraldic treatise to describe a heraldic tincture used in SCA blazon, a word was found in a period dictionary or text. These ordinary color words were compiled into a chart for an update to SENA Appendix E, described elsewhere on this Cover Letter. This achieves some consistency on what period heraldic tinctures and their ordinary color words we allow, even if we do not have evidence of their use in non-personal names at this time.

We hope that this allows Crowns and Coronets (both Principality and Baronial) some more flexibility in registering the names of the orders and awards they create to recognize their populace, and that it allows all submitters more flexibility in creating other types of non-personal name submissions.

We are deeply grateful to Daunt Iago ap Adam, Boar Herald, for his research into non-English heraldic treatises and armorials and to Dame Juliana de Luna for the additional Spanish terms sourced from de Riquer.

* From Pelican: Update to SENA Appendix E: Currently Registerable Designators for Non-Personal Name Submissions

In order to provide some clarity to which heraldic tinctures and their ordinary color words are now registerable, a chart was created that lists them by language and blazon term. Palimpsest is directed to add this chart to SENA Appendix E, which also deals with elements permitted in various types of non-personal name submissions. To facilitate the addition of this chart, the new name for this appendix will be "Currently Registerable Elements for Non-Personal Name Submissions". This allows flexibility in expansion when new data is provided, so different types of elements and patterns that become registrable in non-personal names can be added fluidly in the future. Further, this keeps all of the name construction elements for non-personal names in a single appendix as opposed to continuing to create new appendices for them.

This chart is not intended to represent every possible spelling of the heraldic tinctures and ordinary color words that may be registered in non-personal names. Rather, it was built to provide a starting point. It is encouraged to look through period texts and dictionaries for these languages to discover spelling variants that might be more appropriate for a desired time period or dialect.

Some of the sources used to compile this chart have been added to Administrative Handbook Appendix H if they were not already part of this appendix. Most of them have been added under armory, and one has been added under dictionaries. Armorials used can be found at "Period Armorials Online" maintained by Iago ap Adam (https://caerlaverockroll.com/period-armorials-online/) with the exception of Heráldica castellana en tiempos de los reyes católicos by Martín de Riquer (Spain, Quaderns Crema, 1986).

* From Pelican: Heraldic Charges for Non-Personal Names

On the November 2020 Letter of Acceptances and Returns, we ruled that an order could be named after any period artifact (in that case, a gargoyle) that could plausibly be a heraldic charge, regardless of whether or not the item would actually be registered as a charge by the Wreath Sovereign of Arms: "While the 1991 precedent regarding the registration of gargoyles as charges in Society armory is unaffected by this ruling, the inability to register a gargoyle in armory is orthogonal to the ability to use the charge's name as an element in a group name following the heraldic charge pattern." [Company of the Gargoyle, 11/2020, A-An Tir] We wish to make clear that this precedent continues to apply to any period artifact, even if it does not have a "standard depiction" that would allow Wreath to register it. To the extent that some prior precedents have suggested otherwise, those precedents are hereby overturned.

Anyone submitting a non-personal name that contains the name of an item that has not been previously registered as a charge or does not appear in period heraldry should be prepared to submit evidence that it was a physical object, plant or animal, etc. that was actually found in period or known to period people.

* From Wreath: Augmentations and Related SENA Updates

Based on Palimpsest's May 10th Rules Letter, and the comments received on it, SENA is updated to allow augmentations by quartering arms. Modifications are also made so that "is this an independent display of armory or not" is consolidated in SENA A6C rather than being repeated in multiple sections. Some minor reformatting to make referring to the various sections easier is also incorporated in these changes. These updates will be available online (at http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html) approximately a week after next quarter's Board of Directors meeting. The updates are shown below in a standard insert/delete fashion with additions underlined and deletions struck through.

As revised, section A3A3 reads:

3. Augmentations of Honor: An augmentation is a mark of honor bestowed by the Crown that is added to an existing device. An augmentation may not be added to a badge. An augmentation may take many forms, including but not limited to a charged canton, a charged chief, charges in canton or chief, a charge associated with the Crown, or a charge associated with the individual receiving the honor.

a. While the right to an augmentation is bestowed by the Crown, its specific form must be determined through the normal registration process. Both the augmentation itself and the augmented device must follow the style rules and restrictions on charges. Because an augmentation adds complexity, augmented devices are often allowed to violate certain style rules, such as allowing charges on tertiary charges or a complexity count of greater than eight, as long as the identifiability of the design is maintained. Charged cantons, charged inescutcheons, and charged chiefs (when they are an augmentation) of pretense may have poor contrast with whatever they happen to overlay, whether the field or another charge, provided identifiability is maintained. Other augmentations may not violate the rules on contrast.

For example, the arms of a branch may not be granted as an augmentation, because they contain a laurel wreath, which cannot be registered to an individual.

For example, Gules, a sea-dog rampant and a chief Or, for augmentation on a canton vert a mullet argent may be registered despite the poor contrast of the vert canton which lies partially on the gules field.

b. An augmentation that appears to be a display of independent armory, such as that described in SENA A6C a charged canton, a single charged lozenge, or a single charged escutcheon, must also be evaluated as if the augmentation itself were a submission of independent armory for purposes of style, conflict, offense, and presumption.When the augmentation is a chief, it is considered a display of independent armory only if it has a peripheral ordinary or an ordinary terminating at the edge. If not part of an augmentation a chief, even if charged, is not considered a display of independent armory. Kingdoms may designate a badge as a standard augmentation for its subjects who receive augmentations. Such a badge is considered to be subject to the existing registration allowance and does not need to be further checked for style, conflict, offense, or presumption.

For example, the chief in Gules, a lion rampant and on a chief argent a rose between two mullets gules does not need to be conflict checked as it is not an augmentation and thus not considered a display of independent armory. The same chief in an augmentation, Gules, a lion rampant argent, for augmentation on a chief argent a rose between two mullets gules, does not need to be conflict checked as it has neither a peripheral ordinary nor an ordinary terminating at the edge and therefore is not considered to be a display of independent armory. However, the chief in Gules, a lion rampant argent, for augmentation on a chief argent a cross between four roses gules does need to be conflict checked as independent armory as it is an augmentation that has an ordinary (the cross) that terminates at the edge.

c. An augmentation may be created through quartering the augmentation (in the first and fourth quarters) with the base device (in the second and third quarters). The first and fourth quarters are considered to be a display of independent armory and must be evaluated as such. The quarters in quartered armory that is not part of an augmentation but is registerable under A6F are not considered independent displays of armory.

For example, in Quarterly sable and argent, two squirrels sable the quarters do not need to be conflict checked as it is not an augmentation. However, in Argent, a squirrel sable, and for augmentation quartered second and third with first and fourth sable, an acorn Or the quarter Sable, an acorn Or must be conflict checked as independent armory.

d. Kingdoms may designate a badge (or badges) as a standard augmentation for its subjects who receive augmentations. Such a badge is considered to be subject to the existing registration allowance and does not need to be further checked for style, conflict, offense, or presumption.

As revised, section A5C4 reads:

4. Augmentations: As discussed in A3A3, in a submission of augmented arms where the augmentation appears to be a display of independent armory, such as that described in SENA A6Ca charged canton, a single charged escutcheon, a chief with a peripheral ordinary, or a chief with an ordinary terminating at the edge, the augmentation must be checked for conflict as if it were a submission of independent armory.

As revised, section A6C reads:

C. Claims through Arms of Pretense and Unearned Augmentations: In period and modern heraldry, an individual may assert a claim to land or property by placing the armory associated with that property on an escutcheon in the middle of their existing armory. An augmentation of honor often takes the form of a charged canton; occasionally it takes the form of a charged escutcheon. Therefore, either a canton or a single escutcheon may be used in an armorial submission only if it is uncharged and of a single tincture. Multiple escutcheons do not have to follow this limitation. The use of a charged lozenge as arms of pretense or an augmentation is vanishingly rare. We will not consider a single uncharged lozenge, a single lozenge with a single, non-ordinary, tertiary charge, or multiple lozenges to be arms of pretense or an augmentation a display of independent armory nor its use to be presumptuous.

For example, Argent, a fess gules surmounted by an escutcheon sable charged with a roundel argent is not allowed, because it appears to be arms of pretense. Or, in saltire five escutcheons sable each charged with three roundels argent is registerable, because multiple identical escutcheons were not used for arms of pretense or augmentations.

For example, Argent, a fess gules surmounted by a lozenge sable charged with a roundel argent is registerable as we do not consider a lozenge with a single tertiary charge to be arms of pretense or an augmentation a display of independent armory. However, Argent, a fess gules surmounted by an lozenge sable charged with two roundels argent is not allowed because it has more than one tertiary charge and thus is considered arms of pretense or an augmentation a display of independent armory and presumptuous. Argent, on a lozenge sable a cross Or and Argent, on a lozenge sable a fess Or are not allowed as the lozenges are charged with ordinaries and are therefore considered arms of pretense or augmentationsindependent displays of armory and presumptuous.

In period and modern heraldry, quartered arms are often a claim to a marital or inheritance relationship or about an office that the person holds. An augmentation of honor may also appear to be marshalled arms with the augmentation appearing in the first and fourth quarters and the original arms appearing in the second and third quarters. While, as discussed in section A6F, we do not usually allow the registration of armory appearing to be marshalled arms, an exception is made for an augmentation so long as all of the charges of the base (unaugmented) device remain identifiable.

Chiefs are a valid period form of augmentation; however, chiefs (whether charged or uncharged) are much more commonly not augmentations. As such, unless it is part of an augmentation and contains either a peripheral ordinary or an ordinary terminating at the edge, we do not consider a chief to be a display of independent armory nor its use to be presumptuous.

The rules governing earned Augmentations are discussed in A3A3.

As revised, section A6F reads:

F. Claims through Marshalling: Marshalling is the combination of two or more arms into a single design. By doing so, it makes a claim about the person that we do not allow in registered arms. This claim can be to a marital or inheritance relationship or , about an office that the person holds, or an unearned augmentation. In some cases, such designs may be displayed, even though they cannot be registered.

Arms combined using the per pale field division generally combined either marital arms or the arms of an individual and an office. They are often called impaled arms and were not inherited. The display of registered arms impaled to show a marital relationship is encouraged, even though it is not registerable.

Arms combined using the quarterly field division generally combined inherited arms from armigerous parents. They are often called marshalled arms or quartered arms. Once inherited, they were sometimes further cadenced as a whole. While the Spanish occasionally used per saltire divisions for marshalled designs, they more commonly used quarterly divisions for this, so we do not consider fields divided per saltire as potentially marshalled designs.

Marshalling in these rules refers to both impaling and quartering collectively. Arms that appear to be marshalled cannot be registered unless they are augmentations as discussed in A3A3 and A6C.

Both quarterly and per pale divisions were used in single armorial designs and also in marshalled designs. Therefore, quarterly and per pale divisions of the field may be registered only when there is no unmistakable appearance of marshalling. Most designs are either clearly not marshalled or clearly marshalled, but some require more careful examination:

There are no changes to A6F1 through A6F3.

* From Pelican: New Articles!

I wanted to take a moment to draw attention to two new links that can be found in the Names Articles section of the Laurel website (https://heraldry.sca.org/names.html). Recently, we have seen increased interest in unisex or gender-neutral names. Often, these names are hard to find buried within other articles. Happily, two authors have shared their work with the Laurel office! "Multigender Historical Names" is a list of resources compiled by Clare Drake, and it is hosted directly at heraldry.sca.org (https://heraldry.sca.org/names/multigender/). The second link is "The Unisex Names Project", compiled by Rúnfríđr Keiliselgr and hosted by the College of Saint Monica, the SCA branch located at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia (https://stmonica.lochac.sca.org/2022/04/25/the-unisex-names-project/).

We are grateful for the work done by these two individuals and highly encourage more projects like this to be submitted for publication!

* Society Pages

On September 3, at the feast of John Barleycorn in the Crown Province of Řstgarđr in the Kingdom of the East, Their Majesties Ryouko'jin and Indrakshi elevated Lady Violet Hughes, current Mosaic and Mural Herald (notifications), into the Order of the Pelican.

Also at that event, Their Majesties Ryouko'jin and Indrakshi inducted Ryan Mac Whyte, Brigantia emeritus and Skunk Herald Extraordinary, into the Order of the Silver Brooch, the East's AoA-level A&S award.

On September 24, at Lochac's Spring Crown Tournament, Their Majesties Alain and Safiya inducted Ollivier le Floch, Rocket Herald, into the Order of the Golden Tear for his heraldic contributions to Kingdom and Society. The Golden Tear is Lochac's AoA-level service award.

Also at that event, Their Majesties Alain and Safiya awarded the Lochac College of Heralds the Company of the Pride of Lochac. The Pride of Lochac is given to groups who have as a group made noteworthy contribution to the kingdom.

Recent Principal Herald changes: September saw Ilene Jonnestoune step down as Triskele Principal Herald of Trimaris. Her successor is Toran Saraev. While the pandemic is still not over, Ilene served during the most disruptive time, and has my sincere thanks and appreciation for her hard work.

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 Trent Le Clair, 928 Frazier Dr, Walla Walla WA 99362

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.

* Scheduling

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 August Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, August 21, 2022 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, August 13, 2022. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Atlantia (04 May, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (07 May, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (10 May, 2022), An Tir (13 May, 2022), East (18 May, 2022), Ansteorra (22 May, 2022), Middle (23 May, 2022), West (23 May, 2022), Ealdormere (24 May, 2022), Lochac (26 May, 2022), Caid (27 May, 2022), Outlands (28 May, 2022), Atenveldt (30 May, 2022), Avacal (30 May, 2022), Atlantia (31 May, 2022), Northshield (31 May, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (10 Jul, 2022) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, July 31, 2022.

The September Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, September 11, 2022 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, September 10, 2022. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Meridies (01 Jun, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (02 Jun, 2022), Meridies (02 Jun, 2022), Calontir (03 Jun, 2022), Gleann Abhann (07 Jun, 2022), An Tir (14 Jun, 2022), Middle (19 Jun, 2022), Ansteorra (23 Jun, 2022), Ealdormere (24 Jun, 2022), East (24 Jun, 2022), Lochac (26 Jun, 2022), Outlands (27 Jun, 2022), Meridies (28 Jun, 2022), Artemisia (29 Jun, 2022), Atlantia (29 Jun, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (29 Jun, 2022), Ćthelmearc (30 Jun, 2022), Atenveldt (30 Jun, 2022), Avacal (30 Jun, 2022), Caid (30 Jun, 2022), Drachenwald (30 Jun, 2022), Northshield (30 Jun, 2022), Northshield Other Letter (30 Jun, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (30 Jun, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (15 Aug, 2022) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, August 31, 2022.

The October Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 9, 2022 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 8, 2022. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (04 Jul, 2022), An Tir (11 Jul, 2022), Calontir (14 Jul, 2022), Middle (19 Jul, 2022), Ćthelmearc (21 Jul, 2022), East (21 Jul, 2022), Ansteorra (23 Jul, 2022), Lochac (23 Jul, 2022), Ealdormere (25 Jul, 2022), Outlands (26 Jul, 2022), Caid (28 Jul, 2022), Drachenwald (29 Jul, 2022), Atenveldt (30 Jul, 2022), Avacal (31 Jul, 2022), West (31 Jul, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (07 Sep, 2022) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, September 30, 2022.

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.

Pray know that I remain,

In service,

Emma de Fetherstan
Laurel Queen of Arms


Created at 2022-10-13T20:33:02