Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the March 2023 meetings, printed May 9, 2023
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Emma Laurel, Elisabetta Pelican, and Iago Wreath, greetings.
Pelican is an unpaid position, currently requiring approximately 20 hours a week. Some knowledge of period onomastics and how we use that information in the SCA is essential. The position requires considerable tact and patience, research and reasoning ability, a clear understanding of the Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory and past Laurel rulings, the ability to write clearly and succinctly, the ability to work within tight deadlines and coordinate closely with Wreath, Laurel and other staff to produce a Laurel Letter of Acceptances and Returns monthly, computer literacy and word processing skills, reliable e-mail and telephone access, and time and ability to travel. Given the current structure of the office, a high-speed internet connection is required.
Resumés must be sent electronically to Laurel at [email protected]. Resumés must be received by June 1, 2023, with an expected start date of October 2023.
Maestra Suzanne de la Ferté's time is office is drawing short, and so we're putting out the call for applications. In order to encourage and promote the use and equality of Sign/Silent Heraldry at all courts and events in which the entire populace attends, and to assist the sign/silent heralds in their dealings with the Crown, the Silent Heraldry Deputy of Laurel Sovereign of Arms coordinates efforts and communication throughout the SCA. Sign/Silent Heralds in the Society are heralds who express auditory information into visual and/or tactile information used by deaf and hard-of-hearing people. In some kingdoms this function may be under the DEI office, but in any case the goal of the Laurel office is to facilitate communication and coordination.
This deputy is tasked with the following duties, plus other such tasks as assigned by Laurel:
Working with Kingdoms to improve the organization of sign heraldry and its integration with other court and event heralds.
Working with Kingdoms and Laurel to improve education regarding sign heraldry, both for sign heralds themselves and the general populace.
Acting as a resource for sign herald programs.
Preparing quarterly reports to Laurel on the status of such programs.
Please email your resume (SCA and modern if appropriate) as well as a short description of your experience related to this job to Laurel at [email protected]. The application period ends on June 30, 2023.
On the February 2023 return of the badge of Adalyde de Sardaigne we wrote that a combination of design features "clearly marks this badge as a reference to the joke phrase 'Hail Hydrate'". By doing so, we strongly implied intent on the part of the submitter. It is never our place to assume intent, and we apologize to Adalyde for any distress we caused her, or any damage we caused to her reputation.
In the future, where we have a case of a potentially offensive name or armory, and it is not clear that the submitter has been informed of the potential, we will reach out to the submission herald to contact the submitter and see how they wish to proceed.
The proposal on Palimpsest's December 17, 2022 Rules Letter to modify SENA NPN3D to exempt household names based on ship's names from the standards for affiliation conflict when they use a branch name is accepted. The new wording for NPN3D is:
D. Standards for Affiliation Conflict: Non-personal names may not unmistakably imply ownership by or affiliation with any name we protect. An unmistakable implication generally requires the use of multiple elements/phrases from a protected name. A non-personal name that uses two or more elements from a protected name may be presumptuous, if it can be understood to be a claim to be a relative of that person. In cases where the protected name has only a single element, the use of that element may be considered presumptuous on a case-by-case basis.
For example, House of Cariadoc of the Bow unmistakably implies that the owner is Cariadoc of the Bow, and thus cannot be registered, but Cariadocs House does not unmistakably imply that claim. Order of Bela of Eastmarch unmistakably implies affiliation with Bela of Eastmarch, but Order of Bela does not unmistakably imply that claim. For example, Company of the Blue Shield of Caid as a household name submission from an individual unmistakably implies ownership by the Kingdom of Caid, while Company of the Blue Shield does not.
There are period examples of using personal names in a way that does not make such a claim. For example, saint's names were used to create the names of places, orders, colleges, and religious confraternities. While they were dedicated to these saints, they did not make a confusing claim of the sort prohibited here. Thus, such names are registerable. Many private ships across Europe in our period were named for the ports they sailed from or the place where they were built. Therefore household names based on ship names and using a designator meaning ship may use a branch name without making a claim of the sort prohibited here. Other names that use the name of a protected individual or entity can be registered only if they can be shown to follow a period pattern of naming that does not make a claim to be owned by a protected person or claim a confusing relationship with a protected person.
For example, Ordre de Monsieur Saint Michel Archange, is an order name which makes reference to Saint Michel but does not make a confusing claim. Similarly, both Saint Marie Magdalene College, and the Cofradia de San Juan Bautista are dedicated to these saints, but cannot be mistaken to be owned by them. The Order of Saint William the Cooper is registerable, even though this is a constructed saint's name, as long as there is no registered William the Cooper.
For example, Ship Swan of Darkwater and Laiva Aarnimetsän Ugglan (Ship Owl of Aarnimetsä) include the branch names Darkwater and Aarnimetsä but as household names based on ship names, they do not create a claim to be owned by those branches and may be registered to an individual. However, the ship name Company of the Falcon Lancaster of Adiantum, based on the Tudor ship name pattern heraldic charge + 16th century English surname, would create a claim to be owned by the branch Barony of Adiantum since the designator Company is not restricted to households based on ship names.
The updated text will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#NPN3D about a week after the July 2023 Board of Directors meeting.
This month we considered the name Takeda Shinjiro. This name contains only a myoji (surname) and a yobina (casual use given name). Commenters questioned whether this name also needed to include a nanori (formal given name). We do not require that names in any language only be registered how they might be written down in a formal setting; to require such for Japanese names would give this language an artificial disadvantage in registration. Therefore, Japanese names may be registered with the following patterns without further documentation:
family name/surname + yobina
family name/surname + nanori
uji name + no + yobina
uji name + no + nanori
family name/surname + yobina + nanori
uji name + no + yobina + nanori
Other patterns may be registered if proper documentation of them is provided at the time of submission.
Historically, some of these patterns may not have been used by persons identifying as female. We have limited data on feminine names and naming patterns used for persons identifying as female in Japanese. Therefore, all of these patterns may be used by persons of any gender at this time. As always, we welcome further research into names from this language and culture so we can improve our data and understanding.
We direct Palimpsest to add these patterns to SENA Appendix A.
Appendix E1 is updated to note that Hamlet is an allowable branch designator in limited cases. The new wording, shown below, is added to the end of the section.
Hamlet is a designator allowed for groups in the kingdoms of Drachenwald and Lochac that fall somewhere between a branch and a household. The requirements for Hamlets are listed in the April 2018 Cover Letter (http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2018/04/18-04cl.html). The required evidence of support for a Hamlet is identified in the January 2020 Cover Letter (https://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2020/01/20-01cl.html).
This revised version will be available at http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixE1 within a few days.
On April 29, at Beltane Coronation in the Kingdom of the West, Their Majesties Kenric and Dagmar admitted Hirsch von Henford, current Golem Herald (Precedence) and a long-time herald, to the Order of the Boar. The Order of the Boar is the West's once-per-reign recognition of individuals for their many, varied, and long-term contributions to the Kingdom of the West. Huzzah!
Please send information about happenings to major heralds and major happenings to all heralds to Laurel, so that it can be published here.
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.
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.
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 March Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, March 12, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, March 4, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Northshield (06 Dec, 2022), Calontir (08 Dec, 2022), An Tir (09 Dec, 2022), Gleann Abhann (17 Dec, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (17 Dec, 2022), Ealdormere (26 Dec, 2022), Lochac (26 Dec, 2022), Æthelmearc (27 Dec, 2022), Trimaris (27 Dec, 2022), Atenveldt (30 Dec, 2022), Avacal (30 Dec, 2022), Outlands (30 Dec, 2022), Caid (31 Dec, 2022), Drachenwald (31 Dec, 2022), East (31 Dec, 2022), Northshield (31 Dec, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (08 Feb, 2023) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, February 28, 2023.
The April Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, April 2, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, April 8, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Calontir (03 Jan, 2023), Atlantia (06 Jan, 2023), Meridies (09 Jan, 2023), Gleann Abhann (12 Jan, 2023), An Tir (13 Jan, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (13 Jan, 2023), Artemisia (16 Jan, 2023), Middle (16 Jan, 2023), Laurel Rules Letter (17 Jan, 2023), Ansteorra (21 Jan, 2023), Ansteorra (24 Jan, 2023), Atenveldt (24 Jan, 2023), Lochac (24 Jan, 2023), Ealdormere (25 Jan, 2023), Outlands (27 Jan, 2023), West (27 Jan, 2023), Caid (29 Jan, 2023), East (29 Jan, 2023), Æthelmearc (31 Jan, 2023), Avacal (31 Jan, 2023), Drachenwald (31 Jan, 2023). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, March 31, 2023.
The May Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, May 14, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, May 6, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Meridies (02 Feb, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (12 Feb, 2023), An Tir (15 Feb, 2023), Atlantia (15 Feb, 2023), Trimaris (18 Feb, 2023), Ansteorra (25 Feb, 2023), Atenveldt (25 Feb, 2023), East (25 Feb, 2023), Lochac (26 Feb, 2023), Caid (27 Feb, 2023), Outlands (27 Feb, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (27 Feb, 2023), Avacal (28 Feb, 2023), Drachenwald (28 Feb, 2023), Northshield (28 Feb, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (05 Apr, 2023) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, April 30, 2023.
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 2023-05-09T21:50:31