Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the June 2023 meetings, printed August 13, 2023
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Emma Laurel, Elisabetta Pelican, and Iago Wreath, greetings.
First of all, let me thank Maestra Suzanne for her years of service, continuing to develop the Sign Herald office, connecting kingdoms with resources, and in general promoting the use of sign language as an alternative communication method for our Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. I'm so happy this side of our game continues to grow!
The incoming Society Sign Herald is Christa Gordon, known in the Society as Maestra Magdalena Lucia Ramberti, OL. Magda has been playing in the Society most of her life and has lived in several kingdoms. She was the Kingdom of the Outlands' Premier Sign Herald and recently stepped down as the Kingdom of Artemisia's Sign Herald.
Sign Heraldry is an area of heraldry and service that is near and dear to her heart. Being Deaf, she brings the other side of the table to the Society Sign Herald Deputy office, since she understands the needs of those who use the service and also understands the limitations of that service which underlie the volunteer nature of the SCA.
She looks forward to continuing the great works of those who held the office before her and can't wait to work with all the amazing people who generously use their hands in service to the Society.
As I step down from my Society position, I find I have many "thank yous" to hand out.
To Magistra Emma de Fetherstan, Laurel Queen of Arms, thank you so much for your support during my years as Society Sign Herald Deputy. Your willingness to learn new things, especially about the Deaf Community the Society Sign Herald supports, has been inspiring!
To Reis ap Tuder, Codex Herald, thank you for being so prompt when asked to add classes and presentations to the Sign Herald website ( https://heraldry.sca.org/signheraldry.html )
To the BOD, in all their efforts to add Certified Interpreters to the BOD meettings, and and especially to Baron Charles de Bourbon, OL and Maestra Magdalena Lucia Ramberti, for their help in getting the SCA Culture and SCA-specific signs to the Certified Interpreters. (Now if we could only get the Certified Interpreters to use the information provided to them.)
To the Kingdom Sign Heralds, for their efforts in promoting Sign Heraldry in their Kingdoms.
To the local and regional Sign Heralds, for their hard work signing for Courts, teaching classes, and assisting their local hospitallers / chatelaines when they meet/interact with the Deaf.
Kingdom Sign Heralds, please remember to keep your new Society Sign Herald in the loop. Send her emails regarding what is going on in your Kingdom - your successes and challenges. (I know this information is supposed to be sent on to Laurel Queen of Arms via the Kingdom Principal Herald reports, but sometimes things get lost in the translation.)
Local and/or Regional Sign Heralds - be sure to send monthly reports of your successes and challenges to your Kingdom Sign Herald.
And last (but not least), a huge thank you to my Thursday night Sign Herald zoom class folks - thank you so much for your support, for being my advisory board, and for cheering me on!
In servizio do i miei addii,
Maestra Suzanne de la Ferté
We have long held that the default orientation for an arrow is palewise, with its point (barb) to base. When an arrow is on a chief or on a fess it defaults to fesswise with its point to sinister. However, when arrows are in a sheaf or in saltire they are treated like compact charges, and thus when on a chief or on a fess the arrows default to palewise (points to base) rather than fesswise (points to sinister).
Note that a bow with an arrow nocked takes its orientation from the bow; the orientation of the arrow is not blazoned --- it is positioned as if ready to be released from the bow.
A review of all registered armory with arrows found that these defaults have largely been followed since the earliest days of the Society. The few instances not matching these defaults have been reblazoned this month. Palimpsest is updating Table 4 and 5 of the Glossary of Terms to reflect these defaults.
There were a number of submissions this month where the emblazon appearing on the submissions form did not match the emblazon that appeared for commentary in OSCAR. Typically this occurs when a new emblazon is provided during internal commentary. Submission heralds are reminded that these two emblazons should be the same; please update the forms so they align with what is in OSCAR. We have been correcting these through the Pend for Redraw process but this is not the intended function of this process, nor is it a good use of Quarterstaff's time; so as of the October decision meeting submissions for which the form does not have the same emblazon as the LoI may be administratively returned.
Based on period examples of walnuts in armory, such as the 1592 canting arms of Nusser in the Austrian State Archives (https://www.archivinformationssystem.at/detail.aspx?ID=2539430), we are declaring that the default orientation of a walnut has the seam running palewise.
We have reblazoned all affected armory on this letter, and direct Palimpsest to update Table 5 of the Glossary of Terms accordingly.
On May 6, 2023, at Champions in the Pine in the Kingdom of Atenveldt, Their Majesties Craven and Elzbieta elevated Wade Greenwall, former baronial herald for the Barony of Atenveldt, to the Order of the Laurel. He was recognized for, among other things, excellence in various types of voice heraldry.
On June 17, 2023, at Summits June Investiture in the Kingdom of An Tir, Their Highnesses Weylyn and Lindis of the Summits bestowed upon Elisabetta Tommaso di Carduci, Pelican Queen of Arms, the Argent Quill of the Summits in recognition of her scribal art and the Martial Grail of the Summits for her work with tournament field heraldry and lists. Both of these awards are non-armigerous.
On July 8, 2023, at Cynagua Investiture in the Kingdom of the West, Queen Ciar named Ræv Kolfinnsson a Court Baron for his work digitizing and updating armory images used on the Kingdom's "Who's Who" pages.
Also on July 8, 2023, at Caid Coronation, Wilhelm and Lorissa, King and Queen of Caid, elevated Gwen Hir, Recorder Pursuivant, into the Order of the Laurel.
On July 15, 2023, at Oerthan Coronet and Invesiture, Lucius Cassius Marus won the Coronet for the Estoile Herald of Winter's Gate Anne FitzRichard.
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 June Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, June 11, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, June 17, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (05 Mar, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (07 Mar, 2023), Meridies (09 Mar, 2023), An Tir (12 Mar, 2023), Ealdormere (13 Mar, 2023), Caid (20 Mar, 2023), West (20 Mar, 2023), Calontir (21 Mar, 2023), East (22 Mar, 2023), Atlantia (24 Mar, 2023), Middle (26 Mar, 2023), Lochac (28 Mar, 2023), Avacal (29 Mar, 2023), Atenveldt (30 Mar, 2023), Drachenwald (31 Mar, 2023), Gleann Abhann (31 Mar, 2023), Northshield (31 Mar, 2023). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, May 31, 2023.
The July Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, July 23, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, July 8, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Ansteorra (04 Apr, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (04 Apr, 2023), Meridies (05 Apr, 2023), Æthelmearc (06 Apr, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (06 Apr, 2023), Laurel Rules Letter (09 Apr, 2023), Æthelmearc (20 Apr, 2023), An Tir (20 Apr, 2023), Atlantia (21 Apr, 2023), Calontir (23 Apr, 2023), Trimaris (23 Apr, 2023), Artemisia (25 Apr, 2023), Middle (25 Apr, 2023), Outlands (25 Apr, 2023), Avacal (28 Apr, 2023), Lochac (28 Apr, 2023), Atenveldt (30 Apr, 2023), Caid (30 Apr, 2023), Drachenwald (30 Apr, 2023), Ealdormere (30 Apr, 2023), East (30 Apr, 2023), Northshield (30 Apr, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (13 Jun, 2023) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, June 30, 2023.
The August Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, August 20, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, August 12, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Calontir (24 Apr, 2023) (pushed due to lack of packet), Ansteorra (03 May, 2023), Gleann Abhann (09 May, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (09 May, 2023), Meridies (10 May, 2023), Artemisia (15 May, 2023), An Tir (17 May, 2023), Æthelmearc (23 May, 2023), Lochac (28 May, 2023), Outlands (28 May, 2023), Avacal (30 May, 2023), Middle (30 May, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (30 May, 2023), West (30 May, 2023), Caid (31 May, 2023), Drachenwald (31 May, 2023), Ealdormere (31 May, 2023), East (31 May, 2023). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, July 31, 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 2023-08-13T17:31:12