Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the September 2023 meetings, printed November 19, 2023
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Emma Laurel, Elisabetta Pelican, and Iago Wreath, greetings.
On the April Cover Letter we put out a call for research on how overall charges were used in period armory. The amount of research done and data provided on this topic was overwhelming, and we greatly appreciate all the hard work from commenters. There is a lot to sort through here, and it may take a month or two to draw any conclusions. If the data points to a need to change our rules to be more in line with period practice, we will create a Rules Letter for discussion of those changes at that time.
As proposed on Palimpsest's June 3rd Rules Letter, SENA A3A2 is revised to clarify when the presence of other charges removes the appearance of presumption when used with forms of armorial display in fieldless designs. The revised wording will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A3A2 within a few days.
Based on period examples, SENA A3A3c is modified to allow augmentations through quartering to appear in either the first and fourth quarters or the second and third quarters. The updated text will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A3A3c within a few days.
As proposed on Palimpsest's June 3rd Rules Letter, examples are added to SENA A5G1c to illustrate when a DC is, and is not, allowed for multiply divided fields. The updated wording will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A5G1c within a few days.
The blazon term atop is similar to conjoined but is mainly used for animate charges and implies a more natural relationship between the charges than conjoined would. For example, a lion atop a mount would have its feet partially overlapping the mount, to make it appear as if the lion were actually standing on the mount. How the term is used depends on the arrangement and relative weights of the two charges. If charge X is higher on the shield than charge Y, the following blazon patterns would be used:
in pale an X atop a Y describes two co-primary charges
an X atop a Y describes a primary X and a secondary Y
atop a Y an X describes a primary Y and a secondary X
The addition to Appendix A proposed on Palimpsest's June 4th Rules Letter is rejected. We wish to thank all of those who took the time to comment on this proposal. A review of the data showed that it was too complex to incorporate into a simple table such as that proposed. A team is working to compile an article with this data and when such swaps are applicable is various languages. When completed, this article will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/names.html.
On Nov. 11th at Harts and Horns/Kingdom Rapier Championships in the Kingdom of the East, Their Majesties Matthias and Ęsa inducted Kolosvari Arpadne Julia into the Order of the Maunche, the East's grant-level A&S award, for her expertise in Hungarian names and scroll texts.
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 September Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, September 10, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, September 2, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (30 May, 2023) (pushed due to lack of packet), Meridies (02 Jun, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (03 Jun, 2023), Atlantia (04 Jun, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (04 Jun, 2023), Ansteorra (05 Jun, 2023), Calontir (07 Jun, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (14 Jun, 2023), Artemisia (15 Jun, 2023), An Tir (18 Jun, 2023), Calontir (19 Jun, 2023), Middle (19 Jun, 2023), Ealdormere (25 Jun, 2023), Ansteorra (28 Jun, 2023), Drachenwald (29 Jun, 2023), East (29 Jun, 2023), Outlands (29 Jun, 2023), Atenveldt (30 Jun, 2023), Atlantia (30 Jun, 2023), Lochac (30 Jun, 2023), Northshield (30 Jun, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (13 Aug, 2023) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Thursday, August 31, 2023.
The October Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 15, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 14, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (06 Jul, 2023), Meridies (06 Jul, 2023), Trimaris (09 Jul, 2023), Ęthelmearc (11 Jul, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (11 Jul, 2023), Calontir (12 Jul, 2023), Artemisia (15 Jul, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (16 Jul, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (23 Jul, 2023), East (24 Jul, 2023), Middle (24 Jul, 2023), Ealdormere (25 Jul, 2023), Ęthelmearc (27 Jul, 2023), Meridies (27 Jul, 2023), Lochac (28 Jul, 2023), Ansteorra (30 Jul, 2023), Avacal (30 Jul, 2023), An Tir (31 Jul, 2023), Atenveldt (31 Jul, 2023), Drachenwald (31 Jul, 2023), East Other Letter (31 Jul, 2023), West (31 Jul, 2023). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, September 30, 2023.
The November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, November 12, 2023 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, November 11, 2023. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: An Tir (01 Aug, 2023), Ansteorra (03 Aug, 2023), Gleann Abhann (05 Aug, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (14 Aug, 2023), Caid (16 Aug, 2023), Calontir (16 Aug, 2023), Ansteorra (24 Aug, 2023), Ealdormere (24 Aug, 2023), Lochac (28 Aug, 2023), Ęthelmearc (29 Aug, 2023), Atlantia (29 Aug, 2023), East (29 Aug, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (30 Aug, 2023), Atenveldt (31 Aug, 2023), Avacal (31 Aug, 2023), Drachenwald (31 Aug, 2023), Middle (31 Aug, 2023), Northshield (31 Aug, 2023), Palimpsest Rules Letter (31 Aug, 2023), Laurel LoPaD (17 Sep, 2023) (redraws), Laurel LoPaD (10 Oct, 2023) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, October 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 2023-11-19T22:12:07