Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms
For the May 2025 meetings, printed June 29, 2025
To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Birgitta Laurel, Sara Pelican, and Iago Wreath, greetings.
In many kingdoms the Order of Precedence traditionally lists all names by which a person has been known through their career in the Society. In most cases this is good, as it makes it easier to find information. However, there are instances - for example where someone is undergoing gender transition or is the target of some types of violence - where one can feel it necessary to ask for their old names to be removed from the Order of Precedence altogether. In such cases, keeping this history publicly available can pose real risks to the person in question. We urge kingdoms to handle these name removal requests promptly and with sensitivity.
Historically, when a name and accompanying armory were submitted at the same time they were listed on the Letter of Intent under a joint item number. For some months, this has no longer been a requirement. The Letters of Acceptance and Return follow the choice made in kingdom, with the result that some items are coupled and some are not. Please be assured that this is normal and not a mistake.
The February 10th Palimpsest Rules Letter proposed a new appendix to the Administrative Handbook that would describe the structure of the College of Arms, collecting in one place information that has been published in bits and pieces in the Administrative Handbook, SENA, and LoAR Cover Letters over a period of several decades. The proposal is accepted, with some changes based on commentary; the text will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/admin.html#APPENDIXI within a few days.
Despite their popularity in SCA armory, unbalanced arrangements of two types of charge in cross, such as in cross an X and three Ys, or in cross three Xs in pale between in fess two Ys, do not appear to be found in period armory. With these arrangements it is also difficult to distinguish whether the charges are all primary, or a mix of primary and secondary charges. Because of this, going forward we are adopting the following guidelines:
Charge groups of four charges in cross or in saltire should normally consist of identical charges or two pairs of different charge types in a balanced arrangement (such as two charges in pale and two charges in fess. Any other grouping of four charges in cross or saltire will need to be shown to be compatible with period style with examples.
Charge groups of five charges in cross or in saltire should normally consist of identical charges or a single charge of one type between four charges of another. Any other grouping of five charges in cross or saltire will need to be shown to be compatible with period style with examples.
These guidelines will apply to all armory appearing on Letters of Intent dated after October 1, 2025.
We ask Palimpsest to draft a Rules Letter proposing the addition of these guidelines to SENA as "A3D2f: Armorial Balance".
The update to the note in Table 7 of the Glossary of Terms proposed on Palimpsest's February 10th Rules Letter is accepted. This clarifies when charges can rely on the note to claim that they are in their default arrangement. As a reminder, charges that are in their default arrangement, whether explicitly defined in Table 7 or relying on the note, are considered to have a unified arrangement under SENA A3D2e, Unity of Arrangement. The revised table will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/coagloss.html#arrangement within a few days.
Palimpsest's February 10th Rules Letter proposed two additions to SENA A2B2, Constructed Elements. The first, which adds buildings as period items that can be used to create a charge, is accepted. The second, which proposed adding letters and symbols as a source of heraldic charges, is returned for further work. We will consider revisiting this issue after the close of the April 26th LoPaD which discusses how we treat letters, words, and symbols. That letter closes June 30th; all are encouraged to comment on the various questions proposed on the LoPaD. The new section, A2B2d, will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A2B2d within a few days.
Palimpsest's proposal on the February 6th Rules Letter to revise SENA A6G is accepted with minor grammatical corrections. Based on that revision, the use of a deity or supernatural name as part of a single name element used by humans in period will not be considered to be claim of power even when combined with allusions to that deity or supernatural being in associated armory. The updated wording will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A6G within a few days.
As proposed on Palimpsest's February 10th Rules Letter, SENA Appendix D is updated to allow edh (ð) to be transliterated using either th, which is the usual transliteration, or dh. Additionally, the appendix is updated to note that o-umlaut (ö) is not an acceptable transliteration for o-ogonek ({o,}) despite having been used in some 19th and early 20th century sources due to typographical limitations. The updates will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixD1b within a few days.
As proposed on Palimpsest's February 10th Rules Letter, SENA Appendix I3, Tertiary Charge Group, is updated to clarify that maintained charges that are part of a tertiary charge group do contribute to the complexity count of the armory. The updated wording will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixI3 within a few days.
On May 3 2025, at the Æthelmearc Coronation and Crown Tourney in the Barony of Thescorre, Meisterin Helena Mutzhasen, Silver Buccle Principal Herald, named jorundr hinn rotinn a Herald Extraordinary.
On May 24, 2025, at Egils Skallagrimsson Memorial Tournament in the Barony of Adiantum, Their Majesties of An Tir Nicolai and Ana created Myvanwy verch Robert, Bleu Grael Herald, a Baroness of the Court.
Likewise on May 24, 2025, at Potrero War, Khan Valentine and King Brocc of Caid elevated Barwnes Ariana verch Gwenllian, Tyger Herald Extraordinary, to the Order of the Pelican.
On May 31, 2025, at Grand Tournament of the Dragon in the Canton of Hawkes Keye, Their Majesties of the Middle Wigthegn and Neassa inducted Choi Min into the Order of the Evergreen for his heraldic research. The Evergreen is the Midrealm's grant level award for arts & sciences.
On June 7, 2025, at Beast of the East in the Canton of Midland Vale, Their Majesties of the East Ryouko'jin and Indrakshi created Ryan Mac White, Skunk Herald, one of the premiers of the Order of the Mark.
On June 8, 2025, at Lilies War, Dyrfinna Tonnudóttir, Gold Falcon Principal Herald, named Johann Steinarsson a Herald Extraordinary.
On June 14, 2025, at the University of Atlantia Summer session in the Barony of Marinus, Her Majesty Queen Anya of Atlantia recognized the outstanding service of the Staff of the University of Atlantia with an Award of the Golden Elephant. The Golden Elephant, per Atlantia Kingdom Law, gives to each individual in the group so recognized an Augmentation of Arms: Per pale argent and azure, a fess wavy cotised counterchanged, overall an elephant passant Or. Beatrice Domenici della Campana, Ruosa Zalla Araldo Strodinario, as the Online Support Coordinator for the University, was included in this recognition.
On June 21, 2025, at West Kingdom Crown Tournament, Domamir Vlatko syn, Vesper Principal Herald, named Kean de Lacey a Herald Extraordinary
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 uploaded to the OSCAR packet for that letter. For armory, only colored forms are required.
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.
To subscribe to the mailings of the LoAR, please see the bottom of https://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 https://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=137.
The May Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Saturday, May 17, 2025 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, May 10, 2025. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Ealdormere (31 Jan, 2025) (pushed due to late publication), Calontir (02 Feb, 2025), Laurel LoPaD (04 Feb, 2025), Palimpsest Rules Letter (10 Feb, 2025), An Tir (11 Feb, 2025), Meridies (11 Feb, 2025), Avacal (22 Feb, 2025), Gleann Abhann (22 Feb, 2025), Northshield (22 Feb, 2025), Artemisia (24 Feb, 2025), Ealdormere (24 Feb, 2025), Outlands (25 Feb, 2025), East (26 Feb, 2025), Trimaris (27 Feb, 2025), Ansteorra (28 Feb, 2025), Atenveldt (28 Feb, 2025), Drachenwald (28 Feb, 2025), Lochac (28 Feb, 2025), Middle (28 Feb, 2025), Laurel LoPfR (07 Apr, 2025). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, April 30, 2025.
The June Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, June 22, 2025 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, June 21, 2025. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Calontir (03 Mar, 2025), Atlantia (04 Mar, 2025), Caid (10 Mar, 2025), Meridies (10 Mar, 2025), An Tir (17 Mar, 2025), An Tir (23 Mar, 2025), West (25 Mar, 2025), Artemisia (26 Mar, 2025), Ealdormere (26 Mar, 2025), Lochac (27 Mar, 2025), Palimpsest Rules Letter (27 Mar, 2025), Palimpsest Rules Letter (29 Mar, 2025), Atenveldt (30 Mar, 2025), Caid (30 Mar, 2025), East (30 Mar, 2025), Northshield (30 Mar, 2025), Ansteorra (31 Mar, 2025), Atlantia (31 Mar, 2025), Drachenwald (31 Mar, 2025), Middle (31 Mar, 2025), Northshield (31 Mar, 2025), Laurel LoPfR (29 Apr, 2025). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, May 31, 2025.
The July Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, July 13, 2025 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, July 12, 2025. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Calontir (02 Apr, 2025), Gleann Abhann (06 Apr, 2025), Laurel LoPaD (08 Apr, 2025), Meridies (10 Apr, 2025), Artemisia (13 Apr, 2025), Ealdormere (26 Apr, 2025), Laurel LoPaD (26 Apr, 2025), Outlands (26 Apr, 2025), Caid (29 Apr, 2025), Drachenwald (29 Apr, 2025), East (29 Apr, 2025), Atenveldt (30 Apr, 2025), Drachenwald (30 Apr, 2025), Laurel LoPaD (30 Apr, 2025), Lochac (30 Apr, 2025), Middle (30 Apr, 2025), Northshield (30 Apr, 2025), Palimpsest Rules Letter (30 Apr, 2025), Trimaris (30 Apr, 2025), Laurel LoPfR (05 Jun, 2025). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Monday, June 30, 2025.
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.
Be assured that I remain
In service
Birgitta Lulli
Laurel Queen of Arms
Created at 2025-06-29T20:35:11