Society for Creative Anachronism College of Arms 2212 S. 64th Plaza, #418 Omaha, NE, 68106 +1 952 412 4112 laurel@heraldry.sca.org For the October 2011 meetings, printed Tuesday, November 29, 2011 To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Gabriel Laurel, Juliana Pelican, and Emma Wreath, greetings. 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 October Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 9, 2011 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 15, 2011. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (10 Jul, 2011), East (13 Jul, 2011), Laurel LoPaD (13 Jul, 2011), West (13 Jul, 2011), Atenveldt (15 Jul, 2011), Middle (17 Jul, 2011), {AE}thelmearc (18 Jul, 2011), Calontir (26 Jul, 2011), Drachenwald (27 Jul, 2011), Meridies (29 Jul, 2011), Ansteorra (30 Jul, 2011), Artemisia (31 Jul, 2011), Atlantia (31 Jul, 2011), Caid (31 Jul, 2011), and Lochac (31 Jul, 2011). *All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, September 30, 2011.* The November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican Roadshow held on Saturday, November 5, 2011, at the Wreath Roadshow held on Saturday, November 12, 2011, at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, November 13, 2011 and at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, November 19, 2011. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: An Tir (05 Aug, 2011), {AE}thelmearc (19 Aug, 2011), Calontir (19 Aug, 2011), Atenveldt (20 Aug, 2011), Calontir (25 Aug, 2011), Middle (27 Aug, 2011), Trimaris (27 Aug, 2011), Caid (28 Aug, 2011), Middle (28 Aug, 2011), An Tir (30 Aug, 2011), Gleann Abhann (30 Aug, 2011), Lochac (30 Aug, 2011), Meridies (30 Aug, 2011), Ansteorra (31 Aug, 2011), Artemisia (31 Aug, 2011), Atlantia (31 Aug, 2011), East (31 Aug, 2011), Laurel LoPaD (31 Aug, 2011), and Outlands (31 Aug, 2011). *All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, October 31, 2011.* The December Laurel decisions will be made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, December 17, 2011 and at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, December 18, 2011. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: West (02 Sep, 2011), Laurel LoPaD (15 Sep, 2011), Caid (18 Sep, 2011), Atenveldt (25 Sep, 2011), Ealdormere (25 Sep, 2011), Calontir (26 Sep, 2011), Ealdormere (26 Sep, 2011), Middle (26 Sep, 2011), An Tir (27 Sep, 2011), Drachenwald (27 Sep, 2011), Ealdormere (27 Sep, 2011), Ansteorra (29 Sep, 2011), Lochac (29 Sep, 2011), Meridies (29 Sep, 2011), Outlands (29 Sep, 2011), Artemisia (30 Sep, 2011), Atlantia (30 Sep, 2011), Caid (30 Sep, 2011), and West (30 Sep, 2011). *All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, November 30, 2011.* The January Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican and Wreath meetings held in January 2012. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Northshield (06 Aug, 2011) (pushed due to lack of packet and scans), Laurel LoPaD (08 Oct, 2011), [Trimaris (09 Oct, 2011)], East (12 Oct, 2011), Atenveldt (20 Oct, 2011), [Drachenwald (22 Oct, 2011)], Middle (23 Oct, 2011), Ansteorra (25 Oct, 2011), Lochac (25 Oct, 2011), [Meridies (26 Oct, 2011)], An Tir (29 Oct, 2011), Caid (30 Oct, 2011), Gleann Abhann (31 Oct, 2011), Northshield (31 Oct, 2011), [Outlands (31 Oct, 2011)], and West (31 Oct, 2011). *All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Saturday, December 31, 2011.* _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. **** From Laurel: Request for Applications **** Shauna wishes to give up the Ragged Staff office. This is the intake clerk for Wreath, Pelican and Laurel. The job description is below. If you are interested, please send a letter of interest to laurel@heraldry.sca.org, wreath@heraldry.sca.org and pelican@heraldry.sca.org. This position will be open until at least Wednesday, February 1, 2012. Ragged Staff job description: Skill requirements: the ability to manage and meet rolling deadlines; close attention to detail; basic computer skills including word processing, email, file uploads and downloads; basic knowledge of heraldry and the heraldic submissions process; basic knowledge about alphabetization including special characters from foreign languages; the physical ability to manage packets of paper. Other requirements: a secure mailing point for incoming and outgoing packets (either at home or a Post Office box) which is accessible on a frequent basis (at least a couple times a week); a stable high-speed Internet connection and reliable email; space to store 6-8 standard, 5-drawer filing cabinets (either at home or in a storage unit) which is accessible year-round on at least weekly basis; space to keep some office supplies, the in-submission paperwork which needs immediate access, and a scanner. As noted above, if a Post Office box or a storage unit for the filing cabinets are necessary, the Laurel office will reimburse for those costs. Other ways you could be awesome: availability two weekend days a month to attend Pelican and Wreath's meetings online; a deep and abiding love of process flow; more computer skills; a talent with automation. It should be expected that this job involves ongoing, frequent correspondence (both paper and email) and processing of paperwork. This job involves: * Monitoring OSCAR for new Letters of Intent * Receiving paper packets of submissions from submissions heralds * Receiving scanned packets of submissions from submissions heralds * Monitoring payment plans for submissions (no actual money contact) * Updating tracking charts for Letters of Intent regarding packet and payment receipt * Contacting submissions heralds about missing/late packets and payments * Reporting to the Submissions and Principal Heralds lists on the status of packets and payments * Processing submissions forms (such as stamping with dates and results, making file folders) * Matching incoming submissions with existing folders in the files if necessary * Noticing when things don't match up in the process, paperwork, etc. * Sending a monthly packet to Wreath with Wreath's copy of the armory paperwork **** From Pelican: Request for Comments on Patterns in Order Names and Heraldic Titles **** In the Cover Letter of August 2005 (following a call for comments on the Cover Letter of February 2005), Pelican made a substantial ruling regarding the patterns for registration for order names and heraldic titles. Since that time, our knowledge of order names and heraldic titles has advanced considerably, in large part due to the research that I did before I stepped up as Pelican. For those who are not familiar with them, my "Heraldic Titles from the Middle Ages and Renaissance" can be found at http://medievalscotland.org/jes/HeraldicTitlesSCA/index.shtml. It discusses over 600 period heraldic titles; while I think more titles will be found over time (especially in Germany), it considerably expanded the number of heraldic titles known to the Laurel office. My "Medieval Secular Order Names" (found at http://medievalscotland.org/jes/OrderNames/ or at http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/order/new/) also considerably altered our knowledge of medieval order names, by identifying large numbers of previously unknown German fraternal orders and determining which orders were actually founded far later, with invented medieval roots. I should note that I have work in progress on an article regarding the religious orders, as well as some notes regarding apocryphal and problematic orders. I would gladly share the data from the work in progress with others, but they are far from ready for publication. Over the next few months, I'm going to be asking a group of questions about what we should allow and what we should not allow in the registration of order names and heraldic titles. This month, I want to ask a question about the relationship between order names and heraldic titles. Current precedent says that we allow the creation of heraldic titles from order names. However a recent submission (_Saint John Chrysostom Herald_, on the August Caid Letter of Intent) has raised the question of what sorts of order names were used to create heraldic titles. While that item will be decided before the close of commentary for this issue, the broader question remains: should we allow heraldic titles to be created from any order names or only from certain order names? If so, what sorts of order names should be models for creating heraldic titles? **** From Pelican: Some Name Resources (A Series) **** This month, we're going to turn our attention to the continent and French names. By about 1000 AD, there were two distinct kinds of languages spoken in what we call France today: the _langue d'o{i:}l_ (from which modern French descends) and the _langue d'oc_ (from which modern Provencal/Occitan descends). These two types of languages have significantly different naming pools and grammar, and must be treated differently. Additionally, a Germanic language, Frankish, had fallen out of use, but had left its imprint on French names (like _Girard_ and _Arnoult_). We'll talk about names in the _langue d'oc_ next month. The _langue d'o{i:}l_ refers to a group of dialects that would become modern French. Regional differences remain today; they were more significant in the Middle Ages. Therefore, if you're aiming for a particular location, you want to stick to data from that location. However, Laurel treats these dialects as a single language. Brittany is perhaps the most variant of them, as another language related to Cornish and Welsh, is spoken there in addition to French. The data from Paris are quite rich: census records began to be kept in 1292. I tend to start with Colm Dubh's "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris" (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/paris.html) and then move to Aryanhwy merch Catmael's "French Names from Paris, 1421, 1423, & 1438" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/paris1423.html). A variety of articles describe names in the provinces. They can be found at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/french.shtml. New names appear in the sixteenth century; a great source for them is Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada's "Names Found in Ambleny Registers 1578-1616" (http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/Ambleny/). There are good books dealing with French names and problematic books. Among the best is Marie Therese Morlet's _{E'}tude d'anthroponymie picarde : les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe si{'e}cles_ (often called Morlet Picardie for short; it deals with the 13th to 15th century). Morlet has written other works as well. _Les noms de personne sur le territoire de l'ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe si{'e}cle_ is a three volume work dealing with names from the 12th century and before. Unfortunately, _Dictionnaire {e'}tymologique des noms de famille_ (etymological dictionary of family names) has very few dates. It is a great treatment of modern family names, but rarely allows us to determine anything about the use of these names before 1600. Therefore, it's not a good place to look for documentation; use one of her books that gives explicit dates for names. There are also two good books on French place names: Albert Dauzat and Charles Rostaing's _Dictionnaire {e'}tymologique des noms de lieux en France_ and Ernest N{'e}gre's _Toponymie g{e'}n{e'}rale de la France : {e'}tymologie de 35000 noms de lieux_. I often find myself searching N{'e}gre in Google Books. Other books, like Dauzat and Rostaing or Morlet Picardie, are visible in snippet view, which can often be sufficient for documentation purposes. **** From Wreath: Ladybugs Proper **** This month we have defined a _ladybug proper_ to be _gules spotted sable_; the head and legs are generally sable as well. At one point in the past, we did blazon _ladybugs proper_, but that practice was changed more recently. While ladybugs do vary in tincture in nature, most people have the same mental image of a typical ladybug, and as we have seen several submissions with ladybugs recently, we felt it time to once again define the proper tincture. **** From Laurel: Society Pages **** * On Saturday, September 10, Cormac M{o'}r, Crescent Principal Herald of Caid, was created a Court Baron. * On Saturday, October 22, Brandubh O'Donnghaile, Silver Buccle Principal Herald of {AE}thelmearc was inducted into the Order of the Pelican by Isenwulf and Rosalinda, King and Queen of {AE}thelmearc. His wife, Hilderun H{u:}gelmann, was given a writ to appear later and be inducted into the order. Many heralds who attend Pennsic would recognize her as one of our frequent exchequers who serves at Herald's Point. * On Saturday, October 22, Aryanhwy merch Catmael was declared by Lief and Morrigan, King and Queen of Drachenwald, to be a Herald-at-large and granted a personal heraldic title. We await the submission of her personal title with fear and trepidation. * On Saturday, October 29, Omar Mohammud Mirzazadeh, White Stag Principal Herald, was inducted into the Outlands Grant-level Order for Arts and Sciences, known as the "Flower of the Outlands", for his skill at weaving. Three cheers for the newest delicate flower! * On Friday, November 11, 2011 at 1:11pm, Aryanhwy merch Catmael and her husband, Joel maritus Sarae, welcomed their daughter, Gwendolyn Rose, into the world. Congratulations to mom, dad, and possibly the Society's newest proto-herald! As a small note: anyone with announcements of social things happening to heralds (births, awards, weddings, etc) who would like them announced in this space, please forward the information to Laurel. **** From the OSCAR guy: The Packet Interface and You **** Starting in August 2011, packets have been required to be scanned at 300 DPI and the scans transmitted to Ragged Staff Herald in some fashion. How this was to happen was not specified, and kingdoms adopted a variety of transmission methods, some of them not as secure as we would wish. This situation has now been resolved: OSCAR now has facilities for securely handling packet scans, and use of this interface will be required some time early next year, so make your complaints now! Now how much would you pay? But wait, there's more! Scans of original documentation will be in OSCAR. This means that we can show the commenters the scanned documentation. If this doesn't mean anything to you, talk to long-time commenters you know. (You can even cut a tin can with it!!) How soon is this happening? The functionality is live in OSCAR right now. For a glimpse of the Brave New World, commenters can look at Caid's November 13, 2011 LoI. You may see [DOCS] links after the (Comment) link for any submission, which is the link to the documentation. One set can be seen at: https://oscar.sca.org/packet_showsub.php?sub_id=18731 . Ragged Staff has been uploading packets for other LoIs still in submission that packets have been received for, but Laurel would like the kingdoms to take over as soon as possible. Submissions and principal heralds, to upload the packets, you should see a "Packets" option on your menu, on the far right of the horizontal one or the bottom of the vertical one. If you think that you should see this and don't, please let Istvan know. You have to finalize a LoI before you can upload the packet for it. Please note, this is not at all expected to impact the timing of submissions processing or the requirement for paper packets. This is merely a transmission mechanism for already-required electronic copies of the physical packets. Questions should be addressed to Istvan. **** 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. Submission packets (one copy of each name form plus documentation, including petitions; two colored copies of each armory form plus two copies of any associated documentation, including petitions) to the SCA College of Arms, PO Box 31755, Billings, MT 59107-1755. Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent to David Duggar, Attn: Laurel Chancellor of Exchequer, 1705 Holiday Pl, Bossier City, LA 71112-3706. Roster changes and corrections to contact information must be performed by the rostered individual on OSCAR. Changes and corrections to heraldic roles and titles must be performed by the kingdom's principal herald on OSCAR. The current roster is always available on OSCAR for all College of Arms members with an account. 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. Pray know that I remain, In service, Gabriel Kjotvason Laurel Principal King of Arms =============================================================================== Created at 2011-11-29T22:21:50