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 August 2012 meetings, printed Tuesday, October 2, 2012
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 August Laurel decisions were made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, August 18, 2012 and the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, August 19, 2012. The Pelican Pennsic roadshow was canceled. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Æthelmearc (04 May, 2012), Trimaris (04 May, 2012), Laurel LoPaD (06 May, 2012), East (12 May, 2012), Northshield (18 May, 2012), Atenveldt (20 May, 2012), Caid (25 May, 2012), Artemisia (28 May, 2012), An Tir (29 May, 2012), Lochac (29 May, 2012), Ealdormere (30 May, 2012), Middle (30 May, 2012), Outlands (30 May, 2012), Ansteorra (31 May, 2012), Atlantia (31 May, 2012), Drachenwald (31 May, 2012), Gleann Abhann (31 May, 2012), Meridies (31 May, 2012), and West (31 May, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, July 31, 2012.
The September Laurel decisions were made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, Septmeber 8, 2012 and the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, Septmeber 9, 2012. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Laurel LoPaD (07 Jun, 2012), Middle (07 Jun, 2012), Atenveldt (25 Jun, 2012), East (25 Jun, 2012), Æthelmearc (27 Jun, 2012), Lochac (27 Jun, 2012), Atlantia (28 Jun, 2012), Caid (29 Jun, 2012), Æthelmearc (30 Jun, 2012), An Tir (30 Jun, 2012), Ansteorra (30 Jun, 2012), Drachenwald (30 Jun, 2012), Gleann Abhann (30 Jun, 2012), Meridies (30 Jun, 2012), and Outlands (30 Jun, 2012).All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, August 31, 2012.
The October Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 14, 2012 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 20, 2012. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Northshield (08 Jul, 2012), Calontir (10 Jul, 2012), East (20 Jul, 2012), Atlantia (21 Jul, 2012), West (23 Jul, 2012), Outlands (24 Jul, 2012), Atenveldt (25 Jul, 2012), Meridies (25 Jul, 2012), Lochac (27 Jul, 2012), Middle (28 Jul, 2012), Caid (29 Jul, 2012), Æthelmearc (31 Jul, 2012), An Tir (31 Jul, 2012), Ansteorra (31 Jul, 2012), Artemisia (31 Jul, 2012), Gleann Abhann (31 Jul, 2012), and Laurel (31 Jul, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Sunday, September 30, 2012.
The November Laurel decisions will be made at the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, November 3, 2012, at the Pelican road show in An Tir held on Sunday, November 4, 2012, and the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, November 11, 2012. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: [Trimaris (25 Jul, 2012)] (pushed due to lack of payment), Laurel LoPaD (05 Aug, 2012), Northshield (07 Aug, 2012), Outlands (17 Aug, 2012), Calontir (24 Aug, 2012), East (26 Aug, 2012), Gleann Abhann (27 Aug, 2012), Caid (28 Aug, 2012), Atlantia (29 Aug, 2012), [Drachenwald (29 Aug, 2012)], Ansteorra (30 Aug, 2012), Atenveldt (30 Aug, 2012), Lochac (30 Aug, 2012), Middle (30 Aug, 2012), [An Tir (31 Aug, 2012)], Meridies (31 Aug, 2012), and West (31 Aug, 2012). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should be entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, October 31, 2012.
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 Pelican and Wreath: Submissions Analysis for August
During this transition period, we are sharing our counts of the results of considering submissions this month under both the Rules for Submissions and the Standards for Evaluation. These counts include registered or returned items only; no administrative actions such as transfers or acceptances, associations of existing armory, heraldic wills, or other such letters will be included in these counts.
"Armory style" and "armory conflict" indicate if a submitted item could only be passed under one rule set or the other due to conflict or style issues. For example, a submission that could not be registered under the old rules due to conflict but could be registered without conflict under the new standards will be counted as "passed under the new standards, but not old" as armory conflict.
	-	Passed under both sets of rules: 199 total, 106 names, 93 armory
	-	Returned under both sets of rules: 31 total, 4 names, 27 armory
	-	Passed under old rules, but not new: 6 total, 2 names, 4 armory style, 0 armory conflict
	-	Passed under new rules, but not old: 13 total, 5 names, 0 armory style, 8 armory conflict
If math is not your thing, it may be interesting to note that if all submissions were considered only under the Rules for Submissions, there would be an 82% success rate. Considered only under the Standards for Evaluation, there would be an 85% success rate.
From Pelican: Avoiding the Appearance of Presumption on Important Non-SCA Individuals
This month, we were asked to consider whether James Cook Sinistre created an inappropriate presumption on the 18th century explorer James Cook (often known simply as Captain Cook).
In June 2004, Laurel ruled that the name Haroun al-Rashid the Toe Mangler presumes on the non-SCA protected person Haroun al-Rashid, despite the addition of a byname. Haroun al-Rashid is a very famous medieval Arab caliph. This decision parallels the kind of super-protection we offer to mundane knightly orders and SCA peerage orders: you cannot register Order of the Blue Pelican or Order of the Laurel and Garter, although the addition of an element would normally clear conflict.
This decision regarding personal names stands alone; it has not been upheld with other examples and no other personal name has been similarly super-protected. Other than in this decision, precedent says that the addition of an element that distinguishes the submission from the protected person is sufficient to clear conflict or presumption. Adding an element like of Calais clears the presumption on the name of Henry Tudor as he would not have been identified that way, while the addition of the element of England would not, as he might have been known as Henry Tudor of England.
Creating two kinds of protection, so that presumption on some mundane names cannot be cleared by the addition of another element, while presumption on others can be cleared by the addition of another element, would create additional uncertainty for submitters as well as for heralds.
Therefore, we overturn this 2004 decision regarding presumption: the addition of another element which distinguishes the submitted name from the protected one clears presumption. (We note that this was only one reason for the return of the name, and that the byname the Toe Mangler would still require further documentation).
From Pelican: New Da'ud Notation
This month we had to designate Da'ud notation for a new letter. In Middle High German, {u!} indicates a u with a single up and down vertical mark over it (as opposed to an acute or grave accent). This letter is referred to in unicode as Latin Lowercase U with Vertical Line Above, which has been proposed by the Medieval Unicode Font Initiative (http://www.mufi.info) as code point E724 and with html entity &uvertline;.
From Pelican: Some Name Resources (an Ongoing Series)
Last month, I asked whether we should continue to register matronymic bynames in Gaelic. This month, I'm going to talk about matronymic bynames more broadly. Matronymic (or metronymic - they mean the same thing) bynames are names that say who your mother is. They are less common everywhere in Europe than patronymic bynames, which say who your father is. This is true even in places that reckon inheritance matrilineally: the Pictish names we have as well as other early names from the British Isles all have patronymic bynames but not matronymic bynames. (For the data I'm basing this on, see Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn's "A Consideration of Pictish Names" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/pictnames/ and her "The First Thousand Years of British Names" http://www.heatherrosejones.com/names/welsh/1000british/)
Despite the European bias toward patronymic bynames, matronymic bynames are found in many languages in our period. English has substantial numbers of matronymic bynames, mostly unmarked like Hugh Margarete (dated to 1273 in Bardsley s.n. Margaret). However, marked forms are also found, like Tomas filius Rose or Johanna Rosedoghter (dated to 1279 and 1397 respectively in Reaney and Wilson s.n. Rose and introduction, p. li).
Elsewhere in the British Isles, matronymic bynames are rare. Matronymic bynames are found occasionally in Scotland; all the examples I know are unmarked or use the Scots -son. The evidence for matronymics in Gaelic was discussed last month; basically they are only found as additional descriptions, rather than as solo bynames. In medieval Welsh, matronymics never rise to more than 1% of bynames, but are found in any sizable dataset. They are always single bynames, not found in multiple generation bynames.
Matronymic bynames are not infrequently found in French and German. In French, matronymic bynames are usually unmarked (like patronymic bynames). In the 1292 Paris census, the byname Aales and Barbe are two examples (taken from Aryanhwy merch Catmael "Names in the 1292 census of Paris"). In German, both unmarked and marked examples are found: Dietrich Elisabet (dated to 1289 in Bahlow s.n. Elisabeth), Arnold Ittensun (dated to 1300 in Bahlow s.n. It(t)ensohn), and Henneke Katerinen son (dated to 1336 in Bahlow s.n. Katerina).
Dutch matronymic bynames are quite rare, but found both in Aryanhwy merch Catmael's "Dutch Names, 1358-1361" http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/earlydutch14.html and her 15th Century Dutch Names http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/dutch15.html).
In Scandinavia, matronymic bynames (always using a form of son or daughter) are rare, but found. The Viking Answer Lady says that 34 men in Old Norse Iceland were known as their mother's sons. Matronymics are found in medieval Scandinavia as well. Examples are found in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, though they become less common by the 16th century (Between Betrothal and Bedding: Marriage Formation in Sweden 1200-1600 by Mia Korpiola Kingship and State Formation in Sweden, 1130-1290 by Philip Line).
Next month, we'll continue this discussion with matronymic bynames in southern Europe, the Middle East, and the little we know about Eastern Europe.
From Wreath: Birds, Briefly
This month we explicitly ruled that generic birds fit into the "regular-shaped" bird category as set forth on the November 2003 Cover Letter.
From Ragged Staff: Packet Scans and OSCAR and You
Submissions packets have been required to be scanned and made available by the packet receipt date since August 2011. Previously this was done by emailing the scans to Ragged Staff, but in October 2011 the packet upload feature was introduced to OSCAR. Using that feature was not made a requirement at that time.
Using the packet upload feature will be a requirement of submissions heralds as of November 1, 2012. If scans of submission forms are not uploaded by the packet receipt date, the letter may be pushed a month, as with any other missed deadline.
Society Pages
On Saturday, September 8, 2012, Lancelin Peregrinus, Aethon Herald of the Midrealm, was elevated to the Order of the Pelican.
On Saturday, September 15, 2012, Elizabeth Turner de Carlisle, Sable Chime Herald of An Tir, became the heiress to the Princess of the Principality of the Summits.
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, 3101 Lee Hwy Ste 18/19 #178, Bristol VA 24202.
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.
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.
Pray know that I remain,
In service,
Gabriel Kjotvason
Laurel Principal King of Arms