Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms

253 Tranquility Mtn
Buda, TX 78610
+1 512 942 7005
[email protected]

For the December 2016 meetings, printed March 11, 2017

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Andrewe Laurel, Alys Pelican, and Brunissende 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 December Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, December 11, 2016 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, December 18, 2016. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Lochac (05 Sep, 2016), Laurel LoPaD (07 Sep, 2016), Drachenwald (10 Sep, 2016), Gleann Abhann (12 Sep, 2016), Drachenwald (15 Sep, 2016), West (19 Sep, 2016), Atenveldt (20 Sep, 2016), Æthelmearc (21 Sep, 2016), Caid (25 Sep, 2016), Laurel LoPaD (25 Sep, 2016), Ealdormere (26 Sep, 2016), Artemisia (27 Sep, 2016), An Tir (30 Sep, 2016), Atlantia (30 Sep, 2016), Avacal (30 Sep, 2016), Calontir (30 Sep, 2016), Drachenwald (30 Sep, 2016), East (30 Sep, 2016), Lochac (30 Sep, 2016), Meridies (30 Sep, 2016), Middle (30 Sep, 2016), Middle (30 Sep, 2016), Northshield (30 Sep, 2016), Outlands (30 Sep, 2016), and Trimaris (30 Sep, 2016). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, November 30, 2016.

The January Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, January 15, 2017 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, January 22, 2017. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (04 Oct, 2016), Ansteorra (13 Oct, 2016), Ansteorra (14 Oct, 2016), Palimpsest Rules Letter (16 Oct, 2016), Ansteorra (19 Oct, 2016), Atenveldt (25 Oct, 2016), Artemisia (26 Oct, 2016), Ealdormere (26 Oct, 2016), Laurel LoPaD (28 Oct, 2016), Lochac (28 Oct, 2016), Outlands (28 Oct, 2016), Middle (29 Oct, 2016), An Tir (31 Oct, 2016), Atlantia (31 Oct, 2016), Avacal (31 Oct, 2016), Caid (31 Oct, 2016), Calontir (31 Oct, 2016), Drachenwald (31 Oct, 2016), East (31 Oct, 2016), Meridies (31 Oct, 2016), and Northshield (31 Oct, 2016). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Saturday, December 31, 2016.

The February Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, February 19, 2017 and the Wreath meetings held on Saturday, February 18, 2017 and Sunday, February 26, 2017. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: West (16 Nov, 2016), Ansteorra (25 Nov, 2016), Ealdormere (27 Nov, 2016), Laurel LoPaD (27 Nov, 2016), Atlantia (29 Nov, 2016), Middle (29 Nov, 2016), Outlands (29 Nov, 2016), Æthelmearc (30 Nov, 2016), An Tir (30 Nov, 2016), Avacal (30 Nov, 2016), Caid (30 Nov, 2016), Calontir (30 Nov, 2016), Drachenwald (30 Nov, 2016), East (30 Nov, 2016), Lochac (30 Nov, 2016), Meridies (30 Nov, 2016), Middle (30 Nov, 2016), Northshield (30 Nov, 2016), and Trimaris (30 Nov, 2016). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, January 31, 2017.

The March Laurel decisions will be made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, March 12, 2017 and the Wreath meeting held on Sunday, March 19, 2017. These meetings will consider the following letters of intent: Atenveldt (30 Nov, 2016) (pushed due to late packet upload), Gleann Abhann (01 Dec, 2016), Æthelmearc (05 Dec, 2016), Palimpsest Rules Letter (11 Dec, 2016), Æthelmearc (18 Dec, 2016), Atenveldt (25 Dec, 2016), Artemisia (26 Dec, 2016), Ealdormere (26 Dec, 2016), Atlantia (27 Dec, 2016), Northshield (27 Dec, 2016), Northshield (28 Dec, 2016), Outlands (28 Dec, 2016), Atlantia (30 Dec, 2016), An Tir (31 Dec, 2016), Avacal (31 Dec, 2016), Caid (31 Dec, 2016), Drachenwald (31 Dec, 2016), East (31 Dec, 2016), Lochac (31 Dec, 2016), and Meridies (31 Dec, 2016). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Tuesday, February 28, 2017.

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: Job Opening - Laurel Sovereign of Arms

The Laurel Principal Sovereign of Arms (Laurel) is the principal heraldic officer of the Society and the head of the College of Arms. Laurel is responsible for fostering the study and practice of heraldry, supervising the processing of submissions, and overseeing the heraldic activities of the Known World.

Laurel is an unpaid position, currently requiring approximately 20 hours a week. The position requires considerable tact and patience, armory and onomastic knowledge, supervisory ability, the ability to work within tight deadlines and coordinate closely with Wreath, Pelican, and other staff to produce a Laurel Letter of Acceptance and Return monthly, computer literacy and word processing skills, reliable e-mail and telephone access, and time and ability to travel.

Resumes must be sent in both hard copy to Laurel Resume, SCA Inc., Box 360789, Milpitas CA 95036 and electronically to [email protected]. Resumes must be received by May 15, 2017. The present Laurel's warrant expires in September 2017. Once the application period closes, the names of the candidates will be posted in a cover letter for the review of the College.

* From Pelican: Capital cities and presumption

This this month we considered whether the name of the capital of a province or similar political sub-division of a larger country should automatically be protected from presumption. SENA NPN4D1 states:

Names of important non-SCA entities are protected from presumption. Entities that we protect include places (countries, regions, and cities), chivalric orders and heraldic titles, and the names of organizations (colleges, businesses, and other such entities).

Places and organizations that are not important enough to have an entry in a standard print encyclopedia, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica, are not important enough to protect. Entities that do have an entry must be further considered to determine if they merit protection. In general, entities recognized (without having to look in a reference) by a significant number of people in the Society as the name of a single unique place or entity are likely to be important enough to protect. Historical places or entities that are still influential today or significantly shaped the course of world history, science, or the arts are generally important enough to protect.

Precedent decided under the old Rules for Submissions stated:

The household name is returned for conflict with the real-world place San Sebastián, capital city of the province of Guipuscoa in the Basque Country, Spain. The Administrative Handbook III.A.5 notes that "a geographical location will be considered significant if it is associated with important administrative, social, political or military events (e.g., a capital city, the site of a major treaty or battle, etc.)." As a capital city, it is important enough to protect from conflict. [Eadric Anstapa. Household name Company of Saint Sebastian, May 2009, R-Ansteorra]

After carefully considering commentary, we are overturning the above ruling.

Automatically barring registration of names of capitals of entities that are less than independent sovereign nations, such as U.S. states or Canadian provinces, unnecessarily forecloses a large number of period names and is inconsistent with our treatment of other presumption issues under SENA. For example, PN4D1 states:

Sovereign rulers of significant states are generally important enough to protect. Some historical city-states are not considered significant states. Provinces or regions integrated into larger units like the Holy Roman Empire are not generally considered significant states. Sovereigns of small states that did not give rise directly to modern countries will not be protected under this clause, nor will legendary kings of any state (though these kings may be individually important enough to protect).

Similarly, on the July 2011 Cover Letter, we limited the protection of historical sovereigns to only those rulers of nations "that give rise to currently existing countries (including entities like England, Castile, and Aragon) and of nations that play an important role in medieval history but did not survive (Burgundy, Scotland, the Holy Roman Empire, and the like). Sovereigns of small period states that did not give rise directly to modern countries (Deheubarth, Asturias, Valencia, Connacht, Urbino) will be protected only if the individual's fame rises to the point that they personally are important enough to protect."

Going forward, the only capital cities that will be automatically protected from presumption are the capitals of modern independent sovereign entities and historically significant states. All other cities will be assessed on a case-by-case basis for significance. Thus, the capital of a U.S. state (such as New Jersey) or a Canadian province (such as Alberta) will not automatically be protected. Likewise, Dinefwr, the capital city of the kingdom of Deheubarth (a kingdom within Wales that ceased to be independent by that late 12th century), is not automatically important enough to protect. While the fact that a city such as Trenton or Edmonton is a capital should be taken into account when considering the significance of the place, a city that has little historical significance apart from being the capital of a political subdivision will not be protected from presumption.

* From Pelican: Irish "Clan Affiliation" bynames for women

Many questions have been raised about when and how women can use Irish Clan Affiliation bynames using O, such as O'Connor or O Brien. Such names can be used by women, but only in Anglicized Irish. As explained in the October 2010 Cover Letter, Anglicized Irish is not the same language as Gaelic:

Anglicized Irish is defined by Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada (in "Names Found in Anglicized Irish Documents") as "Irish Gaelic words rendered in a phonetic or pseudo-phonetic form in historical documents written by an English speaker." In other words, they're the names of Gaelic speakers written down by English speakers using the rules for English writing (we often refer to this as "orthography" which is a fancy term for the rules a language follows in writing down sounds).

"Names Found in Anglicized Irish Documents" by Mari ingen Briain meic Donnchada (http://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnglicizedIrish/) shows multiple examples of women using Clan Affiliaton bynames, including Katherine O'Shiridan, Margarete O'Connor, and Dorothy O Toole. Such names are found both with and without apostrophes after the O.

In Gaelic, Clan Affiliation bynames for women are formed using the markers ingen Uí (pre-1200) or inghean Uí (post-1200) before the gentive form of the clan ancestor's name. For a more detailed explanation, see Sharon Krossa, "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names," http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/). Gaelic women did not use O or Ó to mark Clan Affiliation bynames; that construction was used only by men.

* Society Pages

At Caerthe Twelfth Night on January 7, 2017, Their Majesties Outlands offered Jibra'il `Attar admittance to the Order of the Laurel. His elevation ceremony is planned for the Outlands' Spring Coronation in May.

At An Tir Twelfth Night on January 14, 2017, Richenda du Jardin, former Black Lion Principal Herald, was made a Herald Extraordinary.

Also at An Tir Twelfth Night, Rhieinwylydd verch Einion Llanaelhaearn, Lions Blood Herald, became a member of the Order of the Pelican.

On January 21, 2017, their Majesties Meridies served a writ on Wu Yun, Ragged Staff Herald, commanding her to appear at Meridies Coronation on April 1, 2017, to answer whether she would accept induction into the Order of the Pelican.

Please send information about happenings to major heralds and major happenings to all heralds to Laurel, so that it can be published here.

* 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. All submission forms plus documentation, including petitions, must be posted to the OSCAR online system. While black-and-white emblazons must be included in the Letter of Intent, only colored armory forms need to be posted in the forms area.

Cheques or money orders for submissions, payable to "SCA Inc.-College of Arms" are to be sent to Stephanie Ray-Solum, Blue Bug Bookkeeping, 2144 Westlake Ave. North Suite F, Seattle, WA 98109.

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,

Andrewe Bawldwyn
Laurel Principal King of Arms


Created at 2017-03-11T08:49:42