Society for Creative Anachronism
College of Arms

601 S Washington #137
Stillwater OK 74074
+1 405 428 3662
[email protected]

For the September 2022 meetings, printed November 9, 2022

To all the College of Arms and all others who may read this missive, from Emma Laurel, Elisabetta Pelican, and Oddr Wreath, greetings.

* From Laurel: Acceptable Use Policy for OSCAR

We've recently rolled out an expanded and more explicit acceptable use policy for OSCAR. This takes the place of the text we had on the OSCAR new user page, and is also linked on the website under the Rules section at https://heraldry.sca.org/oscar_policy.html so it can be more easily referred to after an account has been created. For users with existing OSCAR accounts, the next login should prompt you to read the updated policy and agree before being able to proceed. If we make any updates to the acceptable use policy in the future, we'll re-prompt for agreement again. We hope this will help to set expectations as to how we expect OSCAR to be used. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me directly!

* From Laurel: Glossary of Terms Updated

As proposed in Palimpsest's June 30th Rules Letter, the Glossary of Terms is updated to include some abbreviations and definitions of terms routinely used (now or in the past) in LoARs and commentary. The revised Glossary of Terms will be available at http://heraldry.sca.org/coagloss.html within a few days.

* From Laurel: SENA Appendixes Format Updated

Appendixes with subsections have been slightly reformatted. The numbering has changed so that when referring to subsections you refer to a letter and number, not two letters. This means, for example, that instead of referring to Appendix EE you can refer to Appendix E5. Also, Appendix M has had subsection numbering added to make referring to specific subsections easier.

* From Pelican: SENA Appendix E - Fellowship Added

As proposed on Palimpsest's June 30th Rules Letter, Appendix E2 is updated to allow Fellowship as a designator for award and order names. References to household names are removed from section E2; these are discussed in section E4 of the appendix. The updated appendix will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#AppendixE shortly.

* From Pelican: SENA NPN3D - Affiliation Conflict

As proposed in Palimpsest's June 29th Rules Letter, SENA NPN3D is updated to read:

D. Standards for Affiliation Conflict: Non-personal names may not unmistakably imply ownership by or affiliation with any name we protect. An unmistakable implication generally requires the use of multiple elements/phrases from a protected name. A non-personal name that uses two or more elements from a protected name may be presumptuous, if it can be understood to be a claim to be a relative ofowned by or affiliated with that person or group. In cases where the protected name has only a single element, the use of that element may be considered presumptuous on a case-by-case basis.

The rest of section NPN3D is unchanged. The revised version will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#NPN3D about a week after the January 2023 Board of Directors meeting.

* From Pelican: New Italian Household Designator

This month we considered the household name Scuola di Enrico Volpone. Scuola is an Italian word meaning 'school' found in Queen Anna's New World of Words by John Florio, published in 1611. Schools throughout the Italian city states during our period were known by a variety of names. Most schools were named for saints or other religious themes; Venice as the Polity of Mercy: Guilds, Confraternities, and the Social Order, c. 1250-c. 1650 by Richard MacKenney lists 64 such schools alone. By the middle of the 15th century, schools started to be known by the full name of the master who taught there. Education and Society in Florentine Tuscany by Robert Black describes two such schools: scoula del maestra Çanobio Ferri 'school of the master Canobio Ferri' and Scuola di Lungarno Corsini 'school of Lungarno Corsini'. This pattern, while rare in period, is registerable. We hereby direct Palimpsest to update SENA Appendix E4 appropriately.

* From Pelican: New Gaelic Household Designator

When registering Tuath Badba, we referenced the research of Brían dorcha ua Conaill and the work he had done to find and categorize the names of tuath in the Irish Annals. Aside from the pattern registered in that submission, Tuath X where X is the name of an animal in the genitive (possessive) case, the designator Tuath may also be used with proper names (such as given names and place names), topographic features (such as hill, river, forest, etc.) and buildings (primarily rath 'fort'). These substantive elements must be in the genitive (possessive) case. We direct Palimpsest to update SENA Appendix E4 accordingly.

* From Wreath: SENA A3A2 - Fieldless Designs

As proposed on Palimpsest's June 30th Rules Letter two changes are being made to SENA A3A2, Fieldless Designs. The first change codifies existing precedent that allows charges such as ermine spots to be used as fieldless badges. The second change incorporates long-standing precedents that forms of heraldic display cannot be used in fieldless badges. The revised wording is shown below.

2. Fieldless Designs: We categorize these as badges; devices must have a field. All the charges in these designs must touch one another to create a single self-contained design. An exception is made for charges that are disjoint by definition, such as an ermine spot or a demi-lion; these may be used as charges in fieldless designs despite the separation of portions of the charge. Fieldless designs must follow all other style rules. They must include a primary charge, and may also include secondary, overall, or tertiary charge groups. Additionally, no charges may be used that are defined in terms of the field or its outline, such as a bordure, chief, or an ordinary that isn't couped.

For example, (Fieldless) An ermine spot sable is registerable since it is a single, defined charge despite the typical dots not being connected to the rest of the spot. (Fieldless) An annulet sable is registerable as the annulet has a defined shape; however, (Fieldless) A bordure sable is not registerable since a bordure by definition is defined by the outline of the field.

Forms of heraldic (armorial) display may not be used in fieldless designs unless they are uncharged and of an undivided tincture that we do not protect. Furs, even if blazoned using multiple tinctures (e.g. vairy azure and Or), are considered undivided. Charges that are considered forms of heraldic display include banners and flags, billets, cartouches, delfs, eggs, escutcheons, hearts, lozenges, roundels, sails, tabards, and triangles inverted.

For example, (Fieldless) A lozenge ermine is not registerable because we protect the arms of Brittany, Ermine. Vair, despite being composed of argent and azure, is considered undivided and thus (Fieldless) A heart vair is registerable. However, (Fieldless) A heart checky argent and azure is not registerable as checky is a divided tincture.

A special subset of fieldless designs is tinctureless designs. These designs are those which do not specify a tincture for the charge or background, such as the English badge, (Tinctureless) A pheon. These designs may only be registered as seals for the use of principal heralds of kingdoms, although some earlier registrations to individuals exist.

The updated version of SENA will be available at http://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A3A2 about a week after the January 2023 Board of Directors meeting.

* From Wreath: Grey Proper in SENA and the Glossary of Terms

As proposed in Palimpsest's June 30th Rules Letter, SENA A3B1 is being updated to incorporate recent precedent on how we handle grey proper. It is also being updated to incorporate precedent dealing with very light or pastel shades of tinctures. The new wording for SENA A3B1 is:

1. Tinctures and their Classifications: Tinctures are primarily divided into colors and metals. Colors and metals are said to have good contrast with one another. Each tincture may be depicted in a variety of shades; contrast is determined not by their shade, but by their categorization into color and metal. Shades that are overly pastel may be considered too light to be registered; baby blue is not an acceptable shade of azure for example, a shade that lacks contrast with argent or Or will be too light.

The colors are azure (blue), gules (red), sable (black), vert (green), and purpure (purple).

The metals are argent (white or silver) and Or (yellow or gold). We capitalize Or for clarity, but do not capitalize other tinctures unless they are the first word in the blazon.

Furs are a group of named patterns used as tinctures. For the purposes of tincture, ermined furs are grouped in the same way as their background color. Ermine (a white background with black tails) and erminois (a yellow background with black tails) are metals. Counter-ermine (a black background with white tails) and pean (a black background with yellow tails) are colors. Furs such as vair and potent are two different patterns of multiple pieces in blue and white by default. As they are made up of multiple pieces, divided evenly between a color and a metal, they are treated as neutral and are considered to have good contrast with both colors and metals, as long as they do not share a tincture with the color or metal.

Proper is a term used for a charge in its "natural" or "standard" tincture. Items that were used in proper tinctures in period armory may be used. A list of proper tinctures is found in the Glossary of Terms. Any animal (not including monsters) that can be brown in nature can be blazoned as a brown X proper. Such an animal would be expected to be completely brown (with the exception of minor artistic details), as opposed to drawn naturalistically. Similarly, tools that can reasonably be wooden can be described as a wooden X proper, and are brown. Brown is considered to be a color, not a metal, and it is not identical to black or sable. While a few monsters have a defined proper, most of them do not because they do not exist in nature. Thus, monsters constructed from animals which can otherwise be proper may not be proper. Animate and inanimate charges proper may have wings of a heraldic tincture (or tinctures) added to them.

For example, a rose proper is defined to be gules barbed vert seeded Or. Some proper animals include: a brown bear proper, a brown falcon proper, and a brown rabbit proper. Tools and other wooden objects include: a staff proper, a barrel proper, and a harp proper. A heraldic dolphin proper is vert with gules fins while a natural dolphin proper is light grey (effectively argent).

For example, a barrel proper winged argent, a sword proper winged gules, and a fox proper winged argent are all registerable as they are charges proper with wings added. However, a bear-headed fox proper, a monster with the forequarters of a fox and the hindquarters of a bear proper, and a monster with the forequarters of a bear proper and the hindquarters and wings of dragon vert may not be registered as monsters cannot be created by combining animals proper. Similarly, a fox with brown wings proper may not be registered as brown is not a heraldic tincture.

In general, charges that do not have a heraldically defined proper may be described as proper when a normal person would be able to color them appropriately from knowing only the sort of item with no further color description. So, a tree, a thistle, and an elephant can be proper. On the other hand, a female American kestrel or a bay horse cannot be proper because the range of colors for each span multiple tinctures.

Proper charges are classified as a color, a metal, or neutral depending on their dominant tincture. Grey and lLight skin tones are treated as a metal (equivalent to argent); brown and other darker skin tones are treated as a color. Grey proper and grey iron proper are a special cases. Based on period evidence, they are not classified by their shade (how light/dark they are) but rather they are interpreted (at the time of registration) as either sable or argent based on which is most favorable to registrations. That is, however it best avoids both contrast issues and conflict. The shade of grey chosen must still allow the charge to be identified. Contrast against a neutral, divided background may require a shade of grey that unambiguously contrasts on its own, or additional documentation addressing ambiguous contrast in such cases. Fieldless badges may require a shade of grey that is clearly light (metal) or dark (color). The O&A will note whether the grey is considered sable or argent. The classification as a color or metal is set on registration and will not change when compared against future submissions.

For example, in Vert, a grey cat sejant proper the cat is considered argent as that avoids a contrast issue, even if it is depicted as dark grey. Similarly, in Argent, a grey mouse sejant erect proper the mouse is considered sable as that avoids a contrast issue, even if it depicted as light grey. On registration (Fieldless) A grey iron horseshoe proper the horseshoe would be considered sable if Sable, a horseshoe argent were registered as that avoids conflict, otherwise it would need to be a shade of grey that is clearly light (metal) or dark (color).

Divided fields and charges are considered metals or colors based on the tincture class that dominates across the entire field or charge. If fields or charges are evenly divided into color and metal, they are treated as neutral and have good contrast with both colors and metals. If they are over half color, they are treated as colors and have good contrast with metals. If they are over half metal, they are treated as metals and have good contrast with color. This is not dependent on how much of the charge is made up of any particular tincture or fur. A charge may only share a tincture with the field when both the charge and the field maintain identifiability. A charge which has minor details of the same color of the field is registerable, as long as identifiability is maintained.

For example, Lozengy vert and Or, a chief Or may be registered, but the vert portions of the field must touch the chief to maintain identifiability. Vair, a griffin argent cannot be registered, because the complex outline of the griffin will be obscured by the portions of white vair bells that touch the griffin. Argent, a fox proper may be registerable, even though the identifying characteristic of the white-tipped tail is against a white field, but the depiction must retain identifiability.

The table associated with this section of SENA will be updated to remove grey. These changes will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A3B1 about a week after the January 2023 Board of Directors meeting. At the same time, the Glossary of Terms Table 4, Conventional "Proper" Colorings (http://heraldry.sca.org/coagloss.html#proper) will be updated to add the note:

Note: Prior to the May 2021 Cover Letter, charges that were grey proper were classified as either a metal or a color based on the shade. Therefore, they were defined as either light grey or dark grey. The current standard is to classify them as a metal or color based not on their shade but on what is most favorable for registration. Generally, that means that when on a color grey proper is considered a metal and when on a metal grey proper is considered a color. See SENA A3B1 for further details.

This affects the definition of proper for three charges, which will likewise be updated.

* From Wreath: SENA A6F - Claims Through Marshalling

As proposed on Palimpsest's June 29th Rules Letter, SENA A6F is updated to clarify when armory is, or isn't, presumptuous based on marshalling. The first update is to SENA A6F1c which deals with a single primary charge group. The new wording is:

c. Single Primary Charge Group Over The Entire Field: A design that contains only a primary charge group of certain kinds does not have the appearance of marshalling. The primary charge group must be one of: semy of identical charges over the entire field, a single identical charge in each charged section, a group of multiple identical charges in a standard arrangement covering the entire field, a single charge that crosses the line of division, or a single standard arrangement of multiple primary charges with at least one charge crossing the per pale line of division. Special rules affect designs with peripheral ordinaries and quarterly field divisions with primary ordinaries like crosses; they are discussed in section 3 (A6F3) below.

For example, Per pale azure and argent all semy of cinquefoils counterchanged does not have the appearance of marshalling. Quarterly gules and Or, four crescents counterchanged argent and sable does not have the appearance of marshalling. Per pale gules and sable, six cauldrons two, two and two argent does not have the appearance of marshalling. Quarterly vair and Or, three crosses moline gules and Per pale vair and Or, a cross moline gules does not have the appearance of marshalling. All of these are registerable.

The second update is to SENA A6F3c which deals with multiple charge groups on per pale fields. The new wording is:

c. Per Pale Fields with Multiple Charge Groups: As marshalled arms using a per pale line of division were not inherited, the addition of a charge or charge group which crosses the per pale line is generally sufficient to remove the unmistakable appearance that a portion of the field is independent armory. The addition of a bordure or chief that does not itself appear to be part of two distinct original arms also removes that appearance. In general, a chief or bordure which has poor contrast with one side of the field, or one that is charged so that parts of a charge appear on both sides of the line of division, or one that is charged so that identical charges or parts of charges appear on both sides of the line of division or bordure meets this standard.

For example, Per pale gules and ermine, a boar's head and a eagle displayed counterchanged, a chief azure does not have the appearance of marshalling. Per pale vert and Or, a billet and a sun counterchanged, in chief a label argent does not have the appearance of marshalling, because the label crosses the per pale line. The label cannot be unmistakably seen as a mark of cadency, since impaled armory was not inherited. On the other hand, in Per pale purpure and Or, a chief per pale argent and sable the chief divided per pale creates the appearance of marshalling Purpure, a chief argent with Or, a chief sable.

On the other hand, in Per pale purpure and Or, a chief per pale argent and sable the chief divided per pale creates the appearance of marshalling Purpure, a chief argent with Or, a chief sable. For example, in Per pale Orgules and sable, a lozenge and a roundel counterchanged and, on a chief argent a hare and a fox sable, the chief does not remove the appearance of marshalling since it has good contrast with both halves of the field and therefore the dissimilar charges on the chief create the appearance of marshalling. However, Per pale Orgules and sable, a lozenge and a roundel counterchanged and, on a chief argent a hare between two foxes sable does not create the appearance of marshalling, because the hare crosses the center line. Similarly, the same armory with two hares or with two foxes on the chief would also not create the appearance of marshalling.

These updates to SENA A6F will be available at https://heraldry.sca.org/sena.html#A6F about a week after the January 2023 Board of Directors meeting.

* Society Pages

On October 2, at the West Kingdom's Fall Crown event, Their Majesties Cyrus and Caitríona inducted Helena de Argentoune and Shauna of Carrick Point into the Order of the Leaf of Merit, for their help as Laurel Archivist in supplying heraldry images for the West Kingdom's Roll of Arms project. The Order of the Leaf of Merit is the West Kingdom's AoA-level award for service.

In sadder news, we must report the passing of Baron Séamus Blaer de Maxwell, of the Kingdom of Atlantia, who passed unexpectedly on September 29th. Over the years, Séamus had been active as a much beloved herald in southern Atlantia, serving in a variety of heraldic positions over the years particularly in the Barony of Nottinghill Coill where most recently he was the local herald for the Canton of Cyddlan Downs (Columbia, South Carolina). He will be greatly missed by the Atlantian College.

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 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.

* Scheduling

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 11, 2022 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, September 10, 2022. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Meridies (01 Jun, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (02 Jun, 2022), Meridies (02 Jun, 2022), Calontir (03 Jun, 2022), Gleann Abhann (07 Jun, 2022), An Tir (14 Jun, 2022), Middle (19 Jun, 2022), Ansteorra (23 Jun, 2022), Ealdormere (24 Jun, 2022), East (24 Jun, 2022), Lochac (26 Jun, 2022), Outlands (27 Jun, 2022), Meridies (28 Jun, 2022), Artemisia (29 Jun, 2022), Atlantia (29 Jun, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (29 Jun, 2022), Æthelmearc (30 Jun, 2022), Atenveldt (30 Jun, 2022), Avacal (30 Jun, 2022), Caid (30 Jun, 2022), Drachenwald (30 Jun, 2022), Northshield (30 Jun, 2022), Northshield Other Letter (30 Jun, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (30 Jun, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (15 Aug, 2022) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Wednesday, August 31, 2022.

The October Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, October 9, 2022 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, October 8, 2022. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (04 Jul, 2022), An Tir (11 Jul, 2022), Calontir (14 Jul, 2022), Middle (19 Jul, 2022), Æthelmearc (21 Jul, 2022), East (21 Jul, 2022), Ansteorra (23 Jul, 2022), Lochac (23 Jul, 2022), Ealdormere (25 Jul, 2022), Outlands (26 Jul, 2022), Caid (28 Jul, 2022), Drachenwald (29 Jul, 2022), Atenveldt (30 Jul, 2022), Avacal (31 Jul, 2022), West (31 Jul, 2022), Laurel LoPaD (07 Sep, 2022) (redraws). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Friday, September 30, 2022.

The November Laurel decisions were made at the Pelican meeting held on Sunday, November 6, 2022 and the Wreath meeting held on Saturday, November 5, 2022. These meetings considered the following letters of intent: Gleann Abhann (06 Aug, 2022), Atlantia (07 Aug, 2022), Meridies (10 Aug, 2022), An Tir (12 Aug, 2022), Calontir (12 Aug, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (12 Aug, 2022), Artemisia (15 Aug, 2022), Middle (16 Aug, 2022), East (18 Aug, 2022), Ealdormere (24 Aug, 2022), Outlands (26 Aug, 2022), Ansteorra (29 Aug, 2022), Caid (29 Aug, 2022), Drachenwald (29 Aug, 2022), Atenveldt (30 Aug, 2022), Avacal (31 Aug, 2022), Lochac (31 Aug, 2022), Palimpsest Rules Letter (31 Aug, 2022). All commentary, responses, and rebuttals should have been entered into OSCAR by Monday, October 31, 2022.

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 2022-11-15T13:25:22