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Minutes of the September, 2020 Heralds Meeting

Minutes Page Main Herald's Web Page

Latest LoAR Info Submissions to Laurel from this Meeting Returns from this Meeting

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MINUTES OF THE HERALDS MEETING – September 20, 2020
(11:06 am to 1:09 pm) ATTENDEES:

Alizan De la Fontaine, Vesper; Edith of Swanesdale, Matins; Hirsch von Henford, Golem; Astrith of Swansvale, PaL; Domamir Vlatko syn, Seawolf; Eilis o’Boirne, Green Crown; Na’arah bat Avraham, Pinnacle; Aasa Thorvaldsdottir, Green Banner; Moira O’Connor, Sableswan; Frederick of Holland, PaL; Douglas d’Champclair; Jocelyn d’Orleans.

COLLEGE OF HERALDS MEETINGS
The September 2020 meeting was held via remote teleconference.
Heralds' Meetings for 2020: November 15. Meetings for 2021: January 10, March 14, May 16, July 18, September 19, November 7. Meetings usually begin at 11:00 AM and will be held via online/remote teleconference until further notice (see also: When/Where Are the Next Meetings?).

The DEADLINES for submission forms and documentation are: For 2020: November 4. 2021 Deadlines: December 16, 2020, March 3, 2021, May 5, July 7, September 8, October 27. Submission forms must be complete and received either via EMAIL or hardcopy by the deadline date at midnight to be considered at the next meeting (which is about 11 days later, except December due to holidays and the roadshow meeting prep time needed). If the forms are EMAILED, then payment must arrive by the meeting day. WALK-IN submissions will not be accepted while meetings are held via remote conference.

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REPORTS

Vesper (Alizan): The West College of Heralds continues to thrive. Consultation and submission continue to happen, and we are running the occasional court. The office of Stellanordica remains empty: their seneschal has reached out to Khevron and Caitriona to fill in until a long-term replacement is found. And Alizan is looking for a deputy for Vesper. Advertisements will go into the next Page, as well as onto social media.

The Financial Committee (Alizan, Frederick, Domamir) approves the purchase of two Android tablets at a cost of up to $400 each plus taxes, etc. to replace the old, and on no longer working, iPads. One to be used for Green Banner and one for general use by the College (current use by Eilis for name conflict checking).

Seawolf (Damir): He has received a couple of scrolls for signature but obtaining signatures will be delayed by COVID. Their Highnesses will be having a brief court during Crown court next weekend and he will assist.

Sable Swan (Moira): So far, the Coronets have not conducted any virtual courts. She has sealed a couple of scrolls.

Stellanordica (vacant): This position is the primary herald for the Principality of Oertha. Stellanordica is the in-Principality contact for local heralds and is the primary point of contact for all heraldic needs of the Principality: arranging heralds for running Principality events, including tourneys and Courts, and providing the support needed to the Coronet and other Officers of the Principality. If interested in this position, please contact Vesper.

Exchequer (Damir): No significant activity since last meeting. The College remains solvent.

KWHSS 2021 Bid: Bid has been submitted to the College of Arms and receipt has been confirmed. The public bid should be included in the next letter from the College. If anyone would like to see it in advance, please let Damir know.

Matins (Edith): Deputy (Hannah): Submissions continue to go through the process, our populace continue to send in new submissions.

Edith will be hosting a Heraldic Point / Consultation Table as part of Autumn Crown on Saturday Sept. 26.

Discussion around the status and possibility paying submission fees via money transfer (PayPal, etc.) for the West College. There is no approval for this process at this time, but various people are discussing the possibilities.

Green Crown (Eilis): Damir, many thanks, is dealing with Their Majesties Courts for this period of time. The article on court protocol is live on the West Kingdom Heralds Handbook. It has been expanded from about 2 pages to about 8 pages, please send in criticisms or critiques to Eilis.

Baldric (Gwenhwyfaer): She checked into the "Collegium" that was still scheduled for Nov 14. It is now a PPF "Collegium" (dealing with Viking Age arts) as the previously scheduled Kingdom Collegium had in fact given up the date. Baldric spoke with Else and she says she will happily schedule a Heralds' Collegium for us, if we want to hold an online one. Consensus of the College is to not pursue a heralds track for this event.

Brachet (Kean), Leveret (Ræv): He has done a great deal of commenting since the last meeting, including the finding of some conflicts and some errors in the database. The latter have now been fixed by Morsulus.

Green Cloak (Ari Ella): No report received.

Green Trumpet (vacant): Deputy Support: Juliana of Sunset Shire. New Senior Staff position.

This position will oversee Town Cry (formerly called Duty Shout) and Heralds Point (information). If interested in this position, please contact Vesper.

The duties of this position include: for Kingdom events: staff and manage information point out of Heralds Point, staff and manage town cries. Store, transport, and arrange set-up & pack-down of Heralds Point to all Kingdom events, specifically: Crown Tourneys (Spring, June, Fall), Beltane, and Purgatorio Coronations in coordination with Green Cloak. Additionally, for West v. An-Tir War every other year when the Host of the war is The West.

Green Banner (Aasa): It has been pretty slow the last couple of months. She has not been involved in many consultations, though she helps where she can.

Heraldry Shenanigans has been requested by the Crown again, so there will be another episode next weekend for Autumn Crown.

Golem (Hirsch): Very little to report. Tarnmist had a court which Their Majesties also had business in. Court reports done and taken care of, so all good. He still has plans on rewriting the award list to deal with various issues (that mostly are from the admin side), but it’s a bigger task than he wants to try to deal with at the moment – it is still on his “to do” list, though. No issues that he knows of from the Heralds website, and that’s about it.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS / Other Business

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

Facebook Page: The West Kingdom Heralds' have their own page on Facebook, announcements, help with consultation, and more are often done there:

      https://www.facebook.com/groups/302970543102065/

MAILING LIST: The West Kingdom College of Heralds has a mailing list for internal communication. NOTE that we are only using this for announcements and we may eventually phase it out. Any herald is welcome to join by request. To join the list, please subscribe at wkheralds-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

There are also individual mailing lists on Yahoo for the Principalities, but the traffic has gone to announcements only, and again these may be phased out in preference to the Facebook page noted above. Details can be found at the bottom of this page: I Need to Contact a Kingdom or Principality Herald

ELECTRONIC RESOURCES: Many interesting heraldic links can be found through the SCA Heraldry web page at http://www.sca.org/heraldry, including the Laurel home page, the on-line Armorial and Ordinary (with search capabilities) and The Academy of St. Gabriel (an onomastic and heraldic consultation service). The West Kingdom Heraldry site and the West Kingdom Awards List can be accessed through the West Kingdom site, http://www.westkingdom.org. Heraldic queries may also be addressed to Vesper at herald@westkingdom.org -- answers may take a few days.

BRACHET MEETINGS

Contact brachet@heralds.westkingdom.org for external commenting participation. A central Cynagua external commenting meeting may begin soon, so watch this space!

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EXCERPTS FROM THE LOARS

The cover letters, acceptances and returns for the past can be found at http://heraldry.sca.org/loar/. If you are interested in responding to some of the calls for commentary put out by the Laurel Sovereign of Arms, please be sure to visit the site.

June, 2020 LoAR (printed August 26, 2020) (West - March, 2020 LoI)

Cover Letter

From Laurel: LoPaD item: Registration Limit

In the December 2019 Cover Letter we called for a discussion of increasing the registration limit for individual submitters from six to ten items. There was a great deal of feedback; we agree with those who feel that this would improve our customer service with minimal problems, given that some people are at the registration limit, but not many.

The text of the relevant part of the Administrative Handbook will now read (insert/delete version):

Individuals may register no more than six ten names and six ten pieces of armory. Any submission by an individual which would otherwise exceed this limit must be accompanied by a release of one or more items already registered to that individual to accommodate the new item[s]. Neither heraldic titles nor augmentations count as items for this purpose, though the arms to which the augmentation is added do.

From Laurel: Sign Herald Deputy Applications Sought

In order to encourage and promote the use and equality of Sign/Silent Heraldry at all courts and events in which the entire populace attends, and to assist the sign/silent heralds in their dealings with the Crown, the Silent Heraldry Deputy of Laurel Sovereign of Arms coordinates efforts and communication throughout the SCA. Sign/Silent Heralds in the Society are heralds who express auditory information into visual and/or tactile information used by deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

This deputy is tasked with the following duties, plus other such tasks as assigned by Laurel:

• Working with Kingdoms to improve the organization of sign heraldry and its integration with other court and event heralds.
• Working with Kingdoms and Laurel to improve education regarding sign heraldry, both for sign heralds themselves and the general populace.
• Acting as a resource for sign herald programs.
• Preparing quarterly reports to Laurel on the status of such programs.

Please email your resume (SCA and modern if appropriate) as well as a short description of your experience related to this job to Laurel at laurel@heraldry.sca.org. The application period ends on October 31, 2020.

Commendations to Commenters

From Pelican: This month I would like to thank Lyonet de Covenham, Sans Merci Herald, for her invaluable help dealing with the issues surrounding European names and possible associations with the Nazi regime. Both her informed and clear-headed commentary in OSCAR and her private contributions (and willingness to answer my never-ending e-mail questions) have been essential to our efforts to deal with these delicate and complex issues.

From Wreath: I would like to take this moment to express my gratitude to several people who have consistently provided advice and opinion which have served to strengthen my decisions. In no particular order: Alisoun Metron Ariston, Bruce Batonvert, Jeanne-Marie Noir Licorne. Without them, this office would have no memory -- whether my own or that of the College of Arms -- and though we may from time to time change our minds, it is a good thing to consider what we change from when we feel a need to change to.

In addition, to Iago Coquille, my appreciation as well as that of others. He is an armorial-browsing machine, and I look forward to his commentary each month.

From Pelican: Venetian Equivalent Titles

In her March 27, 2020 Letter, Palimpsest proposed a series of equivalent titles in the Venetian dialect, based on research work done by Signor Giovanni Loredan of Calontir. Although they were uncapitalized on the Letter of Intent, these titles have been capitalized to be consistent with our treatment of titles in the Society. We hereby accept the following as official alternate titles and direct Palimpsest to update the List of Alternate Titles (under both the Italian language groups) accordingly.

• Nobel for Award or Grant of Arms (gender-neutral)
• Dona for Award or Grant of Arms (female)
• Madona for Award or Grant of Arms (female)
• Misier for Award or Grant of Arms (male)
• Signor for Award or Grant of Arms (male)
• Barom for Barony (male)
• Chavalier for Knight (male)
• Maistro for Other Peerage Order (male)
• Vischonte for Viscounty (male)
• Principesa for Coronet (female)
• Prinzipe for Coronet (female)
• Principo for Coronet (male)
• Chontesa for County (female)
• Chonte for County (male)
• Conte for County (male)
• Duchesa for Duchy (female)
• Ducha for Duchy (male)
• Raina for Crown (female)
• Re for Crown (male)

The proposed alternate title Doxie is not accepted because of its similarity to an English slang term for a prostitute.

We thank Signor Giovanni for his hard work and contributions.

From Pelican: Catriona and Heather

This month, commenters provided evidence that the FamilySearch Historical Records showing Catriona and Heather as English given names were, in fact, mistaken transcriptions. Apart from the single FamilySearch record, we were unable to find any evidence of Catriona as a period given name. Therefore, this month is the last in which that name can be registered until we find other evidence supporting it. Fortunately, Heather continues to be registerable because it is also a 16th century English surname that can be used as a given name.

I will be asking Codex to modify my article "Something Rich and Strange: 'Undocumentable' Names From The IGI Parish Records" accordingly.

From Pelican: Award and Order

In the past few months we have received several submissions that mistakenly assumed that the standards and precedents governing order names do not apply when the designator Award is used. This is not the case. "Order name" is a catch-call term for any name that is used for an order or award given out by Society nobles (Crowns, Coronets, Barons or Baronesses, etc.). The specific designator used for an order name does not affect the rules that govern that name or how must be constructed. Thus, a submission for Award of X is governed by the same rules and precedents as a submission for Order of X.

From Wreath: Continuing the Transition and Division of Labor

As is customary, when we break in a new Sovereign of Arms, we do it gently by splitting the workload. This month, the decisions were split as follows:

For the month of June, Cormac wrote the decisions for the Kingdoms of Æthelmearc, An Tir, Ansteorra, Artemisia, and Atenveldt, while Oddr handled the remainder of this month's letters.

From Wreath: Claims of Marshalling - Order of Operations (Part 2)

Last month's Cover Letter gave instructions on how to use SENA A6F to determine whether a piece of armory was presumptive due to the appearance of marshalling. This month, we had another instance where commenters brought up the possibility of marshalling, which provides a fine example of how to use this section of SENA: The device submission of Savaric of Sussex, Quarterly gules and vairy argent and sable, a cross between in bend two crosses flory Or.

A6F1 clears armory of the appearance of marshalling. However, the field is neither plain nor divided with a field other than per pale or quarterly (a) and does not have a complex line of division (b). And while it does have a single charge over the entire field (c) crosses are explicitly called out in the rule as not exempting from the appearance of marshalling.

A6F2 returns armory that is unambiguously marshalling. However, it has no charges that terminate in the end of a section (a), no subdivided sections (b), no multiple types of primary charges (c), and no multiple charges in a given section (d).

A6F3 determines, in order, whether the armory is marshalling if the previous sections didn't rule one way or the other. And A6F3a states that "When each section of the design appears to be an independent coat of arms, it creates the unmistakable appearance of marshalling. A section of the design does not appear to be an independent coat of arms if it is a plain tincture, including a fur, which we do not protect as arms." The vairy argent and sable portions of the field are uncharged, and therefore qualify under this rule. Therefore, this device does not appear to make any claim of marshalling.

From Incoming-Wreath: Ask Me (Almost) Anything

In the interest of reducing the mystery around being a Sovereign of Arms, and given the global pandemic and the proliferation of online events, I wish to announce my general availability to fill in holes in your schedules. If you have a slot open, and wish to have it filled by an AM(A)A session with me, just send me an email and we can chat about the schedule. Obviously, I'm not going to be available during my Wreath meetings (see the schedule on OSCAR, with meetings generally running from 0800-1200 Pacific Time), but I can usually spare an hour or two at times otherwise. This isn't limited to Kingdom-level events such as symposia.

Additionally, at some point I'm hoping to host a periodic hangout. Stay tuned for details when I get around to them.

From Outgoing-Wreath: One Last Time

June marks my last month of decisions as Wreath King of Arms. With a grateful heart and a firm commitment to continue in the pursuit of the art and science of heraldry, I take my leave and pass the baton to my successor, Oddr.

Though it's been a challenging three years, I still cherish the privilege of serving in this role. But before I'm consigned to the mansions of rest, I have some acknowledgements I'd like to make. No man is an island, and I could not have gotten through my term without the help of several people.

First off, I'm indebted to Andrewe Regnard Blanc, who as Laurel trusted me with the position of Wreath, and to Juliana Laurel, who trusted me to keep it. Many thanks to my counterpart, Alys Pelican, and to Emma Temperaunce, who along with Juliana served as a primary sounding board for decisions, edits, and frustrations, and provided invaluable guidance to keep me on track. Thank you all.

Thanks also to my emotional support heralds, including Mary Pilgrim, Konstantia Greek Fire, Ryan Skunk, Kameshima Shark, Wu Blackthorne, and Ariana Crescent, for listening to me as I worked through the more challenging episodes of my tenure. Without your support I would surely have gone mad.

I would also like to thank the Proofreading team who always make their genius and experience available to the Sovereigns, including Jeanne Marie Noir Licorne, Bruce Batonvert, Alisoun Metron Ariston, Herveus Morsulus, and Lillia Crampette. Your edits made sure I kept my decisions coherent and measured.

Finally, I would like to thank Seraphina Ragged Staff, for taking care of innumerable little details and making my duties ten times easier. I literally could not have done my job without you doing yours.

Though I would love to take on Baldwin of Erebor's "No-Count of Arms" title upon my retirement, I recognize that the Wreath and Pelican roles are subordinate to the position of Laurel, and thus should not presume. To that end, I have the honor to be your obedient servant,

- C. Mor, Beare Discount of Arms

From Laurel: Thanks and Congratulations!

I want to take the time to thank Cormac for his years of service as Wreath. I've known him and enjoyed working with him for a long time; he remains one of my favorite people. Normally, I'd in this moment grant him a personal heraldic title and the rank of herald extraordinary -- while extraordinary means "outside of the ordinary" (that is, not in a standard heraldic job), he certainly is extraordinary as well. But Cormac's great good works have long since been recognized in that way. So I just want to congratulate him and tell him that I look forward to see what he does next (and to seeing him so that I can hug him in person).

West Acceptances - June LoAR

Andrew of Riga. Release of badge. (Fieldless) A spider sable.

Declan mac an Breithemon. Name.

Submitted as Declan Mac an Bhreithiún, the submitter requested authenticity for 11th century Irish culture and allowed all changes. Based on the detailed research done by Brian dorcha ua Conaill, we have changed the spelling of the name to a pre-1200 Gaelic form, Declan mac an Breithemon in order to meet the submitter's authenticity request.

Donnchadh mac Fail. Name change from Talan Penkarou.

Submitted as Donnchadh Mac Phail, the submitter requested authenticity for "12th-15th century Scottish Highlands - Cornish influence is fine too." This request was not summarized on the Letter of Intent. Fortunately, Lilie Pantheon identified the authenticity request during commentary, allowing sufficient time for research. The name as submitted was not authentic because it combined a Gaelic given name with a Scots byname.

The name can be made authentic with a small spelling change. As Donnchadh mac Fail, the name is entirely Gaelic with both elements found in 15th century Scotland. As the submitter allows all changes, we have made this change to meet his authenticity request.

The submitter's previous name, Talan Penkarou, is retained as an alternate name.

Garin Stewart of Gleann Faoil. Release of name and device. Per saltire vert and azure, a wolf's head couped affronty within a bordure embattled argent.

Heather Whitehorse. Name and device. Azure, a horse passant to sinister argent, a chief embattled ermine.

Although Heather was documented as the submitter's legal given name, she does not have to rely on the Legal Name Allowance because Heather is also a 16th century English surname which can be used as a given name by precedent.

The submitter requested authenticity for mid-16th century England. This request was not summarized on the Letter of Intent. Fortunately, Lilie Pantheon identified the authenticity request during commentary, allowing sufficient time for research. This name is English, but is more appropriate for the late 16th century (1580s and later).

Nice canter!

Maerwynn verch Edward. Name.

Submitted as Maerwynn verch Eadweard, the name required two changes to be registerable. First, the spelling of the given name was not supported by the documentation. We have corrected the given name to Mærwynn to match the documentation.

Second, the byname was not correctly formed. Eadweard is not a Welsh name; it is Old English. Although we have evidence of Middle English and Early Modern English names being used with the Welsh marker verch, we do not have similar evidence for Old English. With the submitter's permission, we have changed the byname to verch Edward to use a 13th century Anglo-Welsh form of the byname, which is registerable because it is well within 500 years of the given name.

The submitter requested authenticity for Welsh language or culture. We cannot make this name authentic for Welsh because the elements Mærwynn and Eadweard/Edward are English, not Welsh. The name can be made authentic for 11th century Old English either as Mærwynn filia Eadweardi (Latinized) or Mærwynn Eadweardes dohtor (vernacular). If the submitter prefers either of these forms, she may make a request for reconsideration.

Meadhbh Hauteyn. Name (see RETURNS for device).

This name combines a Gaelic given name with an English byname, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.

Rivenoak, Barony of. Badge for Curmudgeon. Argent, a calygreyhound rampant to sinister sable maintaining a wooden tankard and a wooden club proper atop a base vert.

"Curmudgeon" is a generic identifier.

Nice badge!

Thomas Marshall. Name.

Nice English name from the 15th century onwards!

Wolfgang Wildßfewer. Name.

Nice late 15th century German name!

Yrmengerdis de Misine. Name and device. Ermine, three larks volant bendwise vert.

Nice device!

West Returns - June LoAR

Meadhbh Hauteyn. Device. Sable, an astrolabe sable within a chaplet of thorns Or.

This item is returned for lack of contrast between the astrolabe and the field. An astrolabe consists of a solid disk, with interior lines to show the rete (i.e., the star-net) and the rule (the pivoted sighting-arm). As depicted, the entire disk of the astrolabe has been colored sable, with the details chased argent.

If the astrolabe were argent, this device would be in conflict with the Barony of Loch Salann's badge for the Order of the Crystal of the Salt Wastes (reg Mar 1984), Sable, a plate within a bordure Or. There is a DC for the difference between the chaplet and the bordure but there is no difference granted between a roundel and an astrolabe.

West Pended Items - June LoAR

Rivka of Shushan. Device. Per bend sinister vert and argent, a spool of thread argent and an open Torah scroll azure.

This device is pended for redraw to more clearly depict the identifying elements of a Torah, including thick rolls, large disks and handles on either end of the rollers.

There is no Unity of Orientation issue between the spool and the open Torah scroll. In the June 2018 return of Geiri Smiðsson's device, Per saltire azure and Or, in pale a mallet and a mattock argent it was stated that "As the charges are comparable in type, being both long inanimate charges, they have comparable orientations, which much be unified for registration." However, the two charges in the present case are not generally comparable in orientation: while a properly-depicted spool has a readily-established, fixed axis, a moderately-open scroll does not. When closed, the orientation is reasonably defined by the handles. When open substantially, the orientation may be dominated by the unrolled parchment. However, when open moderately, maintaining a roughly compact aspect, an open scroll's orientation is -- absent other information -- indeterminate. While ambiguity of orientation is normally returnable, for an open scroll to be moderately open is a perfectly valid thing, particularly for a Torah scroll where this is the normal practice. Therefore, since this mutability of orientation is not a feature of the spool, we cannot call the orientations comparable.

This ambiguity of orientation does, naturally, present a question for blazoning the orientation of compact open scrolls: When presented with an open scroll that is unrolling palewise or fesswise, what is the orientation we attribute to it? Absent additional information identifying the type of scroll or its content, we will presume it is intended to depict a palewise orientation regardless of the direction the scroll unrolls.

This was item 9 on the West letter of March 31, 2020.

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In Service,
Edith of Swanesdale, PaL,
Matins Herald

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SUBMISSONS – May (2020)

ITEMS SENT TO LAUREL

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RETURNS

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