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MINUTES OF THE HERALDS MEETING – November 21, 2025
(11:05 AM to 1:02 PM)
ATTENDEES:
Domamir Vlatko syn, Vesper; Moira O’Connor, Compline; Edith of Swanesdale, Matins; Hirsch von Henford, Golem; Moira of Kent, Exchequer; Eilis O'Boirne, Baldric; Elewys Gwynne verch Llewelyn Dedewyth ap Gwenhwyfar Llwyd, Acting Seawolf; Ræv Kolfinsson, Leveret; Caoilinn Rose Maddox, interim Exchequer; Victoria of Durham, Green Cloak; Astrith of Swansvale, HE; Matilda FitzRichard of Lochaven, Nebuly; Keziah Godard; Morgaine de Leu; Kursick the Hun.
COLLEGE OF HERALDS MEETINGS
The November meeting was held via online conference. All future meetings will be held via online conference with the exception of Twelfth Night which will be held in-person only, until Vesper announces otherwise.
Note that West Kingdom Heralds Meetings can be found on the West Kingdom Calendar under the All Activities option [https://westkingdom.org/all-activities-calendar/].
Herald's Meetings for 2026:
January 4 (in-person only at the West Twelfth Night event) 10 am (vs the normal 11), March 15, May 17,
July 12, September 13, November 22.
Meetings usually begin at 11:00 AM and will be held via online/remote teleconference until
further notice.
The DEADLINES for submission forms and documentation are: The 2026 DEADLINES for submissions forms and documentation are: December 17, 2025 and in 2026 March 4, May 5, July 1, September 2, and October 28.
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.
REPORTS
Vesper (Damir), Compline (Moira): Twelfth Night meeting will be the Sunday of Twelfth Night at the event. This will be an in-person meeting only. Online meetings will resume in March 2026.
Deputy Successor: Moira O’Connor of Cynagua is planned to step into the position of Vesper in August of next year.
Of the 85 heralds listed on the Kingdom Roster, he is still waiting for a response from a large percentage. Reminder to heralds: if you have not responded to a Roster letter in 2 years, you will be dropped off the list of Rostered Heralds for the Kingdom of the West.
Some Heralds are looking to step out of office and/or looking for deputies. Please send a message to Vesper as a reminder to help him keep track.
Seawolf (Elewys): Nothing new. This office still continues to support and develop heralds and submitters, please reach out. Elewys represented the West serving at the GWW Consultation Table.
Sable Swan (Teagan): No report received.
Stellanordica (Anne): Nothing major to report. All is well in Oertha.
Exchequer (Moira), Interim (Caoilinn): No report received.
Matins (Edith): If you are a submitter or consulting herald, please review the submission requirements and ensure all submissions and their forms sent in meet the requirements. Issues for this meeting included: armory must have the image on the form and it must fit within the lines of the form (this is reason for return), submitter contact information must include two points of contact and be accurate (if not accurate, important communications may be lost), fees must be paid via PayPal or check received via postal mail prior to the meeting for submissions to be considered..
Baldric (Eilis): Baldric wasn’t at Collegium and has no feedback from this event. Hirsch notes he taught a class on heraldry for scribes.
Brachet (vacant), Leveret (Ræv).
Green Cloak (Victoria): Green Cloak received a lot of heraldic help at Crown. She wants to thank everyone who stepped up and helped the Lists run.
Green Crown (Moira), Interim (Gillian): No report received.
Green Trumpet (vacant): No report received.
Green Banner (Aasa): Aasa is pleased to report from An Tir that Cormac Mor's laurel elevation was delightful, and perfect for an education-focused herald.
Aasa would like to begin training one or more replacement deputies to pass on the office (and the library!). While she does adore this job, she has been unable to attend a number of kingdom events in the last year and consequently the Consultation Table was not available at those events. Aasa personally views this as having let down the populace she wishes to serve. Also, someone else should get a turn.
She will happily continue doing online consultation and being aggressively welcoming.
Aasa is pleased and impressed with the progress Elewys and Eneco have made in consultation.
Golem (Hirsch): The usual stuff has been happening, including a new award in Cynagua with a new ceremony added to the Principality ceremony book. Court Reports are coming in, with very little nagging (if any) on Golem’s part. Most of the time the Royalty are pretty quick at confirming these reports. Some of our heralds are … exceeding expectations, and getting reports done shortly after a court, often while still at the event. This is not a complaint, just an amusing observation, as well as a thank you for being so diligent!
Speaking of the Award List and Court Reports – a new option has been added when researching a name – there is a Copy button, which looks like the standard copy to clipboard option for most software. This allows you to copy a name to the clipboard on your device and paste it into the Court Report (among other possibilities). It’s much easier than trying to select a name using either the mouse, or your finger on a touch-screen. This option made possible because of things Golem has been dealing with over the years, a little research, a little coding, and et voila! You will find this button in both the Who’s Who on the History site, as well as the Award List, but only on the individual’s page, adding that to other lists gets a bit much.
Golem is still looking for people who might be interested in learning how to do much of what he does, it is not expected that any one person might want to take on all of the job. If you are interested in some aspect (Website, Awards List, Ceremony Books …), please feel free to contact him.
ANNOUNCEMENTS / Other Business
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTSFacebook 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/
The West Kingdom web team have added a Discord channel for heraldry, which is used for consultation, look for the #heraldry group.:
MAILING LIST: The Yahoo hosted mailing lists have been closed by the folk at Yahoo. At this time, we no longer have a means of communicating with the College of Heralds except the Facebook Page noted above, or via email. To make it possible to post announcements from senior staff heralds, there is a new Announcements page (link removed, as this page was not used and removed from the site).
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES: Many interesting heraldic links can be found through the SCA Heraldry web page at https://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, https://www.westkingdom.org. Heraldic queries may also be addressed to Vesper at herald@westkingdom.org -- answers may take a few days.
Also see above for the Kingdom Heralds' Facebook page and Discord channel.
BRACHET MEETINGS
Contact brachet@heralds.westkingdom.org for external commenting participation.
FROM THE LOARS
The cover letters, acceptances and returns for the past can be found at https://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.
August, 2025 LoAR (printed October 9, 2025) (West - May, 2025 LoI)
Cover Letter
West Acceptances - August LoAR
West Returns - August LoAR
West Pended Items - August LoAR
September, 2025 LoAR (printed November 15, 2025) (West - No LoI)
Cover Letter
West Acceptances - September LoAR
None
West Returns - September LoAR
None
In Service,
Edith of Swanesdale, HE,
Matins Herald
SUBMISSONS – November (2025)
ITEMS SENT TO LAURELCressida Foster (New Household Name and New Household Badge sent to Laurel)
House of Briar and Birch
This is a Household Name submission. The submitter will accept NO changes.
House is an accepted designator for households as per SENA Appendix E.
Briar and Birch is the substantive element, and is of the same time period as the designator "house" and both appear (separately) in the O & A. Birch is in use in Papworth, John W. Ordinary of British Armorials. Vol. I.
The Household Name formation <House of heraldic charge + heraldic charge> is a pattern of English Inn Signs found in “Alys's Simple Guide to Household Names” [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/households.html].
Badge:
This is a Badge submission for joint ownership with Maurya Etain Sableswan.
(Fieldless) A hurst of birch trees cooped proper within and conjoined to a chaplet of thorn vine vert.
Crispus Claudius Scaevola (Resub to Kingdom Name Change sent to Laurel)
The name <Letalis Numidicus Ventus> was returned by the West Kingdom College of Heralds at the Sept 2025 meeting. This resubmission is a complete rework.
The West requests assistance in the documentation of this name. Specifically, the reference for <Crispus> lists it as a cognomen, which does not match the formation for a Roman name of <praenomen + nomen + cognomen>.
The previously registered Winfred Humes is to be released upon registration.
The submitter marked they would accept specific changes, but did not note any. The submitter cares about the language and/or culture (Ancient Roman) and gender (male) of the name. The submitter also requested the name be changed to be AUTHENTIC for 1st-3rd Century AD Roman.
Crispus - from [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/roman.html] listed under Cognomen.
Claudius - from [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/roman.html] listed under Nomen.
Scaevola - from "A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology" by William Smith, Ed.: Q. Cervi'dius Scae'vola [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0104%3Aalphabetic+letter%3DS%3Aentry+group%3D7%3Aentry%3Dscaevola-q-cervidius-bio-1].
Juger Knot (New Alternate Name sent to Laurel)
Zobeslaus Sybot Krappel submitted as an alternate name.
The submitter cares about the spelling (Krappel) and the gender (male) of the name.
Zobeslaus - from “Medieval German Given Names from Silesia, Men's Names”, by Talan Gwynek: Zobelaus, 1 instance, d.1319 [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/bahlow_v.htm].
Sybot - from “Medieval German Given Names from Silesia, Men's Names”, by Talan Gwynek: Sybot, 1 instance, d.1298, also spelled Sibot d.1197, 1303, and Seibot d.1344 and Siboto d.1242, 1292 [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/bahlow_v.htm].
Krappel - German byname found in FamilySearch, see:
Balthazar Krappel 13 March 1644 [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6JJL-W62G?lang=en] birth in Kärnten, Österreich.
The German name formation <given + double byname> is found in SENA Appendix A.
Keziah Godard (New Name and Device sent to Laurel)
The submitter will accept: minor spelling changes to surname (Godard, Goddard, Godhert, etc) or given name, and further cares about the sound (something close to my ancestors' surname of Godard/Goddard) and gender (female) of the name.
The submitter will NOT allow the creation of a holding name.
This name is intended to be English, mid/late 14th century, and understands the below documentation show Keziah to be slightly later. However, this name also appears in Hebrew and the Bible, leading the submitter to think it is plausible for this time period.
Keziah - a feminine given name in the 1563-1666 parish register for St Clements church (Ipswich, Suffolk, England) in a record for Keziah Tompson, baptism date 17 June 1599. Her mother’s name is also listed as Keziah.
- found in a Family Search record for Keziah Godfrey, christening date 20 May 1583 in Stoke Charity, Hampshire, England [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPR4-4LJY].
- found in a Family Search C-batch record for Keziah Gaile, christening date 7 Dec 1600 in Offord D’arcy, Huntingdonshire, England [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JSGV-BPV].
Godard - from [Bardsley] page 322 under “Goddard, Godart, Godard” a variety of spellings are listed as both a given and byname, including Godard, Goddard, Godhird, Goderd from 1273 to 1379.
The English name formation <given + byname> is found in SENA Appendix A.
Device:
Per chevron gules and argent, two cinquefoils Or and an open book azure.
Kursik the Hun (New Name sent to Laurel)
The submitter will accept the following changes: minor spelling changes or change of surname: Hunnis is acceptable, and further cares about the gender (male) of the name.
Kursik - from “The Huns, Rome and the Birth of Europe” by Hyun Jin Kim, pg 30.
the Hun - the Hun: Per NPN3A1. Languages of Lingua Societatis, the submitter has translated whatever form was used for <Hun> in the period with the <Kursik> spelling into modern English.
Lia le Citolur (New Device Change, Exchange of Primary and Alternate Names sent to Laurel)
The previously registered Per bend sinister azure and vert, on a bend sinister between two musical notes argent a rod gules and a flowering woodbine vert flowed Or entwined is to be retained as a badge.
Per bend vert and azure, a bend ermine between two cinquefoils argent seeded gules.
Lia requests that her current registered Primary Name <Lia Winterbourne> be switched with her current registered Alternate Name <Lia le Citolur>, making <Lia le Citolur> her Primary Name.
Magnus inn rauði (New Name sent to Laurel)
The previously registered Magnus the Red is to be retained as an alternate.
The submitter cares about the meaning (Magnus the Red) and gender (male) of the name.
Magnus - from [Geir Bassi] p.13:
inn rauði - from [Viking Bynames found in the Landnámabók]: byname inn rauði meaning red with 10 occurrences [https://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/norse/vikbynames.html].
The Old Norse name formation <given + byname> is found in SENA Appendix A.
Osterhild Isentrud Krappel (New Name sent to Laurel)
The submitter cares about the spelling (Krappel) of the name.
Osterhild - from “Medieval German Given Names from Silesia, Women's Names”, by Talan Gwynek: Osterhild, 1 instance, d.1350, also Osterhildis c.1300 [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/bahlow_v.htm].
Isentrud - from “Medieval German Given Names from Silesia, Women's Names”, by Talan Gwynek: Isentrud, 1 instance, d.1352, also spelled Ysentrud d. 1305 and 1385 [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/bahlow_v.htm].
Krappel - German byname found in FamilySearch, see:
Balthazar Krappel 13 March 1644 [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QPD5-8JFR?lang=en] in Neckergemünd, Neckargemünd, Baden, Preußen.
Jörgr Krappel 12 March 1639. Death [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QP8B-P5T9?lang=en] in Frankenhausen, Frankenhausen, Frankenhausen, Schwarzburg, Deutschland.
Hans Krappel 30 October 1595 [https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6JJL-W62G?lang=en] birth in Kärnten, Österreich.
The German name formation <given + double byname> is found in SENA Appendix A.
Teufelberg, Shire of (New Badge sent to Laurel)
This badge is to be for the use of the populace of the Shire and is supported with a Petition for registration signed by the Officers of the Shire.
Argent, two pitchforks in saltire gules, a chief wavy azure, issuant from base a mountain sable.
RETURNS – November (2025)
Cernach (New Name and Device Returned)
Returned for administrative reasons: lack of payment of submission fees.
Halfdane Grottison (New Name & Device Returned)
This name is returned for lack of documentation of <Grottison>: while this can be documented as a magical millstone or a trollwoman, the West heralds were unable to document it as a human’s name within SCA period.
Further note that the documentation found for the closest option for this given name is for <Hálfdan>.
This device is returned in part because the name is returned. As the submitter thus has no previously registered or in-process name, per the rules of the SCA College of Arms the device submission cannot proceed.
Under consideration of the device submission, it is also returned for lack of a color-image of the armory, a requirement for submission. Also, depending on the notations of the tinctures to be used in a color-version, there are issues of conflicting colors listed and also lack of contrast with either metal-on-metal or color-on-color used in the blazon.
Morgaine (New Name & Device Returned)
Returned for administrative reasons: lack of payment of submission fees.
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