Minutes of the January, 2026 Heralds Meeting

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MINUTES OF THE HERALDS MEETING – January 4, 2026
(9:32 AM to 10:40 PM)

ATTENDEES:

Domamir Vlatko syn, Vesper; Moira O’Connor, Compline; Edith of Swanesdale, Matins; Hirsch von Henford, Golem; Moira of Kent, Green Crown; Eilis O'Boirne, Baldric; Elewys Gwynne verch Llewelyn Dedewyth ap Gwenhwyfar Llwyd, Acting Seawolf; Teagan Ulfsdotter, Sable Swan; Victoria of Durham, Green Cloak; Aasa Thorvaldsdottir, Green Banner; Alizan dela Fontaine, HE; Richard Talbot, Cornet; William Appatheker vom Schwarzvalt; Keziah Godard.

COLLEGE OF HERALDS MEETINGS

The January meeting was held in person at Twelfth Night. 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: March TBD, 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.

**NOTE: the March meeting is under review to be rescheduled due to the Spring Crown event moving to the weekend the meeting was originally scheduled.

The DEADLINES for submission forms and documentation are: The 2026 DEADLINES for submissions forms and documentation are: March TBD, 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): Nothing major since the last meeting. Twelfth Night happened, Long Live the King and Queen of the West!


Seawolf (Elewys): Investiture went well. If anyone is interested in heraldry, please come to Heralds Point and express your interest. Walking up to someone in the middle of a task is not a good time to catch them and request training.


Sable Swan (Teagan): Teagan has had several newer heralds setting up at smaller events, learning and expressing interest. Working to support them and continue their growth. Teagan is seeking a deputy successor to train and backup this position, potential to step into the office at the end of term. Several people have expressed sadness that the open office that occurred during COVID is no longer around - this was a Society level. This is no longer available, but there is a heralds channel that is active on the West Kingdom Discord channel.


Stellanordica (Anne): Happy New Years!

Anne is sad that she will not see everyone at 12th Night, but sends greetings from Oertha! Nothing significant to report at this time. They have their Coronet coming up in a few weeks. Thanks to Vesper, they are well supplied with wax at this time. Anne’s emergency deputy is Caitriona, with her emergency, emergency back up being Eilis.

Anne should be at March Crown, if vacations are approved and looks forward to seeing everyone soon.


Exchequer (Moira), Interim (Caoilinn): The College is solvent. Exchequers have some rules changes coming from the Society level.

Only one check came through from PayPal.


Matins (Edith): Submissions continue to roll through the process. With the change to accepting e-pay through PayPal, please be aware that Matins only receives the list of payments right before the meeting. If a submission was previously not considered due to lack of payment, but the payment comes through without any prior warning to Matins, these submissions will be added for consideration at the meeting despite not being included in the iLoI in OSCAR.


Baldric (Eilis): Nothing to report since the last meeting.


Brachet (vacant), Leveret (Ræv).


Green Cloak (Victoria): Nothing to report.


Green Crown (Moira), Interim (Gillian): Welcome back to Moira, and thanks to Gillian for covering for her. Many thanks to all who heralded for Twelfth Night, and thanks to everyone for their patience while Moira organized all the court business, which delayed the start.

Discussion of the ceremony binders, possibly splitting out parts that are not often used, ways to organize the binders and keep them in better shape.


Green Trumpet (vacant): Vacant.


Green Banner (Aasa): Aasa continues to consult in person and virtually. However, she still is not able to attend all Kingdom events, which limits the reach of the Consultation Table. She is looking for a deputy who can learn and assist with taking the Table.


Golem (Hirsch): This holiday season got rather busy, but that’s not too surprising. Several Yule events had court reports, all of which came in within a few days of the events, which is pretty amazing (and thanks to all the heralds involved!).

Golem also had gall bladder surgery in the middle of all this, but is mostly recovered at this point.

The website has been backed up in its entirety (sometimes backups get done of just the data, or just the program code – this is everything), and by the time of the January meeting, a disc drive will have been handed off to Jared of Castlewood for archival / data recovery (if needed).

As has been posted before, Golem is looking for folk interested in doing parts of what are covered by this job, to learn how things work, and so on. See the heralds’ website, under “Jobs Opportunities”: https://heralds.westkingdom.org/JobOpenings.php.


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/

The West Kingdom web team have added a Discord channel for heraldry, which is used for consultation, look for the #heraldry group.:

      https://discord.gg/DF2uNqw7uA

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. (At this time the office of Brachet Herald is vacant.)


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.

October, 2025 LoAR (printed December 23, 2025) (West - July, 2025 LoI)

Cover Letter

Cover Letter

West Acceptances - October LoAR

Acceptances

West Returns - October LoAR

Returns

West Pended Items - October LoAR

Pends


In Service,
Edith of Swanesdale, HE,
Matins Herald


SUBMISSONS – January (2026)

ITEMS SENT TO LAUREL

Aasa Thorvaldsdottir (NEW Alternate Name and Badge sent to Laurel)

New Alternate Name: An Tae-dŏk

Submitter has no preference about the gender of the name and cares about the language/culture (14th c. Korean) and spelling (initials ATD).

Submitting as a 14th Century Korean name using name construction <clan name + given name-given name>. All name elements sourced from “Korean names from the 13th and 14th century (Goryeo)” by Michael Houghton (Herveus d’Ormonde) [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/Korean-names-Goryeo.pdf].

An - from Clan Names table as a McCure-Reischaur Romanization of the clan name p.5.

Tae- - from Personal Names in the First Position table as a McCure-Reischaur Romanization of the name p.6.

-dŏk - from Personal Names in the Second Position table as a McCure-Reischaur Romanization of the name p.9.

Badge to be associated with the Alternate Name An Tae-dŏk:
Fieldless, A sea-otter erect Or tailed vair.


Antei Kikaku (Change of Holding Name sent to Laurel)

Change of holding name: Antei of Golden Rivers

The submitter will accept the following changes: spelling, meaning, can change to not be Buddhist monastic if necessary. And further cares about the sound (“Auntie Kiki”) and culture (Japanese, Buddhist monastic preferred if possible), and has no gender preference.

Submitting “Antei Kikaku” (安亭希覚) as Japanese Buddhist Monastic using name construction "<dougou> + <imina>" as described in NCMJ: "A zen monk would often use his dougou in place of his more formal azana in daily life. Consequently, the dougou precedes the imi'na when it is substituting for the azana in a complete name." ( SN Chinese Style Names, Buddhist Monks, pg 53).

Antei - formed as a dougou per [NCMJ] p.53 “A Zen monk would often use his dougou in place of his more formal azana in daily life. Consequently, the dougou precedes the imi’na when it is substituting for the azana in a complete name. As the dougou expresses a desire to achieve enlightenment or an understanding of what enlightenment, it is typically composed of two elements the first of which is descriptive while the second is the word for some type of human habitation.”

from “an” a Kanji commonly found in Buddhist names (descriptive element) p.56, and “tei” from a list of habitats found in names of monks and artists p.54, both from [NCMJ].

Kikaku - formed as an imi’na per [NCMJ] p.53 “like the imi’na, the azana is composed of two kanji, the first descriptive and the second substantive.

from “ki” a Kanji commonly found in Buddhist names (descriptive element) and “kaku” a Kanji commonly found in Buddhist names (substantive element), both found in p.56 [NCMJ].


Cernach Hrørecsson (Resub to Kingdom Name sent to Laurel, Device Returned)

Returned at the Nov 2025 meeting for lack of payment of the submission fees.

The submitter marked they will accept some changes to their name, but did not note what changes. They also care about the sound (sounds like ROR-ik-son, starts with Cern of Kern) and gender (male) of the name.

Cernach - from No Copy Source: Index of Names in Irish Annals by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (Kathleen M. O'Brien) at [https://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/]. From the specific page at [https://medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Cernach.shtml].

Hrørecsson - from Old Norse in [Lind] col. 594 s.n. Hrorekr (SOH) 995-1030. Genitive of Hrørec.

The Old Norse name formation <given + patronymic> is acceptable per SENA Appendix A. Gaelic and Old Norse can be combined per SENA Appendix C.

See Returns for Device


Jóra the Sharpe (NEW Device sent to Laurel)

Quarterly per fess wavy azure and gules, a pegasus segreant contourny argent.



Loys de la Roche (NEW Name and Device sent to Laurel)

The submitter will accept the following changes: time, sound, spelling of given and surname. And further cares about the sound (culture (French), given name similar to “Loyce” and surname construction “de la”) and gender (male) of the name.

Submitting Loys de la Roche as 13th century French using name construction <given> de la <toponym> described in SENA Appendix A, French.

Loys - found 4 times in “Personal names found in the Armorial du dénombrement de la Comté de Clermont en Beauvaisis” by Brunissende Dragonette (1373-1376, SN Masculine given names) [https://www.s-gabriel.org/names/brunissende/ArmorialClermont.pdf].

de la Roche - from “French Names from Two Thirteenth Century Chronicles” by Arval Benicoeur (Josh Mittleman), SN Places Names used in Locative Surnames [https://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/crusades/crusadesLieux.html].

Submitter cares most about having a French given name similar to “Loyce” and surname using construction “de la”.

Device:
Per pale azure and gules, three swords Or.


Morgaine de Leu (Resub to Kingdom Name & Device sent to Laurel)

Returned at the Nov 2025 meeting for lack of payment of submission fees.

The submitter will NOT accept ANY changes to the name.

Morgaine - from the mundane name allowance, documentation of given name of <Morgaine> provided: drivers license.

de Leu - from “The Dictionary Of Art”, Turner 1996, vol. 19: Thomas de Leu 1560-1612; "Leu, Thomas de", p. 257

An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris by Lord Colm Dubh (Scott Catledge) at [https://heraldry.sca.org/names/paris.html] has <le Leu> and <au Leu>.

Names in the 1292 Census of Paris by Sara L. Uckelman (known in the SCA as Aryanhwy merch Catmael) [https://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/1292paris.pdf] has <au Leu> on p. 79 and <le Leu> on p. 196 and several combinations such as <de Pisse-Leu>.

de: Leu: Both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the British Museum lists his prints as published by Thomas de Leu [https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/399365] and [https://www.bmimages.com/results.asp?txtkeys1=thomas%20de%20leu].

Thomas de Leu or Leeuw or Le Leup or Deleu (1560-1612)[1] was a French engraver, publisher, and print dealer of Flemish origin.[2][3]

The French name formation <given + byname> is found in SENA Appendix A.

Device: Sable, a goose rising maintaining a spear argent, on a chief ermine three roses gules.


Músa-Ýrr (NEW Device Change)

The previously registered Quarterly sable and gules, a mouse sejant erect, in chief three dragonflies argent is to be released upon registration.

Sable, a rat sejant erect maintaining a sewing needle atop a spool of thread argent between flaunches argent semy of dragonflies sable.



RETURNS – January (2026)

Cernach Hrørecsson (Resub to Kingdom Name sent to Laurel, Device Returned)

See Submissions for Name

Blazoned as: Gules, three stags rampant in annulo Or.

These stags are not in annulo, as their orientation is in no way consistent as moving around a circle.

Even if they were so arranged, in annulo of three charges is no longer allowed. Please note current College of Arms ruling:

Per the Nov 2024 CL: "In annulo is also used in past registrations to describe arrangements that are better blazoned in other ways. As noted on the August 2019 Cover Letter:

Two charges cannot be arranged "in annulo" as their relative placement is more accurately described as "in pale," "in bend," "in fess," etc. Likewise, three charges cannot be arranged "in annulo" as their placement can be more accurately described as "one and two" or the default for three charges, "two and one." And four charges cannot be arranged "in annulo" when "in cross" or "in saltire" are more accurate descriptions." (https://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2024/11/24-11cl.html#3)

See also Aug 2019 CL: https://heraldry.sca.org/loar/2019/08/19-08cl.html#3.

Additionally: "There are many ways the orientation of the charges can be blazoned to show they are not in their default orientation - feet to center,[...]" (Nov 2024 CL)

This submission could potentially be altered to Gules, three stags rampant one and two Or. Or a variety of other options with allowed orientations. Please review the requirements and/or work with your consulting herald for a resubmission. On the resubmission, please note the original submission was from 11-2025 with a resubmission from 01-2026.


Winfred Humes (NEW Device Change Returned)

Returned for Administrative Reasons - payment of submissions fees not received by the meeting.


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