CAMeL

January 1998

Those wonderful people who helped.

Master Tovye Woolmongere (Tony Stankiewicz) PE

Sunday 1st February, 2pm. Meetings will usually be on the first Sunday of the month at 2pm. Call first if you are bringing a submission to the meeting.

Aron Paul
Andrew Pass

Hund Herald: þorfinn Hrolfsson. External commentary franchise and heraldic publications. [Steven Roylance] 1592 Malvern Road, Glen Iris VIC 3146. Ph (03) 9885 6348.

Cannon Pursuivant: Hoas Windchaser. Precedence and Gentry list. [Danny Bartel] PO Box 1623 Kersbrook SA 5231. Ph (08) 8389 3404.

Baryl Pursuivant: Thomas Flamanc of Kelsale. External commentary. [John Sawyer] Ph (03) 9543 4847.

Bombard Pursuivant: þorfinn Hrolfsson. Ceremonies deputy.

Drop Dead Deputy: Giles Leabrook [Braddon Giles] 66/122 Saunders Street Pyrmont NSW 2009. Also Sydney region mentor.

Positions vacant:Field/voice deputy; regional mentors.

C.A.M.(e).L. is available from Crux Australis at $20 per year. Make cheques payable to "SCA Inc. College of Heralds".

Note that due to lower production costs, the Camel will cost $20 a year from 1st January 1998.

The CAMeL is also archived on my web site, along with other useful information. Look at http://www.sca.org.au/herald/

Laurel's Letter of Acceptance and Return is available from the SCA College of Arms, C/O Mistress Sionyn Muirgen niDhomnall, Pelican Queen of Arms, Jackie Watson, 3532 Winding Wind Cove, Bartlett, TN 38135-3044, USA for US$25 per year. Make cheques payable to "SCA Inc. - College of Arms".

Please note that everything of relevance to Lochac will be published in the CAMeL.

This is the first of an occasional series of helpful tips for heralds. Please let me know if you have any suggestions for future topics.

This month I will look at an important part of any herald's job - voice work. When on duty, you are the voice of the Crown, and so you need to be heard.

Voice Heraldry

In Field work your aims are to be heard, and to protect your voice. You should know your limitations. No-one should herald a long tourney by themselves. Try and have at least one other person to give you a break.

Position yourself with an eye to layout of the tourney site, considering prevailing winds and the location of Royalty, fighters and spectators.

• You need to be heard by the fighters, so stay near them.
• Your voice will carry better with the prevailing wind than against it, so stand upwind of fighters and populace if possible.

You may need to move about if the site is large and do two calls.

Check that you can pronounce all the names in the list. (Ask the fighters if necessary) The Convention is only to use titles earned on the field. So do not worry about any titles except "Sir", "Viscount", "Prince" and "King". If you are inexperienced, have a copy of the litany (script) with you..

For duty work, wait for silence after calling "Oyez Oyez" If the populace does not fall silent, repeat yourself. You are the voice of the crown. What you have to say is important to at least some of them. However, do not get angry or annoyed if people will not stop talking. Try saying "Pray silence for the herald" or " Pray silence for an announcement". If the problem persists, try speaking to your B&B or Seneschal about ways of educating the populace.

I will write another time about the content of announcements. You can't expect silence if you continue to make inappropriate or too frequent announcements.

Care of your voice

Have a drink of water or cordial with you. Do not drink alcohol while on duty. It won't improve your performance.

• Avoid icy drinks as they cause your vocal chords to constrict (this can damage them).
• Milk drinks can "clag" up your voice.
• Stay relaxed - tension will hurt your voice.
• Warm up your voice.
  
  (I usually hum a little. Humming places your voice forward in your mouth, and takes the strain off our vocal chords. Speaking "forward" rather than back in your throat is a skill singers use, and one worth practising.)
• Wear a hat.
• Project, don't shout.
• Ask for feedback on your "performance". (Could you be heard? Were your words clear?)
• Speak slowly. Don't drag your words, but slow your normal speed down a little, and pay a bit more attention to pronouncing your words clearly.

On Projection:

Projecting is basically talking loudly to the furthest point at which you wish to be heard. In a hall, this is the back wall. In a tourney, it is just past the last member of the populace.

To project, look and think at the person/point you are speaking to. This sounds hard, but we do it all the time. For example, when we are talking to a person near us, and then need to speak to another one across a room, we automatically raise our voice.

For projection to work properly, you need some vocal "equipment". Your voice is just air, so the more and better controlled your breath is, the better your projection. Think of your voice as a column of air rising from your stomach, and flowing easily out of your mouth. Breath from your diaphragm, not the top of your chest. Your diaphragm is at the bottom of your ribs. Your stomach and ribs should expand when you breathe.

I cannot give a voice production class in the Camel. If you want to know more, speak to a trained singer, if you have one in your group. There are good books on voice for amateur actors. There may be acting or singing classes in your area if you are really keen.

Much of this is in the West Kingdom Herald's Handbook. If you have not read it, I recommend it. It is available from Master Þorfin. Prices on application due to the fluctuating exchange rate.

Better late than never

Since the last Camel, reports have been received from:

Dismal Fogs

Please note that you are not the groups official herald until you have signed a roster letter. Please will everyone note that your first duty, even before you are sworn in, is to write to me and get rostered. When I was Baroness, we refused to swear in any officer who had not written to their superior.

Torlyon

St Florians

Rowany

Not really a report, but it is good to receive a letter of introduction from Caterina del Vino.

The next quarterly reports are due from all groups by 1st April 1998.

Master (Thorfinn) þorfinn is the Australian Agent for Free Trumpet Press. As the Australian dollar is plunging in value, I have not included a price list as it will already be out of date. Contact þorfinn directly for the latest prices. I also recommend that groups acquire some name resources, in particular Reaney and Withycombe.

Cost: $15 per name, and $15 per device or badge. No cost for resubmissions. Make cheques payable to "SCA Inc College of Heralds".

We currently send US$3 (approximately AUS$4.50) to Laurel for each item This will rise as of 1st January 1998 to US$4 (approximately AUS$ 5.90). I will try and absorb the cost increase form as long as possible, but if the Aussie dollar continues to drop, I will have to increase my charges.

Copies required for submissions:

• Names: 4 copies of Name form and ALL documentation, including title page of each book.
• Devices/Badges: 5 COLOUR copies and one BLACK & WHITE copy. The colour copies should be accurately coloured, preferably in felt tip pen. e.g.. Crayola Classic Colours. Faint colour printers or faint coloured pencil is not acceptable. The colours must be visible across a crowded Herald's meeting!

I will reject submissions without a black and white copy as I need to scan it to produce the Letter of Intent for Laurel.

Please check that submitters have ALL documentation. Remember, they have to present their submission in a way that makes registration easy. Name documentation should be as accurate as possible, and copies supplies unless the reference is standard such as Reaney and Withycombe. Even then, the page and edition should be quoted.

I know that some of you have few name resources. There is a lot of help available if you ask for it. I or someone overseas may well be able to help with that tricky name. If you cannot document a name well, you can still submit it, BUT submitters should be made aware that if they check the 'make no changes' box, their name will be returned even if ONE letter is incorrect.

Most submissions I have seen are of an excellent quality. However, it saddens me to return a good submission just because the artwork or documentation is incomplete.

Lochac Heraldic Policy

I recently found Master Gereint Scholar' heraldic policy from his term as Crux. I will be republishing extracts, as much of it is relevant and has not been said in some time.

File the Camels! [September 1988]

Keep the Camels in a file somewhere. I use a ring binder, and keep the letters in reverse chronological order (i.e. newest at the front), but you might find a manila folder more convenient. Whichever method you adopt, make sure you don't lose the Camels. If you ask me for information that I sent you only a month or two beforehand, I won't be impressed.

Process Submissions Promptly! [September 1988]

No paid heraldic submission or resubmission may stay at any level for more than 30 days. This isn't a new policy, but one that has been around for years.

Once you've accepted money for a submission, or have gotten a resubmission, you owe it to the submittor to pass it on as quickly as possible. Don't hang on to a submission or two until you "have enough to make it worth sending them on". Trust me, you superior officers will enjoy hearing from you every month! And equally, Vesper and I will not enjoy hearing of submissions delayed too long in one place. The West Kingdom is one of the few in the Known World with no backlog of submissions to be processed. Let's keep it that way.

How to Return a Submission [September 1988]

If you're a local herald, and receive a submission that you're sure is not acceptable, and you can explain the reason simply and quickly to the submittor, do so, and return their money to them until they're ready to try again. If you have any doubts, send the submission and the money up the line. If it needs returning I'll return it and write a letter explaining why- and take the blame.

Canton of Bacchus Wood

Name Registered.

Device: Or, on an amphora purpure a laurel wreath Or , in chief three goutes de vin.

This submission has was previously rejected as it did not have a petition of support from the populace. It now has the appropriate accompanying petition.

Registrations

Cecily de Montsalvy. Name

Corrections to errors in previous Letters

Claire Marie Alderton. Device. Or, a Donnelly knot gules, on a chief vert three quills Or.

The blazon inadvertently capitalized both gules and vert.

Stevyn of Leicester. Device. Quarterly sable and azure, in bend sinister two single-headed chess knights contourny argent

The blazon inadvertently capitalised argent.

Ursula von Auerbach. Name change from Wolfgang von Auerbach.

The LoAR typoed the given name as Urusla, and left out the name change.

Registrations

Antonia Ruccellai. Name change from Saraid na Stoirme and device change. Azure, a cross of Toulouse argent.

Submitted as Antonia da Ruchellai, the correct Italian form is Ruccellai, with no preposition. We have corrected the name as the submitter allows. Her former device Purpure goutee d'eau, a chief invected argent., is hereby released. Since X.2 (Sufficient Difference) can apply between two crosses, we have no problem in granting X.2 between these two crosses.

Caterina Ruzzini. Name change from Isabella di Montefeltro and device change. Sable, a winged lion statant guardant haloed Or.

Her former device, Azure a compass star and on a chief Or, three crescents sable., is hereby released.

Gareth de Grey. Name change from Gareth Greystone and device change. Sable, an hour glass argent. His former device Per fess sable and argent, a pale counterchanged between in chief two hourglasses argent, overall a dragon segreant gules., is hereby released.

Marcellus the Damascene. Name.

Mö ngke Bukha. Name and device. Or, three wolves teeth issuant from dexter and a base wavy purpure.

Sian Llwydwyn. Device change. Sable, a dragon passant and on a chief argent three roses sable slipped and leaved vert. Her former device Sable, a dragon displayed and on a chief argent three garden roses sable., is hereby released.

Timoteo Alvaraes. Name and device. Azure, in pale two sea lions naiant Or.

Returns

None!

Pended

Caterina Ruzzini. Badge. Gules, three Catharine wheels Or.

It has been proposed that these arms be added to our protected list for the following reason:

This badge is identical to the arms born by Katherine Roel, better known by the name she bore during her first marriage, Katharine Swynford. (See the illustration of these arms in Louda and Maclagan, Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe, Table 5). Katherine was the morganatic wife of the Duke of Gaunt and it was from this marriage that the Beaufort Earls and Dukes of Somerset descended. Ultimately, this line provided legitimacy to the somewhat dubious claims of the Tudor line through the marriage of Margaret Beaufort to Edmund Tudor. While these arms do not appear in the current on-line armorial, they definitely should be protected. Note that Katherine s father was Sir Giles Roel or Roelt, a Flemish knight who served as Guienne King of Arms for Aquitaine in the fourteenth century and these arms appear in many period heraldic rolls.