CAMeL

April/May 1999
Bumper Double Issue

Those wonderful people who helped.

Lady Katerina da Brescia , Daffyd Wallraven and Master Tovye Woolmongere

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

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

Baryl Pursuivant: position vacant

Bombard Pursuivant: þorfinn Hrolfsson. Ceremonies deputy.

Drop Dead Deputy and Sydney Regional Mentor: position vacant

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".

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.

Late again
I am sorry about the lateness of this Camel. We have had illness, and I have been very busy at work. Also, there were no submissions that needed checking in May, so I did not hold a Crux meeting. The June Camel will be on time, promise.

My term is over in September. I am looking for a successor. Please write or e-mail me for a job description. Being Crux can be incredible rewarding, and is definitely an education. If you are strong in book heraldry, administration, diplomacy and computers/desktop publishing, please consider applying for the job. I will consider applications from people with others who can produce the Camel, but you do need to be reliable with paperwork.

I am not doing a second term as Crux. Please call or write to me if you at all interested. You may not think you have the skills or experience, but you may be unrating yourself. All former Cruxes would agree that you learn a lot of this job by doing.

If you know any former experienced heralds who may be interested, please encourage them to reply.

I have decided not to have someone else look after the roster in the few months I hope I have in office. Thanks to those who expressed interest.

Use the New Forms
You must be using the new forms now for all submissions. I will return submissions on the old forms. All groups should have received copies of the new forms last year. They are also available from my website.

Please re-read the Submission Requirements set out below. I have made some changes which I hope will make them clearer.

On "Notes for Scribes"
On the old submission forms, there was a spot called "Notes to Scribe." The new forms do not have a special space. However, feel free to write "scribes notes" in the blank are on the lower right of the form. This is where you should note any details that are "significant" to the submitter, but that make no heraldic difference. Examples of useful notes to the scribes might be "Please make the lion's eyes blue," or "Make sure the unicorn has a twisted horn," or "I'd like the dragon drawn in the German style," or "Please use metallic silver," or "Please use this style of ermine tail." Another good one is "I'm not a good artist. Please don't duplicate my drawing exactly."

When a device or badge is registered, a copy of the drawing is sent to the College of Scribes. If they prepare any scrolls, they'll use your drawing as a guide. Quite often, they'll use their "artist's license" to make the design as attractive as possible. But if a submitter wants something specific, it's up the them to say so - in the spot marked "Notes to Scribe."

Process submissions promptly.
This ,and the next topic are repeated from the Lochac Heraldic Policy, as I have received several submissions lately that have dates two and more months old.

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's been around for years. Once you've accepted money for a submission, or have gotten a resubmission, you owe it to the submitter 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, your 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 all keep it that way. The new forms have a space on the bottom for local heralds (that's you) to keep track of the date the funds were received, the action taken with the submission, and the date it was sent to me. I do the same with the external section.

How To Return a Submission [September 1988] If you're a local herald, and receive a paid submission that you're sure is not acceptable, and you can explain the reason simply and quickly to the submitter, 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.

Branch name/ device submissions. See my comments on the submission from Drakkar's Fjord. The Branch name submission form makes the requirements clear. However, as Pegasus only prints a full Regnum occasionally, you will need to list the officers and or members of the branch when you submit the petition.

Torlyon. Congratulations on finally becoming an official group. Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy. Another future herald?

Innilgard. It is pleasing to see some promising new heralds. The Canton has died, which is a pity. I am pleased things appear to be going well. The College of Blessed Herman has a new herald. I welcome her to our College. Thanks to Gruffydd for his service.

Castellum Montanum has a new herald, Hrófr Hreggiðarson . Thanks to Melyor the Elusive for her service. Reports are due quarterly. I will accept e-mail reports, but always request confirmation in case they don't arrive.

Quarterly reports due by 20th June.

Master (Thorfinn) þorfinn is the person to talk to about heraldic publications. þorfinn stocks the following items:
Heraldic Pictorial Dictionary for the SCA

first ed. $A8.50
second ed. $A12.50
original from Free Trumpet Press $US15 You can order directly from the USA via Free Trumpet Press. Details of their web site are below (they now take credit cards).

I also recommend that groups acquire some name resources, in particular Reaney, P.H. & Wilson, R.M. A Dictionary of English Surnames and Withycombe ,E.G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names.

The Crux Australis web page at http://www.sca.org.au/herald contains useful information for heralds, and links to the SCA Heraldry page, and other general SCA pages. If you have web access, I recommend that you take a look.

Many interesting heraldic links can be found through the SCA Heraldry web page at http://www.sca.org/heraldry including the Laurel home page, on-line armorial and ordinary search, and the Academy of St. Gabriel (an heraldic consultation service).
The Free Trumpet Press West web page is http://www.sca.org/heraldry/ftpw or email klconlin@ilstu.edu

Cost: $20 per name, and $20 per device or badge. No cost for resubmissions. Make cheques payable to "SCA Inc College of Heralds". Use the new forms only.

Copies required for submissions:

• Names: 4 copies of Name form and ALL documentation, including title page of each book.
• Devices/Badges: 4 COLOUR copies and one BLACK & WHITE outline 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. Do not give me a Black and White photocopy of a coloured device. The only black parts should be the outline, and the sable parts (if any). The LoI I send to Laurel must contain a mini-emblazon. This is used in commentary meetings in other kingdoms, and is often coloured in to assist the meeting. That is why the B&W version must be in outline.

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.

1. Catigern y Goch
Mundane name: Kathryn Fletcher
Group: Politarchopolis
Consulting herald: Self

Resubmission of name and device returned by Vesper March 1996.
Sable a frauenadler displayed Or crined purpure and a tierce bendy sinister Or and purpure.

Her previous name submission Nimuë na Ruad was returned by Vesper as Nimuë is not documentable as being used by ordinary humans in period. Her alternate using Catigern was also returned. She has resubmitted Catigern y Goch which is Welsh. Catigern is a male name. She is aware of this and doesn't care about the gender of her name. Catigern was a son of king Vortigern. The name appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's History of the Kings of Britain. p127. y Goch is Welsh for the Red. The submittor cares most about the sound of the first name and the meaning of the by name.

The device was returned by Vesper for a redraw as the teirce was so wide it gave the appearance of marshalled arms. The redraw has corrected this.

2. Conan MacAindreis
Mundane name: Mark Anderson
Group: Stormhold
Consulting herald: name- Pedair, device- Eleanora

New name and device

Gules a sword quillioned of balance pans, a bordure argent ermined gules.

Conan is an Old Gaelic personal name dated to 1262 (Black p 166). MacAindreis is in Black p 452 as the gaelic for "son of Andrew". The submittor wants a male name and the Scottish language/culture of the name is most important. He will not accept major changes to his name.

3. Drakkar's Fjord, Canton of
Consulting herald: Aldric Greybeard
New name and device.

Gules a drakkar Or, the sail charged with a laurel wreath vert and a base barry wavy of four argent and azure.

This came close to being returned for lack of documentation of the name. While drakkar and fjord are both Norse words, they have been assembled here using modern English grammar. Norse place names, to my knowledge, were generally single words. I have found examples of place names containing the word fjord, but they are single compound words. They also have a personal name combined with the place, e.g. Breidafjord, Hrafrsfjord, or a place, e.g. Hardangerfjord. Apostrophe s ('s) was not used in Norse to my knowledge.

The canton does permit grammatical changes, so I will change it to one word, and submit it to Laurel on the basis that they want it to mean "drakkar's fjord", and let her otherwise look at the grammar.

The device came close to being returned for excessive complexity. There are three different charges and five tinctures. This gives total of eight items, which are the maximum permitted under the RfS. I would have liked to have seen the laurel wreath gules or azure. Laurel wreaths do not have to be green!. Group arms should be a good example of simple heraldry. I won't return this, but I hope that future groups try to aim for simplicity in their devices.

Also, the petition did not strictly comply with the Adminsitrative Handbook IV.C.5. Evidence of support from a canton needs to be demonstrated by a petition of a majority of the populace, or the seneschal and three-quarter's of the officers. I have assumed that all of the members have been polled. In future, I would like to see a list of officers, or a list of all members in the branch.

4. Nicolette de Coulours

Mundane name: Nicki Davis
Group: Innilgard
Consulting herald: Tovye Woolmongere

New name and device

Quarterly purpure and vert a hippogryff segreant Or.

Nicolette is a French and Italian female form of Nicholas, Withycombe p 228. Coulours is a town in France that appears in The Atlas of the Crusades the location of a Templar house in France in 1307. The submittor will not accept major changes. She wants a female name authentic for 12th-14th Century.

5. Ulfrikr inn Hrafn

Mundane name: Dirk Scmitt
Group: Vindr Halda
Consulting herald: none given

Resubmission of device to Crux. Name submitted to Laurel February 1999. While a previous Crux appears to have received the money for a device, no device submission remains on file. It may be that it was not received.

Paly bendy argent and sable an eagle's wing sinister fesswise terminating in a hand bearing a sword gules.

I am uncertain whether Laurel will find that the position of the sword is unblazonable, as it is neither in bend or in fess. I'll leave it up to her.

6. Wilfrid de Ackelonde

Resubmission of device. Name registered in August 98. Chequy sable and argent a dragon rampant gules.

His submission was returned in March 1999 by Laurel for lack of a mini-emblazon.

Black George F. The Surnames of Scotland
Riley-Smith, Jonathan, The Atlas of the Crusades , Times Books
Withycombe E.G., The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, Oxford University Press, UK, 1979

No Crux meeting held in May, as no submissions received.

Registrations
Declan of Drogheda. Name and device. Argent, a phrygian cap purpure.

Gawaine Tristram of Blackmoore. Name (see RETURNS for device).

Gryffyd Ruddlan. Name. Submitted as Gryffyd gan Ruddlan, period Welsh names do not use the preposition gan which means of or from. Therefore, we have removed it.

Rathnait inghean ui Chaireall{a'}in. Name (see RETURNS for device). Submitted as Rathnat ni Chairell{a'}in, the submitter wanted the name to be authentic for 13th-14th Century Irish. Therefore we have changed the connective to the proper form, and we have corrected the spelling of the given name.

Raichbhe Walkman. Name and device. Per bend sinister gules and purpure, a cartwheel argent.

Returns
Gawaine Tristram of Blackmoore. Device. Quarterly argent and azure, a wyvern erect to sinister gules. This conflicts with the registered badge of Graidhne ni Ruaidh (Fieldless) A dragon rampant to sinister gules maintaining a straight trumpet Or. There is no type difference for wyvern to dragon and nothing for the maintained charge.

Rathnait inghean ui Chaireall{a'}in. Name and device. Azure, a pair of shears and on a chief Or three bobbins sable. This is being returned for a redraw. While the charges on chief were blazoned as bobbins on he LoI, they do not resemble lace bobbins, which are what we refer to as bobbins. They are somewhat similar to quills of yarn or embroiderer s quills, but are dissimilar enough to them that we cannot reblazon them as either one. They most closely resemble the bobbins used on a serger sewing machine, but those are way out of period.

Wilfrid de Ackelonde. Device. Checky sable and argent a dragon rampant gules. This is being returned for administrative reasons. No mini-emblazon was included on the LoI

New Laurel
We are pleased to announce that at the March conference call meeting the Board of Directors selected Dame Elsbeth Anne Roth, Garnet Herald, to succeed me as Laurel. The official change over will take place at Known World in Sweden though she will not become officially Laurel until late July 1999. However, she will be processing submissions effective with the March LoIs, please send your laurel packets to her (Kathryn Van Stone, 1194 Firwood Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15243 (412) 306-0416 kvs@cs.cmu.edu). However, checks and hard copies of the LoIs still need to be sent to me.

She asks the College if they have any suggestions, comments, etc., on the running of the Laurel office, to contact her by e-mail or regular mail.

New Alternate Title
In the February cover letter I asked for commentary on the use of Messer as an Italian alternate for Master of the Laurel. After much thought I came to the following conclusion.

Given the pattern of usage in the historical examples, it would appear that Messer would be very appropriate for a non-martial knight-equivalent -- i.e., the equivalent of the SCA's orders of the Laurel and Pelican -- if not simply for the peerage orders in general. The arguments against boil down to two: that Messer could be used historically as a title by knights; and that Messer derives, linguistically, from the element sire (Sir in English), which the SCA has reserved to the Chivalry.

The first argument is weak, and seems based largely on the SCA's preference for a one-to-one correspondence between titles and categories -- i.e., that each reserved title should correspond to one and only one category of rank. Since there is a clear division in the existing reserved titles for peers between martial peerage titles and non-martial peerage titles, some may feel that a reserved title should designate one or the other category, but not both. Unless the SCA has some overriding vital interest in distinguishing at all times in speech between one of the peerage orders and the others, this argument fails. In the absence of an overriding special interest, historical usage should be our guide, and it is difficult to imagine a situation in which the potential use of the same title by both martial and non-martial peers would constitute a danger or hazard.

The second argument is stronger, but relies on an assumption that etymology is destiny. Words change meaning, particularly when they are used in new compounds or when borrowed from one language to another. The English form of address Dame has a different meaning and use than Latin domina, and different again from its derivative madame. This set of words provides a clear parallel to the title under consideration. Latin domina is reserved in the SCA alternate titles list as an equivalent to English Lady -- appropriate for holders of an AoA -- based on the social context of its use in Latin, and similarly "madame" in French. English dame, on the other hand, is reserved as a title for members of the peerage (of any order), based on the social context of its use in English. Thus we have a clear precedent that the derivation of a word does not dictate the uses for which we choose to reserve it (or not), but rather we may consider the historic use to which a particular form was put in making our decision. Both Messer and Messire are clearly different words from Sir(e) and are unlikely to be confused with it in use. Therefore we are free to base any reservation of the former titles on actual historic patterns of use -- patterns that feature non-martial knights and, in some cases, contrast the use of these titles for non-martial knights with the use of cavaliere for martial knights.

Therefore, we are adding Messer to our alternate title list, in the Italian section for use by both Masters of the Laurel and Masters of the Pelican.

Registrations
All Saints, College of. Name (see RETURNS for device).

Leofwynn Wulfinga and Eric Alard. Badge (see RETURNS for household name). Per pale argent and gules, a goblet counterchanged.

Michael de Biggleswade. Name and device. Per bend sinister gules and vert, an ermine statant ermine.

Returns
S{e'}amus {o'} Cuile{a'}in. Badge. (Fieldless) A cross formy convex Or. His proposed device Vert, a cross formy convexed Or within a stag's attires, a bordure raguly argent. was returned on the December 1998 LoAR for the undocumented form of his cross. At that time we said:

The submitter has appealed the previous return of his submission for using a non-period cross by providing a copy of a picture from Foster's Dictionary of Heraldry which shows a similar cross. However, he was only able to find the cross he wants in one place in Foster's, and Foster's is a 19th century redraw of medieval armory. And, Foster was not copying from medieval originals, but rather from 18th and 19th century editions of Renaissance copies of the medieval originals. Brault's redraw in Aspologia III shows a standard cross.

He also provided a copy of a period woodcut, showing a cross similar, but not identical to what he is submitting. Since the cross he is submitting is not the same as what is in the period woodcut, it does not help his case. Since we have used this woodcut for documentation in a different case to register the cross in the woodcut as an unblazoned variant of formy, if he resubmits drawing the cross to look like the one in the woodcut, barring any other problems, it should be acceptable.

Since this is the same cross that was returned previously, we see no reason to overturn that ruling.

Red L{o'}rien of Oak River. Device. Gules, a sword inverted winged, blade on a bed of flames inverted, in chief three compass stars, all within an orle of oak leaves Or. This submission suffers from the same problem which resulted in a return to Walram von Laufenberg (Fieldless) A flame gules, winged argent, surmounted by the blade of a sword proper. on the May 1998 LoAR. At that time we said:

While blazoned on the LoI as (Fieldless) Between a pair of wings argent a sword proper blade enflamed gules., we have reblazoned to more accurately reflect the emblazon, as Period enflamed has a few gouttes of flame scattered around the edge of the charge being enflamed. Where the flame completely surrounds an object, that object is said to be 'on a flame.'" (Da'ud ibn Auda, LoAR May 1992, p. 26). "We don't permit flaming fimbriation in Society armory." (Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme, 24 July 1993 Cover Letter (with the June 1993 LoAR), pp. 5-6).

We see no reason to overturn our ruling, and we are returning this for the same reason.

LOCHAC

All Saints, College of. Device. Azure, a robed man arms outstretched argent, haloed Or, maintaining in his sinister hand a laurel wreath Or. This conflicts with Gilrae of Moorburn Azure, a fox-headed woman affronty statant, hands crossed at the waist, vested argent. with no countable differences.

Aneala, Barony of. Order name for Order of the Valiant Swans of Aneala. This was an appeal of a return by Laurel in November 1996. The original return was because the order name was in the plural and a group name was attached, neither of which had period documentation. They have provided documentation for the use of a group name in an order name, and for plural usage, but these both come from translations of order names from modern sources. This is not evidence that it was done in period. This is especially relevant in the case of the plural, since every exemplar used knights and no other word in the plural.

Jocelyn ni Morgunn. Name. This is being returned for construction problems. Jocelyn is a distinctly English form and it does not seem to have migrated to Ireland so there is no Irish form parallel to it. Morgunn is Welsh and takes ferch not ni. Since she will not take major changes we are forced to return this, but the most logical and registerable form for this name would be Jocelyn Morgan.

Leofwynn Wulfinga and Eric Alard. Household name for House Red. This is being returned for incorrect construction. No documentation was presented for the form House Red, and no period analogies could be found. Possible models for household names include Scottish clans (Clan Stewart), ruling dynasties (House of Anjou), professional guilds (Baker's Guild of Augsburg, Worshipful Company of Coopers), military units (The White Company), and inns (House of the White Hart).

[Note from Crux: they didn't want to register the name anyway!]