Crux Australis Herald
Lord Uberto Renaldi [mka Nigel Castle]
GPO Box 2719, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia
phone: (08) 8336 6791 or intl +618 8336 6791
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Crux Australis Herald Lord Uberto Renaldi [mka Nigel Castle] GPO Box 2719, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia phone: (08) 8336 6791 or intl +618 8336 6791 |
"The CAMeL"
October 1999 (A.S. XXXIV)
Unto the College of Heralds of the Principality of Lochac, and all others who may read this missive, from Lord Uberto Renaldi, Crux Australis Herald, greetings!
In this issue…..
Introduction and Thanks | "Who is this guy?" | November Coronet | Reports
Important addresses | Roster changes | Subscriptions | Are you missing something?
Submission requirements | Meeting schedule | Recent submissions | Closing words
Welcome to my first CAMeL. As you can see the format has changed slightly (for those who can remember, it does bear a resemblance to Gereint’s from many years ago). If no-one complains it will stay this way whilst I hold the reins. Of course, this publication is produced for your benefit, so if there is anything you would like added, omitted or modified then please let me know.
My profuse and heartfelt thanks to Mistress Aislinn de Valence for handing on such a well organised office, for taking the time necessary to show me the ropes, and for offering to be available to provide assistance after handing the office on. On behalf of the whole college I thank her for her efforts over the past couple of years.
Some of you may not have met me, so I guess I should say something about myself. I joined the SCA in Innilgard about 10 years ago as my previous persona of RenÈ du Bon Bois. After co-founding the now-defunct (but soon-to-be-revived) College of Saint Christina the Astonishing I took on the office of Frette Rouge Pursuivant, which I held for a number of years. Real life then intervened and, for personal reasons, I dropped out of the SCA altogether for a couple of years.
Returning to the Society as Uberto Renaldi, a 13th century Italian, I have been pursuing my long-held interests of period music and heraldry. My interests outside of the SCA include music, history, literature, fine food & wines, travel, philosophy, science and information technology (in which area I am mundanely employed).
What do I expect to achieve as Crux? I am very keen on improving the quality of heraldry and the status of heralds and their work in Lochac. I hope to do this through education of both heralds and populace, and the use of more ceremony and pageantry when applicable.
This will, of course, require your help, co-operation and enthusiasm. Remember that I am a resource that you can draw upon — if you need to know something please do not hesitate to ask. If I cannot give you an immediate answer I will do my best to track the information down for you.
During my term as Crux I also hope to be able to travel to all of the Baronies of Lochac and as many of the smaller groups as I can manage to. Through travel and correspondence I hope to have met or heard from most of the heralds in Lochac by the time I hand the office on.
I shall unfortunately not be attending November Coronet in Politarchopolis due to a previous engagement (literally — I shall instead be attending a friend’s wedding). This means that Sigmund (Cordon Rouge Pursuivant) will be Herald-in-charge for the event, and I encourage all those who are attending to give him your full support and volunteer to assist in any way you can, for which you shall receive my thanks as well (no doubt) as his.
These are due by 23rd October, so if you haven't already posted it you'd better get cracking! The next set of reports after that will need to be in my hands by the 7th January 2000, a week before Twelfth Night investiture.
Mistress Aislinn de Valence has been offered the title of Rocket Pursuivant, with the primary job of getting a new PE test completed. After that, we’ll see what else she would like to take on, if anything. Also, until I find another volunteer <<HINT!>> she will be my drop-dead deputy, a role she cannot remain in for more than a few months so please think about applying, especially if you have done the job before.
The College of St. Monica has a new herald: Idris Blaidd [Daniel mitchell], who has been rostered as Acting PE for that group. Welcome to the Lochac College of Heralds, my lord!
Reminder: to be rostered as a group’s herald you must be a financial member of the SCA Inc. and return to me a signed roster letter. A roster letter without proof of membership is not sufficient for warranting.
"The CAMeL" is available from Crux Australis at $20 per year. Make cheques payable to "SCA Inc. College of Heralds". Alternatively, get it for free from "http://www.sca.org.au/herald".
Please note: I expect all group heralds to subscribe to "The CAMeL" unless you (or someone in your group) have WWW access and a good quality printer. Even though this means more work for me, at least I can then be sure that you maintain a complete set of CAMeLs in your files for yourself and your successors. It will also make me feel more confident that everything in the CAMeL gets read by those who most need to know.
Laurel's Letter of Acceptance and Return is available from the SCA College of Arms. Normally you would send a cheque to Pelican Sovereign of Arms but at the moment there is noone in that office. As soon as this situation is rectified I will let you know. As usual, everything of relevance to Lochac will be published in "The CAMeL" anyway.
One of the August/September CAMeLs posted last month was returned the next day with the address label absent — it appears that an insufficient amount of glue was applied to keep it there (oops!). If you were expecting one and it did not arrive, please let me know and I will forward it posthaste (this time with a hand-written address which cannot fall off!)
These requirements have appeared in every Camel for at least the past two years, so there should be no excuses for not sending the right number of things. If you need it explaining to you it more detail, please call me.
Cost: $20 per new submission (name, device or badge). No cost for resubmissions or branch submissions. Make cheques payable to "SCA Inc College of Heralds".
Copies required for submissions:
Please check that submitters have ALL necessary documentation to support each submission. Remember, they have to present their submission in a way that makes registration easy. Name documentation should be as accurate as possible, and photocopies supplied unless the reference is a standard one such as Reaney or Withycombe. Even then, the page number(s) and edition should be quoted.
Outline copies explained: Although Laurel Sovereign of Arms is sent two copies of each coloured form, the Letter of Intent which goes out to the many commenting heralds around the world does not. All they see is the black & white outline copy, which I must scan in order to send the LoI electronically to Laurel and to make putting the paper LoI together a little easier thanks to technology.
Therefore, please do NOT send a black and white photocopy of a coloured device or badge. The best way to produce the outline copy is to colour in any sable (black) elements of the device or badge and then photocopy the form before any further colours are added. Please encourage the use of thick, bold lines when drawing charges as this makes them easier to scan.
Confused still? Please contact me if you are as I cannot process submissions which have an incorrect outline copy.
Crux Australis Herald holds a meeting at least once a month to consider submissions, which are then either forwarded to the College of Arms for commentary (and hopefully registration), returned (if we find a conflict or a stylistic problem) or, occassionally, pended awaiting clarification from the submittor. If we have the time and enthusiasm, we may also look at, and comment on, submissions from other Kingdoms.
Crux meetings are usually held at 36 Rosella Street, Payneham SA, starting at 2pm. Please call me on (08) 8336 6791 or email ncastle@tplex.com.au beforehand if you intend to bring submissions for processing. The next meetings are scheduled for Sunday 24 October 1999 and Sunday 21 November 1999.
?orfinn Hrolfsson, Hund Herald, also holds regular commentary meetings in Melbourne. Please call him for details on (03) 9885 6348.
Present at the Crux Australis meeting held on Sunday 3rd October 1999 were: Lord Uberto Renaldi, Crux Australis Herald; Lord William Forester de Blacwode, acting Frette Rouge Pursuivant. and cornet Lady Katharine Parry.
Only one item was considered, which was the following:
1. Silvi de Rohan
Legal name: Althea Walker
Group: Innilgard
Consulting herald: William Forester de Blacwode
New Name and Device, both SUBMITTED to Laurel.
Sable, in pale a cat passant regaurdant to sinister and three crescents interlaced in pall inverted, a bordure embattled Or.
The submittor desires a female 14th century Breton name, and will accept minor changes.
Both elements are documented from Dauzat: Silvi (on p553) is derived from Saint Silvius, an obscure saint, and Rohan (on p525) is an ancient French Ducal fief. Further documentation for Rohan was supplied (Jones, p263) showing it to be a Breton viscounty in the 15th century. The article "de" is French for "of" or "from". The byname submitted on the form, "Silvie", was modified to "Silvi" to match the documentation provided.
The device should be clear of Sable, a lion rampant to sinister reguardant between in bend two crosses potent palewise, all within a bordure embattled Or (Trey of Bedford, April 1982) — there is one CD for changing the interlaced crescents to two crosses, another for changing the cat passant to a lion rampant, and probably a third for the change in orientation of the charges (from in pale to in bend).
There was some confusion about how to blazon the crescents, as this is a very unusual arrangement which, although not documented as medieval, is probably SCA acceptable. . The submittor will be advised to draw a shorter tail on the cat and to make the battlements on the bordure fewer and larger.
References
Dauzat, Albert, ‘Dictionnaire Štymologique des Noms de Famille et PrÈnoms de France’, Libraire Larousse [no date or edition provided]
Jones, Michael C.E., ‘The creation of Brittany: a late medieval state’, The Hambledon Press, 1988
Well, that’s it for my first CAMeL; now for some silliness: by my calculations I am the eighth person to hold the office of Crux Australis Herald, so I have registered personalised number plates for my Alfa Romeo — CRUX•08, of course! Sometimes I frighten even myself….
Yours in service to the Lochac College of Heralds, the Crown of the West and the Coronet of Lochac.
VBERTVS
Lord Uberto Renaldi
Crux Australis Herald