December’s submissions delayed

As I am usually quick to point out to others that they have stuffed up, I feel it only fair to publicly admit when I do the same.

First some background. When I receive submissions I check them at my next meeting then, if there is no reason to pend them or return them for further work, I include them in a Letter of Intent (LoI) which goes to Laurel Queen of Arms and the commenting members of the SCA College of Arms.

As there are quite a few commenting heralds and most of them reside overseas, the job of distributing these LoIs has been ‘outsourced’ to someone in the USA - I email the LoI to them and they photocopy it, stuff it into envelopes and post it. Although we pay for this service, it still saves the Lochac College of Heralds a lot of money (and me a lot of time).

Unfortunately the LoI containing submissions from my December meeting was not distributed to any of the commenting heralds. Why? Well, at the time the job of distributing our LoIs had just changed hands, and the new incumbent thought that the LoI I sent them was just an example, or had already been distributed by their predecessor.

This meant that when Laurel came to consider those submissions four months later, they all (with the exception of one) had to be pended as no commentary had taken place on them. The exception was a device submission which Laurel felt required no commentary to support its registration.

Now for the admission: what I should have done was realise sooner that this had happened and have the problem fixed. For this oversight I apologise unreservedly. I have written to all the submittors (whose submissions will now not be considered until late in the year) and explained the situation to them.

Francis of Hexham has stepped down from the office of Dromond Pursuivant in Ynys Fawr, and will remain on the roster as a PE At-Large. His successor is Declan of Drogheda, who has also been elevated to the personal rank of Pursuivant Extraordinary and will be listed on the roster as Acting Dromond Pursuivant.

Lyssandre le Téméraire, aka Jan Antheunis van Ghent, has resigned from the position of PE for Agaricus, which remains vacant. Jan will now be rostered as a PE At-Large.

Yassim Habib has apparently resigned as Goutty d’Eau Pursuivant in Stormhold (I have received nothing in writing). As he never progressed beyond the unofficial rank of ‘cornet’ he has been removed from the roster. A replacement is being arranged.

Finally, Martyn Fairchild of Grenhamerton has been removed from the roster for failing to return a signed copy of his roster letter within 30 days.

"The CAMeL" 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. Send a cheque for $US25 made out to "SCA Inc. — College of Arms" to Bruce R. Nevins, 2527 E. 3rd Street, Tucson AZ, 85716-4114, USA. As usual, everything of relevance to Lochac will be published in "The CAMeL".

Master Thorfinn is the person to talk to about heraldic publications. Possibly the most useful item that he stocks is the ‘Heraldic Pictorial Dictionary for the SCA’ (affectionately known as the PicDic), which will cost you $A8.50 for the first edition or $A12.50 for the second edition. Alternatively, order it directly from the USA via Free Trumpet Press for $US15 (details of their web site are below — and they now take credit cards).

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

Many interesting heraldic links can be found through the SCA Heraldry web page at 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 www.sca.org/heraldry/ftpw or email klconlin@ilstu.edu

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".

Crux Australis Herald holds a meeting 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 occasionally pended awaiting clarification from the submittor. If we have the time, numbers 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 (08) 8336 6791 or Email herald@sca.org.au beforehand if you intend to bring submissions for processing. The next meeting is scheduled for the 20th August and the one after that will probably be on the 17th September.

If you can't make it to the meetings but would like to participate in commentary via email, drop me a line and I will add you to the 'blazons' mailing list.

Master Thorfinn 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 16th July 2000 was Baron Uberto Renaldi, Crux Australis Herald, and Lord William Forester de Blacwode, Frette Rouge Pursuivant.

1. Anne Isabella de Bebington

Group: Ynys Fawr
Consulting herald: none listed

New Name

The submittor desires a female English name of circa 1500 and will accept major changes.

Both ‘Anne’ and ‘Isabella’ are listed by Withycombe (pages 25-26 and 164 respectively). Anne of Bohemia was the wife of Richard II, and ‘Isabella’ dated at 1199 and 1379, with the variant ‘Issabell’ dated to 1450 and 1535. Eckwall lists the Cheshire town of Bebington on page 33 with this spelling from 1288.

My only concern is that if this name is of the form , it may not be correctly formed for English names of the 16th century. However, Reaney cites ‘Isabel’ (page 191) as a byname dating from 1275 and ‘Isabelle’ from 1202-16, so ‘Isabella’ may be acceptable as a byname.

2. William the Black

Group: Schoental
Consulting herald: Gershom of Ravensdale

Device Resubmission to Crux Australis
Sable, a fox sejant guardant, in chief four fleurs-de-lys argent

The submittor’s previous submission, Sable, a fox sejant guardant with tail curled in front of hind legs argent, was returned by Crux in February 1999 for conflict with Sable, a wolf sejant reguardant within a bordure rayonny argent. Adding the fleurs-de-lys clears this conflict.

3. Yves de Lyle

Group: College of Saint Gildas
Consulting herald: Uberto Renaldi

New Name

The submittor desires a masculine French name, cares most about the sound and will accept only minor changes.

‘Yves’ is in Withycombe on page 167 under ‘Ivo’ as ‘one of the 12 peers who fell at Roncesvalles’. ‘de Lyle’ is in Reaney on page 217 (under ‘Lisle’ et al), with ‘Ralph de Lile’ dated to the 12th century and ‘Henry Lyle’ to 1319. Although listed in the heading, no date is given for ‘de Lyle’.