Proposed Policy Change

Last month I asked for comments on the following proposed change to Lochac Heraldic Policy:

Resubmissions are free for a period of ten (10) years from the date of the most recent return, after which the submission is considered withdrawn.

My thanks to Jan Antheunis van Ghent, PE At-Large, for the following comment:

I write to show my support for the proposed policy change (that free resubmissions should have an expiry). I would even suggest that ten years is overly generous and that perhaps five to seven years would still be reasonable.

Jan also forwarded these comments from a non-herald and relative new-comer to the SCA:

I blame pure laziness and I can see no reason that anyone who actually went to the trouble of submitting a device in the first place shouldn't be able to get any conflicts resolved within twelve months. Vbertvs suggested that he felt that was too short a time but I disagree.

I think that 10 years for resubs is taking things beyond a joke. If folks know that have 12 months then they'll keep their act together. An effectively invisible deadline like 10 years becomes meaningless.

I agree that a timeout should be in place to clean out the deadwood but I suggest 1 year, 2 at the max.

More feedback before my December meeting will be gratefully appreciated.

Reports

Final reminder: end-of-reign quarterly reports from Baronial and Shire heralds are due by 17 December 2000.

Please report so I know what’s happening in your group, otherwise I have to tell the Prince and Princess that, as far as I know, no heraldry is happening in your group and therefore the College of Heralds is failing in it’s duty to Lochac. As you can imagine, this is not the kind of thing They want to hear, especially as we are planning to become a Kingdom!

If you are the herald for a Canton or College, I suggest you get your report to your Baronial or Shire herald ASAP!

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Looking to save some money?

One way to do so is to not use Express Post to send me submissions unless it really is the Thursday before my monthly meeting. If it isn’t, just use a standard large envelope and pay 90c instead of the $7.00 or more that Express Post will cost you.

Using Express Post does not gurantee that the submissions will reach me - merely that, if they do, it will be on the next working day after you post them.

After some initial delays (with things getting lost in the post), Mungo of the Rock has returned a signed roster letter and has been added to the roster as the new Acting Goutte d’Eau Pursuivant for the Barony of Stormhold.

The Shire of ‘Borders Crossing’ also has a new herald: Dieric Pieterszoon van Tolen has volunteered to be the Pursuivant Extraordinary for that group and so has been rostered as Acting in that office until he achieves a personal rank of PE (which, going by his enthusiasm and knowledge, shouldn’t take long).

Finally, the address for Lady Canon published last month was incorrect (by about ten years, actually - oops). Her current address appears below. Also remember to update your old Court Awards Forms so you don’t send them to the previous Canon’s address by mistake. Copies of the new forms are availiable via www.sca.org.au/herald.

Feedback required: Are these short details sufficient, or would more comprehensive details (eg legal names, addresses, phone numbers, etc) be more useful? Should a full roster be regularly distributed with Camels? If so, how often? I am conscious of some people’s desire for privacy, so the web-based version need not contain the same information as the printed version if that is a concern.

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"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. Parker’s Glossary can be found at http://www04.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/ta2/saitou/ie401

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:

• Names: two (2) copies of both the form and ALL documentation, including title page of each book.
• Devices and Badges: four (4) colour copies and one (1) black & white OUTLINE copy. The colour copies should be accurately coloured, preferably in felt tip pen (eg Crayola Classic Colours). Faint colour printers or faint coloured pencil is not acceptable. The colours must be visible across a crowded Herald's meeting.

Please include ALL necessary documentation to support each submission. It is the responsibility of the submittor to present their submission in a way that makes registration easy. Name documentation should be as accurate as possible: remember to include photocopies of the title page as well as the relevent page(s) of any source used.

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Crux Australis meetings are held once a month, usually at 36 Rosella Street, Payneham SA, starting at 2pm. Please call beforehand if you intend to bring submissions for processing. The next meeting is scheduled for the 17th December and the one after that will probably be on the 21st January 2001 (not counting the special meeting to be held at Twelfth Night Investitiure on the weekend before).

Present at the Crux Australis meeting held on Sunday 19th November 2000 were Baron Uberto Renaldi, Crux Australis Herald; herald-in-training Gruffydd ap Cynan, and interested visitor Aoife ni Medb.

1. Dieric Pieterszoon van Tolen

Group: Borders Crossing
Consulting herald: the submittor

New Name and Device

Per pale argent and azure, two lions rampant and a chief wavy counterchanged.

The submittor desires a male Dutch name from the 15th-16th centuries and will accept major changes.

Friedmann [1] shows ‘Dieric’ as a form of ‘Dirk’ in use in the mid-14th century and also [2] shows ‘Pieterszoon’ as a patronymic dated to 1478-81.

‘Tolen’ (or ‘Tholen’) is a city in Zeeland which dates back to at least 1400 - a seal for the city from around this date (from a ‘Dutch Civic Heraldry’ website) gives the spelling as ‘tolne’, but this looks like the Latinised form of the name. The only evidence supplied for the spelling ‘Tolen’ is from a mid-17th century map by Joan Blau and, although every other source spells it ‘Tholen’ I am forwarding the name as submitted in the hope that this spelling can be confirmed as period.

The form of the name (<given><patronymic><locative>) is shown in the Miscrosoft Encarta entry for ‘Jan Jospehszoon Van Goyen’, a Dutch landscape painter who lived from 1596 to 1656.

The very elegent device appears free of problems, with the closest match being Per pale argent and azure, two lions combattant, in chief a sun counterchanged [registered to Colum Mac Eoghain ui Neill in January 1999]. There is one CD for the position of one of the lions and a second for changing a sun to a chief wavy.

2. Michael of Galicia

Group: Agaricus
Consulting herald: Jan Antheunis van Ghent

New Name (See RETURNS for Device)

The submittor desires a male name, presumably English, and will accept any changes.

‘Michael’ is listed by Withycombe, with this spelling dated to 1196. Galicia (or ‘Halicz’) was an Ukrainian principality in the 12th century, later to be absorbed into the kingdom of Poland. Not to be confused with the other Galicia in NW Spain (or the kingdom of Leon, depending on when you look at it).

3. Patry de Buck

Group: Vindr Heradh
Consulting herald: none listed

Name Resubmission to Crux (See RETURNS for Device)

The submittor’s previous name submisison, ‘Patroclus O’Miuneog’ was returned by Crux Australis in May 2000 for lack of documentation.

The submittor now desires a male 15th century Burgundian name, will accept changes and cares most about the language/culture.

‘Patry’ is found in a list of names from Bordeaux, spanning from 1470 to 1520, compiled by Friedmann [3]. ‘de Buck’ is from Toddekyn’s list of Flemish names from Bruges and dates from 1400-1550.

Neither of these name elements are Burgundian and my resources in that area are somewhat limited (ie: nil), so I am calling upon the mercy of the College of Arms in requesting assistance with this name.

4. Riccardo Pugliesi

Group: Parvus Portus
Consulting herald: Wilfrid de Ackelonde and the submittor

Name and Device Resubmission to Crux

Per fess Or and azure, a catapult sable and three salmon naiant Or.

This name was returned by Crux Australis in March 2000 for insufficient documentation.

Both ‘Riccardo’ and ‘Pugliesi’ can be found on the ‘Online Castato of 1427’ wihich lists tax information for the city of Florence during the period 1427-29.

The device appears free of problems, although all the charges should be drawn a bit larger. The arrangement of the fish limits their size, and may have been better if drawn as haurient (vertical) rather than naiant (horizontal). However, we did not think this sufficient reason for a return for redrawing.

5. Willoughby Vale, Canton of

Consulting herald: Wilfrid de Ackelonde

Change of Branch Name (See RETURNS for Change of Branch Device)

The group’s currently registered name of Parvus Portus, Canton of was registered in June 1990.

Ekwall (p520) lists several placenames using ‘Willoughby’, with spellings Wilewby dated to 1236 and Wilughby to 1363.

The Oxford English Dictionary dates ‘vale’ back to circa 1400 with the meaning of ‘a more or less extensive tract of land lying between two ranges of hills, or stretches of high ground, and usually traversed by a river or stream’. Eckwall’s only listing of ‘vale’ in a placename seems to be for ‘Vale Royal’ (p489), latinised as Vallis Regalis in 1307.

The construction ‘Willoughby Vale’ seems a bit forced (and somewhat twee); ‘Willoughdel’ or ‘Wildell’ may match period nameplace construction practice more closely. However, as there is nothing technically wrong with it (as far as I can tell) I am forwarding the name as submitted to the College of Arms for discussion.

The submission was accompanied by an appropriate petition in favour of the change.

1. Borders Crossing, Shire of

New Branch Name and Device

Per chevron purpure fretty Or and Or, in base a bunch of grapes purpure within a laurel wreath vert.

There were problems with both the name and the device.

First the name: the group chose this name because they "cross the border between NSW and Victoria", "it is easy for the local community to understand" and they "are between the Baronies of Politarchopolis and Stormhold."

Unfortunately, none of these reasons are evidence that the name being submitted could be one by which a place was known in pre-17th century Europe. Nor was any documentation supplied to support the submission. The criteria for branch names is the same as for individuals - all elements must be documented as being in use before 1600, and the elements arranged in a fashion consistent with period practice.

The sticking point with this name is the word ‘crossing’, which according to the OED did not acquire the meaning it has here (‘a place where two roads cross’ or ‘a place where people cross [something, eg a river]') until after 1600. The word does not appear to have been used in any English placenames. There is another word - ford - which means much the same thing in Old English and was much more common as a placename element.

The word ‘border’, although period, also seems to have been overlooked in placenames in favour of ‘march’ (from Old English ‘mearc’). Thus, according to the meagre research I have done, the closest period placenames with the same meaning of ‘Borders Crossing’ would be ‘Markford’ or ‘Marchford’, which many might find a tad dull.

‘Middle’ is a common first element of English placenames, used of places that were between two other places. "Cross" was also used in placesnames. Some alternate names suggested from the meeting were "Middlecross", "Border Cross" and "Malford". There are numerous other combinations of ‘border’, ‘cross’, ‘march’, ‘ford’ and ‘middle’ which the group are free to consider.

The device is being returned primarily for a redraw. The laurel wreath should be wreath-shaped (ie circular), and both it and the bunch of grapes need to be larger. Although drawn correctly on the outline copy, the fretting on the colour copies did not have any lines separating the slats, making the field resemble ‘Or, lozengy purpure’ instead. As well as this, only three coloured copies were provided, and the ‘outline’ copy [see above] had hatching - dots and lines used to denote the tinctures - instead of just the outline of the charges and field divisions.

2. Michael of Galicia

New Device

Paly purpure and vert, on a chief argent four ermine spots palewise in saltire vert.

This device has a number of problems, the most serious being that the field is in violation of RfS VII.b.2.iv: "Elements evenly divided into multiple parts of two different tinctures must have good contrast between their parts." Purpure and vert are both colours and therefore do not have good contrast.

The other problems are stylistic. The chief is drawn low enough that it could give the impression of a per fess field division rather than a chief. Although there would be nothing inherently wrong with it being per fess, it should not be ambiguous as to whether it is a charge or a field divison.

The reason that the chief is so large is because of the arrangement of the ermine spots - putting five tall, narrow objects in saltire necessitates the use of a lot of vertical space. To compound the problem, the ‘ermine spots’ drawn here do not resemble period depictions of ermine spots which have much longer tails. If drawn correctly, the spots would take up even more vertical space, or have to be draw so small as to be unidentifiable.

We recommend several options: putting five ermine spots in a row (in fess) on a chief, using trefoils instead of ermine spots and using ‘per fess’ instead of a chief, or either ermine spots or trefoils on an argent field with a base paly.

3. Parvus Portus, Canton of

Change of Branch Device

Argent, a willow tree proper and on a canton vert a laurel wreath Or.

This is being returned because the willow tree drawn here does not appear to be similar in shape to any of the willows known in pre-1600 Europe. Instead, it appears to be a ‘weeping willow’, which was first recorded by a European (Sir George Wheeler, whilst in Anatolia) in 1676 and not introduced to the west until the 18th century.

Unless the Canton can provide evidence that a willow of this shape (‘weeping’ or otherwise) was known to Europeans before 1600, they will need to redraw their willow tree so that it resembles one of the types known by medieval Europeans.

The tree (like so many charges on other submissions) should be drawn larger - there is too much field visible on this device!

4. Patry de Buck

Device Resubmission

Vert, a stag’s head erased Or between flaunches Or masoned vert.

This is being returned for a redraw. The stag’s head is too small, the flaunches are too large and the tincture of the masoning is not clear (it is blazoned azure on the forms but we couldn’t tell what colour it is from the drawing).

The line following the curve of each flaunch is almost thick enough to pass for fimbriation - the masoning lines should be this thick, whilst the lines separating the flaunches from the field should be as thin as possible (ideally, there shouldn’t be a visible line at all, but that makes colouring-in rather difficult).

References