Crux Australis Herald
Baron Uberto Renaldi [mka Nigel Castle]
GPO Box 2719, Adelaide SA 5001, Australia
phone: (08) 8336 6791 or intl +61 8 8336 6791
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Crux Australis Herald
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"The CAMeL"
June 2001 (Anno Societatis XXXVI)
Unto the College of Heralds of the Principality of Lochac, and all others who may read this missive, from Baron Uberto Renaldi, Crux Australis Herald, greetings!
In this issue…..
The Lochac Heralds' Handbook | New Laurel King of Arms chosen | Roll of Arms competition
A suggestion for future Rowany Festivals | Reports | Roster changes
Important addresses | Subscriptions and Resources | Submission requirements
Meeting schedule | Recent submissions | News of previous submissions
The travellin' Crux
July will be a busy month for me. I will be attending Midwinter Investiture on the 14th and 15th, and two weekends later will find me in Saint-Florian-de-la-rivière at the investiture of their first Baron and Baroness. If you are attending either of these events then feel free to come up and chat with me about heraldry at any time... well, any time that I’m not obviously busy doing something else.
Due to non-SCA commitments on the intervening weekend, my monthly submissions meeting will be on the 8th, so if you have submissions that you want considered in July you’d better get them to me ASAP.
Your servant,
Baron Uberto Renaldi,
Crux Australis Herald
Thank you to those who have volunteered to help so far. What is needed now is suggestions as to exactly what articles should comprise the handbook. I will then assign these to the willing volunteers to write.
Just to remind you, the handbook is intended to consist of four sections: one on basic info for new heralds and non-heralds, a "how-to" section containing practical information, an "advanced" section covering things in more depth and including personal philosophies and musings, and finally the fourth section containing all ceremonies used in Lochac.
New Laurel King of Arms chosen
From the cover letter of the Elsbeth’s May Letter of Acceptances and Returns (dated June 13, 2001) comes this news:
The Board of Directors has selected my successor: I am pleased to announce that the next Laurel King of Arms will be Francois la Flamme. Francois stepped down as Star Principal Herald last year after a very successful term. He will be handling the administrative duties and has assembled a team to handle submissions. Mari Elspeth nic Bryan will serve as Pelican Queen of Arms and make name decisions, Zenobia Naphtali will make armory decisions [...] and Daniel de Lincoln will be Laurel Clerk and Keeper of the Records.
Francois and his team will be taking full control in August. The changeover won’t affect anyone in Lochac save myself and a few senior heralds, but I thought it was worth mentioning it here anyway.
Back in February 2000 I announced a challenge to all groups in Lochac to produce a local Roll of Arms, to be submitted to me for judging by March 2001.
Well, that deadline is long past, and guess how many entries I have received? None. That’s right, none. Nil. Zip. Zero.
Needless to say I’m disappointed. I admit there was not much incentive, especially as the prize for the winning group was never actually defined. Even so, I would have thought at least one group would have produced something.
I am still in possession of the Roll of Arms from Aneala which originally prompted me to suggest the competition in the first place. By rights, they should win but, as with many of our A&S competitions, I feel that a minimum of three entries is needed for it to be considered a valid competition.
Therefore, I am extending the deadline of this competition until the First Crown Tournament next year. I would to hope that all groups submit a Roll of Arms – not only will this make for a better competition, but it will result in a wonderful collection of Rolls that will be part of Lochac’s future treasure and history.
And the prize(s)? Well, I have had a few more ideas about this but I’m not telling what they are at this stage. However, presentation of the winning entry to our first King and Queen during court is a definite option.
A suggestion for future Rowany Festivals
Lord Declan of Drogheda, herald-in-charge of the last Rowany Festival, offered the following suggestion (which I have edited slightly) for comment by the members of the College:
Introduction of a minimum round quota for field heraldry. There always seems to be a shortage of volunteers for the rounds and smaller tourneys during festival, yet one has to deal with a multitude of volunteers for the Fighter Auction Tournament.
I feel that it's unfair on those Heralds who put in lots of work heralding the smaller tournaments and the rounds during festival, only to see others rush and volunteer when there is an interesting or prestigious tourney (such as the Fighter Auction Tournament) to herald.
The minimum round quota is simple. If a herald has not put their name down for a "minor" tournament or at least one announcement round during Festival, then they will not be allowed to herald at the "major" tournaments such as Fighter Auction Tournament.
This seems fair to me, but I can also see arguments against. If you have any comments, either in favour of or in opposition to this proposal, then please send them to me so I can make an informed decision on this.
I am happy to publish any comments I receive, but only with the sender’s express permission (so be sure to include it if that’s what you want).
** READ THIS – IT IS IMPORTANT! **
I have decided to fix the deadline for quarterly reports to the 10th day of every third month (ie March, June, September and December) or the next working day if this falls on a weekend. Therefore, the next quarterly reports are due on 10 September 2001.
All group heralds are required to report quarterly! If you report directly to me then please mark the 10th of the relevant months in your diary or calendar now so you will not forget. If you report via a Baronial Herald you will need to get your report to them at least a week before these dates so they can summarise it in their report to me.
For those who do not own a diary or calendar, worry not! I will continue to publish reporting deadlines in The Camel.
None this month, but considering the lack of reporting recently there may be quite a few in next month’s issue!
Crux Australis Herald: Uberto Renaldi [Nigel Castle] GPO Box 2719, Adelaide SA 5001. Ph (08) 8336 6791. Email herald@sca.org.au
Hund Herald (West Kingdom external commentary) and Bombard Pursuivant (Ceremonies deputy): Thorfinn Hrolfsson [Steven Roylance] 1592 Malvern Road, Glen Iris VIC 3146. Ph (03) 9885 6348. Email roylance@corplink.com.au
Canon Pursuivant (Precedence and Gentry list): ): Morag Freyser [Helen Brinsmead] PO Box 455, Woden ACT 2606. Email the_brinsmeads@dingoblue.net.au
Mortar Pursuivant (Field and Voice deputy): Gwynfor Lwyd [Peter Ryan] 6 Merton Street, Springvale VIC 3171. Email prism@primus.net.au
Rocket Pursuivant (PE test & Drop-dead deputy): Aislinn de Valence [Megan Dansie] PO Box 526, Unley SA 5061. Ph (08) 8293 6635. Email aislinn@merlin.net.au
Baryl Pursuivant (External commentary): Thomas Flamanc of Kelsale [John Sawyer] PO Box 8021, Monash University VIC 3800. Email sawyer@lexicon.net.au
Subscriptions and Resources
"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".
The Armorial and Ordinary, as well as updates to them, are available from ‘SCA Inc. - Free Trumpet Press West’ in the USA. Their address is ‘1613 N. School St., Normal IL 61761-1240’. They also sell the ‘Heraldic Pictorial Dictionary for the SCA’, proceedings of Known World Heraldic Symposia and Compilations of Precedents by past Laurel Sovereigns of Arms. Contact me or see details of their web site below.
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’. The latter is out of print, so if you spot it at a second-hand book sale, buy it!
Useful or interesting links:
The SCA Heraldry web page - www.sca.org/heraldry including the Laurel home page and on-line armorial and ordinary search.
The Academy of St. Gabriel (an heraldic consultation service) - www.s-gabriel.org
West Kingdom Heralds' Handbook - www.goldenstag.net/Handbook/index.htm
Free Trumpet Press West (SCA heraldic publications) - www.sca.org/heraldry/ftpw.
Parker’s Glossary of Heraldry - http://www04.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/ta2/saitou/ie401
If you can think of any other links or resources that should be listed here, please let me know.
Cost: $20 per new submission (name, device or badge). Note: a new name and device costs a total of $40. No cost for resubmissions or branch submissions. Make cheques payable to "SCA Inc. College of Heralds".
Copies required:
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.
Crux Australis submission 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 8th July 2001 and the one after that is scheduled for the 12th August.
Present at the Crux Australis Submissions Meeting held on Sunday 17th June 2001 at 36 Rosella Street, Payneham SA were: Baron Uberto Renaldi, Crux Australis Herald; Lord William Forester de Blacwode, Frette Rouge Pursuivant, Lady Nicolette de Colours, Pursuivant Extraordinary At-Large; and heralds-in-training Lady Laufey, Lady Massaria di Cortona and Wakeline de Foxley.
The following submissions were FORWARDED to the College of Arms for registration:
New Name
The submittor desires a female Scottish (presumably Gaelic) name and will accept major changes.
Corráin and Maguire give ‘Caitríona’ as an Irish variant of [s.n.] Caiterína, and Josh Mittleman (et al) lists Caitriona in his article ‘Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names’ on the Saint Gabriel website.
Lochaber is a region in Scotland, as shown by Muir on p.14 (which gives a map of Scotland c.500-c.1200). A ‘Seumas Camshronach an Lochabair’ was registered in July 1994, implying that ‘Caitriona an Lochabair’ may be a more authentic form of the name, or at least constructed using a single language.
[Note – There were two languages spoken in medieval Scotland: Scottish Gaelic (spoken in the highlands) and Scots (in the lowlands), the latter being closely related to (if not a dialect of) English. Mixing the two in a name is just wrong!]
New Device
Argent, a bend sinister azure and overall a wolf rampant gules.
The submittor’s name was registered in March 1999. Despite (or perhaps because of) the simplicity of this elegant design, no conflicts were found.
Device Resubmission to Crux
Argent, a cat statant between three mullets of seven points sable.
The submittor’s name was submitted last month. Her previous device submission to Crux was the same design as this one but was returned as the mullets were drawn too small. This redraw has corrected that problem.
Device Resubmission to Laurel
Per chevron gules and purpure, a wildcat rampant guardant and in chief three crescents in chevron Or.
The submittor’s name was registered in July 1999, and at the same meeting Laurel returned her previous submission of Per pale gules and purpure, an ankh Or for conflict.
I was originally going to return this submission as the majority of attendees at the meeting said that the purpure looked more blue than purple. Seeing as this was the submittor’s second attempt at this design in a month, I took pity on her and recoloured copies of the outline form myself (using Crayola Classic Colours markers, of course).
Device Resubmission to Laurel
Or, a salamander couchant reguardant azure and a chief rayonny gules.
The submittor’s name was registered in November 2000, and her previous submission (of the same design as this one) was returned by Laurel in September 2000 for a redraw. More flames have been added as per Laurel’s advice.
Device Resubmission to Crux
Sable, three braziers Or.
The submittor’s name was registered in July 1997. His previous device submission, identical in design, was returned by Crux in August 1998 for a redraw: the flames were not drawn in a period heraldic manner. The flames on this submission should be acceptable for registration.
The following submissions were RETURNED for further work:
Device Resubmission to Crux
Gules, a sword between two ermine spots, on a chief argent a balance gules.
The balance is too close to the top edge of the shield and does not have a proper handle by which it can be held. However, these were not the main reasons for return.
This submission was on outdated West Kingdom forms instead of the current Lochac forms, which I cannot accept (and even if I did, Laurel wouldn’t). IF YOU HAVE OLD VERSIONS OF THE SUBMISSION FORMS, THROW THEM AWAY!! How many times do I have to say this? Sheesh!!
Change of Registered Name
‘Kyrii’ is supposed to be a variant of the male Russian name ‘Kirei’ (documented to 1547 by Goldschmidt), but no evidence was provided to support such a radical change in spelling other than the claim that "period spelling is a variable proposition at best". Spelling in medieval cultures (and modern ones, too) was and is variable, but according to quite specific rules, even if those rules are not obvious (except perhaps to those academics whose job it is to discover them). As the submittor was willing to accept ‘Kirei’, this was not the reason for return.
The main problem with this submission is the byname ‘Windstrider’, which was justified as an "English descriptive referring to a bird, after the fashion of Viking and Anglo-Saxon poetry, eg ‘wavecleaver’ – ship, ‘skullsplitter’ – axe, etc." Unfortunately, we could find no evidence of the use of metaphors of this type as descriptive bynames, either in Old English or Old Norse. We did find the Old Norse epithet haugabrótr meaning skull-splitter, but this is a term that can be used both metaphorically (to refer to an axe) or literally (to describe someone who actually splits skulls). In this literal sense, ‘windstrider’ cannot be used to describe a person, so in the absence of evidence of similar metaphors being used as bynames it cannot be accepted.
Compounding the problem is the fact that the name combines a late-medieval Russian given name with a modern English translation of an Anglo-Saxon or Old Norse byname – making it highly unauthentic and probably unregisterable.
Change of Branch Device
Argent, fretty and on a chief vert two laurel wreaths argent.
This is in conflict with the arms of the Barony of Altavia in the Kingdom of Caid: Argent, a fret sable and on a chief vert a laurel wreath argent.
By SCA (and medieval) precedent, there is no difference between ‘a fret’ and ‘fretty’. Therefore, we get one CD for the change in tincture of the primary charge. We do not get a second CD for changing the number of wreaths as at least two changes must be made to ‘charges on charges’ in order to generate a Clear Difference. The Canton will be seeking permission to conflict from the Barony of Altavia.
References cited
Goldschmidt, Paul. ‘A Dictionary of Period Russian Names’. http://sca.org/heraldry/paul.
Mittleman, Josh [et al]. ‘Some Scottish Gaelic Feminine Names’. http://www.s–gabriel.org/names/arval/scotgaelfem.
Muir, Ramsay. ‘Muir’s Atlas of Medieval and Modern History’. George Philip and Son, Hong Kong, 1982.
Corrain, Donnchadh and Maguire, Fidelma. ‘Gaelic Personal Names’. The Academy Press, 1981
From Laurel’s Letter of Acceptances and Returns for April 2001:
ACCEPTANCES - LOCHACDieric Pieterszoon van Tolen. Name and device. Per pale argent and azure, two lions rampant, a chief wavy counterchanged.Johan Patris. Name.Karl Faustus von Aachen. Name and device. Bendy azure and Or, three reremice gules.The depiction of the reremice is found in Parker, A Glossary of Heraldry. While this is not a period source, it is a standard modern source and therefore the depiction is registerable.Michael of Galicia. Name and device. Paly vert and argent, on a chief argent three trefoils purpure.The trefoils were blazoned as vert on the LoI, but a letter of correction was sent in a timely manner.Patry de Buck. Name and device. Sable, a stag’s head erased argent between flaunches argent masoned sable.Please instruct the submitter to draw the flaunches issuant from the corners of the shield and more rounded.Riccardo Pugliesi. Name and device. Per fess Or and azure, a catapult sable and three fish naiant Or.Selfran the Singer. Device change. Azure, in cross five horseshoes inverted Or.The submitter’s former device, Azure, a chevron, cotised to chief, Or, overall a horseshoe, inverted and winged, argent, is released.Toirdhealbhach Corráin. Name (see RETURNS for device).Submitted as Toirdhaelbhach Corráin, [oops - Crux] we have changed the given name to match the documentation.Willoughby Vale, Canton of. Branch name change from the Canton of Parvus Portus.Their former name is released.
RETURNS - LOCHACArtemisia da Quieto d’Arzenta. Device. Per chevron ermine and purpure, in base a compass star argent.There are multiple conflicts, including the one mentioned in the Letter of Intent: Ulrich Drachendonner, Tierced in pall azure, gules and sable, in chief a compass star argent. Because the position of Artemisia’s compass star’s is forced, there is not a CD for position, even though the location of Ulrich’s compass star is not forced.
The device is also in conflict with Andrew Greencloak Hethilsson, Per chevron argent and vert, in base a mullet of four points argent, the badge for the Barony of Rivenstar, Azure, a riven star argent, and the badge for Eleanor Leonard, (Tinctureless) A mullet of four points distilling a goutte. By prior precedent there is not a CD between a compass star and a mullet of four points, nor is there a CD between a compass star and a riven star; therefore in each case there is only a single CD for the changes to the field.Toirdhealbhach Corráin. Device. Quarterly azure and gules, a griffin segreant Or.Conflict with Degary Golafre of Pembroke, Quarterly sable and gules, a griffin segreant coward maintaining in its dexter talon a Celtic cross and in its sinister talon a sword inverted Or. There is a CD for the field, but nothing for removing the maintained charges.
Also of note from that month’s letter was the following registration for a gentle in the Kingdom of Atlantia:Herveus d’Ormonde. Badge. (Fieldless) A belt in annulo gules.The common use in the SCA of a red belt to denote a squire is nevertheless not a protected usage. Therefore this badge is not presumptuous. Furthermore, because badges are not regalia, the registration of this badge does not restrict anyone, squire or not, from wearing a red belt.
From Laurel’s Letter of Acceptances and Returns for May 2001:
ACCEPTANCES - LOCHACDarby de Askote. Name.
RETURNS - LOCHACNone!