Letter of Registrations and Returns
Society of the Middle Ages, Inc.
Office of the Muskatour King of Arms
January 2023
Greetings from the Muskatour staff. This month saw a particularly small number of submissions, likely due to the holidays occupying so many minds. However, this small respite gave the staff a chance to review a few things that had been placed on the back burner over the last few months.
The College is still woefully short of consulting heralds, and even more starved for artists. If one were to read the Rules for Submission, one would learn that the primary responsibility for providing documentation for names and armorial elements as well as for providing acceptable artwork for arms and badges falls to the client – the person responsible for the submission. We do have a handful of consulting heralds available through social media or email who are happy to help with research and with artwork, but they don’t know if someone needs their assistance if no one reaches out to them. Please reach out – initially through any of the various SMA social media pages – before submitting your package to the College for consideration.
The College has forms available for download at sma-inc.org. These forms ensure consistency across all submissions and enable ease of record keeping. Please use the correct forms. If you are submitting a legacy from another organization, please copy the information over to one of our forms rather than submitting the other organization’s paperwork. Please use the shield shape on our forms. If you use one of the several online heraldry programs available and the shield shape does not match our form, please trace the design onto the shield on our form.
Please provide documentation for any heraldic design element that does not show up in the Rules for Submission list of well-documented elements. Please provide documentation for the name elements. Please ensure that the name elements may be used together (language groups, cultures/countries, similar time periods, etc.) Documentation is more than simply saying a particular name is German or Norse or an Anglicized version of Gaelic. The name must either appear in a credible source as having been used by people in period or be constructed of documented elements using a style or technique similar to other names from the same time period and culture.
If you are submitting any name or piece of armoury for a local group (shire, province, etc.) the form MUST be signed by the group seneschal AND be accompanied by a petition signed by a majority of the paid members of the group. Kingdom- or principality-level submissions must be signed by the kingdom/principality seneschal and (for awards/orders) the sitting royalty.
As more people join and the volume of submissions picks up, the Muskatour staff will no longer be able to make these corrections after receiving the submission, and – effective February 1st – will be returning the package to the submitter for additional work.
This month we have 3 returns and no pends. See below for the details.
REGISTRATIONS
1. Katheryn Cranesgrove – New Legacy Name, New Legacy Arms, New Legacy Badge
Arms: Per pale vert and argent semy of trees couped vert, a crane in its vigilance contourny argent, a bordure semy of Wake knots counterchanged.
Badge: Vert, a crane statant argent within a bordure argent semy of Wake knots vert.
These are legacy submissions registered in another reenactment organization and should not be used as examples of fielded badges for SMA purposes.
2. Ragnar Kelson of Durham – New Legacy Name, New Legacy Arms, New Legacy Badge
Arms: Per saltire sable and argent, two ravens rising respectant sable.
Badge: Argent, a saltire between two ravens rising respectant sable.
These are legacy submissions registered in another reenactment organization and should not be used as examples of fielded badges for SMA purposes.
3. Valka stórráða Eðvarðardottir – New Arms
Per chevron throughout sable estoilly argent and purpure, a raven sable irradiated Or.
These arms were previously pended in the October LoRR due to the name being returned. Although the arms had no conflict and were an acceptable style, armoury cannot be registered without a valid name. Valka’s name was registered last month. Unfortunately, the Muskatour office erred in not appending the acceptable arms to the name registration. The arms are now registered, and the Muskatour King of Arms apologizes profusely for the oversight.
RETURNS
- Croytir, Canton of – New Name, New Arms, New Badge
Arms: Argent, a heart within a bordure gules, a chief ermine.
Badge: Argent, a heart within a bordure gules.
This package is being returned administratively for multiple reasons.
RfS VI.B.3 states in part, “Submissions of new group names or armoury from recognized geographical chapters (e.g., shires, etc.) must include a petition signed by a majority of the paid members of the group concurring with the submission.” RfS III further states in part, “…branch names must be accompanied by a petition signed by a majority of paid members of the branch and certified by the branch seneschal.” Without the signature and the petition, the Muskatour office cannot process the package.
Name: RfS VI.B.2 states in part, “Documentation: New submissions require documentation of any element not listed in the appendices as SMA-accepted. Submissions that do not have adequate documentation included will be returned for additional work.” RfS VI.B.2.b further states in part, “…documentation must cover the specific name elements being submitted. If the names are constructed, the documentation must show the construction as matching a period pattern. If the name element is drawn from one of the “no copy required” sources in the Administrative Handbook, no further documentation is necessary. For other documentation, the client may provide a scan or copy of the title page of the source and the page on which the element appears. If the documentation is from an internet source, the client must provide the URL or a screenshot.” The sole documentation provided was the assertion that Croytir is Irish Gaelic for ‘Heartland’. However, the Muskatour staff was unable to verify the translation through any acceptable source. The modern Irish Gaelic word for “heartland” is croíthír – which is close. The Scots Gaelic word for “heartland” is cridhe. The client did state that the medieval Gaelic spelling would be Croithailte but provided no documentation. If the translation is correct for medieval Irish Gaelic, the client simply needs to provide a credible source.
Badge: The badge violates RfS V.A.1 which states in part, “Badge submissions must be fieldless… that is, there is no tinctured background. This being the case, any badge consisting of more than one armorial element must have all elements touching or overlying each other. Additionally, no badge may include any ordinary or other charge that is presumed to extend past the edge of a field…”
On resubmission, the client should be aware that (Fieldless) A heart gules does not currently conflict with anything registered in the A&O.
PENDED
None