Heraldry idea...

[Nan Bradford-Reid]

In response to someone's posting:

If we don't do heraldry in a period style, what's the point?

There are rules of heraldry that have nothing to do with the way the
heralds wish to play the game: rules of divison, field treatment, tincture,
metals, etc., the heralds in the SCA did not make these rules, they have
been handed down for centuries by "real" heralds, mostly in England and
France.  These rules dictate what you can and cannot do on an heraldic
escutcheon.  Your device is not meant to tell your life's history, it was
intended to be an easliy recognizable icon by which you were identified,
usually by your own troops or your enemy.  Then it became a way of
recognizing someone's retainers or belongings.  Heraldry should be simple
and easily recogizable at a distance; if one adheres to the heraldic rules,
this will be accomplished.


Catherine