ANSTHRLD - questions...

[tmcd at jump.net]

On Mon, 3 Jul 2000, Cahira <cahira_of_bonwicke at yahoo.com> wrote:
> i'm too new at herald stuff.  would somebody tell me what the
> difference is between a pursuivant and a herald? (feel free to reply
> privately, so that we don't waste space. :-) )

But it's on-topic for heraldry and it's educational!

Henry Bedinfeld, Peter Gwynn-Jones, _Heraldry_ (1993, ISBN
1-55521-932-2), p. 26 et seq: "The heraldic fraternity [oooh! I knew
we were a college, but not a frat!  Tabard raids! -- DdL] was divided
early on into three grades: Kings of Arms, heralds, and pursuivants.
Kings of Arms controlled a given province and heralds acted under
them, with pursuivants as followers learning their profession."
Ottfried Neubecker, _Heraldry: Sources, Symbols and Meaning_, p. 12,
adds "(from the French *poursuivant*, a candidate for office)" and "At
that time also [1671], pursuivants (middle) wore their tabards turned
athwart".  A full herald wore the tabard normally, with the big flaps
over his chest and back and the little side flaps over his shoulders
and upper arms.  A pursuivant wore the tabard "athwart", or rotated 90
degrees, so that the big flaps went over his arms and the smaller ones
over his front and back.  The one depicted there had the "little"
flaps made not so little -- more than half the area of the big flaps
-- so it didn't look silly to be turned athwart.  (He also refers to
the "Duke of Heralds" of Normandy.  Oooo-er.  So regionals are Counts
of Heralds, then ...)

Talan Gwynek put a translation of "The Argentaye Tract" in the 1991
Known World Heraldic Symposium proceedings.  It's "a 15th century
treatise on the origin, duties, and social standing of heralds and
heraldry, ...".

"These lords or princes, appointing and creating pursuivants, should
give and grant them tabards emblazoned with their proper arms, as is
customary, as a sign that they might have the knowledge of the
chivalry and dignity of honorable deeds, and not immediately grant
them coats of arms as one does at present.  For, before having them,
they should serve in learning as novices, and for seven years labor
and discharge this office of pursuivant, in order that their valiance
[sic] and prowess may be known and recognized.  And those known and
approved by the emperor in the office of novice which is pursuivant,
afterward they can be admitted as sage experts and professors to the
dignity of the office of the ancient knights [he derives "herald" from
Greek "hero"], and then begin to be heralds of which Saint Jerome says
..." something that is extremely obscure.

In the SCA, one is not required to serve seven years as a pursuivant
to become a full herald.  We use "herald" to refer to all of
sovereigns of arms, heralds, and pursuivants, so to distinguish the
middle grade (what I called "full herald" above), we sometimes use
"big-H Herald" (as in Asterisk Herald) to refer to a midgrade, and
"little-h herald" is the generic term.

The only Sovereigns of Arms are at Socity level: Laurel Queen of Arms
(the head of the entire heraldic hierarchy in the Society) and at
present Pelican King of Arms (in charge of Society-wide name
registration; Laurel handles admin and armory).  In the past, there
was Clarion King of Arms, but the current holder is just Clarion
Herald, on Laurel staff.

In some kingdoms, being a Pursuivant or Herald is a personal rank,
bestowed by the Principal Herald of the kingdom, based on tests or on
perceived service.  In others, Pursuivant or Herald is attached to an
office, so that any holder of that office gets that rank ex officio.
Ansteorra used to do the former system years and years ago, so that
Zodiacus Herald might be succeeded by Zodiacus Pursuivant.  Now we use
the latter system, so Zodiacus is a big-H herald regardless.

Some kingdoms have extra heraldic ranks of "Cornet", "Pursuivant
Extraordinary", and "Herald Extraordinary", but Ansteorra fortunately
doesn't follow such SCAbominations.  "Cornet" is utterly unattested in
period, or anywhere outside the SCA actually, as a term related to
heraldry.  In the real world, "extraordinary" just means "not in
ordinary" -- that is in the ecclesiastical sense: not a territorial
officer, but staff, as it were.  We now have "Pursuivants
Extraordinary", but they are following something closer to the period
model: they are heralds (the generic term), but not a branch herald or
a labelled staff herald, but itinerant.  You can get that title by
taking the PE class and passing the PE test.

We have a few grandfathered Heralds Extraordinary, but that title is
no longer given in Ansteorra.  Da'ud wrote a letter resigning it in
the 6/92 Ansteorran Gazette, p. 19, and gave his reasons, and none
have been created since.  It appears that ex-Stars (the usual past
recipients of HE titles) will now get personal titles, like
Gullinkambi Herald or what not, for them to hold so long as they
liseth.

Daniel de Lincolia, Arbalest Pursuivant
-- 
Tim McDaniel (home); Reply-To: tmcd at jump.net; 
if that fail, my work address is tmcd at us.ibm.com.
 "To join the Clueless Club, send a followup to this message quoting every-
 thing up to and including this sig!" -- Jukka.Korpela at hut.fi (Jukka Korpela)

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