[ANSTHRLD] question about augmentation

[Darin Herndon]

Charles and list,

I'll try to whittle down Charles' points questions and my responses to
avoid length issues.  I'll add my comments following each point preceded
with a "--".  Charles' points start immediately on the next line.

The question I must raise for this instance is if the Augmentation was
granted before or after the newest Duke stepped down?
-- It would have been granted by the stepping down Crown before they
stepped down.  Only the Crown can grant an augmentation.  The "newest
duchy" comment in the original email may have sounded confusing.

In the SCA a fee is paid for a device to be submitted to the College of
Heralds who then forwards it to the Laurels to be declared registered
and
subsequently protected from anyone else using that design without
permission.  
-- Forwarded to the Laurel King/Queen of Arms office for registration.
I just wanted to clarify for readers who might get the impression that
the Order of the Laurel handles registration.

With an Augmentation that process is skipped.  The reigning crown grants
an Augmentation without a fee being paid.  
-- It is not skipped if the augmentation gets registered.  There is a
fee, etc., for registering the augmented form of the arms.  The
unaugmented arms are registered and checked for conflict independent of
this.  The augmented arms are registered and checked for conflict
independently from the unaugmented arms.  There is no mechanism forcing
recipients to register the augmentation unless the Crown commands it.
As a parallel example, when a recipient receives an Award of Arms there
is no society wide mechanism that forces them to go register arms
(though encouraged).  (And in the society, you can register a device and
name even if you do not have an AoA yet.)  An augmentation should get
registered when granted because of the high honor it conveys, or out of
respect to the Crown who gave it, or any number of reasons.  Not the
least reason is to avoid conflicts.  (Setting aside the Meridies Law
issue where you have a specified augmentation for a later point.)  To
make a simplistic example of why this is important, consider the
following.

-- Let's say that John bears the registered arms Argent, a unicorn vert.
If John is bearing unregistered arms he is potentially conflicting with
someone or assuming someone else's arms and that is heraldically
illegal.  But, let's assume he is registered.  John is awarded an
augmentation from his Crown and he resides in a kingdom that does not
try to specify the augmentation; so, in consultation with heralds, he
has to determine the form of the augmentation.  Let's say he resides in
Calontir and wants to use a gold cross of caldaria as the augmentation;
he then chooses to place the cross in canton (upper left corner as you
view it).  So his augmented arms would be Argent, a unicorn vert, as an
augmentation on a canton vert a Cross of Caldaria Or.  (Have to have the
canton as a color to avoid metal on metal.)  If John never registered
his armory, he might not know he conflicted with George whose registered
arms are Or, a unicorn vert, as an augmentation on a canton vert a Cross
of Caldaria Or. (One CD for change of field tincture.)  Without a letter
of permission to conflict, John cannot augment his arms in this manner
without creating conflict.

The king may determine the addition to the device when the augmentation
is granted or leave it open for the recipient to add something to their
own device should they choose to display the award.
-- This is an entirely separate can of worms from most of this
discussion and could be discussed as a separate email thread if some
feel it is warranted.  The relevant FRS entries are VIA and EX..  VIA is
most critical to this point and begins "An augmentation is an honor
bestowed by the crown, taking the form of an addition or alteration to
the honorees device. While the right to an augmentation is bestowed by
the crown, its form is subject to the normal registration process."  The
point of this statement is that the right to grant an augmentation is
reserved to the Crowns of each kingdom, no one else.  But the form of
the augmentation is a normal registration process issue and is not
granted by the Crown.  I could not access Francois' draft precedents
(site blocked from work) but the relevant precedent is from the second
year of Daub's first tenure as Laurel King of Arms
(http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/daud/daud1btoc.html).
"As has been noted by prior Laurel precedent, no Crown may specify the
form an augmentation (or arms, for that matter), may take. Relevant
prior rulings on this are found in the Cover Letter of 28 January 1983,
p.4; the Cover letter of 7 December 1986, pp. 3-4; and the Minutes of
the Meeting of the Board of Directors of 24 January 1988, p.12."  Crowns
give the right to an augmentation but cannot specify the form, as upheld
by the Board.  Now, that is not to say that the Crown in granting an
augmentation could not offer the recipient the right to use a kingdom
standard form of augmentation; but the choice of form of augmentation
(as in the choice of form of arms) is a personal choice in the society.
As far as specifying the form of arms as a mandate and not an option for
the recipient, that portion of Meridian kingdom law would appear in
violation of the FRS and board rulings.  I would be interested in seeing
if Francois' precedents have any updates to that.  Supporters, etc. are
not registered by the society and are kingdom tradition/law issues. 

-- As an aside, I loved the historical examples you cited.

Etienne
Sable Roundel Herald

--------------------------------------------------------

This email (and attachments if any) is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed, and may contain information that is privileged, confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable law.  If the reader of this email is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for delivering this message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return email and destroy all copies of the email (and attachments if any).