[ANSTHRLD] Question for all
kobrien at texas.net
kobrien at texas.net
Fri Jun 8 09:30:18 PDT 2007
Q> I have recently been contacted by a SCAdian from the East Kingdom. He has
> numerous times complained about the college of heralds and wondered how we
> went about verifying resources for documentation, what was even looked for
> in submitting a name, etc. Now he has given me horror stories of people
> told to grab names that are not Western European (think more of Chinese,
> Japanese, etc) from like novels that are like porn novels from around that
> time period and heralds not accepting family records with the names they
> desire plainly there.
The problem with misinformation about what should be used as documentation is
something I've seen before. I've mostly seen it in areas where there is not
good communication up and down the heraldic food chain. By that, I mean that
there is information passed up and down the path:
Local <-> Kingdom <-> Laurel
You tend to see this type of misinformation when there is a breakdown, in
this chain. In the first kingdom I lived in, the kingdom level did an
exceedingly poor job of conveying information from Laurel (particularly LoAR
rulings) down to locals. Heck, they basically didn't do it at all so the
locals didn't know that some books had gone onto the "don't use" list.
Since that time, I've also seen this type of breakdown when a kingdom-level
staff regularly doesn't read LoARs (yes, it happens - not here thanks
goodness, but I won't get nasty here and name kingdoms...)
I've also seen this type of problem in general in extremely rural areas that
tend to have communication breakdowns with their kingdom. Those cases tend
to be across the board, not just in heraldry. In those cases, you tend to
see it also in exchequer, seneschal, etc. stuff.
Another issue I've seen in some kingdoms is that one household ends up
dominating the heraldic staff in the kingdom and actively (whether
intentional or not) spreads misinformation.
In the case of the person you're in contact with, I don't know where the
breakdown is. It may be as simple as the herald he is most in contact with
is full of something and it ain't knowledge...
> I am curious if this is common among the colleges or is this a work in
> progress to correct? And on a side note...where would I submit articles
> on names from other regions in the world for review and so forth?
The web has really helped resolve a lot of the problems your contact is
seeing. Re: web resources for SCA names, I recommend the Medieval Names
Archive (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names) for the place to start when
researching your name. For heralds trying to learn what's registerabl and
what's not, past rulings, etc., I recommend they hit the precedents page on
the Laurel website (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/). In
particular, the Compiled Name Precedents
(http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/CompiledNamePrecedents/index.ht
ml) is a good place to start. Right now, I've got it updated through the end
of Shauna's tenure (wait... I see the latest update hasn't been posted yet.
I'll ping Codex). As soon as the precedents are finished for Francois II,
I'll add those to the CNP as well.
One other thing. You mentioned in particular the situation where family
records are rejected as documentation. That depends on the type of family
records. Rulings regarding that situation can be found at:
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/CompiledNamePrecedents/Documenta
tion.html#Genealogy
Does this answer your questions? Are there others I can help with?
Mari
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