[ANSTHRLD] Ansteorran Heraldic and Scribal Symposium

[Eirik Halfdanarson]

Greeting unto the populace of the Stellar Kingdom of Ansteorra.

First, let me apologize for not getting everything together in this
missive. Yesterday was a great and glorious event that words and thoughts
do not align to describe. And forgive me for forgetting names of people in
some areas of this attempt to describe yesterday.

Yesterday in the Barony of Raven’s Fort, there was a Symposium of Heraldic
and Scribal Arts. I will attempt to go through and briefly describe the
Symposium, though this will be a long message. This was my second and last
Symposium as Star Principal Herald. Our host, the Barony of Raven’s Fort
led by Their Excellencies set a wonderful atmosphere for the gathering of
the College of Heralds. The hall was decorated with banners, the class area
was great, the food served was wonderful, and the site tokens were bags
decorated with the Black Star and Kingdom of Ansteorra with the event and
Society year on them containing a bottle of water with a small snack. Their
Excellencies Raven’s Fort were everywhere checking on classes, needs of
Their Majesties, myself, and the members of the populace.  They led a team
of wonderful people that made sure the event went well and I never once
heard any complaints about the site the whole day.

There were classes and classes, unfortunately I was not able to be
everywhere at once and did not get to attend every class. I wish I could
have, as Her Majesty said at the event, they really need to hurry up with
the cloning to be at several places at once. I will not attempt to list all
the teachers, primarily because I would not be able to remember all of
them, but I thank everyone who took the time out of their lives to come and
teach those who were there to learn. It is the members of our populace who
do this that help us to grow and do better at what we do in the Society and
Kingdom. I will take a moment to thank HL Elena Wyth and Master Brian Ó
hUilliam for soliciting teachers and organizing the class schedule for the
day. Without them the day would not have gone as smoothly as it did.

Then there was court. I apologize for not having a full list of awards and
names, but for reasons that will become apparent, I am a bit hazy on the
early parts of court. To members of the populace of Raven’s Fort that
received awards, congratulations. By the actions I observed during the
event, they were all very well deserved. To the new Baroness of
Bordermarch, forgive me for not catching your name, congratulations on your
elevation and thank you for your willingness to serve. To Graf Amelot
Lissete, congratulations on the announcement of your pending elevation to
the Order of the Pelican, you have always served the Kingdom well and you
deserve the honor bestowed on you. Then the part of court that I helped
arrange and remember more about because I advocated for these awards. We
have not recognized as many of our heraldic artisans as we should have. The
heraldic arts are different from the scribal arts and are not recognized as
often for being the arts that they are. I encourage everyone to recognize
those around you who do the arts on a regular basis by sending to the
seneschals, landed nobility and kingdom officers information on who is
doing what. Too often we as kingdom officers do not see everyone who does
things and we cannot advise the Crown on awards for those we do not see or
know about. In an effort, that I hope continues, I recommended and
advocated for several members of the College of Heralds to receive the
Sable Thistle for specific heraldic arts. Master Modius von Mergentheim has
for many years performed court heraldry, has organized a ceremony book, and
has taught classes on court heraldry. Their Majesties awarded Master Modius
the Sable Thistle for Court Heraldry. When you mention vocal heraldry, over
the past few years there has been one person that I have heard mentioned
and attend classes taught by HL Ivo Blackhawk. Ivo has also assisted in
coordinating the site heraldry for Gulf Wars, helping to ensure
announcements were made to let everyone know what was happening. Their
Majesties awarded HL Ivo the award of the Sable Thistle for Vocal Heraldry.
And finally, Mistress Gunnvör silfrahárr spent time researching alternate
titles in Old Norse and Scandinvian languagues which were all approved and
added to the List of Alternate titles for the Society. For this effort,
Their Majesties awarded Mistress Gunnvör the Sable Thistle in heraldic
research. There are a few very special things the Principal Heralds get to
do and I got to do one at this point in court. One of the very special rare
things is to award a personal heraldic title to someone who has
demonstrated service to the College heralds, the Kingdom, and the Society.
Mistress Gunnvör has demonstrated this service and continued to do so by
serving as a consulting herald and teaching a class during the event. It
was my pleasure to award her the title of Herald Extraordinaire and grant
her a personal title. She will submit her title for registration by Laurel
later. And then when I thought my business for court was over, I was told
that I should kneel and Their Majesties graciously advanced me to the rank
of Baron of the Court of Ansteorra. I am honored that Their Majesties
thought me worthy of this honor and responsibility. And now you understand
the earlier comment. Their Majesties then decided that they had further
business with the Order of the Pelican and summoned the members of the
Order into court. Their Majesties then asked if the Order was complete and
received an answer of no. Their Majesties then summoned Master Brian Ó
hUilliam into court and announced that he would be elevated to become a
member of the Order of the Pelican.

After that there was one piece of business left, Their Majesties asked for
a moment of silence to remember those in the Society we have lost. I would
add here my own personal remembrance: To absent friends.

It was a great day in Ansteorra and many wonderful things happened. Once
again my apologies if I have forgotten someone’s name or to mention
something that happened.

Thank you to Their Majesties for assisting me in putting this wonderful
event together and your continued support.

In service,

Hersir Eirik Halfdanarson

Star Principal Herald


-- 
Eirik Halfdanarson
Star Principal Herald
Ansteorra
http://heraldry.ansteorra.org/