[This autumn, I contacted Iathus of Scara, who served as the Morsulus Herald of the SCA from 1989 through 1992, and asked him some questions about that experience. He graciously wrote up two lengthy documents narrating that history, which I have integrated below in what I believe is chronological order. The spots where I’ve stitched material from those two documents together are marked with “[…]”. I’ve also added a few missing words or bits of context in square brackets, redacted a few mundane names, and tweaked the punctuation and formatting for ease of reading. I am so grateful to Iathus for writing up this history and giving me permission to share it here. — Mathghamhain] Continue reading “Memories of Iathus of Scara, Former Morsulus Herald”
Category: Society History
Heraldic Authority In the Earliest Bylaws of the SCA
The Society for Creative Anachronism started as a party in 1966 and was named as a joke, but over the subsequent years elaborated a set of governing policies which today control an international not-for-profit organization with over a hundred thousand participants.
It’s interesting to look back at the early practices of the organization to see the seeds that grew into the structure we know today, and so I was pleased to discover a copy of the earliest bylaws archived on the web site of Master Justin du Coeur, a former historian of the East Kingdom. Continue reading “Heraldic Authority In the Earliest Bylaws of the SCA”
The Lineage of Morsulus Heralds
The Morsulus Herald is a deputy to the Laurel Sovereign of Arms of the SCA, responsible for maintaining the Society’s record of heraldic registrations, as embodied in various forms of the Ordinary and Armorial.
The title of Morsulus was created by Karina of the Far West as her last official act before stepping down as third Laurel Sovereign, taking her inspiration from Latin: “Morsulus, a small byte.” [Cover Letter, Jun 1979] Continue reading “The Lineage of Morsulus Heralds”
An SCA Ordinary from AS XXXIV
Following my recent conversation with Iulstan Sigwealding, he poked around through his archived files and dug up a copy of the Society’s Ordinary produced in early 2000, covering all armory registrations through the end of 1999.
Although this is obviously out of date and no longer of use as working reference, I thought a few folks might enjoy seeing this snapshot from history. Continue reading “An SCA Ordinary from AS XXXIV”
Memories of Iulstan Sigwealding, Former Morsulus Herald
[Recently, I reached out to Iulstan Sigwealding, who served as the Morsulus Herald of the SCA from 1992 through the end of 1999, and asked him some questions about that experience. His answers provided a glimpse into a different era of the Society’s development, and afterwards he was kind enough to volunteer to rewrite the transcript of our conversation to produce a recollection which he has allowed me to publish here. — Mathghamhain] Continue reading “Memories of Iulstan Sigwealding, Former Morsulus Herald”
A Brief History of Free Trumpet Press
Free Trumpet Press was the name for a small organization that existed in several forms from the mid-1980s through the mid-2000s to publish materials for the College of Arms of the Society for Creative Anachronism.
The story of Free Trumpet Press doesn’t seem to be clearly documented anywhere, so I gathered up some traces from publicly-available sources in an attempt to get an overview of its history.
Continue reading “A Brief History of Free Trumpet Press”A History Of The Digital O&A From LoAR Cover Letters
I recently spent some time searching the archive of Laurel letters for early mentions of the Society’s digitized ordinary and armorial, and will share my notes here in case they are of interest to anyone else.
The first efforts to organize a coordinated armorial seem to have begun in 1971. Continue reading “A History Of The Digital O&A From LoAR Cover Letters”
An Early Roll of Arms of the Canton of Whyt Whey
In the period of 2003-2005, an armorial roll was assembled for members of the Canton of Whyt Whey by Doña Sancha de Flores.
The pages were preserved at archive.org (1, 2) and I thought they might be interesting as a snapshot of local participants from that time. Continue reading “An Early Roll of Arms of the Canton of Whyt Whey”
Heraldic Templates
Torric inn Björn’s Heraldic Templates was published in 1992 and is, as far as I know, the earliest collection of art distributed specifically to facilitate tracing in construction of society armory.
It has fallen out of circulation and was not been available online until now. Lord Torric has recently granted permission for this material to be re-published, for which he has my sincere thanks.
The print version of this document also included ten pages of text, including a glossary of terms and default postures and orientations for many charges, which I have posted separately.
I have redacted an old mailing address, but have otherwise not modified the document from the form in which I received it.
— Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin
January 2018
Heraldic Templates
(PDF, 7.3 MB, 46 pages)
The Østgarðrian Ladies’ Favor
The Østgarðrian Ladies’ Favor is a former martial award of the Crown Province of Østgarđr. It has fallen out of use in recent decades.
The Bylaws describe it thusly:
Bestowed by the Vicereine (if any) upon the person who has most distinguished him/herself both on and off the list field. She may, if she chooses, confer with the other Ladies of Østgarðr. The Favor is worn for one year and may be rebestowed on the same person.
Mordred Mjothvitner reports that he received this award for two consecutive years during the 1990s, and that it was given during the Provincial Champions event by the vicereine and her attendants.