Category: Østgarðr

In the spirit of the recent writeup of Whyt Whey’s registrations, here is the registration of Northpass. My thanks again to the office of the Laurel Archivist for sharing these files.

---

Canton of Northpass

The canton’s name was submitted in January 1985, and registered without comment in May.

The supporting documentation reads:

Name refers to the fact that the early Dutch settlers in New York used to call this area the northern pass.

---

Vair, two bendlets and in bend sinister a laurel wreath between two tygers passant to sinister Or.

The canton’s arms were registered in January 1987.

The original submission emblazon shows a style of vair known as “vair in pale,” with successive rows of vair bells lining up vertically beneath one another, rather than being offset as is more common; however, the SCA considers the two styles to be heraldically equivalent, so this is merely an artistic vair-iation. (The canton typically uses a more traditional style of vair in its current heraldic displays.)

---

A few other details of Northpass’s history are provided by Lord Richard the Poor’s “A Geographic History of the East Kingdom”: the branch was first organized as “Viking’s Hall” and changed its name in December 1984, before achieving official status in August 1985.

At a recent provincial commons meeting, some people were joking about a proposed badge for the three “outer boroughs” of New York City which are part of Østgarðr but not within the boundaries of any canton: the Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island.

I don’t think there’s any actual intent to register this, but I figured I’d draw it up for amusement value. I’m not sure if folks have thought through the tinctures they might use, so I just guessed at what seemed natural.

---

Argent, a pall azure between three otters in annulo proper.

The three otters and the segments they inhabit represent the three “outer” boroughs, while the blue represents the “rivers” (actually tidal estuaries) that divide them.

---

Unsurprisingly, this design is unregistrable due to conflict, and I don’t have the time to search for clear variants — perhaps a pall wavy? — so this will have to do for now.

The canton’s registration of a new device and populace badge have been forwarded by Blue Tyger Herald from the East Kingdom to the Society’s College of Heralds, and I thought this would be a good moment to look back at the branch’s previous heraldic registrations.

(My thanks to Baroness Shauna of Carrick Point, Laurel Archivist, for retrieving these records from the depths of the Society’s storehouse.)

---

Canton of Whyt Whey

The canton took shape in the heart of the Crown Province of Østgarðr in the mid-to-late 1980s. (See the writeup on Cunan by Alexandre Lerot d’Avigné for a brief history.)

Riffing on the mis-reading of Østgarðr as “cheese farm” and the century-old nickname for the brightly-lit midtown portion of Broadway, the initial proposal was to name the canton “Grate Whyt Whey”, but the first word was dropped during the registration process as being too ahistorical.

The name registration submitted in June 1989 for the Canton of Whyt Whey provides the following supporting documentation:

The name is English. It derives from Ostgardr — “Cheese Farm” — in the Norse, as was explained by Daffyd z Goury, regarding alternate and mis-spellings. The use of descriptive nouns for places is well documented (ex. Whitehaven, and Dublin). The vagaries of medieval spelling equate Wei, Way, Whey as far as usage is concerned— this is shown in The Oxford English Dictionary, dating to the early 1300s. The uses were either for the juice pressed from curds or for roads.

O.K. alternate spellings of Whyt: White, Wyte.

O.K. alternate spellings of Whey: Wei, Way.

These are all possibilities, by what the O.E.D. indicates for period spellings.

When the East Kingdom forwarded the submission to Laurel in the Letter of Intent of October 1989, they described it thusly:

The name is a descriptive place name. Whyt is a spelling of white, cited by the OED from 1403. Whey is a spelling of way. the OED shows wei, whay, wey, way as period spellings of both of the nouns whey and way. It thus seems reasonable to use whey as a form of way. Reaney, DoBS, p.380 dervies the surname Whiteway from a place of that name. That place is  not significant enough too merit a conflict, and the name is probably acceptable under NR 1.d. the Descriptive Name Allowance.

The College of Arms was less amused by the punning, but accepted the registration in January 1990 with the comment:

After much discussion, we decided that this came under the “Rule of Toyota”. (Yes, this is a Canton in Manhattan…)

(The “Rule of Toyota” is shorthand for “we don’t think it’s a good idea, but if you want it we’ll let you have it” and references an advertising campaign of the 1970s that declared “You Asked for It, You Got It!”)

---

Argent semy of cockroaches sable, a pomme within a laurel wreath vert.

The initial design for the canton’s arms was submitted in 1991. As described in Cunan, “Some of the founding members were adamant about it having cockroaches, that most indomitable of local fauna, on it. Others were grossed out by the idea. The cockroach won.”

The green roundel in the center, known heraldically as a “pomme”, is a canting reference to the city’s nickname “the Big Apple.”

The College of Heralds found the semy of cockroaches unsettling and refused to register it:

This is being returned under RfS I.2., Offense. This general principle states that “no submission will be registered that is detrimental to the educational purposes or good name of the Society, or the enjoyment of its participants because of offense that may be caused, intentionally or unintentionally, by its use.” Given the universally negative reaction of the commentors to this semy charge, it is believed that a significant percentage of the populace of the SCA will find this device so offensive as to reduce their enjoyment of and participation in SCA activities.

A badge featuring a cockroach had been registered in 1981, although with some discomfort — it may be that the semy’s evocation of a field of scurrying roaches put this design over the top

---

Sable, a cockroach tergiant within a laurel wreath and on a chief embattled argent, a pomme.

Eight years later, the canton tried again, this time using a single cockroach instead of the semy.

In the intervening years, the College of Arms had accepted a registration of arms from Skallagormr Berserkr featuring a cockroach, noting that that a similar design appeared in Schrot’s Wappenbuch of 1581, blazoned a “beetle.”

Perhaps relying on that precedent, the canton submitted a new design, blazoning the central charge a “German beetle”.

The College of Heralds accepted the registration in August 1999, changing the blazon with the following note:

The primary charge was blazoned as a beetle; however, single cockroaches are now allowable charges. As their previous submission used cockroaches, we changed the blazon to match what we believe is their intent.

---

This device has remained in place since then, although it is rarely used; the only place I have seen it displayed is as part of a pennant with the arms of the Crown Province and each of the cantons which is flown in the Østgarðr encampment at Pennsic.

If the new arms are successfully registered this summer, this design will be maintained as the “ancient and honorable arms” of the canton in perpetuity.

The original branch arms of Østgarðr were registered in 1979, and there were a couple of failed attempts to change them prior to passage of the current device in 1984.

---

Per bend sinister purpure and Or, a seahorse rampant azure, crined, unguled and finned Or, orbed sable, gorged of a laurel wreath vert, grasping in its hooves a laurel wreath Or.

The branch’s first arms were registered in August 1979. (View submitted image.)

Originally submitted as “per bend sinister purpure and Or, a seahorse sejant azure, crined, finned, tailed and hoofed of the second, engorged of a laurel wreath proper,” during the 1979 “Heraldicon” effort to clear a two-year backlog of submissions the blazon was updated and the wreath being held in its hooves was added in order to satisfy the requirement for a prominent laurel wreath in each branch’s arms.

These arms were not retained as a badge and were released in 1984 when the current device was registered.

---

Argent, a bend sinister Or fimbriated purpure, overall a sea-horse erect azure, crined, unglued and langued Or, gorged of a laurel wreath vert.

A change of device was returned in July 1981. (View submitted image.)

The return noted “The fimbriation should be wider. You will have to add a large laurel wreath, as in your current arms. It would be a better idea to gorge the sea-horse with an Or laurel wreath than a vert laurel wreath, since the beast is azure. The Or bend sinister has poor contrast.”

---

Argent, a seahorse erect azure, on a chief vert a laurel wreath elongated fesswise Or.

A second change of device was returned in December 1983. (The submitted image is missing from the archives, so I have guessed based on the blazon.)

The return noted “What is drawn on the chief is not a laurel wreath, but rather two laurel branches overlapped. Redraw as one or more standard palewise laurel wreaths. Three would look nice.”

Over the last forty-odd years, Østgarðr has registered several pieces of armory featuring a heraldic sea-horse, and I thought it would be useful to collect them all in one place for easy reference.

---

Argent, a sea-horse erect azure within a laurel wreath vert.

The branch’s current arms were registered in August 1984. (View submitted image.)

Note that although recent depictions often show the sea-horse’s front legs terminating in fins, the device that was submitted in 1984 has hooves, as do both of the related designs that follow.

Also note the lack of gold accents anywhere on the design; this sea-horse is simply blue, unlike the original 1979 device.

---

A seahorse erect azure, hoofed, orbed and crined Or.

This badge was registered in April 1984. (View submitted image.)

It differs from the below in lacking a gold wreath, and in having its eye labeled as golden instead of its tail.

This design is sometimes used as a populace badge, although it is not specifically so labeled in the armory.

[Update, Dec 2016:] An administrative change has been submitted to the College of Arms to designate this as the province’s populace badge.

---

A sea-horse sejant azure, crined, finned, unguled, and gorged of a laurel wreath Or.

This badge was registered in April 1975. (View submitted image.)

It appears to be the earliest piece of armory registered by the branch.

Because the original submission was in black and white, it is difficult to determine how much of the tail fin is intended to be gold.

This version, with the laurel wreath around the sea-horse’s neck, does not appear to be in active use.

---

See also the “natural sea-horse” associated with an award in Heraldic Orders and Awards of Østgarðr, and the unregistered devices in Released and Returned Sea-horses of Østgarðr.