[Atlantia-Announce] Rapier Peerage Information

[Craig via Announce]

Unto Your Majesties King Michael and Queen Seonaid, Your Highnesses 
Prince Logan and Princess Esa, the Atlantian College of Heralds, and the 
wonderful populace of Atlantia does Cian Triton, Principal Herald of the 
Kingdom of Atlantia, send greetings this fine Spring day.

As many of you are aware, the Society Board of Directors agreed to the 
formation of a new Peerage dedicated to the martial art of the rapier.  
The BoD directed Andrewe Laurel, Sovereign of the Society College of 
Arms, to determine a name, badge, and regalia for the new Order.  After 
several months of deliberations an commentary, today the College of Arms 
has released the ruling for the new Order, which follows shortly.  If 
anyone wishes to peruse the full letter of decision, please don't 
hesitate to contact me, and I will be happy to forward it on to you.  It 
should soon also be available on the Society College of Arms page.

The new Peerage Order will take effect as of May 1, 2015.  In summary, 
the new Rapier Peerage Order will be known as the Order of Defense.  The 
badge will be :"(Tinctureless) Three rapiers in pall inverted tips 
crossed".  In non-herald speak, you will have three rapiers forming a 
'Y' shape, points to center and crossing.  The regalia for the Order of 
Defense will be a white livery collar.

Should anyone have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me.

I remain, in service to Crown and Kingdom,
Cian Triton, Principal Herald of the Kingdom of Atlantia.

 From the Society College of Arms:

> Society for Creative Anachronism.
> Order name Order of Defense and badge. (Tinctureless) Three rapiers in 
> pall
> inverted tips crossed.
> Appearing in the Letter of Intent as Order of Defence, the preferred 
> spelling is Order of Defense. The
> spellings defence and defense are used interchangeably in our period 
> [see the Oxford English Dictionary
> (OED), s.v. defence]. We have changed the name to the desired 
> spelling, with the caveat that both
> spellings are acceptable and can be used according to the desires of 
> the kingdom and the individual
> companions of the order.
> The order name was documented in the Letter of Intent using the 
> pattern of naming orders after given
> names; in this case, Defence is an attested late period English 
> surname, which can be used as a given
> name by precedent. The spelling Defense is also acceptable in this 
> context.
> However, this order name could also refer to a motto or desirable 
> trait. Several order names of this sort
> are found in Juliana de Luna's article, "Medieval Secular Order Names"
> (http://medievalscotland.org/jes/OrderNames/index.shtml). Some orders 
> named after desirable traits
> include Esperance "hope," Alte Minne "old love," grunen minne "fresh 
> love." Additional examples
> include mottos or desirable traits as part of the name or as an 
> alternate name for an order. The French Un
> collier de l'ordre A ma vie ("A collar of the order 'A ma vie'") 
> refers to the Order of the Ermine by its
> motto. The Italian (here recorded in French) Chevaliers de la 
> Compagnie du Saint Esperit au Droit Desir
> "Knights of the Company of the Holy Spirit of Right Desire" adds the 
> desirable trait/motto "Right Desire"
> to the name of the patron saint. This kind of construction is often 
> used for alternate names of the order,
> suggesting that at least in some contexts "Right Desire" is a name for 
> the order. An order name like
> Defense is plausibly based on this pattern.
> We must note that this order name is deliberately reminiscent of the 
> historical Company of the Masters of
> Defence (commonly known as the London Masters of Defence). The phrase, 
> Master of Defence, is also
> found in the writings of Jean-Pierre Camus: "An excellent Master of 
> defence, with whom no man will
> fight..for feare of his dexterity" (1639 English translation, OED). We 
> can think of no better description
> for companions of this new order.
> Commenters questioned whether this order name is too generic to be 
> registered because we have already
> designated several generic identifiers using the pattern X of Defense. 
> Precedent states, "Names that fall
> into the generic identifier category are names that would reasonably 
> be used by more than one group for
> common functions of the group" [December 2002 Cover Letter]. These 
> identifiers are not technically
> registered, and are considered to be unprotected under IIIA1 of the 
> Admin Handbook. Once this
> designation has been made, we do not limit the use of a generic 
> identifier to any particular branch, and do
> not later register that item to a specific group. However, the names 
> of the peerage orders are, by
> definition, intended for the use of the Society as a whole for common 
> functions, and are not limited for
> use by one branch within the Society. The unique circumstances of this 
> submission must take this into
> account.
> As for whether this order name "conflicts" (for lack of a better term) 
> with the generic identifiers already
> using the pattern X of Defense, we have a situation where such 
> identifiers are technically not registered,
> but are treated as if they were. Although precedent has not made this 
> clear, the entire generic identifier is
> a reference that is treated as a single unit (for example, in the 
> Ordinary & Armorial). We do not consider
> it to have a separate designator and substantive element; rather, it 
> is a stand-alone, multi-word designator.
> Therefore, the comparison in the present submission is between X of 
> Defense and Order. Even if this were
> not the case, SENA NPN3E allows the registration of order names and 
> names of households and
> affiliation with identical substantive elements but different 
> designators. Thus, the potential "conflict"
> would not be an automatic bar to registration.
> The phrase Academy of Defense is a historical term used by fencing 
> schools, and is used by multiple SCA
> branches to refer to both educational events and fencing practices. A 
> registration of Order of Defense
> would "superprotect" the term Defense under NPN4B2 of SENA, preventing 
> further uses of X of Defense
> and limiting the use of Defense in both non-personal and personal 
> names in future registrations:
> Order and award names may not include the names of the peerage orders 
> or overt references to
> famous knightly orders such as the Garter. Other types of non-personal 
> names may only use such
> elements in contexts where no reference to the order is likely to be 
> perceived by members of the
> order and the general populace.
> However, in acknowledgement of the traditions of excellence that many 
> branches have displayed in
> educating their populace on period rapier combat, the SCA Board of 
> Directors has granted permission for
> the use of Academy of Defense or Academy of Defence by any branch, and 
> only branches, in the future.
> We also explicitly grandfather the use of Royal Guild of Defense and 
> Royal Guild of Fence by Lochac and
> the West, respectively, and rule that they will not be considered to 
> presume upon the Order of Defense.
> New generic identifiers using X of Defense or a similar pattern will 
> not be permitted going forward, per
> SENA NPN4B2.
> The badge of the Order is registered as tinctureless. We recognize 
> that it has been long-standing policy to
> not register tinctureless armory outside of Herald's Seals. However, 
> given that the majority of the armory
> and regalia for the Peerage orders are tinctureless, we have afforded 
> the same standing to the badge
> registered herein.
> On the question of protection of this badge from presumption, we 
> decline to rule at this time, wanting
> further comments from the College. See the Cover Letter for details.
> Society for Creative Anachronism. Regalia for Order of Defense. 
> (Fieldless) A white livery collar.
> Submitted as (Fieldless) A white livery collar, bearing the badge of 
> the Order of Defence, commentary
> indicated that requiring to recognize a specific badge hanging from 
> the collar would decrease
> identifiability of the members of the order.
> The white livery collar is registered and protected as regalia only. 
> Similarly to the laurel wreath of the
> Order of the Laurel, it is not registered as a badge and cannot be 
> registered on armory for the members of
> the Order of Defense.
> In acknowledgement of the diverse forms and ornamentation that livery 
> collars may possess, we decline
> to specify a type for the Order, just as we do not specify anything 
> beyond a white belt for the Order of the
> Chivalry. In order to be considered regalia, the collar itself must be 
> white.
> Much like the superprotection of the white belt as regalia for the 
> Order of Chivalry does not prevent the populace from wearing belts of 
> other colors or metal, the superprotection of a white livery collar 
> for the
> Order of Defense does not mean that members of the populace cannot 
> wear livery collars of another color
> or metal livery collars, including those made of silver.

> - Explicit littera accipiendorum -