[MR] Heraldic Word of the Day

[Jim Looper]

From: http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/coagloss.html

Grandfather Clause. 
The popular name given to the guarantee in Corpora that, once registered, a name or piece of armory remains registered unless the owner requests its release, regardless of changes in the Rules for Submissions and standards applied to submissions after that time. The term Grandfather Clause is also sometimes applied to the provisions that allow a submitter to use elements that they have previously registered in new name or armory submissions, even if those elements are no longer acceptable under the current Rules for Submissions. On a case by case basis, this allowance has been extended to the submitter's immediate legal family. These provisions are stated in Rules for Submissions II.5. and VII.8; a sample letter documenting the right to extend the Grandfather Clause can be found in the Cover Letter for the October 2002 LoAR. 


Lucien's Digest Version: If you passed it before Laurel made a rule preventing it, good for you! You can submit it for badges and the like. If you didn't, sorry. This isn't done to keep people from getting what they want. It is to help everyone in the SCA feel a little more "in period". Would you really feel like you were in 12th Century Germany if you see someone on the field with the "Eye of Sauron" on their shield???

Example: You've seen "Spike"? The Kingdom of Atlantia may submit a Natural Seahorse Unicornate (Seahorse with a unicorn horn) in various colors because they already had one passed by Laurel BEFORE the ruling concerning adding unicorn horns to natural animals. 

From: http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/precedents/baldwin.html

"Unicornate
....I have been unable to find unicornate in any dictionary, heraldic or otherwise, but....... [BoE, 19 Jan 86, p.7] [The submission was approved.]
Unicorn's horns, on the other hand, contribute little to the beasts onto which they are grafted, and in at least one case (the "unicornate horse") they blur the distinctions between existing charges. [BoE, 3 Aug 86, p.15] [The unicornate horse is no longer permitted; it should be either a horse or a unicorn.]"

Does this mean that a member of the populace of Atlantia can have spike on their device? Well, only if allowed to by the Crown of Atlantia through an Augmentation of Arms (specific rules apply to this as well, but I digress). 

What is an Augmentation of Arms? Look it up! The first NON-herald with less than 3 years in the SCA from the Merry Rose to write me back, gets a special token the next time we meet at an event (You must be a resident of Atlantia to be eligible). It won't be anything big, but it will be unique and all yours.

Sincerely,

Baron Lucien de La Rochelle
Nottinghill Coill, Pursuivant