[MR] THL vs. Lord/Lady: Some info from your friendly Court Education Herald!

[Niccolina Mann]

I posted this on the Atlantian FB page, so I am sorry for the cross post.  I just wanted to share the information, especially since we have a large amount of new people joining us!

(initial post)
Attention all court heraldry types! It has been asked that we spread the message. When you are in court, PLEASE do not use "The Honorable Lord/Lady" when calling someone up. This is not period, and not accepted officially as a title by the SCA. It is used, UNOFFICIALLY, to differentiate between those who have a Grant of Arms versus an Award of Arms, and no other title. With this being said, they are still only "Lord/Lady". 

Also, when calling up someone who has no title (ie: no Award of Arms), they are NOT "m'lord/m'lady". This is a generic term of politeness, and not an official title. When you are calling up Billy Bob of the Drunken Hills, that is all he is... not m'lord Billy Bob of the Drunken Hills.


(second post)
I wanted to share some more information, since I have had people ask me about this. I did some digging, because while it is a shame that we cannot differentiate between the two levels of Arms, people had questions about this. First of all, I would like to borrow a comment from Mistress Alisoun MacCoul, " Never say "just a Lady" --- being a lady is one of the best things that can be said about you." Those of you who have earned your GoA did so with great love for this Kingdom (or the kingdom you earned it in  ). This also goes for the Lords who have their GoA.

Second, when I posted this on a baronial group, someone mentioned awards that were grant level from Ansteorra, and that they do allow THL as a title. I searched their websites, and found two things. A) the place their GoAs before visiting GoAs and all AoAs. This is typical. Secondly, for their grant level awards (such as The Order of the Iris of Merit), they state, "The Standard Terms of Address are used for the members of this Order." Well, what are those standard terms?

You can find them here: http://heraldry.sca.org/titles.html . According to the SCA, all AoAs and GoAs have the title of Lord/Lady; "Basic title for persons who hold Arms by Award or Grant." As far as it is known, in western Europe, during our time period, there was not a title that was just above Lord or Lady. This is why, despite the higher weight of the GoA versus an AoA, we do not have an official SCA title difference. 

I hope that this was helpful, and explained why I posted originally. If you have any questions, please ask!

 
Signora Niccolina the Wanderer, Hippocampus (Court Education) Pursuivant
Herald at Large


Passion, it lies in all of us. Sleeping, waiting, and though unwanted, unbidden it will stir. Open it's jaws and howl. It speaks to us, guides us. Passion rules us all. And we obey. What other choice do we have? Passion is the source of our finest moments. the joy of love, the clarity of hatred, and the ecstasy of grief. It hurts sometimes more than we can bear. If we could live without passion, maybe we'd know some kind of peace. But we would be hollow. Empty rooms, shuttered and dank. Without passion, we'd truly be dead.