[Ponte Alto] Ponte Alto in period?

[cjhalstead at verizon.net]

Oh, you may get more than you bargained for. :-)  This is my recollection of the way things went, and other people may remember in better detail, particularly the heralds at the time if they are still on the list.

There was a great deal of discussion about possible names for the group as we were coalescing.  There was pretty much unanimous agreement that we weren't going to work on the arms without a name, so the first order of business was coming to an agreement on the group name.  People made suggestions, several votes were taken at different organizational meetings to try to narrow things down before an official decision was made and the necessary petition filed with CoH.  We also were generally of the opinion that the name should be in a language most people would be able to make a decent stab at pronouncing properly, so suggestions were mostly limited to English and Romance languages (I think there were suggestions in French, Italian, and Spanish, but there may have been others.  I just don't remember any more).

The first name the group agreed on was Ponte Nove, or nine bridges, to reflect the bridges over the rivers in the DC area.  That got shot down by the heralds' office 1) because it was too close to the name of a real bridge and 2) it was bad Italian.  (It would have to be Nove Ponti to be correct.)  The consensus after that was that we wanted to stick to the bridge theme, that we would like to stick with Italian, and the preference would be for "Ponte Something" if possible.  After a side trip involving using the wrong word for "high" (as in drunk instead of as in high in the air) the group agreed to submit Ponte Alto ("high bridge") to the CoH.

Once the bridge theme as a concept was worked out, the heralds and artists started drawing various color permutations.  The consensus after discussion was that a single charge was preferable to multiple charges, since we also had to put in the laurel wreath.  We were looking for simple to reproduce, easy to recognize, all those things that are important for group heraldry.  The black and gold version that was eventually passed was the one that was best liked of all the color combinations that were proposed.  At the time there weren't many groups using black and gold in the Kingdom, and none in northern Atlantia, so it seemed like a good color pick for group arms.  Both name and arms passed CoH, and here we are.

As I said, this is my recollection of the decision-making process.  It may well be wrong, or out of order, but in essence I'm pretty sure it's accurate. :-)

Caitlyn

First list officer for the Canton of Ponte Alto, first list officer for the Barony of Ponte Alto, attendant at most if not all the organizational meetings, all around old fart


>From: Scott Cozad <scott at cozaddigital.com>
>Date: 2007/11/13 Tue PM 01:13:03 CST
>To: ponte-alto at atlantia.sca.org
>Subject: Re: [Ponte Alto] Ponte Alto in period?

>Nicole E. Miller wrote:
>> That is so cool!  Now, to figure out who this knight is.
>
>Edward:
>Historically it will probably be hard to tell.  I'll do some digging
>because I'm a geek like that.  If I find anything I will pass along the
>info.
>
>Are there any folks on this list who where present when the Baronial Arms
>were being registered.  If so can you shed some light on their origins.
>
>Edward
>
>-- 
>Bodily exercise, when compulsory, does no harm to the body; but knowledge
>which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.
>Plato The Republic Book VII
>
>
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