[Mid] Mythbusting Heraldry

Greetings,

Last night I once again bumped into #1 from this list; FREQUENTLY GIVEN ANSWERS (That Are Wrong) http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/wrong.html Please give the list a read.

In consulting with people on their names and armory over the years I cannot count how many times I have heard, "What I really wanted was X but I was told you can't register X." And quite often they are wrong, X is fine or there is certain uses of X you have to avoid but otherwise it is ok. Either "you can't do X" is purely a myth and was never true or the ruling on it had changed. I have experienced a couple of cases of the latter myself where I told someone something outdated. This will become evan more common soon. The Rules for Submission are about to change. The new RfS are at the BoD for approval at the next meeting. You can find the final draft and a couple of supporting documents here: http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/regs.html

Heralds please make sure your knowledge is up to date when telling someone "You can't do that." As a submitter if someone tells you "you cannot do X" ask them to show you the rule or precedent.

Some other myths:
When I started and was deciding on a name I was told you could not use "von" in a German name because it was presumptous by our Baronial Pursuivant. This is wrong for a couple of reasons. First it is a post period association. In period people of all social classes might be known as "von [Placenme]." When the general populace of German speaking countries started dropping the "von" from their names the nobles and rich, being more tradition consicious did not and thus it got associated with the upper class. Also in the SCA were are considered to be of a level of gentry that "von" would still be appropriate even after the shift from common to noble usage. But I was new and discarded the idea of using an old form of my mundane last name "von Niederhausern" that would have been a better match to my persona because of this misinformation.

I have also often been told that my arms will not pass. Luckily the first time I heard this was after they had been registered with the College of Arms. The bottom half is the Swiss arms. The reasoning is not because of the Swiss arms as such but that it has a cross couped (equal armed) and the Pic Dic says they are restricted. This is one of those half correct myths. You cannot have a red cross couped (or not not couped for that matter) on white due to it being the symbol of the International Red Cross and is protected. Other color combinations are ok, including the one that inspired it.

You can't use a Dragon on your arms if you are from the Middle. (Another myth we bumped into last night.) Why not. Kingdoms cannot restrict charges. A lot of people have registered dragons and it may take some work to avoid conflict but there is no restriction on any charge related to where you are from.

The heraldry registration process takes a long time. From making an Internal Letter of Intent to being published on a Letter of Acceptance and Return takes 8-9 months. Do not wait years before asking what happened to your submission! If two months go by from when you mailed it and it has not shown up on an ILoI start asking about it.

Anyone have other myths that need busting?

 
Meister Konrad Mailander, Hauptmann der Rotenkompanie
Apprentice to Master Brusten de Bearsul OP, OL(Gaming)
Squire to Sir Gunther von Brandenburg
Si hoc obstat, dejectum sit - If it's in the way let it be knocked down

_____________________________________________________________
Netscape. Just the Net You Need.

From: "Dale Niederhauser" <konrad_at_netscape.com>
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Received on Wed 11 Jan 2012 02:00:20 PM EST