Heraldry

Deciding on the Name and Device for the Proposed Principality

Greetings all from Mestra Rafaella d'Allemtejo, contact person for the Heraldry Committee.
We're happy to announce that we're ready to start taking suggestions on heraldry (name and device) for the proposed principality.

Starting May 20, 2005 the Heraldry Committee of the RiversCP Principality Interest Group will begin accepting suggestions for the name and device of the proposed principality. We will stop accepting suggestions on September 5, 2005 (that's May Crown through Sept. Crown).

As many of you know, designing a good name and a good device is a complex process. We ask that you read the material below before sending your ideas to the Heraldry Committee. We've tried to synthesize the official SCA Rules and guidelines in a way that will help foster your creativity yet remain true to styles of the medieval era.

During this Suggestions Session (May through September) anyone may offer suggestions. When we get to the polling/voting stage this fall, only members of the proposed principality area will be eligible to participate. The Committee will accept suggestions and vet them against the Rules for Submission and then post those that meet requirements as well as those that need more work on the "Suggestions Lists" pages listed below. So check back to those pages often.

Thanks so much for particpating. We can't make this Principality happen without your input.

In Service,
Mestra Rafaella, riverscp_heraldry (at) yahoo (dot) com

Sending in Suggestions

Suggestions may be sent to the Heraldry Committee via email at: riverscp_heraldry (at) yahoo (dot) com.
(you may also submit on paper to me personally or via snail mail; please write to me at the above address for my home address)

Please give your email a good specific subject line so that it doesn't look like spam. You may send in suggestions together (name and device) or separately. You may send only one, you don't have to suggest for both. Whatever you're comfortable suggesting. Some examples of good subject lines are: "Name for proposed principality" "Device for proposed prinicipality" or "Name/Device Suggestions".

For names, please include a citation of where you found the name (book citation, including page number if possible, or URL/internet address). If the name is non-English, please give a translation. Please give a meaning if the name has one. You don't need to say "Principality of" in front of each name suggestion, but the Official name will be "Principality of..." so it's good to say it out loud and see how it sounds.

For devices, don't worry about not being familiar with heraldry or how to blazon a device. The heralds on the committee will take care of the final blazon. Explain your idea as clearly as you can, example: "Black background, white sealion in the middle of shield, with three white laurel wreaths in a row up top". For those with computer graphic talents, picture attachments are most welcome (under 1MB files are appreciated; gif and jpg files preferred).

We've included a shield blank below in both gif and jpg format that's the size we'll be posting on the suggestions page so if folks would use that as a template, so much the easier for the Committee. Full color images are preferred over line drawings. We've also posted a laurel wreath graphic (a required element) and the Rivers Region sealion for those that wish to include this motif in their suggestions.

The Current Suggestions Lists:

Click here to view Current Ideas for proposed Principality Name

Click here to view Current Ideas for proposed Principality Device

Guidelines, Hints, Tips, Tricks, and other Advice on Creating Good Names and Devices:

Official SCA Guidelines For Branch Names

(synthesized from the Rules for Submission):
There are no required elements for an SCA Branch Name. SCA Branch Names must meet the Rules for other Non-Personal names which include being historically correct, language consistant, and conflict-free with other previously registered Non-Personal names. The name must be true to itself (what this generally means is that all the parts must come from one language/one timeperiod.)

Guidelines from the Heraldry Committee regarding Name:

  • Try to be inclusive regarding culture on the name (the name has to be from one culture but shouldn't mean "Norse only need apply" for example...).
  • The name should be documentable to pre-1600, or be constructed of pre-1600 parts that could have been used together.
  • All the parts of the name should match (that is, be from same language and near to each other temporally (time-wise))
  • No important modern names, even if they originated in period (London, Berlin, etc.)
  • Avoid names from fiction, especially historical and fantasy fiction (they call it fiction for a reason...)
  • The name doesn't have to be Norse/Scottish/Irish/English just because many AnTirians have these personas.

    A quote from a Herald of Very Good Sense:
    "Placenames are like personal names in that they were originally meant for grubby, hands on, everyday common use. Sometimes they could be witty but in a very bucolic and obvious way. Not high flown, poetic, or delicately metaphorical, concocted by the highly educated. No matter how wispy and dreamlike they now sound, how evocative of faraway romance and dreams of yesterday, they originally meant things like 'dwelling place of the swineherd'. ... [O]ur job is to make up placenames in the way that _they_ named places. For common, ordinary, real life features. If they just happen to sound really keen, well, that's our privilege."
    --Countess Elisabeth de Rossignol, 29 Jan 1998 in a consult for branch names on the AnTir Heralds electronic discussion list

    More about placenames and their construction at:
    What is an SCA Branch Name?

    Placename patterns: (from the above document)

  • Single physical description of the location: hill, valley, glen (sometimes these are too generic for SCA names)
  • Physical description with adjective modifier: "headland near the rocky part", "lake where the ducks roost", "pig-valley". Modifiers include: animals, colors, directions (east/west/upper/lower), new/old, etc.
  • People + description (habitative names): Sven's valley, Otto's farm, the king's wood.
  • Building/structure + description: Castelo Branco (Portuguese: White Castle)
  • Saint's names: Bury St. Edmunds

    Possible Themes for both Name and Device:

    First Letters of the Alphabet NOT in use by other Kingdoms/Principalities:
    B F H I J K P Q R U V X Y Z

    Current SCA kingdoms (18) [as of 5/2/2005]:
    Ęthelmearc, Ansteorra, An Tir, Artemisia
    Atenveldt, Atlantia, Caid, Calontir
    Drachenwald, Ealdormere, East, Lochac
    Meridies. Middle, Northshield, Outlands
    Trimaris, West

    Current SCA principalities (9) [as of 5/2/2005]:
    Avacal (An Tir), Summits (An Tir), Tir Ri'gh (An Tir)
    Insula Draconis (Drachenwald), Nordmark (Drachenwald)
    Gleann Abhann (Meridies; first Crown scheduled for Oct. 2005)
    Cynagua (West), Mists (West), Oertha (West)

    Official SCA Guidelines For Branch Devices

    (synthesized from the Rules for Submission):
    All branch arms must include one or more laurel wreaths as an important element in the design. Principalities *may* include a crown or coronet, but are not required to do so.

    Note: It should be mentioned that the Rivers Region has the following registered badge: (Fieldless) A sealion per fess azure and argent, and an extant war banner which is a blue sealion on a per pale yellow and white field. Using these items in the new proposed principality is not required. The sealion could be transferred to the Principality at some later point.

    Guidelines from the Heraldry Committee regarding Device:

  • Good devices should be simple, memorable, and easily identified. (This also makes it easier to reproduce over and over and over again... think about banners and standards and many many pieces of regalia. Simple is better.)
  • Good devices have high contrast between their parts. Light charges (white/silver or yellow/gold) are put on dark fields (red, green, blue, purple, or black), and vice versa. These are also the allowed seven heraldic "tinctures" or colors.
  • Good devices have as few charges and colors as possible. The best devices fill the roughly triangular shield with one or three identical charges, and use only two colors.
  • The device doesn't have to include white, or yellow, or checky squares (ie, it doesn't have to say "ANTIR").
  • Good devices make it easy to identify each charge. Charges are drawn in a static and stylized way to make them as distinctive as possible. Charges are drawn as large as possible while still fitting in the space available.
  • The only required element is at least one laurel wreath (see official guidelines above). There are very nice branch arms in the SCA that only have one or more laurel wreaths (i.e., no other charges).
  • A charge within a single laurel wreath is an SCA heraldic cliche. If done, it should be one simple charge within the one large laurel wreath.

    See also: What is an SCA Device? and examples of the Branch Arms of An Tir

    Device/shield templates:

    Shield blank in jpeg format:

    Shield blank in gif format:

    Other templates:

    Laurel wreath in jpeg format (it's not the best laurel wreath, but it is properly round):

    Rivers sealion in gif format:

    Official stuff regarding heraldic registration for branches:

    The Administrative Handbook (rules for how and who can/must register items in the SCA)
    http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/admin.html
    (Search for "principalities" and "principality".)

    Change in process to register Names and Devices for Incipient Principalities:
    http://www.sca.org/heraldry/loar/1998/07/cvr.html

    Return to Main Page

    This is the web site for discussion of the creation of a Crown Principality in the area of the Kingdom of An Tir formerly known as "Rivers Region".
    It is not a corporate publication of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Incorporated, and does not delineate SCA policies.

    Constructive feedback, kudos, and inquiries can be sent to the owner of this page, Mestra Rafaella d'Allemtejo, at riverscp_heraldry (at) yahoo (dot) com.

    Created: April 25, 2003, updated: May 13, 2005.