The SCA’s current rulebook for heraldic submissions, The Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory (or SENA), establishes a common set of requirements called the “Core Style,” based on armorial practices that were common across late-medieval Europe and on Anglo-Norman conventions in particular.
However, it also provides an escape hatch — you can register designs which do not meet the core style rules if you can show that all of their elements were part of established heraldic practice in some particular time and place. This mechanism is known as an “Individually Attested Pattern” (or IAP), and allows for registration of designs which are typical of German, or Italian, or Japanese, or other heraldic cultures but which would not be registrable under the Anglo-Norman-influenced core style rules.
The rules for IAPs are set forth in section A.4. of SENA, but meeting those requirements can be somewhat daunting for inexperienced pursuivants, so I thought it would be useful to dredge through recent Letters of Acceptances and Returns (or LoARs) to collect examples of successful IAP submissions to serve as a reference for heralds considering attempting one for the first time.
In addition to the successful IAPs, I also included a few which were “almost successful,” which is to say that they successfully documented one or more elements of a submission, but were returned because the proposed design included some additional features which were not fully documented.
There are also a few registrations from before the introduction of SENA in 2012, when a similar provision was allowed under the preceding Rules for Submission (RfS) known as a “documented exception for regional style.”
This survey covers just over ten years, from January 2007 through June 2017. [Update: As noted below, this is now current through November 2018.] (I only looked at LoARs from 2007 and later, as I wanted to find registrations for which the associated documentation could be viewed in OSCAR.) I endeavored to find all of the IAPs in this period, although I may have missed a few — let me know if you spot any stragglers that I overlooked!
All told, I found 30 successful IAPs, and I also included 5 “almost successful” returns, and 7 RfS Regional Style Exceptions (marked below with RfS).
They are grouped below by region and type of exception, and include links to the relevant entries in the LoAR and OSCAR. (The OSCAR links may require a login.)
Generally speaking, most of the examples from Europe cover violations of the rule of tincture, while those from outside of Europe cover charges or arrangements not known in Europe.
Update Aug 29 2017: I’ve added two more examples of pre-SENA RfS registrations with regional style exceptions, both discovered thanks to their use as examples in a useful piece in the Proceedings of the 2014 An Tir Kingdom Heraldic & Scribal Symposium by Richenda du Jardin entitled “Documenting an Individually Attested Pattern“. I’ve also added three more IAPs that I turned up by searching OSCAR rather than the LoARs.
Update Nov 12 2017: Added an example of the Hungarian “gules field with a vert base” pattern which wasn’t labeled an IAP but had sufficient supporting examples added during commentary to justify approval.
Update May 17, 2018: Added a low-contrast IAPs from 2014, as well as an unsuccessful attempt from 2015, both found in this 2016 listing of IAPs. People interested in creating an IAP for low-contrast European armory should check the Tincture IAP Database, a listing of over a hundred examples of period armory which violated the rule of tincture.
Update Jan 12, 2019: I’ve reviewed the sixteen months of LoARs that have been posted since I first built this list, and found another six IAP submissions to add to the list, only two of which were successful.
Update Dec 17, 2020: I added a dozen more entries from the last two years of LoARs to a new version of this document posted as A Catalog of Individually Attested Pattern Submissions.
Aztec
Fess embowed To BASe, Jaguar Fur
A fess embowed to base as well as the use of crescents and a field pattern visually similar to a semy of cartouches.
- Ocelotl Moctezuma. Or semy of cartouches sable, a fess embowed to base argent fimbriated gules between four crescents one and three azure. (OSCAR 1, OSCAR 2 , LoAR 2016/03)
English (Late)
Gyronny Gules And Sable
Use of gyronny gules and sable fields.
- Þyri Tyrkisdottir. Gyronny gules and sable, a tree blasted and eradicated between three mullets of six points one and two argent. (OSCAR, LOAR 2017/01)
Gyronny gules and sable with charges.
- Gilly Wede. Gyronny gules and sable, a gillyflower argent between eight bees in annulo Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2015/12)
Gyronny gules and sable.
Gyronny gules and sable with charges.
- Jacquelle d’Artois. Gyronny gules and sable, two sea-horses respectant Or and a sunflower proper. (OSCAR, LoAR 2014/09)
Gules Field with Sable Charge
Sable charges on gules fields.
Highly Complex, Quarternary Charges
A complexity count of twelve, and quarternary charges, in Tudor English armory.
- Juliana de Luna. Sable, on a chevron Or between three gryphon’s heads erased argent a crescent between two escallops azure and on a chief argent three torteaux each charged with a fleur-de-lys Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2010/07, RfS)
French
Azure Field with Gules Bordure
Azure fields with a low contrast gules bordure and a high contrast primary charge.
- Adrienne d’Evreus. Azure, a fleur-de-lys argent and a bordure gules. (OSCAR, LoAR 2016/11, Documentation)
Gules FIELD WITH Sable Label
Gules fields with a low contrast sable label and a high contrast double tressure.
- Eve di Antonio di Rienzo Ruspoli. Gules, a fleur-de-lys within a double tressure Or, overall a label sable. (OSCAR, LoAR 2014/09)
German (Late)
Gules Field With Sable Charges
Two sable charges on a gules field.
Gules, on an ordinary sable, three charges metal.
- Heinrich Schreiber. Gules, on a fess sable three mullets of six points argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2014/10)
Use of black charges on red on divided fields. (But not when paired with a dissimilar, high contrast charge on the other side of the field.)
- Karin Jacobsdotter. Per bend gules and Or, in bend sinister an anvil and a domestic cat sejant contourny sable. (Returned) (OSCAR, LoAR 2013/11)
Use of complex sable primary charges alone on a gules field.
Use of black charges on red. (But not with three palewise charges.)
Sable FIELD WITH GULES CHARGES
Use of complex gules primary charges on sable fields, as well as bear’s heads couped.
Use of gules primary charges on sable fields. (But not when paired with a high-contrast peripheral ordinary.)
Azure Field With Gules Charge
Charged gules ordinaries on azure fields, as well as the use of tertiary six-pointed mullets.
Charged gules ordinaries on azure fields, as well as the use of tertiary six-pointed mullets and the existence of the shakefork.
Azure Field With Brown Charge
Use of a brown beast on an azure field.
Argent Field With Or Charges
Metal ordinaries on metal fields, as well as the very German motif of a pile issuing from a corner of the field.
Gules and Sable Field with Counterchanging
Use of per pale fields using gules and sable with counterchanged charges (as well as the use of suns and roses as charges in the same heraldic jurisdiction).
- Madison Morai. Per pale gules and sable, a sun counterchanged. (OSCAR, LoAR 2016/12)
- Nur of the Angels. Per pale sable and gules, a rose counterchanged. (OSCAR, LoAR 2018/01)
Multiply-Divided azure and gules Field
Divided fields of more than four parts in combinations of gules and azure, both uncharged or charged with argent charges.
- Eginolf von Basel. Per fess gules and bendy gules and azure, in chief an egg argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2015/02)
Low-contrast multiply-divided field, without a primary charge.
- Eginolf von Basel. Bendy azure and gules, a wolf’s head contourny erased Or maintaining in its mouth an egg argent. (Returned) (OSCAR, LoAR 2013/07)
Primary Charge Overlaying a Chief
A primary charge overlying a chief.
- Marek Casimir of Krakow. Checky sable and argent, a chief enarched Or and overall an eagle displayed gules. (OSCAR 1, OSCAR 2, LoAR 2013/06)
Hungarian
Azure Field With Sable Charge
The motif of a sable eagle displayed upon an azure field with high-contrast mullets and decrescents in chief.
- Veoreos Miklos. Azure, an eagle sable and in chief a decrescent and a mullet of eight points argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2017/06)
Use of a sable beast on an azure field, argent decrescents with Or suns, and sable animals transfixed by Or arrows.
- Rakonczay Gergely. Azure, a boar statant sable transfixed by an arrow bendwise sinister Or and in chief a decrescent argent and a mullet of eight points Or. (OSCAR 1, OSCAR 2, LoAR 2008/01, RfS)
Azure Field With Vert Base and Sable Charges
Use of complex dark or sable charges on azure fields; for green trimounts, mounts, or bases with azure fields, some with dark or sable charges standing on them; for light-colored peripheral stars, often accompanying otherwise low-contrast designs; and for the use of all three design elements together.
- Victor Ispan. Azure, a raven sable perched atop a trimount vert and in chief two mullets argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2007/03, RfS)
Gules FIELD WITH VERT BASE AND Metal CHARGES
Use of a gules field with green mounts or trimounts.
- Lada Monguligin, Gules, a sans-serif letter “M” inverted surmounted by a pallet couped argent issuant from a trimount vert. (Kingdom OSCAR, OSCAR, LoAR 2013/03)
Islamic
Arabic Penbox
Evidence of the charges, tinctures, and overall design of this submission, with one exception: there is no evidence of fimbriation in Islamic heraldry.
- Sajah bint Habushun ibn Ishandiyar al-Hajjaji. Vert, on a fess gules fimbriated between an Arabic penbox and a lozenge a chalice Or. (Returned) (OSCAR, LoAR 2014/03)
Italian (Late)
Azure Field with Vert Trimount
Use of green trimounts on blue background.
- Cristabell Rose Alwin. Azure, a bear rampant Or atop a trimount vert and in chief three roses Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2017/01)
Vert trimounts on azure fields, as well as trimounts issuant from bases.
- Fortuné Stykewynd. Azure, a trimount vert issuant from a ford proper, in dexter chief an increscent argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2014/09)
Azure field with vert mount and several charges standing atop it.
- Tuathal O’Sheill. Azure, an oak tree between a harp Or and a crane in its vigilance argent, all atop a mount vert. (Returned) (OSCAR, LoAR 2017/09)
Azure FIELD WITH Charged Gules Ordinary
A low-contrast central ordinary bearing high-contrast charges.
Argent Field With Or Charge
A low-contrast metal on metal central ordinary between low contrast secondary charges.
- Giata Magdalena Alberti. Argent, a fess between three mullets of eight points and a fleur-de-lys Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2015/04)
Argent Primary with Or Tertiary
Low contrast tertiaries on ordinaries, as well as the use of purpure for the field.
An Or tertiary on a complex argent primary charge.
- Giata Magdalena Alberti. (Fieldless) On a mullet of eight points argent a fleur-de-lys Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2015/04)
Argent and Or Fields with Counterchanging
Complex single charges counterchanged on a low contrast divided two metal field.
- Giata Magdalena Alberti. Per pale argent and Or, a fleur-de-lys counterchanged. (OSCAR, LoAR 2015/04)
gules Fields With Sable Charges
Sable animate charges on gules fields, demi-animate charges and animate charges maintaining banners and/or swords.
- Konrad Kauffman von Regensburg. Gules, a demi-fox sable maintaining a banner Or and a sword argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2014/10)
Sable FIELDS WITH Gules Ordinaries
A sable field with a gules chief with a complex line, each bearing high-contrast charges.
- Raffe De Massard. Sable, a bee Or and on a chief embattled gules three fleurs-de-lis Or. (Returned) (OSCAR, LoAR 2017/11)
Vert FieldS With Sable Charges
A sable animate charge on a vert field, high contrast bordures in combination with low contrast primary charges and complex lines of division.
- Biǫrn Eldiárnsson. Vert, a bear rampant sable within a bordure embattled argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2014/08)
MultiplY-DiviDED Fields And Ordinaries Of More Than Two Tinctures
Use of three tinctures in barry, bendy and paly fields, and the use of a three tincture compony, (and in the LoAR, low-contrast peripheral ordinaries).
- Richenda du Jardin. Per pale bendy sinister azure, Or and argent and bendy Or, argent and azure, a bordure compony argent, azure and Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2011/01, LOAR 2011/06)
A Rock Cleft By A River
Use of swirling lines to represent a flowing stream, and use of a demi-annulet to represent a bridge.
- Gilia Maddalena Sofia del Fortuna. Gules, a demi-annulet argent issuant from a rock issuant from base proper cleft palewise by a natural river flowing to base argent. (OSCAR, LOAR 2011/01, RfS)
A Charge Sustained By An Arm Embowed Proper
Showing charges sustained by an arm embowed proper.
- Giacomo Fornerigo. Or, a baker’s peel bendwise sinister sable charged with three loaves of bread Or sustained by an arm embowed issuant from sinister proper vested sable, a chief rayonny gules. (OSCAR, LOAR 2014/05, RfS)
Japanese
Roundel Between Roundels
Use of a larger roundel between smaller roundels in annulo.
- Hosokawa Gentarou Masahiro. Vert, a roundel between eight roundels in annulo Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2016/12)
- Amano Zenjirou Nakatsune. Sable, in chief a roundel within six roundels in annulo and in base a barrulet argent. (Returned) (OSCAR 1, OSCAR 2, LOAR)
Use of a small roundel between larger roundels in annulo.
- Sólveig Þróndardóttir. Badge for Sugawara Miyuki. (Fieldless) An umebachi argent. (OSCAR, LoAR 2017/05)
Three Tomoe
Use of three tomoe in annulo with no other charge on the field.
Japanese Crane
Use of the Japanese crane.
- Kameshima Zentarou Umakai. Argent, a Japanese crane displayed and in base a bar gemel azure. (OSCAR, LoAR 2016/04)
Butterfly Volant
Unusual posture for a butterfly.
- Yoshimizu Kitsutarou Kimimichi. Sable, a butterfly volant fesswise, wings addorsed Or. (OSCAR, LoAR 2016/12)
Portuguese
Gules Field With Azure Border
Charged low-contrast bordures, as well as the use of lions and crescents.
I finally got around to adding a link to this article to the “Individually Attested Patterns” page on my unofficial SCA Heraldry wiki. Thanks for putting it together!
http://scaheraldry.info/index.php?title=Individually_Attested_Pattern