Mathghamhain – Page 28 – Techniques of Digital Heraldry

Populace Badges

Many SCA branches register badges for use by their members, in order to allow people to indicate their association with the group without using the branch’s primary arms. I’ve gathered some guidelines and commentary about populace badges below for easy reference.

Restrictions on Display of Branch Arms

In the medieval period, according to Dame Zenobia Naphtali, “the Arms of a Kingdom properly were only used by the personal embodiments of the Kingdom, their King and Queen. Private individuals would not use the Kingdom Arms except in contexts making it absolutely clear that those Arms were used in reference to the King and Queen, not to themselves.”

Released and Returned Sea-horses of Østgarðr

The original branch arms of Østgarðr were registered in 1979, and there were a couple of failed attempts to change them prior to passage of the current device in 1984.

Per bend sinister purpure and Or, a seahorse rampant azure, crined, unguled and finned Or, orbed sable, gorged of a laurel wreath vert, grasping in its hooves a laurel wreath Or.

The branch’s first arms were registered in August 1979. (View submitted image.)

Originally submitted as “per bend sinister purpure and Or, a seahorse sejant azure, crined, finned, tailed and hoofed of the second, engorged of a laurel wreath proper,” during the 1979 “Heraldicon” effort to clear a two-year backlog of submissions the blazon was updated and the wreath being held in its hooves was added in order to satisfy the requirement for a prominent laurel wreath in each branch’s arms.

Heraldic Registrations of the Orders and Awards of Østgarðr

In addition to the primary branch armory, Østgarðr has also registered badges corresponding to several orders and awards of honor.

A natural sea-horse proper.

This badge was registered in June 1975. (View submitted image.)

The blazon was initially approved as “a seahorse (hippocampus) proper”; the phrasing was changed to “a natural sea-horse proper” at a later date.

This registration has been the subject of some discussion because the only record of the submission is monochrome and lacks tricking marks that would tell us which colors were to be used, and nobody knows for sure what color a “proper” natural seahorse is meant to be — real seahorses come in a variety of colors including brown, yellow, red, blue, green, and purple, as well as striped and multicolor patterns.

Heraldic Sea-horses of Østgarðr

Over the last forty-odd years, Østgarðr has registered several pieces of armory featuring a heraldic sea-horse, and I thought it would be useful to collect them all in one place for easy reference.

Argent, a sea-horse erect azure within a laurel wreath vert.

The branch’s current arms were registered in August 1984. (View submitted image.)

Note that although recent depictions often show the sea-horse’s front legs terminating in fins, the device that was submitted in 1984 has hooves, as do both of the related designs that follow.

Also note the lack of gold accents anywhere on the design; this sea-horse is simply blue, unlike the original 1979 device.

Youth Combat Badges

Registered heraldic devices and badges are subject to a fair amount of artistic variation and differing interpretations, but when you get to un-registered badges, things can get really out of hand.

The youth combat marshalate is a case in point, with at least five different badges in circulation, none of which have been registered.

The first two of these seem to be in widespread use, while the others only show up in solitary cases, presumably invented on the spot because someone couldn’t find an officially-registered badge.

A Digital Armory Toolbox

My freehand illustration skills are rudimentary at best, so I do all of my armorial design using a computer, and I figured I’d post a few notes about the software I use in hopes that it might be of use to others.

(I should note that I’m a Mac user, and wouldn’t even know where to start on recommendations for Windows.)

Tilting At “Arabian” Lamps

The image of Aladdin’s lamp is so well established that the appearance of actual oil lamps of the medieval Levant might come as a surprise: they are made of clay, and shaped more like a gravy boat than a teapot.

I stumbled over this while helping an Østgarðrian prepare an armory registration featuring an Arabian lamp and wandered down a fascinating rabbit hole of web research.

(SCA heralds with OSCAR commenting privileges may enjoy reading the repeated efforts of Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme to guide people towards using the archeologically-attested form of the lamp here, here, here, here, and here — occasionally overheated, but still an interesting example of the “historical education” tendency within the SCA.)

Armory of the Populace of the Canton of Whyt Whey

One of the first things I did after returning from Pennsic was to re-emblazon the armory of those members of the SCA who lived within the boundaries of Whyt Whey. I updated that collection in September for use as a poster to be displayed at the Cloisters demo, shown below.

Greetings to the known world!

I’ve started this site to collect material related to heraldry, with a focus on armory as practiced in the SCA.

This site will function more as a record of my learning experience rather than as an instructional guide or authoritative reference, as I’ve only have a few months of heraldic experience, having designed arms for my son and I this spring, receiving training and consultation experience at Pennsic XLV, and being elected the herald of Whyt Whey in August.

Feel free to contact me with questions or feedback about this or any of my other heraldic efforts.

Yours in service to the dream,

— Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin
mka Matthew Simon Ryan Cavalletto