Awards – Techniques of Digital Heraldry

Extraordinary Recognition

During the Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium this weekend, I learned from Master Yehuda ben Moshe that, as one of his final actions as Brigantia, I had been elevated to the rank of Herald Extraordinary, a recognition for which I am deeply grateful.

Unlike nearly all of the awards and honors of the Society, this rank can not be bestowed by royalty or their representatives in the baronage; instead it stems from the authority of the Sovereigns of the College of Arms and the Principal Heralds of each kingdom.

The term “extraordinary” is used here not in the sense of “unusual,” but rather to mean “outside the typical order” — a recognition of work being done sui generis, rather than in a fixed role within the Colleges’ normal organization.

“Such a rank shall have no fixed duties, unless such shall be agreed upon by the holder and the Kingdom Principal Herald, but instead the holder of the rank shall be a senior member of the College who shall lend heraldic expertise as s/he sees fit.”
— Wilhelm Laurel, July 1981 LoAR

The rank was established over forty years ago, and is closely held; the record suggests that only a dozen Extraordinaries have been named here in the East over the last two decades, and even fewer in the two decades before that.

This recognition is especially meaningful to me in coming from Master Yehuda, because it was during his elevation to Herald Extraordinary at KWHSS in 2018 that I first came to see this title as one to which I could aspire, and the members of this rank as a group of which I could hope to one day be considered a peer.

So, my thanks to Yehuda for the recognition, and to the Heralds of the Colleges for their companionship and conviviality over the last seven years — I will endeavor to continue to be worthy of this honor in the years ahead.

An Updated Order and Awards Chart

A year and a half ago, I drafted a chart summarizing the orders and awards issued by the East Kingdom and the Crown Province of Østgarðr.

With the passage of time, I wanted to update this document to include the newly-added youth orders, the kingdom-level Tyger’s Eye and provincial Sea-Urchin. Continue reading “An Updated Order and Awards Chart”

Provincial Awards Missing From the Kingdom Order of Precedence

The East Kingdom Order of Precedence site, generally referred to as “the EK OP”, records tens of thousands of kingdom and baronial awards issued over the East’s fifty-year history.

It’s an impressive feat of data collection, given the all-volunteer nature of our Society, but it is not flawless. The reporting process involves repeated transcription of unfamiliar names, and I am given to understand that the web interface used to enter and update data in the system is not particularly easy to use, so a number of errors and omissions have accumulated over time and it can take a while to correct them. Continue reading “Provincial Awards Missing From the Kingdom Order of Precedence”

The Order of the Sea Dog

The Order of the Sea Dog of Østgarðr is an award for service to one of the cantons of Østgarđr. Its name is sometimes written as a single word, “Seadog.”

The name and badge are rich with allusion, as “sea dog” is both nautical slang for an experienced sailor and the heraldic term for a half-dog/half-fish creature with a broad scaly tail that is often identified with the beaver, a creature that was plentiful in the territory of Østgarđr during the medieval period, and is memorialized on the seal of New York City, adopted in 1686.

The Award of the Sea Star

The Award of the Sea Star is a token given to recognize service at an event in the Crown Province of Østgarđr.

According to The Annals of Østgarđr, it may be awarded by the Viceroy, Vicereine, or Provincial Seneschal.

It is described in the Provincial Bylaws as:

The Honor of the Sea Star: Bestowed by the Viceregency upon individuals who have, on a particular occasion, served the Province well and ‘made things happen.’

The Østgarðrian Ladies’ Favor

The Østgarðrian Ladies’ Favor is a former martial award of the Crown Province of Østgarđr. It has fallen out of use in recent decades.

The Bylaws describe it thusly:

Bestowed by the Vicereine (if any) upon the person who has most distinguished him/herself both on and off the list field. She may, if she chooses, confer with the other Ladies of Østgarðr. The Favor is worn for one year and may be rebestowed on the same person.

Mordred Mjothvitner reports that he received this award for two consecutive years during the 1990s, and that it was given during the Provincial Champions event by the vicereine and her attendants.

The Order of The Silver Sea-Lion

Vert, in pale three sea-lions passant argent.

The Order Of The Silver Sea-Lion is the martial award of the Crown Province of Østgarđr.

It was created by His Excellency Gui Avec Chival (Viceroy AS XLVI–LI) to recognize both martial prowess and the leadership and training of others in the province in those skills.

The motto for the order is “I Go Forth, So That Others Might Follow”.

The Order Of The Silver Lantern

I’m continuing my earlier series of posts on the orders and awards of Østgarđr with some more detailed writeups of each one. More should follow soon. — Mathghamhain

The Order Of The Silver Lantern is an Arts & Sciences award of the Crown Province of Østgarđr.

The award was created by Her Excellency Johanne i Visby (Vicereine AS XLVI–LI) to “acknowledge skill, sharing and teaching in the Arts and Sciences.”

The heraldic registration for the order’s name and its badge were submitted in 2012, but the first design of the badge (which lacked the star) was returned for conflict and needed to be resubmitted before passing in 2013. (I’ve previously posted the submitted image and other details of these registrations.)

Orders and Awards of Østgarđr and the East Kingdom

Following a recent discussion of kingdom and provincial orders and awards, I thought I’d try my hand and putting together a visual overview, in part to force myself to wrap my head around all of them, and also in hopes that the result might be of use to others.

My point of reference for this was the East Kingdom Awards Overview created by Tola knitýr, which is itself based on a similar chart created for the Middle Kingdom by Gebhard.

Rather than just copying the existing chart, I wanted to make sure I understood the underlying awards, but after looking at various write-ups online, it turned out that many of them were out-of-date following a significant reorganization of the East Kingdom award structure that took effect in October 2015.

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.