For local branches in the East Kingdom, the royal encampment at Pennsic provides a lovely opportunity for heraldic display. Traditionally, each barony, province, shire, canton and riding is invited to create a fabric panel displaying their arms, and the collection is hung side-by-side around the edge of the camp to represent the populace while providing a modicum of security and privacy.
Continue reading “Making a Sheet Wall Panel for East Kingdom Royal at Pennsic”Category: Armorial Displays
Machine-Printed “Silk Banners”
Colorful pennants and long standards fluttering in the breeze significantly enhance the ambiance of outdoor historical recreation events — but hand-painting silk can be a daunting project, and requires skills that I have not mastered.
To approximate the impression while leveraging my collection of digital images, I turned to a custom fabric printing service from Spoonflower. The results were satisfactory, so I’ve written up the process I used in case others would like to follow it.
Continue reading “Machine-Printed “Silk Banners””Kingdom Sumptuary Laws for Heraldic Achievements
A recent question regarding allowable elements of a heraldic achievement sent me running for the best reference I know: a paper by Andreas von Meißen presented at KWHSS in 2013.
This document is admittedly out of date — among other things, it predates Avacal, and it does not include several changes that were made to the rules in Ansteorra the following year, based on Andreas’s recommendations — but I’m not aware of anything more recent or more authoritative, and so this remains a useful guide.
Continue reading “Kingdom Sumptuary Laws for Heraldic Achievements”Branch Arms on the East Kingdom Pennsic Sheetwalls
The sheetwalls surrounding the East Kingdom royal encampment at Pennsic are donated by local branches, and decorated with their arms.
This lovely display of the provincial arms is reported to have been created by Lord Renier VerPlanck (sometimes written Reijnier Verplanck), and is likely about fifteen years old.
Continue reading “Branch Arms on the East Kingdom Pennsic Sheetwalls”Heraldic Love in the Seahorse
I put together a page about #HeraldicLove for the spring issue of the Seahorse (aka the E-Horse), the provincial newsletter of Østgarðr.
Armorial of the Viceregents of the Crown Province
Back in 2018 I created an image for the fiftieth anniversary of Østgarðr (and by extension, of the East Kingdom) that shows the arms of the viceroys and vicereines, the unique title held by the landed representatives of the Crown here in the only Crown Province of the Known World.
When I drew this five years ago, Suuder and Lada still wore the chains of state which serve the viceregents as the civil equivalent of the coronets one finds in the 185 baronies which follow us in the Armorial of Precedence. Tonight I’ve updated the chart to reflect the investiture last autumn of Angelica and Sofya, joint Viceréinas of Østgarðr. Long may they serve!
The Season of #HeraldicLove
Every year at this time we celebrate the season of Heraldic Love, encouraging the populace to display their armory or allegiance on a heart-shaped shield to show their love for the historical recreation community.
Heralds — this is a great opportunity to get your local members excited about armorial display; if your branch has a populace badge, help them trim it to size and encourage folks to show it off for the next week.
Search the web for #HeraldicLove to find more examples (and historical examplars!), then join in by updating your own profile image. You can make your own image with pens, paints, or any materials you’re comfortable with (a template is attached), or use the kingdom, provincial, canton, or Society populace badges to show everyone where your heart is.
For folks who construct their images digitally, you can find a heart-shaped field and a set of corresponding heart-shaped field divisions and ordinaries in the Traceable Heraldic Art collection.
Why You Can’t Register Marshalled Armory
Considerations of armorial designs including straight-line per-pale or quarterly field divisions often include a discussion of whether they have “the appearance of marshaling.” Putting aside the question of how we answer that question (already ably addressed elsewhere, see here and here), one might wonder why this is an issue — why doesn’t the SCA’s College of Arms register armory that has the appearance of marshalling?
I believe the answer is that marshalled arms were not issued as such by period heraldic authorities, nor did newly-armigerous families assume already-marshalled arms.
Instead, each individual coat of arms was granted (or assumed) independently, and it was only after that point they were ever combined via impalement or quartering (or sometimes more esoteric arrangements as seen in Iberia).
Continue reading “Why You Can’t Register Marshalled Armory”A Modern British Princely Achievement
Although I generally ignore the heraldic practices of modern aristocratic families, I was struck by the below achievement, which was designed by the Garter King of Arms in 1969 upon the investiture of Charles Windsor as the Prince of Wales, as it does a nice job of incorporating both the subject’s primary arms as well as their badges and other arms to which they were entitled.
A Pair of Hearts Pierced
February is here again, and the #HeraldicLove campaign is once again encouraging reenactors to display their arms (or a badge of allegiance) on a heart-shaped field.
I participated in this campaign last year, drawing three dozen heart-shaped badges and devices for branches and individuals. Along the way I also created digital templates for a heart-shaped field and a set of corresponding heart-shaped field divisions and ordinaries.
As we begin another round of heart-shaped heraldic display, I thought it would be fun to display a pair of hearts conjoined by an arrow, as I’ve done below with the arms of myself and my wife. Continue reading “A Pair of Hearts Pierced”