Although devices (or “coats of arms”) are the most recognizable form of armorial display, their cousins the fieldless badges were equally common during the medieval period and renaissance.
We’ve recently registered a fieldless badge for each member of our family incorporating a distinctive animal and color. Continue reading “Family Animal Badges”
Sixteen months after being made the Herald of the Canton of Whyt Whey, I have been appointed the Herald of the Crown Province of Østgarđr, whose title is Seahorse Pursuivant. My report from the meeting of the Provincial Officers Council follows.
To the populace of the Crown Province of Østgarðr, on behalf of their Viceroy and Vicereine, does Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin send his greetings.
Following this evening’s Commons meeting, the Provincial Officers Council gathered to review the candidates for those offices whose terms expire this month.
Continue reading “Appointment as Seahorse Pursuivant”My SCA persona is of mixed post-Viking Irish and post-Roman Welsh descent, living in northern Wales one thousand years ago, so I tried to select a name and armory that felt appropriate for that context.
Per fess argent and vert, a bear passant gules.
The Irish and Welsh of 1017 did not have a concept of personal armorial designs, which arrived in the British Isles with the Normans fifty years later, but heraldry is such a pervasive element in the SCA that I was willing to be anachronistic about it.
However, I still wanted to use a very simple design that was reminiscent of the earliest period of heraldry — per-fess fields with a single central charge are found by the twelfth century.
Continue reading “My Name and Device”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
