Heraldry Hall

Golden Dragon Pursuivant:   Lord Caius Foxcotte

        Book Heraldry: THL Ian Macyennes
       

The Herald is a core officer required for every branch of the SCA.  He can be responsible for everything from simple field heraldry, announcing the next bout in the tourney, to designing unique arms for a new branch. His duties include; assisting members of the populace research, design and register names and devices, keeping records of awards and supervising voice heraldry for events

Heraldry serves many purposes in the SCA. The visual display of heraldry, on banners, clothing and other objects creates pageantry.  Maintaining the order of precedence reinforces the Medieval social structure. And heraldic research aids in persona development by providing appropriate names and personal devices.  

The principal Herald in Dragons Laire is known as the Golden Dragon Pursuivant. (at left personal device of our GDP Dafydd.) Currently in Dragon's Laire heraldic duties are divided between the Golden Dragon Pursuivant and our "Book" Herald. (A specific name for the book herald is in submission.) The Golden Dragon acts as the primary herald, visible at court functions, organizing voice heralds and handing official office records.  Our "book" herald, focuses on the documentation and registration of names and devices. Regular meetings to answer heraldry questions and help you prepare your name of device submission are scheduled.

In addition to our Baronial Heralds, their excellencies often employ a separate herald or scribe for court functions.

For More Information:

• For a list and explanation of the array of  local awards see the Baronial Awards Page
• For a guide to desiging arms, view an Introduction to Blazon by Ian MacKynnes [PDF, 385KB, Get Adobe Reader]
• For a glimpse of local devices check out the Device Gallery
• A Real Treat for all!   Dragon's Laire's contribution to the Original (20th year) An Tir Grete Boke or Doomsday Book of An Tir, a fine collaboration of the heraldic and scribal arts is available here View Pages.  (Pages from 40th year coming soon.) 
• A pictorial inventory of Baronial Regalia is available at Regalia (This inventory is not yet completed.)
• DL-Scribes - A group interested in calligraphy and illumination in the Barony of Dragon's Laire Subscribe: DLScribalGuild-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

  In the Archives: Articles related to this topic

  A Guide to Dealing with Court Heralds  - 12/4/05
  The Language of Blazon (Tinctures) - 7/8/05
  The Language of Blazon II (Field Divisions) - 12/2005
  The Language of Blazon Part III (Complex lines of Division) - New 3/27/2006
  How I Named My Persona 
  Pennons, Banners and Flags (Oh MY!) -New! 03/21/06
  The Proper Use of the Badge - New!  03/08/06
  Writing  Letters of Recommendation to Their Majesties -    
  Some Viewpoints on Names
  So You Think You've Found Someone Special...

  These documents are in PDF format:
  
  Dragon's Laire Ceremonial: The complete text of what you hear in court for awards, champions, fealty ceremonies etc…
  Courtier Requirements: Complete requirements for those wishing to challenge to become a Courtier in Dragons Laire
  Sergeantry Requirements: Complete requirements for those wishing to challenge to become a member of the sergeantry (Gallant, Yeoman, Sergeant) in Dragons Laire.
  Persona Test: How does your persona development stand up, try this and help yourself develop the persona.
  Study Outline: Outline for study for those challenging into the sergeantry, or those wanting a deeper understanding of our play.

Graphic Submission Guidelines

For those who may need to send images to the book herald via e-mail, here are the step-by-step procedures. These steps are for the "Windows" operating system, but are probably not much different in an "Apple".

In your graphics program, to save the image you intend to send, go to the "File" tab at the upper-left of the screen, select "Save as", You will then be offered the choice of where to save the file to, (The default is "My Pictures") what to name the file, and "Save as type". With "Paint", the default option is 24- bit bitmap, (.bmp or .dib) DO NOT use this option! Go to the drop-down button and select JPEG (.jpg, .jpeg, .jpe, .jfif) The file-size generated in a bitmap file is HUGE, and can take forever to download, especially via dial-up. If you are using other graphics programs, their default formats might require that particular program to open them, such as Photoshop’s .psd-format. Once you have saved it as a JPEG-type file, you can use the "save" option to save any changes you make to it from that point on.

If you are scanning-in an image to your computer for later forwarding as an attachment in e-mail, you will again be offered the option of file-type in the "save as" part of the operation. The choice should also be JPEG, for the same reasons.

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