Yves' pages on SCA heraldry

"You have good information that I want to make sure people see." — Modar Neznanich
[ Modar's Heraldry Site is a prime resource for SCA heralds. ]
"Thank you so much for the information on heraldry. I have just become pursuivant for (a shire in another kingdom), and am frantically gathering sources for heraldry. Your pages put together very useful "how-to's" for SCA heralds-in-training."
"...what a fantastic resource!! the Heraldry section alone is worth the price of admission. i love those classes you've come up with! ::gushgush::" — Aoife nic Ruiari, also called Omaddaun
"...the real value of your Heraldry site lies as a tool in the education of =new= heralds (as well as furthering the cause of heraldry in the SCA). — Aoife (again)

Why do heraldry?

When I describe the SCA to someone, my favorite phrase to use is: "we re-create the fun stuff from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance". For heralds (OK, well, at least for me anyway), part of the fun stuff is doing what heralds did Back Then – making announcements and wake-up calls, running errands, keeping records, serving as a master of ceremony, working with personal heraldry (the devices and badges that people put on their banners, shields and other belongings for identification), and so on.

Effective, beautiful heraldry makes for better tourneys, better pas d'armes, better courts, better events, and better groups – they can all run more efficiently and look good doing it!

"Heraldic Beasties for Non-Heralds"

This is a class I taught a few times from 1994 to 1998.

Features of the class

Terms and descriptions in English, rather than heraldese.
Advice on using beasties in one's personal heraldry.
Historical symbolism and traits attributed to various beasties.
Illuminations of devices from the earlier days of the Barony to use as examples.

A lot of the same information is available at Blazoning of Creatures by Eldred Ælfwald.

More about the heraldry pages on this site

Court heraldry class

An interactive class guide. Up to seven students take roles in a pretend court with pretend awards.

Submission process class

Another interactive class guide. Follow two name and device submissions from client to Laurel and back again. The first example is a comedy of errors!

Consultation Workshops

If you're within a few hours of Atlanta, Georgia, invite some heralds and artists to your SCA group for a workshop.

College

Ideas for an SCA heraldry college: administration, testing, and five divisions of classes.

Court heraldry

Advice for aspiring court heralds. What to do, how to behave, what can go awry, things to say, and recommendations for similar articles by other people.

Duties of local heralds

(Or... Just what all do local heralds do, anyway?) An outline of tasks and responsibilities for the local herald ("pursuivant"), based on my own experience.

Field Heraldry and Its Finer Points

Learn the basics in Part 1. Learn the finer points (including packing list suggestions, preparing index cards, and how to speed up a tourney) in Part 2.

How to be a Better Local Herald

Ideas on how to provide better service as a group pursuivant.

Submission checklist

A list of exactly what I would want to process a submission for a client. I used past versions of this list as a baronial pursuivant.

Submission procedure

A detailed project timetable for the local herald.

Types of heralds at events

An article written for a younger audience, though grown-ups can also find it entertaining and useful.

Using a table format to run a list

Instructions on how to run a list with a format that uses "bye" fights only rarely. Successive pages have four detailed fictional examples and reports from two actual tourneys (warts and all).

Links to more Web sites and e-mail groups on SCA heraldry

SCA HERALDRY PAGE – many articles and links.

I used to maintain links of my own here, but the official SCA page is much better now and goes far beyond what I had (which was pretty good).

About the author

I've been involved with various aspects of heraldry in Meridies (on and off) for over ten years. OK, it's a lot closer to double that...

For about four years I served as the herald (pursuivant) for my local group. My registered device (shown here at the right) is: Argent, a handbell purpure, a bordure purpure ermined argent. Do you like it?

Your feedback is most welcome!

My nifty email form stopped working ... but you can still send me email if you would like to.

Original page posted: April 30, 1999. Links tested: May 24, 2008. Last tweaked: January 6, 2007.

The address for this page is [ www.therotunda.net/heraldry/index.html ]

Nothing on my Web site is the official publication of anyone else. Unauthorized use for profit is not permitted.

Ýves’ pages on SCA heraldry

Quickie Links