rian Empire, Inc HERALDRY MANUAL: RULES FOR REGISTRATON And ADMINISTRATION . As adopted October 1999 amended November 2001, amended September 2005. © 2002 The Adrian Empire Inc., all rights reserved. Anyone is welcome to point out any error or omission that they may find. Imperial Sovereign of Arms SoA@adrianempire.org Empress empress@adrianempire.org Emperor emperor@adrianempire.org Adrian Emp The A ire, Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface..................................................................................................................…..5 I. The Rule of Tincture...............................................................................…............6 A. Simple Ordinaries ........................................….........................…....… 6 B. Field Divisions........……........................….............................................. 6 C. Vert Mounts.......................................
A. B. C. D. E. The Fleur-de-Lis ..........................................................……................... 11 The Crown ......................................................................................….... 12 The Tudor Rose ........................................…...........................................12 Suns..................................................................……………………… 13 Registering Restricted Charges.....................................…….................. 13 VIII.
D. Visual Test ............................................................................................... 18 1. Overwhelming Visual Resemblance.............................................. 18 2. Overall Effect................................................................................ 18 3. Armory, Not Visual Description.................................................... 18 XII. Structure of the College of Arms....................................................................... 18 A. Members .
A. Individual and Estates ............................................................................. 27 B. Geographic Chartered Subdivisions ...................................................... 27 XVIII. The Grandfather Clause................................................................................. 28 XIX. Documentation................................................................................................. 28 A. Unnecessary Documentation...............….................................
PREFACE These Rules for Heraldic Registrations for the Adrian Imperial College of Arms, October 1999 shall supercede all previous Manuals, Rules and Handbooks, including, but are not limited to: The Manual for the College of Arms for the Empire of Adria, 1999 The Rules for Heraldic Registrations as used by the College of Arms of the Empire of Adria, 1999 The Herald's Handbook compiled by Del'Shaley nan Tolman, undated The Manual for the Ministry of Heraldry, 1997 The College of Arms of the Adrian Empir
I. THE RULE OF TINCTURE The Rule of Tincture is defined as follows: Color may not be placed on Color, nor Metal on Metal. This rule is generally inviolable, with certain explicit exceptions as outlined below. A. SIMPLE ORDINARIES The so-called simple ordinaries (pale, fess, bend, bend sinister, cross, saltire, chevron, chevron inverted, pall, and pall inverted), as well as chiefs, may be used in the following manner so long as they contain no complex lines: B. 1.
D. FURS Furs are defined as being of two (2) tinctures, one (1) metal and one (1) color. The tincture sable, since it is a solid color, is not a fur. 1. For the purposes of this rule, ermine and its variants are to be considered tinctured the same as their background tincture. Erminois is considered equivalent to or, counter-ermine (also known as ermines) is considered sable, et cetera.
• • J. Metals: Argent, Or Colors: Sable, Gules, Azure, Vert, Purpure RESTRICTIONS There are no restrictions on any tincture or combination of tinctures, except that the Rule of Tincture may not be violated except under the conditions listed above. II. STRUCK This rule was eliminated during the consolidation of manuals. To preserve consistency in the numbering of rules, it has not been struck from this manual. III. ARMORIAL STYLE A. PRESENTATION All armory must be presented in a period heraldic style.
2. F. Armory with a complexity count of eight (8) or above will not be registered without a thorough review by the Imperial Sovereign of Arms. Armory with a complexity count above six (6) is strongly discouraged. LAYERING, COUNTERCHANGING All elements in a given piece of armory must be arranged so as to preserve their individual identifiably.
A. B. Only badges may be registered as fieldless. Fieldless armory must form itself a unified whole; all elements in the design must be conjoined. V. TINCTURELESS ARMORY Tinctureless armory has no tincture. It is generally meant for such things as wax seals and engravings. Tinctureless armory is subject to the following limitations: A. Only badges may be registered as tinctureless. B.
Any design wherein the field is divided Per Pale, Per Fess, Per Bend, Per Bend Sinister, Quarterly, Per Saltire, Per Pall, and Per Pall Inverted wherein the charges on either side of the line of division are of different types. The following are now DISALLOWED under this Ruling: • • • • • Per bend argent and vert, an oak leaf and an acorn slipped and leaved, all counterchanged. Per fess argent and azure, in pale a kettle and a decrescent counterchanged.
e. 2. 3. B. Geographic Chartered Subdivisions may incorporate this charge in their arms. The silver fleur-de-lis is restricted to officials and sees of the Church of Adria. a. Officials of the Church may augment their arms with this charge while they hold their office. b. Sees, bishoprics, abbeys, and other Church institutions may incorporate this charge in their arms. No other tincture of fleur-de-lis is restricted in any way, save where it would violate the Rule of Tincture as given above.
3. 4. A rose divided per pale, per fess, per saltire, or Quarterly between gules and argent The previous category is considered restricted in all instances save those where the divided rose appears as part of an overall motif of counterchanging between Gules and Argent. o Quarterly gules and argent, a rose counterchanged is acceptable o Quarterly or and vert, a rose quarterly gules and argent is not acceptable D.
A. OFFENSIVE ARMORY Offensive armory falls into four categories: 1. VULGARISMS Armory suggesting pornographic or scatological themes would offend a significant portion of the populace of the Empire and will not be permitted, even if adequately documented. 2. OFFENSIVE USE OF RELIGION Armory with either excessive or derogatory use of religious symbolism will not be permitted.
4. OTHER PRESUMPTION Armory that by itself does not imply presumption but together with the presenter's listed game name is evocative of the above categories will not be permitted. X. ARMORY OUTSIDE THE EMPIRE The Empire of Adria is a separate heraldic jurisdiction from all others, including other medieval re-creation societies and mundane heraldic courts. A.
XI. CONFLICTING ARMORY This section was originally taken from the SCA Rules for Submissions, and is used by kind permission of Dame Elsbeth Anne Roth, Laurel Queen of Arms. Some lines have since been altered from the original, due to subsequent rulings of the Adrian Imperial Sovereign of Arms. A. ADDITION OF PRIMARY CHARGES Armory does not conflict with any protected armory that adds or removes the primary charge group.
4. TINCTURE CHANGES Changing the tinctures or division of any group of charges placed directly on the field, including strewn charges or charges overall, is one (1) clear difference. Changing the tincture of at least half of the charges in a group is one (1) clear difference. 5. TYPE CHANGES Significantly changing the type of any group of charges placed directly on the field, including strewn charges or charges overall, is one (1) clear difference.
one clear difference. The word "charge" refers both to charged and to uncharged charges unless it is specifically qualified; a group of charges may contain one or more charges. A charge is suitable for the purposes of this rule if (a) it is simple enough in outline to be voided, and (b) it is correctly drawn with an interior substantial enough to display easily recognizable charges. Only the new presentation is required to be a simple case in order to benefit from this clause. D. VISUAL TEST 1.
3. Each Sovereign of Arms serving a geographic chartered subdivision of the Empire (kingdom, duchy, or shire). B. LOCAL COLLEGES Local geographic chartered subdivision Sovereigns of Arms may choose to form their own colleges to further the heraldic knowledge and education of themselves and the populace they serve. C. HERALDS Estate holders of all ranks may appoint their own heralds. D.
5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. B. Acting as the head of the College of Arms. Resolving conflict of armorial devices presented by the membership of the Adrian Empire. Reporting on a regular basis to the Imperial Crown. Educating the College of Arms and the populace in the art of heraldry. Establishing precedents, and maintaining and distributing this Manual and the Guidelines for Presentations.
2. 3. 4. E. Educating the populace in the art of heraldry. Maintaining a hardcopy file of all presentations and registrations given to them and passed on to the local Sovereign of Arms. Aiding the estate holder they serve in the design and staging of authentic ceremonial that is adapted to the needs of the Adrian Empire. RANK SYSTEM King of Arms: Reserved for Kingdoms, and Deputy Regional Imperial Sovereign of Arms.
B. PRESENTATION Individuals must present their registration forms to their local Sovereign of Arms or other designated heraldic officer. The Imperial Sovereign of Arms will not accept direct presentations except under special circumstances. C. LOCAL LEVEL 1. Each presentation given to the local Geographic Chartered Subdivision Sovereign of Arms must include the following copies: a. b. Three (3) full-color copies. Two (2) line drawing copies. i. ii. c.
a. b. c. d. D. A list of all presentations given to the local officer since the last letter of report. The correct number of copies for all presentations listed. A recounting of any heraldic activity that month. If there was no heraldic activity and/or there were no presentations that month, a statement of that status. IMPERIAL LEVEL 1. The Imperial Sovereign of Arms shall check the presentations for the above information and for the following additional information: a. b. c.
d. 6. Any presentation not satisfying all of the requirements or not passing all of the checks shall be returned by the Imperial Sovereign of Arms. a. b. E. Local Sovereigns of Arms shall then notify the presenters of their registrations or returns and update the each registrant’s hardcopy file. Each return shall be accompanied by suggestions for making the item registerable. The local Sovereign of Arms shall then forward this information to the presenter. 7.
This last reason is the most important. No one wants to spend hours working on an expensive banner or surcoat for themselves only to find that someone else in another subdivision has created the identical item. You register your arms so that no matter where you may go in the Empire, your arms will be unique. If, however, you do not register your arms, no one from the College of Arms will tell you to take them down unless they violate local standards regarding offensiveness or obscenity.
When running court, each herald or Sovereign of Arms is considered to be the voice of the Crown or estate holder they represent. B. HERALD Anyone running a court may be called a herald. C. TRANSCRIPTS Heralds are required to provide a transcript of court proceedings to the local minister of rolls containing the following information: 1. Any awards or orders given 2. Any knighting taking place 3. Any announcements of events, demos, or collegia 4. Any estate creations or swearings 5.
3. If the matter was not peaceably resolved at the local level, a nonadversarial investigation shall then be performed by the Imperial Sovereign of Arms. 4. The Imperial Sovereign of Arms shall make every good-faith attempt to peacefully resolve the situation. 5. Failing that, only after consulting with the Imperial Crown and the Imperial College of Arms, shall the Imperial Sovereign of Arms make a final determination.
B. Further registration of any element previously registered, but subsequently declared invalid, will be limited to those to whom it is already registered. XIX. DOCUMENTATION A. UNNECESSARY DOCUMENTATION Documentation is unnecessary for armory allowed by the Guidelines for Presentations or this manual. B. QUESTIONABLE ELEMENTS OR STYLE Any questionable element or style must be documented with the same standards as are applied to Masterwork entries in Arts Competitions. 1. 2. C.
2. Electronic presentations will not be accepted. 3. Computer-generated images may be substituted for the outlines on the official forms, as long as they conform to the same size and general shape as that on the form. Approved forms are available from the Imperial or Local Sovereign of Arms, or online at: http://adrianempire.org/documents/forms/heraldry-device-registration.pdf B. SHAPES The shapes on the registration forms are only for the convenience of the College of Arms.
Augmentation - Any addition to a registered device that is not specifically registered. Usually, the badges of awards and orders one may have can be used as augmentations (see Article XXI.C.). Crowns may also choose to grant augmentations to those of their subjects for whom no other award may seem appropriate. Award - A title bestowed by decision of the Crown or vote of the Estates; these can include Lord and Lady, and also retirement titles such as Count or Countess Royal, or Prince or Princess.
Fieldless - Refers to badges which have no background. Fieldless badges are useful for households to be made into pins or other jewelry to show a famous example of a fieldless badge belongs to the Prince of Wales: Three ostrich feathers issuant from behind a scroll with the words "Ich Dien". Fleur-de-Lis - The primary emblem of the Empire of Adria. Fleurs-de-lis take many forms: for modern examples, see the emblem of the NFL football team New Orleans Saints or the emblem of the Boy Scouts.
Order – 1. Bestowed by decision of the Crown or, in some cases, vote of the estates, to individuals. Orders are always bestowed for specific reasons. For examples, see Article XX.A.. Persons inducted into an order may call themselves a "companion" or that order. 2. A group of individuals banded together for some stated purpose, after the manner of medieval knightly orders. The Order of St. Bela is one such example. Ordinary – 1.
Sovereign of Arms – The Heraldic Minister in charge of the registration of armory in a kingdom. Individual Sovereigns of Arms may choose to use the gender-specific King of Arms or Queen of Arms at their own discretion or as local custom may dictate. Submission – See presentation. Sumptuary Laws – The laws and customs which govern armorial display and regalia for various ranks. For example, the blue belt is the sumptuary right of Knights. Tinctures – The heraldic colors.
D. MONTHLY REPORT 1. SAMPLE WITH ACTIVITY Duchy of Utopia Sovereign of Arms Report - April 2004 Sir Merowald the Myopic, Dystopic Herald Enclosed are the following presentations: Utopia, Duchy of. Device: Or, a pale gules. Charles the New. Device: Per pale purpure and argent, a bend counterchanged, overall a baronital coronet or. He wishes to retain is previously-registered arms, Per pale purpure and argent, a bend counterchanged, as a badge.
For instance, you cannot have a sable (black) charge on an azure (blue) field. However, even items that are not in true heraldic tinctures must follow this rule. For instance a chipmunk "proper" is brown. Brown is dark. Therefore, it must be on a metal (light) field. Caucasians "proper" are considered metal, and must be on a dark field. 2.
