On Tinctures in Period - Part I: Or

This is the first post in a series on the tinctures of heraldry, as seen in five heraldic treatises written in or shortly after period. The first one we will look at is Gold or Yellow, known in the language of Blazon as Or (from the latin Aurum, for Gold)

Dame Juliana Berners - Boke of Saint Albans (1486)

Primus lapis

The first stone is calde Topasion signyfiyng golde in armys.

This stone Topasion is a semy stone. and golde it is calde in armys. The vertue ther of is : that the gentilman the wiche thys stone in his cote armure berith a fare messangere in his kyngs batyll shalt be. The wich stone is reseved in the angelis crowne that was a trwe massanger and a sure in his kyngs batayll of heven whan they faught with Lucifer.

John Bossewell - Workes of Armorie (1572)

Golde, termed Or, is compared to The Sunne, and to The Topace. Bossewell chooses to include (and even use) the planetary and gemstone systems of tincture.

Plinie saieth, that this Gemme is of grassie colour, although that in Germanie, it is founde like to Golde, and otherwhere, of that bygnes and quantitie, that Philadelphus is saide to have framed thereof and made an Image in length of foure Cubites.

John Ferne - The Blazon of Gentrie (1586)

Ferne gives a much more thorough treatment of the comparisons:

The I. cullor is yellow, & signifieth in

1 - Planets. - The Sun
2 - Precious stones. - Topazion & Chrysolith.
3 - Vertues. - Faith & constancy.
4 - Celestiall signes. - The Lion.
5 - Months. - July.
6 - Days of the week. - Sunday.
7 - Ages of Man. - Yong age of adolescentia. (From 14. till 20. yeeres.)
8 - Flowres. - The Marygold.
9 - Elements. - Ayre.
10- Sesons of the yeer - Spring time.
11 - Complexions. - Sanguine.
12 - Numbers. - 1. 2. 3.
13 - Mettailes. - Gold.

I find it interesting to note that Or is compared to the Sanguine complexion, whose name is occasionally used as a tincture of blood red colour.

Later in the book, he also gives comparisons of the tinctures to the orders of angels. Or is given to Angels, with the virtue of a sure messenger

Edmund Bolton - The Elements of Armories (1610)

Bolton refers to three orders of tinctures, which give each their rank in precedence, by Upton, Leigh and Scohier. In all of them, golden Or is placed as the first, chief of all tinctures. However, as colours, white is taken as a degree above yellow. On his own 'throne of colours', Or ranks as the chief tincture, standing alone on the first tier.

John Guillim - Display of Heraldrie (1611)

Guillim sees white and black as pure colours, with red being an exact mix of the two. Between them, yellow is "compounded of much White, and a little Red, as if you should take two parts of White, and but one of Red" and commonly called GoldYellow.

And therefore such is the worthinesse of this Colour which doth resemble it, that (as Christine de Pice holdeth) none ought to beare the same in Armes, but Emperours and Kings, and such as be of the Bloud Royall, though indeed it be in use more common. And as this metall excelleth all other in value, puritie and finesse ; so ought the Bearer (as much as in him lieth) indevour to surpasse all other in Prowesse and Vertue.

In his table of the names used for the tinctures and their order, Guillim gives Or the first place, as Or. Topaze. Sol.

On Heralding a Tourney

Following from the previous posts on voice heraldry, we come to the functional business of acting as a field herald for a tourney, and what you should be shouting when you do so.

There is a standard set of calls for tourneys in Lochac, centred around the so-called "Litany". There are modifications, for the various unusual tourney formats and such, but the standard Litany for the start of a tourney bout is as follows:

“My Lords and my Ladies, in this bout here do meet (fighter’s name)…”

Pause while the Marshal and Fighters indicate whose name you just called.

“…and (other fighter’s name).” 

Pause while the Marshal and Fighters indicate whose name you just called. 

“Good fighters, salute you the Crown!”

Pause while the fighters salute the Crown. You should also salute to the Crown (a bow or similar) after this call.

“You may salute the one whose favour you bear!”

Pause while the fighters salute any consorts they may have. 

“Salute your most honourable opponent!” 

Pause while the fighters salute each other. 

“For honour and glory, at the Marshal’s command…”

End here, while the Marshal calls “Lay On!”

As Herald, you should never call Lay On, as the Marshal must make sure that both fighters are ready and safe for their bout (the only exception being those strange bouts where you may be both Marshal and Herald).

You should make sure to pay attention when the Marshal and fighters indicate which fighter belongs to which name, it will be relevant later on.

Each of the salutes is an order to the fighters, except for the consort salute (this is because not all fighters have a consort, or do not wish to salute them, so it may cause offence if this salute were an order).

At the end of the bout, the Marshal will indicate which of the fighters was victorious, and you should then call “Victory to (name)!”



The other calls that may be required usually come at the start and end of each round. Note that this script is based on the single-kill double-elimination tourney format, which is the most common in use.

At the start of each round, you should call each pairing, in order:

“Oyez! Oyez! My Lords and my Ladies! In the (number) round:”

“(name) will meet (name)… (name) will meet (name)…”

And so on as required for the number of pairs. Make sure that each pair is clear, with a short pause between each to make sure people don’t get confused. Knowing the round in advance will make sure that the fighters aren’t caught undressed and drinking when they’re meant to be taking the field (fighters do rather like to cool off and rehydrate between bouts, for some strange reason).

Following this, you should call the first pair to the field, and tell the second (and potentially third) pairs to get ready:

“(Name) and (name), pray attend the field!”

“(Name) and (name), arm and stand ready!” 

“(Name) and (name), arm and prepare!”

The next two pairs should always be called. The third call, to Arm and Prepare, should be used if fighters are taking longer than usual to get dressed for their bout (due to unusual equipment or general tiredness), or shorter than usual to finish each bout, as it gives each pairing an extra bout’s notice of when their turn is coming up.

At the end of each round of a single-kill double-elimination tourney (except the first round), there is a chance that some of the fighters have been eliminated. The tourney’s List Keeper should let you know who they are. If there are eliminations, then at the end of the round, call:

“My Lords and my Ladies, eliminated in the (number) round were:”

“(list of names)” 

“For the fallen! Hip hip! (audience Huzzahs)” 

“Hip hip! (audience Huzzahs)” 

“Hip hip! (audience Huzzahs)”

This lets those who have been eliminated from the tourney be acknowledged for their effort, and lets them know that they can doff their armour or otherwise entertain themselves as they see fit.
At the end of the tourney, you should not announce the overall victor of the tourney until you have checked with the Crown (or their representative as appropriate), as they may wish to award victory based on factors other than a simple count of the bouts won.


There are, occasionally, exceptions to the nice and simple bout format given above, based on either the tourney format changing, unexpected occurrences, or royal whim.



The simplest situation to prepare for is the fact that not every tourney will follow the single-kill double-elimination format. There are many types of tourney, but each usually follows the same sorts of script, especially for bouts.

There are a number of tourney formats where the pairs and order are not pre-determined, but decided by the fighters, and the List Keeper is more to keep score than to organise the layout. For these, you don’t need to announce the pairings or eliminations, but the bout format is usually fairly similar to the standard.

Another common tourney format is the “meat-grinder”, where each fighter takes the field, in turn, and faces every other fighter, one at a time. For this, you should call the relevant fighter to the field, and then do the attend the field/arm and stand ready/arm and prepare calls for individuals rather than pairs, as appropriate. The bout itself may be the same, or may have the salutes modified for brevity (such as having the fighter holding the field salute at the start of the round, and no other salutes). You should consult with the Crown or Marshal as to what salutes should be made.

Other tourney formats may crop up at random, but a modification on the standard litany should cover most cases (this is usually just a judgement call).

Sometimes, the salutes themselves will be modified. The most common situation is when heralding a fencing tourney, as some fencers prefer the call to be:

“Good fencers, salute you the Crown!”

“Make salutes as befit your honour, then at the Marshal’s command…”

Before using this shortened form of the salutes, you should check with the Crown or Marshal as to what is preferred.

Sometimes, there will be unexpected changes within the tourney itself. For example, fighters will sometimes withdraw from the tourney, due to injury, exhaustion or scheduling conflicts. The main work when that happens is for the List Keeper, but you may need to announce a revised version of the round’s pairings.

The final of many tourneys is given as a best-of-three. At the start of the bout, when announcing who is fighting, you should also announce that it is a best-of-three after calling each of the names (but before the salutes). At the conclusion of each bout, instead of calling “Victory to (name)!” you should call “Victory in the (first/second/third) to (name)!” so that people know where things are up to. If the same fighter wins the first two bouts, whether the third is fought is up to the Marshal and the fighters.

Finally, make sure that you never announce a victory in the tournament as a whole until you have confirmed with the listkeeper, the marshals, and above all, the Crown (or their representative there that day). While you may have an understanding of who won that day, and though it may be well clear (such as by a 3-out-of-3 victory in the final), they may wish to delay the announcement, or the Crown may wish to award the tourney title for a reason other than pure number of victories.

On Being Heard

The first area in voice heraldry, and especially field heraldry, that should be addressed when learning the unsubtle art is that of actually making yourself heard. If the fighters, the crown and the audience can’t hear you, it doesn’t matter what you say or when you say it.

When trying to be heard across the list field, you need to focus on projection more than volume, because a projected voice carries. If you focus on volume, you make a small amount of air carry a lot of energy. If you focus on projection, you make a huge amount of air carry enough energy.

The keys to projection:

• Good posture: I know, it’s not comfortable, but you want a good clear air path from your lungs to the world.
• Good clothing: Not necessarily your prettiest, just loose around the chest and throat, so you can use your lungs properly.
• Relax! Especially your vocal cords.
• Slow pace, even pitch: If you try to make it too fancy, and get it out too quickly you’ll end up with none of it coming through right.

The other component of being heard is knowing where to stand when you shout. Your voice can only travel in so many directions at once, so picking where you’ll stand, and where you’ll aim, is important.

There are, basically, three groups of people you need to have hear you.

First are the fighters themselves, who fight in the tourney, and they are arguably the most important of the three for a Field Herald. If the fighters can’t hear the Herald’s calls, they won’t know when to armour up, and when to take the field, which can slow down the tourney quite drastically.

Second is the crown, in whatever form they may be represented at your tourney. At a large tourney, they might be the Crown themselves. At a well-attended Rose Tourney, you might have a garden of the Order of the Rose. At local events, it’s common to have the Baron and Baroness in attendance. Sometimes, you get a combination of some or all of the above, and sometimes they’ll be unrepresented. It’s good to keep the Crown informed and involved, and they may be required to make decisions (weapon combinations, double kills, &c.).

Third is the populace in general, in whatever number and array they choose to make themselves present.

If at all possible, make sure all three groups can hear you, but if you have to choose one over another, this is the order you should take them in.

As for location, there are many things to take into account:

• Structures: It’s better to shout into a building than out from one, for acoustic reasons.
• Wind: Try to shout from upwind of the field if there’s more than a light breeze, because your voice carries better down-wind.
• Locations: The closer you are to someone, the better they can hear you. Don’t stand right behind the Crown, though, they like their eardrums.
• The List Table: Don’t stand in front of the list table, they need to see what’s happening more than you do. Do be NEAR the list-keeper, though, because they’re telling you what needs to happen.
• Shade and shelter: If you can manage shelter from the sun and rain, that’s good (never stand in full sun without a hat to herald a tourney).

There’s not going to be an ideal spot to stand in most cases, but there are some that are worse than others. Find the best you can, and pay attention to those around you as best as you can while still working.

On Being a Field Herald

One of the most visible areas of heraldry is that of the field herald, acting as announcer for tournaments, directing the fighters to the field in the right order, and with time to don their armour, letting the audience know who is on the field, and what's happening, and generally adding to the spectacle and feel of our tournaments.

One of the most common questions I get about field heraldry is "are you available?" One of the unfortunately less common questions, and the one I would like to address today, is "can I do that?"

There are very few people who can't learn to be a field herald, so the answer is probably a resounding "yes".

You need to be able to speak, and loudly, so if you're deaf or mute, then there are going to be some obvious barriers. You need to be able to see what's happening on the field, so blindness will also cause complications (it won't be impossible, but you'd need an assistant). You need to be able to read the lists and tourney cards, so illiteracy will cause some stumbling. Other than these, I see no great obstacles for anyone wanting to become a field herald, if they will put the time in to learn.

When making herald calls, there is a common mistake to focus on loudness, rather than on clarity and projection. This is, largely, the cause of the stereotypical "mumblemumblemumble ON THE LIST FIELD IN FIVE MINUTES!" When making your calls, it's better to speak somewhat slower than normal, with short pauses between sentences (this also allows you to breathe in).

On the difference between projection and loudness, think about the movement you're imparting on the air. If you're focused on being loud, you're pushing the air as hard as you can. If you're focused on projection, you're pushing as much air as you can. If more air is moving, then it will carry further (some loudness is important, but projection is more critical). You will need to pause for air more often, but pauses give gravitas to your speech, so that's good, anyway.

As for clarity, the other improvement once you've learned projection is to learn what to say. For field heraldry, there is a fairly standardised script, which can be adapted to any tourney. Variance from it is acceptable, but when the only part of the script that changes is the list of names, it becomes much simpler to follow, even if some words are lost. The actual script, and how to adapt it to the various tournaments, will be covered later.

On the Diversity of the SCA's Period

A natural outgrowth of the millenium-spanning continentally-spread focus of the SCA is that there will be some things which people will be interested in, which others will find incompatible with their own period of focus. There are a number of ways it can manifest itself, some more harmful than others.

One of the more famous incidents of this narrow focus are those times where the Crown of various Kingdoms has decided that the late-period game of fencing "isn't part of their SCA", and so have banned it, either from their presence, or from their Kingdom entirely. While most of these are fading to an unpleasant memory, I must say that for a Crown to ban a particular aspect of the SCA enjoyed by members of the populace, for no greater reason than its being incompatible with their own idea of what the SCA should be, is, in short, a breach of the fealty to the Kingdom which they swore at their coronation.

On a less intensively horrible scale, there are those not in a position of banning parts of the SCA, who nonetheless make statements on such things, when discussions of various activities in the SCA come up. The latest one, which inspired this post, was on the subject of black powder weapons at demos and events. The comment was made, that as a consistent pre-black powder persona, they don't think anyone else should be allowed to do it either.

I too have a consistent period of my persona, of a 16th century Englishman. If I were to stick to this quite firmly, I should insist that there not be Vikings and Byzantines and Saxons wandering about. In fact, for the latter 16th century, we should remove heavy combat as such a central thing, as Gloriana's reign marked the end of such things. But, I don't think any of those changes should be made.

Why? How do I reconcile being a 16th century Englishman surrounded by people from centuries from the 4th to the 15th? How do I bow my head to a 12th century Crusader Crown? Quite simply. This isn't London, and it isn't the 16th century. This is Politarchopolis in the great Kingdom of Lochac, and it's anno societatis 48. People come from many strange lands, separated by miles and years, and have a variety of bizarre names and manners of dress. What do you expect? Foreign cultures are always weird. That doesn't mean they can't exist together.

On the Award of Arms

The first award in the SCA that most people get is the Award of Arms, and it's usually phrased as being for people who are now considered properly "one of us", but I'm not sure that this description entirely fits.

What does the Award of Arms mean? That varies from person to person, and sometimes, even with more complications than that. To illustrate what I mean, let us consider my own case.

I've been given an Award of Arms twice. (This is unusual, but not unheard of. It can happen for a number of reasons, including problems accessing the list of awards already given, or name changes, or simple human error. I'm not even the most-awarded of those among my social circle, since I know someone who is Three Times A Lady.)

The first of these, by Bran and Lilya, came some two or three months after I joined the SCA. I was given tales of the glowing and numerous award recommendations they had received about me, and how I had jumped in with both feet. It is important, said Her Majesty, to get the heralds on side. I joined the SCA head first, and getting my Award of Arms so soon told me that I was welcomed and appreciated (which, to that point, had been somewhat lacking in my life). I was told that this was surprisingly quick, but didn't particularly understand the extent to which they meant that until some time later.

My second Award of Arms, by Cornelius and Elizabeth, came after nearly two years in the SCA. The exact details of how and why are not perfectly known to me, but Their Majesties decided I should be Awarded, and Awarded I was. I again felt very much appreciated, and there was the great pleasure of being given an Award of Arms alongside my best friend, who was given hers at the same time. But the greater meaning of my second Award was that people were seeing my actions approving of me, and people who hadn't known me when I first joined and was given my Award of Arms so fast.

As to timings, the usual time is somewhere between six months and two years, for those who are visibly active in the SCA. This can vary greatly, depending on activity, the recommendations sent, and just plain luck. On the short side, we have my own example, and for the long side, I have spoken to people who waited ten years before their Award of Arms, because they had been so active, for so long, that it was simply assumed that they had them (It was apparently discovered at a tournament at Rowany Festival, when she politely corrected the tourney herald that she was not titled as a Lady. Some kind attendant ran from the tourney-side to the Queen's side, and the oversight was corrected with haste).

I shall write more on award recommendations later, but suffice to say this: If you believe someone should have an award, recommend them for it. Your Kingdom will have procedures for doing so, and a database of the awards already received (in Lochac, the Canon Lore database).

On Romance in the SCA

As the date grows closer to a particular special day, I am inspired to write some thoughts on finding romantic partners in the SCA. Please note, this blog is being written several weeks before the day, and scheduled to be published just as my Lady begins her walk down the aisle (because it seems somewhat fitting as a subject).

There is something of a tendency for SCAdians to find each other, in the romantic sense, or for partners who aren't part of the SCA to be lured in. I think this is excellent and effective and good. This shan't be a guide of how to achieve it, as I've only a small pool of experience there.

But, why does it seem to happen so often? There are a few things at play here.

Firstly, the SCA is a collection of vaguely connected hobbies, which makes finding a romantic partner with similar (or, at least, compatible) interests a somewhat simpler task, which gives you something to do together to build the connection. Even if two people are interested in different aspects of the SCA (such as my Lady's general disinterest in the martial arts outside of attending my tournaments appreciatively), there are plenty of chances to meet, such as at events (either during a feast, while watching some of the entertainments, et cetera).

Secondly, many people join the SCA through Colleges and the like, when they are in their late teens or early twenties, which for many is just the sort of time where they might be looking for a romantic partner. This certainly isn't a hard and fast rule, and certainly there are those who join the SCA at that age with a partner already, or without any interest in finding one, and there are those who join the SCA later (or indeed earlier) who find someone.

One of the great advantages of having a partner who is also in the SCA is simply in understanding. The SCA can rather take over your life if you let it (and your storage space too). If your partner is in the SCA, then gone are the questions of "why do you spend so much on that stuff?" and "where exactly do you think you're going to store it?" ... though they can be replaced with "how exactly do you combine two fabric stashes into one?"

 I am sure that there will be more thoughts on the subject to come, but I thought that at least some words on it would be a fine notion.

On Whether Martial Arts Are Sports

A question that's come up a few times, both in my SCA experience and my previous martial arts training, is whether martial arts can be considered as sports.

The debate is often phrased disparagingly and aimed at other martial arts, to differentiate your own, clearly superior form from theirs. In the Taekwon-Do school of which I was a member, it was used to differentiate their own, "pure" form of the art from the other, clearly lesser, sporting forms. In the SCA, there are occasional flare-ups on both sides of the debate, between those who see tournaments as competetive sporting activities and those who see tournaments as almost moving meditation.

The first matter in establishing a position on this is defining what we mean by sport. The OED defines sport thusly: "4. a. An activity involving physical exertion and skill, esp. (particularly in modern use) one regulated by set rules or customs in which an individual or team competes against another or others." Given this definition, competition is implied, but not strictly required.

So, for the Taekwon-Do school mentioned, its activities do involve physical exertion and skill, but given the near-fanatical objection to any entry into tournaments (sometimes even phrased as entering tournaments being a road to expulsion from the school), it is the competition implied that's objected to. However, I'd argue that there is great competition within the school, as reaching a belt sooner gives seniority, which in the hierarchical ranking present in the school, can be quite important to those of a competetive bent.

Within the SCA's martial activities, the matter is somewhat more clear. There is physical exertion to a great degree, skill beyond what I can even comprehend some days, and open and exciting competition. For the most part of the participants, it's therefore a sport under this definition.

There will always be exceptions to the competetive side, such as those who choose not to enter tournaments, and focus instead on bettering themselves and others. However, even in their case, the exertion and skill is clearly present.

Despite what your own focus within the martial art of your choice may be, whether it is tournament play, melees and war fighting, or just improving your own coordination and skill, I believe that it is a sport.

Please note, I do not include any of the denigrating meanings of sport. I use my fencing as moving meditation, and sometimes to my cost. When I fight, my mind clears completely, reactions and training take over and I find myself filling a gap in my opponent's defence before I've consciously seen it.

On Buying vs Making

When it comes to garb, armour, toys, tools, and any of the other items of the material culture of our lives in the SCA, there are generally two ways to go about acquiring things. You can throw money at the problem, or throw time at the problem.

Throwing money at a problem is the easiest way to do it, and in a lot of ways, more period, though it doesn't work for everything, and there's a tradeoff. For the nobles and gentles of varying ranks which we represent in the SCA, they wouldn't be expected to be the artisans of the land, making every item of clothing and piece of armour that they wore. Even among those in the artisan classes in period, they would generally specialise in a particular craft, and trade the fruit of their labour for the fruit of others' labour.

The tradeoff in this, of course, is that there are greatly limited suppliers of the varying things which you may wish to acquire, who charge commensurately high prices for their skilled crafts. Also, those suppliers you can find will often be spread all over the Known World, meaning that items which require direct contact, such as garments and armour to be fitted, can be harder or impossible to achieve.

That is not to say that throwing time at a problem is the solution either. The materials will still require some investment for most projects, and the time taken to learn the skills, and then craft each item, will also be a factor.

One of the places where this debate comes up most prominently is when older, experienced members of the SCA, who are established in the workplace and earning a relatively high salary, give advice to newer members of the SCA, usually university students. There is an understandable difference of perspective here. The older members are paid a fine coin for their time, and usually know the dollar value of their time to reasonable precision, and thus to throw time at a problem IS to throw money at it, so they quite reasonably choose to cut out the middle-man and save themselves the effort. For the younger members, however, their time is often valued much lower, if valued at all in an economic sense, therefore it makes sense for them to spend some labour on the craft, rather than spend their labour in a dreary environment to gain the money to throw at the problem. In both cases, the elimination of the middle-man is the goal, but with opposite results.

I hold a somewhat middle-ground perspective on this. For most of my work, I prefer to put my time into the effort, especially in the production of clothing (with the assistance of my good Lady). However, there are several things, such as our upcoming acquisition of a much larger pavillion, where we have decided that the increased price is worth the coin: we would be unlikely to get the task right on our first attempt, and after buying more material to repair the mistakes, and spending the amount of time to learn the art of tent-making and apply it to our canvas, we can honestly consider the purchase a bargain compared to the "saving" of doing it ourselves.

On the Care and Feeding of Colleges

A subject that is quite close to me right now is the ways in which Colleges, those university-based branches of the SCA, are like and unalike the other branches of the SCA. This is the first in a series of posts on the matter of Colleges, as there is far too much for one post.

I joined the SCA through the College of St Aldhelm, and also had the variable pleasure of leading that group for something more than two years. I'm currently still a member, and having to resist the urge to keep leading the group despite having passed the key to my successor.

Most of my experience is with a fairly small, old College. Membership tends to wax and wane, getting as low as 2 or 3 over the summer some years, and getting as high as a dozen or more after some good firm recruitment.

All Colleges operate under a parent group, be that a Barony, Canton, Shire, or any such geographic group. The relationship can, at times, be a tense one, with the goodwill of both sides being stretched by competing needs of the two groups. Ideally, a College should act as a feed-in system for membership in the geographic group of which they are part, and if done well, this can be a benefit both to the College and its parent group.

In my experience with the College, those new members who only get involved in College activities tend to drop out of the SCA as soon as they graduate, or sometimes as soon as the exam period hits, where those members who find at least one activity outside of the College to participate in, whether it's archery, fencing or heavy combat training, the group's A&S activities, or even being an officer in the parent group, tend to continue in the SCA for longer.

However, when encouraging College members to join the wider parent group, it's important that they not be encouraged so hard that they stop attending College activities entirely, because to bring in new members, a College has to have a reasonably-sized and friendly group of existing members, regularly attending the College's activities, otherwise you're left with a group of new people who don't know anyone in the SCA, which makes it hard for them to become part of the SCA.

One of the important things for keeping College members attending College meetings is there being regular, and interesting, activities at them, which is somewhat complicated to arrange at times, and shall be the subject of another post.