New Eastern Awards: Q&A with Shepherd's Crook Herald
The following is a Q&A with commonly asked questions about the new awards and answered by the Shepherd’s Crook Herald, Master Rowen Cloteworthy
I’m sure some of you have questions about the new Grant-level Orders, the new Armigerous Orders, and how these changes affect your precedence and the Order of March.
I heard the order names were changing. Is that true?
No, the names of the Orders of High Merit (Silver Crescent, Maunche, Tygers Combatant, Sagittarius, Golden Rapier, and Golden Lance) are not changing. The new Armigerous Orders will be added to the Order of Precedence with their new names.
What about these new awards? What are the Armigerous Orders?
Their Majesties created a new class of awards called the Armigerous Orders. These will rank below the existing Orders of High Merit. There are five Armigerous Orders – the existing Silver Rapier and the new Silver Tyger (armoured combat), Silver Brooch (arts and sciences), Silver Wheel (service), and Apollo’s Arrow (archery). They are not polling Orders and the Crown can give an Armigerous Order at any time.
For our purposes, “armigerous” means “comes with an Award of Arms”. The Crown’s vision with these new awards is that most people will receive an Award of Arms after some length of time being involved with the Society. Later on, the Crown will have a way to reward individuals who continue to be active in their field but haven’t yet reached the level of an Order of High Merit. If the recipient had not yet received an Award of Arms, the Armigerous Order will automatically give that person their AoA.
What about thrown weapons or combat archery? Why don’t they get an award?
There are already awards for thrown weapons, siege, and combat archery. The Order of the Golden Mantle for prowess and service in the areas of siege weaponry, scouting, and thrown weaponry. The Order of the Artemis is awarded for prowess and service in combat archery. The Crown does not often get recommendations for these awards and encourages those communities to recommend worthy individuals.
What is a Grant of Arms?
A Grant of Arms is a step above an Award of Arms but lower than the Patent of Arms that peers receive in the Order of Precedence.
Did I retroactively get a Grant of Arms?
As of the publication of Brennan II and Caoilfhionn II’s Curia in the January 2016 Pikestaff, if you have an Order of High Merit, you now also have a Grant of Arms. Even if your scroll doesn’t say you have a Grant of Arms, you have a Grant per the change to EK Law. Section IX.B.1.a. will read – “Induction into an Order of High Merit will be accompanied by a Grant of Arms for recipients who do not already have a Grant or a Patent of Arms.”
What if my scroll says I got an Order of High Merit with an Award of Arms? Do I not have an Award of Arms anymore?
If your scroll says you got an OHM and an AoA at the same time, then you got both your Award of Arms and a Grant retroactively. We won’t take your AoA out of the Order of Precedence.
When may I officially start using the title THL?
Per Corpora, the official title for someone with a Grant of Arms is “Lord” or “Lady”. The Society doesn’t have any other official title for someone with a Grant of Arms. Although there is an SCA-traditional form of address, it’s not technically correct. Using it is your choice.
Will you change the listings in the Order of Precedence to indicate that everyone with an OHM now has a grant?
We’re not going to go back and mark every person with an Order of High Merit as also having a Grant. For the Order of March, we will know that you have a Grant and line you up in the right place.
How does this change the Order of March?
You can find the new Order of March here. All the changes are in Groups Six and Seven. We’ve rearranged the way people with Grants line up in the March. For a while, we’ve sorted grant-holders by the date the Grant was received and nothing else. After consultation with the Crown and the Brigantia Principal Herald, we’ve decided to place recipients of Orders of High Merit first in the group, Court Barons with Grants second in the group, and Grants Simple (people who have a Grant but neither an Order of High Merit or Court Barony, sometimes called a “naked Grant”) are third in the group.
How do I recommend someone for the new awards?
The online award recommendation form will be updated soon, but if you feel someone should be recognized right away, you can include your recommendation under the “other” category on the form.
I hope I’ve answered your questions, and I thank you all for your help and your patience.
Pray know I remain,
For Crown and College,
– Master Rowen Cloteworthy, Shepherd’s Crook Herald