So what is Heraldry all about, anyway? It seems to be a virus with which some people, like me, get infected & obsessed with, while others can remain blissfully disinterested. But, since I believe we should all try on as many shoes as possible, I will tell you here something about these matters, and hope to get you at least a little bit interested. Hopefully just enough to recognize what is what, to further enjoy events. For what good is it to have symbols if we do not recognize them, as in "How can you TELL he's a king?" Besides, heraldic displays, the banners and shields and other color co-ordinating look so darn good at events.
There are three sides to heraldry, as it is practiced in the SCA, and these roughly parallel real heraldry, too. The two are different in a number of ways, mostly relating to inheritance & family relations, but that is something you will have to ask one of the heraldically inclined.
Field Heraldry is the town crier side. Heralds (ll tell you the difference between heralds & pursuivants and why this office has a name, some other time) are the voice of the Coronet or Crown to the people; in field heraldry they tell things that the people need to know. Conversely, heralds are also the voice of the people to the Coronet.
An Aspect of field heraldry I have not knowingly encountered is crying the lists, much like a modern sports commentator. Heralds would give info about the participants and wearing one,s arms sure helped in describing who was who, from where, and such. Field heralds had both the power and responsibility of knowledge, sort of like the press does (ever wonder why so many newspapers use Herald in their name?). Heralds were to be a voice of information, and a neutral one at that unless perhaps they were the personal herald of a participant, as some SCA events encourage, or even require, ones own PR & Pep squad.
Wearing the tabard which is actually what heralds wore to signify their heraldness was very symbolic. It identified the person as a (don't shoot the) messenger from whosever arms they were wearing. There I was no generic herald badge, such as the SCA uses the two gold trumpets crossed on a green background. Nobility did not have to travel a distance to deliver a message, they would send a herald. So it was important to have heralds who would not interfere in the message process, who would remain neutral and deserving as well as supportive of this diplomatic immunity that heralds were given, no matter what the relation between the land they came from & that they went to.
Armorial Display , or showing one's arms concerns the side that does so much to make an event look like the Middle Ages: the painted shields and banners and such. There are all sorts of rules and period styles to be followed when designing devices, details that nit pickers like me can get all wrapped up in & enjoy, but that drive the not so heraldically inclined to nutty bits & make them want to run away & do something else.
Precedence & Protocol is what I would call the third side of heraldry. this is the Pomp and Circumstance side; the matters of what to do in court, in what order and by whom. The proper ways to use the visual parts of heraldry and dealing with awards are part of this. It is the side that shows the least but may be the trickiest. It also involves the book work (that s what else it s called Book Heraldry. Silly Bonetrader). Different people are better at different parts of heraldry, whether speaking at a court, making announcements at events or tournaments, or designing and otherwise dealing with devices and submissions including names, in the case of the SCA and then keeping track of all the details of who & what & when, throughout the years & Kingdoms. The Known World Handbook has an excellent article on heraldry for the pre- beginner and non-inclined; it puts just as much as you might need to know into a tidy few pages with lots of pictures. Read this, and you do not have to do anything else except ask a herald for help (pick me! pick me!) when you want to work on a name or device. By reading it to start with you will stand a much better chance of having an understanding of what you can and can t get away with on a device. It also conveys a sense of what is good design, from a period perspective, and that info is good for other things as well.
One thing which the KWH does not go into is the differences of use for devices, badges and group arms. A device is the shield design any person you do not even have to be a paid member can invent, following the rules (don t try this at home, folks, these are trained heralds), register, and use accordingly. A device becomes one s arms at the moment one gets their AOA Award of Arms. In period times, only nobility & such had arms, and they had to be earned or inherited. In these, the current middle ages, any one and everyone can have a device. An AOA is effectively a class promotion; your device becomes arms and you can use a title equivalent to Lord or Lady. That, too, is a story for another day, under the Protocol section.
A person can wear their device, such as on a tabard; they can put it on any item that is theirs, and fly it on a banner. No one else may wear your device; they are not you. Nor should your banner be displayed if you are not there. (I would stretch this, for instance at demos, where all possible decorations are good; to heck with protocol now & then.) Your device signifies your presence and your property; so no one else wears it unless they are your property.
A badge is sort of like a device, but is mostly quite different. That sounds like something I would say. The rules for group and personal badges are the same. Badges are generally a round design or a design (object, item) by itself, which can be put on anything, like a monogram.
Devices are shield shaped; women can use a diamond shape for their device, but only if the design is planned for that shape or suits it anyway. This diamond is called a lozenge, for what it s worth.
Badges signify association; not quite the same possessiveness that a device does. Anything you own can have your badge on it. Cantons have group arms, as does the Barony, but there are some differences between their proper uses. As one person put it, they would put their device on things they used that were personal, but would put their badge on things they would share, such as spare furniture or feast gear.
Badges do not have to have anything in common with the device, but often, because we of this century tend to like the symbolism or the connection or ease of association, we use a part of the device as the badge.
If you were at Royal Progress in November XXXII (?) you may have seen a person or two in a white baldric (shoulder sash) with a blue lobster on it, and may also have seen some with the blue baldric with the white triangle and leaves - the Arms of the Barony of Ruantallan. The Lobster was a badge, to signify that these people were associated with, in this case, Lord Perceval Gower of Midrealm. His main charge is a lobster, and these people were there to help him with whatever; but alas, there was no such cold remedy that could even do that.
The baronial baldrics are different. They, in bearing the arms of the Barony, say "I represent the Barony" rather like an ambassador; visitors to far places might be sent wearing these, especially if they are fencing or fighting on behalf of the barony.
The current/ruling Baron and Baroness of any Barony are entitled to wear/use the arms of their Barony joined to their own while on the thrones. Once they step down, they may not so this any more, and have to show them separately.
As for wearing the baldric, I believe it is worn to show you represent the Barony (although you re not necessarily the property of the Barony). It may also be presented by their Excellencies representatives (Seneschal, Knight Marshal, etc). DEFINITELY take it off if you want to speak your own mind.
Ruantallan does not currently have a badge, which puts us in the position of mis-using the Baronial arms. A badge could be used by all people to say I am from Ruantallan or this item is property of someone from Ruantallan or this is a souvenir of , in the same way that a personal or household or local group badge could. Badges are good, some simple symbol to say mine . Sure beats a piece of duct tape and marking pen.
The only people who can rightly wear the baronial arms are the Baron and the Baroness, since they, as landed Baron/ess are the embodiment of the lands. They the Barony. They may also take their own arms and put them on the right half of a banner and the baronial arms on the other half. This is called impaling, and is more used in real heraldry, but may also be done
by couples with their own arms
But I just said someone else could wear the baronial arms on a baldric, didn t I? Yes, but only if they are presented by Their Excellencies (Andrew and Lyanna, in this case), or by their representatives such as a designated local group officer. At any rate, when you wear the baldric you represent the barony. In wearing a baronial tabard you are representing the voice of the coronet, and then are effectively their property. A herald wears the arms of the group or person they are representing; they are a hired voice with no opinion of their own, while wearing the arms of another, no matter who that other happens to be. It could be lowly me or anyone right up to all the Kingdoms combined. So in any case, take the baronial arms off before uttering a single thought of your own. It has happened in Royal courts, that the herald just had to make comment, slipped the tabard off, commented, & returned to heraldship an art in itself.
But how did I end up able to tell you about something other than leather? Tis in a large part due to the good people on the SCA Heralds e-mail list, across this continent, and in Germany and Scotland as well! Especially Notable for answering the questions I asked to get this far are Alanna; Merigold the Mirthful; Morgan; Daniel de Lincoln; Anyka, Short Pursuivant at Large; and the Voice of the Eastern Crown, Brigantia Principal Herald, Cadell Random ap Hubert, whom I hold responsible and thank for the whole thing. As far as book sources go, there are many, though I, like any other heraldic sort, will surely suggest titles if you express the slightest bit of interest. Kind of like those fighters who try to get everyone in armour, huh?