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Right to Bear the Badge

by Furukusu Masahide (古楠　正秀)

Anyone who has attended a court within the SCA where a member has been granted membership in an order has heard the words "And they shall have the right to bear the badge of the order, to whit…." This of course means that the new member of the order (as is true with all members of orders) can display heraldry showing their membership.

Within our period of study heraldry was a big deal to nobles and commoners alike. Flags, banners, pennons, surcoats, shields, and marks were all ways of saying "Elvis is in the building." For a commoner, being able to recognize the badge of their lord's service let them know if the soldier in front of them was a legal authority or simply a bandit, and while in some cases the effects were the same it did tell them if they had someone they could go and complain too. Nobles used heraldry and badges to display their status, associations, lineage, location and belongings. They were used on a battle field to determine who was faced, who had fallen and who was victorious, as well as who showed courage or cowardice.

In the Society, some of these uses are meaningful to us and some are not. Being a close community, we recognize each other's faces, cloths, tents and even weapons. For a member of the Society, heraldry and badges can still display status, associations, location and belongings in much the same way as the Nobles of the past that we strive to emulate. Choosing to display heraldry with banners, pennons, surcoats, and other heraldic applications also helps us to show the pageantry and color of period. Living in a modern world, we often find ourselves at events in modern facilities. Industrial walls, drop ceilings, and chain link fences often form the backdrop to our courts, tournaments and events. By displaying banners we can help to mask this mundane surrounding we are in and enhance the pageantry of these Current Middle Ages.

So the question becomes "what can I display?" The short answer is "anything you are entitled to" and that is a bigger list than you might think. This includes, but isn't limited to, your own personal device and badges, badges for any households you are a member of, badges for any orders you are a member of, badges for any offices you currently hold, badges for any guilds you are a member of, and any badges designated for general use that are associated with your kingdom and local group or groups. Think about it. That is quite a list.

What you can't display is actually a much shorter list. You cannot display someone else's personal device. That would be saying that you are them. You also cannot display the badge for an order or group you are not a member of. Finally, you cannot display the formal arms of the kingdom or your local group; basically anything with a laurel wreath on it. Those are reserved for the Crown, and Coronet. Because of this, most groups have registered badges or ensigns for the general populace to use to show their association with the group.

The Outlands has two specific ensigns that can be used by the general populace: the Ensign, and War Ensign.

Ensign:

Vert, a stag salient argent, attired and unguled, within a bordure embattled Or.

War Ensign:

Pily bendy vert and Or, a stag's attire bendwise sinister gules.

Caerthe also has an ensign:

Or, a triskelion of aspen leaves conjoined at the stems vert within a bordure embattled sable.

All three of these ensigns can be displayed by any member of Caerthe or its cantons or colleges.

Now I'll tell you a little secret. Just because something isn't registered, doesn't mean you can't display it. Are you registering a device? Display it. Paint a banner. Put it out there, and if you do, go ahead and get it registered. If you have a problem with registration, you can always paint another banner; after all, it isn't that hard.

How about another secret: You can own and even display the branch arms for Caerthe, provided you are not displaying them as yours and the Coronet is at the event. Is there an indoor event with ugly walls and the Coronet of Caerthe is there? Pull out your branch banner and hang it on a wall. At a tournament with drab surroundings and the Coronet of Caerthe is there? Pull out your branch banner and post it near the community BC. As long as you stick to public areas, you can freely post a branch banner when the appropriate Crown, or Coronet there.

So lets all start making banners: Personal Arms, Orders, Guilds, Households, and Branch Ensigns. If we each made a banner of each type of device, badge, and ensign we could display, we would probably never have to look at modern walls or chain link fences at events ever again!