How to commission an original scroll or replacement charter

Replacement Charters
If something dreadful or unfixable accidentally happens to your charter, a one-time replacement charter may be obtained for a small fee. To do so simply contact the Principality Scribe with the following information:

• your SCA name

• the award you received

• the name of the Royals who bestowed your award and

• when (date and event) it was bestowed

The Principality Scribe will then make arrangements to acquire an appropriate blank charter and have it painted, signed and sealed. Note that since several charter designs are created for each reign, the replacement charter may not necessarily be identical to the one originally received, particularly in the case of Kingdom charters.

Original Scrolls
Scrolls are commissioned for several reasons:

• to provide a scroll in the instance where a scroll or charter was not bestowed at the time that the award or peerage was given in court.

• to replace a charter with an original scroll reflecting the recipients personal device, name and persona or preferred style

• to replace an existing scroll or charter that is damaged

IMPORTANT! Please be aware that in all instances, the material cost of the commission and any shipping costs are paid by the recipient. The cost will vary depending on the materials you request and on the scribe who is doing your commission. This should be discussed with the scribe before commencing the scroll.

The first step is to contact the Principality Scribe. While they will not necessarily be the scribe who crafts your scroll, they must first be contacted and notified that you wish to have a scroll be done before proceeding. The Principality Scribe can then assign or recommend a scribe to complete your commission.

Even if you have already got a willing scribe in mind, all scribal commissions for Principality or Kingdom awards or peerages must be coordinated through the Principality Scribe and the College of Scribes and Illuminators.

There are several reason for this rule:

• In order for the scroll to be “official” and be signed and sealed by the appropriate royalty there are several criteria that must be met including use of appropriate text, names and dates. It would be a shame for someone to got to all the work of crafting a scroll and have the result be unsuitable for signatures and seal.

• If the registered heraldry and name of the recipient is used in the text and imagery of the scroll, there are several rules that must be followed for the scroll to be acceptable according to the Kingdom College of Heralds. As above, incorrect content will make the unsuitable for signatures and seal.

• The Principality Scribe is responsible for tracking and recording the status of the scribal backlog. Without knowing that a commission is being done, it is possible to have duplicate commissions.

• It also helps the Principality Scribe be aware of who is active in the scribal community. While this is not essential, it is helpful to the College in growth and education.

Please note that there may be many other commission requests ahead of you in the backlog and a scribe may not be available immediately to take your commission. If this is the case, your name and your request will be added to the backlog list and you will be notified as soon as an appropriate scribe becomes available.

Once you have a scribe assigned to your commission and have a plan as to what you want your scroll to look like, you or your scribe must contact the Principality Scribe for approval of the imagery and text content. Bear in mind that your commission may not contain text or images that violate Society bylaws, Corpora or Society financial policies. Any alternate titles or prerogatives granted by a scroll must be in accordance with Society and Kingdom policies, and must be approved by Kingdom of An Tir Black Lion Principal Herald in advance. This is an important step! This will ensure that your scroll is suitable for signatures and seal and thus “official”.

After your plan is approved, the scribe can proceed with crafting your beautiful new scroll. Once all the hard work is done, all that remains is to contact the Principality Scribe about arranging for the signing and sealing of the scroll. This can take several months particularly if this is a Kingdom award so plan accordingly.