Ceremonial of the Kingdom of An Tir
Version: September Crown LIII (2018)
The College of Heralds is called before the Crown. Black Lion is asked to speak.
BLACK LION
Your Majesties:
As heralds in Your service, we are bound by oaths sealed before you:
* to be true to the Crown, and to honor the lords and ladies of Your Realm,
* to bear ourselves soberly and discreetly, keeping all secrets save treason against the Crown,
* to report worshipful deeds, and to be ready to commend and loath to blame,
* to preserve the rights and privileges of the Office of Arms, and
* to share the goods, gifts, and knowledge that comes of our Office in Your service.
Therefore I present Your heralds, to fulfill my oath by reporting to Your Majesties,
one among them, faithful and diligent,
* whose wisdom has brought honor and cunning to us beyond others,
* whose dignity sustains and preserves us beyond others,
* whose voice guides us beyond others, and
* whose name means Herald of An Tir, beyond others.
Their name is .
COURT HERALD
, Come forward before Their Majesties.
It is by the testimony of your colleagues, the recommendation of Black Lion,
and the Will of the Crown that you would be raised to the rank of Herald Extraordinary.
Will you accept from Them this honor,
and swear to uphold the rights and responsibilities of this rank of Arms?
On positive response
Black Lion speaks the lot, or delegates items to other heralds.
Suggested phrasing as shown.
BLACK LION
It was the custom in times past
that heralds raised in rank of Arms
be so invested by solemn and fitting oath,
and we today continue that tradition
according to the Laws and Customs of An Tir.
NEXT SPEAKER
You shall swear
by the oath that you received when you were made a herald,
and by the faith that you owe to the Crown
whose arms you have borne,
that you shall truly keep such things as are comprised in the articles following
Firstly,
whensoever the Crown shall command you to give any message
to any other Sovereign or princely estate,
or any other person out of this Their realm or within the same,
that you shall do it as honorably and truly as your will and reason can serve you,
and truly report bring again to Their Majesties of your message,
always keeping yourself secret,
save to such persons as you be commanded to utter your charge unto,
as surely you have done to this day.
NEXT SPEAKER
Secondly,
you shall do your true duty
to be every day more cunning than others in the service of arms,
so as you may be better furnished to teach others under you,
and execute with more wisdom and more eloquence
such charges as the Crown
or of Their realm any noble
shall lay unto you,
as surely you have done to this day.
NEXT SPEAKER
Thirdly,
you shall do your diligence
to have knowledge of all the nobles and gentle-people within your march,
which should bear coats in the field in the service of the Crown,
and such arms as they bear,
and they hold any service by knight's fee,
whereby they should give to the Crown service for the defense of Their land,
as surely you have done to this day.
NEXT SPEAKER
Fourthly,
you shall not be unwilling
to teach pursuivants or heralds,
nor to ease them in such doubts as they shall move to you.
Also, you shall keep,
from month to month as your will and reason can serve you,
your chapters to the increase of cunning in the service of arms,
and the doubts that there cannot be eased,
you shall move to Black Lion,
as surely you have done to this day.
NEXT SPEAKER
Fifthly,
you shall observe and keep to your cunning and power
all such oaths as you made when you were created a herald,
to the honor and worship of noblesse and integrity of living,
namely, in eschewing disreputable places,
and always more ready to excuse than to blame any person.
Also you shall permit truly to register all acts of honor in manner and form as they be done,
as forsooth as power and cunning may extend,
as surely you have done to this day.
BLACK LION
Do these articles you now swear truly,
to keep with all your might and power,
as befits a herald of your rank,
until death take you, or the world end?
On positive response
CROWN
Then [… on this day …] be called Herald Extraordinary, and receive from Us the right to personal title.
[… So say We …]
Rise, and rejoin your colleagues.
At Their Majesties direction, Exhort cheers for the new Herald Extraordinary.
Based on The Black Book of the Admiralty, “The Oath of the Kings of Arms in Their Creation”.
Since the phrasing is archaic, spend time practicing the charges.