Harold the Herald: An Automated Heraldic Conflict Checking System by David P. Salley

Problem Statement The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is a non-profit educational organization whose members study and re-create aspects of the Middle Ages. The Society maintains a registry of its members heraldic devices (popularly referred to as “coats of arms”)

Problem Statement (cont’d) The Society adds over 500 devices to its registry each year, more than England’s College of Arms registered in the last century Prior to the late 1990’s this registration was done strictly manually. Online text checking has improved the situation, but not by much

The Honorable Lord Dagonell Collingwood of Emerald Lake “Barry wavy vert and argent, a unicorn’s head couped sable, armed, orbed and crined and a chief wavy Or.”

Heraldic Tinctures Gules = Red Sable = Black Vert = Green Purpure = Purple Azure = Blue Or = Yellow Argent = White

Field Divisions

Lines of Partition

Ordinaries & Sub-ordinaries

Charge Positions

Charge Positions (cont’d)

The Honorable Lord Dagonell Collingwood of Emerald Lake “Barry wavy vert and argent, a unicorn’s head couped sable, armed, orbed and crined and a chief wavy Or.”

Backus-Naur Grammar 1. : : 2. : : AND | 3. : : [ ] | [ ] 4. : : BARRY | CHECKY | VAIRY | etc. 5. : : PER BEND | PER FESS | PER PALE | etc. 6. : : DOVETAILED | EMBATTLED | POTENTY | etc. 7. : : | | 8. : : | | 9. : : AZURE | GULES | PURPURE | VERT | SABLE 10. : : ARGENT | OR 11. : : ERMINE | VAIR | PEAN | etc. 12. : : FRETTY | MAILLY | MASONED | etc. 13. : : | (empty) 14. : : [ ] [ ] [ ] 15. : : IN DEXTER | IN SINISTER | etc. 16. : : A | AN | ONE | TWO | THREE | etc. 17. : : BEND | TIGER | MULLET | EAGLE | DRAGON | etc. 18. : : BENDWISE | RAMPANT | DISPLAYED | etc. 19. : : PROPER | COUNTER-CHANGED |

Field ATN

Charge-list ATN

Conflict Checking

Conflict Checking - Fields Division – Barry Partition – Wavy FieldT1 – Vert FieldT2 – Argent 1 st Point of Difference Division – Quarterly Partition – none FieldT1 – Vert FieldT2 – Argent

Conflict Checking – Chargelist Type1 – Uni. Head Not Enough Difference Type1 – Horse Head

Conflict Checking - Charge Location1 – Center Number1 – One Type1 – Uni. Head Position1 – Couped Tincture1 – Sable Not Enough Difference Location1 – Center Number1 – One Type1 – Horse Head Position1 – Couped Tincture1 - Sable

Conflict Checking

Conflict Checking - Fields Division – Barry Partition – Wavy FieldT1 – Vert FieldT2 – Argent 1 st Point of Difference Division – Quarterly Partition – none FieldT1 – Vert FieldT2 – Argent

Conflict Checking - Chargelist Type1 – Uni. Head Type2 – Chief 2 nd Point of Difference Type1 – Horse Head

Program Demonstration The SCA Database The Submission Rules The Authority Files The March Letter of Intent My Capstone Paper My Conference Paper

Possible Applications for Similar Technology SCA College of Arms England’s College of Arms Corporate Logos Clowns International CSI – Tattoo Database

NBC vs. Nebraska Network

Clowns International

CSI: Tattoo Database

Bibliography Bedgood, Alan, ed. (1995). The Known World Handbook (Milpitas, CA: Society for Creative Anachronism) Christiansen, Thomas and Schwartz, Randal L.(1997). Learning Perl ( O’Reilly and Associates). Fox-Davies, A.C A Complete Guide to Heraldry. London, England: Gramercy Books Parker, James. A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry, London, England: Tuttle Publishing Rich, Elaine and Knight, Kevin (1991). Artificial Intelligence, (New York:McGraw-Hill). Russell, Stuart and Norvig, Peter Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall

Questions and Two Final Anecdotes

Thank You!