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This is the Middle Kingdom Letter of Acceptances and Returns for the January 2002 letters of Escutcheon and Keythong. Comments in braces {} were removed from the Letter of Intent sent to Laurel and the College of Arms. Names, devices, or badges in braces have been returned or pended; general comments or replies to commentary are also placed in braces. Thanks to Eoin Caimbeul, Knute, Talan Gwynek, Gabriel de Malaga and his Charming Assistants (TM) Mihal Krÿstÿna, Ambrogio d'Archangelo della Rosa, Cygany the Black, Meowmoto Musashi, and Aryanwy Lyghtefote, Ælfreda æt Æthelwealda,, Mikhail of Lubelska, and AnneAliz de Bazle (Fretty) with Alia Marie de Blois and Cathyn fitz Gerald for their commentary this month.
1) Cúil Choluim, Shire of - Branch name resubmission
The client's original submission, <Cuil Cholum>, was returned by Rouge Scarpe in 8/00 for lack of documentation and lack of a suitable branch designator. We are indebted to Talan Fause Lozenge for his help in preparing the documentation for this name. The name is intended to mean "Columb's nook" or "Columb's retreat."
The Old Irish word <cúil> means 'corner' or 'recess,' and according to Royal Irish Academy, _Dictionary of the Irish Language: based mainly on Old and Middle Irish materials_ (Dublin : Royal Irish Academy, 1983), s.v. cúil, this element is common in Irish place-names.
Watson, William J., _The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland_ (London: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd., 1926) has three names beginning with <Cúil>; of the three, one is <Cùil Bhrianainn> 'Brendan's retreat' (p. 81f). Fause Lozenge notes that while the form of the name is modern, the name itself is probably old, as Watson notes a Latin version <secessus Brendani> with the same meaning.
Room, Adrian, _Dictionary of Irish Place-Names_ (Belfast: Appletree Press, 1994) also has a number of Irish place names that use <cúil>. While many of them are of the form <cúil> + <adjective> (as in <Cúil Ghréine> 'sunny nook') or <cúil> followed by the genitive of a noun naming a topographical feature (as in <Cúil Aitinn> 'secluded place of [the] goose'), there are exceptions. These are <Coolkenna>, an Anglicization of <Cúil Uí Chionaoith> 'secluded spot of Ó Cionaoith' and <Coolrain>, an Anglicization of <Cúil Ruáin> 'nook of red-colored land' or 'Ruán's nook.' Neither of these are dated, however, given DIL's comment above that <cúil> was common in Irish place names, and given the number of Irish place-names of the general form 'So-and-so's place-of-some-kind," a place name meaning 'Columb's nook' or 'Columb's retreat' doesn't seem unreasonable.
<Columb> or <Colum> is the old form of the name of a very well-known early Irish saint, as well as 31 others, according to O'Corrain & Maguire. Following <Cúil>, the name <Colum> must be put into the genitive and lenited, giving <Cúil Choluim>.
A petition of support is enclosed. Submitted as <Cuil Cholum>, the clients did not provide any new documentation, and accept no MINOR changes. After correspondence between Dragon, Fause Lozenge, and the consulting herald for the group, the group has expressly said that the change to <Shire of Cúil Cholum> is acceptable to them.
Name commentary
Talan: How quaint and picturesque. Why me?! I'm just a short *thin* peer; I'm not up to this!
I'm not sure how much of the commentary is Paul and how much is theirs, so I'll respond to the whole thing.
There's no connection between <cill> 'church; monastic settlement' and <cu/il> 'corner, recess': the former is a later spelling of <cell>, a borrowing of Latin <cella> 'storeroom; small room; sanctuary (of temple where statue stood)', later 'monk's cell'. Both are common in Irish place-names. (DIL s.vv. <cell>, <cu/il>.)
Darton does indeed say that <Kil-> in Scottish place-names can come from <cill> or <cu/il>; indeed, he also mentions <coille> 'wood, forest', <cu/l> 'back, ridge', and rarely <caol> 'narrows' as sources. (It can't be 'elided to' any of these however: (a) the direction is from Gaelic to <Kil->, and (b) the process involved isn't precisely elision anyway.) He also has a good many <Kil-> place-names, but none is from <cu/il>, so none is relevant to the submission.
The place-name from Dwelly apparently means 'Corner of the rye'; while it does at least show the use of <cu/il> (modern Sc.Gael. <cu\il>) as a place-name generic, it doesn't support the overall form of the submitted name and in any case isn't dated.
I don't know anything about <Cuil Emhni> except that it's definitely not an old spelling of anything.
Okay, now that that's out of the way, let's see if we can make anything reasonable out of <Cuil Chollum>. The index to Watson has three <Cu/il ...> entries. One (p.365) turns out to be <cu\il Chailltreo> or <cu\il Ghalltro> in modern Sc.Gael.; since the second element is obscure, this doesn't really take us very far. On p.494 he mentions <Cu\il an Longairt> 'nook of the fortress' in South Kintyre, in Argyll, which is indeed close to an old fort; this is the modern Gaelic name, but it could continue an old name. However, the second element isn't of the type that they want.
On p.81f, however, he mentions <Cu\il Bhrianainn> 'Brendan's Retreat'; the form is modern Sc.Gael., but the name is probably old, as he notes a Latin version <secessus Brendani> with the same meaning. This, finally, has the desired form: 'So-and-so's nook/retreat/corner'.
Room's _A Dictionary of Irish Place-Names_ has more place-names based on <cu/il>, though I didn't notice any amongst the <Kil-> names; they're Englished with <Cool-> instead. In most cases <cu/il> is compounded with an adjective (<Cu/il Ghre/ine> 'sunny nook') or with the genitive of a noun naming a topographical feature (<Cu/il Aitinn> 'secluded place of (the) gorse'); exceptions are Coolkenna, which is <Cu/il Ui/ Chionaoith> 'secluded spot of O' Cionaoith', and perhaps Coolrain, which is <Cu/il Rua/in> 'nook of red-colored land' or 'Rua/n's nook'. These are again of unknown age.
Given the DIL's comment that <cu/il> is common in place-names, and given the number of Irish place-names of the general form 'So-and-so's place-of-some-kind', I don't see any semantic problem with a place-name meaning 'Columb's nook' or 'Columb's retreat'. The personal name must of course be in the genitive, and since <cu/il> is feminine, it will also be lenited (as seen in <Cu\il Bhrianainn>). The old form of the name is <Columb>, genitive <Coluimb>, though there are plenty of examples in O'Brien without the b>. (The genitive without <b> can also be seen in OCM's headword <Ma/el Coluim>.) Thus, a pretty standard moderately early form of the proposed place-name would be <Cu/il Choluim>, and that, I think, is as close as they're likely to get.
Gabriel et al: First of all, neither Cuil nor Colum is a branch designator. See the Administrative Handbook, Appendix B for a list of the appropriate branch designators. Since they don't allow minor changes this name needs to be returned solely for that reason.
Second, this seems to be undocumented. Specifically, the form of the construction of the name is not documented. Neither my charming assistants nor I can assist in documenting the correct construction.
Fretty: These sources seem to be somewhat sketchy. Perhaps someone could check _Wars of the Irish Kings_ to see if Cuil Emhni is given as a place name or a person?
{*) Desdemona Bendebowe - New name & device
Or, a sheaf of three flamberges inverted within an orle of pheons purpure
This is being returned for lack of evidence that <Desdemona> was used before 1600. According to Withycombe, s.n. Desdemona, the name was "sometimes used as a Christian name in recent times after the heroine of Shakespeare's Othello." According to http://www.heysmarty.com/bookportal .asp?portalid=67, the date for Othello is 1604-1605, which makes it impossible for the name to be used after the heroine in Othello before 1600. Barring evidence that this name was used pre-1600, this must be returned.
Withycombe does note that Shakespeare took the name from Cinthio's Hecatommithi (1565) where it appears as <Disdemona>. Based on current practices concerning names found in literature before 1600, <Disdemona> may be registerable as an Italian Renaissance name, but the client does not accept MAJOR changes and cares most about sound, and changing the name from <Desdemona> to <Disdemona> would be a change both of spelling, sound, and language. Additionally, combining an Italian given name with an English surname is highly unlikely, and perhaps unregisterable.
The device is being returned because the name is being returned. There are no problems with it as it is. {To Fretty: Charges in orle are often found this close to where a bordure normally would be.}}
Name commentary
Gabriel et al: Withycombe, Second Edition, page 78 says that the name <Desdemona> was "sometimes used as a Christian name in recent times after the heroine of Shakespeare's Othello." The date on Othello is 1604-1605 from <http://www.heysmarty.com/bookp ortal.asp?portalid=67> which I admit isn't a great source, but I'm not willing to do the work to find another. :) Withycombe DOES say that Shakespeare took the name from a book in 1565. However, the client has not provided ANY evidence that the name was used in other than a literary fashion. If the client wishes to provide documentation of the name's use outside of literature that would clear this problem. Without such documentation, this must be returned.
Fretty: The documentation seems to support the name, and sounds fine to us.
Device commentary
Knute: Clear.
Fretty: The placement of the pheons is questionable for an orle, as they are nearly touching the edges of the escutcheon. To fix this, we would suggest redrawing the swords a bit smaller, and moving the pheons a bit closer in. No conflicts were found by us.
{*) Gintaras the Taura - New name
This is being returned for lack of documentation. No documentation was presented and none was found by the College for <Gintaras>, <the Taura>, or any byname meaning "the bull" being appropriate medieval Lithuanian name elements.
Spurred on precisely by this submission, Rouge Scarpe combed the local libraries for every available book on Lithuanian and Latvian names, and found nothing similar at all to <Gintaras>. If the submitter is interested in an authentic Lithuanian name, he is invited to contact Rouge Scarpe (Aryanhwy), as currently the data she's assimilating is not yet ready for publication.}
Name commentary
Gabriel et al: I cannot comment on <Gintaras> because neither I nor my assistants (OK…co-commenters) speak Lithuanian or have a better source.
Now, as for <the Taura>, we had an interesting discussion about whether or not it was possible to be named <the Bull>, however, regardless of our ultimate opinion, the client did not document this style in Lithuanian names. We cannot help the client here. We do not have a Lithuanian source. Since the construction of the name is not documented, this must be returned for a lack of documentation.
Fretty: None of us recognized the source used for the given name, and without dates, we're unsure how reliable a source it is. As for the byname, it suffers from several problems. First, there is the fact that mythological use is insufficient to demonstrate that it was used for humans, and no documentation is provided for human use. Second, of course, is that without documentation for human use, this would fall afoul of the prohibition against names claiming powers the person does not possess. Third, and least importantly, there is no documentation for the spelling change from Tauras to Taura.
2) Jared Phelp of Canterbury - New device
Azure, a wyvern erect Or, on a chief argent three torteaux
Name reg'd 4/93
{To Knute: An appropriately drawn chief will take up just under 1/3 of the size of the shield. This chief is quite nicely drawn as it is.
To Fretty: This does not conflict with Ceinwen - there is a CD between erect and passant, as well as the one noted from the multiple changes to the tertiaries.}
Device commentary
Knute: Draw the chief a little narrower and the wyvern a little larger. Clear.
Fretty: The device itself seems to be fine, however we would suggest a closer look at the following potential conflict:
Ceinwen ferch Rhys ap Gawain (11/93, Caid) - Azure, a dragon passant Or, on a chief argent, 3 celtic crosses sable. There is one CD for the changes to the tertiary (the crosses), but Alia's not sure if there's a second CD for a position change. Alia couldn't find anything else close under Or or argent single dragons.
{*) John the Grisly - New device
Argent, a roundel within an annulet, a bordure gules
Name reg 07/01
This is being returned for a number of reasons, most specifically for violating RfS VIII.4.b Modern Insignia, which states that "overt allusions to modern insignia, trademarks, or common designs may not be registered." The primary charges of this device are so overwhelmingly reminiscent of the trademark "target" for Target Brands, Inc., as to violate this rule, which falls under the heading of RfS VIII.4, "Armory may not use obtrusively modern designs."
Additionally, the Administrative Handbook III.B.4 states, "4. Copyrighted Trademarks, Military Insignia, etc. - Such material may be protected when covered by applicable laws and regulations in the country from which the material derives. Material such as military insignia may be afforded protection on a case-by-case basis even where this is not required by law." The primary design element is a trademark of Target Brands, Inc. The serial number of the trademark is 76052624. The trademark registration is listed at http://tess.uspto.gov, where you can search for the serial number, and see the trademark submission.
Finally, the central roundel is too small and the annulet to thick - the roundel should be drawn larger and the annulet thinner.}
Device commentary
Knute: RfS VIII4b. Modern Insignia - Overt allusions to modern insignia, trademarks, or common designs may not be registered.
Such references, including parodies, may be considered obtrusive. Examples include using a bend within a bordure gules to parody the international "No Entry" sign, variations on the geometric Peace sign, and so forth.
Per the online discussion, this device displayed on a roundel produces the Target stores corporate logo, which is probably well enough known to be intrusive.
Gabriel et al: RFS VIII.4.b states as follows, "Overt allusions to modern insignia, trademarks, or common designs may not be registered. Such references, including parodies, may be considered obtrusive. Examples include using a bend within a bordure gules to parody the international "No Entry" sign, variations on the geometric Peace sign, and so forth." Further, the Administrative Handbook III.B.4 states, "4. Copyrighted Trademarks, Military Insignia, etc. - Such material may be protected when covered by applicable laws and regulations in the country from which the material derives. Material such as military insignia may be afforded protection on a case-by-case basis even where this is not required by law."
The primary design element is a trademark of Target Brands, Inc. The serial number of the trademark is 76052624. You can find the trademark registration under <http://tess.uspto.gov>, click the button to move on from the nearly blank page, click on the "New User Form Search", search for the serial number. You will see the trademark submission. To put it the way Ambrogio did, "Target's lawyers are bigger than yours, resubmit." To put it another way, this submission violates the RFS rule stated above. Further, although use of this will not violate trademark law, it will violate the spirit of the Administrative Handbook rule. This should be returned for violations of both these rules.
Æ&M: Name was registered on the July 2001 Laurel Letter of Acceptances and Returns (via the Outlands)
Fretty: According to the O&A at farreaches.org, John the Grisly was registered in July of 2001 via the Outlands. All three of the people at the meeting who saw this device commented that, if displayed on a shape other than an escutcheon, such as a square or a roundel, this device is markedly similar to the modern trademark/logo of Target. It's also a representation of the red-ringed shooting target. We also suggest a closer look at the following potential conflicts:
Darius of the Broken Blades (10/89, East) - Bendy sinister nebuly azure and argent, a torteau within a bordure gules. There is one CD for the change to the field, and one CD for the addition of the annulet.
Giovanni di Gregorio (8/95, An Tir) - Per pale argent and sable, on a torteau, a roundel counterchanged of the field, a bordure gules. (Consider also the alternate blazon, Per pale argent and sable, a torteau voided (or an annulet), a bordure gules.) There is one CD for the changes to the field, and possibly one for (depending on how you think about it) either adding the annulet or adding a torteau. Alia wasn't quite sure how to count this one.
3) Justinos Tekton - New name & device
Gules, on a bezant a fleam sable, on a chief dovetailed Or, two keys fesswise reversed sable
{This was pended on the 02/02 ILoAR}.
<Justin> or <Iustinos> was the name of two emperors of Byzantium, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium p. 1082. Sandoval's The Directory of Saints p. 177 also mentions that a martyr in the second century named <Justin>.
<Tekton> is Greek for "carpenter" according to The Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium p. 382, which notes that "...by the 10th C. the distinction between the carpenter, mason, and builder became vague," making it reasonable for <Tekton> "carpenter" to be a byname. Also, in the Greek Orthodox Bible, the term used to refer to Jesus as a carpenter is <tekton>. If the CoA feels that <Tekton> is not a reasonable byname meaning "carpenter," the submitter will accept the alternative byname <Pelekanos>, which is found in 14th century Byzantine Macedonian records published in Peasant Society in the Late Byzantine Empire by Angeliki E. Laiou-Thomadakis.
The client would prefer Justinos, but will accept Iustinos. He cares most about language and secondly about meaning ("Justin the carpenter") and would like an authentic Byzantine name.
{The name was originally pended because it wasn't clear from the documentation that <Tekton> was a period term. The client has provided such information, and so we are sending this on.}
4) Justinos Tekton - New badge
[Fieldless] A cog wheel azure
Name submitted on 03/02 Midrealm ELoI
{This was pended on the 02/02 ILoAR because the name was pended.}
5) Katerina Mähler - New name
<Katerina> is dated to 1348-1350 in Talan Gwynek's "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/ bahlow/). <Mähler> is a header in Bahlow, noted as a Rhine form of <Mahler> or <Maler>, meaning 'painter.' The client would like to have an authentic German name.
Name commentary
Fretty: This seems like a nice German name. Good for her!
{*) Katerine del Val - New name & device
Gules, a honeysuckle vine bendwise argent with three blossoms Or
These submissions are being returned because the client's check bounced, and hence they are unpaid for.
Additionally, both the name and the device suffer from some problems. No evidence was provided and none could be found for <del Val> being an appropriate French byname. Barring such evidence, this cannot be registered.
The main problem in the device is that it does not reflect period style. Vines and other charges such as this were not used to mimic ordinaries. Secondly, the vine is too narrow to be visible, and such 'thin line' heraldry has been banned for nearly 15 years. From the precedents of Alisoun: "[Quarterly argent and lozengy gules and argent, in bend two pairs of oak leaves pilewise, fructed, vert, overall a fillet cross sable] The fillet cross here is perilously close to "thin line heraldry". (LoAR 19 Dec 87, p. 18) [Device rejected for this and other reasons]"
Also, the flowers are not recognizable as such - the best guess that one group of commenters came up with was chicks hatching from Easter eggs. RfS VII.7.a requires that "elements must be recognizable solely from their appearance. Any charge, line of partition, or field treatment used in Society armory must be identifiable, in and of itself, without labels or excessive explanation." Both the flowers and the vine are unidentifiable, and not reproducible from the blazon.
Lastly, this may conflict with June of Morgan Hill (reg. 12/96 via An Tir), "Azure, a daylily plant with three blossoms Or." There is one CD for the field, but without seeing the emblazon of June's device, it isn't sure if there is a CD for type of plant.
Name commentary
Gabriel et al: The summary of the name documentation provided by Escutcheon is nearly completely worthless. As I assume that these are pages from the Internet, in order to facilitate finding them, it would be most useful to put the web address down. If the client has not provided such an address, please say so. In order to comment usefully on the documentation, it helps to be able to find it. I finally managed to find the webpage in question, entitled "Languedoc Names circa 1300".
Having said that, we cannot document <Val> as being early French for valley. Also, if <Val> is documented as valley, in order to use <del>, the <Val> must be a masculine form of the word. We are sorry for the lack of assistance on this.
Fretty: The given name seems perfectly fine. A modern version of the byname "of the Valley" would be "du Vallon" (or possibly "de la Vall{e'}e"), but both of the French (modern) speakers in the group were pretty sure "del Val" would not be accurate. We didn't have any -good- old French sources to do a translation from, but we do offer the following, for all the good it may do. According to Cassell's Latin-English dictionary, the Latin for valley is given as "vallis" (French being mostly derivative from Latin, this might be useful.). Also, according to the 2nd College edition of _the American Heritage Dictionary_, the etymology of valley is given as ME "valey" < OFr. "valee" < Lat. "vallis". Hopefully, someone else has an OED to check this against.
As a last ditch resort, we went to searching for an Old French or etymological dictionary online. Astoundingly, we found a searchable Latin to French dictionary from 1552 (http://www.lib.echicago.edu/ ARTFL/projects/dicos/ESTIENNE). This is an electronic version of the third edition (1552) of Robert Estienne's Dictionarium Latinogallicum (Latin-French dictionary). We did a "floating" search for vall.* (though "valles" would also work). It turned up the following: Valles, vallis <various latin forms>, un val, une vallee. This seems like a straight-up academic site and source, but look for yourselves, of course. Based on this, we think (changing our minds) that "del Val" would be a reasonable period (though maybe not 10-12th century) translation of "of the Valley" and is probably as reasonable a byname as any other "of the Geography" byname.
Device commentary
Knute: Gules, issuant from a micro-bendlet wavy argent, three honeysuckle blossoms Or.
[Quarterly argent and lozengy gules and argent, in bend two pairs of oak leaves pilewise, fructed, vert, overall a fillet cross sable] The fillet cross here is perilously close to "thin line heraldry". (LoAR 19 Dec 87, p. 18) [Device rejected for this and other reasons] Precedents Alisoun under Thin-line heraldry
RfS VII.7.a Identification Requirement - Elements must be recognizable solely from their appearance. Any charge, line of partition, or field treatment used in Society armory must be identifiable, in and of itself, without labels or excessive explanation. Elements not used in period armory may be defined and accepted for Society use if they are readily distinguishable from elements that are already in use. The compass star, defined in the Society as a mullet of four greater and four lesser points, is immediately identifiable without confusion with other mullets or estoiles once its definition is known.
This vine is unidentifiable. Without leaves, tendrils, or anything other than the blossoms issuing from it, it's constant thickness and its large, perfectly even waves, it looks like a line of partition on the unshaded drawing. It doesn't appear to be thick enough to be readily seen on it's own at a distance. The blossoms, in my opinion, don't save this vine because the motif of blossoms issuant from ordinaries and lines of division is useable in the SCA.
Gules, a honeysuckle vine bendwise wavy throughout, triply blossomed Or is clear. Return for redraw, add some leaves.
Æ&M: Here's our best shot at a blazon: "Gules, issuant from a honeysuckle vine bendwise throughout embowed-counterembowed argent, in bend three honeysuckle blossoms bendwise sinister, the middle blossom reversed, Or."
Fretty: We all thought that the vine was rather unnoticeable, especially as compared to the blossoms, and suggest it be redrawn wider. Also, as it goes all the way to the edges, we would suggest a slight modification to the blazon, to: Gules a honeysuckle vine bendwise wavy argent throughout with three blossoms Or. And, of course, some potential conflicts to consider:
Esobella Rowena Eryn Ross (10/90, Trimaris) - Bendy sinister argent and vert, a vine bendwise throughout wavy sable flowered with a rose gules. There is one CD for the changes to the field, and one CD for the change in number and tincture of the flower(s). Unless the vine in Esobella's device is much wider, Alia felt unsure counting its tincture change as a difference.
June of Morgan Hill (12/96, An Tir) - Azure, a daylily plant with three blossoms Or. There is one CD for the change to the field, but without seeing the emblazon, Alia would be unsure of a second CD for the change of the type of vine/plant.
Alia also looked under flowers by themselves, because the vine is so small, but did not see anything which seemed to conflict.
{*) Katerine del Val for Furies' Keep - New household name & badge
[Fieldless] A tower azure winged sable, transfixed palewise by a sword proper
These are being returned for lack of a registered name or name in process [see above for return of the name <Katerine del Val>]. Additionally, the client's check for these submissions bounced, and so they are unpaid for.
Additionally, there are problems with the submissions themselves. The name is not very likely, but it may be registerable; from the precedents of Jaelle: "[registering The House of the Three Furies] Dragon has provided documentation for Inns named after mythological characters. (Yvon-Maurice Charon, 8/98 p. 2)." If evidence can be provided that <Keep> was used in period in a similar fashion to <Inn> or <House>, then <Fury's Keep> or <Keep of Furies> may be an acceptable household name.
Concerning the badge, we can do no better than to quote a previous Laurel. The following device was registered to William Bohun of Vatavia (reg 12/83) with these comments: "Azure, a sword inverted Or surmounted by a skull argent between in fess a pair of wings, all between three roses Or. NOTE: This is poor style and is still rather reminiscent of a Grateful Dead cover or a biker emblem. It would be much better without the skull." Much the same can be said of this badge. Not only is this not very reminiscent of period style, the combination of the black wings and the blue tower from a distance is highly unrecognizable. Quoting precedent from 08/01: "Any posture that obscures some limbs (such as sejant), or which does not show the profile of the head (such as guardant) should generally be drawn with some internal details. So should any charge in an uncommon or confusing posture, like a lion sejant erect affronty, or an escallop fesswise. Any charge whose outline identifiability is compromised by some other portion of the design, such as a partially low-contrast field or an overall charge, will benefit from some internal details. [08/01, CL] Online Precedents (http://home.earthlink.net/ ~mranc/sca/wreath.html)." Some internal detailing on the wings would help with the recognizability problems. In redrawing, it would be nice for the wings to be drawn as explicitly bird wings or bat or dragon wings; as they are drawn now, they blur the line between the two.
{To Fretty: Yes, there is a CD for adding the wings, making this clear of Serena. There is also a CD for adding the sword.}}
Name commentary
Gabriel et al: The closest precedent on this says: [registering The House of the Three Furies] Dragon has provided documentation for Inns named after mythological characters. (Yvon-Maurice Charon, 8/98 p. 2) (from the Precedents of Jaelle of Armida.)
The only question we have on the name is, therefore, is this close enough to "Inns named after mythological characters." Not having seen the documentation that the Dragon emeritus provided, we are not sure if an Inn is close enough to a Keep, especially given the period definition of Inns. We believe it is. We have not looked in the OED for the definition of "inn", but our online dictionary includes the following
definition: 3. The town residence of a nobleman or distinguished person; as, Leicester Inn. [Eng.]. (http://www.dictionary.com)
Therefore, we believe this is registerable, barring any other problems.
Fretty: This name has several issues. Firstly, it is presumptuous, claiming that the members of the house are the mythical Furies. Secondly, this pre-period reference does not support the use by humans, or in a household or inn name.
Badge commentary
Knute: [concerning internal detailing] ... The most identifiable postures for animals are those which are commonly used for the animal being depicted, and which show the distinguishing aspects of the animal to their best advantage. A rampant lion has the profile of the head, all four limbs, and the tail all laying directly on the field. A displayed eagle has the profile of the head, both wings, both legs, and the tail all lying directly on the field. Because we are accustomed to seeing rampant quadrupeds and displayed eagles, and because almost every part of these animals is outlined against the field, these animals can generally be identified with little or no internal details.
Any posture that obscures some limbs (such as sejant), or which does not show the profile of the head (such as guardant) should generally be drawn with some internal details. So should any charge in an uncommon or confusing posture, like a lion sejant erect affronty, or an escallop fesswise. Any charge whose outline identifiability is compromised by some other portion of the design, such as a partially low-contrast field or an overall charge, will benefit from some internal details. [08/01, CL] Online Precedents Wreath (http://home.earthlink.net/ ~mranc/sca/wreath.html)
The ragged and torn edge of the wings without any useful internal detailing, along with the fact that they are not attached to an animal, reduces their identifiability. Bird wings might have gaps between feathers but, due to the rounded nature of feathers, don't get sharp points next to the gaps like an individual feather would. Bat and dragon wings could have these tears, but the edges would show a series of concave sections between the supporting bones. These "wings" could almost pass for elephant ears.
Clear.
Gabriel et al: In December, 1983, the College of Arms registered the following, with the following comments: William Bohun of Vatavia. Azure, a sword inverted Or surmounted by a skull argent between in fess a pair of wings, all between three roses Or. NOTE: This is poor style and is still rather reminiscent of a Grateful Dead cover or a biker emblem. It would be much better without the skull.
We feel much the same way about this heraldry. We cannot find a reason not to register it, but it is rather reminiscent of a biker emblem.
Fretty: The sword is so small it is almost a dagger. The wings either need internal detail or to be drawn as proper wings. We suggest return for redraw. The closest potential conflict is:
Serena Lascelles (9/93, Ansteorra) - (Fieldless) A chessrook azure. There is one CD for adding the wings (right?), and then the automatic CD for fieldlessness.
6) Middle, Kingdom of the for Award of the Baton - New award name
Name reg'd 12/75
The word <baton> is dated to 1548, 1590 according to the Oxford Universal Dictionary (1933 ed), p. 153. A baton is also a 'bendlet couped at either end,' according to Brooke-Little's An Heraldic Alphabet, s.v. Baton. This award follows the pattern of naming an award or order after an heraldic charge.
{To Fretty: There is no indication for what this award is to be for, but that's not necessary for registration. Also, the name registration date listed is the date that <Kingdom of the Middle> was registered. All submissions must be attached to either a name registered or in process.}
Name commentary
Fretty: Who is this award to be for? Also, it is mentioned as being registered in 12/75; why is this being re-registered?
7) Middle, Kingdom of the for Award of the Silver Acorn - New award name
Name reg'd 12/75
<Silver> is dated to c1480 and <Acorn> to 1568 in the OED (2nd edition, online), s.vv. acorn, silver. This award follows the pattern of <color> + <object> for award and order names.
Name commentary
Æ&M: From the OED, 2nd edition, online version
Silver . . .I.3. Articles made of silver or an alloy of silver; silverware, silver-plate. . . .c1480 Paston Lett. III. 271, ij. lynen bagges..with broke silver and j. old harneis gilt.
Acorn .. .2. a. The fruit or seed of the oak-tree; an oval nut growing in a shallow woody cup or cupule. . . .1551 TURNER Herbal. III. 109 (1568) The oke whose fruite we call an Acorn, or an Eykorn, that is the corn or fruit of an Eyke. . . .
Fretty: Again, this is mentioned as being registered in 12/75; why is it being re-registered? Otherwise, the order of the Color Thing is fairly standard in the SCA by now.
{*) Middle, Kingdom of the - New badge
Argent, on a pale gules, a fleurs-de-lys Or
This conflicts with Bronwyn Glendower (reg. 05/83 via the East), "Barry wavy azure and argent, on a pale gules a dolphin embowed between two fleurs-de-lys Or." There is one CD for the field, but none for changing the number or type of tertiary charges.}
Badge commentary
Knute: Bronwyn Glendower May of 1983 (via the East): Barry wavy azure and argent, on a pale gules a dolphin embowed between two fleurs-de-lys Or.
CD field, No difference for change of type of one third of tertiary group, No CD for change in number only of tertiary group. - Conflict.
Fretty: This seems just fine. The two potential conflicts found (other than a Middle, Kingdom of the badge, for which permission to conflict can probably be assumed.) are:
Marie Elaine de Womwell (1/96, Caid) - Argent goutty azure, on a pale gules, three fleurs-de-lys argent. There is one CD for the strewn charges, and one for changes to the tincture and number of tertiaries on the pale (X.4.j.i).
Stefan con der Heide (10/94, Drachenwald) - Argent semy of musical notes sable, on a pale gules a rackett Or. There is one CD for the strewn charges and one CD for the change of the type of the tertiary on the pale (X.4.j.ii.b).
8) Ragnarr Bassi - Device resubmission
Argent, four bear's pawprints gules within a bordure purpure
Name reg'd 5/98
{ The client's previous submission was returned (without processing) by Dragon on 11/01 for redrawing.
To Gabriel et al & Fretty: This is clear of Rhiannon "Argent, a pawprint gules…," with one CD for changing the number of primary charges from one to four, and one for removing the embattlement of the bordure.}
Device commentary
Knute: Clear.
Gabriel et al: It is POSSIBLE that this conflicts with Rhiannon Redwulf (registered Oct. 1998): Argent, a wolf's pawprint gules, a bordure embattled purpure. I suspect, however, there is one CD for the difference of one pawprint versus four pawprints and another for a bordure embattled versus a bordure. I don't see any CDs for the difference between a wolf print and a bear print.
Fretty: This seems perfectly fine. The two potential conflicts are from the same person:
Rhiannon Redwulf (10/98, Ansteorra) - Argent, a pawprint gules, a bordure embattled purpure. There is one CD for the change to the number of pawprints, and there should be another CD for the change to a complex line for the bordure (right?).
Rhiannon Redwulf (10/01, Ansteorra) - Argent, in bend two pawprints gules. There is one CD for change to the number of primaries, and one CD for adding the bordure.
9) Sabina de Bragança - New name & device
Or, an elephant head cabossed gules, armed argent, within an orle of cat's pawprints sable.
<Sabina> is a header spelling found in Francisca Arana de Love, Nombres Propios Españoles, p. 323, which notes that it can be traced to a martyr at the beginning of the fourth century. <Bragança> was a duchy in Portugal; according to encyclopedia.com (s.v. Breganza), Alfonso, the son of John I of Portugal, was duke of Braganza (also known as <Breganza> or <Bregança>) in 1442.
Submitted as <Sabina Bragança>, we have added the preposition <de> to make this a correctly formed surname. The client would like to have an authentic 16th century Portuguese name; however, we have not found any evidence that <Sabina> was used in 16th C Portugal, and so we cannot make this name authentic.
We feel that in this device the arming is significant enough to warrant its tincture being explicitly blazoned.
Name commentary
Gabriel et al: The SCA rules do not go far enough, on occasion, in their attempted recreation of period naming practices. My own research leads me to suspect that an obviously Castilian first name and an obviously Portuguese surname would not coexist. I suspect that in this client's case, the Castilian first name would become more Portuguese, if the person lived in Portugal, and I am sure that the surname would be respelled if the client lived in Castilian Spain. However, within the SCA rules, this naming convention is acceptable. There is only one change to be made in the name, a <de> should be added before the locative, http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ juliana/portuguese/ , according to Juliana de Luna, who knows far more about Portuguese names than I, making the name <Sabina de Bragança>.
Fretty: Regarding the given name, we suggest a look at a couple reports on the St. Gabriel website: #1692, which places Sabina in England in ~1400 and Sabine in France in the same time period and #630 (though this is older), which says "Sabina would be appropriate for about any time period." Regarding the byname, we didn't have any books on hand for this. However, we went online and found on encyclopedia.com, under Breganza (the English form), http://www.encyclopedia.com/ articlesnew/01788.html, which states that it "comes from the Castle of Breganza or Bregan{c,}a" and dates Alfonso (as the natural son of John I of Portugal) as duke of Braganza in 1442. (Unlike the LoI, which dates it to a somewhat improbable 146.) We think this would be an acceptable late period Portuguese name.
Device commentary
Knute: Clear.
Fretty: The elephant looks remarkably odd with the batwing ears, and the pawprints are both unevenly distributed and too close to the edge (touching in at least one spot). We suggest a redraw.
10) Sosanna of Glenwood - New name
<Sosanna> is found in Reaney & Wilson s.n. Gowthorpe, dated to 1298. <Glenwood> is a constructed place name. Mills s.n. Glenfield lists a <Clanefelde> 1086 'clean open land' and s.n. Evenwood there is a <Efenwuda> c.1050 'level wood land.' The construction <Glenwood>, using the modern spellings of the elements, would appear to mean a wooded land clear of underbrush and undergrowth.
Name commentary
Done by my hand this 12th day of March,
Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Rouge Scarpe
Sara L. Friedemann
150 Langdon #B2
Madison, WI 53703
sfriedemann@students.wisc.edu