EASTERN RESULTS FROM THE APRIL 2018 LoAR
The Society College of Arms runs on monthly cycles and letters. Each month, the College processes name and armory submissions from all of the Kingdoms. Final decisions on submissions are made at the monthly meetings of the Pelican Queen of Arms (names) and the Wreath King of Arms (armory). Pelican and Wreath then write up their decisions in a Letter of Acceptances and Return (LoAR). After review and proofreading, LoARs generally are released two months after the meeting where the decisions are made.
An “acceptance” indicates that the item(s) listed are now registered with the Society. A “return” indicates that the item is returned to the submitter for additional work. Most items are registered without comments. Sometimes, the LoAR will address specific issues about the name or armory or will praise the submitter/herald on putting together a very nice historically accurate item.
The following results are from the April 2018 Wreath and Pelican meetings.
EAST acceptances
Ailís Kilcullen. Name and device. Per bend azure and vert, within a decrescent argent a flame proper.
This name combines a Gaelic given name with an Anglicized Irish byname, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.
Aislinn Chiabach. Badge. (Fieldless) A heart lozengy purpure and argent within and conjoined to a mascle sable.
This name is clear of the registered Asta Eriksdottir under PN3C2 because there is a substantial difference in the second syllable of the given names: -ríðr vs. -a. These syllables have no sounds or letters in common.
Condal ingen Uidir. Name and device. Per fess gules and sable, a weasel passant and in chief three acorns Or.
Submitted as Condal ingen Odar, Gaelic grammar requires the father’s name to be in the genitive form when used in a patronymic. Odar is not the genitive form. According to Annals of Ulster, the proper genitive form is Uidir. Therefore, we have changed the name to Condal ingen Uidir for registration.
Corcrán mac Diarmata. Device change. Per fess argent and sable, two ravens migrant and a Thor’s hammer counterchanged, a bordure gules.
There is a step from period practice for the use of a migrant bird.
The submitter’s previous device, Barry wavy argent and gules, a roundel checky Or and sable, is retained as a badge.
David Vázquez de Valençia. Device. Sable, a pall inverted voided between three spur-rowels argent.
Edmund Forster. Household name House of the Mantis (see RETURNS for badge).
Submitted as House of _ Mantis, the submitter preferred House of the Mantis if a mantis could be documented as a heraldic charge. A mantis is a heraldic charge used in the Society; it was registered under the term mantis as recently as November 2016. Therefore, the household name House of the Mantis follows the pattern of naming inns based on heraldic charges and can be registered. We have made this change.
Estell Rose. Name and device. Per bend sinister azure and Or, a mullet of four points argent and a dragon contourny azure.
Nice 16th century English name!
Fionn mac Aodha. Name change from Finán mac Bressail.
Nice late 15th century Gaelic name!
The submitter’s previous name, Finán mac Bressail, is retained as an alternate name.
Juliana Bird. Name and device. Per pale nebuly argent and azure, a bird volant and a harp counterchanged.
Nice English name from the 13th century onwards!
Julien Toutant Le Blanc. Name and device. Or, a man’s head cabossed gules and a scimitar fesswise transfixed, a point pointed sable.
Submitted as Julien Toutemps Le Blanc, the submitter requested the byname Toutant instead of Toutemps, if it could be documented. In commentary, ffride wlffsdotter found the byname Toutant in French archival records dated to 1593. Based on this documentation, we are registering the name as Julien Toutant Le Blanc as requested.
Per the blazoning guidelines laid out in the Cover Letter of May 2009, the head and the scimitar are co-primary charges here.
Katla refr. Name and device. Vert, a fox and a Continental panther combatant, in base a compass rose Or.
Nice 9th-10th century Icelandic name!
Nice 16th century English or Anglo-Welsh name!
Leonilla Kalista Kievlianina. Device. Per pale gules and sable, in saltire a sword and a threaded needle inverted argent.
Maria Charries. Name (see RETURNS for device).
The submitter requested the spelling Charriez if it could be documented. Unfortunately, we were not able to find evidence of this spelling within the SCA’s period.
This name combines a Spanish given name with a French byname, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.
Marie de Blois. Badge. Per pale pean and erminois, in chief a label gules.
Submitted as Mark of the Red Hand, commenters noted that the Red Hand is a paramilitary terrorist group listed as a Prescribed Organization in the United Kingdom. The badge of a red hand has also been adopted by several other proscribed terrorist and paramilitary groups associated with Ireland. Commenters living in Drachenwald now and who have lived in Drachenwald in the past were unanimous that the byname of the Red Hand is offensive because of these associations.
When the submitter was made aware of these associations (he was not aware of them when he picked the name), he immediately apologized for any offense he had caused and agreed to change his byname. Commentary and discussion in the Pelican decision meeting indicated that changing the name to Mark _ Red Hand, using a double English byname, removed the offensive association. In the words of a commenter from Dublin, “Once you take out the definite article, it stops raising my hackles. There are plenty of red hands, but only one The Red Hand (of Ulster).” Accordingly, with the submitter’s permission, we have changed the name to Mark _ Red Hand for registration.
Matthias of Naples. Name and device. Azure, on a dumbek Or a dragon’s head couped sable.
This names combines a German given name and the lingua Anglica form of an Italian place name, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.
Niccolo Sandeo Sensalis. Name (see RETURNS for device).
Ophelia Sofia de Villalta. Name and device. Per chevron purpure and argent, two unicorns combatant argent and a bear rampant azure.
Pagan Graeme. Badge. (Fieldless) On an oak leaf per pale purpure and vert a seeblatt argent.
Patricio de Cordoba. Badge change (see RETURNS for other badge). (Fieldless) An eagle within and conjoined to an annulet argent.
The submitter’s previous badge, Purpure, on a bezant a drakkar purpure, a bordure Or, is released.
Ragna Grímólfsdóttir. Name and device. Argent, in pale two wolves courant counter-courant sable.
Submitted as Ragna Grimólfsdóttir, accents and diacritical markings must be used consistently throughout Old Norse names. Therefore, we have changed this name to Ragna Grímólfsdóttir for registration.
The submitter requested authenticity for late 9th century Norse. This is a registerable Old West Norse name; however, it is not authentic because the given name is found only in Norway and the Orkney Isles, while the byname is attested in Iceland.
Simona bat Leone. Badge. (Fieldless) On a mullet of six points azure a bee argent.
Steffan ap Kennydd of Silverwing. Name change from Steffan ap Cenydd of Silverwing and augmentation of arms. Azure, chapé invected, an owl close affronty argent and for augmentation on a canton purpure, a firebrand Or flamed proper.
The submitter’s previous name, Steffan ap Cenydd of Silverwing, is released.
Steffan ap Kennydd of Silverwing. Reblazon of device. Azure chapé invected, an owl close affronty argent.
Registered as in May 1981 as Azure, chapé ployé invected, an owl close affronté argent, the original arms were not ployé. We have reblazoned them for accuracy, and modified the posture of the owl to match current usage, which trends away from French terms when a viable English blazon term is available.
Tashiro Kojirou Kageharu. Name.
Submitted as Thorvaldr Halvorsen, the submitter requested that the given name be spelled Thorvald_ if possible. Thorvald is a plausible vernacular form of the attested Latinized Norwegian name Thorualdus. Accordingly, we have changed the name to the submitter’s requested Thorvald_ Halvorsen for registration.
Torrin O Cuinn. Name change from Torrin the Wanderer.
Submitted as Torrin O Cuin_, the documentation did not support the submitted spelling of the byname. The attested forms are Ó Cuinn in Gaelic or O Quyn, O Quine, and O Coyne in Anglicized Irish. As the Gaelic form is the closest to what was submitted, we have changed the name to Torrin O Cuinn for registration.
The submitter’s previous name, Torrin the Wanderer, is retained as an alternate name.
EAST returns
Alric the Younger. Device. Vert, a boar’s head erased close between in pale an arrow fesswise reversed and an arrow fesswise, a bordure potenty argent.
This device is returned for violating SENA A3D2c, Unity of Posture and Orientation, which states “The charges within a charge group should be in either identical postures/orientations or an arrangement that includes posture/orientation” The arrows in this device are not in a unified orientation, as they are pointing in opposite directions and need to be blazoned separately.
The submitted blazon used the phrase between two arrows counter-fesswise fesswise, in an attempt to extend the pattern of passant quadrupeds facing in opposite directions to inanimate objects. However, until documentation that inanimate objects were depicted in a similar fashion, the pattern cannot be extended past quadrupeds at this time.
Edmund Forster. Badge. Per bend wavy sable semy of swords argent and argent, in base a praying mantis statant erect guardant vert.
This badge is returned for lack of documentation. No evidence was provided, and none could be found, for armorial depictions of insects in profile in any posture other than statant. As they are non-quadrupedal, insects are unable to be statant erect, which is an explicitly quadrupedal posture.
Upon resubmission, please consult the device of Takayama Hitoshi, Sable, a mantis statant between three cherry blossoms argent, registered November 2016, for a reasonable depiction of a mantis in profile.
Maria Charries. Device. Per pale indented azure and purpure, two ibexes rampant respectant, that in dexter inverted argent.
This device is returned for violation of SENA A3D2c, which requires that “The charges within a charge group should be in either identical postures/orientations or an arrangement that includes posture/orientation.” The dexter ibex is inverted, which must be explicitly blazoned separately from the sinister ibex. Also, longstanding precedent does not allow inverted animate charges in SCA heraldry except when in a recognized arrangement such as in annulo.
The submitter provided evidence of an ibex inverted in period manuscripts; however, none were in a heraldic context. Without such evidence the longstanding precedent does not allow inverted animate charges in SCA heraldry except when in a recognized arrangement such as in annulo is upheld.
Niccolo Sandeo Sensalis. Device. Per bend sinister sable and vert, an eye argent irised vert and in saltire five bezants.
This device is returned for violation of SENA A3D2c, which requires all charges in a charge group to be in a unified arrangement. The roundels in sinister base are arranged in saltire separately from the eye in dexter chief, which is grounds for return.
Patricio de Cordoba. Badge. (Fieldless) In pale a barrulet couped terminating in lozenges between two barrulets couped terminating in annulets Or, overall two swords in saltire gules.
This device is returned for violation of SENA A3D1, the “sword and dagger” rule, which disallows the use of visually similar but blazonably different charges. The bars in chief and base terminate with annulets, while the one in the center terminates with lozenges. Though there is no difference for the types of bars depicted, they are nonetheless visually similar.
Additionally, no documentation was provided and none could be found for the use of bars terminating in annulets or lozenges. The device is therefore also returned for lack of documentation.
Maximillian Elgin. Household name Black Sheep House of the East.
The submitter’s previous household name submission, Black Sheep House was returned on the June 2016 Letter of Acceptances and Returns (R-East) for conflict with the registered Blak Shepe Pursuivant. These names conflicted because the substantive elements were the identical in sound. This resubmission adds the phrase of the East in an effort to avoid the conflict.
Questions were raised in commentary whether adding a locative to a household name based on an English inn-sign was a period pattern. Heralds at the Pelican decision meetings found multiple examples of inn names following this pattern, including Anker in East Smithfield, the syne of the Angell in Chepe, the Angel Taverne at Tower Hill, the Ship Taverne at Waping Wall, and the Bare Taverne in Greenwich. Based on these examples, the submitted name reasonably follows a period pattern and can be registered.
Further, the addition of of the East changes the substantive element of the household name under NPN3C of SENA, bringing it clear of the registered Blak Shepe Pursuivant.
Unfortunately, adding the phrase of the East creates another problem that may require the return of the name. As stated in NPN3D of SENA, “[n]on-personal names may not unmistakably imply ownership by or affiliation with any name we protect.” NPN3D then includes the following example:
For example, Company of the Blue Shield of Caid is a household name submission from an individual unmistakably implies ownership by the Kingdom of Caid, while Company of the Blue Shield does not.
The plain language of NPN3D would seem to preclude this household name. However, unlike the phrase of Caid, which can only refer to the SCA’s Kingdom of Caid, the phrase of the East could be a lingua Anglica form of the attested Middle English byname del Est, which Bardsley s.n. East glosses as referring to someone from the east side of a town or village. Equally, the argument can be made that Black Sheep House of the East does not refer to the Kingdom but to a tavern located on the east side of a town or village.
As this issue was not discussed in commentary, we are pending this name for further discussion of whether of the East constitutes an unmistakable reference to the Kingdom of the East and whether this household name can or should be registered under NPN3D.
This was item 21 on the East letter of January 31, 2018.