Eastern Results from the January 2019 LoAR
Submitted by Mistress Alys Mackyntoich.
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 January 2019 Wreath and Pelican meetings.
EAST acceptances
Alaxandair Mórda mac Matha. Badge. (Fieldless) A rhinoceros sable.
Nice badge!
Alienor Salton. Badge. Per pale argent and purpure, three saltorels counterchanged.
Andreiko Eferiev. Device. Gules, a cloud sable.
The submitter successfully documented an individually attested pattern of single complex sable charges on gules fields, and the use of clouds, in late-period English heraldry.
Permission was provided for this device to conflict with the badge of Mell MacAlpin, (Fieldless) A cloud sable.
Anne of Østgarðr. Name and device. Per fess sable and vert, a tree and in chief a comet bendwise argent.
Østgarðr is the registered name of an SCA branch.
Asleif Gylfisdottir of Ruantallan. Name.
Ruantallan is the registered name of an SCA branch.
Catelin Straquhin. Name (see RETURNS for device).
Caterina Lombardi. Device. Per chevron azure and vert, two lilies and an owl argent.
Dara Bailey. Name and device. Azure, two needles in saltire argent threaded and on a chief Or three fleurs-de-lys azure.
Dorio of the Oaks. Badge. (Fieldless) A pelican in its piety argent in a wooden nest proper irradiated azure.
The submitter is a companion of the Order of the Pelican, and is thus entitled to register a pelican in its piety.
Gísl strákr. Name change from Cosmo Solario.
The Letter of Intent incorrectly stated that strákr is an Old Norse given name. In fact, strákr is a byname meaning “a landlouper, vagabond.”
The name as submitted is registerable. However, the submitter may be interested to know that Gils strakr is an authentic 14th century Norwegian name based on the same elements. If he prefers this form, he may make a request for reconsideration.
The submitter’s previous name, Cosmo Solario, is retained as an alternate name.
Isengrim d’Anvers. Reblazon of device. Argent, a crane standing on one foot gules between in fess two roses proper and in chief a fess fusilly gules.
Blazoned when registered in October 1990 as Argent, a crane standing on one foot between in fess two roses proper and in chief a fess fusilly gules, we are clarifying the tincture of the crane.
Katherine Murray. Name and device. Azure, three garbs and on a chief Or three cinquefoils gules.
Nice Scots name from the early 16th century onwards!
Margaret Sevensterre. Name and device. Per chevron gules semy of compass stars argent and sable, in base a dragon argent.
Nice 14th century English name!
There is a step from period practice for use of compass stars.
Mathghamhain Ua Ruadháin. Badge. Per bend sinister argent and gules, issuant from the line of division a bear’s head and a bear’s head inverted contourny counterchanged.
As noted in registering the device for Sigrothr Melrakki in March 2018:
A rare but notable practice in German heraldry was to have charges issuant symmetrically from either side of a line of division, forming the appearance of a complex line of division. When formed of animal’s heads, the jaws of each head would frequently interlock in the center of the line of division. The practice appears to always have the same type of charge repeated on each side of the division, rather than different charges on each side. For SCA purposes, each submission following this pattern should be treated as two separate charges, each issuant from the line of division, with the type of field division (per bend, per fess, per pale, etc.) dictating the angle of the charges issuant therefrom.
This is one of the rare cases in SCA heraldry where we will allow animate charges inverted.
EAST returns
Catelin Straquhin. Device. Azure, a stag courant to dexter base between in bend two roses argent.
This device is returned for lack of documentation on the orientation of the stag. In the return of the badge of Mir Netronin and Mikael MacLeod, Argent, a domestic cat couchant guardant bendwise sinister vert maintaining a cauldron sable, it was ruled that “The posture of a quadruped relies heavily on the context of the orientation of its spine. Known period examples of quadrupeds who have nonstandard orientations are almost always on bends, and always with their head oriented towards chief. Absent documentation, quadrupeds in nonstandard orientations relative to their postures will be returned.” This stag suffers from exactly the same posture issue as the cited return.
Gæira Aggadóttir. Badge. (Fieldless) In pale a tentacle “embowed” issuant from a whelk argent.
This badge is returned for lack of reproducibility. The depiction of the tentacle cannot be reproduced from any blazon we could derive, which is grounds for return under SENA A1C.
When registering (Fieldless) In pale a tentacle vert issuant from a boot sable and maintaining a spoon fesswise reverse Or to Wulfwen atte Belle in May 2016, it was noted that “Although no evidence was presented of a tentacle used as a charge in medieval heraldry, there is a pattern of animal limbs, such as legs, wings, or arms, used as charges in period. In this case, the tentacle retains its identifiability.” In this case the tentacle is identifiable, though its orientation is not.
Gæira Aggadóttir. Badge. (Fieldless) A tentacle couped and “embowed” argent.
This badge is returned for lack of reproducibility. The depiction of the tentacle cannot be reproduced from any blazon we could derive, which is grounds for return under SENA A1C.
When registering (Fieldless) In pale a tentacle vert issuant from a boot sable and maintaining a spoon fesswise reverse Or to Wulfwen atte Belle in May 2016, it was noted that “Although no evidence was presented of a tentacle used as a charge in medieval heraldry, there is a pattern of animal limbs, such as legs, wings, or arms, used as charges in period. In this case, the tentacle retains its identifiability.” In this case the tentacle is identifiable, though its orientation is not.
Maria Erika von Ossenheim. Badge. (Fieldless) A pegasus couchant sable “maintaining in its tail” an oak leaf Or.
This badge is returned for lack of blazonability of the oak leaf. The leaf doesn’t extend to either side of the pegasus’s tail, so it can’t be blazoned as surmounting the tail. It isn’t entirely within the tail’s edges, so it can’t be blazoned as a tertiary charge (e.g., the tail charged with). And while we might stretch a point and say that a beast’s tail could maintain a held charge, the tail would have to be drawn actually grasping or supporting the charge in question for such a blazon to be valid. Lacking a blazon which is both accurate and reproducible, this fails the requirements of SENA A1C; we also note that a lack of a period blazon is often symptomatic of non-period design.
Tyffayne de Trumpington. Device. Azure, on a unicorn’s head erased argent armed within an orle of paw prints Or a dove gules.
This device is returned for redraw. Commenters had trouble identifying the charges in orle as paw prints, due largely to the size and style of their depiction.
Upon resubmission, please depict the paw prints larger and with a more distinctly paw print shape to aid in identifiability.
There is a step from period practice for the use of paw prints.