Eastern Results from the December LoAR
EASTERN RESULTS FROM THE DECEMBER 2019 LoAR
(FINAL HERALDIC DECISIONS)
(For those who aren’t familiar with the heraldic process, Violet Mosaic is now posting the East Kingdom-level decisions to the Gazette, but after a submission passes through the East, it needs to go through a second level of review at the Society level. These are the FINAL Society-level decisions on submissions from the East, reflecting what has actually been registered or returned. – Mistress Alys Mackyntoich, Heraldry Editor)
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 December 2019 Wreath and Pelican meetings.
EAST acceptances
Alastar Tucker. Device. Per pale indented Or and azure, a boar rampant contourny and a wyvern erect counterchanged.
Alexandre Saint Pierre. Badge. Per pale gules ermined Or and Or ermined gules.
Aloysius Sartore. Device. Argent, a brown stick hobbyhorse issuant from base proper bridle and reins azure, a bordure sable semy of increscents argent.
Asleif Gylfisdottir of Ruantallan. Device. Per pall inverted argent, sable, and azure, in pale an open book Or and a dolphin haurient contourny argent.
Asther de Perpinya. Badge. Per fess engrailed argent and azure, a Heneage knot inverted, ends terminating in serpent’s heads counterchanged vert and argent.
Bruno Bruni. Name and device. Per bend sinister rayonny checky gules and Or and sable.
Nice early 15th century Italian name from Florence!
Caterina Lombardi. Alternate name Hedwig von Reichenbach.
Elizabeth Ivette. Release of device. Gyronny gules and Or, four roses Or and four holly leaves stems to center gules.
Elspeth Schmalczin von Meittingen. Badge. (Fieldless) A dragonfly quarterly gules and argent.
Finna Hrafnsdóttir. Device change. Per pale argent and azure, a raven displayed facing sinister, on a chief sable a sword argent.
The submitter’s previous device, Per pale Or and argent, on a fess between a raven displayed sable and a tree eradicated vert two swords in saltire proper, is released.
There is a step from period practice for the use of a bird in a displayed posture other than an eagle.
Friderich Grimme. Alternate name Friðrekr Haraldsson.
Submitted as Friðrekr Haraldarsson, the submitter requested authenticity for “Norse Viking Dublin, 1050 C.E.” Although Haraldarson is the appropriate form for later Scandinavian names, the 11th century form of the byname is Haraldsson. With the submitter’s permission, we have made that change to meet the submitter’s authenticity request.
This name is authentic for 11th century Iceland. However, we have no evidence of the name Friðrekr in Ireland. Therefore it partially, but not completely, meets the submitter’s request.
Gillian de Whittemere. Device change. Argent, in fess a crow rising sable and a fox rampant to sinister proper, on a chief triangular azure a rose argent.
The submitter’s previous device, Per bend azure and argent, a rose argent and a fox salient proper, on a chief argent three martlets sable, is released.
Artist’s note: Please draw all charges larger to fill the available space.
Lilie Dubh inghean uí Mórdha. Alternate name Kaðlín Bergsdóttir.
Submitted as Kaðlín Bergsdottir, diacritical markings must be used consistently throughout Old Norse names. Therefore, we have changed the name to Kaðlín Bergsdóttir for registration.
The submitter requested authenticity for “Norse Viking Dublin, 1050 C.E.” This name does not meet this request because we do have evidence for either name element being used in Ireland during that time period. However, this name is authentic for 9th-10th century Iceland.
Mæva Rafnsdottir. Name and device. Vert, a ram statant contourny argent armed and an orle Or.
Submitted as Mæva Rafndottir, the name was changed at Kingdom to Mæva Hrafnsdóttir to match the documentation Kingdom could find. In commentary, however, ffride wlffsdotter documented the patronymic Rafnsdottir as a 14th century Icelandic form. At the submitter’s request, we have changed the name to Mæva Rafnsdottir for registration.
Monkey Makgee. Device. Sable, a monkey sejant erect contourny argent maintaining a skimmer Or and on a chief argent three pomegranates gules.
This is the defining instance of a skimmer. A skimmer (or in Italian, schiumarola) is a cooking tool for removing the top layer of fats from soup: it consists of a perforated cup, with a long handle attached perpendicular to the cup’s mouth. We find it illustrated in the Opera of Bartolomeo Scappi, 1570; Scappi was the personal cook for Pope Pius V. As a documented period artifact, the skimmer is acceptable as a charge in Society heraldry.
Morwill MacShane. Badge. Vert, a rapier bendwise sinister between two ducks argent.
Muirgel Bera. Device. Argent, a brown bear rampant proper maintaining a nettle sprig, on a chief vert three bees Or.
Nicholas von Winterbach. Device. Per bend rayonny purpure and argent, two ravens counterchanged.
Raghnall Fergusson. Name and device. Sable, on a bezant a thistle proper, in chief a bee, a bordure Or.
This name combines a Gaelic given name with a Scots byname, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.
Rayya bint Estani. Name change from Katriona Silverswan.
This name combines an Arabic given name with a Turkish byname, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.
The submitter’s previous name, Katriona Silverswan, is released.
Thora Kottr. Name (see RETURNS for device).
Nice 9th-10th century Icelandic name!
Þorfinnr Hróðgeirsson. Request for name reconsideration from Þórfinnr Hróðgeirsson.
The submitter requested reconsideration to remove the diacritical mark over the o in the given name. In support of that request, evidence was provided showing transliterations that do not use the marking. As the given name can fairly be transliterated either with or without the diacritical marking, the form without the diacritical marking is registerable. The existence of transliterations without the diacritical marking also means that this name is not internally inconsistent in its use of markings. Accordingly, we are granting the request for reconsideration and will register the name as Þorfinnr Hróðgeirsson.
The submitter’s previous name, Þórfinnr Hróðgeirsson, is released.
Tyffayne de Trumpington. Device. Azure, on a unicorn’s head erased argent armed Or a dove gules, an orle of paw prints Or.
There is a step from period practice for the use of paw prints.
Westley Morgan. Name (see RETURNS for device).
Nice late 16th century English name!
Yngvarr Magnusson. Name and device. Quarterly argent and azure, a wolf passant sable and a point pointed gules.
The submitter may be interested to know that Magnusson is a later-period form of the byname. If the submitter wants a name appropriate for the so-called Viking Age, it would be Yngvarr Magnúsarson (with or without the marking on the u). If the submitter prefers this form, he may make a request for reconsideration.
EAST returns
Ar n-Eilean-ne, Shire of. Badge for populace. (Fieldless) A headless stockfish split and tergiant argent.
This would have been the defining instance of a stockfish. The headless fish, split down the belly and laid tergiant, is a period charge peculiar to Iceland which dates from at least 1500 and is found in several government documents and seals of the time period.
This badge must be returned for conflict with the device of Adrian of Longacre, Per bend sinister gules and sable, a stingray tergiant displayed argent. There’s a DC for fielded vs fieldless armory, but not between types of flatfish.
Ívarr Valsson. Badge. (Fieldless) A falcon striking Or.
This badge is returned for conflict with the device of Eve Nightstalker, Azure, an owl striking Or, beaked and membered argent, orbed sable. There’s a DC for fielded vs fieldless armory. There is no DC for changing the head orientation from dexter to guardant. Given the shape of the bodies and the use of a non-period posture, there is a clear visual similarity between the two pieces of armory which prevent a DC for type of bird.
Thora Kottr. Device. Per chevron sable and Or, an increscent, a decrescent and a domestic cat rampant counterchanged.
This device is returned for conflict with the device of Sáerlaith ingen Rúadáin, Per chevron sable and Or, an increscent and a decrescent Or and a fox rampant gules. While the bottommost of three charges two and one is considered “half the group” for conflict purposes, SENA A5C2d sets a maximum of one DC for the cumulative changes to that bottommost charge.
Westley Morgan. Device. Per pale gules and sable, a dragon’s head couped contourny counterchanged.
This device is returned for lack of contrast. The submitter attempted to justify the low-contrast animate charge by documenting similar counterchanging over per pale fields in 16th Century German armory. They documented the use of dragon’s or wyvern’s heads (though the examples do not match the submitted artwork), and the use of low-contrast counterchanged charges using sable and gules. However, the attested armory provided (the first three from Siebmacher’s Wappenbuch, the last from Anton Tirol’s Wappenbuch) are:
- von Radenhausen Per pale gules and sable, an eagle counterchanged
- die Zimmer Per pale sable and gules, two hooks addorsed sable
- von Berbisdorf Per pale gules and sable, two arms counterchanged holding aloft a crown Or
- Per pale gules and sable, a wheel counterchanged
In each of these designs, the armory is symmetrical. In the first and last, the charge which overlies the field is mirrored in its symmetry; in the other two, the counterchanged charges lie entirely on separate parts of the field with no line of division changing the tincture.
Because of this, the evidence as submitted does not demonstrate the pattern of counterchanging a single asymmetrical animate charge over a low-contrast line of division.
Upon resubmission, the submitter is highly encouraged to use the depiction of the dragon’s heads found in the attested armory, rather than the modern-looking logo artwork of the dragon’s head in this current submission.