Eastern Results from the February 2020 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 February 2020 Wreath and Pelican meetings.
EAST acceptances
Æthelthryth Kenricing. Badge. Purpure, on a chevron between three increscents argent three pheons palewise inverted sable.
Ander Tynegate. Name.
Nice late 16th century English name!
Aryana van Wyck. Badge. (Fieldless) A dove volant wings addorsed azure.
Nice badge!
Asa Danskona. Name.
Asher de Lincolia. Device. Per pall inverted azure, sable, and argent, in chevron a spear and a gladius argent.
Caius Ignatius Pontianus. Name (see PENDS for device).
Cassandra de la Fuente. Name and device. Per pale Or and azure, three dragonflies counterchanged.
Nice 16th century Spanish name!
Christina Jenevra de Carvalhal. Badge. (Fieldless) A brown otter statant erect guardant proper maintaining in its paws a fish embowed argent.
Artist’s note: Please provide internal detailing for the face of the otter.
Durin Bastian. Name.
Durin is a French literary name found in Le Second Livre d’Amadis de Gaule. There is a pattern in French of using literary character names for real people.
This name combines a French given name and an English byname, an acceptable lingual mix.
Dyddgu Aberistwith. Name and device. Argent, a hedgehog rampant and on a chief gules three paw prints argent.
There is a step from period practice for the use of paw prints.
Dýrfinna Hildibrandsdóttir. Name.
Etheldreda Ivelchyld. Badge. (Fieldless) A skeleton Or.
Nice badge!
Futotth Anastasia. Name and device. Purpure, on a bend sable fimbriated a dragon passant argent.
Nice 16th century Hungarian name!
Guðrún Hafgrímsdóttir. Name and device. Per bend gyronny of four issuant from the line of division azure and ermine, and sable.
The submitter requested authenticity for Old Norse. This name is authentic for 9th-10th century Iceland.
Guðrún Sveinsdóttir. Name and device. Vert, a lion passant Or and a bordure Or semy of octofoils gules barbed vert.
Submitted as Guðrún Sveinnsdóttir, the patronymic byname was not correctly formed. Old Norse patronymics use the genitive (possessive) form of the father’s name. The correct genitive form of the Old Norse masculine name Sveinn is Sveins. We have corrected the patronymic byname to Guðrún Sveinsdóttir for registration.
The submitter requested authenticity for Old Norse/Icelandic language and/or culture. This name is authentic for 9th-10th century Iceland.
Lucie de Bayonne. Name and device. Azure, in pale a clew of yarn and a frog maintaining two knitting needles in saltire argent.
Margaret Sevensterre. Badge. (Fieldless) In pale a raven sable atop a rose gules.
Artist’s note: Please provide internal detailing for the rose.
Maria Charries. Badge (see RETURNS for device). (Fieldless) A bee per pale azure and purpure.
Marian Kirkpatrick. Badge. (Fieldless) A clarion reversed sable.
Nice badge!
Marian Kirkpatrick. Badge. (Fieldless) On a nesselblatt inverted argent a trillium inverted vert.
Nausicaa Bithewater. Name and device. Purpure, a unicorn Or crined, queued, and armed argent, on a chief Or three cabbages purpure.
The submitter requested authenticity for English language and/or culture. This name may be authentic for late 13th century English. As Lillia Crampette pointed out in commentary, we have several examples of 12th and 13th century English people named for figures from classical mythology, including Menelaus (1202), Achilles de la Bech’ (1221), Hector de Hilleg’ (1222), and Cassandra de Bosco (1283). All of these characters are from the Iliad. It is plausible, therefore, that an English woman in the late 13th century would be named for a character from the Odyssey.
Artist’s note: Please provide contrasting details for the cabbages.
Sebastianne La Rousse. Badge. Per chevron inverted ployé fleury at the point sable and argent, two roundels sable.
Commenters asked about “the current policy on the line between per chevron inverted and a pile.” A per chevron inverted line of division issues from the sides of the field, while a pile issues from chief.
Signý otr. Name and device. Per bend sinister purpure and azure, an otter rampant to sinister reguardant within an orle engrailed argent.
The element otr (“otter”) is a constructed descriptive byname, based on the pattern in Old Norse of animal names being used as bynames, including bestinger (“captive bear”), brimill (“large seal”), brúsi (“buck, he-goat”), geit (“nanny goat”), hestr (“horse”), hrútr (“ram”), hundr (“hound, dog”), and refr (“fox”). [Skjoldr Bjorn, June 2019, A-Æthelmearc]
The submitter requested authenticity for Old Norse language. Both elements are Old Norse and follow a plausible pattern of construction. However, the name is not what we consider authentic because we have no evidence of any person actually using otr as a byname.
Skarpheðinn inn hávi. Name and device. Per pale vert and argent, between two wolves combattant counterchanged a spear Or, a bordure counterchanged.
Nice 9th-10th century Icelandic name!
Sojourner van Haarlem. Name and device. Per pale argent and vert, in saltire an arrow inverted azure and a lightning bolt Or, a base wavy azure.
This name combines an English given name with a Dutch byname, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.
There is a step from period practice for the use of a lightning bolt outside the context of a thunderbolt.
Sojourner van Haarlem. Badge. (Fieldless) In saltire an arrow inverted azure and a lightning bolt Or.
There is a step from period practice for the use of a lightning bolt outside the context of a thunderbolt.
Stefnir Þorvaldsson. Name.
Thornton Cat. Name and device. Purpure, a domestic cat rampant and an orle of thorn vine Or.
The submitter requested authenticity for 16th century England. Both elements are English and dated to the 16th century, plus the name follows a construction pattern found in the 16th century.
Yahya al-Jaziri. Name and device. Argent, a doumbek between three chili peppers vert.
The submitter requested authenticity for “Arabic (Egyptian)” language or culture. This name probably meets this request, particularly as the given name is attested in Cairo.
The use of a New World chili pepper is a step from period practice.
EAST returns
Maria Charries. Device. Per pale azure and purpure, two ibexes courant in annulo argent.
This device is returned for lack of identifiability of the posture of the ibexes. In the September 2019 return of the badge of the Barony of Borealis, (Fieldless) Two wolves courant in annulo argent, it was ruled: “Submitted as courant, the wolves’ postures have been bent into an annular shape, blurring the distinction between courant, statant, and passant. Precedent currently in force requires charges to be identifiable while in annulo, and this does not meet the metric. Upon resubmission, submitters should familiarize themselves with the August 2019 Cover Letter’s updated ruling on charges oriented in annulo.” We offer the current submitter the same advice.
EAST pends
Caius Ignatius Pontianus. Device. Sable, a trident Or between two serpents erect addorsed argent and a gorgon’s head cabossed Or.
This device is pended for redraw due to the small size of the secondary charges making them difficult to identify. Wreath staff has redrawn the artwork and sent it to the submitter for approval.
This was item 6 on the East letter of November 30, 2019.
Luiza Vinçente. Device. Lozengy vert and argent semy of horse’s heads couped gules, on a base argent two sprigs in saltire vert.
This device is pended for redraw due to the entirety of the argent base contacting the argent portions of the field. Wreath staff has redrawn the artwork and sent it to the submitter for approval.
This was item 17 on the East letter of November 30, 2019.
Markus farmaðr. Device. Azure, a pall inverted cotised between two talbots combattant and a boar’s head cabossed argent.
This device is pended for redraw due to commenters’ inability to identify the boar’s head. Wreath staff has redrawn the artwork and sent it to the submitter for approval.
This was item 23 on the East letter of November 30, 2019.