EASTERN RESULTS

FROM THE DECEMBER 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 December 2018 Wreath and Pelican meetings.  There were no Eastern items at the November 2018 meetings.

EAST acceptances

Anastasia Antonello. Name and device. Purpure, a winged domestic cat sejant and on a chief argent three lotus blossoms affronty purpure.

Nice 16th century Italian name from Pisa!

Artist’s note: Please provide better contrast in the internal detailing of the lotus blossoms, to aid in identifiability. Please depict the cat’s tail away from the wings, rather than obscured by them.

Beatrice de Warynton. Alternate name Beatrice Weaver.

Nice 16th century English name from London!

Brienne of Buckland. Name and device. Per bend argent and vert, a frog and a weeping willow tree counterchanged.

Submitted as Brienne _ Buckland, the submitter requested the form Brienne of Buckland if it could be documented. Buckland is a place name, with the desired spelling dated to 1610 in Watts. Accordingly, we have made the change requested by the submitter.

Caoilfhionn inghean Ceallachain. Name and device. Argent, a bat-winged domestic cat sejant contourny sable and in canton an increscent azure.

In standard Gaelic grammar, C- lenites after inghean. However, Brían dorcha ua Conaill provided multiple examples in commentary in which late-period Gaelic names beginning in C- did not lenite after inghean. Therefore, per the July 2017 Cover Letter, the name can be registered as submitted.

Artist’s note: Please depict the cat’s tail away from the wings, rather than obscured by them.

Chiaretta di Fiore. Name change from Kataryn Mercer and device change. Or, a fox sejant guardant proper and in chief three pine trees couped sable.

The submitter’s previous name, Kataryn Mercer, is retained as an alternate name.

The submitter’s previous device, Per pale Or and argent, in chief in fess three pine trees couped sable, is retained as a badge.

Chiaretta di Fiore. Badge. (Fieldless) A fox sejant guardant proper maintaining a poppy gules slipped vert all within and conjoined to a four-lobed quadrate cornice sable.

Cinàed an Chairn. Name and device. Per chevron inverted azure and argent, a triquetra inverted argent interlaced with an annulet Or.

Cosmo Solario. Badge. (Fieldless) On a sun argent a Kaun rune sable.

Cosmo Solario. Reblazon of device. Per saltire sable and azure, a sun in its splendor argent.

Originally registered as Per saltire sable and azure, a sun in his splendour argent, the submitter requested the gender-neutral pronoun. As this does not change the interpretation of the emblazon, we see no reason to deny this request.

Cristina Volpina. Alternate name Iulia Crispina.

Nice Roman name for the Imperial era! In fact, this precise name appears in the Heidelberg Epigraphic database as the name of a woman who died between 101-200 C.E.

Cristina Volpina. Alternate name Rúna glóra.

With the release of House of Lucky Stars and the registration of the alternate name Iulia Crispina (both occurring elsewhere on this letter), this is the fifth name item registered to this person. The Administrative Handbook I.B., an individual may register up to six names; she remains within the limit.

Cristina Volpina. Release of Household name House of Lucky Stars.

Cristina Volpina. Device change. Bendy gules and argent, a chief Or.

The submitter’s previous device, Bendy argent and gules, on a chief Or a capital letter V sable, is retained as a badge.

Nice device!

Cristina Volpina. Release of badge. Purpure, three mullets of seven points one and two Or.

Cristina Volpina. Blanket permission to conflict with badge (see RETURNS for blazon change). Gules, on a bezant a sun-cross gules.

The submitter grants permission to conflict for all armory that is at least one countable step (DC) away from her badge.

Eleanor Swyft. Name and device. Azure, a cross patonce argent, overall two arrows in saltire Or.

Nice English name from the 14th century onwards!

Artist’s note: Please draw the arrowheads larger and more prominently.

Katalina Boquet. Name and device. Quarterly vert and azure, a nanny goat statant argent and in chief three wedges of cheese Or.

Since male and female goats show a pronounced sexual dimorphism, blazoning this as a nanny goat is an exception to our general rule of not specifying the genders of heraldic beasts.

Keziah Planchet. Name and device. Azure, a winged tower and in chief a comet fesswise reversed within a bordure invected argent.

Planchet is the registered surname of the submitter’s parent.

Artist’s note: Please draw the tower larger with relatively smaller wings.

Mabyle Baldewyne. Name.

Appearing on the Letter of Intent as Mayble Baldewyne, the spelling of the given name appears to have been a typo; the form and the documentation spell the given name as Mabyle. We have corrected the spelling for registration.

Máel Dúin mac Cába. Name.

Mari Clock van Hoorne. Household name Gameday Taverne.

Gameday is an attested English surname found in the MED s.v. g{a-}me (n.) dated to 1327. Neither the surname nor the concept of a day dedicated to gaming are inherently modern. While this may be to some degree a joke name, it is not a modern joke and thus it can be registered.

Marrin de Scoville. Name and device. Azure, in saltire a rapier and a pen argent, a tierce checky argent and sable.

Nice Anglicized Irish name for circa 1600!

There is a step from period practice for the use of a tierce with other charges.

Meriadoc Gam. Name and device. Per saltire gules and argent, four arming buckles counterchanged.

Appearing on the Letter of Intent as Merrya Dock Gam, the name originally was submitted as Meriadoc Gam but was changed at Kingdom due to the lack of documentation at that level for the given name. In commentary, Alisoun Metron Ariston documented Meriadoc as the name of a Cornish saint venerated in period. Therefore, we are able to restore the name to the originally-submitted Meriadoc Gam.

Vettorio Antonello. Household name Fellowship of the Flame and Quill and badge. (Fieldless) On a flame gules a pen Or.

Submitted as Fellowship of the _ Quill, this household name conflicted with the registered Order of the Quill (Meridies, March 1997). Designators such as Fellowship and Order are transparent for the purposes of conflicts.

At the submitter’s request, we have changed this household name to Fellowship of the Flame and Quill to use the pattern of inn-sign and tournament company names based on two heraldic charges. A flame is a heraldic charge according to the Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry (https://mistholme.com/dictionary/flame/).

EAST returns

Cristina Volpina. Blazon change. Gules, on a bezant a sun-cross gules.

The petitioner wished to change the blazon of her badge from a sun-cross to a cross within and conjoined to an annulet. The petitioner cited concerns about the use of the sun-cross by white supremacist and Neo-Nazi groups. While we share the concerns of the submitter, the proposed new blazon will not work; because the cross is central and has much greater visual weight, the registered badge would have two tertiary charge groups on the same charge, a practice which was not allowed when the badge was registered, and is not allowed currently.

Beyond style issues, changing the blazon has no effect on the emblazon at all: it is still a sun-cross, a symbol which is used by white supremacist groups. Moreover, the motif of a roundel charged with a sun-cross is used by those same groups (albeit usually with a plate and a sable sun-cross, rather than the gules-on-Or motif registered to the petitioner, though they share a gules field). Just as a swastika is a swastika even if blazoned as a fylfot or a cross gammadion, so too is a sun-cross a sun-cross, and will appear as such to observers regardless of the official blazon.

In the July 2018 Cover Letter, we published the decision not to ban this symbol outright, due in large part to its historical and current usage by several cultures that have nothing to do with white supremacy or the Neo-Nazi movement. Unlike the swastika, which will likely never shake the stigma of the Third Reich, there is hope for the sun-cross and other symbols newly appropriated by hate groups. And that hope is through positive, visible use.

We encourage the petitioner to continue using the registered armory in a way that is beyond reproach, and protect the symbol that means so much to her.

Rudolf Siege. Device. Per pale azure and gules, on a cogwheel Or a dragon sable.

This device must be returned for redraw. While a charge that has internal voiding such as a cogwheel can be charged, care must be taken to maintain contrast. In this submission, the cogwheel is depicted with very thin spokes which are almost entirely obscured by the dragon, with the resulting effect of a sable dragon on a field azure and gules. Upon resubmission, the component parts of the cogwheel should be much bigger and bolder. The wings of the dragon should also be reduced in size so that they do not overwhelm the remainder of the monster.