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 2018 Wreath and Pelican meetings. The items below were submitted at Pennsic Herald’s Point 2017.
EAST acceptances
Ann MacWard. Device. Per bend gules ermined Or and argent, a bend wreathed palewise sable and ermine between a wolf’s head cabossed argent and a waterlily blossom purpure.
Artist’s note: Please draw the bend narrower to give more space for the secondary charges.
Apollodora of Delphi. Name and device. Per fess azure and Or, a sun in splendor and an arrow fesswise reversed counterchanged.
Bergental, Barony of. Order name Order of Stella Maris and badge. Quarterly Or and sable, a mullet of six points counterchanged.
This order name follows the pattern of orders named for a saint or religious figure. Stella Maris was and is an epithet for the Virgin Mary, a common figure of veneration throughout period. In fact, Juliana de Luna’s “Medieval Secular Order Names” (http://medievalscotland.org/jes/OrderNames/Fraternal_Knightly_Organizations.shtml) gives an example of an order named after the Virgin Mary, societas in honorem beate Mariae virginis. Epithets of the Virgin Mary were frequently used alone, as in the period hymn “Ave Stella Maris”. Accordingly, this order name can be registered.
Bergental, Barony of. Badge for Order of the Cup of Saint Brigid. (Fieldless) On a mazer bendwise sinister Or a goutte de larmes.
Bianca di Firenze. Alternate name Iulia Baebiana and badge. (Fieldless) A wooden mazer proper transfixed by a passion nail argent.
Nice Roman name for the second century C.E.!
Artist’s note: Please ensure that the chief and base portions of the passion nail align.
Cacht Mhór inghean Mhic an Mhadaidh. Household name Maison de Jocelyn Dor.
Submitted as La Maison du Jocelyn d’Or, this household was intended to be named after the heraldic charge modernly known as a “joscelyn.” Unfortunately, although the charge itself is definitely period, we have no evidence that the charge was called a “joscelyn” in period. In addition, the initial definite article La must be dropped to be consistent with College of Arms style for household names, which does not use definite articles before the designator.
The submitter requested authenticity for French language and culture and allowed all changes. At the submitter’s request, we have changed the household name to _ Maison de Jocelyn Dor, using the pattern of naming a house after the full name of a person rather than after a heraldic charge. In commentary, Lillia Crampette documented Jocelyn Dor as a plausible 15th century French personal name. The entire household name may be authentic for 15th century French, but we cannot say for certain without more research.
Cassius Pontianus. Name and device. Per pale azure and Or, a gorgon’s head cabossed counterchanged.
Dragonship Haven, Barony of. Order name Order of Freas Cup.
In the form Order of Freya’s Cup, this order name was returned on the May 2016 Letter of Acceptances and Returns for lack of documentation for Freya as a period spelling known in English. At that time, we recommended Order of Freas Cup using a Middle English form of the goddess’s name. As the Barony of Dragonship Haven has accepted our suggestion, we are happy to register the order name in this form.
Elizabeth Rose of Framlingham. Name and device. Per bend azure and argent, a duck rising wings displayed and a fox sejant erect counterchanged.
The submitter requested authenticity for English. This name is authentic for 1570s England.
Evelyn Peyton of Ashdown. Name.
Nice late 16th century English given name!
Finn the Black. Name and device. Per pale gules and sable, a massacre argent and in base a torc opening to chief Or.
The byname the Black uses the lingua Anglica form of the Gaelic byname Dub or Dubh.
Francisco de Braga. Name and device. Per pale vert and gules, on a plate a tower azure.
Nice mid-16th century Portuguese name from Lisbon!
Hasanah bint al-Khalil ibn Habib. Device change. Erminois, an elephant’s head cabossed gules and on a chief sable a crescent pendant Or.
The submitter’s previous device, Erminois, an elephant’s head cabossed gules, a chief sable, is retained as a badge.
Ioannes Valerius Severus. Name and device. Per pale sable and argent, a gorgon’s head cabossed counterchanged.
The submitter requested authenticity for “Roman” culture. Although the use of the Greek Ioannes as the first element in a Roman name was documented by Ursula Palimpsest and Alisoun Metron Ariston in connection with the registration of Ioannes Aurelius Serpentius [6/2017 LoAR, A-East], that research showed that such a practice was registerable but not “authentic” as that term is used by the College of Arms. Therefore, while this name can be registered, it is not an authentic Roman name.
{.I}slah bint Abbas ibn Habib ibn Hasan. Name change from Luned Gwyn.
Submitted as Islah bint Abbas ibn Habib ibn Hasan, the given name is properly rendered as {.I}slah with a dot above the I. We have made this change for registration.
The markers bint and ibn were used in both Arabic and Turkish names. Therefore, the byname bint Abbas ibn Habib ibn Hasan does not violate PN1B1 of SENA by using different languages in the same name phrase.
This name combines a Turkish given name with Turkish and Arabic elements, an acceptable lingual mix under Appendix C.
The submitter’s previous name, Luned Gwyn, is retained as an alternate name.
{.I}slah bint Abbas ibn Habib ibn Hasan and Corcrán mac Diarmata. Joint badge. (Fieldless) In pale a crescent pendant Or conjoined at the wingtips to a raven displayed sable.
There is a step from period practice for the use of a bird other than an eagle in a displayed posture.
Kay Leigh Mac Whyte. Badge. Per pale argent and azure, a goutte counterchanged sable and argent, on a chief sable a calligrapher’s knife Or.
Kay Leigh Mac Whyte. Augmentation of arms. Sable, three quill pens in pile argent and a bordure rayonny gyronny Or and gules, for augmentation in base on an escutcheon argent a hummingbird rising azure gorged of a coronet Or.
The submitter is a court baroness and entitled to the use of the coronet.
There is a step from period practice for the use of a New World hummingbird.
Martinellus di Salvo. Name.
Nice 13th century Italian name!
Ono no Fujiwara Izumi. Device. Sable, a triskelion of wisteria sprigs argent.
There is a step from period practice for the use of non-European flora.
Qenilocas of the East. Name and device. Per pale sable and Or, a gorgon’s head cabossed, in chief a wolf and a stag combatant counterchanged.
The East is the registered name of an SCA branch.
Ragnarr bláskegg. Device. Per pale sable and gules, a sword inverted bendwise argent enfiling an annulet fracted in dexter chief Or.
Artist’s note: The sword and annulet should have the same visual weight.
Reinert der Spinner. Name and device. Argent, a spider and on a chief sable two compass stars argent.
There is a step from period practice for the use of compass stars.
sekh Neswennefer. Name and device. Purpure, in pale an ankh Or and a tyger rampant argent.
In Demotic Egyptian names, occupational bynames are placed before the given name. Here, sekh is an occupational byname meaning “scribe.”
Artist’s note: Please draw the tyger larger with more pronounced features for greater ease in identifiability.
Sibylla de Blakeleye. Name and device. Per bend sinister argent ermined vert and Or, a wolf passant to sinister maintaining a cup sable, and a tree eradicated proper.
Sibylla is a valid variant spelling of the attested name Sibilla because Middle English used i and y more or less interchangeably.
The submitter requested authenticity for English. This name is authentic for English for the mid-13th through mid-14th centuries and possibly later as well.
Thomas of Effingham. Alternate name Effing Thomas.
There was discussion in commentary whether this name is offensive. It is not. In addition to being an attested English surname (that can be used as a given name), Effing is a euphemism, designed to avoid the offensive term for which it substitutes. Indeed, PN5B1 states, “names that have been used as euphemisms for genitals are not considered vulgar and may be registered.” Thus, this name can be registered.
Thomas of Effingham. Badge. (Fieldless) On a butterfly sable in fess two plates.
Thor the smith. Name and device. Argent, a dexter arm fesswise embowed issuant from dexter vert sustaining a mallet bendwise sable, a bordure vert.
Artist’s note: Please draw some separation between the bicep near the elbow and the bordure.
Ulfrun Connors Dotter. Name.
Ulfrun was documented in the Letter of Intent and commentary as a constructed Middle English given name. As such it can be combined with the English surnames Connors and Dotter.
Volmar Sollons. Name (see RETURNS for device).
Volmar is a gray period German given name that can be borrowed into English per the February 2015 Cover Letter.
Wilhelm Grün. Name and device. Per pale gules and vert, a lion-dragon Or.
This name does not conflict with the registered Wilhelm von der Grün. Although prepositions and articles are not considered for the purposes clearing conflicts under PN3C2, they do count for clearing conflict under PN3C1. Thus, the removal of von and der is considered the removal of two syllables, bringing the two names clear.
EAST returns
Ioannes Valerius Severus. Badge. (Fieldless) Two bars couped and overall an annulet sable.
This device is returned for violation of SENA A1C, which requires that designs must be reproducible. The arrangement of the bars in relation to the annulet are not blazonable in a way that could guarantee their reproducibility.
Volmar Sollons. Device. Azure, a domestic sea-cat couchant gardant Or.
This device is returned for conflict with the device of Eoin the Modest, Azure, a sea-lion dormant, a bordure Or. There is one DC for removal of the bordure, but none for posture, head facing, or type of feline.
EAST pends
Cristoff Gockerhan von Loch. Alternate name Hillarius Clock Werk.
Submitted as Hillarius Clock Ring, this name provoked significant discussion about whether it was offensive. After the close of commentary, the submitter indicated that he would accept an alternate name that sounded like “Hilarious Clock Work” if it could be documented. Hillarius Clock Werk can be documented as a late period German name from the Family Search Historical Records:
Hilarius is a German given name dated to 22 Feb. 1572 in Wuerttemberg, Germany, Batch: C95734-1 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NNZH-GYF). Alternatively, the spelling Hillarius is found in 16th century England, in a christening record dated 21 Mar 1581 from St. Modwen’s, Burton Upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, Batch: C04287-9 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NDT2-BJJ). Sixteenth century English name elements may be borrowed into German per the February 2015 Cover Letter.
Clock is a German surname dated to 17 Apr 1622 a christening record from Cöln, Rheinland, Preußen, Germany, Batch: C39715-2 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NCGR-58B)
Werk is a German surname dated to 04 Apr 1581 in the burial record of Elisabetha Werk, Asperg, Württemberg, Germany, Batch: B39715-1 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J4M3-65X)
Appendix A permits double surnames in German.
Although the name can be documented, there remains a question of whether Hillarius Clock Werk or Hilarius Clock Werk is obtrusively modern. Therefore, we are pending the name for additional discussion on that specific issue.
This was item 8 on the East letter of November 30, 2017.
