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 Queen 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 June 2017 Wreath and Pelican meetings.
EAST acceptances
Avonmore, Shire of. Badge for Populace. Per bend sinister purpure and Or, a lighthouse Or and a bird sable.
East, Kingdom of the. Order name Order of Silver Mantle of the East and badge. (Fieldless) A mantle argent.
In the return of Lochac’s badge, (Fieldless) A mantle gules, lined and charged on the sinister breast with a mullet of six points argent in June 2003, it was noted:
If someone wore a red mantle which was lined white and charged on the sinister breast with a mullet of six points argent, it would not appear to be a correct display of this badge. … One correct heraldic display… would be to create an enameled pin in the shape of the charged mantle. Another correct display would be to make a flag and put a picture of the charged mantle on the flag.
Similarly, the correct display of this badge is not a silver mantle; it would be a pin or medallion displaying a silver mantle.
Ile du Dragon Dormant, Baronnie de l’. Badge association for Populace. Purpure, on a pale argent a pallet Or.
Ioannes Aurelius Serpentius. Name and device. Per pale gules and sable, a three-headed hydra passant and on a chief argent three frets couped gules.
After the close of commentary, additional research by Ursula Palimpsest and Alisoun Metron Ariston supported the pattern of the name based on, among other things, the attested example of Libius Severus Serpentius.
Katla of Stóra Borg. Name and device. Azure estencely, an owl maintaining in its feet a sheaf of arrows fesswise reversed argent.
PN2E of SENA states:
No name will be registered that either in whole or in part is obtrusively modern. Something is said to be obtrusively modern when it makes a modern joke or reference that destroys medieval ambience and drags the average person mentally back to the present day. Obtrusiveness can be either in the written form or when spoken. A period name that has a modern referent will not generally be considered obtrusively modern. Only extreme examples will be returned.
Submitted as Katla of Borg, commenters in OSCAR and at the Roadshow at the Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium universally agreed that the phrase “of Borg” is an obtrusively modern Star Trek reference. As the submitter allows all changes, we have changed the byname to of Stóra Borg to use the lingua Anglica name of one of the places known as Borg in period and thereby avoid the appearance of obtrusive modernity.
Lillia de Vaux. Heraldic title Crampette Herault.
Nice Middle English heraldic title!
Luca Spadini. Name and device. Azure, a serpent erect and on a chief argent three ravens sable.
Luna Cohen. Name.
Objections were raised in commentary to the use of the surname Cohen by a woman based on its Hebrew meaning denoting descent from the priestly caste. However, in commentary, Yehuda Blue Tyger provided evidence from the FamilySearch Historical Records of 16th century and early 17th century English women with the surname Cohen. In addition, Lillia Crampette noted in commentary that Cohen is the name of a location in France. Based on this evidence, there is no reason to bar a woman from using the surname Cohen in English or French. As Luna is also found as an English given name, this name is registerable as a 16th century English name.
Mael Eoin mac Echuid. Household name Company of the Black Boot.
Submitted as Black Boot Company, no evidence could be found to support the pattern of this household name. In December 2013, we ruled that the correct form of a company name using the pattern Color + Heraldic Charge is Company of [color] [charge]:
Submitted as Red Dragon Company, commenters could not find evidence of a company name using the pattern X Company, where X is a charge or a color + charge. However, the pattern Company of the X can be justified as the lingua Anglica form of an order name or fraternal organization. Although the submitter did not allow major changes, he permitted the change to Company of the Red Dragon. We have done so in order to register the name. [Tristram O’Shee, 12/2013 LoAR, A-An Tir]
Neither the Letter of Intent nor commenters provided any documentation inconsistent with this precedent. Accordingly, with the submitter’s permission, we have changed the name to Company of the Black Boot for registration.
Mari Clock van Hoorne. Badge (see RETURNS for alternate name). (Fieldless) A comet per pale gules and Or.
Mathias Feuer Drache. Device. Sable semy-de-lis, on a pale Or a dragon gules.
Ysmay de Lynn. Badge. (Fieldless) A shoe Or.
Nice badge!
EAST returns
Cillene O Caollaidhe. Device. Per pale purpure and argent, a butterfly counterchanged and on a chief argent five trefoils vert.
This device is returned for violation of SENA A3B, Armorial Contrast. The chief is argent on a field that is half argent, half purpure, and the chief comes into contact with the argent portion of the field. In the Letter of Intent, the submitter cited SENA A3B4b, which states that
The field and charges on it may share a tincture only if … (2) only one of the two is multiply divided and the charge(s) is an ordinary or simple geometric shape arranged in a way that both the type of field division and charge are clearly identifiable.
However, the rule gives a clear example that informs this decision:
For example, both Vair, a chief argent or Checky Or and vert, a lozenge vert can be acceptable, if drawn so that the shared tinctures are not against each other.
Because per pale is not “multiply divided,” and the chief comes into contact with a substantial portion of the field that shares its tincture, it becomes unrecognizable and must be returned.
Gaius Claudius Valerianus. Device. Per fess argent and vert, a stag’s head caboshed sable and two lightning bolts in saltire Or.
This device must be returned for redraw. The line of division as depicted is high enough above the tics of the marked fess line that the lightning bolts (which should be completely below it) cross the normal fess line.
When resubmitting, the submitter should make the lightning bolts thicker and bolder, and not interlace them where they cross in saltire.
There is a step from period practice for the use of lightning bolts not as part of a thunderbolt.
Mari Clock van Hoorne. Alternate name Star Dust.
This name must be returned for violating PN2E, which states:
No name will be registered that either in whole or in part is obtrusively modern. Something is said to be obtrusively modern when it makes a modern joke or reference that destroys medieval ambience and drags the average person mentally back to the present day. Obtrusiveness can be either in the written form or when spoken. A period name that has a modern referent will not generally be considered obtrusively modern. Only extreme examples will be returned.
Commenters in OSCAR, at the Pelican decision meeting and at the Roadshow at the Known World Heraldic and Scribal Symposium unanimously called this name obtrusively modern, particularly as the concept of “star dust” is dated to the 19th century and later. Even applying the fairly liberal standard for obtrusive modernity, this name grabbed too many listeners by the scruff of the neck and dragged them into the 21st century.
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 Queen 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.