Letter of Report for LoI #55 (dated December 2001)

Withycombe says that Angus is a common Scottish name, and says that it was the name of a 7^th century saint as well as a legendary hero.

Langaxe is an constructed byname made up of of lang meaning "long" and axe. Reaney and Wilson give many bynames using the spelling Lang- names including Langbridge and Langbain. Under Long-, Reaney and Wilson list (s.n. Longspey) Longspey "long sword" dated to 1375. This same entry lists Richard Langknyf, dated to 1332. Also listed (s.n. Longstaff) is Richard Longstaf in 1210. Given these citations, Langaxe seems plausible.

The device was redrawn to make the chevron steeper and more clearly pointed.

Ástrídr and Brandr are both found in Geirr Bassi. The byname is constructed according to the rules on p. 17.

This may conflict with Dalmatia Azure, three lions heads cabossed crowned Or. However, we ask Wreath to clarify the issue. By long precedent, gorging is treated as a tertiary charge when the head of a beast is so gorged:

When considering a full beast or monster gorged, the gorging is usually treated as an artistic detail, worth no difference. When consider[ing] the same creature's *head* gorged, however, the gorging is much more prominent in proportion --- and treated as a tertiary charge. (Crown Principality of Avacal, September, 1993, pg. 5)

However, it does not explicitly address crowns atop heads. Elsbeth returned a badge, asserting that there is not always a CD given for crowning a head:

Conflict with the Dukes of Mecklenburg (important non-SCA arms), Or, an ox's head cabossed sable crowned Or. The depictions of the crown we found are not large enough to be worth difference, in part because the crown is Or on an Or field.

This case, however, has good contrast, and the evidence I found online seems to support the idea that the crown are not optional in these arms, which are still used in the coats of arms of various Baltic states. Therefore, we submit this for Wreath's consideration.

Her name was registered in December 1996.

Originally submitted as Caradawc Mendwr, the name was changed to make it authentic (to 1292-3, to match the byname). He wants a masculine name. He wants it to be authentic for Welsh, but will not accept major changes.

In the Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll (Keridwen - see below), the documentary spelling Cradoc is found. The submitted Caradawc is found "in early poetry texts" according to Morgan and Morgan (s.n. Caradog); they date Craddoc to 1292.

Mendwr is an occupational byname in thirteenth century Wales (meaning 'mender') found in "Names and Naming Practice in the Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3" (by Keridwen ferch Morgan Glasvryn, now Tangwystl, 1991 KWHS Proceedings, p. 102).

Herald of Record: Bruce (Bressal MacCulloch)

His name was registered in September 2000.

His name was registered in September 2001.

Her name was registered in December of 2000 as Edan inghean an Druiadh, a signficant change from the submitted Edana Ingen an Druaidh. The byname was simply misspelled; MacLysaught gives the form as Druaidh, not Druiadh, though the change from Ingen to inghean is certainly acceptable.

The given name was originally documented as the feminine form of Aedan from Coughlin, a source which gives modern forms only. The College of Heralds of Æthelmearc found evidence of Edan dated to 1379 (Withycombe s.n. Edith) and the name was changed accordingly. However, the client argues that Edan could reasonably be Latinized Edana and points to the forms Edine dated to 1273 (under the same heading) for evidence of the name being used with two syllables. In addition, she points to the fact that Edana was registered twice as recently as 1996 (as Edana O'Donnelly and Edana of Dreiburgen), with these words:

"... The Caidan CoH offers an alternative justification based on Withycombe's 1379 citation of Edan as a diminutive of Edith. The full citation, which can be found s.n. Eden in Bardsley's Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, confirms that the name is feminine. (Withycombe's 1273 citation of Edon, on the other hand, is more likely to be masculine, from Old English Eadhún.) Its origin is uncertain, but Withycombe's guess that it is ultimately a diminutive of Edith is plausible. Withycombe's 1273 citation of Edine probably shows a Latin genitive of Edina - Bardsley, loc. cit., gives what seems to be the original citation as Nel fil. Edine - which contains the standard Anglo-French diminutive suffix -in and the feminine ending -a. This would seem to have been Edin in the vernacular, which in the 1379 Yorkshire Poll Tax records appears as Eden and Edden, a normal development. The citation Edan is from the same records and appears to record an aberrant spelling. Also in these records we find such pairs as Emmot Rokelar and Emmota serviens Johannis (Bardsley, s.n. Emmott), showing that they contain both vernacular and superficially Latinized forms. It is therefore not out of the question that Eden or Edan might also have appeared in a Latinized part of the record as Edena or Edana. Note, however, that this argument makes sense only in a context in which the name might reasonably have been Latinized. By the end of our period the name, if it was still in use at all, would normally have appeared in the vernacular form, Ed(d)en. The issue does not arise in the present instance because Dreiburgen, as the registered name of her branch, is in a sense 'context free'."

One commenter argued that the name has two weirdnesses, one for combining an English given name with Gaelic, and a second for Latinizng it in a "context in which the name would not have been Latinized" (per the above precedent). However, there is no temporal incompatibility, as demonstrated by Anglo-Irish Latin record from the 16th century (Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn "Names and Naming Practices in the Fitzwilliam Accounts from 16th century Ireland"). In the Latin records, one finds both Gaelic names (like Murgho for Murchadh) and English ones (like Edmundus). The bynames are not Latinized, though they are Anglicized. Both <Mc-> and <O-> forms are represented, and at least one woman has an Anglicized patronymic byname (Shane, almost certainly from Séan).

His armory was registered under the name Geoffrey of Sunderoak in April of 2000. His name submission Geoffrey Montgomery was returned for being insufficiently different from his mundane name Jeffrey Montgomery. The adition of de is sufficient to allow registration, according to precedent.

Geoffrey is a header form in Withycombe, which dates Geffrei and Geffrey to 1273. Reaney and Wilson list a Hugo de Montgomeri in 1086 (s.n. Montgomery).

As submitted, the lines of the pile were too close to the corners. A pile does not issue from the corners, but from the top of the shield. A redrawn version will be sent to Laurel, with the pile set in further from the corners.

She will allow changes to the given name but none to the surname.

Withycombe (s.n. Katharine) gives Katherine as a subordinate header form and states that the name came into England by the 12^th century through Saint Katharine.

Reaney and Wilson give Kiersey as a subheader (s.n. Kersey). Adam de Kersey is dated to 1325. MacLysaght (s.n. Keirsey) gives Kiersey as a subordinate header form, and says that it is a Norman toponymic that came to Co. Waterford in the 13^th century.

I am not happy with the blazon, and would appreciate suggestions on how to improve it.

Her name was submitted to Laurel on the December 2001 Æthelmearc letter.

Mathias is dated to 1332, 1375, and 1388 in Talan Gwynek "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/bahlow)

Brechenmacher cites Mendel Swellenpeck in 1381 and Christoph Mendel zu Eichstätt in 1497.

For everyone who asked: the submitter was fine; it was my fingers that made all the mistakes. I don't know how the word chief ended up in the blazon. It must have been the cat....:)

This lovely badge has several conflicts, including Salaamallah the Corpulent Tierced in pall sable, gules and vert, a chess rook argent. There is only one CD for fieldlessness. In addition, it conflicts with Rand Hawkyns Per fess azure and checky sable and Or, in chief a chess rook argent, Dugall Ailean mac-'ic Lathurna Paly Or and azure, in dexter chief a tower argent, Stanford of Sheffield Per fess and per pale dovetailed argent and azure, in sinister chief a tower argent and Anne of the White Tower Sable, a tower argent. In each case, there is only one CD for fieldlessness. By long precedent, there is not a CD between a chess rook and a tower. In addition, there is not a CD for location on the field since the submitted armory is fieldless.

With five tinctures (ermine, gules, Or, purpure, and argent) and four types of charges (chevron, gowns, needles, coronet), this has a complexity count of nine, violating the rule of thumb in RfS VIII.1.a, which says:

a. Tincture and Charge Limit - Armory must use a limited number of tinctures and types of charges. As the number of tinctures involved in a device increases, the number of types of charge should decrease. As the number of types increases, the number of tinctures should decrease. In no case should the number of different tinctures or types of charges be so great as to eliminate the visual impact of any single design element. As a rule of thumb, the total of the number of tinctures plus the number of types of charges in a design should not exceed eight. As another guideline, three or more types of charges should not be used in the same group.

Occasionally devices which are typical of a complex period style (such as Tudor heraldry) will be registered with a complexity count of nine. However, a case with two dissimilar secondary charges around an ordinary with the added maintained charge does not qualify.

Since the coronet is not of equal visual weight to the other charges, it is NOT slot machine. In resubmission, she might want to consider placing either one or three coronets on the chevron. In addition, the submitter should remember that the black and white should not be a gray-scale version of the device, but a line drawing (though coloring the ermine spots would be fine).

Sayyida is found in "Andalusian Names: Arabs in Spain" by Juliana de Luna (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/andulusia). The byname al-Zahra 'the radiant' is found in the same source. Originally associated with Fatima, the byname became a devotional name that remains in wide use today according to Annemarie Schimmel. While women more frequently have a patronymic byname as well, this pattern is found in period.

Sayyida is also the word that we use to mean "lady." However, it is registerable. RfS VI.1 says in part:

Names documented to have been used in period may be used, even if they were derived from titles, provided there is no suggestion of territorial claim or explicit assertion of rank. For example, Regina the Laundress is acceptable but Regina of Germany is not.