Unto Lady Ailiss Linne, Garnet Herald of the glorious Sylvan Kingdom of
Æthelmearc, come Greetings from the Heraldic Flying Circus and Moving Company!
Herewith, our comments on ILOI #AE64:
1. Adrian MacLachlan
New Name: Adrian -- Withycombe, pg. 5, under Adrian
Latin Hadrianus 'of the Adriatic' It was the name of several Popes.
Adrian Fortescue, executed in London, 1539
Adrianus, CUR 1189-1205
Adranus, Adrien Clerkenwell - 13th C.
New Device: No conflicts found.
2. Æthelmearc, Kingdom of
New Order Name: There was some debate over this, not as to its registerability, but as to whether it was a good idea to use an order name so similar to ones already in use. I present both sides, verbatim:
"I have philosophical objections to this. I think the metals are seriously overused in SCA order names. There are dozens of listings for "The Order of the Silver" this, and "The Order of the Golden" that. No other color even comes close. AEthelmearc is already guilty (gilt-y?) of this with "The Order of the Golden Alce" and "The Order of the Silver Buccle". And a fair share of our population has the Eastern "Order of the Silver Crescent". England's greatest order of Knighthood is simply "The Order of the Garter". We don't need to gild yet another order name.
Furthermore, there is a real potential for confusion with the Golden Alce and Silver Buccle. How long will it be before someone writes a letter of recommendation for the wrong order? I'm betting on the very first reign. As a matter of fact, I'd be willing to bet on half a dozen
letters per reign. Any takers?" -- Dagonell
I'm sorry, but I don't agree with this commentary. If we look at the list of period order names provided in _A Collection of Period Order Names_ by Lord Frederic Badger (available at
http://www.nwlink.com/~badger/sca/ordernames.html), we find "golden <noun>" occuring six times, including one of France's most famous orders, the Order of the Golden Fleece (I have a copy of one of their tournament books, btw, if anyone wants to see it). Golden, as an adjective, occurs more frequently than all the colors combined (such as the Order of the Yellow Ribbon), and any other adjective-type as well. So, if there are more order names using silver or gold than anything else in the SCA, it appears that this may, in fact, be a period practice.
As far as people confusing "Silver Alce" with another order becasue of the use of silver, my experience has been that the only real confusion we have in the kingdom is at the grant level, where people are not clear on which martial areas are covered by the White Horn, the Scarlet Guard, the White Scarf, and the Gage. As far as the Silver Crescent goes, the only time it comes up is when people talk about history. They are never called into court any more, and we have a lot of new people in the Kingdom who were not around during our East Kingdom days to hear the order. The Order of the Silver Alce is intended to be the name of the Order of Distinction for youth martial activities (started this past summer by TRM James and Elina). Therefore, it joins the Order of the Silver Buccle as one of our youth orders. That keeps the association of "silver" with children. People already think martial when they hear "alce," because of our Order of the Golden Alce. Therefore, I think people will have little, if any, confusion over this order name. However, I'll ask Their Majesties this weekend if They receive many letters where people have confused which order they are writing a recommendation for. Maybe Dagonell and Cigfran could ask Dorinda if she got many "wrong order" nomination letters during her reigns. -Edmund
Now it's my turn to muddy the waters. The question, for the purpose of the ILOI, is whether the name is registerable. Clearly, potential confusion among awards which consist of the same charge in various tinctures is not, in itself, grounds for return; consider the spectrum of Comets in BMDL. Whether gold and silver are overused is not the heralds' concern (at least not at this stage of the game), although I will point out that, since these badges are usually displayed on fabric, which is usually a color, the rule of tincture certainly encourages use of the metals in badge charges. I must admit that Edmund's explanation of the reasoning behind the name makes sense to me. However, I must take exception to the idea of asking whether there are many "wrong order" nominations. Since we do not, at present, have any Kingdom order names which could be confused in this manner, past experience is irrelevant. Dagonell is seeking to avert future problems. It seems to me that the people to ask about this would be the Baron and Baroness of BMDL, who are faced with this situation. -Otfrid
4. Ethan Stewart
New Device: No conflicts found, the phrase "in pale" should precede "two moose heads".
5. Giano di Aurelio
New Device: Please note, the first citation of "Or" is NOT redundant, otherwise the water-bougets would be presumed to be fretted as well.
Clear of:
Constance Grey
"Azure, three water-bougets Or."
(2 CVD for a charged chief)
6. Gillian Llywellyn of Ravenspur
The name 'Gillian Llywellyn' was registered in July 2001. The "of Ravenspur" locative that she uses was never registered.
New Badge: No conflicts found.
7. Gwineth McClelan
New Name: From Academy of Saint Gabriel Report #2022: (http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?2022+0)
"You wanted to know if the name <Gwyneth> would have been used by a woman living at the time of Edward I, and for suggestions on surnames that would be appropriate. Here is the information we have found.
The first examples of the Welsh name <Gwyneth> that we found were in the late 16th and early 17th centuries [1]:
Gwineth 1577
Gwenett 1629
Gwinne 1630
[Rest of letter deleted]
References:
[1] Morgan, T.J. and Prys Morgan, _Welsh Surnames_ (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1985). p. 118"
[Rest of references deleted]
New Device: The variety of waterfowl is going to have to be blazoned. (If it swims like a duck... :) ) Clear of:
Caterine de Cigne,
"Per bend sinister argent and sable, a swan naiant between three roundels counterchanged.."
(1 CVD for field, 0 CVD for waterfowl vs. swan, 1 CVD for Or vs. field-dependant tinctures)
8. Isolda filia Georgii
New Name:
Isolda -- Withycombe, pg. 166, under Isolda
Isolda, CUR 1199-1313, HR 1273, FA 1346, Yorks Poll Tax 1379
filia Georgii -- Reaney & Wilson, pg. 188, under George,Georgeson
Hugo filius Georgii 1222 CUR (Nf)
9. Leo Bertrand Benton
New Name: Leo -- Withycombe, pg. 193, under Leo
Latin Leo 'lion', the name of thirteen popes
Leon CUR 1213, Exch R 1306
Leo HR 1273
Bertrand -- Withycombe, pg. 47, under Bertrand
Old German Berahthraben, compounded of bertha 'bright' and hraben 'raven', introduced into England at the Conquest. The French form of the name, Bertran(d) is much less common than Bertram, Bartram which occur from the end of the 12th C.
Bertrannus DB 1086
Bertram CUR 1198-1215
Berteram HR 1273
Bartrem Poll Tax 1379
Bertran Lyford 1655
Benton -- Reaney & Wilson, pg. 40, under Benton
from OE beonet "dweller at the farm where bent grass or beans grow"
William de Benton 1234 FFSf
Simon de Benton 1275 SRWb
Richard Benton 1450 AssLo
New Device: No conflicts found.
10. Michael the Tinker
New Name: Michael -- Withycombe, pg 218, under Michael
Hebrew "Who is like the Lord?"
Michael CUR 1196-1215, Ass 1218, FA 1303, 1346
Micahel, Mikael HR 1279
Tinker -- Reaney & Wilson, pg. 448, under Tinker
"One who mends pots, kettles, etc. A tinker"
Robert le Tinker, 1243 AssSo
14. Una de Saint Luc
The name was submitted on XLoI - AE57 in June 2002. It is still in process.
New Device: No conflicts found.
15. Viola Thornhaven
New Name: Viola -- Withycombe, pg 289, under Viola
Latin Viola 'violet' The modern use of the name is due to Shakespeare's heroine in Twelfth Night
New Device: No conflicts found
That's all for this month. Until next month, we remain
Yours in heraldic Service,
Cigfran o Caer Gwalch
Dagonell Collingwood of Emerald Lake
Edmund Lambert Tregelles
and
Otfrid Ammerthaler, reporting