Æthelmearc External Letter of Intent Æ69
July 24, 2003(AS 38)

Unto François Laurel, Mari Pelican, Zenobia Wreath, and the commenting members of the College of Arms do Ailis Garnet and Roana Cornelian send greetings once again! It is the desire of the Æthelmearc College of Heralds that the following items be considered for registration. Unless otherwise noted, submitters will accept any changes.

(Fieldless) A demi-escarbuncle argent.

This was originally submitted by an individual, Angelique de Beauvais; in the intervening time she has decided she would rather that this badge belonged to the Kingdom.

The submitter will accept no changes (except as noted below).

Her previously submitted name Aminah bint Mujallid al-Kutub was returned by Laurel in 03/02; at that time her armory was registered under a holding name. The return stated that "this name is registerable as Aminah bint al-Megal'lid. [Aminah, bookbinder's-daughter] We would have made this change. However, the submitter did not allow major changes, and changing the byname from Mujallid al-Kutub to al-Megal'lid is dramatic enough that it is a major change." She is therefore submitting Aminah bint al-Megal'lid, but explicitly states that she would accept a change back to the originally submitted Aminah bint Mujallid al-Kutub if any new documentation should come to light.

Aminah can be found in Da'ud's article, "Arabic Naming Practices and Period Names List."

Per bend sinister azure and sable, an armadillo rampant argent.

The submitter desires a male name and will accept minor changes only.

Drogo is found in "The Two Lives of Charlemagne" according to Nicolaa de Bracton of Leicester's article "Early Germanic Names from Primary Sources." Drogo is also the name of a saint who died in 1186 in Sebourg, France, according to the Catholic Online website.

Rabenwald is a constructed surname. It is intended to mean "wood or forest frequented by ravens." The German name elements "raben" and "wald" mean "raven" and "forest or woods" respectively. Raben is found as a header form in Bahlow, with Joh. Raven dated to 1270. The header form Rabenstein is a locative byname dated to 1381, giving evidence of Raben's use as a protheme. Wald(e) is also a header form, dated to 1361. Our commenters voiced some concern over the unmarked "Rabenwald," asking if it should not be "Rabenwalder." Here are several examples of unmarked Xwald surnames in Bahlow: Hannus Huswald, Görlitz 1413 (s.n. Hauswald), Hinrich Grunewalt, Schweidnitz 1322 and Matthias Grünewald from Würzburg (b.1475 d.1528) (both s.n. Grunewald).

The submitter has provided documentation to support the notion that armadillos were known to Europeans in period, making the armadillo registerable as an heraldic charge. To summarize his documentation:

"Diego de Landa, burner of many of the sacred books of the Maya, noted in 1566 that armadillo meat is 'very tender and good to eat.'" (This citation comes from an article in the June 1982 issue of National Geographic, 'The Astonishing Armadillo.')

The Oxford English Dictionary gives, in 1577, "He is called the armadillo, that is to saie a beaste armed," and in 1594, "The beast Armadillo is found in the Realme of Mexcio [sic]."

Elina's name was registered in 05/99.

Haus is a household designator; it is German for "House."

Lindau is a header form in Brechenmacher, who cites a Conr. Lindowensis in 1251 and a Hermann Lindowe in 1316.

Concerning the construction of household names, we find the following precedent from Bruce, which seems to be uncontested:

House names in period don't seem to have been overly fantastic. For the most part, they come from the same linguistic well as period bynames. In particular, since a period house name was so often simply the surname, byname, or epithet of its founder, any such epithet that is acceptable in a Society personal name should be acceptable as a Society household name. This is the rule of thumb I've formulated for determining the acceptability of household names henceforth. If we would register John X, we should register House X as well. We would not permit John Starwalker, so we should not permit House Starwalker. We would register John of the Red Sickles (wincing, perhaps, but we would), so we should register House of the Red Sickles. (2 July, 1992 Cover Letter (June, 1992 LoAR), pg. 3)

As such, a household name following the pattern "Haus <inherited surname>" should be registerable.

Ermine, a cross formy gules and a chief embattled sable.

This badge is to be co-owned, and associated with the household name Haus Lindau (which is owned by Elina only). Elina's name was registered in 05/99; James' name was registered in 08/99.

(Fieldless) A comedy mask per pale ermine and gules.

His name was registered in 04/03.

Gules, a rose Or between three rabbits courant contourney in annulo argent.

This name is intended to be feminine. The submitter cares most about language/culture (presumably French).

Geneviève is found in the 1292 Paris Census.

Beauchamps is a header form in Dauzat & Rostaing, which says to see Beaucamps. That entry (p. 61, s. n. Beaucamps) gives "Beauchamps, [sic] cant. Loiret (Bellum Campum, [sic] 840-843)."

Reaney & Wilson s.n. Beauchamp cite Robert de Beauchamp in 1203 and John Bechaumpe in 1376. The rest of the entry says "The DB family came from Beauchamps (La Manche). Others may have come from other French places named Beauchamp."

The submitter appears to have no preferences of any kind concerning her name.

Kateline is dated to 1273 in Withycombe s.n. Katharine.

Well is a header form in Mills, with Welle dated to 1086.

Attewell is a secondary header form in Reaney & Wilson (s.n. Attwell) with Gilbert Attewell dated to 1274 and Richard atte Wille dated to 1333. Under the header form Wells, Reaney & Wilson gives Roger Attewell' dated to 1200, and says "The singular atte, del, de la Welle is very common in medieval sources and survives in ATWELL 'dweller by a spring or stream.'" Carlsson (s.n. Welle) gives Matild atte Well dated to 1327 and Andr. atte Well dated to 1332.

(Fieldless) A demi-sun throughout gules within and issuant from a mascle fesswise argent.

His name was registered in 04/02.

This name is intended to be masculine.

Pádraig is found in Ó Corráin & Maguire s.n. Pátraic: Pádraig. Gilla Pátraic and Máel Pátraic are early devotional forms of the name. Ó Corráin & Maguire says "Patrick came into use as a personal name among the colonists in Ireland before it became common among the native Irish" and "Paitín, which may be a derivative of Pátraic, is to be found amongst the learned family of Ó Maolchonaire as early as the thirteenth century."

The diminiutive Paidín is found once in the Annals in 1506 according to Mari's article. Even though Mari lists no example of Pádraig, the use of the diminutive (by someone who is not marked as an Anglo- Norman no less) provides evidence that Pádraig in a non-compounded form was in use in late period Ireland.

Ó Cillín is listed as a Gaelic form in MacLysaght s.n. (O) Killeen, which says that the name belongs to the western seaboard counties. Cillín is a secondary header form (after the semicolon) in OC&M (s.n. Cilléne), which says "Perhaps derived from cell, 'a church, cell.' Among the many saints of this name were St Cillíne ua Colla [...] St Cillíne of the Déisi," and several others.

The consulting herald cites Padraig O'Ceallachain as a potential conflict, but states that the derivational and aural differences between the names should be sufficient to make them clear of one another.

Sable, on a bend wavy between two stag's massacres argent a rowan branch fructed vert.

The submitter has no gender preferences concerning this name and cares most about the sound.

Rowan has been ruled SCA compatible. In a recent decision by Francois: "... Rowan is SCA compatible as a feminine given name, this name is registerable with a weirdness for use of an SCA compatible element. [Rowan Bridget Blackmoor, 01/02, A-Atenveldt]"

Blackthorne is an alternate header form in Reaney & Wilson s.n. Blackthorn, with William Blackthorn dated to 1442.

Argent, a domestic cat's head cabossed and on a chief azure three fleurs-de-lys argent.

The submitter has no preferences of any kind concerning her name.

Tatyana is a proposed alternate transliteration of Tatiana, which is found in 3rd Edition Wickenden s.n. Tat'iana with Tatiana Mikitina Zhena Korytkova dated to 1500. The substitution of y for i seems reasonable based on other y/i substitutions found in Wickenden: examples include Tatishce/Tatysch, Rozroi/Rozroy, and Kur'ian/Kuryan.

Kushina is "a feminized patronymic of Kusha, found as a header form in Wickenden and dated to 1545."

Quarterly gules and sable, three bendlets argent.

His name was registered in 05/02.

Standard Bibliography of Sources

Congratulations are due to Ailis Linne, Garnet Herald of Æthelmearc. In her mundane guise of Erin Childs, she successfully defended her master's thesis in genetics and molecular biochemistry on July 10. She has earned her Master's Degree with honors. Huzzah!

Congratulations also to Elsbeth Anne Roth, Clarion Herald of Æthelmearc. In her mundane guise of Kathy Van Stone, she successfully defended her doctoral thesis in theoretical computer science on May 6. Huzzah!

And last but not least, Happy Pennsic to all! We of Æthelmearc hope to be welcoming many of you to our fair and sylvan lands in the coming weeks.