Unto the College of Heralds of Æthelmearc, greetings from Elsbeth Anne Roth, Clarion Herald.
Herein are my comments on Æ73. All but Lyev's were rechecked agains the new online version of the Ordinary.
The element -keep can be used based on the following precedent:
[crest and keep] The element crest falls into the same category as keep. In both cases, we do not have evidence of that element used in a formal place name in period, though we have evidence of each as a geographical element. Bardsley (p. 216 s.n. Crest) dates both Rogerus del Crest and Johannes del Crest to 1379. Bardsley (p. 441 s.n. Keep) dates William atte Kep to 18 Edw. I, Roger Kep to I Edw. III, and Richard atte Kippe to I Edw. III. Reaney & Wilson (p. 261 s.n. Keep) dates Thomas ate Kepe to 1327 and Roger de Kepe to 1332.
Keep has long been used as part of SCA branch names. The most recent registration is Crossrode Keep, Shire of (registered November 1999 via Ansteorra). This element is effectively regarded as SCA compatible as an element in an English place name. Given the forms in which it has been registered, spellings of the element Keep are registerable both as a separate element (such as Crossrode Keep), and as the final element in a compound place name (such as Northkeep). Registerable spellings include Keep and any alternate spellings which may be documented to period (including those listed above).
Similarly, there has been enough interest in the element crest, including as recently as 1999, to rule it SCA compatible in an English place name. Unlike keep, crest is not registerable as a separate element. So, Ravencrest is a registerable placename, though Ravenwood Crest, for example, is not. [Tristan Ravencrest, 11/01, A-Æthelmearc]
We thus need to show that Gryphon's is a reasonable first element. As the mythical beast I suspect it is unlikely; the only monster found in English names is drake which is not really enough to extrapolate to any monster. Griffin, however, is a Welsh given name and an English surname (Reaney and Wilson, s.n. Griffin imply that the name existed in England as well as Wales, although only by borrowing). As the apostrophe was apparently not used until after period, the name should be changed to Griffins. Thus Griffins Keep is probably registerable (although not authentic). Gryffyns Keep might be registerable (based on surrounding examples in Reaney and Wilson), but I am less certain of it.
Conflict with Rannveigr Haakonardottir (June 2001), Azure, a falcon close contourny argent, and the House of Este (real-world arms) (December 1994), Azure, an eagle displayed argent crowned Or. There is a CD for posture, but nothing for type. I do not believe that a sparrowhawk was used in period armory (as opposed to sparrows or hawks), so the difference in types must be judged visually. At best, a sparrowhawk would be grouped with other hawks, so there is not a CD between a falcon and a sparrowhawk, nor for an eagle and a sparrowhawk.
As for other conflicts, one difficulty in checking for conflicts is that while this is a standard way of depicting volant, some items blazoned as volant can be better described as volant, wings addorsed, for which there is probably a CD for the position of the wings. Thus there are a number of conflict possibilities (some I found, some found by Cnut and Aryanwhy), and I have checked the emblazons of those I could (which is a good number of them) to see what type of volant (and also, in some cases to check type):
Isabella Benalcázar (December 1993), Azure, a heron volant contourny, wings addorsed, between three harps argent: There is a CD for removing the harps. Based on the blazon, the wings are addorsed, so there should be a CD for posture. There should also be a CD for type, as a heron is visually distinct from a sparrowhawk.
William FitzGerald (Heraldicon), Azure, in pale an albatross volant to sinister and a caravel proper [Diomedea exulans]. Amazingly enough, the emblazon shows a bird volant, wings addorsed (amazing because Lyev's form of volant would be more typical for an albatross). Therefore there is probably a CD for posture as well as the CD for removing the caravel.
Petr Aleksivich of Novgorod (January 1974), Azure, semy of stars a naturelle, overall a hawk volant to sinister argent. The hawk is also volant, wings addorsed, so there is a CD for the removal of the mullets (of various points) and probably a second CD for the change in posture.
Antonia d'Alessandria (corrected June 1991), Azure, an owl close, holding in its talons a tuft of wool pendant therefrom a drop spindle argent. The wool and drop spindle look to be tertiary charges, so there is a CD for posture, and probably not another for type.
Beyatah Robakovna (December 1980), Per bend Or and sable, a goose counter-statant, wings elevated, head lowered, argent. There is a CD for the field, and also ones for both type and posture (geese are visually distinct from hawks).
Cathlin of Morecombe Bottome (May 1985), Per chevron inverted wavy sable and erminois, a swan statant to sinister, wings addorsed argent, gorged and chained Or. Again, there are CDs for the field, type and posture.
Cecilia Kandzierzawa (February 2001), Azure, a swan rousant contourny wings elevated, inverted and addorsed argent maintaining a lute Or, a bordure ermine. There are CDs for removing the bordure, and again for type and posture.
Este, House of (December 1994), Azure, an eagle displayed argent crowned Or. This is probably a conflict for the same reason as Rannveigr, above. There is a CD for posture, but probably not another for type between two raptors (where the sparrowhawk is probably not a period charge).
Sheryl of Thespis (December 1973), Azure, a swan naiant argent crowned Or. There is a CD for posture and another for type.
Francesca of Bright Angel (January 1973), Azure, a dove displayed, head elevated argent. There is a CD for posture and possibly one for type.
Fionndaire Fearcuairt (April 1997), Per pale azure and sable, a falcon volant to sinister maintaining in its claws an oak slip argent. There is a CD for the field, and Fionndaire's falcon is volant, wings addorsed, so there is probably another for posture.
Myra Naedlsang (September 1988), Per bend sinister purpure and vert, a skylark volant to sinister argent, holding in its beak a nettle branch Or. There is a CD for the field, but in this case the posture is identical. There is also probably not a CD for type.
As blazoned, the lowest gopher is brown on green, which violates RfS VIII.2c Armorial Contrast. It would also be more authentic (although equally registerable) with all the rodents facing the same direction.
According to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, gophers are found in Western North America and Central America. This means that while it is not authentic to use them as charges, because they were in an area occupied by the Spaniards, gophers can probably be registered.
The name was registered March, 2002.
The original return was primarily due to the way the device was emblazoned:
Only one of the strewn compass stars is clearly identifiable: the rest of the strewn charges are obscured significantly by other elements of the design. This is a reason for return under RfS VIII.3, Armorial Identifiability: "Elements must be used in a design so as to preserve their individual identifiability. Identifiable elements may be rendered unidentifiable by significant reduction in size, marginal contrast, excessive counterchanging, voiding, or fimbriation, or by being obscured by other elements of the design."
Some commenters asked whether the identifiability of the wolf and bear were compromised by the overlap with the compass stars, which are of the same tincture as the wolf and the bear. In this emblazon, the wolf and the bear are identifiable because one can hardly see the compass stars. However, please advise the submitter that if he resubmits with a similar design, he should be careful to ensure that all the charges are identifiable.
Merriam Webster Dictionary, Retrieved from Merriam Webster Online at http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary.
Created Tue Dec 02 16:27:55 EST 2003