ÆTHELMEARC COLLEGE OF HERALDS - commentary archive
Letter of Intent #76
Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon

Feast of St. John Climacus
30 March, AS XXXVIII

Greetings from Myfanwy!

Enclosed pray find commentary on Æ LoI #76. No conflict-checking this month, even though the letter was short, due to getting the April Fool's LoI out.

I'm not going to try and futz around with attachments today (just as Margaret what kind of day it's been) -- the letter is short enough that I'm just cutting and pasting the commentary.

Lady Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon
Ruth Morrisson
myfanwy@nauticom net

1. Ælfgyfu seo hearpestre -- Azure, a three-headed goose displayed argent and in chief five suns in fess Or.
The name docs for the first two elements are as cited (very cool websites, BTW!). I had problems accessing the third citation; the URL listed gets you to an index/contents page, but IE won't let me get past there to the links for the specific entries. (A Google search for the word and the source material merely got me to links for this LoI!) However, doing a Google search simply for 'hearpestre' got me links to some sort of English to Old English Dictionary [URLs: http://home.comcast.net/~modean52/old_to_new_english_h.htm and http://home.comcast.net~modean52/new_to_old_english_h.htm] which confirm the direct translation. Of course this also begs the question of whether the grammar is correct, which I won't pretend to have a clue about.
The heads are kind of indistinct. Multi-headed birds tend to show enough of the neck(s) to make the heads visually distinct. That is certainly the case for double-headed eagles (c.f. von Volborth, pp. 36-40, figs. 273, 278, 286, 301. 304, and 309; also Parker, p. 217, and Woodward, Plate XXV, fig. 2).
I did a Precedent hunt [URL: http://home.earthlink.net/~mranc/sca/wreath.html] There is a relatively recent Precedent (Egil Haraldsson,5/02, R-Meridies) that says that there is not a CD between an eagle and a double-headed eagle, and an even more recent one (Njall Randvesson, 4/03, R-East) that does not give a CD for type between an eagle displayed and a double-headed eagle displayed.
I believe that 'in fess' is not needed in this case. Generally, charges in chief are assumed to be 'in fess' unless blazoned otherwise, although whether or not that is actually the default is something I am not certain about.
Possible reblazon: Azure, a three-headed goose displayed argent and in chief five suns Or.

2. Beatrice de Winter -- Argent, a chameleon statant contourny vert and on a chief embattled sable three hangman's nooses argent.
The nooses appear to be issuant from chief (and in fact appear to be throughout). The chief should come down much further on the field -- that would also give the nooses a chance to be larger and more distinct, especially against the sable chief.

A Google search got me a website called 'The Chameleon Journals' [URL:http://www.chameleonjournals.com/], which seems to deal with everything related to breeding and raising chameleons. Among the links are 'The Gallery' which has photos and videos to download, and 'CJ Email Listserv' which says it is 'a perpetual discussion of Old World Chameleons, from captive husbandry issues to conservation.' Another site is called 'VEILED CHAMELEON CARE SHEET' [URL: http://www.herpindex.com/center/cccare.html], giving information about Chamaeleo calyptratus. Its range is given as 'INLAND RIVER VALLEYS (WADIS) OF YEMEN AND SOUTHERN SAUDI ARABIA.' [sic]. Whether chameleons are known in Western Europe in period is something I can't tell from either site, however, but they do seem to be an Old World lizard.
Parker (p. 87, sn Cameleon) gives a depiction of a chameleon. It is not precisely like the submitted emblazon (notably in the lack of spines on the head and down the back). Given that Parker is Victorian, I don't know how accurate either the depiction or the submission are. Both Woodward (p. 277) and Papworth (p. 1044, sn 'REPTILE and in chief....') cite one of the Parker citations, that for Ory, but the citation is undated in all cases. I suspect that it is not a medieval charge, although obviously used in armory.
The complexity count is six (seven if you count the complex line).
Possible reblazon: Argent, a chameleon statant [coward] contourny vert, on a chief embattled sable three hangman's nooses issuant from chief[throughout] argent.

3. Bryan Adyngton -- Sable, on a pile inverted throughout between two crosses urdee argent, a cross urdee vert.

The name docs for 'Bryan' as as given [URLs: http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/men.html and http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/LincLSR/GivenMasculineAlpha.html]. Additionally, Reaney and Wilson (pp. 63-4, sn Brian) give the submitted spelling as a subsidiary header form but not a dated citation. Withycombe (p. 53, sn Brian) says:

'Brian or Bryan [sic] has from early times been a favourite [sic] in Ireland on account of the national hero Brian Boroimhe [sic]; but it was, during the Middle Ages, equally popular in England, where it was introduced from Brittany at the time of the Norman Conquest.... for several centuries it was a favourite, as the many common surnames derived from it testify (e.g. Brian(t), Bryan(t), Briand, Bryanson) [sic].
The name docs for 'Adyngton' are also as given [URL:http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/LincLSR/BynA.html].
Is this 'a pile inverted throughout' or 'per chevron throughout'? It seems to be a bit wide for the former (c.f. PIC-DIC, fig. 565), although the pile shown in von Volborth (p. 121, fig. 18) is quite wide.
The type of cross in the emblazon may be mislabeled. The PIC-DIC (fig. 204) shows a cross with similar ends and calls it a 'cross pointed'. Parker (pp. 178-79, sn Cross § 35.) says:
Cross urdée [sic] written sometimes verdy [sic], fr. aiguisée [sic]), or cross champaine [sic], should be represented as annexed. Some- [p. 179] times it is drawn with the edges inwards, towards the centre [sic], but it is then a cross cleché [sic]. It is also blazoned simply as a cross pointed [sic], and humetty pointed [sic] has also been used by some writers for the same.
Note that the blazons of the armory cited, and the actual depiction, appear to be that of a 'cross urdée voided'.
On the other hand, Woodward (p. 162) separates the blazons to represent two different crosses:
A CROSS URDÉE [sic] is one in which the arms are spread at the end into a lozenge shape. In Plate XIV., fig. 12 [sic] the Cross of the MANFREDI [sic] (there called a cross retranchée) [sic] is of this shape, but is also pommetty.....
THE CROSS AÌGUÌSÉE [sic] is simply one of which the points are sharpened into the shape of a chevron. (Page 164, fig. 60.) [sic]
Muddying the waters still further, in the English Glossary (p. 699, sn POINTED) Woodward says:'(F. aiguisé; cf. Fiché [sic]); in the French Glossary (p. 712, sn AIGUISé) it says:
(cf. Fiché [sic]) -- When a pale, or cross, etc. has one of its ends (usually the lowest) sharpened, this is the phrase used to denote the fact. (BOUTON, Nouveau Traité de Blason [sic], pp. 196-7, distinguishes between a pal fiché [sic] and a pal aiguisé [sic], considering that in the latter case both ends are pointed. This is a mistake.
This seems to imply that Woodward is connecting the term 'aiguisé' with 'fitchy', even though his depiction of a cross 'Patty-fitchy' (p. 164, fig. 54) is radically different from that of 'Aiguisée' (being in fact the standard depiction of fitchy as we generally understand it). At any rate, the crosses in the submission, whether 'urdy', 'pointed' or 'aiguisé', are Latin-type crosses; no matter how named, the crosses as depicted seem to be invariably equal-armed.
Possible reblazon: Sable, on a pile inverted throughout between two Latin crosses [pointed/urdy/aiguisé] argent, a Latin cross [pointed/urdy/aiguisé] vert.
Possible reblazon: Per chevron throughout sable and argent, two Latin crosses [pointed/urdy/aiguisé] argent and a Latin cross [pointed/urdy/aiguisé] vert.

4. Gyles de Blair -- Gules, three frets couped argent and a chief Or.
The docs for 'Giles' are mostly all as given. Note that The St. Gabriel report cites Withycombe; however, a check of Withycombe (p. 134, sn. Giles) does not give an example of the submitted spelling. Note also that the R&W cite gives 'Gyles' is a secondary header form.
I don't have Black. A Google search found the website for the Clan Blair Society [URL: http://www.clanblair.org/]. There is a link to the clan history, which says in part:

The ancient family, Blair of Blair, in the shires of Renfrew, Ayr & [sic] Wigtown may or may not be related to the Blairs of Balthayock in the shires of Perth, Fife & [sic] Angus. Both are quite old in Scotland. The two competed for the chiefship for many years until James VI is said to have decreed that, 'The oldest man for the time being of either family should have precedence.
The term 'Blair' is the genitive of a gaelic word, 'Blar' meaning field or battle field. It is used widely for both places and surnames, one of the earliest known for the former being the Barony of Blair in Ayrshire granted by King William in the mid-12th century. An example of the latter is Sir Robert de Blair, Norman Knight [sic]. Sir Bryce Blair was an adherent of Sir William Wallace but was executed by the English at the Barns of Ayr in 1296. His brother's son, Roger, was knighted by King Robert the Bruce for his services before & [sic] at Bannockburn. Blair House at Dalry, Ayrshire was occupied continuously by the family between 1202 and 1980.
While the name has been spelled 16 different ways, only 3 survive today: Blair, McBlair, Bleher [sic]....
The frets could be a bit bigger (and a bit more spread out to fill the space) and the chief could come down a bit lower on the field. (These are artist's notes, not 'send back for a redraw'). Other than that, nice armory!

5. Reynold Wolferton -- Quarterly vert and argent, two wolves rampant argent.
Nice armory!

6. Thescorre, Barony of (badge) -- Per bend sinister sable and Or, an oak leaf bendwise sinister and an ink bottle counterchanged.
The name of the Barony was, as is said, registered 'at some point'; the baronial armory: 'Argent, on a pall azure between three ravens volant sable a laurel wreath Or' was registered 12/83 (East), and several badges were registered even earlier (8/79 East).
This is not particularly good style.
The ink bottle is as shown in the PIC-DIC (fig. 408).

Bibliography
Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme [Bruce Miller] and Akagawa Yoshio [Kevin Munday]. A Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry: As Used in The Society for Creative Anachronism, 2nd. Ed., 1992.
Papworth, John W. Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials. Bath: Five Barrows, 1977.
Parker, James. A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1970.
Reaney, P. H. and R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames, revised 3rd. Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
von Volborth, Carl-Alexander. Heraldry: Customs, Rules and Styles. Poole, Dorset: Blandford Press, 1981, 1984.
Withycombe, E. G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd. Ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
Woodward, John, and George Burnett. Woodward's Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign. Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1969, 1971.
www.google.com
other URLs as cited