Feast of St. Mildred
13 July, AS XXXIX

Greetings from Myfanwy!
Enclosed pray find commentary on Æ #80. I decided to do things differently for a change: not only is everything conflict-checked as much as possible (including the January '04 LoAR, which is the only one listed that hasn't been integrated into the O&A yet), but also I'm getting it done well before the deadline! J [Still haven't gotten used to the really annoying parts of Word, though.]
Thanks to whoever got the alternate URL with the LoI on it up and running. Hopefully the website snafu will be fixed soon.
See yinz at Pennsic!
I remain your servant and the Society's.
Lady Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon
Ruth Morrisson
myfanwy@nauticom.net

1. Ardis Bluemantle (badge) – (Fieldless) A bear couchant sable crowned of a baronial coronet Or pearled argent.
Nicely drawn!
clear of: Blackstone Mountain, Barony of (badge, 7/97 East) -- (Fieldless) A bear rampant contourny sable.
There is a CD for fieldless vs. fieldless, and one for the change of posture.
clear of: Kali Harlansson of Gotland (5/81 East) – Or, a bear dormant to sinister sable maintaining a halbard bendwise reversed gules entwined of a grapevine vert.
There is a CD for field vs. fieldless, and one for the orientation of the bear to contourny (I'm not sure how much difference there is between couchant and dormant).

2. Brian of Hedon
The Withycombe docs are as cited (p. 53, s.n. Brian).
I don't have Mills. Cameron (p. 106) mentions a place called Heddon on the Wall, saying: "... Heddon on the Wall is on the line of Hadrian's Wall." I then did a Google search [URL: http://www.google.com] and found a site for "the historic town of Hedon, situated in the East Riding of Yorkshire" [URL: http://www.hedon.gov.uk/]; a link to the town's history dates a settlement to the 12th century, with a Charter granted to the town by Henry II in 1158. Reaney and Wilson (p. 225, s.n. Hedden, Heddon) do not give this specific spelling, but cite Ailwin de Heddon [sic], dated to 1162, Thomas de Heden [sic], dated to 1249 and William de Hedone [sic], dated to 1303; they also cite a variety of places, including both the Yorkshire location and Heddon on the Hill.

The name is probably fine as is, but having the 1249 form of the name from Reaney and Wilson would make it truly righteous.

3. Ciarán mac Gaoithín The ÓC & M docs are as cited (p. 51).

4. Dubheasa inghean Dubgaill (device resub) – Gyronny vert and argent, three reremice gules a bordure sable.
No herald of record?
The charges fill the space well.
Complexity count of six.
clear of conflict

5. Magdalena Binder (name and device resubs) – Argent, a gryphon segreant gules winged sable haloed Or a bordure sable.
I don't have immediate access to most of the sources cited in the documentation, although they look pretty good. The Talan cite is as given [URL: http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/bahlow_v.htm].

Complexity count of six (seven if you count the halo, but I'm inclined not to.)

Nicely drawn.

possibly clear of: Pomerania (12/94 Laurel) – Argent, a griffin segreant gules crowned Or. [important non-SCA arms]

There is a CD for adding the bordure, and possibly one for changing the wing tincture – it will have to be a judgment call as to whether the wings are large enough calling them half of the charge.

probably clear of: Richard Hatch of Devon (6/87 Atenveldt) – Argent, a griffin segreant gules, maintaining a halberd sable, between three card piques gules.

There is at least one CD for changing the black bordure to three red card piques. Like the previous, it will have to be a judgment call about whether the wings are large enough to be considered half of the gryphon.

6. Nikolai Kowal – Vert, a chevron argent between three lanterns Or.
The Wickenden docs for both name elements are as given (pp. 237 and 165 respectively).
Nice armory!
clear of: Guy d'Aigles (5/84 Atlantia) – Vert, a chevron between a mullet of eight points, an Arabic oil lamp enflamed and a sword between two swords in chevron Or.
There is a CD for changing the tincture of the chevron, and one for significantly changing the type of secondaries.
possibly not clear of: Iohne Mac Dabhídh (10/03 East) – Vert, a chevron argent between three dogs rampant Or.
There is a CD for changing the type of secondaries. Is this considered simple enough armory that only one CD is sufficient?

7. Silence de Cherbourg (badge) – (Fieldless) A mouse couchant azure.
clear of: Ysolt la Bretonne (badge, 11/00 Atlantia) – (Fieldless) A mouse couchant ermine.
There is a CD for fieldless vs. fieldless, and one for changing the tincture of the mouse.

8. Snæbj{o,}rn Haakonsson inn snjalliøx
The Geirr Bassi cite for "Snæbj{o,}rn is as given. The cite for "Hákon" is also as given, but I can't tell if the submitted spelling "Haakon" is acceptable or not, nor can I tell if the patronymic is formed correctly, since the example is for "-nn" (Geirr Bassi, p. 17).
The descriptive byname elements are also from Geirr Bassi (pp. 28 and 20, respectively); whether the construction is correct is beyond my knowledge.
No herald of record?

9. Valentin Leime – Argent, a saltire sable between in fess to [sic] torteaux.
I don't have Bahlow, but "Valentin" is found in Talan's article "Late Period German Masculine Given Names: Names from 15th Century Arnsburg" [URL: http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/germmasc/arnsburg15.html] and also in "Late Period German Masculine Given Names: Names from 16th Century Plauen" [URL: http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/germmasc/plauen16.html].
Nice armory! It does remind me a whole lot of something that was on an internal letter a few months back
probably clear of: Sylvanus Andere (5/73 ??) – Argent, a saltire between two oak trees eradicated in pale sable.
There are CDs for changing the type, tincture and arrangement of the secondaries.
possibly clear of: Rowan ferch Rhys (7/01 Atlantia) – Argent, a saltire sable between three estoiles two in fess and one in base gules.
possibly clear of: LoAleene Penrith (12/82 Ansteorra) – Argent, semé of butterflies gules, a saltire sable.
In each of these, there are CDs for type and number of secondaries.
possible visual conflict: Beinean Colm of Caer Draigwyrdd (4/84 Atlantia) – Argent, two ladders in saltire sable between in fess two torteaux.
There is a possibly a CD between the ladders and the saltire, but because of the arrangement there may be a visual conflict, especially since secondaries are the same.

Bibliography:
Cameron, Kenneth. English Place Names, new rev. Ed. London: B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1996, 1997.
Geirr Bassi Haraldsson [??]. The Old Norse Name. Olney, MD: Yggssaldr Press, 1977. [Studia Marklandia I]
Ó Corráin, Donnchadh, and Fidelma Maguire. Irish Names. Dublin: The Lilliput Press, 1981. 1990.
Reaney, P. H. and R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames, revised 3rd. Ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Paul Wickenden of Thanet [Paul W. Goldschmidt]. A Dictionary of Period Russian Names, 3rd. Ed. Normal, IL: S.C.A. Inc. -- Free Trumpet Press West, 2000.
Withycombe, E. G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd. Ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
http://www.scawebserver.com/~aeherald/Letters/AE80/iloi.html
http://www.farreaches.org/heraldry/OandA/
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/loar
other URLs as cited