ÆTHELMEARC COLLEGE OF HERALDS - commentary archive
Letter of Intent #83
Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon


Feast of St. Hugh of Lincoln
17 November, AS XXXIX
Greetings from Myfanwy!
Enclosed pray find commentary on Æ LoI #83. I tried to fairly thorough on conflict checking, now that the May 2004 LoAR is posted online. Not too many snarky style comments this month, as most of this armory looks awfully familiar! :-)
I know the deadline was extended, but I wanted to get this all done and out before going to the fiber event in Nithgaard this weekend so I didn’t have to both deal with it and Thanksgiving.
I remain your servant and the Society’s.
Lady Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon
mka Ruth Morrisson
myfanwy@nauticom.net

1. Bran Ó Labhradha -- Argent, semy of oak trees vert, on a pale sable three goblets argent.
The Ó C and M docs are as cited (p. 33).
I don’t have Woulfe. The nearest that I can find in Ó C and M is the header form “Labraid: Labhraidh” (p. 119), dated to 845 as the name of the abbot of Slane. Additionally, Black (p. 442) gives “Lowrie” as a header form, and says:
We find it as a forename in 1467 in which year Lowry Smith was a juror on
an inquisition anent fishing in the Tweed (RD., 461) [sic], and in 1567 Lourie Quhyt was a tenant of the abbot of Kelso (Kelso, p. 524) [sic].
clear of: Faustina von Schwarzwald (badge, 11/81 atenveldt) -- Argent, on a pale between six fir trees sable a bat close inverted Or pendant from a decrescent argent.
There are CDs for type and tincture of the secondaries, and one for significant changes to the tertiaries.

2. Gwenhwyvar verch Morwyn -- Purpure, a chevron ermine between in chief five escallops and in base a dragonfly tergiant argent.
The docs for “Gwenhwyvar” are as cited [URL: http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/welshWomen16/given.html
The chevron seems to be a bit abased. It should probably be moved up a titch in order to center it better, even if the escallops are made a bit smaller as a result.
A Google search [URL: http://www.google.com] for “Morwyn” gives a cite for a Robert Morwyn (1486?-1558). The website [URL: http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/foxe/commentary/book11/personids/person11-671.html] says:
Robert Morwyn [sic]
(1486? - 1558)
President of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. [DNB]
Julins Palmer made a great search for books, including Morwyn's verses
touching Winchester's epitaph. 1570 [sic], p. 2119, 1576 [sic] , p. 1842 [recte 1831],
1583 [sic], p. 1936.
Morwyn was one of the cardinal's visitors who had a commission to have the bones of Peter Martyr's wife dug up and burned. 1563 [sic], pp. 1558 [recte 1570]-
1559 [recte 1571] [sic].
A related site, found during a revised search, has the same information [URL: http://www.hrionline.ac.uk/foxe/apparatus/person_glossaryM.html]. The complete website appears to an online version of _John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs_, originally published in 1563.
no conflicts found

3. Meraud d’Avignon (device change) -- Or, an oak tree blasted conjoined in pale with an oak tree blasted inverted purpure.
I’m not sure that this is an improvement on her old armory. I’m also not sure if this would be significantly different from a tree blasted and eradicated.
possible visual conflict: Ealasaid ingen Ioan (3/93 Middle) -- Per saltire Or and argent, a tree blasted and eradicated purpure.
There is a CD for changing half the field tincture; without seeing this, I don’t know whether the eradicating is distinct enough from the blasted branches.
possibly clear of: Roana de Laci (badge, 4/03 Atlantia) -- (Fieldless) A rowan tree eradicated purpure.
There is a CD for field vs. fieldless, and possibly one for the type of tree (i.e., from having leaves to being blasted).
probably clear of: John Claymore (1/86 West) -- Or, an oak tree eradicated and a chief indented purpure.
There is a CD for adding the chief, and one for the complex line on the chief. There may also be one for changing the tree from blasted to having leaves.

4. Nia Katherine Rose of Bannockburn
I was unable to link to the cited page for "Nia". I kept getting an error message with an image of TweetyBird! Trying to do a Google search [URL: http://www.google.com] gave too many hits for different organizations that used the initials “N.I.A." to be able to search in a rational manner.
Withycombe (pp. 186-87, sn Katharine) gives “Katherine” as a subsidiary header form, but does not give a dated citation for this spelling.
I don’t believe that three given names are acceptable. However, “Rose” is also a surname. Reaney and Wilson (p. 382, sn Rose) gives Thomas filius Rose [sic], dated to 1204, and Richard Royse, Rose [sic], dated to 1604. Black (p. 699, sn Rose) cites William Rose, who was a charter witness in Inverness in 1360.
A Google search [URL: http://www.google.com] for “Bannockburn” had many hits. According to one site [URL: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/timelines/britain/mid_battle_bburn.shtml, the Battle of Bannockburn, between Edward II of England and Robert I of Scotland (Robert the Bruce), took place in 1314.

5. Niamh ban Bran Ó Labhradha
The Ó C and M docs for “Niamh” are as cited (p. 146), but none of the citations are dated.
The Ó C and M docs for “Bran” are as cited (p. 33).
I don’t have Woulfe. The nearest that I can find in Ó C and M is the header form “Labraid: Labhraidh” (p. 119), dated to 845 as the name of the abbot of Slane. Additionally, Black (p. 442) gives “Lowrie” as a header form, and says:
We find it as a forename in 1467 in which year Lowry Smith was a juror on an inquisition anent fishing in the Tweed (RD., 461) [sic], and in 1567 Lourie Quhyt was a tenant of the abbot of Kelso (Kelso, p. 524) [sic].

6. Rafe Woulson -- Or, a wolf rampant sable within a bordure sable estoily Or.
The name docs for both elements are as cited (pp. 681 and 817, respectively).
Nice name!
Nice armory!
clear of: Katla der Kenntnisreich (2/99 An Tir) -- Or a dog rampant sable maintaining a recorder proper, a bordure azure.
There is a CD for changing the tincture of the bordure, and one for adding the tertiaries to it.
probably clear of: Rowan Michael Gwyar ap Llewelyn (7/90 Caid) -- Or, a wolf rampant between two gussets sable each charged with a compass star Or.
There is a CD for changing the the bordure to gussets, and one for changing the type and number of tertiaries.
possibly not clear of: Magdalena Ysabel von Wolfenberg (6/90 Caid) -- Or, a wolf rampant sable within a bordure gules crusilly swallowtailed Or.
There is a CD for changing the tincture of the bordure; however, there is only change of type of tertiaries on it.

7. Rakel Hrafnsdottir -- Argent, on a bend azure between two ravens close sable, three oak trees argent.
The Geirr Bassi docs are mostly as cited. It isn’t entirely clear if the patronymic is formed correctly, given that “Hrafn” does not end in “nn” but only in “n” (although I suspect that it’s probably correct).
Nice armory!
clear of: Lancelin of Raven’s Nest (11/82 Atenveldt) -- Argent, on a bend azure between a raven close and a goblet sable, a sword argent.
There is a CD for changing the type of half the secondaries, and one for changing the type and number of tertiaries.
probably clear of: Erik Svartskalle (2/96 Middle) -- Argent, on a bend between two roundels azure three plates.
There is a CD for changing the type of secondaries, and probably one for changing their tincture. There is only change of type of tertiary for the charges on the bend.
clear of James le Crane (3/98 Drachenwald) -- Or, on a bend azure between two birds striking sable three hearts palewise argent.
There is a CD for changing the field tincture, and one for changing the posture of the birds; however there is only change of type of tertiaries.
possibly not clear of: Liadan ingen Chonamail (8/97 Calontir) -- Argent, on a bend vert between two ravens sable three billets argent.
There is a CD for changing the tincture of the bend. The birds are probably in the same posture, and there is only change of type of the tertiaries.

8. Stanislav Hmurovic od Zeborov -- Azure, a reremouse and on a chief argent three card piques sable.
The Wickenden docs appear to be as given (p. 343).
I did a Google search [URL: http://www.google.com] for “Hmurovic” but was unable to find it as anything but a fairly modern surname.
I was unable to find anything useful for Zeborov. A Google search turned up only three hits: two were in Russian; the third appeared to be in Hebrew (and it was unclear if this reference was even to a name.
no conflicts found

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.
Black, George F. The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History.
Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd., 1999, 2004 [copyright: The New York Public Library, 1946]
Geirr Bassi Haraldsson [??]. The Old Norse Name. Olney, MD: Yggssaldr Press, 1977.
[Studia Marklandia I]
http://www.farreaches.org/heraldry/OandA/
http://www.sca.org/heraldry/loar
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.
other URLs as cited