Æthelmearc Letter of Intent Æ89
November 24, 2005 (AS 40)

It is the intent of the Æthelmearc College of Heralds to register the following devices.  Submitters will accept changes as noted.

The Garnet Herald offers his thanks to the folks who commented on this letter: Aurenca, Ailis, Fridrikr, Gunnvor from Ansteorra, the Heronter Heralds, Myfawny, and Sorcha. There was a lot of stuff and all the comments were of great help.

I would also offer an extra-large share of thanks and all of the bonus points to Alheydis von Körckhingen, the newly appointed Cornelian Herald. She is now the co-submissions herald and I couldn’t have done this letter without her.

1.  Catherine Sheffield – Resubmitted device

Per chevron argent and gules, two garbs and a cross bottony counterchanged.

Her name was registered in October 2004.

Her previous device submission, Argent, a chevron between two garbs and a cross bottony gules was returned at kingdom in October 2004 for conflict with Basileios Philanthropenos Philomathes (Argent, a chevron between three crosses of Jerusalem gules) and with Richard of Stokesley, (Argent, a chevron and three boars passant gules) whose device was on the Midrealm ELoI of July 2004

The original submission was returned for conflict with Minstrel's Guild registered to the Barony of Madrone in March 1983. A letter of permission to conflict has been obtained from THLady Tayla of Winds, Senechal of the Barony of Madrone, and is enclosed.

<Mistral> is a header form in the Oxford English Dictionary, which dates the word to 1604 with the spelling <mestrall>.

A Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry (PicDic), s.n. Wind states, "other types of wind include the "boreas", an icy-bearded old man; the "zephyr", an androgynous youth; and the "mistral", which is female."

The cover letter to the January 2005 LoAR lists seven semantic based patterns of period order names, the last of which is "Orders named for heraldic charges." Examples given there include: Order of the Garter, the Toison d'Or (Golden Fleece), the Unicorn, and Order of the Ermine.

3.  Delftwood, Barony of – Order Name Appeal: Order of the Millguard

The original submission was returned for not following the pattern of period order names in March 2005. The text of the appeal follows:

It is the desire of the Barony to register a martial order name that describes a group of people charged with the protection of the barony, as well as the protection of the barony’s honor. The primary charge on the baronial device is a windmill. The barony has already registered an <Order of the Windmill> as a service award. We seek to construct a name for the martial award that is distinct from the registered <Order of the Windmill>, but which describes the order’s purpose.

We allow all changes. While <Order of the Millguard> is our preferred form, should this be unfavorably reviewed, we invite the College to create and register an order name that conveys the intended meaning and is registereable.

The cover letter to the January 2005 LoAR speaks to the subject of period order names, and calls for a discussion of period order name patterns based on semantic analysis, in additional to the literal syntactic analysis of the Ordensnamen Project. Here, we hope to show that <Order of the Millguard> complies with period naming practice both syntactically and semantically.

In reviewing the Ordensnamem article, we find a sampling of order names that describe the constituency of the order itself:

Syntactically, four patterns emerge:

<Millguard>, although a compound word, follows that pattern [Noun + Collective Singular Noun], and seems a plausible interpolation. The element <-guard> is here meant to be a collective noun, as in <Vanguard> (or <U.S. Coast Guard>).

Semantically, several order names follow the pattern of describing a martial group charged with the protection of a group of people and/or a set of beliefs and ideals held by those people. Among these, of special note is the <Order of the Cross Bearers>, as it seems to be most like the proposed order name. It describes the group comprising the order as those who <verb> a <symbol> - those who <bear> the <cross>. The historical order's mandate was not likely to physically bear actual crosses, but to symbolically carry (bear) the responsibility to uphold those ideals symbolized by the cross. In our proposed order name, we seek to describe the members of the order as those who <verb> a <symbol> - those who guard the mill. The mill, as the primary charge of our barony's arms, is a symbol to us of our barony and its ideals.

While past registration is no guarantee of current registerability, there are numerous registered SCA order names which follow the pattern <Order of the> + <martial protectors of a place or emblem>:

In the case of <Millguard>, the mill may be read as both an emblem (the primary heraldic symbol of the barony) and a place (a mill which is presumably located within the barony). As a place, a mill would likely have been an appropriate object of martial protection, as mills were lucrative sources of revenue, and strategic to an agrarian society.

In the same March 2005 LoAR in which <Order of the Millguard> was returned, a different return spoke directly to the use of Plural vs. Collective Nouns as order name designators:

Atlantia, Kingdom of. Household name change to Company of the Sergeants of Saint Aidan from Company of Saint Aidan.

... Submitted as <Sergeants of Saint Aidan>, the word <Sergeants> is not an appropriate designator for a household or an Order. Designators are collective nouns that always imply membership in a particular body of fellowship; if they modify a further name, the designator denotes that the name must be that particular body or fellowship. Take, for example, the word <army>. The phrase <The Army of Milan> unambiguously denotes a single body or collective, which acts with a singular purpose. By contrast <The Sergeants of Milan> could denote a single body or collective, or it could simply mean each sergeant who lives in Milan. Because <Sergeants> does not unambiguously denote a single body, it is not appropriate for use as a designator on a household or Order name. It is, however, just fine as a descriptive element. Therefore, we have changed this to <Company of the Sergeants of Saint Aidan> in order to register it.

Based on this, we feel that any of the following would be registerable:

Any of these would be an acceptable alternative, if <Order of the Millguard> is unregisterable, with <Company of the Millguard> or <Millguard of Delftwood> being preferred over <…Guardians of the Mill>.

The documentation provided in the original submission was provided to address the linguistic construction of <millguard>, which is not found in the OED. In the singular sense of a single guardian of a mill, we propose it as a plausible cognate of <millward>, which is dated into our period in the OED. In sense of a collective noun, we propose it as a plausible interpolation of <millward> and <van guard>, both of which date to period.

Taken from the Oxford English Dictionary:

Mill: OED dates to 961 as <mylen>; 1020 as <myll>; 1374 as <melle>, among others. The earliest date given for <Mill> is 1568.

Guard: …sense 7. One who keeps, protects, or defends; a protector, defender. In this meaning, the OED dates the word to 1412 as <gaird>; 1474 as <gardes> (plural); and 1483 as <garde>. The earliest date for <guard> in this sense is 1606.

Guard: …sense 9. A body of persons, esp. soldiers engaged to preserve a person or place from injury or attack... In this meaning, the OED dates the word to 1494 as <Garde>; 1535 as <gaird>; and 1568 as <gard>. The earliest date for <guard> is this sense is 1611.

Millward: “Originally, the keeper of a (manorial) mill” dated to c. 1000 <mylenwyrd>; 1050 <myleweard>; 1305 <meleward>; 1380 <Mulleward>; 1387 <milwardes> (genetive); 1430 <Millewardes> (plural); 1380 <DeWillelmole le Mulleward> (name)

Vanguard: OED dates <vangard> to 1487; <vangart> to 1513, and <vangaird> to 1578. The earliest date for <vanguard> I 1622.

Regarding the words <ward> and <guard> being cognates, the OED (s.n. Ward) states:

Some of the senses below are derived from the Law French warde (whence AL. warda), which appeared to be in part an adoption of the Eng. Word, and in part the north-eastern OF. Form. In Law French, from the 13^th c. onward, the word has regularly the form garde.

We find the following pairs of English words in use concurrently in period:

Thus, we believe that <Millegarde>, <Mullegaird> and the like would be plausible period spellings of a cognates of <millguard>, in the sense of a singular guardian of a mill, and of a plausible constructed compound word, in the collective sense of a company of guardians, with <Millguard> being an early gray period spelling.

4.  Marija Kotok – New name, new device

Azure, in pale a lion-dragon passant Or and an open book argent.

(Submitter notes that the flower and pen on the book’s pages are illustrations and not charges.)

The name is intended to be feminine.

The submitter allows minor changes only and cares most about the meaning and language/culture of the Kiev area of Ukraine, near the city of Skole. Submitter offers that Skole was founded prior to 1397. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Marija – Walraven van Nijmegen, “Early Croatian Given Names, (WWW: Brian R. Speer, 1999) [URL  http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/walraven/croat] gives the following:

The article contains a list of names found in Stephen Gazi, A History of Croatia (New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1993) originally published in 1973 by the Philosophical Library. The section on feminine names includes this introduction:

 “Below are the women whose names actually appear in Gazi’s book. Some of these women are undoubtedly foreigners, but I have included them with explanatory notes to help expand an otherwise very short list. These women each played an important historical role in Croatia whether or not they were of Croat blood. Page numbers are those on which each woman is first mentioned in Gazi’s book.” 

Paul Wickenden of Thanet, A Dictionary of Period Russian Names, dates Mariia to the later 12^th Century

Kotok – Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Dictionary of Period Russian Names, p. 164, s.n. Kot, gives the name Kulik Kotok dated to 1495 .

Regarding the device, commentary raised the question as to whether the illustrations on the pages of the book should be blazoned as tertiary charges, or left unblazoned as artistic embellishment per the submitter’s notations. Note that on the color emblazon, the drawings on the book are treated as uncolored line drawings. We ask Wreath to clarify this and change the blazon as necessary.

5.  Mathias Kotok – New name, new device

Azure, on a plate embattled argent, a cross pointed between four Passion nails, heads to center, gules.

The name is intended to be masculine. The submitter accepts minor changes only and cares most about the language/culture of the Kiev area of Ukraine, near the city of Skole. Submitter offers that Skole was founded prior to 1397. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Mathias – dated to 1332, 1375, and 1388 in Talan Gwynek “Medieval German Given Names from Silesia” [URL: http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/bahlow_v.htm]

Kotok – Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Dictionary of Period Russian Names, p. 164, s.n. Kot, gives the name Kulik Kotok dated to 1495 .

6.  Morgen of Rye – New name

The name in intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept no changes, and gives no preference for meaning, sound or language/culture. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Morgen – submitter’s legal given name. A photocopy of her driver’s license accompanies this letter.

of Rye –

7.  Petr Kotok – New name

The name is intended to be masculine. The submitter accepts minor changes only and cares most about the language/culture of the Kiev area of Ukraine, near the city of Skole. Submitter offers that Skole was founded prior to 1397.

Petr – Russian for Peter, dated to the 12^th Century in Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Dictionary of Period Russian Names, p. 265-266.

Kotok – Paul Wickenden of Thanet, Dictionary of Period Russian Names, p. 164, s.n. Kot, gives the name Kulik Kotok dated to 1495 .

8.  Yamahara Yorimasa – New name, new device

Gules, in pale a kanji Yama and a kanji Hara argent.

The name is intended to be masculine. The submitter accepts any changes, but will not permit a holding name. He cares most about the meaning “Mountain-Field, Calm-Path”. The submitter expresses an interest in, but does not request authenticity for 16^th century Japanese language/culture.

Yamahara - a constructed family name.

Solveig Throndardottir, revised edition, p. 145, s.n. Mountain, gives the name element "yama", where it occurs in the first position of several names having a geographic feature as the second element:  Yamada (mountain + rice paddy), 1183; Yamagata (moutain + territory/province),1600; Yamakawa (mountain + river), 1568; and, Yama'oka (mountain + hill), 1600.

Op. cit., p. 152, s.n. Meadow, gives the name element "hara", where it occurs in the second position of several names having a geographic feature as the first element: Kawara (large river + meadow), 1183; Kawa'uchihara (large river inside + meadow), 1600; Tabara (rice paddy + meadow), 1392; and, Teshigawara (decree + large river + meadow, 1392).

In the section of historical surnames, both elements (“yama” and “hara” are represented in their respective positions in names of the 16^th century: Yamagata, 1600; Yumaguchi, 1568; Yamakawa, 1568; Fukuhara, 1568; Kuzurahara, 1600

Yorimasa – This is intended as the given name.

Solveig, revised edition, p. 190, s.n. Govern, dates Yorimasa to 1183. Op. cit., p. 366, s.n. Yo, dates the same as a historical masculine nanori to 1147.

Although Yorimasa dates to well before the submitters desired century, in the section on historical nanori, there are numerous historical nanori of the 16th century with either Yori as the first element or Masa as the second: Yori'aki, 1568; Yorihisa, 1572; Yorikawa, 1600; Chikamasa, 1600; Hidemasa, 1568; Hiromasa, 1600. Thus, both elements survived in use into the 16th century.

The name was originally submitted with the intended given name (nanori) before the intended family name. We have consulted with the submitter, and corrected the order o the name elements.

Regarding the device, we note that precedence has deemed an abstract symbol unregisterable as a single central charge. This device, however, uses two distinct kanji in pale, each blazonably and visually different from the other.

As noted in the name documentation, the kanji to chief (Yama) means “mountain”; that to base (Hara) means “meadow”

Lastly, Edward of Effingham’s Online Japanese Miscellany, s.n. Heraldry (www: Anthony J. Bryant, 2001, 2004) [URL: http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/miscellany/heraldry.html] states:

There are six commonly recognized divisions of mon: plants, animals, natural phenomena, man-made objects, abstract designs, and ji (= characters).

His Excellency further attested in correspondence to the Aethelmearc College that kanji in mon:

 “was done, but it was rather rare. The most famous one (and the one that immediately comes to my mind) is the mon of Ishida Mitsunari, who was the big loser at Sekigahara in October, 1600. His mon appears on http://www2u.biglobe.ne.jp/~miya-in/7kamonkuro1.html (Mitsunari is the last guy in the "totem pole").”