Æthelmearc Letter of Intent Æ92
March 23, 2006 (AS 40)

It is the intent of the Æthelmearc College of Heralds to register the following devices. Unless otherwise noted, submitters will accept any changes and will allow holding names.

1.  Clarice Roan – New Name, New Device

Per fess azure and argent, a dove risingwings displayed and inverted argent sustaining in its claws a serpent embowed counter-embowed gules.

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept any changes and cares most about the sound of the name. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Clarice - Withycombe, 3rd ed., pp. 67-68, s.n. Clarice, says "It occurs in England as early as 1199 (Claricia in a Latin document), and was not uncommon in the 13th and 14th C in the forms Clarice, Clarisse...

<Clarice> HR 1273

Roan - Reany & Wilson, rev. ed. p. 380, s.n. Roan, say firstly that the name is derived from the French city of Rouen, and give the anglicized spelling <Roan> dated to 1418-20. R & W, secondly describe the name as a Scottish locative, from Ayr, Berwick and Roxburgh. Thirdly, the feminine given name, Roana, is dated to 1212.

Note: Although the submitter has expressed an interest in a Scottish persona, she is not seeking authenticity to Scots naming practices.

2.  Fredeburg von Katzenellenbogen – New Name, New Device

Vert, two bars gemels and in chief a lion passant argent.

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter accepts any changes and cares most about the language/culture of the name, though none is specified on the form. The submitter is not requestion authenticity.

Fredeburg – Bahlow, p. 216, s.n. Herburg, states:

Herborg: metr., especially in LGer. region was a popular (noble) fem. f.n. in the Middle Ages… Cf. domina [lady] Herborg (Hereborch), Stralsund 1285….In the same area:… Wendelburg, Fredeburg, Helmburg,…[etc.]

Bahlow, p. 130, s.n. Fredebrecht, also gives this spelling as from the Low German-Friesian area, though undated.

Katzellenbogen – Oesterley, Hermann, Historisch-geographisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen Mittelalters, p. 335, s.n. Katzellenbogen, dates this as the 1139 spelling of modern day Katzenelnbogen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany. Alternate spellings are given from as early as 1146 (Kazelinboche) and through the 13^th c.

There was some disagreement within the Æthelmearc College about the correct form of the plural of bar gemel. We note that discussion included on the LoAR of October 1985, s.n. Gwynfor Lwyd, gives the plural of “bar gemel” as “bars gemels”:

Gemel means 'coupled, paired, twin'; it is derived from Latin gemellus 'twin'. (Webster's Second) Two bars are thus "a bar gemel", four bars are "two bars gemels", and so forth. [BoE, 20 Oct 85, p.11] 

[http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/precedents/baldwin.html#G, s.n. Gemel]

The question was raised in internal commentary as to whether the bars gemels were drawn correctly on the original submission form, with specific regard to the amount of space found between the two pairs. We note that the January 2004 LoAR, s.n. Alessandra da Ferrara (Meridies), includes a discussion of bars gemel [sic], and states:

A good period example of this practice can be seen in the Herald's Roll circa 1280 on p. 8 of Bedingfield and Gwynn-Jones' Heraldry: a coat using two bars is found in the center coat of the bottom row, whereas armory using two bars gemel is found on the dexter coat of the top row, and on the sinister coat of the middle row.

Albion was kind enough to forward to us a scan of the page cited. We felt that the bars gemels, as submitted, were too close together, and not sufficiently voided. We have redrawn the device, using the period examples as a template.

3.  Katerin Douglas alse Alexander – New Name, New Device

Per chevron rayonny sable and gules, a phoenix and in chief three flames Or.

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept minor changes only and cares most about the language/culture of the name. The submitter requests authenticity to the language and culture of the Scottish Lowlands.

Academy of Saint Gabriel report #2794 [http://www.s-gabriel.org/2794] gives the following:

Katerin – The report gives numerous dated spelling variants occurring in Scotland, including:

<Katerin> seems to be a plausible Scottish variant

Additionally, Withycombe, 3^rd ed., p. 186, s.n. Katharine gives:

X alias Y pattern – The Saint Gabriel report cites six examples of this pattern in the names of individuals, including:

Jonet strachin als’ thomsone (1502)

alse – Originally submitted as <Als’> The Saint Gabriel report explain that <als’> is likely a written abbreviation of <alias>, <alse>, <alsa>, or <alswa>, all meaning “also.” Albion notes that we doe not register scribal abbreviations. We have therefore substituted <alse> as the closest unabbreviated form.

Douglas – The report cites these occurrences of the byname <Douglas> in Scots records from the 15^th and 16^th centuries:

The report, speculating a <v> to <u> shift on the 1499 example, concludes that <Douglas> is “very reasonable.”

Alexander – The Saint Gabriel report gives these dated forms among others:

The majority of commenters expressed concern that the flames in chief, as originally drawn, were not clearly identifiable. We have redrawn the flames in the style of A Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry.

4.  Onóra inghean Chonaill – New Name

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept any changes and cares most about the language/culture of the name (Gaelic). The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Onóra – Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, Index of Names in Irish Annals, [www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/ AnnalsIndex/Feminine/Onora.shtml], s.n. Onóra, gives the submitted spelling as the standard Early Modern Irish Gaelic form (c1200-c1700), with occurrences dated in 1383 and from 1546-1600. The accent occurs in citations from 1579 and 1600.

inghean – early modern Irish form of the Gaelic for “daughter”

Chonaill – Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, Index of Names in Irish Annals, [www.s-gabiel.org/names/mari/ AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Conall.shtml], s.n. Conall, gives <Conaill> as the standard genitive form for Old, Middle and Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c.700 – c1700). We have the added the <-h-> for lenition.

5.  Sabina de Lyons – New Household Name: House Laughing Fox

The submitter accepts any changes and does not indicate a preference for meaning, sound or language/culture. The submitter is not requesting authenticity. Her primary name was registered in July 2000 via AEthelmearc.

The submitter states that the submitted household name is analogous to a tavern name.

Hackwood, Frederick W., Inns, Ales and Drinking Customs of Old England, p. 69, makes reference to an Ale-wife named Elinour Rummin of the “Running Horse,” Leatherhead, Surrey, who was immortalized by the poet Skelton, tutor to Henry VIII.

We would draw your attention to the following acceptance on the February 2002 LoAR (Ansteorra):

Kathryn atte Unicorn. Household name Inn of the Weeping Unicorn and badge. (Fieldless) On a tankard azure a unicorn's head erased argent armed Or.

There was mixed opinion regarding whether "Weeping Unicorn" fit the pattern of inn sign names. Pertinent precedents are:

[Avram Ibn Gabirol. Household name for House of the Wandering Dragon] Despite what was stated on the LoI, Wandering Dragon, does not follow the pattern of inns such as House of the White Hart. A white hart could be painted on an inn sign and be identifiable as such, a "wandering dragon" could not. Barring documentation of participles of this sort being used for inn names, this must be returned. (Jaelle of Armida, LoAR March 1998, p. 21)

[House Open Hearth] No documentation was given to show that Open Hearth was a reasonable inn or sign name. Sign names of the form <adjective> <noun> tend to have adjectives that can be easily displayed on a sign. "Open" is not such an adjective when applied to hearths. [Jared the Potter and Sajah bint Habushun ibn Ishandiyar al-Hajjaj, 11/99, R-Atlantia]

As weeping was documented as meaning 'crying' in period, and a weeping unicorn is an image that could be visually depicted on a sign, this name is registerable.

Inn is an acceptable designator for a household name. [2/02]

We believe that laughing can be visually depicted in the same sense as weeping, and would therefore be registerable.

6.  Temair Ruadh – New Name

The name is intended to be feminine. The submitter will accept minor changes only and cares most about the language/culture of 14^th century Ireland. The submitter is not requesting authenticity.

Temair – Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasfryn, “Feminine Names from the index to O’Brien’s “Corpus Genealogarium Hiberniae” [URL http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/irish-obrien.html] gives the submitted spelling as the standardized Old Irish. The source for the article is a compilation of 12^th c. Irish pedigrees.

OCM, p. 170, s.n. Temair, gives <Temair> as the early form and <Teamhair> as the later form.

Because the submitter had indicated a preference for 14^th century Ireland, but had not requested authenticity, we contacted the submitter regarding her preferred form of the given name, noting that <Temair> is the earlier pre-1200 form, while <Teamhair> is the normalized post-1200 form. The submitter replied specifically that her preference is indeed <Temair>.

Ruadh – Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, Index of Names in Irish Annals: Masculine Descriptive Bynames, [www.s-gabiel.org/names/mari/ AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/], gives <Ruadh> as a masculine byname

Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasfryn, “Feminine Names from the index to O’Brien’s “Corpus Genealogarium Hiberniae” [URL http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/irish-obrien.html] gives <Ruad> as a descriptive byname, but states it was “not necessarily used by women.”