ÆTHELMEARC
COLLEGE OF HERALDS - commentary archive
Letter of Intent #95 Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon
Feast of the Visitation of the Virgin
31 May, AS XLI
Greetings from Myfanwy!
Herein pray find commentary on Æ LoI #95. Everything was
conflict-checked through the February 2006 LoAR online.
I remain your servant and the Society’s.
Lady Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon
Ruth Morrisson
myfanwy@nauticom.net
1. Æthelmearc, Kingdom of (badge for The Most Worshipful Company
of
Æthelmearc Cooks and Bakers) -- Argent, on a chevron engrailed
gules
between three cauldrons sable five escarbuncles argent.
Is the Company name registered? Does it matter, since it’s being
registered to the kingdom?
The chevron is a bit too low on the field, and the engrailing might
need to be a bit more pronounced (i.e., deeper scooping). The
cauldrons may be a bit too large -- if they were a tad smaller,
especially the upper two, there would be room for the chevron to move
up (making it a slightly steeper angle would also help this, although
at least it isn’t an obtuse (is that the word I want? I mean wide --
over 90°, vs. acute -- less than 90°) angle. Probably not a
redraw
needed, but certainly an artist’s note.
clear of: Eric Stroud (9/97 Atenveldt) -- Argent, a chevron engrailed
gules between two crosses formy and a scorpion inverted sable.
There is a CD for changing the type of secondaries, and one for adding
the tertiaries.
clear of: Lariszka of the Carpathians (11/91 East) -- Argent, on a
chevron engrailed between three reremice sable, three roses argent
seeded gules.
There is a CD for changing the secondaries, and one for changing the
type and number (and possibly also tincture) of the tertiaries.
2. Aíbell ingen Diarmata -- Or. a pair of flaunches gules,
overall
three snails in fess counterchanged.
The ÓC&M docs for the given name are more or less as cited
(this is
the pre-1200 header form); in the text, it says:
In other stories there is mention of Aíbell, daughter of the
Ulster
warrior
Celtchar mac Uithechair, and of Aíbell Grúadsolus
(‘Aíbell of the
bright cheeks’)
[sic] who is daughter of the king of Munster.
Note that the first reference says: “One of the old Irish goddesses.”
The docs for the byname are as given.
The snails seem small, but given that they have to be in fess, I guess
that they couldn’t be too much larger. The flaunches seem oddly
drawn. They should be slightly more elongated, and come down a bit
further on the field [c.f. Parker, p. 262, sn Flaunches] It’s obvious
that they were drawn to the tick marks on the form, but they really
should come down further. Again, this just needs an artist’s note,
not a complete redraw.
clear of: Red Spears, Barony of (badge, 9/95 Middle) -- Or, a covered
crystal chalice between flaunches gules. [for Order of the Ruby
Chalice]
There is a CD for changing the primary charge, and one for adding the
tertiaries to the flaunches.
possibly not clear of: Ainbthen inghean Dubhghaill (11/01 Meridies)
-- Or, a dirk sable overall a rose between flaunches gules each
charged with a rose Or.
There is a CD for removing the dirk; however there may be a visual
conflict (three roundish charges vs. three roundish charges).
3. Andreas Jäger -- Argent, a bear sejant erect sable and on a
chief
rayonny enarched gules a lightning bolt fesswise argent.
I don’t have Brechenmacher, but all the other name docs are as cited.
All the charges should be somewhat larger, especially the lightning
bolt (which is a fairly thin-line charge to start with. The bear
needs a bit of internal detailing (I checked the B&W html page as
well
as the color one, to be sure that it wasn’t just the coloring job on
the color page). Again, this probably doesn’t need to be redrawing,
just an artist’s note to the submitter.
The complex line on the enarched chief is weird but probably
registrable, since plain enarched chiefs are classified in the O&A
with ones having a plain (i.e., straight) line.
clear of: Zahava Tchauchik (2/84 East) -- Argent, a brown bear
statant erect guardant proper within a bordure engrailed
counter-ermine.
There is at least one CD for changing the type and tincture of the
secondary/peripheral charge, and one for adding tertiaries to it. Note,
however, that there may not be anything for changing the
tincture of the bear itself, and nothing for the head position.
clear of: Coinneach mac Risteaird (1/94 Atlantia) -- Argent, a
sea-bear sable maintaining an Irish harp and on a chief azure a
thistle fesswise and another fesswise reversed, slips entwined, Or.
There is should be a CD for changing a bear to a sea-bear (although
nothing for the maintained charge); there is a CD for adding the
complex line to the chief, and another one for changing the type and
tincture of tertiaries on the chief.
4. Arden Scot
The docs for the given name are as cited, but do not appear to support
the submitted form <Arden> and the name is not
found in ÓC&M (the closest being [p.24] the header form
<Artán>, said
to be a diminutive form of the name <Art>. I also did a search of
the CELT Archive [URL: http://www.ucc.ie/celt/search.html] for the
submitted spelling but did not get any hits, once I limited the search
to “ Arden “ [without the spaces included as part of the text, I got a
lot of hits for “garden”, many of which seemed to passages from Oscar
Wilde plays -- especially The Importance of Being
Ernest)! I am unsure as to whether changing the spelling to
the documented form is a major or minor change.
The docs for the byname are as cited.
This appears to have an Irish given name and a Scottish byname;
however, the submitter is not requesting authenticity.
5. Cerridwyn ingen Cera -- Argent, a lion’s head erased contourny
vert.
The ruling of SCA compatibility cited does not appear to be for the
submitted spelling <Cerridwyn>. The April 2002 name change cited
[URL: http://www.sca.org/
heraldry/loar/2002/04/02-04lar.html] kept the spelling
<Cerridwyn>
from the previous name registration, without changing that specific
element, and in fact the decision reads, in part:
The name has a weirdness for the use of Cerridwyn
[sic], which is registrable
only because it is grandfathered to the submitter. The spelling
Cerridwyn [sic] is
not SCA compatible; only the spellings Ceridwen
[sic] and Cerridwen [sic] were
ruled SCA compatible in August 1995.
The docs for the byname are as given.
It isn’t clear whether changing the given name to an acceptable SCA
compatible form is a major or minor change. If a major change, this
name would have to be returned (in its present form, it does not
appear to be registrable).
Nice device! Very nicely drawn.
clear of: An Tir, Kingdom of (badge, 5/98 An Tir) -- (Fieldless) A
lion’s head erased contourny sable.
There is a CD for field vs. fieldless and one for changing the
tincture of the head.
clear of Deborah Hirczy (1/85 East) -- Lozengy azure and argent, a
panther’s head erased vert, vomiting flames of fire gules, armed Or.
There is a CD for changing the at least half the field, and one for
the orientation of the head; there may or may not be one for the
flames, depending on how large and distinct they are (effectively,
it’s the difference between a maintained and sustained charge).
clear of; Rory Woulfe of Kildare (badge, 6/99 An Tir) -- (Fieldless)
A wolf’s head erased contourny vert.
There is a CD for field vs. fieldless, and one for changing the type
of head.
6. Grímólfr Ormulfsson -- Argent, on a chevron azure
between three
wolf’s heads erased gules three annulets argent.
The Geirr Bassi docs are as cited.
The first cite for the byname is as given; note, however, that it is
the normalized form of the name, and the form
<urmulf> is
a transliteration of the runic form. [The other docs explain that the
“(acc”) after the runic form means that it is the accusative case, for
what it’s worth]. The patronymic <Ormulfsson> appears to be
formed
correctly [c.f. Geirr Bassi, p. 17].
The chevron should be a more acute angle, and also come up a bit
farther on the field. Nice device otherwise.
clear of: Athalwölfe von dem Rhein (7/83 Meridies) -- Argent, a
chevron azure between two fleurs-de-lys gules and a wolf’s head erased
sable.
There is a CD for changing the type of at least half the secondaries
(as well as changing the tincture on the third) and one for adding the
tertiaries to the chevron.
possibly not clear of Quinlan of Sheare (3/75 ??) -- Argent, on a
chevron azure, three quavers palewise argent.
There is a CD for adding the secondaries, but there is only change of
type of tertiaries on the chevron.
possibly clear of: Rhiannon ferch Llyr (??|?? “at some point”) --
Argent, on a chevron cotissed [sic] azure, a raven displayed Or
between two ravens displayed argent.
There is at least one CD for changing the secondaries; there is a
change of type of tertiaries, but only changing the tincture of one of
them.
7. Hrefna Úlfvarinsdóttir -- Per pale azure and argent,
in fess an
increscent, a crescent and a decrescent counterchanged.
The Geirr Bassi docs for the given name are as cited.
The patronymic docs are not quite as cited -- the actual name listed
in Geirr Bassi is <Úlfvarinn>; however, the patronymic
appears to be
formed correctly [c.f. Geirr Bassi, p. 17].
no conflicts found
8. Kiara Kavanagh (resub) -- Argent, a rose purpure barbed vert
seeded Or, in chief three crosses flory azure.
If this is a resub, what is the story with the previous submission(s)?
<Kiara/Ciara> is not found in ÓC&M. The closest I
found is the name
<Ciar> [p. 51, sn Ciar]:
The most important bearer of this name is St [sic] Ciar, virgin
patroness of Killkeary (Cell Cére) [sic] near Nenagh, whose
feast-days [sic] are 5 January and 16 October.”
The name <Ciar> is also found in Mari Elspeth nic Bryan’s “Index
of
Names in Irish Annals: Feminine Names: Ciar” [URL:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/
AnnalsIndex/Feminine/Ciar.shtml], but only dated 679-681; there are no
13th century citations, and neither <Ciara> nor <Kiara> are
found.
Looking at the first set of docs provided, I
presume that they are
talking about the same saint; not being familiar with the website, I
trust the scholarship in ÓC&M a bit more. There do not
appear to be
any citations with either the submitted spelling or <Ciara> in
the
CELT Archive [URL:http://www.ucc.ie/celt/search.html]. The other docs
are as cited, but an Anglicized form does not appear to equate to
“13th century Celtic”, meeting the submitter’s request for
authenticity, and I’m not sure if changing an initial <K> to a
<C>
would be considered a minor (especially since it appears to be a
change in language, as it were). The docs for the byname are as cited.
ÓC&M [p. 24, sn Art]
says that <Art> “was favoured [sic] by the MacMurroughs,
Kavanaghs...
and many other families.” Additionally, in the “Index of Names in
Irish Annals: Descriptive Bynames: Cáomhanach” [URL:
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/DescriptiveBynames/Caomhanach.shtml]
the name is said to have begun “as a descriptive byname but became an
inherited surname.” The standard nominative form is
<Cáomhanach>,
with the genitive form being <Cáomhanaigh>; both forms are
listed as
being Early Modern Irish Gaelic, and dated c.1200-1700. (although the
earliest actual citation is 1375, later than the submitter’s requested
time period.
There does not appear to be any way to make this name authentic for
the requested time period: neither name element can be dated to the
13th century, and, as submitted, appears to be a modern Anglicized
form of an Irish name; to make it fit even remotely within the request
for authenticity in culture appears to require significant changes,
which the submitter does not permit, and this may have to be returned.
(The fact that by the 13th century, there probably was no such thing
as “Celtic” -- one would have been Irish, or Welsh, or whatever -- is
a moot point).
The crosses may need to be a bit larger; certainly, the flory ends
need to be a bit more pronounced (it was hard to tell, looking at the
color html version of the LoI, just what sort of cross they were
without peering closely. although in the B&W html version, they
were
more distinct).
Possible reblazon: Argent, a rose purpure barbed and seeded proper, in
chief three crosses flory azure.
clear of: Seamus a’ Chnuic Ghuim (1/03 East) -- Argent, a trillium
purpure barbed vert and seeded Or.
There should be a CD for changing the type of flower, and one for
adding the secondaries.
probably clear of: Kateryne of Hindscroft (9/86 An Tir) -- Argent, a
violet purpure within an orle of hearts azure.
There is probably a CD for changing the type of flower, and at least
one for changing the type, number, and arrangement of secondaries.
9. Sabina de Lyons (resub badge for House Laughing Fox) --
(Fieldless) A fox passant inverted gules.
This is probably not registrable. I checked in the Precedents to
find relevant infor-mation. During François’ tenure as Laurel,
the
following ruling was made, referring back to earlier Precedent [URL:
http://www.farreaches.org/~mranc/sca/wreath.html]:
[a bend sinister between a cat dormant bendwise sinister
contourny and a cat
dormant inverted bendwise sinister] [sic] The inversion of
the lower cat is reason
for return per the following precedent: "By precedent we do not
register
inverted animals unless they are part of an arrangement in annulo.
[Eiríkr
{TH}orvaldson, 10/00]" [ Saxsa Corduan [sic],10/01 ,
R-Meridies]
I doubt, given the long-standing nature of this precedent, that it
will be overturned anytime soon, and the badge will have to be
returned.
probably clear of: Sherry Foxwell (badge, 7/91 Calontir) --
(Fieldless) A fox herissony to sinister gules.
There is a CD for fieldless vs. fieldless, and probably one for
posture/orientation.
probably clear of: Olwen of Trereen Dinas (2/82 East) -- Ermine, a
wolf courant gules.
probably clear of: Merideth ni Shionnaigh (5/99 via the Middle)
--Vair, a fox passant gules.
In each case, there is a CD for field vs. fieldless, and probably also
one for the orienta-tion of the fox.
10. Siobhan Callánach -- Azure, a griffin dormant between three
barrels fesswise argent.
The docs for the given name are as cited; it should be noted that the
submitted spelling i.e., without any accent marks) has citations dated
to the late 14th century. Additionally, ÓC&M [p. 165, sn
Sibán} give
this spelling as the post-1200 header form (although all the dated
citations there are for <Sibán>..
The docs for the byname are also as given. Note, however, that in the
second website cited it says:
Bynames used after a feminine given name will also be lenited....
Except for
lenition (and sometimes meaning) there is no difference between
masculine and
feminine bynames.
This suggests that <Cállanach> needs to be changed to a
lenited form. I’m not entirely sure if this is correct (it will
probably have to be
forwarded to Laurel with a request for help from the College of Arms),
but I suspect it would be something on the order of
<Cállanaich>.
The barrels need to be a big larger, with possibly with a bit less
interior detailing. They may also need to be moved in from the edges
of the shield slightly.
Does the wing position need to be blazoned? I know we just went
through this issue last month, but it seems odd that a sleeping
creature would have elevated wings.
Dormant creatures generally look like lumps. This one, amazingly, is
easily identifiable -- nice job.
Possible reblazon: Azure, a griffin dormant,
wings elevated and
addorsed, between three barrels fesswise argent.
probably clear of: Maureen ha-Ivriah (1/74 ??) Azure, an
Assyrian griffin couchant, gazing to chief, wings displayed, argent.
There is a CD for adding the secondaries; while there might not
normally be a CD between dormant and couchant, the wing position
suggest that this would be visually distinct.
Bibliography:
Black, George F. TheSurnamesofScotland:TheirOrigin,Meaning,andHistory.
Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd., 1999, 2004 [copyright: The New York Public
Library, 1946].