Greetings from Garnet and Cornelian,
We would very much like to thank those who commented on these items: Aryanhwy merch Catmael, The Heronter Heralds Commenting Group, and Myfanwy ferch Rhiannon!
The items accepted on this letter have been forwarded to Laurel for further consideration, where we expect they will be decided on in March of 2007.
1.
Ceara Cháomhanach – New Name
(kingdom resub) Accepted, New Device (kingdom resub) returned
Argent,
a rose purpure barbed vert seeded Or, in chief three crosses
flory azure.
The device conflicts with Alyanora of Vinca, Argent, a periwinkle (Vince minor) proper (2/1975 West). As Albion states, “Periwinkles conflict with roses, and precedent from 06/1990 and 09/1996 says that Alyanora's periwinkle conflicts with both purpure roses and azure roses.”
2.
Desiderata Drake – New Device
(kingdom resub) Accepted
Azure, a goose and on a chief wavy argent two ducks naiant azure.
3.
Eithne ingen Muirgen – New
Name Accepted, New Device Returned
Papellonny
vert and argent, a red vixen proper sejant guardant charged
on its forehead with a crescent argent.
The device has several
problems. The fox is drawn with its body in trian aspect, which is
disallowed
in SCA heraldry. The body should be in profile by default. By default,
the tail
on a sejant animal should be raised upward behind the beast. It may be
bent
below the beast, but would then be blazoned “tail sufflexed”.
Commenters also remarked
that the crescent on the fox’s forehead is so small as to appear to be
natural
markings on the fox. We strongly suspect that a crescent, drawn small
enough to
fit on the forehead of the animal would be too small to count for
difference.
If this were the case, this device would conflict with Gregoire Reynard
de
Bourgogne (reg. 08/1978), Per chevron, barry wavy of ten Or and
azure, and
argent, a red fox sejant proper.
The need for redrawing, combined with the likelihood of a return for conflict leads us to return this item for further work.
4. Emilia Benitez – Change of Name from Emilia O'Madigan Accepted
5.
Rhydderich Hael, Barony of the
– New Order Name: Order of the Dragons Combattant Pended, New Order
Badge
Returned
Per
pale vert and sable, two dragons combatant Or.
The badge conflicts with Damhnait of the Cleftlands
(April/1998,
Middle), Azure, two dragons combattant Or, with one CD for the
field.
Order names must follow the construction patterns of documentable period order names. Looking at the orders listed in the Project Ordensnamen, by Meradudd Cethin at [http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order/], we found the following as the only examples given for the combination of an adjective and a creature:
Defeated Dragon -
1418, Hungary
(adjective + creature)
Dragon Overthrown – 1418, Hungary /
AKA Defeated Dragon (creature +
adjective)
Albion informs us that both these names are modern in usage, and that the period name of the order was simply “The Order of the Dragon”. Without evidence of a period order name that includes a heraldic posture as a modifier, we fear the name may be unregisterable.
A very few SCA order names have been registered that use the term combattant:
Maison du Chat Combattant - August of 1991 (Calontir).
Order of the Combattant Moose - July of 1993 (Atenveldt).
Order of the Combattant Rams - October of 1997 (Meridies), transferred to the Principality of Gleann Abhann, in September of 1998 (Meridies).
Tygers Combattant, Order of the - August of 1979 (East).
However, previous registration does not guarantee current registerability. For further guidance, we look to the cover letter of the August 2005 LoAR, which includes a lengthy discussion of order name patterns. Among the meta-patterns deemed registerable is the pattern of orders named after heraldic charges. Only one type of modifier is discussed in combination with heraldic-charge name orders, that of colors. The letter specifically allows heraldic colors to be used as modifiers of heraldic charges, provided that those colors are expressed with their ordinary names, rather than as heraldic tinctures:
This does not
overturn the precedent disallowing the registration of Orders of the
form heraldic
tincture name + object in English, since we have no
examples of
English order names that use heraldic tincture names. So, for example,
while
the Order of the Green Lion would be held to follow
demonstrated
patterns, Order of the Lion Vert or Order of the Vert Lion
would
not.
No mention is made of heraldic postures. It’s possible that the restrictions placed upon color modifiers would also apply to posture modifiers, that is to say, that the class of “heraldic posture” as a type of modifier would need to be demonstrated in period usage, and that usage of a heraldic term, rather than an ordinary term (such as “fighting”) would also need to be demonstrated.
We would be willing to send the name forward as a test case, but because the name is tied so closely to the badge, which itself must be returned for conflict, we think it best to pend the name, so that the submitters may fully consider its possible problems while redesigning the badge.
6.
Robert l’Etourdi – New Name
Accepted, New Device Returned
Vert,
six bezants one, two and three and a bordure Or.
The device conflicts with both Nigel the Byzantine (10/1995, Caid), Purpure bezanty and a bordure Or, and with Hró{th}geirr Hróaldsson (12/2003, West), Vert, semy of roundels and a gore Or.
RfS X.4.f says "Six and higher numbers, including
seme of charges,
are not significantly different from each other." There is no CD for
the
arrangement of the charges because it is caused by the change in the
number.
Dropping the bordure would bring this in to conflict with Cornwall (reg. 12/1994 via Laurel), Sable bezanty.
7.
Snæbj{o,}rn Hákonarson– New
Device Accepted
Per
pale wavy Or and gules, a wolf and a bear combattant
counterchanged.
The blazon was revised in response to commentary.
8.
Tristan Gueguen de Rohan – New
Name Accepted, New Device Accepted
Gules,
a stag springing and in chief three holly leaves bendwise argent
all within a bordure ermine.
The blazon was revised in response to commentary.
9.
Uesugi Kutarou Ietoyo – New
Name Pended, New Device Withdrawn
Vert,
three dragonflies argent.
The submitter’s originally intended device design, Vert, three dragonflies in pall inverted tails to center argent, has already appeared on Internal Letter of Intent AE100 dated November 1, 2006, and replaced this erroneous design. We have pended the name so that the name and device, if accepted, may travel together to Laurel.
This concludes our Letter of Report Æ 99 dated November 22, 2006.