On behalf of Master Balthazar Tigrerro, White Stag Principal Herald,
I present the following items for your consideration:

On December 27, 2001, a Rampart Meeting was held to consider the Letter of Presentation dated October 5, 2001. In attendance were Countess Anne Aliz de Bâle, Fretty Herald, Earl Cathyn Fitzgerald, Lady Kiena Munro, Lady Alia Marie de Blois, and Gauvain Eisenbein. Letters of comment were received from Master Da’ud ibn Auda, al-Jamal Herald; Master Gawain of Miskbridge, Green Anchor Herald; and the Caer Galen Commenting group which consisted of Baron Louis-Philippe Mitouard, Cat’s Paw Herald Extraordinary, Baronessa Francesca di Pavia, Pursuivant, Regana van Kortrijk, Caer Galen PE, Frederigo de Grenada, and Alisaundre la Coutourière. Here are the decisions from these deliberations.

1. Adriana of Riverhold. New Device. Or, a bend sinister wavy azure between a fir tree couped and a brown house proper.

Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, Incipient Shire of
Her name was registered in December of 1999 via the Outlands.
[al-Jamal] - (Device): “I think that there is no such thing as a "brown house proper". The house is clearly not a log cabin (which is, I believe, post-period in any case), made of logs and therefore properly (if you'll pardon the pun) "brown"). This is pretty clearly a case of attempting to add "brown" to the heraldic palette of colors. Indeed, the original allowance of "brown proper" was because there were in period a few animals (boars, hounds) which appear to have been considered "proper" when brown. I think that to extend this allowance to architecture is overreaching period practice and SCA precedent.”
[Green Anchor] - (Device): “The house looks pretty modern, I fear.”
[Caer Galen] - (Device): “Is there a ‘default’ proper color for houses? If not, as is implied by the use of a modifier ‘Brown’, is there a precedent for allowing proper coloring? Is this not distinct from the cases where an item has more than one ‘proper’ color and so additional adjectives are needed? Also this would seem to be in violation of RfS VIII.4.a: Pictorial Design - Overly pictorial designs may not be registered. … For example, combining a field divided per fess wavy azure and Or with a sun and three triangles Or, as well as a camel and two palm trees proper to depict the Nile Valley would not be acceptable …”


ACTION: Device Returned for improper use of “brown” as a heraldic tincture.

2. Alia Marie de Blois. Device Resubmission. (K) Per pale pean and erminois.

Blaiddwyn, College of
Her name is in submission on the July 30, 2001 Outlands LoI. Her previous device submission, "Gyronny arrondy of eight, argent and purpure, a mullet of eight voided and counterchanged.", was returned from Kingdom on the July 4, 2001 LoR for excessive counterchanging.
[Caer Galen] - (Device): “Thumbs up. No conflicts.”


ACTION: Device Passed.

3. Athanaric Redeye. Change of registered device. Argent, an eye gules, irised argent, and on a chief sable three double-bitted axes argent.

al-Barran, Barony of
His name was registered in June of 1992 via the Outlands. His current device, "Or, an eye gules, irised Or, and on a chief sable three double-bitted axes Or." was registered at the same time as his name and is to be released if this new device is registered.

Device Passed

4. Brennan MacDuffie. New Badge. (Fieldless) A rabbit's head cabossed sable.

al-Barran, Barony of
His name was registered in December of 1998 via the Outlands.
[Green Anchor] - (Badge): “Rabbits have rather rounder eyes than the ones shown here.”
[Caer Galen] - (Badge): “We do not believe that the whatever-it-is looks like a period rabbit. Please redraw.”


ACTION: Badge Passed.

5. Bryndís Rauðkinnr Ragnarsdottir. New Name.

Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, Incipient Shire of
Bryndís is a compound name from the prefix "Bryn", meaning "armour" and "Dís" (Dísar) meaning noble and/or beautiful woman, as found in the web article Nafnasafnið: Icelandic and Heathen names by Haukur Þorgeirsson, http://www.irminsul.org/arc/012ht.html The other two name elements are found in Geirr Bassi. Rauðkinnr is on page 26. Ragnarsdottir is from Ragnarr, page 14, and the instuctions on forming patronymics found on page 17.
[al-Jamal] - (Name): “Bynames (like "red-cheek", here) are not normally capitalized in Norse: Brynd{i'}s rau{dh}kinnr Ragnarsdottir.”
[Green Anchor] - (Name): “The patronymic is spelled "Ragnarsd{o'}ttir", according to Geirr Bassi, p.17. The discussion of adjectival epithets on p.19 seems to indicate that the it should be either "Rau{dth}kinn" or "Rau{dth}kin" here in a feminine name. (I'm not sure which.)”


ACTION: Name Passed as Bryndís rauðkinnr Ragnarsdóttir

6. Cathalan Mac Faolan. New Name.

Hawk's Hollow, Canton of
Cathalán is found in O'C&M, page 47, under its own header spelling. An early name found mostly in the south. Faolán is in O'C&M, page 92, under the heading Fáelán: Faolán. It means "wolf" and is a fairly common early name especially among the royal families of Leinster. There were three kings of Leinster of the name between the seventh and the ninth centuries. Since both the given name and the father's name are in their Gaelic forms, the patronymic particle should be as well, and the father's name should be put in the genitive. This will be sent to Laurel in January as Cathalán mac Faoláin. The genitive form is based on the genetive form of Fáelán found at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/irish100/
[Green Anchor] - (Name): “With an early given name, the modern spelling of "F{a'}el{a'}n" really shouldn't be used.”


ACTION: Name Passed.

7. Colbán the Lutemaker. Name Resubmission (K) and New Device. Gules, on a bowed psaltery between in chief two bows in chevron argent, a fleur-de-lys sable.

Unser Hafen, Barony of
His previous name, Colban Itchfoot the Luthier, was returned on the October 3, 2001 Letter of Response for lack of documentation for "Itchfoot" as a byname element. No documentation was provided for this resubmission at all.
[Green Anchor] - (Name): “His previous submission documented the given name from Mistress Effric's _A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names_, found at http://www.medievalscotlands.org/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.shtml”


ACTION: Name Passed. Device Passed.

8. Conrad von Zollern. Device Resubmission (K). Per pale Or and argent, an eagle displayed facing sinister, on a chief embattled sable two roses argent barbed and seeded proper.

Hawk's Hollow, Canton of
His previous device, "Per pale Or and argent, an eagle displayed facing sinister sable.", is being returned on the 11/01 Letter of Response below. His name has been placed on the 11/17/01 LoI.

ACTION: Device Passed.

9. Darius of Jaxartes. New Badge. Checky sable and argent, a bull's head cabossed gules.

al-Barran, Barony of
His name was registered in March of 1993 via the Outlands.
[Caer Galen] - (Badge): “The Chicago Bulls’ logo looks like a trademarked image and so still makes us queasy but we are not sure whether it is enough to generate a return.”


ACTION: Badge Passed.

10. Diana of Llanberis. Device resubmission (L). Gules, a dextrochere Or semy of hearts gules, the hand maintaining a scepter Or orbed argent.

al-Barran, Barony of
Her name was registered in January of 2001 (via the Outlands). Her previous device submission, "Gules, a dextrochere Or semy of hearts gules, the hand cupped proper maintaining a plate.", was returned in January of 2001 because the hand was depicted edge on. This has been disallowed for arms (see the April 2000 LoAR, p. 18), and the standard references do not show this position for dextrocheres either. The blazon is a little wonky. The hand is argent and so is the ball on the stick, but the stick is Or. The submitter intended the cross to be an artistic detail and it is not important to her. Does it need to be blazoned?
[al-Jamal] - (Device): “I'd not blazon the cross as being an artistic detail. Of greater concern is the fact that the dextrochere appears to be a *sinister* one *aversant*; the default would be a right (dexter) arm, with the fingers of the fist facing the viewer rather than the back of the hand. I do not believe the blazon of the "sceptre" will accurately reproduce the emblazon. "Orbed" usually refers to "eyes", not to balls. An "orb" is indeed a ball, but it is topped with a cross, and doesn't sit at the top of a stick. Nor do I ever remember seeing a scepter with this kind of upper finial. Certainly nothing like the one submitted here appears in *Debrett's Guide to Heraldry and Regalia* (which has photographs of a number of the real thing), or Elvin's *A Dictionary of Heraldry* (plate 35 shows a number of forms of scepters), or Parker's *A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry*. Indeed, it is in Parker that we find a charge which is actually drawn close to the submission here; it is blazoned a *scoop*, and is a unique (and almost certainly post-period) canting charge of Scopham, of Lincolnshire: *Argent, a scoop sable, with water therein wavy purpure, between four leaves in saltire of the second.* Given all this, I believe that the charge as submitted falls afoul of RfS VII.7.a. RfS VII.7.a. requires that "Elements must be recognizable solely from their appearance."”
[Green Anchor] - (Device): “The usual meaning of "orbed" in blazon is in reference to a creature's eyes. An "orb" on the other hand, is the golden sphere with a cross on top which is held by monarchs at their coronation, and was, the last I looked, not allowed in SCA heraldry. Neither one is meant here and, since a globe isn't the normal termination for a scepter, I'd suggest either blazoning the termination as a plate, or better, changing to a more typical scepter design.”
[Caer Galen] - (Device): “Parker, pg. 520 gives the only depiction of a scepter that we could find (it is not shown in our copies of the PicDic 1ed or 2ed), so we take that as the definitive depiction. Since the drawing in Parker does not show a scepter with a big ball we question whether any blazon will reproduce this depiction.”


ACTION: Device Returned for use of a non-period and unblazonable heraldic object.

11. Drahomira von Augsburg. Device Resubmission (K). Purpure, a unicorn argent armed, crined, unguled, and tailed, on a chief embattled Or two fleurs-de-lys purpure.

Hawk's Hollow, Canton of
Her previous device, "Purpure, a unicorn rampant argent, armed, crined, and unguled Or.", is being returned on the 11/01 Letter of Response below. Her name has been placed on the 11/17/01 LoI.

ACTION: Device Passed.

12. Gauvain Eisenbein. New Name and Device. Per chevron sable and Or honeycombed sable, a chevron argent and in chief two ears of grain slipped and leaved Or.

Blaiddwyn, College of
Gauvain is found in Withycombe, page 127, under the heading Gawain where it is said to be the French form of the name which was "fairly common in the middle ages." Eisenbein is a constructed byname from the German elements "eisen" (iron) and "bein" (leg). The submitter notes that changes to the byname to correct the grammar or make it authentic to 14th/15th century germany are acceptable. He will not accept major changes. He cares most about the meaning.
[Green Anchor] - (Name): “Brechenmacher shows the surname on p.I:392, dating it to 1294, one Joh. Ysemben, from Hamburg.”
[al-Jamal] - (Device): “"Note that, as of this meeting, we are declaring the non-medieval field treatment of honeycombing to be a 'weirdness.'" (Elsbeth Anne Roth, LoAR June 1999, p. 1)”


ACTION: Name Passed. Device Passed.

13. Gonter van Kortrike. New Device. Sable, a talbot's head erased contourny, issuant from chief a label throughout Or.

Caer Galen, Shire of
His name was registered in July of 2001 via the Outlands.
[al-Jamal] - (Device): “The label "issuant from chief ... throughout" looks like a weird form of embattled chief and not a label. RfS VII.7.a. requires that "Elements must be recognizable solely from their appearance."”
[Green Anchor] - (Device): “I don't think a label issuant from chief is a label at all, but rather an odd chief. I'd blazon it so, and suggest drawing it more conventionally.”


ACTION: Device Pended for a redraw. When it is redrawn, I will send it directly to Laurel.

14. Gwladyse verch Bertram. New Name and Device. Sable, a dragon couchant regardant Or, on a chief engrailed argent three gouttes-de-sang.

Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, Incipient Shire of
Gwladyse is documented using the web article A Simple Guide to Constructing 16th Century Welsh Names (in English Contexts) by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn (Heather Rose Jones) copyright 1996, http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/welsh16.html under the heading Women's Names. Bertram is found in Withycombe, page 49, under the heading Bertram, dated to use in England from the 12th century.
[Green Anchor] - (Name): “The rule is that two-language names are allowed, but not two-language name elements. Unless someone can come up with a citation of this English name being used with "ferch", it should be dropped, or the father's name replaced with a Welsh one.”
[Caer Galen] - (Name): “Withycombe p. 135 gives Gwladys but does not list a form with the terminal ‘e’; same for Gruffudd, pg. 52.”
[Green Anchor] - (Device): “I'd expect a couchant or dormant creature to have its wings folded, so this one needs to be blazoned as "wings inverted and addorsed". Nitpick: "reguardant" normally means "looking to the rear" while this fellow seems to be looking upward.”


ACTION: NamePassed. Device Passed.

15. Jacques of Pickering. Device Resubmission (K). Quarterly sable and Or, a turtle counterchanged.

Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, Incipient Shire of
Her name was registered in July of 1999 via the Outlands. I still do not have the Rampart files and the local herald has not yet gotten back to me on what her previous submissions were, so I cannot list them here. I know they occured because I was Rampart at the time.

Device Passed.

16. Jethro Stiller. New Name and Device. Azure, a pale bevilled, in dexter three fish naiant contourny in pale Or.

Caer Galen, Shire of
"Jethro" is a name from the Bible, as found in Exodus 4:18. Withycombe has it on page 176. Jethro (m.): Hebrew 'abundance', 'excellence'. Used as a Christian name after the Reformation. "Stiller" is found in Reaney and Wilson, page 427. All it says is that it has an "Identical meaning with STILL (ii).", which is "This may be for STILE, with a shortened vowel, but there seems to have been an OE stiell, still 'place for catching fish' or 'trap for wild animals', found in Stildon (Worcs). Hence, a name for a fisherman or trapper. V. MELS 200." John atte Stille 1372, 1332; Reginald atte Stylle 1333.
[Caer Galen] - (Name): “Although it was not noted in the LoPR, Adrian Room gives the name Jethro as being used in the ‘16th Century’.”


ACTION: Name Passed. Device Passed.

17. Justinian the Gentle. New Name and Device. Or, an elephant rampant trumpeting azure armed argent, on a chief enarched and invected azure a crescent between two musical notes argent.

Unser Hafen, Barony of
Justinian is found in Withycombe, page 185, under its own header spelling. It was the name of a 6th century Emperor and also a 6th century Welsh Saint, the confessor of St. David. Occasionally used as a christian name. An early example is Justinian Baldwin, a Westminster scholar in 1567. "The Gentle" is a descriptive byname which has been registered in the SCA a dozen times as recently as April 2000. No documentation was provided.
[al-Jamal] - (Device): “"With _very_ rare exceptions (e.g. in combination with enarched lines), the use of two or more complex lines on the same charge is confusing, and unattested in period armory. (Wavy raguly? Embattled rayonny? I think not.) In this case, the chief could be either embattled or triangular --- but not both." (Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme, LoAR December 1992, pg. 20) By this standard, the proposal here is probably acceptable.”
[Green Anchor] - (Device): “The elephant needs to redrawn properly rampant. (Not that any real-world elephant could possibly get into such a posture.) These modern musical notes should be replaced by period ones. Wasn't there a discussion about this in a recent LoAR?”


ACTION: Name Passed. Device Passed as “Or, an elephant rampant azure armed argent, on a chief enarched and invected azure a crescent between two musical notes argent.”

18. Kolfinna Knýtir. New Device. Per chevron azure and vert, a chevron between two crochet hooks in chevron and an alg's head cabossed Or.

Unser Hafen, Barony of
Her name was sent to Laurel on the October 17 Outlands LoI.
[Green Anchor] - (Device): “I'm totally ignorant on the matter: are these period-style crochet hooks? Is there such a thing as a period crochet hook? Can't find any reference to an "alg". Did find an entry for an "alce" in Denys' _The Heraldic Imagination_, on p.146, where he quotes James Bossewell's _Works of Armorie_, who describes it as "a wilde Beaste in the woods of Germany, in fashion and skinne like to a fallowe Deere, but greater, and hath no joints in his legges". Denys says it's a real animal, but does have joints in its legs. The accompanying drawing, said to be redrawn from Bossewell's book, shows it with a head not really distinguishable from that of a stag. What the client has drawn looks more like a European elk, which is a close relative of the American moose.”
[Caer Galen] - (Device): “Blazon fu: ‘Alg’ is a perhaps apt but rather obscure term for a moose or elk. We would blazon this ‘an elk’. Also, this emblazon looks rather like a particular - Bullwinkle J. - moose”


ACTION: Device Passed.

19. Meenakshi Singh. Name Resubmission (L).

Caer Galen, Shire of
Her previous name submission, "Margaret Singh", was returned from Laurel on the February 2001 LoAR: "As we wrote in the July 2000 LoAR, "While we allow real-world name elements in SCA names without further documentation, this is restricted to cases where "such elements are not excessively obtrusive." Combining a Gaelic Irish given name with what appears to be a non-European surname falls afoul of this restriction." Combining an English given name with a Hindi byname is no less obtrusive." The client documents "Meenakshi" using two websites and a baby name book. The first website is the History of Madurai, http://www.madurai.com/history.htm "Among Nayaks, Thirumalai Nayak (1623-1659) was very popular, even now he is popular among people, since, it was he who contributed to the creation of many magnificent structures in and around Madurai. The Raja Gopuram of the Meenakshi Amman Temple, The Pudu Mandapam and The Thirumalai Nayakar's Palace are living monuments to his artistic fervor." The second website is The Meenakshi Temple http://www.madurai.com/meena.htm "The sculptures on the pillars here relate some of Lord Shiva's Thiruvilayadals (miracles) and also the story of Meenakshi's birth and her life as the princess of Madurai." The book is titled What's In Your Name? Indian Baby Names And Their Roots by Vimla, Naishadh, and Prabhakar Patil, Business Publications Inc., 1999. In the prologue, page 7, it says "The convention of naming the individual has its roots in the remote past-the Vedic and even the pre-Vedic era. The non-Aryan natives based their personal names on those of their deities or religious traditions," Under the heading "Indian Names for Girls" on page 352, we find "Meenakshi - Meen{a-}kshee With eyes like fish (A daughter of Kuber). The client documents "Singh" using Costumes of the Rulers of Mewar (With Patterns and Construction Techniques) by Pushpa Rani Mathur, abhinav publications. Illustration #19 is of Pratap Singh 1572-1597 A.D. Illustration #20 is Rana Amar Singh I 1597-1620 A.D. Her device submission, "Or, a peacock in its pride proper on a chief gules a natural leopard passant Or spotted sable.", was registered under the holding name Margaret of the Outlands on the August 2001 LoAR.

ACTION: Name Passed.

20. Outlands, Kingdom of the New Heraldic Title. Gold Trumpet Herald Extraordinary.



ACTION: Name Passed.

21. Qara Gan. New Name and Device. Quarterly ermine and azure, a roundel counterchanged.

Fontaine Dans Sable, Shire of
Both name elements are documented from the web article On the Documentation and Construction of Period Mongolian Names by Baras-aghur Naran, http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/baras-aghur/mongolian.html "Qara" is found under the list of colours, meaning "black". "Gan" is found under Common Name Elements from Other Sources, meaning "steel". One of the means of Mongolian name construction listed in the article is Name+Name. "Period names of the n+n pattern are combined of two elements, both of which can stand on their own. The exception to this are names of this pattern that consist of a given name and and epithet. Examples of these are Al Altan (crimson gold), Qori Buqa (twenty bulls), and Mongke Temur (eternal iron)." From Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy, Brickbat Herald, "Qara (Khara) Gan is a very cool Mongol name. It follows the period practice of usually two element, a noun and its modifier. The name also fits into several of the categories commonly used in constructing a period Mongol name, as seen in Sechen Jagchid's "Mongolia's Culture and Society," a name that represents characteristics of strength, durability or physical value; one that is associated with metal tools and weaponry; and one that is derived from a color. Run, run like the wind with it!" I proposed to the client that the given name is often translated as "Khara". He would prefer to stay with Qara.
[Caer Galen] - (Name & Device): “no conflicts found.”


ACTION: Name Passed. Device Passed.

22. Tavia of Persia. New Name and Device. Azure, a simurgh argent.

Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, Incipient Shire of
Tavia is the submitter's legal name. A copy of her Colorado driver's license was included. No documentation was provided for the byname.
[Caer Galen] - (Device): “One notes that the Persian throne was called the ‘Peacock Throne’, but we cannot show that Peacocks were reserved to the Persian royalty.”


ACTION: Name Passed. Device Passed.

23. Thomas de Cherbourg. New Name and Device. Sable, a bend sinister gules fimbriated argent between a Latin cross and a fleur-de-lys Or.

al-Barran, Barony of
Thomas is found in Withycombe, pp 279-281. Thomas is found in England before the Norman Invasion only as a priest's name, but with the advent of the Normans it soon came into general use. Cherbourg is a sea port in the NW peninsula of Normandy in France.
[Green Anchor] - (Name): “Surprisingly, in Reaney's OES list of names from French places, Cherbourg is absent. It makes me wonder if the place was founded later, especially when I don't find it in Dauzat either. Don't have any easy way of checking, though.”
[al-Jamal] - (Device): “Conflict with Elaine of Wogen Cavern, *Sable, a bend sinister gules fimbriated Or, between a mullet and a pegasus rampant to sinister Or*. There is a CD for the change to the type of the secondary charges, but nothing for the change in the tincture of the fimbriation.”


ACTION: Name Passed. Device Returned for conflict with Elaine of Wogen Cavern, “Sable, a bend sinister gules fimbriated Or, between a mullet and a pegasus rampant to sinister Or”

24. Þórdís gjallandi eyverska. New Name.

Fontaine Dans Sable, Shire of
Þórdís is found in a web article called Viking Names found in the Landnámabók by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann), © 1998. http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/landnamabok.htm Gjallandi, meaning "shrieking", and eyverska, meaning "woman from the Orkney Islands", both come from a web article called Viking Bynames found in the Landnámabók by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann), © 1999. http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/vikbynames.htm
[Green Anchor] - (Name): “It's relatively uncommon for an Old Norse name not to include a patronymic, but to have two epithets with no patronymic seems to be a weirdness at the least.”


ACTION: Name Passed.

Anyone who wants to may send me a letter of comment by e-mail regarding this Letter of Presentation.
Please have your commentary on this letter to me by the end of December.

Please send commentary to: musimon@netzero.net