Below are the results of the September 2002 Letter of Acceptance and Return from the Laurel King of Arms. This website is not authoritative, but is an accurate reproduction of the text of the September LoAR.

ACCEPTANCES

Áedán mac Bheathain. Name and device. Gyronny wavy ermine and azure.

Áedán mac Bheathain. Badge. (Fieldless) A demi-cat erect maintaining on its left forearm a targe argent.

The Letter of Intent asked if there was a problem with the combination of this badge and a version of the MacBain surname. Way of Plean and Squire's Scottish Clan and Family Encyclopedia, endorsed by the Convenor of the Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs, gives the MacBain crest as A grey demi-cat-a-mountain salient, on his sinister foreleg a Highland targe gules, and the MacBain badge as A grey demi-cat-a-mountain as in the Crest within a chaplet of boxwood Proper.

In the Cover Letter for the March 1991 LoAR, it was ruled that "It has been decided that we will NOT check for conflicts against mundane crests". Therefore, we need only consider the MacBain badge for possible pretense issues. The removal of the chaplet of boxwood makes it clear that no identity is being presumed.

This badge does not conflict with Thomas Bordeaux, (Fieldless) A demi-lion argent issuant from a cloud Or. There is one CD for fieldlessness and a second CD for removing the co-primary cloud.

Badai Altai. Name and device. Gules, four bear's paw prints in cross bases to center argent.

Submitted as Badai Doghshin Altai, the submitter requested an authentic 12th C Mongol name. The LoI noted that if the name could not be registered with all three submitted elements, the submitter preferred to drop Doghshin.

No documentation was presented and none was found for a Mongol name with two separate bynames. There is a precedent which was discussed in commentary:

[Chinua Al-Naran] Mongols did not as a rule use three-part names. Fortunately, Pennon has pointed out that there is an uncommon but attested pattern of hyphenated names, to which this submission can easily be made to conform. We have taken his suggestion. (Jaelle of Armida, LoAR May 1999, p. 8).

The byname Al-Naran is comprised of two themes, Al 'crimson' and Naran 'sun'. These two meanings can be combined to form the reasonable meaning 'crimson sun'. In the case of the current submission, the bynames Doghshin 'fierce' and Altai 'he who is crimson' are mutually exclusive ideas which could not be combined into a single byname with a plausible meaning.

We have dropped the byname Doghshin, as allowed by the submitter, in order to register this name.

Bruide mac Bruidi. Name and device. Vert, two mallets in saltire argent hafted Or surmounted by a sword proper.

Submitted as Brude mac Bruide, the submitter requested authenticity for 10th to 12th C "Scot or Pict". By this time period, the language spoken by the Scottish/Pictish culture was Scottish Gaelic. Very few Scottish Gaelic records remain from that time period. So, to determine Scottish Gaelic names appropriate for that time period, we often have to rely on Irish Gaelic records of the period. This is possible because the Scottish Gaelic and Irish Gaelic languages were very similar at that time.

In the case of this submission, Brude and Bruide are both nominative forms, documented from records written in the 11th C (in Irish Gaelic) and in the 14th C (in Latin in Scotland) that discussed people who lived earlier than the submitter's desired time period. The nominative form of this name is Bruide in Old Irish Gaelic (c. 700 to c. 900). It is listed in several annals entries, including entry U693.1 of Donnchadh Ó Corráin & Mavis Cournane, "The Annals of Ulster" (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/), which mentions Bruide m. Bili, rex Fortrend. The genitive form of this name in Old Irish Gaelic is Bruidi, as is shown in entry I691.1 of Donnchadh Ó Corráin, ed., "Annals of Inisfallen" (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100004/), which mentions (Bruidi m. Bili), rig Cruithnech. The latest use of Bruide that we have found dates to the 8th or early 9th C. If some form of this name was still in use among the Scottish/Pictish people in the submitter's desired time period, it would have taken a Gaelic form. So the name of a man named Bruide who was the son of a man named Bruide would be Bruide mac Bruidi. We have changed this name to this form to meet the submitter's request for authenticity.

Crestina da Brescia. Name and device. Or, a chevron rompu pean between three fleurs-de-lys sable.

Damiana bint al-Katib. Device. Or, on a pale endorsed gules a cat sejant affronty Or and on a chief gules a Coptic cross Or.

Helena de Orduuelle. Device. Per chevron gules and argent, in base a female centaur passant maintaining a spear and shield sable.

Jutta Ellisifardóttir. Name.

Mór inghean Chathail. Device. Quarterly Or and purpure, a fess counterchanged.

Reynhard Sebastian von Reutte. Name and device. Sable, three chevronels braced Or and on a chief indented argent two compass stars vert.

Rio de Las Animas, Shire of. Branch name and device. Or, on a chevron wavy azure three morions argent and in dexter chief a laurel wreath vert.

Submitted as Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, Shire of, the group allowed registration of Rio de Las Animas, Shire of if Rio de Las Animas Perditas, Shire of was not registerable. This name has previously been returned twice by Laurel, in September of 1997 (as Rio de las Animas, Shire of and in January of 2001 (as Rio de Las Animas Perdidas, Shire of). RfS III.2.b.i "Branch Names", states that "[n]ames of branches must follow the patterns of period place-names." In this submission, evidence has been provided that rivers were named for saints and other objects of veneration (such as Rio de Nombre de Dios 'River of [the] Name of God') in the early Spanish period in the Americas (16th to 17th C). Evidence was also provided that a settlement and a province were, in the same time period, named for river names.

Documentation was also provided for a number of locations in Spain whose names take the form [toponymic element] de Las Animas. It is unclear which of these locations was actually known by their de Las Animas name in period. However, given the number of locations and the fact that naming a location [toponymic element] de Las Animas follows the pattern of naming a location for an object of veneration, it is reasonable to assume that at least some of these locations had these names in period. In these names, Las Animas follows the pattern of naming a location for an object of veneration, since it is almost certainly a reference to the holy day Dia de las Animas (called All Souls' Day in English, celebrated on November 2nd).

Documentation was provided that a confraternity (a lay order) existed in Spain named Cofradias de Las Animas (literally 'Confraternity of the Souls', referring to souls in purgatory) and that this confraternity dated to at least 1564. Documentation was also provided for a brotherhood named Hermanadad del Nino Perdido (literally 'Brotherhood of the Lost Child') that existed in Spain in the 16th C. However, while monastic orders, brotherhoods, and confraternities are suitable models for household or order names, they are not placenames as required for branch names in the RfS. Additionally, evidence that a brotherhood would be named 'of the Lost Child' in Spanish in late period is not support that a river would be named 'of the Lost Souls'.

Lacking evidence that a river name would have included the element Perdidas, we have dropped this element, as the branch allows, in order to register this name.

Had documentation been found supporting the element Perdidas in a river name, a branch name Rio de Las Animas Perdidas would conflict with the current real-world location in the area of this branch. This issue was recently addressed in the precedent:

[T]he name may run afoul of section III.A.9 of the Administrative Handbook: No name or device will be registered to a submitter if it is identical to a name or device used by the submitter for purposes of identification outside of a Society context. Thus, in the present case, we would not have registered Tornio or Torneå, those being the currently used names for the town. The submitted name differs from each of these by one syllable, and that is generally considered sufficient difference for personal names. Again, we see no point in treating place names differently. [Torna, Canton of, LoAR 06/01, A-Drachenwald]

As the river Rio de Las Animas Perdidas is in the same area as this branch, it may not be used as the name of this branch. Removing the element Perdidas clears this conflict.

Rónán Mac Raith. Name and device. Argent, a horse passant per pale gules and azure.

Submitted as Roan Mac Raith, Roan was documented from a translation of "a long geneology listed on pages 136-139 of The History of Ireland by Geoffrey Keating D.D. Volume II, The first book of the history from sect. XV to the end, edited with a translation and notes by Rev. Patrick S. Dinneen, M.A. London, published for the Irish texts society by David Nutt, 1908." The LoI noted that there were no dates in this genealogy and that the submitter noted that if Roan was not registerable, he would accept Rónán. The person mentioned in the cited genealogy appears in the "Annals of the Four Masters", vol. 1, (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005A/) in the byname on Rotheachtaigh, mic Roain in entry M4170.1. This entry number indicates that the date referenced in this entry is approximately 4170 B.C., putting this reference well into legend rather than history. As no other evidence was found for Roan, it is not registerable. We have change the given name to Rónán as the submitter allows in order to register this name.

Mac Raith is a Gaelic masculine given name. Irish Gaelic did not use either unmarked patronymics in period, or double given names. Therefore, the expected patronymic byname based on the given name Mac Raith would be mac Meic Raith in Middle Irish (c. 900 to c. 1200) and mac Mhic Raith in Early Modern Irish (c. 1200 to c. 1700). This is the normal patronymic construction formed from given names that begin in Mac. While these patronymic forms existed for Mac Raith, the byname mac Mhic Raith began to be rendered simply as Mac Raith well within period. Some examples of this trend are shown in the "Annals of the Four Masters", vol. 3, (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005C/) which list Petrus Mac Raith in entry M1243.1 and Niocól Macc Raith in entry M1344.3.

Rosamond de Preston. Device. Gules, a tower between flaunches Or each flaunch charged with a rose proper.

Sorcha MacLeod. Device change. Sable, three wolf's teeth issuant from sinister and a chief argent.

Her previous device, Per bend sinister sable and argent, a wolf's head cabossed and a mullet of eight points counterchanged, is released.

His previous device, Per pale sable and argent, a spiderweb counterchanged, on a chief purpure a scorpion fesswise argent, is retained as a badge.

This submission was pended to consider whether the SCA should protect the version of the arms of Campbell of Argyll that were found through the 16th C, Gyronny argent and sable. This form of the Campbell arms does not appear to be well-known in its own right (under the "arms" school) to most SCA members. General references (heraldic and otherwise) only cite the modern Or and sable form of the armory.

There is some support for protecting the arms under the "man" school, as some of the bearers of the arms in this form are found in some standard references. Archibald Campbell, fifth Earl of Argyll (who lived in the 16th C) has his own listing in the Encyclopædia Britannica as a supporter of Mary Queen of Scots. He and two other 16th C Campbell Earls of Argyll are listed as subentries in the Funk and Wagnalls Encyclopedia under a general entry for the Campbell family.

The consensus of the College was that the combination of the "arms" and "man" school evidence were insufficient to require that the SCA protect the argent and sable form of the Campbell arms as important non-SCA armory. Wulfgar's arms may thus be registered.

RETURNS

Ástrídr Oddsdóttir. Device. Lozengy ermine and vert, two ravens respectant and an orle sable.

Conflict with Ellisif Arngunnardottir, Or, two ravens close respectant sable maintaining between them a crescent gules, all within an orle sable. The crescent in Ellisif's armory is truly maintained, being about half the size of either bird. There is therefore only one CD, for changing the field.

The birds in this submission are drawn as close birds with slightly addorsed wings. They are therefore equivalent to birds close. If the birds were rising, with their wings truly addorsed, there would be a second CD from Ellisif and thus the conflict would be avoided, although other conflicts might be introduced.

Citadel of the Southern Pass, Barony of. Order name The Order of the Archers of Agincourt.

This order name is being returned for presumption. al-Jamal explains:

The real problem I see with this order name is not conflict (though I suspect that Agincourt King of Arms might be a conflict), but presumption. Yes, I know that the Barony has already registered the Order of Thermopylae(September 1988). But here they are not attempting to register the "Order of Agincourt", they want to have the Order of the Archers of Agincourt. And just as they could not register the "Companions of Thermopylae", because of presumption, they should not be able to register the "Archers of Agincourt", as that would at the very least imply that the members were "veterans of that epic battle". The following precedent regarding the registration of the Order of Thermopylae seems apt here:

"As Crescent noted, the modification of the name to drop the 'Companions of' materially lowers the twitch factor since the implication no longer is present that the members of the order are veterans of that epic battle (or even in some way the peers of that gallant, if suicidal, band). However, we were compelled to agree that White Stag's arguments presenting the Order of the Golden Fleece and that of the Annuziada as analogues to support the name do not really apply here and would be even less forceful when applied to the originally submitted name. There is a world of difference between the sort of allusion involved in the Golden Fleece and one parallel to the original submission, which would have had the Burgundians create an Order of the Argonauts. It should also be noted that, as there is no beginning date for our period (although post-Roman personas are distinctly encouraged!), Latin and Greek personas can be and have been registered. In any case, the plausibility of any member of the Society claiming to be a member of a group does not really affect whether we would consider a name presumptuous or offensive: obviously, someone in our period could not be a member of the Ku Klux Klan but we still would not allow the use of that name in any form." (Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane, LoAR September 1988, p. 9).

The name Order of the Companions of Thermopylae had been returned in April 1988 with the comment: "We were compelled to agree with Vesper and the other members of the College who found this name presumptuous."

Further, recent precedent states:

Granted, section VI.3 of the Rules for Submissions addresses only names that unmistakably imply identity with or close relationship to a protected person or literary character. However, it seems appropriate to apply similar standards to personal and non-personal names, and Section VI.4 gives us enough discretion to do so. We would, therefore, return names that unmistakably imply identity with a protected place: for instance, while Londinium does not have its own article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, London is protected and so registering the Roman name for the city would be presumptuous. [Torna, Canton of, LoAR 06/01, A-Drachenwald]

As Agincourt has its own entry in the online edition of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica (http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/), it is protected. Therefore, just as Order of the Companions of Thermopylae was found to be presumptuous in 1988, the current submission falls afoul of the same construction issues (since it unmistakably implies identity with a protected location) and so it is also presumptuous.

Jean Lambert. Name.

This name conflicts with John Lambert (1619-1683), English general and political leader during the English Revolution, who has his own entry in the online Encarta Encyclopedia.