Below are the results of the March 2003 Letter of Acceptance and Return from
the Laurel King of Arms. This website is not authoritative, but is an accurate
reproduction of the relevant text of the March LoAR.
November 2002 Letter of Intent
Return to the Rampart home page.
Cover Letter (excerpt)
From Wreath: Period Rolls of Arms and Armorials
One of the best ways to learn about heraldry and heraldic art is to look at
rolls of arms and armorials. These documents were compiled by heralds, who
drew the heraldry that they saw around them. Thus, period rolls of arms and
armorials are excellent sources for "getting a feeling for" period
heraldry and heraldic art, either by visual immersion or by logical analysis.
It is important to realize the limitations of most heraldic books and Web
sites when trying to learn about period heraldic style. Many heraldry sources
discuss individual heraldic elements (such as tinctures or charges) but do
not provide any guidelines about how to combine these elements so that the
heraldry is appropriate for a particular time and place. A look at a roll of
arms or armorial from that time and place will help answer these questions.
In addition, one cannot truly understand period heraldry without seeing period
heraldic art. Any person who would like his shield, scroll, or encampment to
be decorated in the style of a particular place and time needs to see appropriate
heraldic art. A good facsimile of an appropriate roll of arms or armorial will
provide that artwork. It is important to be careful to look for a "good" facsimile,
particularly when doing research on the Internet. A growing number of Web sites
claim to represent a period roll of arms or armorial but use modern heraldic
clip art. These sites are poor substitutes for the original artwork.
It is not always easy to find good facsimiles of period armorials and rolls
of arms. So, in order to help with the search, the next two sections of this
article describe some selected sources that are available, and some places
where you might be able to find these (and other) sources.
What are some good books or Web sites about period rolls of arms?
The sources in this list are only a small subset of the sources available
in libraries or bookstores. Each of the sources on this list has the following
characteristics (except as noted below):
- It includes a good reproduction of the original heraldic art for an entire
roll of arms.
- It contains explanatory text including at a minimum blazons, an armorial
(or other name index) and scholarly description.
- It is in print, or is frequently available as a used book.
Because this article includes a focus on period heraldic artwork, it does
not discuss the many valuable books that describe the contents of one or more
period rolls of arms only through blazon.
Some of the books mentioned below are not in English, which is no surprise
considering that French may be the premier language for heraldic studies today.
Luckily, the grammar / word order of blazon is fairly standard across European
languages, so it is not difficult to translate a blazon in an unfamiliar language.
A good guide to translating blazon between various European languages (English,
French, German, Spanish, Italian and Dutch) may be found at http://www.heraldica.org/topics/glossary/.
This article intentionally does not include Joseph Foster's The Dictionary
of Heraldry in the list below, because this book does not reliably provide
a good reproduction of the original artwork. Foster would often read a blazon-only
roll of arms and create his own illustrations.
- Armorial Gelre is a personal favorite, because it includes armory from
all over Europe and has excellent heraldic art. This armorial was compiled
between
1370 and 1414. It contains some 1700 coats of arms (and some crests) from
almost the entirety of Europe. The following edition has black and white
photographs
and explanatory text in French: P. Adam-Even, annotator, Gelre (Jan von
Helmont, Leuven, 1992, ISBN 90-74318-03-7).
- Zuricher Wappenrolle is a 14th C Swiss/German roll of arms known from later
copies, with about 450 coats of arms and some additional armory depicted
on standards. A color facsimile with explanatory text in English or in German
is available on a Web site: http://ladyivanor.knownworldweb.com/zroaen0.htm.
Print editions have also been published, one (with black and white redrawings
and explanatory text in French) from Leopard d'Or.
- Scots Roll is a Scottish roll from the 15th C with 114 coats of arms. The
following edition is available from the publisher at a bargain price, and
it includes color photographs and explanatory text in English: Colin Campbell,
The Scots Roll (The Heraldry Society of Scotland, Scotland, 1995, ISBN
0 9525258
0 1).
- Siebmacher's Wappenbuch is an armorial from 1605 covering Germany and neighboring
areas. It has 3400 coats of arms with associated crests. The edition described
here does not have blazons but it does have a name index. It has been going
in and out of print about every five years, with the most recent edition
in 1999, and is often available at a very low price. The 1994 and 1989 editions
are effectively identical to the 1999 edition: Johann Siebmachers Wappenbuch
von 1605 (Harenburg Komm., Dortmund, 1999, ISBN: 357210050X).
- Anglo-Norman Armory and Anglo-Norman Armory Two discuss 13th C Anglo-Norman
armory. They are written in English. The first book contains a discussion
of 13th C armory. It also contains a black and white photograph of the entire
Herald's Roll (Fitzwilliam version), along with explanatory text. The Herald's
Roll (Fitzwilliam version) contains roughly 700 coats of arms. Anglo-Norman
Armory Two is an ordinary to twenty-five rolls of arms compiled from 1250
to
1315, covering 3000 coats of arms. The artwork in the second volume is
modern. The volumes are Cecil Humphery-Smith, Anglo-Norman Armory (Family
History,
Canterbury, 1973, ISBN 0-9504879-2-9), and Cecil Humphery-Smith, Anglo-Norman
Armory Two (Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, Canterbury,
1984, ISBN 0-9504879-8-8).
- Armorial Bellenville is a late 14th C armorial with about 1700 coats of
arms and some crests. It covers much of Europe, and it has a high degree
of overlap
with the armory in Armorial Gelre. The older edition (still apparently in
print) is a black and white tricked redrawing that includes French explanatory
text
and an ordinary: Léon Jéquier, Armorial Bellenville (Cahiers
d'Heraldique V) (Le Leopard d'Or, Paris, 1983, ISBN 2-86377-029-2). The newer
(limited) edition will include a color photograph volume and an accompanying
explanatory volume in French. It is forthcoming from Editions du Gui in February
2004, with a pre-publication price available through October 31, 2003.
- Grand Armorial Equestre de la Toison d'Or is a 15th C armorial covering
most of Europe, with a concentration on the continent. It contains over 1000
coats
of arms and some fine heraldic equestrian figures. The quality of the heraldic
art in this roll is very high. There are two editions that are readily
available. The older edition is a black and white redrawing with explanatory
text in English:
Rosemary Pinches and Anthony Wood, A European Armorial (Heraldry Today,
London, 1971, ISBN 0 900455 13 6). The newer (limited) edition has a color
photograph
volume with an accompanying explanatory volume in French: M. Pastoureau
and M. Popoff, Grand armorial equestre de la Toison d'Or (Editions du Gui,
Paris,
2001).
- Libro de Armeria del Reino de Navarra is a 16th C Navarrese roll containing
over 700 coats of arms. It includes a color reproduction of the roll with
explanatory text in Spanish. One edition is from 1974: Faustino Menendez
Pidal, Libro de
Armería del Reino de Navarra (Editorial La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca,
Bilbao, 1974, ISBN 84-248-0119-9). A new edition of the book appears to be
on sale from the government of Navarre, according to their Web site, with a
new second editor: Faustino Menendez Pidal and Juan José Martinena Ruiz,
Libro de Armería del Reino de Navarra (Gobierno de Navarra. Dpto. de
Educación y Cultura, 2002, ISBN 84-235-2166-4).
- Stemmi depicts heraldic art, which performs a function similar to that
of a roll of arms. This book describes 176 armorial bas relief plaques in
the
courtyard of the Bargello museum in Florence, Italy. The arms belonged
to the individuals holding the position of Podesta at the Bargello between
1313 and
1557. The heraldic art is excellent, and often includes crests and supporters.
For each plaque, the book provides a black and white photograph, some information
about the Podesta, and the name of the artist (in Italian). The book also
has a scholarly introduction. The blazons are accurate when describing the
charges
but may not be accurate for tincture, as the pigments have mostly worn
off the plaques. (In some cases, the blazon in the book gives the same tincture
for a charge and the field or other charge on which it lies.) Unlike a
roll
of arms, where all the artwork was done in a short period of time, these
plaques were roughly contemporary with the arms that they depict, and thus
they survey
over 200 years of Tuscan heraldic art: Francesca Fumi Cambi Gado, Stemmi (Firenze, 1993, no ISBN). The museum's publication Web site is http://www.sbas.firenze.it/musei/bargello/barg04.html.
- The Balliol Roll is a 14th C roll containing 36 Scottish coats of arms,
which was probably compiled by (or for) an Englishman. A color photograph
of the
one-page roll is included. The explanatory text is in English and also
includes historical and genealogical information about the people in the
roll: Bruce
A. McAndrew, The Balliol Roll (New England Historic Genealogical Society,
Boston, 2002, no ISBN).
- Traité d'Heraldique is not a facsimile roll of arms, but an excellent
discussion of heraldry (in French), with a particular focus on heraldry from
the 13th to 15th C. It addresses some questions about frequency of use of charges
and tinctures in various countries by providing statistics. The illustrations
include good black and white photos and redrawings of period heraldry. This
book appears to have recently gone out of print but was widely available in
bookstores through 2001 and is still available new or used in some bookstores:
Michel Pastoureau, Traité d'Héraldique (second edition, Picard,
Paris 1993, ISBN 2-7084-0413-X; ISSN 0242-7249).
Where can you find period rolls of arms and armorials?
Libraries: Most heraldic books can be obtained via inter-library loan if you
have their publication information. You may also consider seeing whether your
local librarian or academic librarian would be willing to order books on rolls
of arms for their library. It may be helpful to remind your librarian that
these books are both of historical and artistic interest.
Web Sites: Most Web sites are poor sources for period rolls of arms. As noted
above, most Web sites do not use period heraldic art. For example, http://www.heraldique-europeenne.org/Armoriaux/index.html
uses modern heraldic clip art and geometric stylizations in its depictions
of period rolls of arms, giving a very modern appearance to these coats of
arms. Other Web sites include some period artwork but are not always clear
about the date of the artwork. For example, the International Civic Arms site
(http://www.ngw.nl/indexgb.htm) gives dates for when the civic heraldry was
originally granted, and will sometimes date an illustration. However, the International
Civic Arms site does not always date its illustrations, and the illustrations
may significantly post-date the date of the grant. This observation is not
a criticism of the site; it just reflects the purpose of the site. If a city
has used the same coat of arms since they were granted in the 14th C, and the
Web site designer chooses to illustrate that coat of arms with a 19th C drawing,
the illustration is still an accurate depiction of that city's arms. But it
doesn't help an SCA artist gain an understanding of 14th C heraldic art.
Stores and Publishers: No formal endorsement of these stores or publishers
is implied by the following list. Neither the SCA Sovereigns of Arms nor Laurel
Clerk are employed in any capacity by these stores or publishers.
- Used Book Web sites: Some used book Web sites are http://www.abebooks.com/ and Amazon's used books (was http://www.bibliofind.com/).
- The Amazon empire: Amazon has a good selection of heraldry books in print,
even from smaller publishers like Leopard d'Or. Don't forget to check all
the countries, particularly http://www.amazon.co.uk/ (Great Britain), http://www.amazon.fr/ (France) and http://www.amazon.de/ (Germany).
- Heraldry Today: This is an English new and used bookstore with a huge selection.
They will maintain a "want list" for books that are not currently
in stock and will notify you when the book is in stock. Their Web site only
shows a small selection of their stock; if you want to know if they have
a book in stock, you should send them a letter or e-mail and inquire: http://www.heraldrytoday.co.uk/,
heraldry@heraldrytoday.co.uk, or Heraldry Today, Parliament Piece, Ramsbury,
Wiltshire, SN8 2QH, U.K.
- Auction Websites: Ebay and similar sites have both new and used books.
- Publishers: Sometimes it is desirable to order books directly from the
publisher, rather than going through a bookstore. Some noteworthy small specialty
publishers
are:
- Leopard d'Or: These are French publishers of facsimile documents and
heraldic articles. Their publications include a number of small rolls
of arms with
black and white redrawn artwork and French explanatory text, such as
the Armorial
Lalaing and the Armorial des Rois de l'épinette de Lille. They also
have some blazon-only editions of period rolls of arms. Their works are readily
available in French bookstores. Their contact information is: 8 rue Ducoüedic
- 75014 PARIS France - Tél. : 01 43 27 57 98, Fax: 01 43 21 40
03.
- Heraldry Society of Scotland: The Society publishes some good sources
on period heraldry, including the Scots Roll and a good pamphlet on medieval
flags: http://www.heraldry-scotland.co.uk/Homepage.htm,
or Mrs E. Sharp, THE HERALDRY SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND, 44 Seaview Terrace,
EDINBURGH, EH15 2HE, Great Britain.
- Editions du Gui: These are French publishers of high-quality limited
edition facsimile documents: http://www.editions-du-gui.fr/ or Editions
du
Gui, Z.A. les marais-1079, route d'Annecy, 74410 SAINT-JORIOZ, FRANCE.
- Casa Editrice Orsini de Marzo: These are Italian publishers of high-quality
limited edition facsimile documents: http://www.orsinidemarzo.com/index.asp or Casa Editrice Orsini de Marzo, Via Cernaia 11-I-20210 Milano
MI, Italy.
ACCEPTANCES
- Æthelind of Erbystok. Name change from holding name Æthelind
of Hawk's Hollow.
- Submitted as Aethelind of Erbystok, the submitter requested
authenticity for 13th C Welsh/English and allowed minor changes. The only
documentation provided for the submitted Aethelind was the statement on her
form "Aethelind
- Withycombe p.3 - Innes Compilation of 1992."
Andreanna Innes's An Index of Given Names Contained in The Oxford Dictionary
of English Christian Names by E. G. Withycombe lists Aethelind as a name
found under Ethelinda. However, Withycombe (p. 109 s.n. Ethelinda) shows Æthelind,
not Aethelind. The conversion from Æ to Ae is a modern editorial convention
used when it is not possible to use the character Æ. As no evidence
was found to support Aethelind as a period form of Æthelind, it is
not registerable. We have changed the given name in this submission to the
form Æthelind in order to register this name.
By the submitter's desired
time period, the Old English form Æthelind
was replaced by a Middle English form of this name such as Athelyna, which
Withycombe (p. 109 s.n. Ethelinda) dates to 1346. However, Old English and
Middle English are sufficiently different in enough ways (including appearance)
that they count as different languages. As the submitter does not allow major
changes, and changing the language of an element is considered a major change,
we have registered this name using the Old English Æthelind rather
than the Middle English Athelyna.
- Christiana de Montford. Name (see PENDS for device).
Eigan of Black Diamond. Name and device. Sable, an amphora and on a chief Or
three lozenges sable.
- Submitted as Eigen of Black Diamond, no documentation was presented and
none was found that Eigen is a plausible variant of the period Welsh name
Eigon. Lacking such evidence, Eigen is not registerable. The submitter indicated
that if Eigen was not registerable, he preferred the variant Eigan found
in Morgan & Morgan (s.n. Eigon). We have made this change.
- Geoffrey fitz Robert. Name change from Harold of Baumaris.
- His previous name, Harold of Baumaris, is released.
- George Woulfryth. Device. Per bend sinister azure and purpure, on a bend
sinister argent three gouttes palewise vert.
Gráinne inghean Chonaill uí Eachadha. Name (see RETURNS for device).
- Submitted as Gráinne inghean Chonaill uí hEachaidh, the submitter requested
authenticity for 15th C Irish. This name means 'Gráinne daughter of Conall
Ó hEachaidh'. In the submitter's desired time period, the genitive form of
her father's byname would have been slightly different. It would have been
Ó hEachadha rather than Ó hEachaidh. We have made this change to meet the
submitter's request for authenticity.
There is one other change that we have
made in order to follow the rules of Gaelic grammar. Bynames, such as Ó hEachadha, that are formed like Ó [name
of eponymous ancestor] have an h prepended to the name of the eponymous ancestor
if that name begins with a vowel. When this byname is used in a woman's byname, Ó (which
is in the nominative case) becomes uí or Uí (which are in the
genitive case). Since the name of the eponymous ancestor now follows uí rather
than Ó, the h is not prepended to it. Therefore, Ó hEachadha
becomes uí Eachadha in this submission. We have made this correction.
- Isabella dell'Edera. Name.
- Listed on the LoI as Isabella Edera, this name was submitted as Isabella
di Edera. The particle di was dropped at Kingdom because di is used in patronymic
bynames in Italian and Edera was documented as an Italian word meaning 'ivy',
not as a given name that could be used in a patronymic byname. In fact, De
Felice, Dizionario dei nomi Italiani (p. 135 s.n. Edera), indicates that
the use of Edera as a given name is modern.
No evidence was presented to show
that Edera was used in a byname in Italian in period or that edera was used
as an Italian word in period. The College
found that edera is the modern Italian word for 'ivy' and that it derives
from the Latin word hedera. Therefore, it is plausible to assume that edera
was a period word in Italian. Fucilla (pp. 76-78, 79-82, 97) shows bynames
derived from the names of flowers, garden vegetables, and other plants. In
these cases, the bynames do not use a particle. While Fucilla lists no surnames
meaning 'ivy', Siren found listings on the Web for people in modern Italy
with the surname dell'Edera, which means 'of the ivy'. Given all of this
information, a byname deriving from Edera is plausible enough as a period
name that it may be registered. We have registered this name using dell'Edera,
because it is a demonstrated surname using Edera and it is closer than Edera
to the appearance and meaning of the originally submitted di Edera.
- Katherine Niemann. Name and device. Per chevron vert and sable, two mullets
of four points and an open book Or.
Meriel of Tay. Device. Argent, a lozenge gules between four roundels two and
two vert all within a bordure gules.
Morgan Railey. Device. Per pall inverted azure vert and Or.
- He has a letter of permission to conflict from Rivka Vladimirovna Rivkina,
Per pall sable, vert and Or.
- Outlands, Kingdom of the. Acceptance of transfer of heraldic title Aspen
Pursuivant from the Kingdom of Atenveldt.
Vladimir Musat. Name and device. Per chevron vert and sable, two Catherine
wheels argent and a badger salient Or.
- The submitter requested authenticity for Romania and allowed minor changes.
Vladimir was documented as Russian. While both Vlad and Vladislav were
found in Aryanhwy merch Catmael's article "Names from the Royal Lines of Moldavia
and Wallachia" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/romanian.html),
the College was unable to find examples of Vladimir used in Romanian in
period. As the submitter only allows minor changes, we were unable to change
Vladimir
to one of the Romanian forms found in Aryanhwy's article in order to make
this name authentic for the submitter's requested culture.
At this time,
it seems reasonable to for a name using both Russian and Romanian elements
to be registerable. However, no one has presented evidence to support
sufficient contact between these two cultures to make such a mix registerable
without a weirdness. Therefore, a name mixing Russian and Romanian is registerable,
but carries a weirdness.
RETURNS
- Gráinne inghean Chonaill uí Eachadha. Device. Argent, a horse
rampant contourny gules crined sable and on a chief azure three trefoils
Or pierced argent.
- The trefoils are drawn with white piercings in the center of the yellow
foil. This has inadequate contrast by RfS VIII.2. A pierced trefoil should
follow the same contrast rules as a trefoil charged with a roundel. Note
that a standard pierced charge would have the tincture of the underlying
charge or field (in this case, the blue chief) as the tincture of the piercing.
Please
advise the submitter to draw the slip of the trefoil thinner. Period trefoils
could have prominent slips, but these slips are so wide that they
could almost be mistaken for another foil. This depiction thus blurs the
ability to clearly identify the charge either as a trefoil or as a quatrefoil.
PENDS (until the October 2003 meeting)
- Christiana de Montford. Device. Per fess indented azure and vert, a cat
couchant guardant and on an open scroll argent three musical notes in bend
sable.
- The tincture of the cat and the scroll were omitted from the blazon. While
one commenter did guess at the correct tinctures and check for conflict,
one commenter's research is not sufficient analysis by the College. This
must therefore be pended for further conflict research.
November 2002 Letter of Intent
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