Last modified: April 2, 2004

Outlands College of Heralds

From the office of the Rampart Herald
Lady Alia Marie de Blois (Lillith Lesanges)
1223 Fruit Ave. NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102
alia@swcp.com - (505) 244-9525

UNTO the members of the College of Heralds of the Kingdom of the Outlands, and all others who generously give of their time and talents in commentary on our Letters of Presentation, upon this 23rd day of August, A.S. XXXVIII (2003 CE), does Lady Alia Marie de Blois, Rampart Herald, send her thanks and those commendations which are appropriately due.

On behalf of Mistress Tatiana Pavlovna Sokolova, White Stag Principal Herald, here are the results of the August Rampart meeting:

This month featured several submissions of the form "Per chevron X and Y, in pale an A and a B". This arrangement tends to lead to a per chevron line of division that is rather low, and sometimes does not properly divide the field into equal portions. Any field division should evenly divide the field, so that there is balance between the portions, particularly in low-contrast situations. Multiple commenters suggested that these devices be returned for their improper field division.

Upon consideration I decided not to. It is sometimes the case that arrangement of charges requires that charges be drawn slightly differently. For example, in "Argent, a chevron between three wombats sable", I would expect the pale to be slightly narrower than in "Argent, a chevron sable". From there, it does not seem to be too far of a stretch to apply the same to the line of division, particularly in a case where there would otherwise be insufficient space for the charge.

I took a quick look at devices submitted and registered via the Outlands in the last few years (ie, what is on the Rampart website, where I could compare emblazon to blazon) which were blazoned as 'Per chevron'. In particular, I point out the registration (with no comment) of the device of Conchenn inghean Brianin (emblazon at: http://www.wombatinfestation.org/rampart/oct01lop/idec01bla.html), and the registration (with a comment to draw the per chevron line higher) of the device of Robartach de Montáin (emblazon at: http://www.wombatinfestation.org/rampart/aug01lop/ioct01bla.html). Based on these, I believe that these will be registrable, likely with the admonition to attempt to draw them "better" (ie, equal portions).

That all said, this is still a problematic arrangement, and I would certainly recommend a "per fess" or "per saltire" division with such an arrangement instead.

Line Emblazon Sheet
Color Emblazon Sheet
May 2003 Letter of Presentation
July 2003 Letter of Intent
November 2003 LoAR Results
Return to the Rampart home page.

The following submissions are found acceptable and will be sent to Laurel for a final determination:

Briana Bronwen Du Bois. Name Resubmission (Kingdom).
As mentioned, the name Briana is (effectively) documented from the LOAR of December 2001, in which Laurel says:
" The first part of the Espejo was translated into English in 1578. The complete title (of the English version) is The mirrour of princely deedes and knighthood: wherein is shewed the worthinesse of the Knight of the Sunne, and his brother Rosicleer, sonnes to the great Emperour Trebetio: with the strange loue of the beautifull and excellent princesse Briana, and the valiant actes of other noble princes and knightes. Now newly translated out of Spanish into our vulgar English tongue, by M.T. Therefore, since Briana is the name of a human character in period literature available in English, the name Briana is registerable as an English feminine given name.
In addition, since we now have evidence that the name Briana was known in period literature and is registerable as such, it no longer needs to be SCA compatible."
There is a possible weirdness for the combination of French and Welsh/SCA-Compatible (‘Du Bois’ and ‘Bronwen’) along with the English first name. However, without any prior precedent on the matter, this is a determination for Laurel to make.
Briana Bronwen Du Bois. Device Resubmission (Kingdom). Azure, a dove displayed and on a point pointed argent a tree blasted and eradicated sable.
(Please see the general comment at the beginning of this Letter.)
In this particular case, one of Rampart's little helpers attempted to "fix" this, by trying to make the bottom portion of the per chevron into a "point pointed". However, a point pointed should be significantly smaller (with the tip lower on the field), so this "fix" doesn't really solve the problem. However, as I can still see where the per chevron line was, I will un-"fix" it and send it on.
Cailte Caitchairn. Name Change from Caoilte Caitchairn.
All commentary received on this name was positive. Mousse it, keep it, it's you.
Caitilín inghean Seáin. New Name.
It is probably worth noting that the URL for the documentation for Caitilín has changed to http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/all.html (it still contains the same information), and that the form documented there is 'Caitilín' (with the accent on the final i). Sean is actually listed in O'C & M's Irish Names as 'Seán' (with an accent on the a), and in the formation of the patronymic with inghean it should be lenited to ‘Seáin’, as noted by Aryanhwy.
Caitilín inghean Seáin. New Device. Per chevron azure and argent, in pale a wolf's head uulant and a dumbek counterchanged.
(Please see the general comment at the beginning of this Letter.)
Citadel of the Southern Pass, Barony of the. Order Name Resubmission (Laurel). Order of Arquites Australis.
Although I might wish for slightly better documentation directly for 'Arquites' (instead of just 'see Sagitarii'), the minimal commentary on this name did not indicate a return. I have asked the College of Arms to assist with this name and help with documentation.
I would note that, based on the documentation, it is possible that the name will be changed to 'Order of Sagitarii Australis'. If this is not acceptable, please let me know.
Elia Stefansdottir. New Name.
The combination of English and Norse combination is a weirdness, meaning that it was an unlikely combination in history. However, it should be registerable.
Elia Stefansdottir. New Device. Per fess azure and vert, a beaver sejant erect contourny Or.
As Master Da’ud and canute commented, beavers do not have a default posture. Therefore this one must be blazoned as: "Per fess azure and vert, a beaver sejant erect contourny Or". This is simply a more accurate way to describe the depiction on the form.
Floriana de Priego. New Name.
Lucas de Caid. New Device. Azure, a chevron and in chief two stag's heads cabossed Or.
The only commentary received upon it is that the chevron should be drawn slightly more steeply. This should not be a bar to registration, but it's worth noting.
Milo Sohnovich. New Name.
Milo Sohnovich. New Device. Per bend sinister sable and gules, three bezants in bend sinister between a crescent pendant and a scimitar bendwise reversed proper.
As Master Da'ud and canute reminded me, in the SCA we (nearly) always begin the blazon of charges with the ones in the center, no matter how large or small they are. Thus, this has been reblazoned as "Per bend sinister sable and gules, three bezants in bend sinister between a crescent pendant and a scimitar bendwise reversed proper". This may, in future emblazons (as done by folks who only see the words and not the picture), result in a depiction where the bezants are drawn larger than either the crescent or the scimitar. If this is unacceptable, please let me know.
Rois inghean Domhnaill. Change of Holding Name from Danette of the Outlands.
There was some concern that this would have aural conflict with Rosie O’Donnell based on the return of Rós O’Donnell in the October 2002 LOAR, but we would like to have Laurel make this decision, as at least one commentor felt that "inghean"may easily be signficantly different from "O'".
Sveinn Grimarsson. New Device. Per chevron vair and Or, in base a raven displayed sable.
(Please see the general comment at the beginning of this Letter.)

The following submissions were not currently acceptable, and are returned for further work:

Cumhal Colach. New Name.
Unfortunately, the dictionary of Celtic Mythology (cited as a reference) does not show this used as a name for a (real) human, only a unique mythological person. As such, it is returned. If at all possible, using a non-mythology-related source to determine a new given name is probably a good idea.
Helena Outlander. Name Change from Helena Orduuelle.
With the combination of a lack of documentation and the commentary of more experienced name heralds that this is not a reasonable period formation, I conclude that, while this is not a reserved name formation, it does not follow any period style.
In period, a person who came from a faraway location, would probably be known as {name} of {actual location name}, whether it was John atte Water (who lives on the other side of town, by the lake), Isabella of Spain (when in Italy), or Margaret of Canterburie (who moved to York). So, a more authentic byname would most likely be derived from an actual place name. A close (yet only "SCA-authentic") alternate possibility might be ‘Helena of the Outlands', but since no changes were allowed, this must be returned. Please feel free to consult with me by email or with any even semi-local herald on potential "remote location" place names.
Marcus Arabis. Name Resubmission(?) (unknown).
The history of this name and device (below) is somewhat shrouded in the mists of time. Last submitted (according to the file I have here) through the Kingdom of Atenveldt in 1982, the only indication of its disposition at that time is a notation on the form "Held WSH". So far, I have been able to determine that no submissions for this name were ever received by the Laurel office, but have not been able to determine what other documents might be held by the submissions herald for Atenveldt.
Marcus is a Roman name found in "Common Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries" (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/byzantine/PLRE_masc_names.html) by Berret Chavez, aka Bardas Xiphias. Back in 1979, Arabis was documented as "a weed-like plant". Nowadays, this is insufficient documentation for this byname, and none of the commentors had any additional documentation. I was able to find information in the online Encylopedia Brittanica about one Phrynichus Arabius, a grammarian and rhetorician who flourished in the 2nd century AD in Bithynia (http://search.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=61351&tocid=0&query=arabius&ct=).
However, as no forms nor documentation were received for the name this time around (recall, back then, name and devices were submitted together on the same form, and additionally, the client thought it might already be registered, so it's understandable), I don't know if this name change (to Arabius instead of Arabis) would be acceptable. If it is acceptable, please resubmit with a name submission form, noting the URLs above for documentation.
Marcus Arabis. Device Resubmission (unknown). Argent, a bend per bend sinister sable and gules, overall a bird migrant azure.
As canute mentions, the direction of the partition of the bend is obscured by the overall charge, making it difficult to tell at a distance that the bend has multiple colors (and how they're divided). Additonally, the extreme stylization of the wings hinders the identifiability of the charge and is not reproducible from the blazon. When resubmitting, please draw this as a more standard "bird" or as one of the various heraldic birds, such as an eagle, falcon, hawk, dove, etc.

Line Emblazon Sheet
Color Emblazon Sheet
August 2003 Letter of Response
August 2003 Letter of Intent
January 2004 LoAR Results
Return to the Rampart home page.