Outlands College of Heralds

27 April 2005

From the Office of White Stag Principal Herald
Lady Sorcha MacLeod (Tammy Ackerson)
whitestag@outlandsheralds.org

UNTO the Outlands College of Heralds, the respected submitters, and all others who by these letters come, upon this 27th day of April 2005, A.S. XXXVII (2005 CE), does Lady Sorcha MacLeod, White Stag Principal Herald, send greetings.

Note: This letter was finally finished and published on 29 May 2005, having been delayed due to a lengthy illness and the resulting backlog. The complementary Letter of Intent was sent on time.  My apologies to the submitters who may have been waiting for notification of their kingdom results.

The following items were sent to Laurel for final determination.

1. Angus Reid MacFarlane. New Name
2. Astriðr Hálfdanardóttir. New Name and Device. Per pale sable and gules, domestic cat rampant guardant, in chief two Norse sun crosses Or
   The original name was returned for several reasons, and they are listed in the December 2004 Letter of Response at: http://rampart.outlandsheralds.org/2004-11-lop/0412-lor.html.  The original device Sable, a domestic cat rampant guardant Or maintaining in its dexter paw a Norse Sun Cross, a bordure embattled argent was also returned in Dec 2004 for multiple conflicts.  Changing the sun cross from one maintained charge to two secondary charges clears all original conflicts.
3. Bloodstone Keep, Canton of. New Branch Name and New Branch Device. Gules, a gryphon segreant argent, in base a laurel wreath Or
   Keep is an SCA compatible branch name element:
   Keep has long been used as part of SCA branch names. The most recent registration is Crossrode Keep, Shire of (registered November 1999 via Ansteorra). This element is effectively regarded as SCA compatible as an element in an English place name. Given the forms in which it has been registered, spellings of the element Keep are registerable both as a separate element (such as Crossrode Keep), and as the final element in a compound place name (such as Northkeep). [Tristan Ravencrest, A-Æthelmearc, 11/2001] [Michael of Ravenskeep, A-Outlands, 07/2002]
   Bloodstone is not well supported by the provided documentation.  There is a Bloodstone Hill listed under a header of the same (Bloodstone Hill, Rum Island, Inverness-shire; 1273 ft.) in the Gazetteer of the British Isles published by John Bartholomew& Son, Ltd., Edinburgh, but it is undated. The documentation includes two citations from a genealogical site: http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/IGI/individual_record.asp?recid=100200106547&lds=1&region=… They are for "Mr. Bloodstone" and "Mrs. Bloodstone," indicate an approximate birth of 1585 and a marriage in 1600, all in Leacroft, Cannock, Stafford, England, and the citations indicate "No additional information is available."  Genealogy sites are not suitable for SCA documentation, since their purposes are not ours - frequently spellings are modernized, for one example of why we cannot rely on genealogy sources for documentation.  Additional citations are provided from a variety of sources, most of them intended to draw parallels between various color+stone, or thing+stone names, the closest of which are from R&W, Blundstone: Robert de Blundeston 1327 SRSf; Nicholas Bluneston 1593 FFHu. However, we find in the May 1993 LoAR:
   Jaren Bloodstone. Name and device. Azure, four swords in cross, points conjoined proper, overall a cartouche gules, fimbriated Or.
   
   Jaren is the submitter's mundane given name. The OED cites bloodstone to 1551; it might refer here to a personal token, or possibly to one who deals in the material (cf. the entries for Jewel, Silver in Reaney DBSII).
   Finding nothing new to support or refute these interpretations, we are sending this up in the hopes that the CoA may offer further insight into the plausibility of this name. If sufficient pattern of place names from ores or gems found in the area can be established, and if it is reasonable to consider "bloodstone" to be a type of gemstone, then this name should be registrable.  
4. Elisant le Chevaler. New Device. Purpure, a horse rampant and on a chief nebuly argent three trefoils sable
   The original submission, Purpure, a horse rampant and on a chief embattled argent, three orchids sable, was returned in kingdom for lack of reproducibility (orchids) and for conflict with Luzia do Valongo, Purpure, a horse salient and a chief embattled argent. The trefoils address the reproducibility issue.  This name appears on the Dec 04 Outlands LoI.  There is also a CD between nebuly and embattled, so this redesign answers the issues. "The line of division on the chief appears halfway between nebuly and dovetailed/embattled, between which there is a CD…" [Elysant atten Oke, R-West, Aug04]
5. Emma Yate. New Name
6. Gabriella de L'orme. New Name
   Gabriella is justified by the presence of the masculine "Gabriel" in an article regarding the crew of Le Cristophe in 1535, found at: http://www.geocities.com/~carignan/E15Christophe.html and linked from S. Gabriel's French name article list.  Required photocopies were not included.  The element de L'orme is found as Delorme and del'orme in Morlet, undated, but the entry says "n. très fréquent, var. région," which I take to mean "very frequent, in various regions."
7. Helga Tynker. New Device. Argent, a cauldron sable and on a chief gules five hearts argent
   Originally blazoned Argent, a cauldron sable, on a bordure gules, five hearts argent, the emblazon depicts a chief, and the blazon has been corrected to reflect that.  The original submission, Vert, a cauldron Or and on a chief argent five hearts gules, was returned in kingdom Aug 2004 for conflict with Angharad Glas Vert, a cauldron Or, on a chief argent, three penannular brooches inverted gules, and the redesign addresses the issue.  
8. Igrainne of Gwynedd. New Name and Device. Per fess embattled sable and Or masoned sable, a sword gules between in chief two goblets Or
   Igrainne was not found in the sources at herald's point (Estrella), and is listed as "Cornish."  Rede Boke provides:
   Submitted as Ygrainne ferch Rhun, the
   spelling Ygrainne is not registerable, since no documentation was
   presented and none could be found that a spelling with a double "n" is
   plausible. Therefore, we have changed it to the standard form Ygraine.
   
   "Precedent allows registration of Arthurian names:
   
   Current precedent is to accept the names of significant characters from period Arthurian literature as there is a pattern of such names being used in England and France in period. [Bedivere de Byron, 06/99, A-Atlantia]
   Gwynedd is found in Morgan & Morgan Welsh Surnames under the header Gwynedd on p. 118, dated to 1614.  Submitter accepts all changes, cares most about the sound, desires a feminine name, has no authenticity request, and permits the creation of a holding name.
9. Kovach Bol'shoi. Device Resubmission. Per pale gules and sable, two dragons combatant Or and in base a lotus blossom in profile argent
   The blazon has been changed to add the phrase "in profile."  The original submission, Or, a tree eradicated proper between in two dragons combattant, that to dexter sable and that to sinister gules, was listed as withdrawn by the submitter on the May 1998 LoAR.
10. Melangell Dwn. New Name and Device. Per chevron argent and Or, two gouttes gules and a decrescent azure
    Melangell is dated to 570 in Colm Dubh's "An Index to Bartram…," KWHS, Meridies, AS XXXI (June 1996) as a feminine given name.  The balance of the title would be appreciated. Dwn is cited as a "byname of coloring" from p. 32 of CA#66 "A Welsh Miscellany" by Heather Rose Jones, and means "dark."
11. Nicolina of Cornwall. New Name
    Nicolina is found in de Felice Nomi, p. 177, header Nicola.  I am unable to make out the Italian well enough to know how much of it to quote, and the passage is quite long.  Rede Boke provides, "<Nicholina> is dated to 1524 in Talan's 'Feminine Given Names in
    A Dictionary of English Surnames'
    (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/)" and "R&W s.n. Cornwall date <Cornwale> to 1205."   English and Italian are a weirdness, "… An Italian-English name combination is a weirdness (barring evidence of such combinations in period) but acceptable…" [Veronica de Holloway, A-Artemisia, Sep99]
12. Serena da Vinci. New Name

The following items were returned for further work:

1. Ailinn Shadowfox. New Badge. (Fieldless) A fox's mask sable.
   Originally blazoned as A fox mask sable, the blazon has been corrected for grammar and SCA convention.  This badge is returned for conflict with Wulfere Ironshield - April of 1983 (via the Middle) Gyronny arrondi Or and gules, a wolf's head cabossed sable, with a single CD for field vs. fieldless.  There is a possible conflict with Conrad Stronghand - February of 1980 (via Meridies) Or, a wolf's head caboshed sable maintaining a rose gules, barbed, seeded, slipped, and leaved proper, with a CD for field vs. fieldless.  The date of the registration indicates that there is a possibility that the rose is large enough to be considered sustained under the current rules, and therefore may be worth a second CD, though this is no guarantee.
2. Emma Yate. New Device. Azure, a horse's head couped Or, maned argent.
   Returned for multiple conflicts:
   Conflict with Gillian Blackbow - December of 1991 (via Ansteorra) Azure, in pale a horse's head erased Or and two swords inverted in saltire argent with a single CD for the number of primaries.  Conflict with Margarethe the Dog - February of 1980 (via Laurel) Tierced en pointe vert, azure, and sable, a horse's head couped Or and Sáerlaith Rúad - October of 1985 (via the East) Lozengy purpure and argent, a horse's head erased Or with a single CD for the changes to the field in both cases.
3. Gabriella de L'orme. New Device. Quarterly purpure and argent, eight roses in annulo counterchanged barbed and seeded vert.
   Returned for conflict with Society for Creative Anachronism - October of 1998 (via Laurel) (Tinctureless) A wreath of roses, on the basis of this precedent:
   ...There is no difference between charges in annulo and charges in annulo which are also conjoined, although the conjoining must be blazoned when present... [Caid, Kingdom of, 01/02, A-Caid] Precedents - François, under ARRANGEMENT -- Conjoined
   There is a single CD for field vs. fieldless. The submitter should take care on resubmission to avoid the possible appearance of using a wreath of roses, which is a reserved charge.
4. Laisairiona Seanchaidhe. New Name and Device. Argent, three Lacy knots sable.
   Rede Boke provides lengthy commentary on the name:
   This is inadequate documentation because it doesn't tell us what OCM says about the name. (Furthermore, <Laisairiona> is a misspelling or a typo; it's <Lasairiona>, with two
   <i>'s, that's in OCM).  Precedent from 09/2003 says:
   "Lasairfh{i'}ona inghean Uilliam na Seoltadh. Name "Submitted as Lasairiona inghean Uilliam na Seoltadh, the submitter requested authenticity for 1600s Irish. No evidence as found that Lasair{i'}ona (with or without the accent) was used in period. The spelling shift from the Early Modern Gaelic (c. 1200 to c. 1700) form Lasairfh{i'}ona to the Modern Gaelic (c. 1700 to present) form Lasair{i'}ona is typical of the shift from Early Modern Gaelic to Modern Gaelic, which occurred around 1700. Lacking evidence that Lasair{i'}ona was used in period, we have changed the given name to the documented form Lasairfh{i'}ona, in order to register this name and to meet the submitter's request for authenticity."
   For the byname, the LoI misrepresents the documentation.  MacLysaght s.n. (Mac) Shanaghy has <_Mac_ Seanchaidhe>, not just <Seanchaidhe>. Furthermore, precedent says:
   "As neither double given names nor unmarked patronymics were used in Gaelic in period, Muirgen is not registerable on its own in this position. We have added the particle mac and put Muirgen into the genitive to make this a patronymic byname. [Egan mac Muirgein, 02/02, A-Merdies]"
   So, the byname is not correctly formed.  The corresponding feminine form of <Mac Seanchaidhe> is <inghean Sheanchaide>.  Unfortunately, adding <inghean> is a major change:
   "We would change the particle to inghean, but the submitter will not accept major changes. While conceptually the change from mac "son of" to inghean "daughter of" is minor, it significantly changes the sound and appearance of the name, which is the hallmark of a major change." [LoAR, 2004-10, Caid-R]
   Adding <inghean> is more of a change than changing <mac> to <inghean>.
   The device is returned for lack of a name to send it forward with.

Thus ends my Letter of Response.

In service and duty,
Sorcha, White Stag