Last modified: September 11, 2006

Outlands College of Heralds

September 11, 2006
From the Office of the Castle Herald
Baronessa Francesca di Pavia, OP, OL
castle@outlandsheralds.org

UNTO the Outlands College of Heralds, our respected friends and colleagues who give freely of their time to provide commentary, and all others who come by these letters, on this 11th day of September, A.S. xxxxi (2006 CE), does Maestra Francesca di Pavia send greetings on behalf of The Honourable Lady Sorcha MacLeod, White Stag Principal Herald.

Here follows the Kingdom of the Outlands Letter of Presentation for September 2006. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. Errors found herein are undoubtedly mine.

Anyone may comment upon the items found herein, and e-mail commentary to the Rampart address is encouraged. Please have comments on items contained herein to Rampart, Furukusu Masahide-dono, by October 21, 2006, for the Rampart decision meeting tentatively scheduled for October 22, 2006.

Line Emblazon Sheet
Color Emblazon Sheet
September 2006 Letter of Presentation
October 2006 Letter of Response
October 2006 Letter of Intent
February 2007 LoAR Results
Return to the Rampart home page.

I present the following items for your consideration:

1. Alexander MacAndrew (alternate name for Sekimura no Minamoto no Akiranaga). Device resubmission. Sable, and even-armed Celtic cross surrounded by three horses coursant within a bordure argent.
(Unser Hafen) The alternate name was sent to Laurel on the November 2005 Letter of Response. On that same letter the device, Sable, an even armed Celtic cross, surrounded by three horses coursant argent, was returned for conflict: "Conflicts with the device of Karolus Janus (February 2000, via Ansteorra): Sable, a patriarchal cross argent. 1 CD for the addition of secondary charge group." This change adds a bordure to clear the conflict.

2. Conall MacCellaich. New name and device. Blazon not provided - Castle's attempt: Per bend vert and azure, a bend between three stalks of wheat, one in pale surmounted by two in saltire, and a wolf's head erased to sinister argent.
(Unser Hafen) Gender: Male. The submitter is interested in a name authentic for Scots language/culture (time period not specified), and is most interested in the language/culture of the name. No major changes accepted.
Conall: Academy of St. Gabriel Report 806 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/806) lists "Conall" as a Gaelic male name.
MacCellaich: Academy of St. Gabriel Report 806 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/806) lists "Cellaich" as the genitive form of the Gaelic male name Cellach, and indicates that the patronymic is formed by combining <mac> + the genitive form of the father's given name.

3. Ella Anne deKari. New device. Blazon not provided - Castle's attempt: Azure goutty d'eau, on a pile inverted argent a seeblatt purpure.
(Unser Hafen) The name was submitted to Laurel on the November 2005 Letter of Intent.

4. Elspeth of Tyvidale. New name and device. Argent, a badger rampant contourny and a chief gules.
(Blackwater Keep) Gender: Female. The submitter cares most about the language/culture of the name, given as 12th-14th C. Scotland. Authenticity not requested. Changes accepted.
Elspeth: "15th Century Scots Names from Dunfermline" by Sara L. Uckerman (SCA Aryanhwy merch Catmael) (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/scots/dunfermline.html) cites Elspeth of Ochterlowny (1447)
Tyvidale: Johnston, Place-Names of Scotland, 2nd ed. pg. 282, under heading TEVIOT: "...a. 1300, Tyvidale".
The submitting herald asks whether the tincture of the badger's mask should be specifically blazoned.

5. Eoin Gallda MacNéill. Name resubmission.
(Caer Galen) Gender: Male. The submitter cares most about the language/culture of the name, given as 13th-15th C. Irish Gaelic. Changes accepted.
The same name was returned from Kingdom on the July 2006 Letter of Response: "No copies of the St. Gabriel articles were included with the submission, and at the time of the letter they were not available online. Without documentation of "Gallda" the name cannot be forwarded to Laurel. Name returned for lack of documentation." The missing documentation has now been provided (and is available online).
Eoin - "Irish Names" by O'Corrain & Maguire, "A borrowing of the biblical name John from the Latin form Joannes." Also found in "Index of Names in Irish Annals" by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, dated to 1446, 1465, 1550, and 1572 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Eoin.shtml).
Gallda - "Index of Names in Irish Annals" by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/) under "Masculine Descriptiove Bynames, with the meaning "[the] Anglicized".
Mac Néill - "Niall" is found in O'Corran anf Maguire (no page cite). "Index of Names in Irish Annals" by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan, dated 971-1611. (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Niall.shtml). According to this entry, the genitive form for Early Modern Irish Gaelic (c 1200-c1700) is Néill, so the surname "son of Niall" would be rendered as "Mac Néill".

6. Kaga Ryokai. Device resubmission. Sable, a balloon flower argent.
(Dragonsspine) Name registered March 2006. The previous device submission, Argent, in bend a fan sable charged with a plate and a great wave sable, was returned on the March 2006 LoAR: "The great wave still cannot be adequately described in European heraldic terms; this device must therefore be returned." This is a completely new design.

7. Margaret Hepburn of Ardrossan. New badge. (Fieldless) A greyhound couchant regardant coward azure, collared and ermined argent.
(Blackwater Keep) Name registered July 2001.

8. Matilda Seton. Change of name for Aindrea MacCullaich.
(Caerthe) Gender: Female. No changes accepted. The existing name was registered in March 1998. If the new name is registered, the submitter wishes to retain the former name as an alternate.
Matilda: "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames" by Brian M. Scott (SCA Talan Gwynek, Fause Lozenge Herald Extraordinary) (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/reaneyintro.html) gives numerous instances of this name dated 1140-1489.
Seton: Black, The Surnames of Scotland, pg 719.

9. Oliver Mordrake. New name and device. Per saltire gules and Or, four dragonflies conjoined at the tail in cross (Castle's note: this is not part of the suggested blazon, but I think that should conclude with "counterchanged").
(Caerthe) Gender: Male. Submitter is most interested in the sound of the name. Changes accepted.
Oliver: Withycombe (header: Oliver), dated as a masculine name in this spelling to 1249 and 1273.
Mordrake: a constructed byname. Bardsley gives "Moorcock" [header: Moorcock] dated in varying spellings including both "Morecok" and "Morcock" (Lay Subsidy for Edward III) and "Morekok" in 1379, and posits that the name may be a nickname referring to the red grouse. The same source under [Moorhen] dates "Morehen" to 1379, suggesting that it is a feminine version of "Moorcock" and noting that it was used through the 17th Century. Bardley lists several more bynames beginning with some variant of "Moor" and meanings related to the moor, including Moorman, "one who dwelt on the moor", Moorward, "guardian or keeper of the moor", Morton, "enclosure on the moor", and Morrow, "cottages on the moor". Bardsley also considers that "Heathcock" [header: Heathcoat] may refer to the blackcock, a bird nickname, as that bird was sometimes known as a heathcock. Under [Peacock], various spellings are listed beginning in 1273, and there is no question that it refers to the bird's proud reputation. The header [Woodcock] provides various spellings including Wodecok (1273), Wodcok (1379) and others, and is clearly referring to a bird. Under "Hedgcock", Barsley states that this is "one of many names received from birds". Other examples of bird-related names are found in Bardsley under the following headers: Sparrow, Sparrowhawk, Nightingale, Kite, Hawk, Jay, Pidgeon, Dove, Wren, and Falcon. The entry for Pidgeon notes, "Bird-names are among the most common of the nickname class of surname". The Compact OED header of Drake2, first definition, is a male duck, and it is dated to 1300 with the same spelling. We therefore, considering the significant number of bird-related names, the variety of names hearkening back to the moor, and the fact that the word "drake" was in use for a male duck in England at the same time as many of these names were in use, posit that "Mordrake" is a plausible constructed bird-related nickname referring to a variety of duck found in or near the moor.

10. Outlands, Kingdom of the. Heraldic title: Castel Herald.
(Outlands)
Castel Herald follows the "heraldic charge" pattern of heraldic titles (rouge croix, unicorn, etc.).
Castel: OED, 1978 Reprint, vol. II (C), header [Castle], first entry, third definition: "A large building or set of buildings fortified for defence against an enemy; a fortress, stronghold..."
"c. 1386 Chaucer Frankl. T 477 A castel al of lime and ston". "1424 Paston Lett I. 15 At the comyng of...the Duc of Norfolk fro his Castell of Framyngham"
"1584 Powel Llyd's Cambria 3 The cities, townes Castels and villages".

11. Outlands, Kingdom of the. Heraldic title: Dredde Naught Herald Extraordinary.
(Outlands)
Dredde Naught Herald Extraordinaryfollows the "motto" pattern of heraldic titles (ich dien, esperance, etc.)
Dredde: OED, 1933 Unabridged, sn: Dread, ated to 1382: "WYCLIF Gen. iii. 10, I dredde, there thur3 that I was nakid"
Naught: OED, 1933 Unabridged, sn: Naught, dated to 1386: "CHAUCER Prol 756 Boold of his speche, and wys and wel ytaught, And of manhood him lakked right naught [v.rr. no3t, nouht]."

12. Pádraig Ó Súileabháin. New name and device. Argent, a sheaf of spears gules.
(Caer Galen) Gender: Male. The submitter cares most about the language/culture of the name, specified as 14 C. Irish Gaelic. Authenticity is not requested. No major changes accepted.
Pádraig: O'Corrain & Maguire, Irish Names, pg. 152. The source notes that this name was not used by itself by "the early Irish", out of respoect for St. Patrick, and that "Patrick came into use as a personal name among the colonists...before it was common among the native Irish". Academy of St Gabriel Report #3124 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/3124) notes that "Pádraig" is an acceptable forename in 14 C. Ireland.
Ó Súileabháin: MacLysaght, The Surnames of Ireland. The name is not dated in that source. Academy of St Gabriel Report #1247 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/1247) notes the name is appropriate as a clan surname for a "later-period persona". A year is not given, but the given name and surname should be temporally compatible.

13. Ramon the Chronologer. New badge. (Fieldless) On a compass star argent, an hourglass gules.
(Caerthe) The name was registered in February 1991.

14. Simon Montgumery. New badge. (Fieldless) A boar rampant gules, crined and crusilly argent.
(Blackwater Keep) The name was registered in August 2003.

15. ThyræÚlfr. Device (resubmission?) Per pale vert and sable, a wolf statant argent, a chief embattled Or.
(Dragonsspine) The name is on the September 2005 Letter of Intent. The submitting herald states: "I cannot find record of the device being presented for comment at the Kingdom level. The Scalene records reflect that the name and device were submitted together." I [Castle] can find no evidence that this device ever appeared on a Letter of Presentation. If this is the case, then I believe $10 is due to Kingdom for this submission.

16. William de Kari. New device. Per chevron azure and Or, in chief three hurts and in base a standing balance Or.
(Unser Hafen) The name was submitted to Laurel on the November 2005 Letter of Intent.

Thus ends the September 2006 Letter of Presentation.

Your servant,

Francesca, Castle Herald