Last modified: March 03, 2007


Outlands College of Heralds

27 February 2007

From the Office of Rampart Herald
Furukusu Masahide (John Newton)
rampart@outlandsheralds.org

Unto the Outlands College of Heralds, the esteemed submitters, and all others who come by these letters, on this 27th day of February 2007, A.S. XL, does Furukusu Masahide, Rampart Herald, send greetings.

My deepest gratitude to those who took time to send internal commentary: Caelan MacKinnon (Black Fountain Pursuivant), Cnute, Gwain of Miskbridge (Green Anchor Herald), Ines, Marie de Blois (White Stag), Margaret Hepburn, Meradudd Cethin (Liber Herald), Sorcha MacLeod, and Ursula Georges (Loyall Pursuevant).

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

The following items were sent on to Laurel for final determination:

  1. Anna de Apperleye. New Name and New Device. Sable, on a chief Or three apples gules slipped vert.
  2. Fontaine dans Sable, Barony of. New Order Name: Order of the Houre Glass.

The following items were returned for further work:

  1. Michelet MacRae. Name Resubmission and New Device. Purpure, a horse rampant Or semy of mullets sable.

    Gender: Female. The submitter cares most about the language/culture of the name, defined as French/Scots, and desires a name authentic for 12th-14th Century French/Scots. No major changes accepted.
    The previous submission, [Michelet des Chaveaux], was returned on the July 2003 Letter of Response for lack of documentation of the surname. The submitter now wishes to change her surname to that of others in her household, [MacRae]. French and Scots are considered to be compatible for naming purposes.
    [Michelet]: "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris" (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html), dated to 1292.
    [MacRae]: Black, _The Surnames of Scotland_, p. 560, heading: Macrae.

    Commenters indicate that Black does not actually date the form [MacRae] to period. The header entry [Macrae] show that variants of this name, such as [Macraht] in 1202 and [Macrad] in 1225, are within period, but the form [MacRae] was only dated in the text to 1684 under the header [Maccrae]. This is outside of the 1650 allowance for surnames, and cannot be documented as within period.
    Name returned for lack of documentation.

    Commenters indicate that the armory appears clear, but should be drawn with fewer mullets.
    Device returned for lack of name.

  2. Stuart of Fontaine. New Name and New Device. Gules, an eagle displayed within a bordure Or, a semy of crescents sable.

    Gender: Male. No changes accepted (major or minor).
    No documentation for the name was provided with this submission.

    Considerable comment was made on this name. Despite this, commenters were not able to provide any simple solutions to the problem of lack of documentation of the name. The full commentary was too great to include here, but general ideas that should be kept in mind during resubmission are as follows (if the submitter requests further explanation, please contact Rampart):


    Name returned for lack of documentation.

    Blazon should read [Gules, an eagle displayed within a bordure Or semy of crescents sable.]
    Commenters indicate that there should be fewer crescents, but is otherwise clear of conflict.
    Device returned for lack of name.

  3. Tiberius Acilius Brutus. Device Resubmission. Gules, in pale two gladii crossed in saltire at the tips Or and a natural leopard couchant guardant Or spotted sable.

    The name was registered in March 2006. On that same LoAR, the previously submitted device, [Gules, in fess a natural leopard couchant guardant between two Ionic columns Or], was returned:

    "This is returned for conflict with Randall of Willowrock, Gules, in fess a mullet inverted between two Doric columns argent, reblazoned elsewhere in this letter. There is a CD for changing the tincture of the primary charges, but no difference for changing the type only of one of three charges in fess."

    This item was resubmitted in its present form on the November 2006 Letter of Presentation, and was returned on the December 2006 Letter of Response because it was submitted on the old forms.

    Device conflicts:
    [Diego de Valor] - October of 1998: [Gules, in pale a caravel reversed and two rapiers in saltire Or.] One CD for arrangement.
    Please note that there is no difference for the types of swords used in SCA armory. Rapiers, broadswords, Claymore, Gladii, etc all conflict with one another per _A Pictoral Dictionary of Heraldry_ by Bruce Draconaruis of Mistholme and Akagawa Yoshio.
    Much discussion regarding this device occurred. It was determined that there was a single CD for arrangement (Diego's one and two, vs. Tiberius' two and one), but the arrangement of the swords (in saltire) does not allow the bottom charge of Tiberius' proposed device to be considered "half" of the primary charges as allowed by Rfs. X.4.e. In some instances the bottom charge of a "two and one" arrangement can be considered "half" the primary charge group. However, this is not the case when the top charges are in saltire. If this were a case of [Gules, two gladii and a natural leopard couchant guardant. Or spotted sable, two and one] in Ramparts opinion, this would allow the leopard to act as "half" the charge group, and allow for two differences based on X.4.e (Changes of type) and X.4.g (Arrangement).

    Device returned for conflict.

Thus ends my Letter of Response.

In service and duty,

Furukusu Masahide
Rampart Herald

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