This is the Middle Kingdom Letter of Acceptances and Returns for Escutcheon's April 2001 letter. Comments in braces {} were removed from the Letter of Intent sent to Laurel and the College of Arms. Names, devices, or badges in braces have been returned or pended; general comments or replies to commentary are also placed in braces.
Many thanks to Pedro de Alcazar, Etienne le Couteau des Rouches, Kevin Ambrozijwski, Phebe Bonadeci, Rhienwylydd verch Einion, Aine ingen MaolPatraic, Julie Stampnitzky, Mikhail of Lubelska, and Ælfreda æt Æthelwealda for their commentary this month.
1) Ahelissa de Limington - New name.
<Ahelissa> is dated to 1188 in Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames" (http://www.panix.com/ ~mittle/names/talan/reaney). <Limington> is a toponym dated to 1186 in Ekwall s.n. Limington. The client cares most about sound and would like an authentic late 12th-early 13th century English name.
2) Barbara atte Dragon for Yrsa grá hett - New alternate name.
Name reg'd 4/94
<Yrsa> is found in Geirr Bassi (16). Ibid (22) gives the descriptive byname <inn grá> meaning "the gray" and <grabárðr> meaning "gray beard" and <gráfeld> meaning " gray fur coat/cloak." It also gives <hetta> as a descriptive byname meaning "hood, cowl." The byname is created by combining these elements. The client cares most about having a name that would mean "gray hood" and would like an authentic Viking (800-1100 era) name.
We are unsure what the correct form of the byname would be. In the two examples of compounds found in Geirr Bassi, the second word starts with a consonant, not a vowel. In the case of an initial vowel, we don't know if the words would remain separate, or if a compound like <gráhett> would be formed.
3) Barbara atte Dragon - New badge.
[Fieldless] A threaded loom weight argent.
Name reg'd 4/94
A variety of works documenting the existence of loom weights in period are enclosed. Hoffmann, The Warp-Weighted Loom, p. 21, has pictures and dates the stones to the Late Iron Age. Hurley, et al, Late Viking Age and Medieval Waterford, p. 421, catalog several loom weights that were found in archaeological digs. Guðjónsson, "Warp-Weighted Looms in Iceland and Greenland" in Textilsymposium Neumünster, p.178 notes that such weights are commonly found at Viking sites and shows several more photographic examples. Similar charges such as spindles and clews of yarn are found in armory, and we believe that a loom weight would be, at best, one weirdness.
There is a possible visual conflict with Isabel Moundoghter (reg'd. 10/97), "[Fieldless] A clew of yarn pendant from a hank of cotton fesswise argent." We don't know what Isabel's badge looks like, and so cannot say whether this would be a conflict or not.
4) Barbara atte Dragon - New badge.
Gules, three loom weights in fess argent.
Name reg'd 4/94
A variety of works documenting the existence of loom weights in period are enclosed. Hoffmann, The Warp-Weighted Loom, p. 21, has pictures and dates the stones to the Late Iron Age. Hurley, et al, Late Viking Age and Medieval Waterford, p. 421, catalog several loom weights that were found in archaeological digs. Guðjónsson, "Warp-Weighted Looms in Iceland and Greenland" in Textilsymposium Neumünster, p.178 notes that such weights are commonly found at Viking sites and shows several more photographic examples. Similar charges such as spindles and clews of yarn are found in armory, and we believe that a loom weight would be, at best, one weirdness.
5) Chrestien de Xavier - New name.
<Chrestien> is found in the 1292 Paris Census (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/ names/paris.html).
<Xavier> was a place in Navarre, according to Arval Benicouer & Lyle Fitzwilliam, "Concerning the Names Xavier, Javier, and the Like," ( http://www.medievalscotland.org/problem/names/xavier.shtml).
The client wants an authentic English/French name and cares most about sound. He will NOT accept MAJOR or MINOR changes. Submitted as <Christian de Xavier>, no documentation was provided for this spelling of the given name in either culture, and none was found, so we have substituted a documentable French form.
6) Dúnchadh mac Gabhann - New name.
<Dúnchadh> is in Ó Corráin & Maguire s.n. Dúnchad, who say that it was "very common in the early pedigrees and widely distributed throughout Ireland"; it is not the same name as <Donnchad>. The byname is found in MacLysaght s.n. MacGowan, meaning "son of the smith." The client cares most about having a name whose byname means "the smith, son of the smith."
7) Eoghan mac Branain - New name & device.
Vert, on a bend argent cotised Or, three ravens sable.
<Eoghan> is in Ó Corráin & Maguire s.n. Eógan. It was one of the "twenty most popular names in early Ireland." <Branán> is found in OCM s.n. same; "from Branán of Connacht descend the Meic Branáin, an important north Connacht family in the middle ages."
The client cares most about having a Scots Gaelic (13th century) name and would like the name to be authentic for that time and place. Submitted as <Eoghan Mac Bronain>, we have decapitalized <mac>; no documentation was provided for this spelling of the patronym and none could be found, so we have substituted the closest documentable form.
8) Marie von Rosenberg - New name & device.
Azure, on a pile embattled between two roses argent, a panther rampant gules.
<Marie> is found in Talan Gwynek "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia" (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/ names/bahlow_v.htm), dated to 1346. <Rosenberg> is a town in Germany that is dated to 1305 in Der Grosse Brockhaus (RIN-SOK: 132). She wants a name which is authentic for the 12th-14th centuries and cares most about having a German name. She will NOT accept MAJOR changes.
9) Oleksandra Volkhovskaia - New name & device.
Per bend sinister vert and azure, a bend sinister ermine.
<Oleksandra> is a feminine given name dated to 1364 in Paul Wickenden's "Dictionary of Russian Names." The byname follows the model of Nevskii (as in Oleksandr Nevskii). <Volkhov> is the name of a river in the Novgorod region. The origins of the name are obscure and unknown, according to Room, Placenames of Russia and the Former Soviet Union (225). The use of adjuctival endings (-skii) to create locative bynames is a common period practice (see Wickenden, xxix). The name seems quite plausible to be period and follows period style.
The client cares most about sound, does not care about the gender of the name, and will NOT accept MAJOR changes. Because Oleksandra is a feminine name, we have corrected the byname to match the gender of the given name.
10) Rickard of Gwyntarian - Device resubmission.
Azure, on a pile argent, a griffin segreant azure armed and langued gules.
Name reg. 4/00
The client's previous submission, "Gyronny azure and argent, a griffin segreant Or," was returned by Rouge Scarpe on 11/99 for conflict with Degary Golafre of Pembroke "Quarterly sable and gules, a griffin segreant coward bearing in her dexter talon a Celtic cross and in her sinister talon a sword inverted Or." The client has redesigned.
11) Rütger Meer von Horeburg - New name & device.
Azure, on a bend sinister wavy Or, three anchors palewise azure, and in canton a sea lion rampant contourny argent.
<Rütger> is in Brechenmacher (II:455) and dated to 1470. <Meer> is in ibid (II: 246) and dated to 1284. <Horeburg> is dated to 1142 as a spelling of Harburg according to the Encyclopedia Britannica (on-line). The client cares most about having an authentic German name. Submitted as <Rütger Meer von Harburg>, we have changed the locative to the medieval spelling.
{The device is not off-balance; a single charge in canton is fine period practice.}
12) Toirdhealbhach Ó Maoileoin - Name {& device} resubmission.
{Vert ermined argent, a lyon rampant Or.}
<Toirdhleabhach> is the late-period spelling of <Tairdelbach>, according to O Corrain & Maguire, s.n. Tairdelbach. Though originally rare, it became "extremely common in the later middle ages."
<Ó Maoileoin> is the Gaelic spelling of <Malone>, according to MacLysaght s.n. Malone.
The client cares most about having an Irish name "of noble-blood" and wants a name which would be authentic for a 9th-14tjh century Irish nobleman. Submitted as <Tárlach O'Maoil Eoin>, <Tárlach> according to O Corrain & Maguire is a strictly modern form, so we have substituted the late-period spelling of the name. We have also changed the surname to a documented form appropriate for the latter half of his desired period. An earlier period form would be <Tairdelbach Ó Mael Eoin>.
{The device has numerous conflicts: Belgium (reg 12/94) "Sable, a lion rampant Or," Bulgaria (reg 12/94), "Gules, a lion rampant crowned Or," the Palatinate of the Rhine (reg 12/94) "Sable, a lion rampant Or crowned gules." This also conflicts with William MacQueen of MacQueen (reg 12/80) "Per bend argent and azure, a mountain lion [Felis concolor] rampant proper." There is one CD for the field in each case.
{*) Uadahlrich Sassmannshausen - New device.
Per pale azure and argent, semy of grenades Or.
We have no record that this name was ever submitted or registered. Additionally, Or grenades on an argent field have no contrast.}
{*) Uadahlrich Sassmannshausen - New badge.
[Fieldless] A grenade Or
We have no record that this name was ever submitted or registered. Also, this conflicts with Bjarki ap Owen (reg 9/95) "[Fieldless] A grenade Or."}
Done by my hand this 8th day of June,
Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Rouge Scarpe
Sara L. Friedemann
213 N. Paterson
Madison, WI 53703
sfriedemann@students.wisc.edu