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The meeting was held on Saturday, 12 January 2008, at the the home of Eilis O'Boirne, Berkeley, CA. The meeting started at 1:00 pm and ended at 3:10 pm. In attendance at this meeting were: Eilis O'Boirne, Vesper; Owen ap Morgan, Latimer; Astrið of Swansvale, Brachet; Na'arah bat Avraham, Banner; Moira O'Connor, Greencloak; Wilhelm von Homburg, Sable Swan/Baldric; Walraven van Nijmegen, Exchequer to the College; Emma FitzWilliam, Acting Silver Gull Pursuivant; Frederick of Holland, Felix MacAvady and Maxen ap Morgan, Pursuivants; Matilda FitzRichard, PE; Elysant atten Oke, Cornet; Una inghean Conchobhair, Leon von Schrecken, visitors; and Vigdis vestfirzka, Matins.
COLLEGE OF HERALDS MEETINGS
The schedule for meetings in 2008 is February 3, March 16, April 13, May 18, June 8,
August 16 (Saturday!), September 21, October 26 and November 16. Meetings start at noon.
In general, meetings will be held at Eilis’ house (2322 Russell Street, Berkeley CA 94705; 510-486-0633 -- call for directions). “Road show” meetings will be announced well in advance.
Anyone who is bringing a walk-in submission should contact Matins in advance, no later than the Monday before the meeting. This is especially important if the submitter has previous submissions, since the files are stored in a remote location. If you are bringing the paperwork for a submission to a meeting, please plan to arrive by 11:00 am to allow the file to be set up.
We are researching some of the name submissions beforehand through an email list, wknames@yahoogroups.com. This list is open by request to heralds in the West Kingdom who are interested in onomastic (name) research. To join the list, please subscribe at wknames-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
PERSONNEL -- POSITION CHANGES:
Na'arah Banner: Focusing on training the Baronial Heralds to do court and getting their ceremony books up to date. Working on updating Kingdom & Principality Ceremony books as well.
Astrith Brachet: Looking into holding additional commenting meetings in other areas, including the South Bay and Oertha. In addition, other nights are being looked into for the Sacramento meeting. Also looking into running heraldry classes for scribes. Moira Greencloak: Planning for March Crown is happing. We will need to be fighting ERDOS. Owen Latimer: Looking into purchasing a pavilion for the consultation table. We are investigating a multi-tiered system for the table, for different levels of difficulty. Going to be working on doing 'on site' training for newer consultants. Is desperately looking for people to be trained. Wilhelm Baldric: WacVac WacVac WacVac. See below. Hirsch Golem: Ceremony book is being reformated into Word (instead of WP). The Awards List & Herald's site are backed up elsewhere. Working on full documentation for the site. Setting up Herald specific email forwards. Gillian Seawolf: no report Wilhelm Sable Swan: no report Isabel Stellanordica: no report Eilis Vesper: The PE test is now available online. It must be printed off and mailed to the College of Herald's address or given directly to Vesper.For name submissions, we need two copies of all name forms and all documentation source printouts and/or photocopies. For device and badge submissions, we need four colored copies plus an uncolored line outline. Please use colored felt tip markers. Please do not use colored pencil, pastel colors, crayons, color printers or color copiers. The artist's signature is required, but the submitter's signature is not required. If you are using restricted or non-standard elements or any other supplemental matters, we need two copies of your supplemental paperwork.
Please make sure that all submitters print their e-mail addresses clearly. A single mistaken letter makes the e-mail address useless.
UPCOMING EVENTS
We will continue to hold voice heraldry training sessions at the beginning of
events to encourage involvement at the event.
The 2008 Known World Heraldic and Scribes Symposium will be held in the Kingdom of Drachenwald (London, England) on September 5-7, 2008, which is Labor Day weekend.
GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS: Beginning with the January 2008 meeting, submission fees are $6 per name, $6 per device, $6 per badge - and a name and device registered at the same time will cost $10 instead of $12. There is no fee for resubmission of a returned item. Submissions require 2 copies of the name packet (form and documentation), 3 colored copies and 1 line drawing of the full size device form, and 3 colored copies and 1 line drawing of the badge form, as applicable. Required documentation includes printouts of any web pages cited – including reports from the Academy of Saint Gabriel – as well as copies of the title page and cited pages from any books that are not standard heraldic references. The submission forms for the West Kingdom College are now available from Matins or the Kingdom consultation table or by following this link: http://heralds.westkingdom.org/Register.htm#Forms. Completed forms should be sent to Matins at the College address.
MAILING LIST: The West Kingdom College of Heralds has a mailing list for internal communication. Any herald is welcome to join by request. To join the list, please subscribe at wkheralds-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
ELECTRONIC RESOURCES: Many interesting heraldic links can be found through the SCA Heraldry web page at http://www.sca.org/heraldry, including the Laurel home page, the on-line Armorial and Ordinary (with search capabilities) and The Academy of St. Gabriel (an onomastic and heraldic consultation service). The West Kingdom Heraldry site and the West Kingdom Awards List can be accessed through the West Kingdom site, http://www.westkingdom.org. Heraldic queries may also be addressed to Eilis and Vigdís at heralds@westkingdom.org -- answers may take a few days.
West Kingdom College of Heralds Minutes are published on the web. They may be read at or printed from the heralds' website at http://heralds.westkingdom.org/Minutes.htm. There is a colored version and a printer-friendly black and white version available.
BRACHET MEETINGS
These meetings comment on heraldic submissions from other Kingdoms. Please consider
attending – you do not have to be able to attend every week. They are a fast way to
learn how the Rules of Submission work and how to research armory. The Brachet meetings
are in Berkeley on Wednesday nights. If you are interested, contact the Brachet
Herald, Astrith of Swansvale (Gretchen Lebednik) at
or Eilis at 510-486-0633.
CYNAGUAN COMMENTING MEETINGS
A training and commenting meeting is being held in Cynagua to promote and encourage interest in
book heraldry and raise the level of general heraldic knowledge along the eastern side of the kingdom.
The meetings are held on the second and fourth Mondays of each month at 7:00 pm at 4317 Alderwood Way,
Sacramento, CA 95864. Call Gwenhwyfaer ferch Gwilym for more information, (916) 323-4268 or email her,
ginni.morgan@doj.ca.gov.
HERALDIC PUBLICATIONS
West Kingdom College of Heralds Minutes are published on the web. They may be read at or
printed from the heralds’ website at
http://heralds.westkingdom.org/Minutes.htm.
There is a colored version and a printer-friendly
black and white version available.
A Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry as Used in the Society for Creative Anachronism (by Bruce Draconarius of Mistholme and Akagawa Yoshio) is available by sending $15 to Bruce Miller, 728 Erica Place, Oxnard, CA 93030, (805) 278-0135.
WEST - Acceptances - August 2007
(April 2007 LoI)
Anna Zen -- Device
Per chevron azure and purpure, a chevron argent between two bears sejant erect respectant Or and a peach tree couped argent fructed Or.Arabella McQuharg -- Name and device
Purpure, on a fess bretessed argent between six acorns Or three oak leaves fesswise vert.Arthur Greenwood -- Name and device
Quarterly vert and sable, a bear and a lion combatant argent. In August 1998 Laurel returned Quarterly sable and gules, in fess a sword inverted and a drinking horn argent for marshalling:Bj{o,}rn Helgason -- BadgeThis is being returned for breaking RfS XI.3., which states that "Armory that appears to marshall independent arms is considered presumptuous." The rule goes on to note that such marshalled fields "may be used with identical charges over the entire field, or with complex lines of partition or charges overall that were not used for marshalling in period heraldry." Additionally, "Charged sections must all contain charges of the same type to avoid the ACCEPTANCES Page 8 of 15 August 2007 LoAR appearance of being different from each other." Since two different charges are used on the two sides of the palar line, this looks like the marshalled arms of Per fess sable and gules a sword inverted argent, impaled with Per fess gules and sable a drinking horn argent.The precedent set in that return is hereby overturned: a quarterly field is not equivalent to the impalement of two per fess fields and is not, in and of itself, marshalling. We all agree that Per pale X and Y, a bear and a lion would be considered marshalling: there are simply too many examples, and too many precedents. Sable, a bear and a lion combatant argent is not considered marshalling, despite the fact that it could be interpreted as Sable, a bear contourny argent impaled with Sable, a lion argent. The visual impression is not of impalement, because there is no per pale division. One would have to deliberately seek to see presumption here. Likewise, Gyronny X and Y, a bear and a lion is not considered marshalling. Even though there's a per pale line running down the center of the shield, there is no appearance of impaled arms: partly because the gyronny field division is so familiar, and partly because each half of the field would be very difficult to interpret as a whole field. Quarterly X and Y, a bear and a lion falls into the same category as gyronny: a very familiar field division that happens to incorporate a per pale line. If there'd been three tinctures, we might be able to argue for the appearance of two independent armories, but the very fact that the field repeats tinctures suggests a unified design. Thus Quarterly X and Y will not be treated as the impalement of Per fess X and Y and Per fess Y and X. Commentary raised the hypothetical issue of whether one of the presumptively impaled devices having been previously registered would cause the new device to be presumptuous. We reserve decision on this issue until such time as it is not hypothetical.
(Fieldless) A bull passant contourny maintaining in its mouth a pennant sable.Brand McClellan -- Device
Per fess vert and Or, three compass stars elongated palewise and a demi-sun inverted counterchanged.Cerridwen Coedwig -- Name and device
Per fess argent and vert, two oak trees eradicated proper and a cat couchant guardant argent. Cerridwen is an SCA-compatible Welsh name.Elias Madruga -- Name Felice of Mayhem House -- Reblazon of device
Argent, a tower fracted, the upper half bendwise, azure. Registered in January 1973 with the blazon Argent, a broken tower azure, the upper half bendwise, illumined Or, the term broken tower is too easily confused with a ruined tower. We have chosen to explicitly blazon the orientation of the upper portion of the tower.Leo Diogenes -- Name
This does not conflict with Leon Diogenes, son of the Emperor of Byzantium, Romanus Diogenes. He is not a sovereign, and the information about him in current general references is sparse. He does not have his own article in "Britannica Online." Given these factors, he is not important enough to protect.Richard of Ardgour -- Device
Per chevron sable and argent, three griffins counterchanged and a bordure embattled gules.Sarah Bakestre -- Name Serena Amarelli -- Name Úrsúla Þorbjargardóttir -- Name West - Returns - JULY 2007 NONE!
WEST - Acceptances - September 2007
(May 2007 LoI)
David of Chancellorbridge -- Reblazon of device
Per fess azure and vert, a barrulet between in bend sinister a tower and two towers joined by a single-arched bridge argent. Registered in August 1979 with the blazon Per fess azure and vert, a barrulet between in bend sinister a tower and a two-towered bridge argent, the number of spans of the charge in sinister base was omitted from the blazon. Reviewing the emblazon shows the charge to be, in fact, two large towers with a tiny span between them, so we have reblazoned it accordingly.Demetri the Greek -- Reblazon of device
Per pale argent and vert, in pale two single-arched bridges throughout counterchanged, a bordure gules. When registered in May 1985 with the blazon Per pale argent and vert, two bridges throughout counterchanged, a bordure gules, the fact that the bridges were single-arched (and in pale) was omitted from the blazon. See the Cover Letter for further details.Laurencius Legnano -- Name Marc de Arundel -- Name
The parts of this name were documented from Saint Gabriel letters. However, the sources from which the names were drawn were not listed:Na'arah bat Avraham -- Name change from Naarah bat Avraham...St. Gabriel letters provide extensive footnotes on the sources from which the names are drawn, as well as the dates for most of the names discussed. This information should be included when summarizing documentation from a St. Gabriel report. [Bella Lucia da Verona, April 2004]Fortunately, the commenters provided the missing information. Had they not done so, the name might have been returned.
Her old name, Naarah bat Avraham, is released.Pavlok Gorod, Shire of -- Branch name and device
Per chevron throughout vert and argent, two laurel wreaths argent and a brown bear rampant proper, maintaining in its mouth a fish gules.Ruthven of Rockridge -- Reblazon of device
Gules, a two-peaked mountain couped argent. Originally registered in January 1973 with the blazon Gules, a two peaked mountain argent, the mountain is couped, not issuant from base, which is the default for mountains. A mountain (issuant from base) is a peripheral charge and cannot be a primary charge; a mountain couped is in the center of the field and is a primary charge.Sara of the Rushes -- Reblazon of device
Gules, a mullet of eight alternating straight and wavy rays, the wavy rays voided, Or. Originally registered in January 1973 with the blazon Gules, an estoile of four straight and four rayonny voided rays Or, the fact that only the rayonny rays are voided was not clear.Sarah Bakestre -- Device
Sable, a bend sinister engrailed Or between a decrescent and three mullets of eight points argent. Please advise the submitter to draw deeper and fewer engrailings.Sárán mac Ímair -- Badge change
(Fieldless) Two glaives in saltire gules. His previous badge, (Fieldless) A batwinged pike palewise Or, is released.Walter of Huntsdale Keep -- Reblazon of device
Argent, a tree eradicated proper, on a bordure vert three compass stars argent. Registered in October 1995 with the blazon Argent, a linden tree eradicated proper, on a bordure vert three compass stars argent. However, the tree does not have the heart-shaped leaves which define the linden; in fact, it has no discernable leaves at all, the foliage being drawn as an invected mass. We have reblazoned this as a generic tree.William Fetherstan -- Name (see RETURNS for device) William of Hoghton -- Reblazon of badge for Hoghton Towers
Sable, two towers in fess joined by a single-span bridge Or. When registered in November 1981 with the blazon Sable, two towers joined by a bridge Or, the number of spans of the bridge was omitted from the blazon; see the Cover Letter for further details. Though some might think the placement of the towers is obvious from the design, we have elected to be specific here.
WEST - Returns - September 2007
Úrsúla Þorbjargardóttir -- Device
Gyronny arrondi purpure and Or, a bat-winged cat sejant affronty, wings displayed, a bordure argent. Submitted on the LoI as Gyronny arrondi, the dividing lines don't issue from the top corners of the field, as gyronny (arrondi or not) normally would -- but do issue from the bottom corner of the field. At the top, they're also not centered on the corners, as is permitted as a variant form of gyronny arrondi in the Society (as of the LoAR of July 2005). Finally, the gyrons aren't of equal width, with the result that this is less a field division than it is the Society's cross arrondi, first registered Feb 1998. Yet it can't be that, either, as the crosses which are our basis for the cross arrondi -- found on some of the shields depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry -- have limbs of constant width, not expanding width as shown here. The multiple anomalies of the depiction, and the impossibility of accurately blazoning it, require this to be returned.William Fetherstan -- DeviceWe note that, had this been drawn as gyronny arrondi with the gyrons centered on the corners, the addition of the charge overall would be a step from period practice. If this was intended to be the usual gyronny arrondi, please inform the submitter that the bordure should abut the edge of the field, not lie over it: in other words, the lines should issue from the corners of the visible field, not the escutcheon (shield).
Some commenters had difficulty with the stunted depiction of the cat's wings. Please ask the submitter to draw them more full upon resubmission, so they may be recognized. Having the "joints" of the wings higher than the cat's head, for instance, may aid in overall identifiability.
Bendy sinister of six argent and gules, a greyhound courant counterchanged and in canton a rose argent. This device is returned for excessive counterchanging; the counterchanging makes the greyhound too difficult to identify. Laurel has previously ruled:[Paly sable and argent, a unicorn rampant counterchanged] This is excessively counterchanged and non-period style. The unicorn is not identifiable when counterchanged over this multiply divided field. No documentation has been presented, nor could any be found, for the counterchanging of a complex-outlined charge over a multiply divided field. [Cynwrig Chwith, 02/02, R-Atlantia]Evidence for counterchanging a complex-outlined charge over a multiply divided field has not yet been found.
There was some discussion whether or not the placement of the rose (and the fact that there was a single rose) should be grounds for return. There is period evidence of a multiply divided field with a charge on a single division of that field: the arms of de Cataniis de Modoesta, Paly Or and gules, on the third trait an eagle displayed sable, or of di Cazoli, Barry azure and Or, on the second trait a lion passant azure maintaining an iron rod with a lamp hanging at either end sable flammant gules (Stemmario Trivulziano, pp.88, 108). Having a bendy or bendy sinister field with a single trait charged seems a reasonable extension of period practice.
While not a reason for return, we recommend that on resubmission that the greyhound be drawn with a shorter neck and a sleeker head. We suggest taking a look at the Greyhound Bus logo for an example of a heraldically acceptable greyhound.
In Service,
Vigdís vestfirzka
Matins Herald
ITEMS SENT TO LAUREL
Clare de Norwude (St. Guinefort) New Name, New Device, New Badge
Submitter allows NO major changes. Clare is in Withycombe (s.n. Clara, p.67), with this spelling cited from 1379. de Norwude is in Reaney & Wilson (s.n. Northwood, p.325), with <Painot de Norwude> cited from 1176. The 203-year disparity in the citations is within acceptable bounds. The submitter has a strong preference for Clare with an 'e'. She requested via email that we remove the request for authenticity as she will not accept Clara with an 'a'.Device: Azure, a bear passant argent between three mullets Or, within a bordure argent.
Badge:
(Fieldless) A bear passant azure, charged with a mullet argent.
Submitter's name registered March 2001 via Atenveldt. Old device of Per pale azure and Or, an escarbuncle between in bend sinister an increscent and a decrescent counterchanged to be retained as badge.Azure, a chi-rho between in fess two crosses formy Or.
(female - requests authentic for 12th Century Irish) Ó Corráin & Maguire has Étaín on p. 90 as a header and early form of a feminine Gaelic name. Étaín is listed in "Index of Names in Irish Annals" by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan: Étaín/Éadaoin. Where Étaín is (c900-1200) & Éadaoin (c1200-c1700). http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/Feminine/Etain.shtml Ó Corráin & Maguire has Cellach as a header on p. 48 as an early form, so the two elements are contemporary. "Index of Names in Irish Annals" by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan shows Middle Irish Gaelic (c900-c1200) nominative form Cellach, and genitive form Cellaig. http://www.medievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Cellach.shtml The early form of the feminine patronymic particle is ingen, and the patronymic seems to be correctly lenited per "The Spelling of Lenited Consonants in Gaelic" by Sharon L. Krossa. http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotlang/lenition.shtml ingen - "Quick and Easy Gaelic Names" by Sharon L. Krossa: Given Names, Women; <single given name> inghean <father's given name (in Genitive case & always linited unless starting with D, T, L, N, R, or a vowel)>. Later shows that prior to 1200 AD the spelling would have been ingen and inghean after 1200 AD. http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/#spellingPer pale gules and azure, a lion rampant argent and in chief three chains of five links each bendwise sinister Or.
Susan is listed once in "Feminine Given Names Found in the 1296 Lay Subsidy Rolls for Rutland" (http://sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/Rutland/given-fem-alpha.htm) dated to 1296. "Monumental Brass Inscriptions" (http://sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/women.html) cites five instances of Susan prior to 1600, the earliest being 1517 in Berkshire. Wilks is listed in "Index of Kent wills: Surnames starting with W" (http://www.eminent.demon.co.uk/willsw.htm) citing <William Wilks> from Strood whose will was proved in 1584/5.Azure, a galleon and on a chief Or and two bunches of grapes azure.
Submitter allows NO major changes. Ulrich - "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia - Men's Names" by Talan Gwynek (Brian M. Scott) (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/bahlowMasc.htm). This article is a compilation of the given names found in Hans Bahlow's Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch nach schlesischen Quellen (Neustadt an der Aisch: Verlag Degener & Co, 1975). Ulrich (9) c. 1250, c.1285, 1296, 1300, 1311, 1320, 1337, 1349, 1369 Bahlow (p. 589) at Walde gives vorm Walde dated to 1474. Brechenmacher gives the same name as von dem Walde dated to 1450 dated to 1450 on p. 735 under Wald. von dem Walde appears in Brechenmacher's _Etymologische Worterbuch . . ._ v.2 (s.n. Wald, p.735). A <Joh. von dem Walde> is cited from 1450.Per pale sable and gules, two dragons segreant and on a chief Or a lion couchant sable.
(Fieldless) Two tilting lances in saltire surmounted by a rose, slipped and leaved argent.
Azure ermined argent, a female sagittary rampant regardant and drawing her bow to sinister, within a bordure engrailed Or.
ITEMS RETURNED FOR FURTHER WORK
Golden Acorn Pursuivant (West Kingdom) Return of New Heraldic Title
Golden Acorn Pursuivant for the branch herald of Rivenoak.
Per fess vert and argent in pale two Rowan trees (Sorbus aucuparia) eradicated counterchanged.Device is being returned due to the drawing not being on the form. It is suggested to the submitter that the roots of the tree be made longer. As originally submitted, they look like a fringe rather than eradicated. Mabella Catriona Blackett (Silver Desert?) Return of New Name
Gules, a sword inverted between two ravens respectant argent.Unfortunately, we will have to return the submitted device, as it conflicts with the device of Conrad MacAllyn - Gules, a sword inverted between a pair of wings inverted argent. (June 1996)