ANSTEORRAN COLLEGE OF HERALDS
Annotated Collated Commentary on IloI 0008
Unto the Ansteorran College of Heralds does Estrill Swet, Retiarius Pursuivant, make greetings.
For information on commentary submission formats or to receive a copy of the collated commentary, you can contact me at:
Deborah Sweet
824 E 8th, Stillwater, OK 74074
405/624-9344 (before 10pm)
Commenters for this issue:
Da’ud ibn Auda - al-Jamal Herald
Magnus von Lübeck - Raven's Fort. All items were checked against the on-line O&A. If you are preparing items for the ILOI please make sure the submitter’s branch is listed. This is helpful for those of us who travel.
Gawain of Miskbridge – Green Anchor Herald, Calontir
Elfsea - Timothy of Glastonbury (Forerynel Pursuivant), Sigmund Theodoric von Halberstadt (Western Regional Pursuivant), Willim Penbraus, Rebekah of Newcastle. Note : Commentary is only provided on Armorial entries as the books of the Nautilus library were not available.
Collated Commentary on IloI 0008
1) Alistair of Avalon (Stargate)
New device. Name registered 10/91. Azure, a bears head cabossed within a mascule of four needles Or.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Device] That’s a "mascle".
Elfsea [Device] This device cannot reasonably be reproduced from the blazon. The arrangement of the needles as 'head to toe' is unclear. Save this point, no conflicts were found.
1. COLLEGE ACTION:
Device: Forwarded to Laurel
2) Brigit Ni Sheachnasaigh (Steppes)
New device. Name registered 0/00. Per bend sable and argent, a pair of barnacles counterchanged.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Device] Name registered February 1995 (via Ansteorra).
Elfsea
[Device] Cannot find barnacles within the Ordinary. Pic Dic confirms it as a charge, but unable to locate category.
2. COLLEGE ACTION:
Device: Forwarded to Laurel
3) Caelainn O Comhraidhe (Gates Edge)
New name.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Name] My copy of O’C&M gives the name as "Cáelainn". If the gender is feminine, the patronymic should be "ingen ui Comhraidhe".
3. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
4) Clarissima di Niccolucci (Raven’s Fort)
New name.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] Based on what sources we have this name fits central Italy for the time requested. Clarissima - dates to 1285 from the given source. De Felice, Nomi italiani, page 107 under Clarice gives Clarisse as a variant. The name is derived from Latin clara meaning bright and the feminine ending -ice. This female name is found throughout Italy but is rare in the south. It also mentions the name from a Tasso poem in 1562. di Niccolucci - is a patronymic from 1427 Florence. De Felice, Cognomi italiani, page 177 under Nicola mentions Niccolucci as a variant. Also, Nicolicchia is from Naples and there is a reference to the year 1087 and Asia Minor. The name originated from Nicholas from the Byzantine empire.
4. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
5) Donal O Dochartaigh (Bryn Gwlad)
Name Change. Device Change. Name registered as Donal mac Seriose 9/92 to be released if new name is registered. Device registered is to become a badge if new primary device is passed. Per chevron sable and azure, an English panther rampant reguardant argent pellety enflamed Or within a tressure argent.
Da’ud ibn Auda
[Device] "We do not use single diminutives and so this [single tressure] has to be an orle." (Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane, LoAR June 1988, p. 20) Rather than simply being "enflamed" (which would normally have small gouts of flame issuing from all over the monster), the panther appears to be "vomiting" and/or "issuing" flames.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] 1119 is as far back as this form of the name gets. That is close to pre-Norman colonization. Domnall Ó Dochartaigh is an older version. Donal - Reaney & Wilson page 139 under Dougharty gives Donnall from 1119 in the same entry. Donal is also grandfathered to him. Further back than this it is spelled Domnall in Gaelic. O Dochartaigh - Woulfe, page 497 dates the name to at least beginning of the 15th century and meaning descendant of Dochartach.
[Device] The panther is blazoned incensed rather than enflamed.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Name] No, O’C&M do not give this as a variant spelling of "Domnall". They give "Donal" as a modern form of the name. The Gaelic spelling of the patronymic is "Ó Dochartaigh". Don’t know if this would be correct for the 10th c. though. Elfsea
[Device] In order the responses were "Yech!" then "Feed The Cat!". No Conflicts Found.
5. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
Device: Forwarded to Laurel
6) Gwineth ferch Pyrs (Raven’s Fort)
New name.
6. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
7) Kiabarta Kezia (Raven’s Fort)
New name. New device. Azure four horseshoes bendwise Or.
Da’ud ibn Auda
[Name] The sole documentation for the byname, Elsdon Smith's Treasury of Name Lore, is while not found by name in the Administrative Handbook, Appendix F, Names Sources to Be Avoided in Documentation, is no doubt on the same level as another of his books which is: "Smith, Elsdon, New Dictionary of American Family Names: ‘Elsdon Smith's New Dictionary of American Family Names [is] a most untrustworthy source.' (LoAR Aug 92, p. 23)" It is also specifically noted that the list in Appendix F is not comprehensive. In the only recent registration of this name, Laurel said: "Keziah is a Biblical name of the type occasionally used by 16th century Puritans." (LoAR September 1995) In other words, it wasn't sufficiently documented at the time, but was "of the type" of Biblical names borrowed by the Puritans. This is entirely inconsistent with a Khazar name, both temporally and geographically. The Khazars ruled parts of the Russian Steppes, beginning in the 7th Century. "When Svyatoslav, the ruler of Kiev, launched a campaign against the Khazars (965), Khazar power was crushed. Although the Khazars continued to be mentioned in historical documents as late as the 12th century, by 1030 their political role in the lands north of the Black Sea had greatly diminished." (Encyclopaedia Brittanica) There can be no possible form of "contact" of the type that the SCA uses to permit mixed language names between even 12th Century Russian Khazars and 17th Century English Puritans.
[Device] In addition to the horseshoes being "bendwise", they are also arranged in bend, which needs to be specified: Azure, in bend four horseshoes bendwise Or.
Magnus von Lübeck [Name] I read the lengthy documentation for this name and don't envy Asterisk having to summarize it. The name is 10th century Khazarian Jewish from a kingdom near the *Caucasus with Turkish languages influences. Given the problems of surviving female names and finding data for Jews in Turkish speaking lands (that is not written in Turkish or Hebrew) I think this is enough to register it. You can ask for help at Laurel but they may not be able to do any more with it.
Kiabarta - The surname placed first is from the tribal group Kiabar and the suffix -ta. As I read it the name indicates a family of the tribal affiliation Kiabar.
Kezia - A name from the Torah, she is the daughter of Job. The 10th century Hebrew documentation indicates names on a document: 14 are Hebrew, 6 are Khazarian Turk, and 9 are biblical personages. The signers of the letter mentioned have names of biblical persons, at least for the men. We can only assume woman's names are following the same pattern. The only other account of Jewish female naming practices I have is http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/jewish.html Jewish Naming Convention in Angevin England by Eleazar ha-Levi. It is about a century later than the Khazars and is for England. Names for women include Biblical or Hebrew: Abigail, Zipporah, Esther, Anna or Hanna, Judith, Miriam and Sarah.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Name] Do our guidelines on the matter allow mixed Khazar/English names? I doubt that they had regular trade relations. But then, Withycombe, p. 189, makes "Keziah" Hebrew in origin.
[Device] I’d call it "Azure, four horseshoes in bend Or" and assume that the arrangement of the charges would call for them to be oriented bendwise by default.
Elfsea
[Device] As emblazoned, this device would be much more accurately blazoned "Azure, in bend four axel brackets inverted bendwise Or." We would suggest that the submitter be asked if they wish true horseshoes (no sideways protrusions per PicDic) or if they wish axel brackets. Taken as axel brackets, No Conflicts Found. (Only one registered entry for axel brackets, that being Sir Maximillan)
7. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
Device: Returned for redraw. The horseshoes are not in a period style and can be mistaken for another charge.
8) Lawrence the Rampant of Ram’s Isle (Seawinds)
New badge. Name registered 9/92. (Fieldless) A ram rampant sable.
Da’ud ibn Auda [Badge] Conflict with Manus Branduff of Ardmore, A ram rampant sable maintaining in its dexter hoof a flanged mace argent handled of wood proper and in its sinister hoof a goblet Or. There is a CD for fieldlessness, but nothing for the maintained charges.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Badge] Conflict with Manus Branduff of Ardmore July 1995 (via Caid): "(Fieldless) A ram rampant sable maintaining in its dexter hoof a flanged mace argent handled of wood proper and in its sinister hoof a goblet Or." There is a CD for fieldless but none for the maintained charges. You might wish to try a ram rampant to sinister.
Elfsea
[Device] It is with a heavy heart that we must find conflict with this beautiful badge. We find a conflict with : The following badge associated with this name was registered in July of 1995 (via Caid): (Fieldless) A ram rampant sable maintaining in its dexter hoof a flanged mace argent handled of wood proper and in its sinister hoof a goblet Or. Obviously there is a CD for Fieldless, but the maintained mace is not worth an additional CD.
8. COLLEGE ACTION:
Badge: Returned for Conflict
9) Maire ingen Chiarain (Gates Edge)
New name.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Name] O’C&M don’t say anything about "Maire". They do have an entry for "Máire", the second sentence of which says "Máire is extremely rare in the period before the seventeenth century, though it occurs [once] in the fourteenth century and occasionally … in the sixteenth century." Don’t have Woulfe, but O’C&M spell the father’s name "Ciarán", so the genitive case can be expected to have a fada over the second "a" as well.
9. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
10) Merdock McDuncan (Steppes)
New name. New device. Gules, a sword inverted proper, overall on a chevron Or, three mullets of five greater and five lesser points sable. Da’ud ibn Auda
[Device] And so it begins. First, the "capo d'Ansteorra"; now, the chevron of Ansteorra. I fully expect to see the "bordure", the "base", the "bend" (both of them), the "fess", the "pale", the "pile", and the "pall" of Ansteorra in the near future.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] The name is Anglicized Gaelic which was used often in Scotland. The Scots form would be Murdock Duncanson and I gather he doesn't want Gaelic. Merdock - Reaney & Wilson page 317 under Murdock has Meurdoch from the Domesday Book as a given name. This is a close a dated spelling I could find. Send it to Laurel with that noted and she can play with the spelling. McDuncan - The correct page in Black is 488 for McDuncan.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Name] I don’t see anything in support of either "Merdock" or "Merdoc" in the citations provided.
Elfsea
[Device] No Conflicts Found.
10. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
Device: Forwarded to Laurel
11) Padraig Ruad O’Maolagain (Loch Ruadh)
New name. New device. Per bend argent and vert, a shamrock and a celtic cross counterchanged.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] Pádraig Rúad Ó Maolagáin should be registerable in the SCA. The English would call him Patrick the Red (or Rufus) O'Mulligan. What the English would be called in return by the Irish is left as an exercise for the reader. The name situation here is a little more complicated historically. If interested, read on.
Pádraig - Based on the research I think this is a modern Irish spelling though the SCA uses it. Patrick was common in Scotland and northern England but not among the Irish in period. Withycombe page 239 under Patrick indicates Padraig is a modern Irish spelling. OCorrain & Maguire page 152 under Pátraic gives the form used as Máel Pátraic - devotee of St. Patrick or Gilla Pátraic - servant of St. Patrick. Out of respect the early Irish did not name themselves after the saint. When used by the Anglo-Norman colonists the Irish rendered it Pádraigín. The name was not used by the Irish until about the mid-1600s. The spelling Pádraig is indicated to be the more recent one. Reaney & Wilson, page 341 under Patrick states in Ireland it only became a popular christian name after 1600 from the Ulster Scot immigrants.
Rúad - OCorrain & Maguire page 157 under Rúadacán gives it from rúad 'red-haired' and as a relatively uncommon early Irish name. Under the entry Rúadan that name has the same origin and was a saint who founded the monastery of Lorrha. Woulfe, page 403 under MacRuardh gives it as son of Ruadh - red.
Ó Maolagáin - Reaney & Wilson, page 310 under Millican gives Molior Omolegane from 1264 in Dublin and the Old Irish as Maelecán. Woulfe page 602 spells it Ó Maolagáin. An Anglo-Norman colonist would probably have been Pádraigín Rúad Ó Maolagáin if recorded by the Irish. A Scot colonist in Ulster and possibly Irish at the very end of period would be Pátraic Rúad Ó Maolagáin. An earlier period Irish would be Máel Pátraic Rúad Ó Maelecán or Gilla Pátraic Rúad Ó Maelecán. Now you see why Gaelic gives researchers heartburn.
[Device] Close but clear of Sabrina Morna March 1978: "Per bend argent and vert, a Celtic cross and a pegasus salient to sinister counterchanged."
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Name] We only see "O’ " in Anglicized forms of Irish patronymics. Irish orthography uses "Ó". According to MacLysaght, p. 227, under "(O) Mulligan", the Irish spelling of this is "Ó Maolagáin".
[Device] Another unfortunate sufferer from the Postperiod Stereotypical Ethnic Symbol Syndrome (sigh). Looking as a poster of undated Irish arms, I count about a dozen with slipped trefoils and two with shamrocks out of around 500 coats. I also see one Celtic cross, suggesting that at least some of these are modern.
Elfsea
[Device] No Conflicts Found.
11. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
Device: Forwarded to Laurel
12) Romanius Vesperianus (Steppes)
Resubmitted name. Resubmitted device. Per chevron sable and argent, two cross fitchy of the second argent and a scorpion gules.
Da’ud ibn Auda
[Device] The SCA does not blazon tinctures by using "of the first", "of the second", and so on, as they can often be confusing. (The Hudson's Bay Company often has their arms mis-emblazoned from just this sort of problem; a charge which should be argent is often done as Or [or vice versa].) (Besides which, in the submitted blazon there is no "second Argent".) The plural of "cross" is "crosses". The crosses, in addition to being fitchy, are also formy. Blazon fu: Per chevron sable and argent, two crosses formy fitchy argent and a scorpion gules.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] Thank you Daniel for that submissions index. I reread Talan's entire commentary and this name looks fine. Thankfully I don't have to dive into the Prosopography to look for Roman names.
[Device] Kingdom pended the device 7/98. Blazon as "Per chevron sable and argent, two crosses formy fitchy argent and a scorpion gules." The device still looks clear.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Device] Blazon fu: "Per chevron sable and argent, two crosses formy fitchy argent and a scorpion gules."
Elfsea
[Device] No Conflicts Found.
12. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
Device: Forwarded to Laurel. Reblazoned as "Per chevron sable and argent, two crosses formy fitchy argent and a scorpion gules."
13) Sigerith d’Aiencort (Bryn Gwlad)
New name.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] d'Aiencort - Dauzat, Noms de lieux, page 361. The name should be Norman.
Gawain of Miskbridge
[Name] There’s a typo somewhere in the Dauzat citation; p. 361 is in the "L’s", and there is nothing I can find elsewhere relating to "d’Aiencort" or "Incourt".
13. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
14) College of Threebridges (Elfsea)
New device. Name in LoI 07/00. Argent, three bridges in pale and on flaunches azure two laurel wreaths argent.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Device] Conflict with Suzanne de la Ferté November of 1999 (via Ansteorra): "Argent, in pale three artist's brushes and a pair of flaunches azure each flaunch charged with a feather argent." There is one CD for changing the bridges to brushes. She indicated at Red Tape she would give permission to conflict. If there are no other conflicts I will get them together.
Elfsea
[Device] No Conflicts Found. Suggested reblazon to make it clear that one wreath appears on each flaunch : "Azure, in pale three bridges between flaunches azure each flaunch charged with a laurel wreath argent."
14. COLLEGE ACTION:
Device: Forwarded to Laurel
15) William MacAllen the Lapidary (Westgate)
New name.
Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] MacAllen is Anglicized Gaelic, not Scots as stated. The Scots form of the name is Allenson. The occupation had to be added to avoid an SCA name conflict. Anyone dealing with last names from Scotland should note that Allen, MacAllen, FitzAllan, Allanson, Alison, mac Ailein, and, for daughters, ingen Ailein all conflict with each other since they all indicate a child of Alan. This holds for other patronymic names in Scotland.
15. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Forwarded to Laurel
16) William the Black (Raven’s Fort)
New name.
Da’ud ibn Auda
[Name] Conflict with the already-registered William the Black (June 1999, West Kingdom/ Principality of Lochac). Magnus von Lübeck
[Name] Unfortunately, this conflicts with William the Black registered June 1999 (via Lochac) and must be returned.
16. COLLEGE ACTION:
Name: Returned for Conflict