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Kingdom of Atenveldt Home Page

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Heraldic Submissions Page

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Atenveldt Submissions (excerpted from the S.C.A. College of Arms' Letters of Acceptance and Return)

ATENVELDT REGISTRATIONS by the College of Arms, November 2002:

THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN REGISTERED BY THE COLLEGE OF ARMS, NOVEMBER 2002:

Aleta Ara of Helsgard, the Cruel. Badge reblazon. Gules, a raven close proper perched atop and supported by a death's head argent.

The previous blazon, Gules, a raven close proper perched upon a death's head argent. [Corvus Corax], did not clearly indicate that the death's head was a co-primary charge, and used the ambiguous blazon term upon. We have also removed the unnecessary species designation for the raven.

Atenveldt, Kingdom of. Badge. Per fess indented azure and argent, in chief four mullets of four points elongated palewise Or.

Conallán hua Mordha. Name and device. Per chevron argent and vert, two roses azure barbed and seeded and a claymore inverted proper grasped at the hilt by a gauntlet fesswise reversed argent.

Submitted as Conlan O'Morda, the submitter requested authenticity, but specified no language or culture and allowed any changes. Conlan was submitted as a given name based on the Anglicized Irish byname form O Conlan listed in Woulfe (p. 475 s.n. Ó Conalláin), who dates the Anglicized Irish forms O Connellane and O Conlan to temp. Elizabeth I-James I. Not all Ó and Mac surnames in Gaelic derive from a given name, so this type of derivation can be problematic. In this case, the byname Ó Connalláin derives from the masculine given name Conallán, which was a diminutive of Conall that was used in the 9th to 10th C. An example of Conallán used as a given name is found in Donnchadh Ó Corráin & Mavis Cournane, ed., "The Annals of Ulster" (http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100001/), entry U882.4, which lists Conallan m. Maele Duin. Lacking any evidence that Conallán survived as a given name into the period when Anglicized Irish was used, Conlan is not plausible as an Anglicized Irish given name. We have changed the given name in this submission to the Gaelic form Conallán in order to register this name.

The submitted byname O'Morda is a combination of the Anglicized Irish O' and the Gaelic Morda and so violates RfS III.1.a, which requires linguistic consistency within a name phrase. As the submitter requested authenticity, we have changed this byname to the fully Gaelic form hua Mordha based on "The Annals of Ulster", entry U1026.6, which lists Aimhirgin H. Mordha, ri Loigsi (H. is a scribal abbreviation for hua, which later became Ua and finally Ó).

Please advise the submitter to draw the per chevron line so that the bottom of the line extends lower on the field.

Cosimo Orsini. Device. Argent, on a bend vert between two brown bears rampant the basemost contourny proper three fleurs-de-lys Or.

Eden Blacksmith. Name and device. Or semy of apples gules slipped and leaved vert, a single-horned anvil sable.

Gaston Trévoux. Badge. Per fess vert and sable, two owl's heads cabossed argent.

Nathaniel Grendel the Red. Name and device. Argent, an hourglass between in fess two pheons points outward gules.

The only documentation provided for the byname the Red was "The byname is a descriptive epithet." This is woefully inadequate and is cause for return. By Laurel precedent, the College is not required to look up documentation that is not adequately summarized on the LoI. In this case, members of the College went out of their way to dig up this information. For the benefit of both the submitter and the members of the College who took on this extra work, we are registering this name as an exception to the requirement that all submitted documentation be properly and adequately summarized on the LoI. Kingdom submissions heralds should be aware that inadequate summarization of supporting documentation has been and will continue to be a reason for return.

The College of Arms generally felt that the hourglass would be more recognizable with vertical posts on the sides of the frame. This hourglass is drawn with the standard top and bottom plate, but without any vertical side posts holding the top and bottom plates together. However, hourglasses without side posts were noted to be a "standard Society depiction" of an hourglass, so this depiction is acceptable: "...with the hourglass drawn in one of its standard Society depictions (i.e., without the posts)" (LoAR 26 November 1989). We encourage the submitter to draw future renditions of the hourglass with the posts to enhance the identifiability of the charge.

Renee Claymore. Name and device. Per chevron azure and argent, two martlets and a claymore inverted counterchanged.

Submitted as Renée Claymore, Renée was submitted under the Legal Name Allowance. The photocopy provided of her driver's license shows Renee to be her legal middle name. (Her signature included as part of the license only includes R. as her middle initial.) We have changed this name to the form Renee shown in the submitted documentation (her driver's license) in order to register this name. If the submitter provides alternate documentation showing Renée as her legal name, we will happily register that form.

The only documentation provided for Claymore in the LoI was: Claymore comes from Deaton Claymore, the head of the household with whom the lady is affiliated; His Grace has provided a letter of permission to use that element of his registered name. Unless the submitter is an immediate family member (and that's legal family member, not SCA household family) the Grandfather Clause is inapplicable. As no documentation has been provided for such a relationship, there was no usable documentation provided for Claymore.

Sommelier provided documentation for Claymore as a constructed placename: I was unable to find any evidence that Claymore is a valid surname and treating it as a constructed locative is iffy. Ekwall gives môr (p 330) as OE, 'moor, waste upland; fen' and states "The usual meaning is 'fen'. 'Waste upland' is seen in Dartexmore and the like". Moorsholm (p. 330) is glossed as '(At) the moorhouses.' Moor is here 'waste upland'". Clay- is a common element (see p. 110) meaning clayey, e.g Claybrooke (clayey brook), Claycoton (Coton in the clayey district), Claydon (clayey hill), Claygate (possible gate leading to the clayey district), Clayton (tûn on clayey soil), Clee (from clay, clayey soil). Thus Claymoor or Claymore could be a "clayey waste" and serve as an unmarked locative. The previously cited Moorsholm is found as Morehusum in the Domesday Book, indicating that the more spelling is period.

Given this information, Claymore is registerable as a byname referring to a location.

By Laurel precedent, the College is not required to look up documentation that is not adequately summarized on the LoI. In this case, Sommelier and Clarion (and other members of the College) went out of their way to dig up supporting documentation for this element. It is this information, and only this information, that allows us to register this name at this time. Kingdom submissions heralds should be aware that inadequate summarization of supporting documentation has been and will continue to be a reason for return.

Please advise the submitter to draw the per chevron line with a steeper angle and somewhat lower on the field, so that the field division balances the two halves of the field. Please also advise the submitter to draw the martlets larger. Some commenters inquired about the depiction of the martlet in this emblazon. The College should note that martlets across Europe are drawn in varying depictions. The standard English depiction is based on a swallow, with its slim body and long forked tail. However, the depictions on the continent and even in Scotland more resemble a European blackbird (with a thrush-like shape) or a lark. Neither of these birds have long forked tails, and both types of bird have stouter bodies than the swallow. In all cases, a martlet is drawn without visible feet, although the way that this 'footlessness' is depicted also varies from period emblazon to period emblazon. Martlets may be drawn with forked 'leg stubs', couped 'leg stubs', and probably other leg variations. The important thing in drawing a martlet is that the legs should not end in clawed bird's feet.

Shaun of the Forrest. Device. Argent semy of pine trees proper, two bendlets azure.

ATENVELDT REGISTRATIONS by the College of Arms, November 2002:

THE FOLLOWING HAVE BEEN RETURNED FOR FURTHER WORK, NOVEMBER 2002:

Sundragon, Barony of. Badge. (Fieldless) A rainbow gules, argent, azure, Or and purpure clouded azure surmounted by an acorn proper.

The acorn lies almost entirely on the underlying rainbow. Overall charges on fieldless badges should have a very small area of overlap with the underlying charge. This needs to be returned for redesign. It seems unlikely, given the shapes of acorns and rainbows, that the problem could be solved with a simple redrawing.

The acorn was originally blazoned as a sprouted. The small green leaves are issuant from the cap of the acorn. They are too insignificant to blazon, and in addition, acorns sprout from the other end of the nut. We have therefore omitted the term from the blazon. Please advise the submitters to omit the sprout issuing from the acorn cap in future submissions.

Sundragon, Barony of. Badge. (Fieldless) A rainbow gules, argent, azure, Or and purpure, clouded azure surmounted by a heart gules.

The heart lies almost entirely on the underlying rainbow. Overall charges on fieldless badges should have a very small area of overlap with the underlying charge. This needs to be returned for redesign. It seems unlikely, given the shapes of heart and rainbows, that the problem could be solved with a simple redrawing.


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