1 September 2001, A.S. XXXVI

Kingdom of Atenveldt

Unto Their Royal Majesties Gallchobhar and Haley; Mistress Magdelen Venturosa, Aten Principal Herald; the Heralds in the Atenveldt College of Heralds; and to All Whom These Presents Come,

Greetings from Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy, Brickbat Herald!

These submissions were just provided to me from the Barony of Twin Moons. Rather than reformat the September 2001 IloI (which I actually finished in record time!), please consider this September 2001 Internal Letter of Intent, Part II. Please have your comments to me by 20 September (actually, the 25 September deadline is still valid) for inclusion in the October 2001 LoI:

A caveat first: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don’t use Hanks and Hodges as a name resource! It might be a good place to start, particularly if strapped for other sources, but it can’t be used as a primary source. Using it to “enhance” better documentation isn’t very helpful, either.

Anita de Challis (Twin Moons) DEVICE RESUBMISSION from Laurel, February 2000

Gules, a schnecke issuant from sinister chief argent, on a chief Or, three fleurs-de-lys azure.

The name was registered February 2000.

The original submission, Gules, a schnecke issuant from sinister chief argent, on a chief Or, a xonecuilli fesswise gules., was returned because the only registrations of a xonecuilli were to John the Idiota in 1978 and again by him in 1982. It is listed in the Pictorial Dictionary as an Aztec artistic motif, and the CoA no longer register artistic motifs even from European sources without evidence that they are compatible with heraldry. The design has been modified to use recognized heralic charges.

Conall O’Maccus (Twin Moons): NEW NAME AND DEVICE

Vert, two arrows crossed in saltire and surmounted by a double-bladed axe, on a chief indented Or two shamrocks sable.

The name is Irish. Conall is a masculine given name, a very old and popular name (Ó Corráin and Maguire, pp. 56-57). Maccus is cited in Scandanavian Personal Names in Norfolk: A Survey Based on Medieval Records and Place-Names, by John Insley, (Acta Academiae Regiae Gustavi Adolphi LXII, Almquist and Wiksell International, Uppsala, 1994), in which the author states “There is, however, a personal name Maccus, which is attested in the British Isles in the 10^th Century. A certain Earl Maccus son of Olaf (Maccus filio Onlafi) was the murderer of Eiríkr Blóthox, the last Norse king of York, in 954...Maccus seems, in general, to have been characteristic of the Hiberno-Nose settlements around the Irish Sea, and there is no reason to doubt its ultimately Goidelic origin, though after the appearance of the Scand Magnus in the 11^th century confusion between Maccus and Magnus in Irish sources would have been relatively easy” (pp. 293-4). Reaney also cites a Maccus de Leum in 1176, and notes Maccus as an originally Old Irish. Reaney’s forward comments on Irish surnames appearing in the middle of the 10^th C, with patronymics formed by prefixing O to the grandfather’s name. It seems, according to “Quick and Easy Gaelic Names,” Sharon Krossa (http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/), that the name is a little more accurate as Conall ó Maccus.

Conall O’Maccus: NEW BADGE

Vert, two arrows crossed in saltire surmounted by a double-bladed axe Or.

Klaus von Saarbrücken (Twin Moons): NEW NAME AND DEVICE

Per chevron azure and argent, two escarbuncles argent and a stag’s head erased gules.

The name is German. Klaus appears to be derived from Nicolaus/Niklaus (Bahlow, p. 280). Saarbrücken is a city in southwestern Germany and the capital of Saarland; is was chartered in 1321 (http://www.encyclopedia.com/articlesnew/40673.html).

Catlin of Annandale (Twin Moons): NEW NAME AND DEVICE

Argent, on a bend wavy between two goutes azure, a cat sejant gardant argent, its front paws resting upon an arrow Or.

Catlin is found in Withycombe (pp. 186-7, under Katharine), which demonstrates it as a Middle English variant of that given name. Annandale is a Scottish surname of local origin from the district of the name in Dumfrieshire (Black, p. 25).

The original blazon has the cat holding/maintaining the arrow, which seems to be to be brandishing it in some fashion. Any other suggestions for the blazon?

Henry of Three Needles (Twin Moons): NEW DEVICE CHANGE

Or, a standing seraph gules.

The name was registered January 1996.

If this is registered, the submitter asks that his currently held device, Per bend sinister sable and argent, a bear sejant erect guardant contourny counterchanged, collared and muzzled sable, chained argent., be retained as a badge.

Jack Graeme of Ardmoor (Twin Moons): NEW NAME AND DEVICE

Azure, a jack and on a chief Or, three escallops azure.

The name is Anglicized Scottish. While undated, Jack appears to be a common nickname for the popular given name John (Withycombe, pp. 178-9), moreso than the diminutive Johnny; the submitter might be interested to know that Withycombe believes Jack is the English variant, Jock the Scottish. Graeme is a spelling variant of the prominent Scottish family name Graham (Black, pp . 323-4); this particular spelling isn’t dated. Both elements have numerous registrations by the College of Arms. Armoor is stated to be a region near the Lake of Menteith in southwestern Scotland, purported to be Clan Graham lands (British Ordinance Map); this might run afoul of claiming pretense (“X of Y” name construction). Can anyone help out with Scottish history?

Well, this is an interesting charge. It needs to be checked against mullets (similar pointy things), but what is more compelling is the question–is a jack period? If so, we need to provide the College of Arms a period illustration or a photograph of a period one, so that it can be determined as a period artifact.

Keshvar bint Afsar al-Mah (Twin Moons): NEW NAME AND DEVICE

Per chevon inverted azure and purpure, a chevron inverted vert fimbriated and in chief a decrescent argent.

Keshvar is a Persian feminine given name, found in “Zoroastrian Names,” in the Medieval Names Archives (http://www.avesta.org/znames.htm#op). bint Afsar is “the daughter of Afsar”: Afsar is found in A Dictionary of Muslim Names, Salahudding Ahmend (New York University Press, NY). I don’t know if this is a proper name per se (the example cited is Afsar-ud-Din, “crown of/adoring the religion (Islam),” which seems closer to an attributive name added on to one’s personal name later in life. Mah, “moon,” makes the Afsar portion a little more plausible (sort of), with “crown of/adorning the moon.” The construction doesn’t really follow period naming practice, with a child being the son/daughter of a man, who himself is represented with his proper given name (Tarik ibn Da’ud; Fatima bint Yusuf). However, if the bint patronymic is dropped, this might be plausible as a non-patronymic byname. The submitter has been using a non-documentable name (Kessa) for several years and is trying to find a period name that is similar.

This will need to be redrawn, but it can be checked for conflict anyway. The line of division and the ordinary are somewhere between a chevron inverted and a fess (I’d be tempted to call it a fess), and this would be a reason for return by Laurel; a chevron inverted would have to have a far more noticeable angle to it, which would cradle the charge in chief nicely. The crescent could use to be somewhat “rounder” (although this isn’t as bad as many crescents, which have a decidedly banana-like quality to them). The submitter might consider using a fess instead of a chevron inverted, as Saracenic armory widely favored fields divided into thirds along the horizontal axis, and this comes very close to achieving that.

Thomas Towlewardie (Twin Moons): NEW BADGE

(fieldless) A tree blasted and couped, the trunk surmounted by an arrow fesswise reversed Or.

The name was registered December 1996.

The badge uses elements of his registered device, Quarterly purpure and sable, a tree blasted the trunk surmounted by an arrow fesswise reversed Or.

I remain,

Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy

c/o Linda Miku

2527 East 3^rd Street

Tucson AZ 85716

bagbaazai@nexiliscom.com

Atenveldt Submissions Website: atensubmissions.nexiliscom.com

References

Black, George F. The Surnames of Scotland. The New York Public Library Press, NY.

Ó Corráin, Donnchadh and Fidelma Maguire. Irish Names. The Lilliput Press, Dublin, 1990.

MacLysaght, E. The Surnames of Ireland. Dublin, Irish Academic Press, 1991.

Morgan, T. J. and Prys Morgan. Welsh Surnames. Cardiff, University of Wales Press, 1985.

Reaney, P.H. and R. M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames.

Withycombe, E.G., The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd Edition. London, Oxford University Press, 1977.