27 January 2004, A.S. XXXVIII
Kingdom of Atenveldt

Unto Their Royal Jonathon and Deille; Lord Seamus McDaid, Aten Principal Herald; the Heralds in the Atenveldt College of Heralds; and to All Whom These Presents Come,

Greetings of the New Year from Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy, Brickbat Herald!

This is the January 2004 internal Atenveldt Letter of Intent. It precedes the external LoI that will contain the following submissions, asking questions of submitters and local heralds who have worked with them; if these questions are not addressed, the submission may be returned by the Atenveldt College of Heralds. I accept online commentary, in addition to questions pertaining to heraldry: brickbat@nexiliscom.com. Please have comments or questions to me, on any armorial matter, by 10 February 2004.

Submissions Website: You can send electronic commentary on the most recent internal LoIs through the site, in addition to any questions you might have. Current submission forms (the ONLY forms that can be used) can be found on the site. Please let your local populace know about the site, too: atensubmissions.nexiliscom.com.

New Aten Principal Herald: There is a new Aten Principal Herald! The lucky fellow is Lord Seamus McDaid, former Corona Herald (Mike McDade, 910 W. Cheyenne Drive, Chandler AZ 85225, 480-600-3776). Lord Seamus would like to meet all members of the Atenveldt College of Heralds at Estrella War, and there is a tentative plan to have a meeting sometime on Saturday; please check the Gatebook or come by the Consultation Table for more information about this.

Consultation Table at Estrella War: Yes, there will be one. The Table will run Thursday-Sunday, as it has in past years; please check the Gatebook for exact hours (however, it will most likely be open for business 10 AM-5 PM those days). This is a great opportunity to get “in the trenches” armorial experience (the fighting scenarios aren’t the only battle to be found! :), to meet heralds from a number of other kingdoms, and to meet the Laurel Queen of Arms Designate, Mistress Shauna of Carrick Point. I will be onsite Friday-Sunday.

If you have members in your local populace thinking about submitting name/armory at the War, you might wish to encourage them to work with you and me before the War, so they’re not stuck standing in a queue at the Table (this is not an uncommon occurrence). If they (or you!) have completed submissions packets, you can hand them directly to me at the War as well.

Letter of Acceptances and Returns: Those submissions which appear in the June 2003 Atenveldt Letter of Intent have been acted upon by the College of Arms; the results are at the end of this report.

Where are the “Submissions for Consideration”? I’ve been trying to tidy up and clear out submissions prior to the War (and I think everyone’s minds are turned into getting to War practices, and fixing armor, garb and camp gear), so any recent submissions I received in January–only a few--are included in the January Letter of Intent. You should be seeing the resumption of the Submissions for Consideration in Next Month’s LoI in a month or so. (But please read this report anyway, just to see what’s new and exciting!)

The following are included in the January 2004 Atenveldt Letter of Intent (note potentially new commentary):

This month’s commentary is provided by Knute Hvitabjörn (Midrealm) [KH]. Additional responses might be made by Marta [MMM].

Ælfred Lionstar of Ravenspur (Twin Moons): NEW HOUSEHOLD NAME “House Lionstar” and BADGE

Sable, a mullet between three lions’ heads cabossed Or.

The primary persona name was registered June 1987.

The household name is taken directly from an element of the submitter’s registered name (I suspect that if this were not the case, the closest he might be able to hope for is House Lion and Star, based on inn sign nomenclature).

The badge is derived from elements of his registered device, Pean, a mullet inverted gules, surmounted by a mullet between three lion's heads Or.

Amalric d’Acre (Twin Moons): BADGE RESUBMISSION from Kingdom, December 2003

(fieldless) A rat sejant erect sustaining a gunstone sable.

The name appears in the December 2003 Atenveldt Lettter of Intent.

This is a complete redesign of a badge that was returned for non-documented position of a charge. A sable roundel can be blazoned as a sable roundel, a gunstone, or an ogress. Because the rat and the gunstone are of nearly identical visual weight, the charges could be considered co-primaries. As co-primaries, the rat sustains the gunstone (suggesting that the gunstone is too large for the rat to hold in its paws) rather than maintains it (which suggests that the rat is holding a much smaller object).

Asha Batu (Ered Sul): NEW NAME and DEVICE

Azure, two fire arrows crossed in saltire, enflamed proper, surmounted by an urga argent.

The name is Mongolian. Both elements are found in “Mongolian Naming Practices,” Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy. I haven’t found a meaning for Asha, aside from its use as a name element (as in Asha Gambu – there are some name elements in Mongolian that don’t translate (at least not easily), but are “just” name elements), but Batu means “loyal, confident”; the name following period two-element construction, with a good epithet, “Asha the Loyal”.

An urga is a catchpole, a looped rope attached to a long wooden pole and used by Central Asian and Siberian nomadic tribes to capture horses and sheepm often from the middle of large herds. Given the long history of herding by these peoples, the urga is probably a period artifact, although I haven’t been able to find a representation of a period piece (wooden and rope don’t tend to preserve well); the 13^th Century Franciscan monk John Plano Carpini, emissary to the court of Chinggis Khan by order of the Pope, documents the large herds of livestock tended by the Mongols. A Buryat Mongol legend (which, given the nature of folklore and legend, I would hazard to say was being told to period listeners), “The Twins Sagaadai Mergen and Nogoodoi Sesen,” mentions a character having a golden urga ( http://www.buryatmongol.com/sagaadai.html ). At the end of this citation is a probably non-period but traditional representation of a man on horseback chasing a colt, which he is trying to catch with an urga. From this illustration (and photographs I’ve seen), the rope of the urga is very simply tied to one end of the pole; there is apparently no noose or slipknot that tightens around the animal’s neck.

Denis of the Titans (Barony of Atenveldt): NEW AUGMENTATION OF ARMS

Per pale vert and argent, a lion passant counterchanged, armed, langued and orbed gules and as an augmentation on a canton azure a whelk shell within a bordure Or.

The name and original armory was registered August 1971. The Augmentation of Arms was presented by King Jonathon in May 2003. (The whelk shell on the canton represents an element of Count Jonathon’s personal armory.)

Diek Rabynovich (Granite Mountain): NEW DEVICE

Per pale vert and Or, in pale two eagles rising, wings displayed, and two pine trees, all counterchanged.

The name was registered August 2003.

Knute noted that this violates Rules for Submission XI.3, being an example of impaled arms, ... No section of the field may contain more than one charge unless those charges are part of a group over the whole field. I’ve contacted the gentleman, and he is happy to alter the per pale line of division to a “complex” one, which removes the appearance of impaled arms; hence he is submitting Per pale indented vert and Or, in pale two eagles rising, wings displayed, and two pine trees, all counterchanged.

Dufen Eyðimörkingr (Granite Mountain): DEVICE RESUBMISSION from Kingdom, December 2003

Per pale vert and Or, a chevron inverted counterchanged.

The name appears in the December 2003 Atenveldt Letter of Intent.

The original submission, Vert, a chevron inverted and a bordure Or, conflicted with Friðælv Olvesdottir, Vert, a chevron inverted and in chief a roundel Or, with only a single Clear Difference, for the change in type of the secondary/peripheral charge.

Gallant O’Driscole (Tir Ysgithr): DEVICE RESUBMISSION from Laurel, August 2003

Per chevron vert and argent, two double-bitted axes argent and a compass rose sable.

The name was registered August 2003.

The original submission, identical to this, was returned for redrawing, as there was a significant discrepancy between the full-sized emblazon and the mini-emblazon. This has been corrected.

Godfrey von Rheinfels (Twin Moons): NEW NAME and DEVICE

Azure semy of suns, a bend sinister dovetailed Or.

Godrey is an English masculine given name, from the Old German Godafrid; this spelling dates to HR 1273 (p. 136, Withycombe, Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3^rd edition). Rheinfels is one of the Rhine castles, built in 1245 by Count Dieter V of Katzenelnbogen; it was destroyed in the late18th C. ( http://germany-tourism.de/e/2765_7276.html ). It is anomalous, but permitted, to register an English and German name; tsubmitter prefers this originally submitted form of the name.

From Johan Redbeard, Azure semy of mallets argent, a bend sinister dovetailed Or., there is 1 CD for difference in type of charges in the semy (mallets vs. suns) and 1 CD for the difference in tinctures used in the semy (argent vs. Or).

Katalena Aleksandrova (Sundragon): BADGE RESUBMISSION from Kingdom, November 2003

Argent, a chevron vert and a bordure purpure.

The name was registered March 2003.

The original submission, Argent, a borage flower purpure, barbed vert and seeded Or., was returned for multiple conflicts. This is a complete redesign.

Natal'ia Diekova zhena Rabynovicha (Granite Mountain): NEW DEVICE

Vert, an oak tree eradicated Or between flaunches Or, ermined vert.

The name was registered August 2003.

Terence O’Quinlan (Sundragon): NEW NAME and DEVICE

Or, a cross crosslet fitchy vert and a demi-sun issuant from chief sable.

Withycombe gives Terence as a masculine given name derived from the Latin Terentius and notes that it isn’t used as a given name aside from in Ireland, where it is substituted for the native Turlough and Toirdhealbhach (pp. 275-6). Ó Corráin and Maguire corroborate, giving Tairdelbach as the early form of the masculine given name and Toirdhealbhach as the modern form, with a comment that Terence and Terry became popular with the O Briens (p. 169). (O) Quinlan is the anglicized form of the Irish family name Ó Caoinleáin (p. 252). This seems a very reasonable (and spellable!) anglicized form of an Irish personal name.

The following are returned for further work by the Atenveldt College of Heralds, January 2003:

Bjorn Meaddranker (Sundragon): NEW NAME

The name is Old Norse. Björn is found in “Viking Names found in the Landnámabók,” Aryanhwy merch Catmael ( http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/landnamabok.html ), and is a favorite masculine given name among SCA Norse persona. The byname has no documentation, although the meaning seems pretty self-evident. (The closest ON byname I’ve found is ölfúss, “desirous of beer,” in “Viking Bynames found in the Landnámabók,” Aryanhwy merch Catmael, http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/vikbynames.html ). E.V. Gordon’s An Introduction to Old Norse shows similar terms as drykkju-maðr, “drinker, a man who drinks”; drukkinn, “merry with drink, having taken drink (not necessarily intoxicated–maybe happily buzzed?)”, both on p. 339, and mjoðr, “mead,” on p. 370. Perhaps a compounding of these terms would produce a more period form of the name (the submitter wishes an 11^th C. Old Norse name), mjoð(r)drykkju-maðr or mjoð(r)drukkin, “merry with mead.”

This is not so much a return as my intent to contact the submitter for more information on the byname and to see if he really would like an early period ON name, which would likely look very different from what he originally submitted.

RETURNED for submitter clarification on name construction.

The following submissions were registered by the S.C.A. College of Arms, October 2003:

Ævarr Brynjólfsson. Name change from holding name Scott of Tir Ysgithr and device. Per chevron argent and azure, two bearded axes in saltire sable and a wolf sejant ululant contourny argent.

Alexandria Le Fevre. Name.

Submitted as Alexandria LeFevre, no documentation was presented & none was found that LeFevre is a plausible period form. Aryanhwy merch Catmael's article "French Surnames from Paris, 1421, 1423 & 1438" (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/paris1423surnames.html) dates the form Le Fevre to 1421, 1423, and 1438. This article also dates the form Lefevre to 1421. As the first of these forms preserves the capitalization shown in the submitted form of this name, we have registered this name using that form.

Ann Busshenell of Tylehurst. Device. Gules, three bendlets abased argent each charged with a bendlet azure in sinister chief an hourglass argent charged with a needle sable.

Her previous armory submission was very similar to this but was blazoned as using bendlets abased azure fimbriated argent. That submission was returned for using fimbriated charges that were not in the center of the design, which is forbidden by RfS VIII.3. The submission is blazoned as using bendlets each charged with a bendlet, and is proportioned acceptably for that blazon.

Per the LoAR of February 2000, "In this case the blazon can make a difference: while you cannot 'blazon your way out of' a conflict, you can 'blazon your way out of' a style problem." In the colored-in full-sized emblazon, the bendlets are identifiable as bendlets (rather than part of a complicated bendy field), and are not debased so far as to be unregisterable.

Ann du Bosc. Name.

Listed on the LoI as Anne du Bosc, the submission form showed the given name as Ann. We have made this correction.

Baldric der Krieger. Name.

Cionaodh MacFee. Name and device. Per bend sinister gules and azure, a hawk reguardant contourny and an orle argent.

Submitted as Cináed MacFie, this name combined the Middle Irish Gaelic (c. 900 to c. 1200) given name Cináed with MacFie, which was documented as an undated byname in Scots (a language closely related to English).

No support was found for the submitter's desired form MacFie as a period form. Aryanhwy merch Catmael found dated forms of this byname in Black: The dated forms of the byname with two syllables that Black has are <mcphe> 1531, <McFee> 1541, <McFeye> 1585. Unfortunately, this doesn't support <McFie>.

Based on these examples, MacFee is the closest supportable spelling to the submitted MacFie. We have changed the byname to this form in order to register this name.

As submitted, this name had one weirdness for combining Gaelic and Scots in a name. There was also a weirdness for a temporal disparity of greater than 300 years, since the given name dates to pre-1200 and the submitted form of the byname is only documented post-period. We have changed the given name to the Early Modern Irish (c. 1200 to c. 1700) form Cionaodh in order to remove the temporal disparity from this name. Thereby, having only the single weirdness for the lingual combination of Gaelic and Scots, this name is registerable.

The bird was blazoned as a falcon on the Letter of Intent, but the submitter's blazon calls the bird a hawk. The emblazon will serve for either bird, so we used the submitter's preferred term.

Hallbjorg hin miskunnarlausa. Device. Per chevron inverted purpure and sable, a chevron inverted between two unicorns addorsed argent and a wyvern displayed head to sinister Or.

Lughaidh Cruitire. Name.

Submitted as Lughaidh Cruidire, the form Cruidire, meaning 'harper', is an Old Irish Gaelic (c. 700 to c. 900) form. As the submitter requested authenticity for 14th C, we have changed this byname to the Early Modern Irish (c. 1200 to c. 1700) form Cruitire.

Maddelena Delamour le Vrai. Name change from Madeleine Delamour le Vrai.

Submitted as Maddelena du Lamour Vrai, this item was submitted as a name change from the submitter's currently registered name. The LoI listed her currently registered name as Madeleine du Lamour Vrai. However, her name was registered in June 1998 as Madeleine Delamour le Vrai. Elements of a previously registered name are only grandfathered to the submitter in the exact form in which they were registered. As no documentation was provided and none was found for the byname du Lamour Vrai, we have changed the byname in this submission to match her previously registered byname in order to register this name. Her previous name, Madeleine Delamour le Vrai, is released.

Masala al-Raqqasa. Name change from holding name Masala of Atenveldt.

Submitted as Masala al-Raqq{a-}sa al-Dilhiyya, the elements raqq{a-}s and dilh{i-} were documented from A Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, Third Printing, Hans Wehr, edited by J. Milton Cowan, MacDonald and Evans Ltd., London, 1980), p. 354 and p. 296 respectively. This source is not included in the Administrative Handbook, Appendix H, "Books That Do Not Require Photocopies to Laurel". As such, photocopies are required with this submission. As no photocopies were provided, these elements are not documented and this submission must be returned. Since the source cited for these elements is a modern dictionary, there was concern that these elements, particularly dilh{i-}, may not be period forms. The College was able to provide documentation for al-Raqq{a-}sa. However no documentation was found to support al-Dilhiyya as a plausible byname in period. Lacking such evidence, al-Dilhiyya is not registerable. As the submitter allows major changes, we have dropped this element in order to register this name. An additional issue noted by al-Jamal is that diacritical marks are not used throughout the name. They are included in the byname al-Raqq{a-}sa and omitted elsewhere. Diacritical marks must be used or omitted consistently. As they are omitted from the rest of the name, we have dropped from al-Raqq{a-}sa.

Rachel Ashton. Device reblazon. Or, three irises one and two purpure slipped vert.

The original blazon, Or, three irises purpure, cupped vert, did not correctly specify the arrangement of the irises. In addition, the blazon was changed to be more descriptive. The irises "cupped" had a bit of green where the petals came together and some slip beneath that.

Ricchar of Londinium ad Rubrum Flumen. Holding name and device (see RETURNS for name). Per saltire azure and sable, a drakkar and a bordure embattled argent.

Submitted under the name Ricchar Terrien the Goth.

Sara Boone. Name and device. Gules, an increscent a decrescent and an owl argent.

Seamus Sinclair. Name change from Shamus Sinclair. His previous name, Shamus Sinclair, is released.

Sely Bloxam. Name change from holding name Jerrine of Tir Ysgithr.

Submitted as Sely Bloxsom, no documentation was presented and none was found that Bloxsom is a plausible period variant of Bloxam. Bloxam is dated in Reaney and Wilson (s.n. Bloxam) to 1279 in the name of Alexander de Bloxam. We have changed the byname to use the period form Bloxam in order to register this name.

Silvia la Cherubica di Viso. Badge. Argent, three fleurs-de-lys gules and a bordure invected azure.

Varr the Silent. Name.

Submitted as Var the Silent, the documentation for the given name Var provided in the LoI was "an Old Norse masculine given name found in King Hrolf and his Champions, cited in 'A Collation of Viking Names,' Stephen Francis Wyley (http://www.angelfire.com/wy/svenskildbiter/Viking/viknams3.html#Male%20U)." Gunnvör silfrahárr provided the following information regarding this source and the name Var: It is claimed that the name originates from "King Hrolf and his Champions", so turning to Hrólfs saga kraka ok kappa hans (http://www.snerpa.is/net/forn/hrolf.htm) we find that the correct Old Norse form of the name is <Varr>. This saga is *not* a particularly reliable source for name usage, since it is one of the mythical-heroic sagas. Taking the name from the Anglicized version used in an English translation of Hrólfs saga kraka is undoubtedly how Wyley (and thus the submitter) arrived at the incorrect spelling of the name. I'd suggest always double-checking any names from Wyley vs. other sources (as Atenveldt did do) and if that fails, check vs. the Netútgáfan website (http://www.snerpa.is/net/fornrit.htm) for the specific saga.

Gunnvör also found examples of forms of this name in Nordiskt runnamnslexikon (Lena Peterson. Nordiskt runnamnslexikon. Språk- och folkminnes-institutet. http://www.dal.lu.se/runlex/index.htm). We have changed the submitted Var to the Old Norse form Varr in order to register this name. The byname the Silent is a reasonable Lingua Anglica form of the Old Norse descriptive byname þegjandi 'silent'.

The following submissions are returned by the College of Arms for further work, October 2003:

Æsa gullhrafn. Name.

No documentation was presented and none was found to support gullhrafn 'gold-raven' as a plausible byname in Old Norse. The Old Norse byname gullskeggr 'gold-beard', cited in the LoI, shows a physical description referring to the color of a man's beard. It does not support an Old Norse byname constructed [gold] + [animal]. Gunnvör silfrahárr provided a copious list of Old Norse bynames referring to animals and summarized her findings: On the byname <gullhrafn>, if we examine the recorded bynames from sources such as Landnámabók and the runic inscriptions, those that do contain animal names are overwhelmingly the animal name only. Otherwise the animal name is combined with a word describing a body-part. There are no <animal + adjective> or <adjective + animal> by-names in these sources: Lacking evidence that gullhrafn is a plausible byname in Old Norse, it is not registerable.

Ricchar Terrien the Goth. Name.

Regarding the byname Terrien, the LoI stated: Terrien is a French byname, "man of the earth," which even in a very early period (5th to 9th C.) would suggest a common profession of the time, such as farmer (Bahlow, p. 566 s.n. Terre).

However, the College was unable to find this entry in Bahlow. Also, they found no support for Terrien except as a modern surname. Lacking evidence that Terrien is a plausible byname in period, it is not registerable. No documentation was provided in the LoI for the byname the Goth and the College found no support for the Goth as a plausible byname in period. Lacking such evidence, this byname is not registerable. His armory has been registered under the holding name Ricchar of Londinium ad Rubrum Flumen.

That’s all for this month! Thanks to all of those who sent me copies of their Domesday Reports, or let me know that they’d been filed (whether or not I received an actual copy). I hope to see some old and some new faces at the War. Drive safely, pack wisely, and have fun.

I remain,
Marta as tu Mika-Mysliwy
c/o Linda Miku
2527 East 3^rd Street, Tucson AZ 85716
brickbat@nexiliscom.com
atensubmissions.nexiliscom.com