[MR] HERALDRY -- Kingdom Returns for March 2001

[Robert J Welenc]

At the March meeting of the Atlantian College of Heralds, the
following submissions were RETURNED:

Anne Fraser.	Device.
Per bend argent and vert, a heart gules.
Conflict with the device of Malinda Angelanne Elkhaven, Per fess
embattled azure and argent, a heart gules.
There is only one Clear Difference, for the changes to the field.

Ciar Darkar.	Name and device. 
Per pale gules and sable, a unicorn rampant argent, overall a fess
Or.
Unfortunately, this name has run afoul of the so-called "Rule of Two
Weirdnesses".  This precedent states that while one "weirdness" — one
step or change from period practice — is acceptable, two
"weirdnesses" is not, as it is getting too far from period practice.
Your name has an Irish given name and an English byname.  This is one
‘weirdness'.  On a similar name Laurel Queen of Arms writes thusly:
"Submitted as Duncan Alasdair MacRae, the name had two wierdnesses:
mixing the Gaelic and English spellings, and using a double given
name in Scots. Therefore, we have Anglicized the entire name."
[Duncan Alastair MacRae, 12/99, A-Outlands]
 
The entry for  Ciar in Ó Corráin & Maguire, p. 51, has no dates, but
notes "The most important bearer of this name is St. Ciar, virgin
patroness of Killkeary(Cell Cere) near Nenagh, whose feast days are 5
January and 16 October."  The Catholic Online Saints Index,
http://saints.catholic.org/saints/cera.html, under the heading St.
Cera, provides a date.  "An Irish abbess, also called Ciar, Cior,
Cyra, or Ceara. She was born in Tipperary and served as abbess of a
monastery at Kilkeary and another one at Tehelly. Died 7th century."
Harpy Herald, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, who is well known in
the heraldic community for her expertise in Welsh and Gaelic names,
notes that the name is found only in early Irish records.
The spelling Darkar is not supported by the documentation.  Even if
we changed it to the documented header spelling Darker in Reaney and
Wilson, p. 126, that dates to 1524.  The earliest citation is le
Darkere, 1349.  
Thus there is a gap of at least 650 years between Ciar and Darkere.
This is its  second 'weirdness' — incompatibility in time.  A
previous Laurel King of Arms set the precedent:
"But henceforth, excessive temporal mismatch may contribute to a
name's unacceptability; another problem with the name may cause it to
be returned." (8 May, 1993 Cover Letter (March, 1993 LoAR), pg. 4)

If you have internet access, we suggest that you read the article
Quick and Easy Gaelic Names by Sharon Krossa,
http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/quickgaelicbynames/

We found no problems with the arms, but as we are not allowed to form
a ‘holding name' in order to send the arms up, we must return them as
well.

Davis de Rowell.	Name.
We were unable to document ‘Davis' as a given name in period; it
appears only as a patronymic meaning 'son of Davy' (or Dafydd or
David.)  In order to use the legal name allowance, Laurel requires
proof of legal name -- a driver's license, social security card,
passport, etc. We attempted to contact you several times for proof of
your legal name, but received no response.  Accordingly, we must
return the name.

Godfried of Frisia.	Badge.
Azure, a natural tiger passant and a natural tiger passant contourny
inverted argent marked sable.  
The armory does not show two tigers courant in annulo, but as
blazoned.  "In annulo" requires that the bodies be curved, as if they
were drawn on a ring.  Laurel has consistently returned inverted
animals; two recent examples follow:

"The dolphins are not in annulo, but with one naiant and one
inverted. We do not allow inverted animate charges in SCA heraldry
except when in recognized orientation, such as in annulo." (Jaelle of
Armida, LoAR February 1999, p. 10)  

"The dogs are not really in annulo, and that if they are not in
annulo they violate our ban on inverting animate charges." (Jaelle of
Armida, LoAR April 1999, p. 18) 

When you resubmit, please remember that we require three color copies
and one line drawing; this submission was missing 2 color copies.  It
would have been returned for that even if there had been no other
problems. Submission requirements are available online at
http://herald.atlantia.sca.org/forms/gdhnote.htm.


Ronan mac an Stalcair.	Device. 
Argent, a wolf rampant sable.  
This submission was on an early version of forms that are no longer
allowed because of formatting problems.  When you resubmit, please
make sure that the form is marked version 1.1 or preferably 1.2.
In addition, we found a number of conflicts:
Dubhghall mac Ébhearáird — Argent, a wolf rampant and in chief two
roundels sable with only one Clear Difference for the roundels.
Ulrich der Geschwinde von Augsburg — Argent, a wolf rampant
maintaining in its dexter forepaw a sword sable, hilted Or, within a
bordure quarterly gules and sable with one Clear Difference for the
bordure but nothing for the held sword.
Philip Dyemoke — Potent, a wolf rampant sable with only one Clear
Difference for the field.
The color of the teeth and tongue are considered artistic license and
are dropped from the blazon for space considerations.


Alanna
***********
Saying of the day:" He's  electroencephalographically challenged,
Jim."