Lewis Tanzos
Eastern.crown@eastkingdom.org
15 February 2004
Greetings unto the East Kingdom College of Heralds and all others who receive this letter from Tanczos Istvan, Eastern Crown Herald! This is the Letter of Report containing the kingdom decisions for the Internal Letter of Intent dated 03 January 2004.
There were 17 numbered items.
Commentary was received from: Meradudd Cethin, Robert fitzThomas, Ulrich von der Insel, Arval Benicoeur, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Margaret Holmwood, Eldrich Gaiman, Canut, Julia Kolozsvári Árpádné, Emme, Cateline la souriete, Klaus Golden Gryphon, Margaret Pallet, Caitlin Shepherd's Crook, and Lady Sabine Berard. Immense thanks yet again to all the commenters, without whom none of this would ever get done.
Additional thanks on this letter is due to Katryna Diadem, who made preliminary decisions on this letter and wrote up an initial draft of this document.
Once again, the original submission information is in boldface, my discussion and extra information follows in normal text.
1 Adalae Husman (F) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Forwarded
Per pale Or and azure, a butterfly semy of hearts counterchanged.
If her name must be changed, submitter is most interested in retaining the sound. 'Adalae' from a name list at "Kees Nieuwenhuijsen Living History Studies". They have an article on "Germanic Names in the Low Lands before 1150" ( http://www.keesn.nl/names/list_f.htm . This list shows it occurring twice each in the 10th and 11th centuries. It lists the sources as "EHMU". E = Fontes Egmundenses. H = Holland and Zeeland Charterbook. M = Alpertus van Metz. U = Utrecht Charterbook. ( full bibliographic info at http://www.keesn.nl/names/name7_en.htm ) 'Houseman' is found dated to that spelling in R&W p. 240 s.n. 'Houseman': 'John Houseman 1365'.
Submitted as 'Adalae Houseman', that form has two weirdnesses: a temporal one, as the given name and surname as dated are more than 300 years apart; and a lingual one, as combining a German given name with an English surname was declared a weirdness on the November 2001 LoAR.
Brechenmacher dates the surname Husman to 1210 (p. 670, s.n. Hausmann); this has a very similar sound and neatly removes both weirdnesses.
2 Auriana Witley (F) - New Primary Name Forwarded
'Ariane' found in Withycombe s.n. 'Ariadne' p.31, undated: '... in the forms Arianna, Ariane has been used in Italy and France respectively'. 'Witley': Reaney & Wilson p. 487 s.n. 'Whiteley, Whitely, Whitla, Whitley, Whittla, Whittley, Witley' has the following dated forms: 'de Witelay' 1190, 'del Wyteley' 13th century, 'de Whitteley' 1316. Between these it seems that the desired spelling ought to be reasonable. In Ekwall p. 514 s.n. 'Whitleigh' we find more forms: 'Witelei' DB, 'Wytele' 1288.
No documentation was given, and none could be found, to show that 'Ariane' is a period name. The Withycombe citation explicitly says that its use in English is modern. The closest we could find was 'Auriana', dated to 678 in Morlet Vol. II, p. 23, s.n. 'Auriana'.
Ekwall p. 528 'Witley' has the following forms: 'Witlei' DB, 'Witle' 1212, 'Wytteley' 1247, so we feel confident that 'Witley' is a reasonable spelling variant.
This leaves the name with but a single weirdness, the elements being outside a 300 year span.
3 Durka Vadas (F) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Returned
Sable, on a mullet of seven inverted Or a chess knight sable.
If her name must be changed, the submitter wishes to retain the sound. All documentation for this name is from S. Gabriel report #2522, which is attached; they worked from Kázmer Miklós's Régi Magyar Családnevek Szótara: XIV-XVII Század. 'Darka' does not appear in Kázmer anywhere we can find (nor does it appear in the Gabriel letter); dated forms under s.n. 'Dorka' p. 312 include Dorka 1522, 1535, 1568, 1540; and Durka 1566. Kázmer says that it is a form of Dorottya, which seems to be a form of Dorothy. The S. Gabriel report dates 'Durko' to 1568, but we cannot find this cite in Kázmer. Kázmer p. 303 s.n. 'Dobo' dates 'Dabo' to 1580 and 1583; p. 305 s.n. 'Dobsa' dates 'Dabsa' to 1504; and p. 307 s.n. 'Dolhai' dates 'dalhaij' to 1542. This shows that a change from 'Do-' to 'Da-' is reasonable. 'Vadas' dated to 1428, 1430, 1446, 1480, 1575 and 1585 in Kázmer p. 1110 s.n. 'Vadas'.
Submitted as 'Darka Vardas'. Kazmer actually dates the spelling Vadas to 1399, 1426, 1428, 1430, 1446, 1475, 1478, 1479, 1574, 1575, and 1599. In any case, this part of the name is eminently period. The given name, however, is more problematical; Julia Kolozsvári Árpádné (a native speaker of Hungarian) says, in part:
Dorka/Dorko/Durko are nicknames for Dorothea (Hungarian Dorottya): Dor + diminutive suffix
. Durko is from Duruttya, a rare regional variant. The o/a variations cited in the Gabriel letter can be traced to regional variants of particular names (Dob/Dab and Dolha/Dalha); the use of Darka would therefore presuppose a similar variant of Dorothy that uses an 'a' in the first syllable. I know of no such name.
The closest we can get, then, to her preferred sound is 'Durka', documented above.
The device must be returned for multiple conflicts:
Caerthe, Barony of (November of 1982 via Atenveldt): Sable, on a sun throughout Or an aspen leaf vert.
Grainne ni Dyerree-in-Dowan (July of 1980 via the East): Sable, on a mullet of seven points Or, voided vert, a garb Or.
Kourost Bernard of the East Woods (December of 2000 via the West): Sable, a sun Or eclipsed sable.
All of the above conflict, with only single CDs for changes to the tertiary group.
While there was some discussion of whether or not it is a returnable offense, the 'mullet' should have radial, not just bilateral symmetry. We recommend that this be done on the resubmission. Also, there is a weirdness for using the non period SCA compatible single headed chess knight.
4 Evan Bevan (M) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Returned
Argent, a double-bitted axe and in chief three mullets of six points sable.
If his name must be changed, the submitter is most concerned with keeping the sound. 'Evan' found in Withycombe, p. 112 s.n. 'Evan': 'Welsh form of John... the form Evan dates only from about 1500. ' 'Bevan': Morgan & Morgan pp. 130-138 s.n. 'Ieuan' presents 'Bevan' as a mutated form of 'ab Evan', i. e. , 'son of Evan'. It dates 'Bevan' to 1643.
Morgan & Morgan p. 131 s.n. 'Ieuan' also dates one 'Hugh ap Beven ap David' to 1551.
The device conflicts with that of Friedrich Ethelred aus Schloss Trier (April of 1986 via Caid): Argent, a double-bitted axe palewise sable. with but one CD for the addition of the secondary group.
5 Fiadhnait inghean Chiaragáin - New Badge Forwarded
(Fieldless) On a decrescent per fess sable and azure a fess engrailed argent.
This device is clear of Yngvar the Dismal (June of 1992 via the East): (Fieldless) A decrescent tierced per fess gules, argent and sable. with one CD for a fieldless badge and one CD for changing the tincture of over half of the respective areas of the charges.
Our commenters were unsure of the propriety of charging a charge with an ordinary throughout as one would a device. We cannot find any precedents for or against it, so we are accepting it, but the submitter should note that this may be returned at Laurel for non-period style.
6 Frosted Hills, Shire of - New Badge Forwarded
(Fieldless) A sturgeon naiant azure.
This badge is clear of Alys Carvelsdatter (February of 1980 via Atenveldt): (Fieldless) An angelfish naiant bendwise azure. with one CD due to fieldlessness and one for change of orientation of the fish.
7 Gleann nam Feorag Dubh, Shire of - New Group Name Forwarded & New Group Device Forwarded
Sable, an acorn within a laurel wreath and on a chief embattled Or two squirrels respectant each maintaining an acorn sable.
No major changes. Meaning most important: "Valley of the Black Squirrel". Please change to be authentic for 15th Century Scots Gaelic language/culture. 'Gleann' is translated as 'valley', 'nam' as 'of the', 'feorag' as 'squirrel', and 'dubh' as 'black'. The attached documentation is a printout of email which is incomplete and has no headers and is therefore useless as documentation. Thankfully, Eastern Crown was in the conversation and has complete copies. Email conversation was mostly between Arval, Istvan, and Talan Gwynek
For the pattern, Adrian Room's Dictionary of Irish Place Names, has the following, though all of them are entirely undated:
Glenagarey (Dublin), Gleann na gCaorach, 'glen of the sheep'.
Gleneask (Sligo), Gleann Iasc, 'glen of the fish'
Glennanean
(Mayo), Gleann na nÉan, 'glen of the birds'.
Talan says (See Bibliography for Sources):
The examples in Darton involve domestic animals (horses, pigs, possibly sheep) or deer
I was really more concerned about the 'squirrel' word. Dwelly ( s.v. feórag ) gives Scottish [feórag], as do Maclennan and MacBain. Maclennan relates it to Welsh [gwiwer]. MacBain does so as well, and also to Pliny's [viverra] 'ferret', and, more important, he gives the Irish as [feoróg]. Dinneen does not have this form, but he does have [fearóg] and [iora], the latter being the only term given in the modern (and admittedly grossly inadequate) little Collins Gem E-I/I-E dictionary. He notes the phrase [iora ruadh] '(red) squirrel' and invites comparison with [iara ruadh], which depending on dialect was apparently either 'weasel' or 'red hare'. s.v. [iar] 'weasel' he offers [iaróg] as a synonym. Dwelly has no [iora], but he does have a dialect [iara] 'cat' and [iarag] 'weasel; any little creature of brownish hue', and he notes s.v. [feórag] that this term is sometimes erroneously applied to the ferret. Maclennan and MacBain seem not to have anything along these lines.
Finally, the DIL does not seem to have an entry corresponding to any of these words.
I haven't a clue what's really going on here, apart from the obvious: [-óg] is an Irish diminutive suffix that appears in the Sc. Gaelic words as [-ag]. I'm not even sure that the [i-] word(s) are different in origin from the [f-] words, since initial [f] is easily lost, especially if it tended to appear in contexts requiring lenition. (In this connection Irish [iora] stands out: it's the only masculine noun of the bunch. While gender can change, that does tend at least somewhat to suggest that it might be a different word. ) In particular, I don't know how far back the [f-] words go or how generally they were used, though it seems likely that they're at least period: the coexistence of Irish and Scottish forms (and, if MacBain and Maclennan are right, the relationship with the Welsh term) certainly point very strongly in that direction.
Assuming that [feórag] is possible at least in a late-period Sc. Gaelic place-name, the grammar isn't a problem. Calder (86) says that diminutives in [-ag] are declined as feminine a:-stems, with genitive plural identical to nominative singular. The genitive plural feminine definite article is [nam] before labial consonants, so 'glen of the squirrels' is [Gleann nam Feórag], from which the accent should presumably be omitted.
The long accent (indicated here with ò) is a modern addition in Scottish Gaelic; it was not used in period.
The sources Talan quotes are as follows:
Dwelly, Edward, Faclair gaidhlig: A Gaelic Dictionary (Herne Bay [Eng.] E. Macdonald & co. , 1902-[11]), s.v. feòrag
Maclennan, Malcolm, A Pronouncing and Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language (Aberdeen: ACAIR and Aberdeen University Press, 1984), s.v. feòrag
Macbain, Alexander, Etymological Dictionary of Scottish-Gaelic , 2nd ed. (Orig. publ 1907(?); reprint New York: Hippocrene, 1998), s.v. feòrag.
Watson, William J., The History of the Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (London: William Blackwood & Sons Ltd. , 1926).
Darton, Mike, The Dictionary of Scottish Place Names (Moffat, Scotland: Lochar Publishing, 1990).
George Calder, A Gaelic Grammar; containing parts of speech and the general principles of phonology and etymology with a chapter on proper and place names (Glasgow: 1923; reprinted Glasgow: Gairm Publications, 1980, 1990).
The Irish examples are broader, including "birds" and "fish" as well as "sheep", so "squirrels" seems to fit better with the place naming of Ireland than Scotland.
The other thing necessary is to document the use of color adjectives in Scottish Gaelic place names. The following citations are from Darton and demonstrate the pattern [substantive element] of the [color] [beast]
The following are some citations from Darton demonstrating the use of beasts other than those mentioned by Talan Gwynek in Scottish place-names.
Johnston p. 78 dates Obyne to c. 1260, Obeyn to 1286, Oboyne to 1639, Aboyne to 1643. Johnston p. 206 under Ibrox cites Ebrukis dated to 1508 and a place name meaning "hill of the badger" Monabroc c1200. Johnston p. 313 dates Torphichen to 1540 and Thorfighyn, Torphychin to 1296. This dates a few of the above examples to period.
8 Havre des Glaces - Resub Order Name Returned
Submitted name: Ordre de Mars
No major changes. The group wishes a name for their barony's order for combat activities. 'Ordre de Mars' is the French for 'Order of Mars'. RFS III. 2b says: "Names of orders and awards must follow the patterns of the names of period orders and awards". Project Ordensnamen ( http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/order ) says that one source of period order names is 'Creatures - both fantastic and real beasts' and further gives the examples 'Unicorn, Dragon, Dove, Greyhound'. The group claims that Mars, as a mythological figure, could fit the definition of 'creature'. They also list a number of SCA-registered orders which fit the pattern: Order of Athena (1982), Order of Orion (1999), Order of Perseus (1993), and Order of Terpsichore (1981). Another source of period order names from Project Ordensnamen is 'Names - personal names, including those of Christ and God' with the examples given of 'St. John, Jesus Christ, St. Hubert of Lorraine, Our Lady of Mercy'. Mars is a French name, and there are two French saints who bear this name. St. Médard is the original name of one, which name was shortened to Mars and used in several place-names: St-Mars-la-Jaille, St-Mars-de-Coutais and St-Mars-d'Outill (NDP). 'St. Medard 470-560, Bishop, born in Salency, Picardy, he was ordained at thirty three, attained fame as a preacher and missioner, and became bishop of Vermandois in 530. Feast day June 8' ( http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint. php?saint_id=201 , NPCA). The other St. Mars 'may have been the Bishop of Nantes from 527 to 531, before becoming a hermit, though there is no trace of this in the episcopal registers. Except for the local tradition of Bais, the primary source regarding St. Mars is the mention that is made to him in the Vita s. Melanii episc. Rhedonesis, the life of St. Melaine'. Translated from a French website ( http://www.mythofrancaise.asso.fr/mythes/figures/MARpres.htm , PCA)
We must consider this precedent:
(October 1992, Brynjolfr Myrkjartansson, p. 26) [Compaignie Mercurie] The name is a technical infringement on the planet Mercury; according to the OED, it was spelled as Mercurie in period and was known to be a place. It's certainly famous enough to prote Antares, and we have a long history of returning extra-terrestrial names ...while the name might be argued to conflict with the Roman god Mercury --- who, like the planet, meets the criteria for protection in the Handbook --- allusions to supernatural guardians were common enough to allow us to call it clear. That is, Compaignie Mercurie no more conflicts with the god Mercury than, say, the Company of St. Jude conflicts with St. Jude. (Brynjolfr Myrkjartansson, October, 1992, pg. 26)
Therefore, this submission conflicts with the planet Mars, but not the god Mars. The conflict is still enough to cause this to be returned.
9 Honor Savage (F) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Returned
Per fess argent and azure, in chief a rainbow proper between three mullets azure.
If her name must be changed, submitter is most interested in retaining the sound. 'Honor' is found, dated to 1539, in Julian Goodwyn's 'Brass Enscription Index' ( http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/ ). 'Savage' is found, dated to 1420, in the same source.
The argent clouds at the termini of the rainbow are unidentifiable against the argent field, violating RfS VIII.3. If the rainbow were moved down so that the clouds were against the azure, it would conflict with Sundragon, Barony of (October of 1983 via Atenveldt): Per fess argent and azure, a rainbow gules, argent, azure, Or and purpure, clouded argent. with only 1 CD for the addition of the mullets.
10 Honora Shirebrooke (F) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Forwarded
Per pale vert and sable, a unicorn couchant between three crescents argent.
If her name must be changed, the submitter wishes to retain the sound. 'Honora' found in Withycombe p. 154 s.n. 'Honor': 'After the Reformation 'Honor' or 'Honour' was adopted as a Christian name in England' and 'occurs in Latin records from the 12th-14th century as 'Honora', 'Onora', 'Annora'. ' There is also a St. Honoria. 'Shirebrook' is found in Reaney & Wilson p. 406 s.n. 'Shirbrooke, Shirebrooke', with one dated form: 'de Shirbrok' 1368-9. Mills s.n. 'Shirebrook' p. 311 adds 'Scirebroc' 1202, as does Ekwall p. 418 s.n. 'Shirebrook'.
Many of our commenters suggested the dated spellings of the surname, but as the submitter made no request for authenticity and the College will accept the header form for a name with a dated spelling, we have left the name as it is.
11 Jacobina of White Moor - Resub Device Forwarded
Azure, a billet bendwise sinister and on a chief argent three roses azure.
Her original device, 'Azure, a piece of paper bendwise sinister and on a chief argent three double roses azure. ', was returned at Laurel on the January 2003 LoR for lack of documentation of the main charge, and for a redraw: No documentation was presented for a piece of paper as a heraldic charge. The charge drawn here is a four-sided charge at an angle between palewise and bendwise sinister. The chiefmost and basemost sides of the charge are slightly embowed-counterembowed, and the other two sides are straight. This therefore cannot easily be reblazoned as a lozenge, billet or other standard heraldic charge. Without documentation for this charge, and because of its intermediate orientation between the standard heraldic orientations, it may not be accepted. The double roses have four petals on the lower deck and five on the upper. This seems a reasonable artistic variant of a standard double rose and does not need to be blazoned. This resubmission fixes both problems.
Per the suggestions of our commenters we have reblazoned the delf as a billet.
12 Ketill Errickson - Resub Device Forwarded
Vert, a wolf sejant uluant between four maple leaves in cross argent.
This name was registered in April of 2002 (via the East).
13 Maíre Muir (F) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Forwarded
Per pale azure and sable, a pegasus rampant wings inverted argent.
If her name must be changed, submitter is most interested in retaining the sound. 'Mairi': We have been unable to find 'Mairi' in a dated form, but we find 'Máire' dated to the 14th and 16th centuries in OCM p. 133 s.n. 'Máire'. 'Muir': Header form in Black, p. 617; dated forms include 'More' 1328-29, 'Mure' 1347, 'Mwre' 1369, and 'Muyr' 1469-70.
Submitted as "Mairi Muir", the submitted form combines a modern spelling of the Irish Gaelic name Máire with the Lowland Scots surname Muir, which is not a Gaelic form. With the change to the dated spelling Máire, this should be registerable with a single weirdness.
This device may conflict with that of Margherita di San Gimignano (November of 1977 via ): Per bend gules and ermine, a winged unicorn rampant wings addorsed argent, armed, crined, unguled and chased Or.
There is clearly one CD for the field. The second, however, is in question.Precedent is clear: one precedent says that:
There is at least a CD between a horse and a correctly drawn (i.e. medieval) unicorn (William Palfrey, September, 1992 LoAR, pg. 14)
and another adds:
[a winged unicorn vs a pegasus] There is one CD... for the difference between a pegasus and a winged unicorn. (... If we are going to grant a difference between a unicorn and a horse, I cannot see that we can justify not granting one just because they both have added wings. ) (Thorkell Bloodaxe of Gardar, 9/94 p.8)
However, the oldest precedents we can find against allowing unicornate horses seem to postdate the 'winged unicorn' submission, and it is possible that visual examination will show that it is indeed a unicornate horse and that there is not enough difference in this case for a CD.
14 Miklos Temesvari (M) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Returned
Sable, in chief a dragon couchant and on a gore Or a spiderweb gules.
If his name must be changed, the submitter wishes to retain the sound and a Hungarian/Rumanian culture. All documentation for this name is from S.Gabriel report #2522, which is attached; they worked from Kázmer Miklós's 'Régi Magyar Családnevek Szótara: XIV-XVII Század'. 'Miklos' dated in that spelling to 1566 in Kámer, s.n. Miklós p. 734. 'Temesvari': Kázmer has a number of dated spellings, including Temeswari 1568 and 1570; Tömösvary 1580; Themesvarÿ 1586; and Themesvari 1586. These should show that the desired spelling is plausible.
Further evidence for the desired spelling for the surname: Kazmer p. 1123 under 'Varjú': 1364 Waryw, which uses 'w' to mean both the consonant /v/ and the vowel /u/. Also, 1590 Ieremia Colosvari, p. 609 under 'Kolozsvári'; and 1585 Vari Miklos, p. 1122 'Vári'.
Charged gores were disallowed on the Cover Letter for the 21 December 1991 LoAR. A spiderweb was explicitly ruled to be a charge and not a field treatment in October 1990. Also, the dragon is poorly drawn and very hard to identify; the depiction is missing most of the key features of draconic anatomy including the claws, tail, and wings.
15 Owyn Greenwood (M) - New Primary Name Forwarded & New Device Forwarded
Quarterly vert and argent, in bend two unicorns rampant argent.
No major changes. 'Owyn': Withycombe p. 237 s.n. 'Owen' gives the following dated spellings: 'Owyne' 1524, 'Oweyn' 1273, 'Owen' 1200, 1492, 1273, and 'Owine' 1086. Talan Gwynek's ' Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names' ( http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/eng16/eng16alpha.html ) gives 'Owin'. Between these spellings, the desired spelling seems reasonable. 'Greenwood' found in Bardsley p. 336 s.n. 'Greenwood': 'Alice Greenwood' 1539.
Morgan & Morgan p. 173 under Owain has 'Thomas ap Owyne' and 'Morice ap Owyn' 1581, thus dating the desired spelling.
These arms are not marshalled. The rule is as follows:
Period marshalling combined two or more separate designs to indicate descent from noble parents and claim to inheritance. Since members of the Society are all required to earn their status on their own merits, apparent claims to inherited status are presumptuous. Divisions commonly used for marshalling, such as quarterly or per pale, may only be used in contexts that ensure marshalling is not suggested.
a. Such fields may be used with identical charges over the entire field, or with complex lines of partition or charges overall that were not used for marshalling in period heraldry.
As this device has only one type of charge on the field, it avoids the appearance of marshalling.
16 Seamus O Neill (M) - New Name Forwarded
No major changes. The form is ambiguous, as the 'make authentic for' box is checked for language/culture but 'if needed for registerability' is handwritten in. All the documentation provided consists of copies from a pair of history books with instances of each element highlighted; as there is no indication that these are period forms these are not useful. The name 'Seamus' is found in Sharon L. Krossa's Historical Name Generator: Sixteenth Century Irish and Scottish Gaelic Names: Scottish Gaelic Man' ( http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/hng16gaelic/scottishman.shtml ). Uí Neill: Woulfe p. 625 s.n. 'O'Neill' dates this name to 943, 1088 and throughout period.
Submitted as Seamus Uí Neill of Ulster, 'Ulster' is a part of Ireland. Specifically, home of the 'O'Neills of Ulster' (Woulfe, s.n. 'O'Neill'). Because of this, this name is not registerable due to this precedent:
"Submitted as Sinclair of Wick, we have dropped the locative to avoid the appearance of presumption that the submitter is the clan chief of the Sinclairs, Earls of Caithness, whose stronghold is Girnigoe Castle, just north of Wick in Caithness. " (Da'ud ibn Auda I, October 1990, p. 2)
The submitting herald says that:
The gentleman in question has been using the name Seamus O'Neill and would like something that allows him to keep that. I did however know that as simply "Seamus Ui Neill" he would conflict with Seamus O'Neill of Tir Connel, previously registered by the college.
However, the consulting herald is mistaken. 'Seamus O Neill' does not conflict with 'Seamus O'Neill of Tir Connel' because they have a different number of name elements. As such, the submitter would, despite having checked the 'no major changes' box, be perfectly happy with the name as we have forwarded it. The consulting herald says:
If it is not necessary to avoid conflict with the other previously registered Seamus, the name the submitter wanted but thought he could not get is simply "Seamus Ui Neill" or "Seamus O'Neill" - whatever spelling variant is deemed most appropriate.
Eastern Crown phoned the submitter, he has affirmed that we can make this change.
17 Seamus mac Duibne (M) - New Name Forwarded & New Device Returned
Azure, a saltire argent, overall an orle Or all within a bordure gyronny of sixteen Or and sable.
Submitter wishes his name to be changed to be authentic for 1525-1600 Gaelic/Highland Scotland, and allows all changes. 'Seumas': we find 'Seumas', undated, in Black p. 382 s.n. 'James' as the Gaelic form, and in Withycombe p. 170 s.n. 'James'. Also in OCM as a header form, p. 163 s.n. 'Séamus, Séamas': 'This name was common among the Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland and was adopted by the native Irish'. Mari's 'Index of Names in Irish Annals: Seamus' ( http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/mari/AnnalsIndex/Masculine/Seamus.shtml ) shows the following dated spellings: 'Semus' 1398, 1405, 1448, 1467, 1486, 1502, 1519, 1581, 1608; and 'Semas' 1511 and 1567. The name 'Seamus' is also found in Sharon L. Krossa's Historical Name Generator: Sixteenth Century Irish and Scottish Gaelic Names: Scottish Gaelic Man' ( http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/hng16gaelic/scottishman.shtml ). 'O'Duibhne' also in Black, undated: 'The O'Duibhnes were the ancestors of the Campbells as attested by an early charter'. 'Aviemore' found in Johnston's 'Place-Names of Scotland', p. 94 s.n. 'Aviemore'; there is one dated spelling, 'Avimore', though it is just out of the grey area at 1654. The submitter is aware that with allowing major changes, his request for authenticity will most likely result in the locative being dropped; he added it in in case it was necessary to clear conflict.
There being no need to clear conflict, we have dropped the locative.
We have also changed from the submitted 'Seumas' to the documentable 'Seamus'.
As O' names are Irish, not Scottish, we have also
changed to the Scottish form:
As drawn, it shows the arms of Scotland on an escutcheon at fess point. This is not allowable as per RfS XI.4.
Also, from the Precedents of Alisoun MacCoul of Elphane:
The device was blazoned with a double tressure, but the emblazon showed a bordure gules charged with an orle sable, which would not be licit. (LoAR 28 Jun 87, p. 4)
As such, this device must be returned.