1 Albrecht von Landshut - New Device forwarded

Per chevron azure and argent, in chief two crosses potent argent, in base a tower sable.

His name was registered in May 2002, via Ansteorra.

As submitted, the line of division was much too low for per chevron, but too high for a point pointed. With the submitter's approval, it has been redrawn so that the per chevron divides the field into two roughly equal pieces.

2 Alexander Younger - New Name forwarded & New Device returned

Argent, seven pellets two, three, and two.

Alexander appears forty times in "English Given Names from 16th and Early 17th Century Marriage Records" by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/english/parishes/parishes.html), dated between 1546 and 1620. In addition, the name is found four times in Karen Larsdatter's "An Index to the 1523 Subsidy Roll for York and Ainsty, England" (http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/york16/index.htm). Younger appears multiple times in "Surnames in Durham and Northumberland, 1521-1615" (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juetta/parish/surnames.html) by Julie Kahan, with examples from 1569, 1572, 1575, 1581, 1585, 1586, 1588, 1589, 1591, 1594, 1598, 1601, 1602, and later.

Unfortunately, this lovely device conflicts with Cynethryth Dall (Jun. 2001 Lochac): Argent semy of roundels, a bordure sable, with just one CD for the bordure. RfS X.4.f. grants no difference between six or more and semy, and because strewn charges could be in exactly this arrangement (on a lozenge, for example), there is no difference from RfS X.4.g. (I believe that removing the center pellet to create an "in annulo" arrangement should clear this conflict, because the hole in the middle would not be a valid emblazon of the semy field, giving a CD for arrangement.)

3 Berach MacTawisch (m) - New Name forwarded & New Device forwarded

Paly sable and argent, a bear rampant contourny and a chief Or.

He cares most about sound; the specifics line says "12th century Scottish". Berach is a header on p. 31 of OCM. It's identified as the name of several saints. The entry says the name was used as a "family personal name" among the O Hanlys; it was anglicized in the 19th century as Barry. MacTawisch is based on Black p. 566 s.n. MacTavish, which dates the (abbreviated) spelling McTawisch to 1480. The surname derives from Gaelic Mac Thamhais, from a Lowland Scots form of Thomas.

A combination of Gaelic and Scots is a step from period practice (Mairghread of Herth, 08/2004 A-Drachenwald), but it's the only one thanks to the saint's name allowance, so this should be registerable.

This device is clear of Bjorn Kathrynson (Jun 1988 West): Per pale sable and gules, a winged bear rampant and a chief Or, with one CD for the field and another for the orientation of the bear (and possibly one for the wings, but luckily it's a moot point). It's also clear of both Ragnarr Gunnarsson (Jul. 2003 Atenveldt): Per pale sable and gules, a bear rampant contourny and on a chief Or three Thor's hammers sable, and Shauna MacLeod (Feb. 1998 Trimaris): Vert, a bear rampant to sinister, on a chief Or a Celtic cross vert; in each case, there's one CD for the field and one for removing the tertiary charge(s).

4 Black Rose, March of the - New Badge forwarded
Herald of Record: Eleazar ha-Levi

(Fieldless) A rose sable, barbed and charged with the letters BR argent.

The shire's name was registered in May 1986, via the East.

This was originally incorrectly blazoned as A Tudor rose sable, barbed and overall the letters BR argent. A Tudor rose is defined as a combination of a rose argent and a rose gules (usually as a double rose). The submitted emblazon is simply a rose sable. Also, the letters lie entirely on the rose, so they're not overall.

This badge is clear of Sylvester von Beerberg (Dec. 1980 Middle): Argent, on a rose sable, barbed vert, a death's head argent, with one CD for the field and another for the type and number of tertiaries.

5 Cassandra Matisse - New Name forwarded & New Device forwarded

Vert, a gurges and a bordure Or.

She cares most about sound. Cassandra appears in "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" by Talan Gwynek (http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/eng16/eng16.html). It's also found in his "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames", dated to 1182-1211, 1208, and 1275. Matisse appears as an undated variant of Mathieu in Dauzat p. 423 s.n. Mathieu. The entry says that forms of this name can be found as both given names and family names. A combination of English and French is not considered a departure from period practice (Jocosa d'Auxerre, 01/2005 A-Meridies).

This device should be clear of Björn of Drei Eichen (Nov. 2002 Drachenwald): Or, a gurges vert overall a Thor's hammer gules, with one CD for removing the overall charge and another for adding a peripheral charge. (Or, if you prefer, one CD for the type and another for the tincture of the "other" charge, although the fact that I had to resort to calling it that shows that the first way is the more proper way to count this.)

6 Culen mac Cianain (m) - New Change Of Holding Name forwarded
Current name: Scott of Settmour Swamp

His originally submitted name, Culann mac Cianain, was returned on the Sep. 2007 LoAR for lack of evidence that Culann is a period name. His device was registered in Dec. 2007 under the holding name Scott of Settmour Swamp. Culen is an alternate spelling of Cuilén, found in the "Index of Names in Irish Annals" by Mari Elspeth nic Bryan (http://www.meievalscotland.org/kmo/AnnalsIndex/). This particular spelling is found in annals entries referring to the years 971, 999, 1225, 1327, and 1463. mac + father's name in the genitive = "son of". Cianain: OCM p. 51 s.n. Cianan says that this is a diminutive of Cian, and that there were two saints by this name. Cianain is the hypothetical genitive form, following the pattern in "100 Most Popular Men's Names in Early Medieval Ireland" by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn (http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/irish100.html). Tangwystyl's article contains names found before the 12th century.

7 Finnghuala Rowan (f) - New Name forwarded & New Device returned

Per bend sinister gules and sable, a Dalmatian passant proper between in dexter chief a heart sable and in base a heart gules.

No major changes. She cares most about an unspecified meaning. Fionnghuala is found in Mari's Annals Index as the standard Early Modern Irish spelling of a name found for 26 women in the Annals, dated between 1247 and 1531. Rowan is found as a (post-period) Anglicized form of O Robhachain on p. 632 of Woulfe. It's also found in More Irish Names by Edward MacLysaght (New York, Barnes & Noble, 1960); on. p. 210, Rowan is listed as a 16th century variant Anglicization of Ó Ruadháin, and "Moriertagh O'Morchoe alias O'Rowane" is dated to 1584. The device is accompanied by a printout of the American Kennel Club's Dalmatian breed history (http://www.akc.org/breeds/dalmatian/history.cfm). It says in part: "They have been found painted on walls of tombs running behind Egyptian chariots and mentioned in letters written in the mid-1500s from a poet named Jurij Dalmatin to a Bohemian duchess. A fresco in the Spanish Chapel of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy painted around 1360 shows a spotted dog of the Dalmatian type."

Black p. 698 s.n. Roland dates William Rowan to 1513. A combination of Scots and Gaelic is considered a step from period practice, but registerable (Mairghread of Herth, 08/2004 A-Drachenwald).

This device is returned for violating RfS VIII.2: the hearts are color on color. (I was not the only one who utterly failed to notice this problem.) On resubmission, please make sure the bottom heart is either clearly in bend or clearly in base; as submitted, it's somewhere between the two and therefore not really blazonable.

The blazon has been corrected (from Per bend sinister gules and sable, in dexter chief and sinister to base two hearts counterchanged and overall a Dalmatian statant proper). The primary charge should always be blazoned before any secondary charges, the raised foreleg makes the dog "passant" rather than "statant", he's not overlapping anything, so he's not overall, and location is normally specified using "in", not "to".

8 Lianor de Matos (f) - New Name forwarded & New Device forwarded

Or, three stag's heads erased gules.

Lianor appears as a feminine name in "Portuguese Names from Lisbon, 1565" by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/portuguese/fem1565.html), with 58 examples of this spelling. de Matos appears as a locative byname in the Surnames section of the same article.

9 Thomas Monrow of Longhill - New Name forwarded & New Device forwarded

Argent semy of pommes, two monkeys combatant sable.

Thomas is a header in the masculine given names section of "Early 16th Century Scottish Lowland Names" by Sharon Krossa (http://www.medievalscotland.org/scotnames/lowland16/menalpha.shtml), found 23 times in this spelling, dated to 1505, 1506, 1508, 1509, 1510, 1511, 1512, 1513, 1518, 1519, 1533, and 1534. Monrow is found once, dated to 1505, under the surname Monro in the same article. Longhill is a header in Black, p. 438. The entry says it's derived from a local place name, and dates Gervays de Longhil to 1296.

10 Þórlæifr hvítskegg - Resub Device forwarded

Sable, three wolf's heads caboshed one and two argent.

His name was registered in Mar 2007, via the East. His previous device submission, Sable, three wolf's heads caboshed one and two argent each jessant of an arrow Or, was returned in Dec. 2007 (R-East) for using a non-lion's head jessant of a non-fleur-de-lys, which is considered two steps from period practice. This submission removes the arrows entirely to fix this problem.

11 Tyffayne de Trumpington (f) - New Name forwarded

No major changes. Tyffayne is dated to 1288 under Theophania in Talan Gwynek's "Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames" (http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/reaneyHZ.html). This spelling is marked as appearing as a matronymic in R&W s.n. Tiffany. de Trumpington is a surname dated to 1289 in "Monumental Brass Enscriptions" by Julian Goodwyn (http://heraldry.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/lastnameAH.html). The name is found once, in Cambridgeshire.

12 Ynys y Gwaed, Cantref of - Appeal Name forwarded & Resub Device forwarded

Argent, on a bend azure between two pine trees couped gules a laurel wreath palewise argent, all within a bordure gules.

No changes. This is an appeal of a kingdom return of unknown, pre-21st century date. There is a petition (dated Sep. 2006) in support of the name, signed by five officers; it makes no mention of the arms. They care most about Welsh language and/or culture. The canton prefers to use "Cantref" as a more Welsh title. Pont Rhyd-y-gwaed, in Rhewl, Wales, crosses the Afon Clywedog, according to "Historic Landscape Characterisation. The Vale of Clwyd: Rhos, Ruthin, Llanynys and Llangynhafal, Denbigshire" (http://www.cpat.org.uk/projects/longer/histland/clwyd/1047.htm). Ynys 'island' has been used in place of pont 'bridge'.

This appeal is not well formed, and there are several likely problems with the submitted name. Tangwystyl's "Period Models for Welsh Households" (http://heatherrosejones.com/welshhouseholdname/) identifies cantref as the basic (large) unit of political division in period Wales, derived from cant 'hundred' and tref 'town'. The only thing bigger than a cantref is a kingdom (by whatever name), so the term hardly seems appropriate as a translation for the SCA's use of "canton". Also, according to both the website quoted in the submission and Hubbard, E.: The Buildings of Wales: Clwyd (Denbighshire and Flintshire) (Penguin Books / University of Wales Press, 1986), Pont Rhyd-y-gwaed is in a modern (19th-20th century) settlement, and therefore gives no support for a period placename. The appeal gave almost none of the required English translations for the Welsh words used. The online (modern) Welsh-English dictionary of the University of Wales, Lampeter (http://www.geiriadur.net/) translates rhyd as "ford", ynys as "island", y as "the", and gwaed as "blood". This means that the submitted name denotes "Island (of) the Blood", which is possibly offensive (or at least in poor taste). These problems combined with the group's unwillingness to accept any changes convince me that this name is highly unlikely to be registerable. According to the Administrative Handbook section IV.E., I must forward all appeals to Laurel, but I do so here without any positive recommendations.

A petition in support of both the name and arms has been supplied, signed by four officers and nine other members of the group. The blazon has been revised (from Argent, on a bend azure a laurel wreath argent, between two trees within a bordure gules): secondary charges should come before tertiaries, default trees are oaks with a bit of root showing (so it needs to be specified that these are pines with the trunk cut off straight), and charges on a bend default to bendwise (so the wreath needs to be specified as palewise).