August 04, 2012 East Kingdom Internal Letter of Decisions

Alys Mackyntoich
eastern.crown@eastkingdom.org

15 September 2012

Unto to East Kingdom College of Heralds, upon the Feast of Saint Nicomedes, greetings and every good thing! Here is the Letter of Decisions for the August 4, 2012 Internal Letter of Intent. The original text from the iLoI is bolded, and is followed by my comments in unbolded text. Note that the submissions are being evaluated under the new Standards for Evaluation of Names and Armory (SENA).

Thank you to the following commenters: Abdullah ibn Harun, Alana O'Keeve, Andreas von Meißen, Aritê gunê Akasa, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Brunissende Dragonette, Eldrich Gaiman, Eleazar ha-Levi, Gawain of Miskbridge, Gunnvor silfraharr, Jeanne Marie Lacroix, Joscelin le esqurel, Juetta Copin, Lillia de Vaux, Magnus von Lübeck, Maridonna Benvenuti, Marie de Blois, Modar Neznanich, Oddr mjoksiglandi, Rohese de Dinan, Tanczos Istvan, Taran The Wayward and Yehuda ben Moshe.

Your servant,
Alys Mackyntoich
Eastern Crown Herald

1: Aildreda de Tamworthe - Resub Device Forwarded

Per chevron argent and azure, three estoiles counterchanged.

The identical device was returned on the July 2006 LoAR for conflict with Enid of Crickhollow's device, Per chevron argent and azure, two mullets of six greater and six lesser points and a swan naiant counterchanged, with a single CD for changes to the primary charges. Under the RfS, there was a significant, but not substantial (X.2), difference between mullets of six greater and six lesser points and estoiles.

Enid of Crickhollow has filed a blanket letter of permission to conflict which appears on the 6/30/2012 Ansteorra LoI (http://oscar.sca.org/index.php?action=145&id=23601). The letter grants permission for armory that is one countable step away from Enid's, which Aildreda's is under SENA.

Commenters identified a possible conflict with Larisa Mikhailovna (April 2008, Atlantia): Per chevron argent and azure, two estoiles of eight rays azure and issuant from base a phoenix argent rising from flames Or. There is one DC under SENA A.5.G.4 for changing the type of the bottom estoile. There is no clear precedent about whether the phoenix in Larisa's armory being "issuant from base" constitutes a second DC for a change of posture/orientation or arrangement. I therefore have opted to send the device up for further discussion of the issue. In addition, I have reached out to the Atlantian heralds in attempt to obtain permission to conflict, should such permission be necessary.

2: Anlon Find mac Robartaigh - New Badge Pended for Redraw

(Fieldless) Three chevronels couped and braced azure.

The badge as drawn couped the outer edge of the chevronels along the edge of the fieldless badge form. Commenters uniformly advised that the badge should be redrawn to depict all three chevrons in full. Eastern Crown will arrange for a re-draw to address this issue.

3: Caer Adamant, Shire of - Resub Badge Forwarded

Azure, a pale vert fimbriated Or.

The identical badge was previously submitted and returned on the April 2010 LoAR for conflict with Cherie des Jardins, Azure, on a pale Or three crescents azure, and with the flag of Barbados, Azure, on a pale Or a trident head sable. With the changed treatment of tertiary charges under S.E.N.A., these conflicts no longer exist.

Commenters suggested a possible visual conflict with the device of Katherine of Glastonbury (July 2006, Drachenwald): Vert, two pallets Or. Technically, these two pieces of armory are clear. There is one DC for the tincture of the field under SENA A.5.G.1.a and a second DC for the number of charges (one pale vs. two pallets) under SENA A.5.G.5. However, the possibility of visual confusion is a fair concern. Because such calls are properly made by Wreath, I am forwarding the badge.

4: Simha di Abramo (was: Cima bat Avraham) - New Name Forwarded and New Device Forwarded

Argent, a horse rampant azure and a bordure counter-compony azure and Or.

Cima is found in "Jewish Women's Names in 13th to 15th Century Navarre," by Julie Stampnitzky (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juetta/navarra.html) with this spelling dated to 1286, 1305, 1312, 1328, 1334, 1340, 1341, 1342, 1351, 1370, 1377.

bat Avraham is from Eleazar ha-Levi's "A Jewish Memory Book: Nuremburg, 1349" (KWHSS Proceedings 2004).

Submitted as Cima bat Avraham, the submitter indicated that Italian/Hebrew culture was most important to her. Commenters suggested several more typically Italian name forms. After consultation with the submitter about whether she would prefer one of the suggested forms, the submitter opted to change her name to one of the suggested forms, Simha di Abramo.

Simha is a female given name listed in "Names of Jews in Rome In the 1550's" by Yehoshua ben Haim haYerushalmi (http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/yehoshua/rome_names.html). di Abramo is a patronymic listed in the same article 33 times. Entries include: Beniamino di Abramo, Gabriele di Abramo Levi, Gabriele di Abramo, and Rabbi Salomone di Abramo.

Abramo is also found as a masculine given name in "Names of 15th-early 17th C Italian Jewish Men" by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/jewish/italianjews.html).

5: Ernst Nuss von Kitzingen - New Heraldic Title Pended

Coach Herald

The submitter was created a Herald Extraordinary by the Brigantia Principal Herald of the East and the Crown of the East on June 30, 2012.

This heraldic title follows the pattern [surname] + [title] found in RfS III.2.iii.b and in S.E.N.A. NPN1.C.2.e. Coach is an English surname found in the IGI Parish Records (extracts):
John Coach Male Marriage 14 Jan 1609 Saint Giles Cripplegate, London, London ,England Batch: M022431
Marye Coach Female Christening 08 Sep 1605 Landrake, Cornwall, England Batch: C052841
Rychard Coach Male Christening 31 Dec 1626 Thurmaston, Leicester, England Batch: P011291

This title potentially conflicts with Conch Herald, registered to the Kingdom of Atlantia in July 1982, and with Conch, Order of the, registered to the Kingdom of Atlantia in December 2001. The relevant section of SENA is NPN.3.C, which states:

3. Substantial Change of Single-Syllable Name Element: Two names whose substantive elements are two words or less and have a comparable single-syllable name element (excluding articles and prepositions, like de and the) are eligible for this rule. Comparable single-syllable name elements are substantially different in sound if a group of adjacent vowels or of adjacent consonants within a word is completely changed, so that they have no sound in common. In rare cases, the sound may still be too similar for this rule to clear the conflict. The change of a single letter is sufficient for two eligible name phrases to be different in appearance, as such name phrases are quite short. On a case by case basis, two-syllable names phrases may be eligible for this rule, such as Harry and Mary.
For example, House of the White Cat is substantially different from House of the White Hat; each has a single syllable word in the substantive element with an initial consonant cluster that is different in both sound and a single letter difference in appearance. Bill House is substantially different from Birch House; each has a single syllable word with a final consonant cluster that is different in sound and appearance. Roune House is not substantially different from Broun House because the r and Br groups share a sound; they are substantially different in appearance.
For example, College of Saint John is substantially different from College of Saint Jane, because each has a single syllable word in the substantive element that is substantially different in sound and appearance. However, College of Saint John of Essex is not substantially different from College of Saint Jane of Essex because they both have substantive elements longer than two words and cannot use this rule.

Conch vs. Coach is an extremely close call. They differ in appearance by only a single letter. The vowel sound is different, but not as different as the vowels in John vs. Jane. Accordingly, I have pended this submission in order to seek permission to conflict from the Kingdom of Atlantia.

6: Evan Hardrada - New Device Forwarded

Per pale gules and argent, a drakkar counterchanged and in chief two ravens argent and sable.

Aryanhwy merch Catmael noted that we conflict check charged sails as if they were independent armory pursuant to the October 2007 Cover Letter. If that rule applies to multi-colored uncharged sails, then the present armory may conflict with Malta (Dec. 1994, Laurel), Per pale argent and gules. There is no precedent on whether multi-colored uncharged sails must be conflict-checked as independent armory. As Magnus von Lübeck noted, there have been multiple registrations of multi-colored sails over the years, the most recent of which was in January 2009, at which time neither the LoAR nor the comments in OSCAR raised any questions of conflict-checking the sail. Given the lack of any authority requiring me to conflict check a multi-colored uncharged sail as independent armory, I am forwarding this device.

Since "close" is the default posture for ravens, I have omitted that term from the blazon.

7: Hans Herkomer - Resub Device Forwarded

Per bend sinister azure and sable, three mullets and a horse rampant argent

The submitter's original device submission was returned on the October 2, 2011 East Kingdom LoD for conflict with Sasha Vladimir Obolénskij (06/1991, West) Per bend sinister azure and sable, a mullet of four points bendwise, elongated to dexter chief argent. Under the RfS, there was one CD for changing the number of primary charges.
This device is being resubmitted under S.E.N.A. A.5.E.3, which provides "Change of Number of the Primary Charge Group: A new submission which substantially changes the number of charges in the primary charge group from a protected piece of armory does not conflict with it." Since Sasha's armory has a single primary charge and the submitted armory has four primary charges, it appears to be clear of conflict.

Commenters questioned whether this device violates SENA A.3.D.2.c, the "unity of posture" rule. It does not, because horses and mullets do not have comparable postures; a mullet cannot be rampant.

8: Jean Oste de Murat - New Name Forwarded and New Device Returned

Azure, a chevron argent between two fleurs de lys and in pale a shrimp and two swords in saltire Or.

Jean appears as a masculine given name in "Names from Choisy, France, 1475-1478" by Aryanhwy merch Catmael (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/french/choisy.html).
Oste appears as a byname dated to 1588 in "Flemish Names from Bruges" by Luana de Grood (http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bruges/byname-list3.html).
Jean Oste appears as a full name dated to c. 1345-46 at p. 313 of "Inventaire des Archives de la Ville de Bruges" (1873) and dated to 1339 and 1345 at p. 363 of "Annales de la Société d'Émulation pour l'Étude de l'Histoire & des Antiquités de la Flandre (1875). Photocopies of the relevant pages were provided.
Murat appears as a place name dated to 1239 at p. 457 of "Histoire Generale de Languedoc" (1737). Photocopies were provided. In addition, Arnaut de Murat appears dated to 1584 at p. 99 of "Les presidens au mortier du parlement de Paris , leurs emplois, charges, qualitez, armes, blasons et genealogies, depuis l'an 1331 jusques à present"(http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5597190m/f728.image), published in 1647.
While the name appears to be registerable as submitted, assistance from commenters is requested to make it authentic for the requested time and place.

Note that the use of two fleurs de lys Or on an azure field is not presumptive of the arms of France. By precedent:

There is no pretense problem with the use of two Or fleurs-de-lys on an azure field or charge. The strictures against the use of three or more Or fleurs-de-lys on an azure design element is due to the period practice of French augmentations that used the arms of France on an armorial element such as a charge or field. These augmentations were found using the ancient form of the French arms, Azure semy-de-lys Or, or the modern form, Azure, three fleurs-de-lys Or. An azure design element with only one or two Or fleurs de lys does not presume on these period augmentations. Per the LoAR of June 1995 p.13: "...It is thus the use of three or more fleurs-de-lys Or on azure which is restricted; not a single gold fleur on a blue field." [Davi d'Orléans, 07/2003, A-Caid]

Commenters were unable to provide information to make the name more authentic for the requested time and place. However, it is registerable.

This device has three different types of charges in the secondary charge group: fleurs-de-lys, shrimp and swords. SENA A.3.D.2.a. clearly states that "a charge group with more than two types of charges is not allowed." Therefore, this device must be returned.

This device also violates SENA A.3.D.2.c, which requires charges within a charge group to be in "either identical postures/orientations or an arrangement that includes posture/orientation." This "unity of posture" rule has been interpreted to mean that charges in the same charge group that are capable of having comparable postures/orientations must be in the same posture/orientation throughout the device. Fleurs-de-lys and rapiers are both inanimate objects capable of being in the same posture/orientation. However, the rapiers are in saltire and the fleurs-de-lys are not, which creates a second reason for return.

Commenters provided evidence of shrimp being used as charges in period heraldry. I will be happy to pass that evidence along to the submitter if he wishes to use shrimp as a charge in his re-design.

9: Joscelin le esqurel - New Badge Forwarded

(Fieldless) A squirrel courant sable.

The submitter currently has a registered device (September of 2011 via the East): Quarterly purpure and sable, three squirrels courant in annulo Or, and a registered badge (April of 2010 via the East): (Fieldless) On an acorn sable a squirrel Or. If this badge is registered, the submitter wishes to release his existing badge, (Fieldless) On an acorn sable a squirrel Or.

This badge is clear of the device of Gareth the Russel (Oct. 1976): Azure, a skunk [Mephitis mephitis] statant proper, with one DC for fieldlessness under SENA A.5.G.1.e and and a second DC between a skunk and a squirrel by precedent:

Domenico Barbiere da Mantova. Badge. Vairy argent and gules, a squirrel contourny azure ears enflamed Or. The badge is not in conflict with the device of Hucbald of Ramsgaard, Potenty gules and argent, a skunk rampant to sinister sable marked argent maintaining a sword sable. There is at least a CD between a skunk and a squirrel and another CD for the change in tincture of the primary charge. [December 2011 LoAR, A-Atlantia]

This badge is also clear of Jocetta Thrushleigh of Rowansgarth (April 2009, Trimaris): Or, a squirrel courant gules, with one DC for fieldlessness under SENA A.5.G.1.e and a second DC for changing the tincture of the squirrel under SENA A.5.G.3.a.

10: Joscelin le esqurel - New Badge Forwarded

(Fieldless) A squirrel courant purpure.

This badge is clear of Jocetta Thrushleigh of Rowansgarth (April 2009, Trimaris): Or, a squirrel courant gules, with one DC for fieldlessness under SENA A.5.G.1.e and a second DC for changing the tincture of the squirrel under SENA A.5.G.3.a.

11: Joscelin le esqurel - New Badge Forwarded

(Fieldless) A squirrel courant Or.

12: Kari Stormeye - New Badge Pended

(Fieldless) A bear sejant erect ermine maintaining in its sinister paw a drinking horn Or.

The submitter has a registered device (October 1994 via the East): Per chevron ermine and sable, three griffins segreant counterchanged. The submission is intended to be Fieldless, but was not submitted on a Fieldless badge form.

Unfortunately, this badge conflicts with Sigismund Greussen (March 2007, East): Gules, a bear rampant ermine. Rampant and sejant erect are not significantly different postures under Appendix L of SENA. Because Sigismund is an Easterner and fairly recent registration, I have pended this badge and will attempt to pursue permission to conflict.

13: Neave MacGugyne - New Name Forwarded

Neave is a late 16th cen./early 17th cen. English surname found in the IGI Parish Records:

Elizabeth Neave Female Christening 06 Dec 1590 All Saints, Icklingham, Suffolk, England Batch: C062552
Margaret Neave Female Christening 08 Sep 1548 Conington, Cambridge, England Batch: C130382
Thamar Neave Female Christening 15 May 1614 St. Michaels, Withyham, Sussex, England Batch: C152012
(and others)

By precedent, such surnames can be used as given names. [Alton of Grimfells, 04/2010, A-East]

Connor M'Gugyne appears in the Fiants of Elizabeth I dated to 1602-03, found in "Report of the Deputy keeper of the public records in Ireland, Volume 17, Parts 1885-1888" (http://books.google.com/books?id=_lURAQAAMAAJ) at p. 122. Because the College of Heralds does not register scribal abbreviations, the abbreviation M' expands to Mac.

14: Oleksandr Brazhnyk - New Name Forwarded and New Device Forwarded

Per fess Or and sable, an eagle displayed gules and an egg Or charged with a compass star gules.

Oleksandr is found in Paul Wickenden of Thanet, "A Dictionary of Period Russian Names" (http://heraldry.sca.org/paul/) s.n. Aleksandr with the submitted spelling dated to 1266.

Brazhnyk is found in Jiro, Jaroslav, Ph.D. 2004 "Naydavnishy register of Ukrainian Cossacks, 1581" ISBN 966-95841-6-7 (http://www.mymail.ru/community/zaporoje/1C52BD9D91B729CE.html). The article is a register of Ukrainian (Zaphorizian) Cossacks from 1581, written entirely in Russian. The submitter also enclosed a copy of Fedorkiw, Luba. 1977. Ukrainian Surnames in Canada, Master's Thesis, University of Manitoba (http://hdl.handle.net/1993/2500), which lists Brazhnyk and gives the definition "brewer."
In addition to the documentation provided by the submitter, "Occupational Bynames in Medieval Russia" by Paul Wickenden of Thanet (http://www.goldschp.net/archive/jobnames.html) gives Brazhnikov (dated to 1534) as an occupational byname meaning "brewer."

The use of a mullet of four greater and four lesser points, often known as a compass star, is a Step from Period Practice under Appendix G of SENA. However, as this is the only SFPP in the device, it is registerable.

15: Sarra atte Brouk - Resub Device Forwarded

Per saltire sable and purpure, a sheep statant contourny argent.

The submitter's original device, Per saltire sable and purpure, a sheep statant argent, was returned on the January 2, 2012 Eastern LoD for conflict with Chlurain, Clan (reblazoned Nov. 2010, Atenveldt), Per fess gules and Or, a sheep passant argent, maintaining under its sinister foreleg a tub sable. Under the RfS, there was one CD for the field, but nothing for the removal of the maintained tub. The orientation of the sheep has been changed to add a second difference.

This device would conflict with the badge of Alesone Gray of Cranlegh, Lozengy vert and Or, a sheep passant contourny argent marked sable enflamed gules and gorged of a coronet Or with four pearls argent, forwarded to Society on the East's July 9, 2012 LoD, assuming Alesone's badge is registered. An image of Alesone's device is below. Eastern Crown is pursuing permission to conflict.

Alesone has granted permission to conflict.

16: Silver Rylle, Shire of - Resub Badge Forwarded

Azure, on a pale wavy argent two roses proper.

The original badge submission, (Fieldless) A pale wavy couped argent, was returned on the August 2010 LoAR for lack of identifiability. This substantial redesign makes the pale clearly identifiable.

17: Ulric von der Insel - New Heraldic Title Forwarded

Schwarze Turm Herald.

The submitter was created a Herald Extraordinary by the Brigantia Principal Herald and the Crown of the East on June 23, 2012. This title is based on the pattern of heraldic titles based on charges found in "Heraldic Titles from the Middle Ages and Renaissance" by Juliana de Luna (http://medievalscotland.org/jes/HeraldicTitlesSCA/heraldic_titles_by_type.shtml). The examples given in the article include several instances of [color] + [object] in English, including:

Blaunche Senglier Pursuivant (c. 1547-8)
Blanch Lyon Pursuivant (1537)
Blanch Rose Pursuivant (1542)
Bluemantle pursuivant (1472 onwards)

Juliana's article contains no evidence of the [color] + [object] pattern in German, but we are hoping commenters can provide documentation. Juliana's article does provide support for heraldic titles based on place names in German, in the event that "Schwarz Turm" or something close to it can be found or constructed as a German place name.

Submitted as Schwarz Turm, which the submitter asserted is German for "Black Tower," no support for this assertion was provided. Further research indicates that the correct modern German for "Black Tower" is Schwarzer Turm and the name has been changed accordingly.

Rohese de Dinan found evidence of a place in Switzerland called Schwarze Turm; The German Wikipedia, sn. Schwarzer Turm (Brugg): Der Schwarze Turm ist eine Turmburg in der Schweizer Stadt Brugg. Er ist das älteste Gebäude und Wahrzeichen der Stadt. Er befindet sich am nördlichen Rand der Altstadt, unmittelbar neben der Brücke, die über eine Engstelle der Aare führt und der Stadt den Namen gab. (The black tower is a tower in the Swiss town of Brugg. It is the oldest building and landmark of the city. It is located on the northern edge of the old town, right next to the bridge which leads over a narrow point of the Aare River and gave the city the name.)

Der Bau des Turms erfolgte im letzten Viertel des 12. Jahrhunderts und wurde wahrscheinlich von Graf Albrecht III. von Habsburg angeordnet. Der Stammsitz der Habsburger, die Habsburg, liegt nur wenige Kilometer entfernt und die wenig später entstandene Stadt diente eine Zeitlang als Residenz der habsburgischen Grafen. 1238 wurde der Schwarze Turm erstmals urkundlich erwähnt. (The construction of the Tower took place in the last quarter of the 12th century and was probably ordered by Count Albrecht III. von Habsburg. The ancestral seat of the House of Habsburg, Habsburg, is only a few kilometres away and little later served for a time as the residence of the counts of Habsburg. In 1238, the black tower had its first documentary mention.) -- http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwarzer_Turm_%28Brugg%29

Based on this evidence, I believe that Schwarze Turm is at least plausible as a place name, and I have changed the spelling of the title accordingly. I am forwarding this title up in the hope that Society commenters can develop Rohese's evidence further.

18: William Graham of Bhakail - New Name Change From Holding Name Pended

The submitter's original name submission, William Graham, was returned on the April 2006 LoAR (R-East) for conflict with the evangelist, Billy Graham. The LoAR states:

[Billy Graham] has his own article in Britannica Online. Billy Graham is arguably as well known worldwide as other religious figures like the Dalai Lama or the Pope. This name conflicts with both the popular form of the name, Billy Graham and the full form, as names and their diminutives are not different for terms of conflict.
His armory has been registered under the holding name William of Gleann nam Feorag Dhuibhe.

Even under S.E.N.A., William Graham remains a conflict with Billy Graham. PN4.D states "For individuals important enough to protect, we protect all forms in which their name was known, including in other languages. . ." To clear the conflict, the submitter has opted to add the locative of Bhakail.

William appears in "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" by Talan Gwynek (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/eng16/eng16alpha.html).

Graham appears as a surname in Bardsley p. 410 s.n. Hutchins dated to 1586.

Bhakail, Barony of was registered in July of 1974.

This name change has been pended for administrative issues.

19: Yue Biya - Resub Name Pended and Resub Device Returned

Per pale azure and purpure, two cockatoos respectant and in chief a plate between an increscent and a decrescent argent

Her original name submission, Biya the Jurchen, was returned on the April 25, 2011 Eastern LoD (http://ech.eastkingdom.org/ILoIs/2011/2011-03/2011-03-LoD.html) for the following reasons: This name is being returned because the submission did not meet the requirements of RfS I.1, Compatibility. It failed to establish that Western Europeans had significant, direct contact with this particular culture prior to 1600. We found no evidence that Europeans knew of the Jurchen or Manchu - by any name - in period, although there was contact in the gray period after the foundation of the Qing Dynasty. A Persian historian, Mohammed En-Nesawi (1269) supposedly mentioned the fall of "Djerdja Khitay" [Jurchen Cathay] [see K.A. Wittfogel, "General Introduction", In: Transactions, American Philosophical Society, vol. 36, Part 1, 1946, http://books.google.com/books?id=g08LAAAAIAAJ], but a footnote to this part of the book identifies this people as the "Tchourtché ou Niou-tchi, peuple qui habitait le bassin de l'Amour" [see Mohammed En-Nesawi, Histoire du Sultan Djelal Ed-Din Mankobirti, O. Houdas, ed., 1895; http://remacle.org/bloodwolf/arabe/nesawi/sultan.htm]. I also found no evidence that this book was ever known by Europeans in period. Although we know that Europeans had contact with Persians, the Ming Dynasty, and the Mongols, and the Jurchen had contact with at least one Persian, the Ming Dynasty, and the Mongols, evidence of secondary contact has not been accepted in the past:

This shows evidence of one European in Korea in the last decade of the 16th C, one slave trader who purchased five slaves, and some interaction between the one European in Korea and native Koreans. There is no evidence of Koreans in Europe prior to 1600, no evidence of regular trade, religious missions (larger than one individual), settlements, invasion, or other types of contact that we examine to determine whether cultures might have influenced each other. While there is evidence that Korea and Japan had substantial contact, and that Japan and Europe had sufficient contact to show some cultural trade, substantial contact between two non-European cultures (even when one has substantial contact with European cultures) is not sufficient evidence to allow registration of names from a culture with no evidence of substantial direct contact itself with European cultures [Yang SuGyong, 08/2007, &Aelig;thelmearc].

This was also discussed recently on the 11/2010 Cover Letter:
To register a personal name from a non-European culture, you need to present evidence that the culture in question had contact with Europe and Europeans before 1600. But before you get too concerned about presenting that evidence, take a look through LoARs to see if we've registered other names from that culture. If we've registered a name from that culture recently, don't worry too much about proving that contact again. However, there are many cultures that have not been shown to be registerable. A discussion of the kinds of evidence one might present is given in the January 2003 Cover Letter, dealing with Tibetan names. Note that second-hand contact (contact with a group of people who had contact with Europe) is not sufficient. In the case of India, we often look to the late-period Portuguese coastal possessions as evidence for contact. History books are generally necessary to argue for these points, as websites created by private individuals often include poorly sourced information and cannot be trusted.
The documentation didn't show that the examples used to justify the name Biya were found in period, or that biya was a period word. It was documented as a word in Manchu, which is derived from, but not the same as Jurchen [see Herbert Franke, "Notes on Some Jurchen Words in Chinese Orthography", in: Roy Andrew Miller, Karl Heinrich Menges, and Nelly Naumann, eds., Language and literature: Japanese and the other Altaic languages (http://books.google.com/books?id=3oGLez4d-ncC, pp. 51-65)]. The submitter may wish to know that the word is found in the Jurchen language as well as Manchu. The Divan of Gada'i (http://books.google.com/books?id=u1Q5fMqnWbEC, p. 35) implies that the word is found in Sino-Jurchen glossaries from the Ming Dynasty, and indicates that biya is based on a Chinese phonetic rendering of the Jurchen word for 'moon'. Thus, it appears to be a valid transcription and translation. The author cites a book by Gisaburo Kiyose, A study of the Jurchen language and script: Reconstruction and decipherment, which is in turn based on research on Jurchen manuscripts from c. 1500 [see John King Fairbank and Denis Crispin Twitchett, The Cambridge History of China, (Vol. 3, Vol. 6, p. 688; http://books.google.com/books?id=iN9Tdfdap5MC)]. Whether this word is also found in the earlier language, Old Jurchen, could not be determined. The submitter should be aware that most sources on the Jurchen language are in Chinese, so the romanizations are derived from modern standard Mandarin transcriptions; they may not reflect the original Jurchen pronunciations. A longer discussion on transcribing Jurchen into Chinese is found in Franke (op. cit.).
This resubmission presents an entirely Chinese name. Using the documentation provided by Lillia Eastern Crown in her return, Biya is a Chinese phonetic rendering of the Jurchen word for moon which can be dated to c. 1500. The pattern of naming women after things in nature can be found in "Period Chinese Names" by Yin Mei Li (http://www.ida.net/users/valerie_lee/Octofoil/ChineseNames/). Examples include:
Chao Yün - Morning Clouds
Chin Lien - Golden Lotus
Chin Luan - Golden Bells
Ching Lan - Beautiful Orchid
Hsiu Ying - Elegant Flower
In addition, a female character in the Chinese epic Hin P'ing Mei, written in the late 16th cen. is known as "Little Moon"; another character in the same story is known as "Moon Maiden" or "Moon Lady." (http://www.ida.net/users/valerie_lee/Octofoil/ChineseNames/)

Yüeh (Wade-Giles translation) or Yue (Hanyu Pinyin translation) is a Chinese family name. Yin Mei Li's article gives an example of a person bearing this family name dated to 1350 (http://www.ida.net/users/valerie_lee/Octofoil/ChineseNames/). There was a Chinese general named Yüeh Fei or Yue Fei who lived 1103-1142. "Yue Fei." Encyclopedia Britannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 31 Jul. 2012. (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/654628/Yue-Fei).

Her device was also returned on the April 2011 LoD for lack of a name submission to attach to it. The motif of "a roundel between an increscent and a decrescent" is a Step from Period Practice under Appendix G of SENA (http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/sena.html#AppendixG) but registerable as long as there are no other SFPPs in the armory.

During commentary, Magnus von Lübeck offered to consult further with the submitter and perhaps help her provide better documentation to resubmit her original name. This submission has been pended to allow Magnus to speak with the submitter and determine her wishes.

The use of a cockatoo in armory was ruled to be Step from Period Practice. [Ymanya Bartelot, May 2009 Caid-A]. Combined with the use of the "roundel between an increscent and a decrescent" motif, this device has two steps from period practice and must be returned.

--Boundary_(ID_P6TxbNiKimyN520qyGmOdg)--