20 July, 1999

Greetings and Commendations unto the Heralds and Pursuivants of the East Kingdom from Lyle FitzWilliam, Eastern Crown Herald

This is the Letter of Report (LOR) on Internal Letter of Intent (ILOI) number 1999-02. Accepted submissions listed in this letter will be sent to Blue Tyger, to be included in an External Letter of Intent to Laurel and the College of Arms.

1. Arthur Watson - resub name accepted & resub device accepted

Per fess argent and vert, an oak tree eradicated, roots entwined, counterchanged.

Further support for 'Arthur' was found in Withycombe. Further support for 'Watson' was found in Reaney & Wilson.

2. Banbha O'Daly - new name returned & new device pended

Argent three cinquefoils pierced vert.

The only instances of 'Banbha' that could be found were a place name and the name of the wife of Mac Cuill (one of the Tuatha de Danaan). Without documentation of the name being used by a real person, we cannot support this name submission. The device will be held pending a name resubmission.

3. Camille Lyon - resub device accepted

Gules a cameleopard rampant argent spotted sable.

While Brooke-Little does give a distinctly different description of a camelopard, and other depictions exist, the standard accepted form is that of a giraffe.

4. Constance de Saint-Denis - new name accepted & new device accepted

Azure, a unicorn rampant, and on a chief argent three eagles displayed azure.

The closest device was Kylson Skyfire (July 81), Az. a unicorn ramp arg., crined Or, on a chief arched Or 3 snowflakes az. There is one CD for the tincture of the chief, and one CD for the type of tertiaries (but only because the submitted device is simple by X.4.j.ii.b).

5. Cormac Longstrider - resub device accepted

Gyronny azure and argent over all a book Or leathered sable.

Clear of Katrina Silvermaker, Gyr. az. & arg. a pegasus sal. wings displayed & a chief Or. by 2 CD (difference of primary charge type and addition of secondary charge). Clear of Richard of the Isle, Gyr. az & arg. on a pomme an anchor Or by X.2.

Gyronny of 8 should be the default, so I have simplified the blazon.

6. Eilís ní Bhraonain - resub device accepted

Gyronny ermine and azure, eight sewing needles, points to center, azure and argent.

No conflict found.

Many commenters though that the needles had poor visibility against the backgrounds. I did not feel, however, that this was sufficient reason to return the submission at this level.

And one commenter did not note a similarity to the "jump to lightspeed" from Star Wars, nope, no sir.

7. Einar Ulfson - resub name accepted & resub device accepted

Sable a schnecke issuant from sinister argent.

Or, in the proper German, In Schwartz, eine silberne Schnecke verkehrt.

No problems were found with the name.

8. Guillaine Rosalind de Gaulle - resub device accepted

Argent, a dexter tierce gules and a horse rampant sable.

Not particularly common period heraldic style, but there were no conflicts found.

9. Jean de Chauliac - new badge accepted

Sable, on a unicorn head couped argent a decrescent purpure.

Note: This submission will be redrawn on the current badge submission form -- the details of the unicorn head will be added at that time.

10. Marié-José de Ville Champlain - new name returned & new device pended

Argent, a lute and on a chief azure, three fleurs-de-lys argent.

No support was found for the form 'Marié-José'. Without documentation of the name form being used, or something similar, we cannot support this name submission. The device will be held pending a name resubmission.

11. Raffaella di Napoli - new name accepted & new device accepted

Sable a sun argent within an orle argent semé of roses gules.

Note: The College of Arms does not distinguish between heraldic and natural roses in blazon.

I have added the redundant 'argent' for the sun, to remove confusion of whether the semy applies to the sun or not.

12. Rosalind Bennett - new name change accepted

Because someone asked: Wives often did not have the same surname as their husbands in the Medieval period.

13. Rose Otter - resub device accepted

Per pale argent and azure, a cross fusilly counterchanged.

No conflicts were found.

14. Tahira bint Ibrahim al-Ixbilyi - new name accepted & new device accepted

Sable, on a fess argent a pen-box azure.

No problems were found with the name.

The depiction of the pen box is similar (but not identical) to the form given in the Pic-Dic.

The device will be redrawn on the current device submission form.

15. Tearlaich of Loch Ness - resub name returned & resub device pended

Per fess azure and purpure over all a bar wavy Or.

This name submission was problematic. If the previous name submission (Tearlaich of the Borders) was returned for mixed languages, then this one should be as well.

However, perhaps even more important is the question of the locative in general. Several commenters felt that it was unlikely that a person would be named as coming from a lake, rather than from a town near the lake. It was suggested that the submitter might pick one of the fine period towns on Loch Ness, and be from there (after confirming that it existed in period): Lewiston, Drumnadochit, Urquhart, Invermoriston, etc. Also, someone should suggest to him how to do a locative byname in Scots Gaelic, to avoid the mixed languages problem.

Note: I used "Scots [sic]", because there are two distinct languages in Scotland, one being Scots Gaelic, and the other being a language similar to English. I can never remember the exact name of the language that is not Gaelic...