Laurel Heraldry Returns - May LoAR

["Beverly Robinson-Curry" <corvus2@worldnet.att.net>]

Poster: "Beverly Robinson-Curry" <corvus2@worldnet.att.net>

And where there is happiness, also must there be sadness...

Rhiannon, Triton
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LAUREL RETURNED THE FOLLOWING AT HER MAY MEETING:


Alesia Gillefalyn. Badge. (Fieldless) A lion courant guardant Or holding
in its mouth a rose purpure slipped and leaved vert.
	This conflicts with Conrad von Hammerbourg, Per chevron rayonny sable
and gules, in base a catamount herissony proper., with one CD for
fieldlessness, but nothing for position against a fieldless badge, and
nothing for the minor change in position.

Catherine Delacroix. Badge. (Fieldless) Four ankhs conjoined in cross
Or.
	This conflicts with Launcelot de Westwood Azure, a cross botonny fitchy
Or., with one for fieldlessness, but nothing for type since the fitching
of the cross is worth nothing and this cross is about halfway between a
cross-crosslet and a cross bottony, which itself is actually just a
fossilized difference in blazon for poorly drawn examples of the cross
crosslet.  If an ankhs was used in period armory we might have ruled
differently, but since it is not a period charge, it loses the benefit
of the doubt.

Conall Ruadh Mag Fhionnain. Device. Per pale argent and azure, two
serpents glissant respectant, conjoined at the snout and belly,
counterchanged gules and Or.
	This is being returned for violating RfS VII.7.b by being in an
unblazonable position.  The submitted blazon does not accurately
reproduce this emblazon, and no one in the college was able to come up
with an acceptable blazon that could.

Dálkr Hálftroll Snjolfsson.  Device resubmission. Sable, a horse's skull
affronty Or, flaunches argent estencely gules.
	This is a resubmission of the same device which was returned November
1997 for a redraw because the horse's skull was unidentifiable.
Unfortunately, it was the overwhelming conclusion of both the college
and the people attending the roadshow where this was discussed that this
is still unidentifiable, carefully drawn as it is.  This compels us to
the conclusion that the horse's skull does not have such clearly
distinguishing features as to make it acceptably identifiable for
heraldic use.  The human skull used in Society and mundane heraldry is a
clearly defined charge as immediately identifiable as a bend or a sword.
 (Consider how instantly children who have never taken an anatomy course
identify it at Halloween!)  The Society has extended definitions of
skulls to certain beasts where there are secondary characteristics that
clearly identify the type of head whence the skull derived.  For
instance, the ram's skull is identified by its distinctive horns, as are
the elk's skull, the bull's skull, the deer's skull, etc. The few
exceptions to that rule occurred almost twenty years ago, before
standards for identifiability were so clearly defined.  Even so, the
major exception, the wolf's skull registered to Vargskol Halfblood
passed in the confusion of the great Heraldicon of 1979, the source of
many of the most solecistic items we see in the Armorial today.  In
judging this, we have to ask what features uniquely identify a horse's
head from any other head and ask how clearly those transfer when the
soft tissue is removed.  Unfortunately, almost all of the features,
except the length of the upper jaw, disappear entirely when head becomes
skull.  Therefore, the skull is not identifiable.

Dálkr Hálftroll Snjolfsson. Badge. Or, a horse's skull gules between
flaunches sable.
	This is a resubmission of the same badge which was returned November
1997 for a redraw because the horse's skull was unidentifiable.
Unfortunately, it was the overwhelming conclusion of both the college
and the people attending the roadshow where this was discussed that this
is still unidentifiable, carefully drawn as it is.  This compels us to
the conclusion that the horse's skull does not have such clearly
distinguishing features as to make it acceptably identifiable for
heraldic use.  The human skull used in Society and mundane heraldry is a
clearly defined charge as immediately identifiable as a bend or a sword.
 (Consider how instantly children who have never taken an anatomy course
identify it at Halloween!)  The Society has extended definitions of
skulls to certain beasts where there are secondary characteristics that
clearly identify the type of head whence the skull derived.  For
instance, the ram's skull is identified by its distinctive horns, as are
the elk's skull, the bull's skull, the deer's skull, etc. The few
exceptions to that rule occurred almost twenty years ago, before
standards for identifiability were so clearly defined.  Even so, the
major exception, the wolf's skull registered to Vargskol Halfblood
passed in the confusion of the great Heraldicon of 1979, the source of
many of the most solecistic items we see in the Armorial today.  In
judging this, we have to ask what features uniquely identify a horse's
head from any other head and ask how clearly those transfer when the
soft tissue is removed.  Unfortunately, almost all of the features,
except the length of the upper jaw, disappear entirely when head becomes
skull.  Therefore, the skull is not identifiable.

Giovanni Rocco. Badge. Azure, three bendlets Or, overall a tower argent.
	This conflicts with Anne of the White Tower Sable, a tower argent., as
cited on the LoI. It was not unusual for barry or paly fields in period
to be drawn with an odd number of traits (which we'd blazon as bars or
palets); see, for example, the arms of Mouton (Multon, Moleton) found
both as Barry argent and gules and Argent, three bars gules (;;;DBA, pp
59, 88; Foster, p. 145). The same thing is found in the arms of von
Rosenberg, whose Per fess field has in base either three bends or bendy
depending upon the artist's whim (Siebmacher, p.  8; Neubecker and
Rentzmann, p.  290).  Even when the distinction is worth blazoning, it's
worth no difference.

Mieszko Zielénski. Badge. Per bend azure and vert, a bend between two
roundels argent.
	This conflicts with Ailith of Sarum Per bend azure and vert, a bend
between a cross crosslet and a sprig argent., with only one CD for the
type of secondaries.

Nikulai Ivanovich. Device. Per chevron argent and vert, in chief a fox
courant to sinister gules.
	This conflicts with Sherry Foxwell (Fieldless) A fox herissony to
sinister gules., as cited on the LoI.  There is one CD for
fieldlessness, but nothing for the slight change in posture.

Séamus Ó Cuileáin. Device. Vert, a cross formy rounded Or within a
stag's attires, a bordure raguly argent.
	While blazoned on the LoI as a cross formy rounded, there is no such
cross.  One commentor suggested that this be reblazoned as a cross
alisée. The cross alisée is a roundel with four narrow wedges, with
straight sides, in saltire cut not quite to the center.  In this
proposed design the 'cross' has four wedges, with slightly curved sides,
in saltire cut not quite to the center.  This is neither a cross formy
not a cross alisée, but a hybrid of the two.
	However, a cross looking like the one submitted above has been
submitted before, though not by the same person, during the tenure of
Master Bruce as Laurel.  At that time he said. 
		"[A cross "formy convexed"] This badge had been returned on the LoAR
of May 92 for lack of documentation on the type of cross.  (It had been
blazoned in the previous submission as a cross formy globate, which term
we couldn't find in any of our references.) The submitter has appealed
that return, providing evidence of this cross as an artistic motif on a
suit of armor c.1630.  The term "convexed", referring to the bulge of
the outer edges of the cross's limbs, is documented in Elvin's
Dictionary of Heraldry. Unfortunately, my main concerns about this cross
remain unaddressed. Its not readily blazonable: as drawn, it resembles a
roundel with four semi-elliptical notches, not a variant of a cross
formy. Its been documented only to within our 50-year "grey area", and
only as an artistic motif, not an heraldic charge.  The only terms that
adequately describe it are found in a 19th Century work, compiled by an
author whose lack of scholarship is legend.  I simply have no grounds
for believing this cross to be compatible with period heraldic style.
		This cross has been submitted before, and returned for the above
reasons; v. Jamys Ellyn Rothesay of Bannatyne Hall, LoAR of Sept 92,
p.49. I'm tempted, I admit, to simply give the cross its own SCA name.
(In the immortal words of Baldwin of Erebor, "Spring is in the air, and
the fit is upon me; let me name but one cross before I die!")  But this
would do no service to the heralds and scribes who will follow us; we
need some assurance that any blazon we devised would be reconstructible.
 In this case, at the very least we need to find this cross mentioned by
name in some accessible reference.  Failing that, or better evidence
that its a period motif, I must continue to return it.  (Stanislaw Jan
Ossolinski, March, 1993, pg. 28)"
	Since no evidence has been presented for this cross, we see no reason
to overturn this precedent.

Una of Aire Faucon. Badge. Gules, a bend embowed-counterembowed between
two bears statant argent.
	This is being returned for a redraw.  While the bend was emblazoned as
embowed-counterembowed, the embowing was so slight to be barely seen.
The embowing must be drawn more boldly.

William MacGregor. Device. Ermine, on a pale sable a dexter gauntlet
clenched apaumy Or.
	This conflicts with Karl Adler der Reisender Lozengy gules and Or, on a
pale sable, a dexter gauntlet appaumy argent., which gets a CD for the
field but nothing for tincture only of the tertiary (the clenching is an
artistic detail which does not contribute difference).


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