Letter of Registrations and Returns

Society of the Middle Ages, Inc.

Office of the Muskatour King of Arms

February 2023

Greetings from the Muskatour staff. Each month, I struggle to find something of consequence to include in these cover letters. This month was particularly difficult. We did not have a large number of submissions. None of the ones we considered presented any unusual situations or questionable practices. In truth, most of the issues we had with this month’s submissions were worked out before the meeting ever took place by conversations between the heralds and the clients.

…and maybe that is the “something of consequence” to talk about. I have previously spoken about the importance of using reliable and valid sources for documentation, of having familiarity with the Rules for Submission and the Administrative Handbook, and of using a consulting herald to ensure that all the Ts are dotted and the Is crossed. As to that last point, the consulting heralds don’t stop consulting simply because the forms are already submitted. During the commentary period, if we notice a blatant issue with any of the submitted elements, we will attempt contact to offer up options for solutions. If we have an artist available, we may even be able to complete new artwork without the client having to submit a new form. Please – take advantage of the volunteers that we do have in the College of Arms. If you don’t know who to ask, post in one of the Facebook groups and someone is bound to be able to steer you in the right direction. Make certain we have an email address, phone number, or other means of contacting you if we have an issue that needs to be resolved. I would much rather have a little extra work up front to avoid a “do over” later on.

This month we have no returns and 1 pend. See below for the details.

REGISTRATIONS

1.  Elin merch Llewelyn – New Arms
Ermine, an ash tree and on a chief vert a dragon dormant argent.

2. Hans Schmidt – New Name, New Arms
Sable, a stag courant argent.

3. Hospitallers, Ministry of – New Office, New Arms
Vert, a chalice ermine surmounted in cross by a key Or.

4. Luciano Draconis da Cadore – New Name (see Pended for New Arms)

The name was submitted as Luciano Dragoni da Cadore. While Luciano can be documented as a given name in 15th century Florence, and da Cadore is a plausible constructed locative byname using the Cadore region of Italy, Dragoni was an issue. The documentation provided with the submission referenced Wikipedia and a commercial family history website of questionable provenance. While the Muskatour staff was able to find Dragoni as a name element, it appears to have been exclusively used by the hereditary barons of the municipality of Dragoni in the southern Italian province of Campagnia. This would make it not just a locative, but a titular locative, and may run afoul of the prohibition on presumption under RfS I.A.2.b., which states in part, “Submissions may not make a false claim, usurp identity, or imply a familial relationship”, and II.D.2.b., which states in part, “Dynastic Names: Submitted bynames may not be names used historically and uniquely by a dynasty (Note: dynastic names that were also used by non-royal people in-period are acceptable.)” In order to find an exception according to the Note, the Muskatour staff went looking for evidence that the name was used without the locative identifier by someone in period not using the baronial title. The single example we found was Giovanni Andrea Dragoni, an Italian composer born in 1540 – within the gray period, but with no other evidence as to his identity. All examples of the surname found in our period were those with a claim to the baronial title. Additionally, as a baronial dynastic name, this is also a form of locative. There is no evidence of multiple locative bynames being used in Italy within our period. The client was advised that the surname Draconis is found in “Italian names in Latin from Imola, 1312” by Sara L. Uckelman as a patronymic outside dynastic lines (https://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/imolaraw.html). The client has elected to make the change.

5. Morin ingen Ruaircc – New Name Change

6. Nicola Draconis da Cadore – New Name, New Arms
Ermine, a raven contourny sable between three quatrefoils vert.

Submitted as Nicola Dragoni da Cadore. While Nicola can be documented as a given name for both men and women in the Academy of Saint Gabriel Report #2631 (http://www.s-gabriel.org/2631), and da Cadore is a plausible constructed locative byname using the Cadore region of Italy, Dragoni was an issue. The documentation provided with the submission referenced Wikipedia and a commercial family history website of questionable provenance. While the Muskatour staff was able to find Dragoni as a name element, it appears to have been exclusively used by the hereditary barons of the municipality of Dragoni in the southern Italian province of Campagnia. This would make it not just a locative, but a titular locative, and may run afoul of the prohibition on presumption under RfS I.A.2.b., which states in part, “Submissions may not make a false claim, usurp identity, or imply a familial relationship”, and II.D.2.b., which states in part, “Dynastic Names: Submitted bynames may not be names used historically and uniquely by a dynasty (Note: dynastic names that were also used by non-royal people in-period are acceptable.)” In order to find an exception according to the Note, the Muskatour staff went looking for evidence that the name was used without the locative identifier by someone in period not using the baronial title. The single example we found was Giovanni Andrea Dragoni, an Italian composer born in 1540 – within the gray period, but with no other evidence as to his identity. All examples of the surname found in our period were those with a claim to the baronial title. Additionally, as a baronial dynastic name, this is also a form of locative. There is no evidence of multiple locative bynames being used in Italy within our period. The client was advised that the surname Draconis is found in “Italian names in Latin from Imola, 1312” by Sara L. Uckelman as a patronymic outside dynastic lines (https://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/italian/imolaraw.html). The client has elected to make the change.

7. Uilliam MacAdam – New Name, New Arms
Per fess embattled argent and Or, three arrows in fess vert and an Imperial eagle gules.

Submitted as Wilhelm MacAdams, there were two issues. The first was the language mix. The given name was distinctly Germanic while the surname was distinctly Scottish. Per the RfS, Appendix C, these are not compatible language groups. After consultation, the client opted to go with a full Scots Gaelic name and elected to change the given name to Uilliam. The second issue was the tense of the surname. Adams is a contraction of “Adam’s son”. MacAdam is a patronymic also meaning “Adam’s son”. The Muskatour staff could find no evidence of stacked patronymics and removed the trailing ‘s’ to make the name grammatically correct and therefore registerable.

RETURNS

    None

 

PENDED

1. Luciano Draconis da Cadore – New Arms (see Registrations for New Name)
Gules, a lightning bolt argent within and conjoined to a serpent involved all between three crescents pendant Or.

The arms were submitted as Gules, a crescent pendant Or between three lightning bolts argent each within and conjoined to a serpent involved inverted Or. Due to the size of the peripheral charges, several members of the Muskatour staff perceived them as belt buckles and one member likened them to the “not allowed” symbol. The client elected to swap the central and peripheral charges. However, the client then requested that the serpent be replaced by a wingless dragon. To date, the Muskatour staff has not been able to document the motif of a dragon involved with another charge within and conjoined. Although we were willing to give the client the benefit of the doubt with the serpent (because a serpent involved resembles an annulet, and there are extant examples of an annulet with another charge within and conjoined), we are not able to extend that same benefit to a dragon which does not resemble an annulet in any way. The arms have been pended to give the client an opportunity to either accept the current redraw or to submit evidence of the motif using the dragon in place of the serpent.

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