The Bavarian Herald Jörg Rügen around 1510. Public Domain in the US

The December Letter of Acceptances and Returns was published yesterday. Here are the results for

Calontir.

CALONTIR acceptances

Aelesia de Mortaine. Badge. (Fieldless) A hen argent mulletty azure.

Amma H{o,}ldr. Name (see RETURNS for device).

Artair de Bruis of Bristol. Device. Per fess gules and sable, on a bezant a dragon gules.

This device was pended on the September 2024 LoAR to redraw the dragon in an identifiable segreant posture.

Asgeirr Hrafnhauss. Reblazon of device. Argent, in pale a double-bitted axe bendwise sinister sustained by a sinister clenched gauntlet aversant bendwise azure, on a chief sable a skull argent.

Blazoned when registered in July of 2016 as Argent, a sinister clenched gauntlet bendwise aversant sustaining a double-bitted axe bendwise sinister azure, on a chief sable a skull argent, we are clarifying that the gauntlet and axe are co-primary charges.

Astriðr Birnudóttir. Badge. Vert, a mole statant argent between in pale two shovels fesswise Or.

As our last registration of a mole was over 30 years ago, we take this opportunity to redocument the charge. Moles are a not infrequent charge in period armory, with examples found in English, Scottish, French, and German sources.

Shovels, and spades, default to palewise, blade to base. When fesswise the blade is to sinister.

Azalais des Montagnes. Name (see PENDS for device).

The submitter requested authenticity for Occitan or 14th century Old French. Submitted as Azalaïs des Montagnes, no documentation was provided for the period usage of a diaeresis above the i. We have thus removed the diaeresis for registration, registering Azalais des Montagnes. As corrected, this name fulfils the submitter’s authenticity request.

Beal Serich. Name and device. Quarterly sable and azure, a mascle ployé Or.

Berakha bat Mira v’Shlomo. Device. Azure, on a pomegranate gules irradiated Or a crescent pendant, a bordure argent.

Calvius Atrox. Name (see RETURNS for device).

Nice Imperial Roman name!

Deanna of Cúm an Iolair. Holding name and device (see RETURNS for name). Per pale gules and Or, three cherry blossoms counterchanged.

Nice device!

Submitted under the name Amawari Mitsumi.

Helias Basilou. Name and device. Gules, a bend sinister argent between a sun in his splendor and a bunch of grapes slipped and leaved Or.

Submitted as Helias Basiliou, this name is not constructed correctly. The patronymic byname was intended to be constructed using the Classical Greek rules found in “A Simple Guide to Classical Greek Names” by Ursula George; however, the name Basilius is Latin and not Greek. When provided options, the submitter chose the patronymic byname Basilou, based on the given name Basilas. Accordingly, we have made this change for registration. See the Cover Letter for further information.

Additionally, the given name Helias is a feminine given name. The Lexicon of Greek Personal Names lists two “twin” given names Elias and Helias, where the only difference is whether the initial vowel, in this case, eta, has a rough breathing or a smooth breathing attached to it, leading to two different transliterations. The rough breathing version is transliterated as the feminine name Helias, while the smooth breathing version is transliterated as the masculine name Elias. This distinction however, was not noted in the no-photocopy article used by the submitter (“Common Names of the Aristocracy in the Roman Empire During the 6th and 7th Centuries” by Bardas Xiphias), thus we are giving the submitter the benefit of the doubt, and registering this as if it were a masculine name.

Hilde Immler. Name.

Jarmarr gullbra. Name and device. Per pale gules and argent, two chevronels counterchanged.

Appearing on the Letter of Intent as Jarmarr gullbrá, the name must use or omit accents consistently. The submitter elected to drop the accent in the byname and we have therefore change the name to Jarmarr gullbra for registration.

Nice device!

Johan Sachs. Device. Vert chaussé paly azure and Or, a tortoise rampant and in chief a seax fesswise reversed Or.

Markolf Volkhart von Thüringen. Device change. Quarterly argent and gules, four crosses formy counterchanged, overall a lizard rampant vert.

The submitter’s prior device, Quarterly argent and Or, a bend gules, overall a cross formy sable, is retained as a badge.

Nordman Myshkovich. Name reconsideration from Nordman Mischkovich.

Appearing on the Letter of Intent as Mischkovich, this spelling was in error, the result of typos. The submitter intended the byname to be Myshkovich. As the submitter’s desired spelling is found in Wickenden, we are happy to grant this timely request for reconsideration and restore the name to the intended form.

Óttarr Surtsson. Badge. Per pale embattled Or and purpure, an eye vert irised purpure.

Roderick Aikyn. Name (see PENDS for device).

Roderick de Graham. Reblazon of device. Or, a bend counter-ermine between a bow with an arrow nocked and a lion gules.

Blazoned when registered in January of 2003 as Or, a bend counter-ermine between a bow nocked with an arrow and a lion rampant gules, we are correcting the blazon of the bow and arrow. As noted on the June 2024 Cover Letter, arrows are nocked, not bows. As lions are rampant by default, we have dropped the posture from the blazon.

Saito Takauji. Alternate name Matsudaira Takauji.

CALONTIR returns

Amawari Mitsumi. Name.

This name is returned as the combination of an Okinawan byname with a Japanese jitsumei cannot be documented. Commenters mentioned that during our time period, while Okinawa and Japan had contact, the Okinawan language was (and still is) a separate entity, not mutually intelligible with Japanese. If the lingual mix of Okinawan and Japanese in a single name could be documented, then this name would be registerable. However, no such documentation was provided. Thus, there are three possibilities that would aid in registering this name — document the name entirely in Okinawan, document the name entirely in Japanese, or provide documentation to support the Japanese and Okinawan lingual mix.

We thank Yamanouchi Eidou for their detailed discussion about the difference between Japanese and Okinawan.

The submitter’s device is registered under the holding name Deanna of Cúm an Iolair.

Amma H{o,}ldr. Device. Sable, a phoenix facing sinister between in fess a sword and an open book Or.

This device is returned for conflict with the device of Sean Michael MacIntyre, Sable, a phoenix Or issuant from flames proper between a pair of flaunches rayonny Or. There is a DC for changing the type of the secondary charge group. There is not a DC for changing half the tincture of the flames, which are themselves half the charge, nor for changing the direction the head of the phoenix is facing.

Calvius Atrox. Device. Vert, a dog rampant contourny Or.

This device is returned for conflict with the device of Wahriia of Saint Christina the Astonishing, Vert, a thylacine rampant to sinister Or marked sable. When registering Wahriia’s device in June of 2024 we noted: “Though not canines, [thylacines] are considered as such for the purposes of conflict”, so there is no heraldic difference between the two devices.

CALONTIR pends

Azalais des Montagnes. Device. Per chevron sable and vert, a chevron argent between a sun in splendor and a harp Or.

This device is pended to redraw it with a higher line of division and a thicker chevron. As submitted it more resembles a point pointed fimbriated than a divided field with a chevron.

This was item 5 on the Calontir letter of September 3, 2024.

Roderick Aikyn. Device. Per bend Or and azure, an eagle rising gules and an F-clef Or.

This device is pended to redraw the stems of the F-clef. As submitted they are nearly invisible, rendering the charge unidentifiable.

The F-clef used in this armory is a period form, used most prominently in works printed by Ottaviano Petrucci in the early 16th century such as “Frottole libro secondo”, 1504, https://www.google.ca/books/edition/Frottole_Libro/SuYfLROpe6MC.

This was item 16 on the Calontir letter of September 3, 2024.