August 2018 – Techniques of Digital Heraldry

Name and Device for Bahja al-Azraq

Bahja had a name picked out and a lovely first draft of his device designed, but it needed a bit of adjustment to be registrable by the College of Arms.

Or, on a saltire between four rings purpure gemmed gules a pomegranate slipped and leaved Or seeded gules.

Although the original arrangement Bahja had sketched was problematic, we were able to retain all of the charges and the overall color scheme, while shifting them into a new layout which was free of conflicts.

Bahja is a Arabic masculine ism (given name) and al-Azraq is an Arabic masculine laqab (descriptive byname).

Both are found in “Arabic Names from al-Andalus” (Juliana de Luna, 2008).

Traceable Art at Pennsic XLVII

The Book of Traceable Heraldic Art was in service for its second Pennsic this summer, and hundreds of armory submissions were drawn using images from the new collection.

With more than two thousand illustrations, it’s twice the size of last year’s edition. The fifteen binders required to store the print version take up a fair amount of space in the Heralds’ Point art tent, but now that I’ve incorporated the rest of the art from the old Pennsic Traceable Art books, we were able to retire those other binders and reclaim a bit of space.

My thanks to everyone who’s contributed art or provided feedback and other assistance over the last year.

Key goals for the coming year include fixing problematic images and prominently labeling all no-longer-registrable charges, rounding out gaps in the collection (how do we not have an illustration of an egg yet?), and adding more illustrations in a variety of styles from period sources and society artists. Drop me a line if you want to get involved!

Name and Device for Anne of Østgarðr

Anne is an active fencer in the Province, who wanted to register armory that was personally meaningful, and had already identified a silver tree as the primary charge.

Per fess sable and vert, a tree and in chief a comet bendwise argent.

The illustration of the tree comes from the Pictorial Dictionary of Heraldry, affectionately known as the PicDic, while the comet comes from the Viking Answer Lady’s SVG Images For Heralds collection.

Anne is a female given name in multiple parts of medieval Europe. It is found in the Dictionary of Medieval Names from European Sources at http://dmnes.org/name/Anne as attested to 1485 in Early Modern English, citing Wills and Inventories Illustrative of the History, Manners, Language, Statistics, &c. of the Northern Counties of England, from the Eleventh Century Downwards, volume I of Publications of the Surtees Society. London: J. B. Nicholas and Son, 1835.

Østgarðr is the name of the Crown Province of the East Kingdom, and the byname “of Østgarðr” follows the Branch Name Allowance of SENA PN.1.B.2.f.

Name and Device for Catelin Straquhin

Catelin wanted a name and device that reflected her family’s Scottish heritage, and had already picked a basic direction, so it didn’t take much additional effort to help her select something that was both unique and registrable.

Azure, a stag courant to dexter base between two roses argent.

Catelin had been interested in a “bucking” stag, but as that isn’t a recognized heraldic posture, we went looking for alternatives which would produce a similar visual effect.

While “courant to dexter base” is an unusual arrangement, it has been registered twice, most recently in January 2016.

The white rose was a badge of the House of York.

The illustrations for both charges are taken from Fox-Davies’ 1909 book A Complete Guide to Heraldry.

Catelin is a female given name found in the British Isles.

On 4 Jan 1637, a woman named Catelin Maurenus was married in London, England. (Family Search batch number M05426-1.)
Catelin dates to 1198 in Talan Gwynek’s “Feminine Given Names in A Dictionary of English Surnames.”

Straquhin is a late-period byname from the Scottish Lowlands.

On 19 Feb 1609, a woman named Christan Straquhin was married in Angus, Scotland. (Family Search batch number M11310-2.)
Straquhin dates to 1533 and 1549 in Sharon L. Krossa’s “Early 16th Century Scottish Lowland Names.”

SENA Appendix C indicates that after 1100, English and Scottish name elements may be combined.