Deer

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WARNING: Do not cite this page as a reference. This page is on this wikispace only to make the content "searchable" and easier to find. If you find the information you seek here, go to the original sources as linked below to verify the information and use them for your documentation.

Illustrations:

Period Sources:

Modern:

Pictorial Dictionary of SCA Heraldry (3rd edition):


Pennsic Traceable Art Project:

Sources:

Academy of St. Gabriel "Medieval Heraldry Archive" - http://www.s-gabriel.org/heraldry/
Archive of St. Gabriel reports - http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/archive.cgi
Laurel Armory Articles - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/armory_articles.html
Period Armorials


Precedents:

Precedents of the SCA College of Arms - http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/precedents.html
Morsulus Heralds Website - [[1]] (to search the LoARs and Precedents)
Restatement Wiki - [[2]] (restatements of Precedents)
Use the above links to be sure any precedents listed below haven't been superseded by newer precedents.


Definition:

September 2015 - Of Moose and Men

Recently, a request for reblazon questioned the replacement of the term "moose" by "elk" in a registration. This request cited the precedent: > The moose of North America is the same beast as the elk of Europe (Alces malchis). The OED dates the term moose to 1613, within our 50-year "grey area" for documentation; so either term is acceptable in SCA blazonry. [Randulf von Gelnhausen, LoAR of Sept 1992] We are here overturning this precedent. The Oxford English Dictionary gives a first occurrence of the word moose in 1568 as meaning "Pottage; stewed vegetables; a dish of this." Clearly, this has no relation with the creature. The use of moose for the elk is an Americanism and, again according to the OED, the earliest use of the close spelling "mooses" for the elk is dated to 1707. A quote from 1637 "The Elke, which the Salvages call a Mose" makes it exquisitely clear that the creature was known by the English speakers as elk. Therefore, we chose to use the English period term for the creature, which is elk. This should not come as a surprise as this is not the first example of charge where we have decided to use a more period word for a charge. For example, the creatures modernly known as turtles are regularly reblazoned as tortoise, even though the use of the word turtle for the sea tortoise is dated to 1657. Similarly, on the March 2012 cover letter we declined to use the word "squid", dated to 1613 and opted to use the word "calamarie" (dated to 1567 under <calamary>, n.) to replace the modern term "kraken". We may, on a case by case basis, retain the use of the modern terms for items already registered in order to preserve a cant.

January 2006 - On Ibexes:

One of this month's submissions (Eleanor Chantrill) raised a question on the difference between an ibex and a reindeer.

Plate

John Vinycomb, Fictitious & Symbolic Creatures in Art, with Special Reference to Their Use in British Heraldry, p. 215 defines the heraldic ibex as "an imaginary beast resembling the heraldic antelope in appearance, with the exception of the horns projecting from his forehead, which are serrated like a saw. Perhaps it would not be erroneous to consider it identical with the heraldic antelope." Vinycomb goes on and states the natural ibex "resembles a goat, but the horns are much larger, bent backwards, and full of knots, one of which is added every year." Other authors have similar definitions for both the heraldic antelope and heraldic ibex.

Mountain goats are frequent in European armory, blazoned in French as bouquetin// and in German as //Steinbock//; these translate to "ibex", but they're pretty obviously natural ibexes. A heraldic ibex head is found in 1547, as the crest of Toke (Woodcock & Robinson, //Oxford Guide to Heraldry//, plate 9). It has forward-sweeping horns, is most definitely an ibex (or //ebeck as it is blazoned) and looks nothing like a natural ibex.

Based on the definitions, and emblazons, of heraldic antelopes, natural antelopes, heraldic ibexes, and natural ibexes, the following is list of what is worth a CD and what isn't.

  • There is no difference between a heraldic antelope and a heraldic ibex.
  • There is no difference between a natural ibex and a goat.
  • There is a CD between a heraldic ibex and a natural antelope, stag, or deer.
  • There is a CD between a goat and a heraldic antelope or heraldic ibex.
  • There is a CD between a goat and a natural antelope, stag or deer.
  • There is a CD between a heraldic ibex and a reindeer.
  • There is a CD between a heraldic ibex and a natural ibex.

In order to ensure that the correct difference is granted between natural deer and natural ibexes (as opposed to heraldic antelopes and heraldic ibexes), we have to explicitly say natural. An examination of the registered ibexes showed that they were all natural ibexes, rather than the expected heraldic ibexes. Prior registrations of ibexes have been reblazoned as natural ibexes elsewhere in this letter.

Registerability:>

(Restricted, Reserved, SFPP, OOP)

Conflict:

Identifiability:

September 2011 LoAR:

Thormot Quilliam. Device. Sable, a moose passant argent. We asked commenters to consider whether or not there is significant difference between moose (also known in Europe as elk) and stags and does. Commenters could not find evidence of elk used in period heraldry, although certainly they were a known animal. Based on commentary, we are ruling that there is not enough visual distinction between elk and deer to grant a CD between them.

Collected Precedents

In the Ordinary:

(includes antelope, buck, doe, elk, fawn, gazelle, gemsbok, hart, hind, ibex, moose, oryc, oryx, roebuck, stag)

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