Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 018

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 018

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/018

This is one of the Academy's earliest reports. We are not confident that these early reports are accurate. Please use it with caution.

Greetings!

We've been talking about your name and device idea for some time, and have accumulated a lot of ideas and suggestions which we hope will be helpful. I'll try to be as concise as possible.

We were able to find documentation for "Alessandra," but only starting in the 15th century. The earliest reference we have comes from Italy in the late 1400's, where we can find the name "Alessandra." (1) Because Italian culture was influential throughout Europe, it's likely that the name would be found throughout Western Europe, including Germany.

Substituting "y" for "e" in "Alessandra" makes sense for modern English, but it wouldn't have been done in medieval German because "y" and "e" stand for completely different sounds in period Italian, German and French. The difference is less marked in late-period English, and it is not unreasonable to suppose that "Alyssandra" could have been used there, especially given the existance of the common English name "Alice" which was also spelled "Alys." But since you're interested in a German name, we would recommend making the spelling change if you want to use "Alessandra."

We also found quite a few early-period names and name variants that are similar in sound to Alessandra. Alisabia, Alsavia, Alsinia, Eliswind, Elisuint, Elisma, Elstrudis, Alsuis, Adalheidis, Adeleidis, Adelais, Alis, Adelix, Adalasia, Adalsindis, Alsinna are all documented as being used in ancient Gaul in early period (2), and you could use any of them as an early-period name.

We haven't been able to find any evidence for "Drachenskralle." We found a name "Drackenhand" dated to 1406 (3), but there is no use of "Kralle" in any German name we were able to find. German descriptive names were more literal ("Alessandra the Dragon-handed") rather than metaphorical ("Alessandra, the Claw of the Dragon").

Your proposed arms, "Per chevron Or and sable, a dragon passant gules and a tower Or," are almost certainly acceptable under the style rules of the College of Arms. However, there are some ways in which those arms are not an accurate recreation of medieval heraldry.

Period arms with a field divided "per chevron" rarely have a charge above the point of the division. "Per chevron" was normally drawn with a very sharp point in period armory, nearly touching the top of the field. Modern heraldry texts often draw "per chevron" with a broader angle, lower on the field; but this is a modern development in heraldry. In period heraldic art, it would be very hard to fit a charge between the point of the division and the top of the field; at best, the charge would be cramped in a small space.

A less significant question came up because you included your household's symbol in your arms. Although it's not a common practice, there are a few examples of people in period who incorporated household armory into their personal devices. Although there aren't many examples on which to base a pattern, some of our members think that it would be more likely to use the household armory as a peripheral charge and make your personal charge (the dragon) the central charge.

Therefore, we've come up with suggestions for alternate designs, which preserve most of the basic design you started with, but which are more accurate re-creations of period heraldry. These designs are listed in the order of their similarity to medieval German heraldry; all of them are examples of period heraldry. If you need pictures, I'll do what I can with ASCII art.

Sable, on a fess between three towers Or, a dragon passant gules.

(black field with a broad horizontal stripe of gold. Three towers in the upper left, upper right, and lower center, and a dragon on the gold stripe.)

Or, a dragon passant gules and on a chief sable, 3 towers Or. (Gold

field, red dragon, black bar across top with 3 gold towers).

Per chevron Or and sable, two dragons rampant gules and a tower Or.

(field divided per chevron, gold above and black below; two rampant dragons in the upper left and upper right, and a gold tower below) There is a chance that this device conflicts with another SCA device; we're not sure whether it would pass or not.

Or, a dragon passant gules between three towers sable (Gold field, red

dragon surrounded by 3 black towers)

The colors in any of these could be re-arranged as you desire. We should note that for earlier-period armory (12th or 13th century), it was more common to use two colors than three.

Arval D'Espas Nord, Marten Broeker, Alison MacDermot, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Tangwystl ferch Morgant Glasryn, and Loveday assisted in researching your name and device.

In Service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of St. Gabriel

(1) Rhian Lyth of Blackmoor Vale, "Italian Renaissance Women's Names."

http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/italian.html

(2) Morlet, Marie-Therese. Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de

L'Ancienne Gaule du VI au XII Siecle. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique: Paris, 1972.

(3) Schwarz, Ernst. Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen aus Vorhussitischer Zeit;

Boehlau Verlag; Koeln, Graz; 1957