ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1295 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1295 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 27 Oct 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about the medieval or renaissance Dutch name , and about your design for your arms. Here is what we have found. As we wrote in our last letter, we found examples of the Dutch name in its Latin form around 1000, around 1050, in the 12th century, and in the early 13th century [1]. is originally a Frankish name, and our research suggests that most such names dropped out of use in the 13th century. Therefore, if you want to use this given name, we recommend you set your persona no later than 1200. If you want a later-period persona, you might consider the similar-sounding name (the same name as the Anglo-Norman and Old French ), which we find used in Dutch between 1350 and 1400 [2]. A surname based on the name of a province is a fine choice. Such a name was generally used by someone who had moved out of his home province; at home, it wouldn't be much use in distinguishing him from other people. is the Latin name for the province, and early in the period you asked about, in the 10th or 11th centuries, we would expect an ethnic surname to be in Latin. Here are three Latin examples [1]: Balduinus dictus Freso 1237 Baldwin called the Frisian Juta uxor Philippi Fresonis 1241 Juta wife of Philip the Frisian Balduinus Friso 1245 Baldwin the Frisian Before 1200 or so, would be a fine name; based on the later Dutch forms that we'll show in a minute, also seems reasonable. However, in that period most people were known by a given name alone, by a given name plus a patronymic (a surname that identifies your father), or by a given name plus an occupational byname (a surname that identifies an occupation). If you're interested in those possibilities, please write us again. We find examples of provincial surnames in Dutch roughly from the 13th century onward. Frisia is called in Dutch, so the surname is one possibility. However, most of the examples of Dutch ethnic surnames that we've seen are adjectives based on the province name. We found several examples of adjectival surnames based on , the Dutch word for [3]: Jan de Vrieze 1454 Jan the Frisian Gillis de Vreeze 1514 Gillis the Frisian Jan de Vryese 1514 Jan the Frisian is the Dutch word for "the". We also have examples of between 1250 and 1400, and between 1541 and 1573 [2, 3]. From the 13th century onward, would be a fine name. You wrote that you also are considering a surname based on a province other than Frisia. Here is a list of some surnames we have found, organized under the name of the provinces they are based on. We're pretty sure that they were recorded in the 13th and 14th centuries [7]. A letter in parentheses is optional; the name is recorded with and without it. Brabant Flanders brabanchon [French] van vlaanderen van brabant /v/a/n/ /f/l/a/n/d/r/e/s/ (see corrections) Van Brabant (de) vlamink Brabant li flamens [French] De Brabander(e) Vlaeminck De Brabanter Vlaemynck Vlaenderlant Gelderland Vleminckx Gelders De Vla(e)minc(k) De Gelder De Vla(e)mynck Degueldre Van Vlaenderen Holland Zeeland holland de zeelandere de hol(l)andere van zeeland De Hollander Van Zeeland Mechelen Groningen Van Mechelen Groeninck(x) Heraldic arms were invented in northern France in the late 12th century. If your persona lived before then, you obviously wouldn't have used arms. Of course, many Societyfolk use arms even though their personas wouldn't have done so. What you choose to do depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can find a few thoughts on this issue in an article on our website: What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms? http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/nonheraldic.html The arms you described are "Gyronny Or and vert, a mill-rind sable (or argent)". This is certainly a nice, simple design. However, it was rare to charge a gyronny field, and especially rare to charge it at the center. The millrind itself is a fine charge; we have found examples from the Low Countries in the late 14th century and the mid-15th century [8, 9]. The combination of the gyronny and the mill-rind are very evocative of a windmill, but this sort of construction is really more typical of modern art than medieval heraldry. Medieval heraldic art was much more concrete: If they wanted a windmill, they used a windmill. You could use a windmill as a charge; the windmill was developed in western Europe in the 12th century [4]. It would be especially likely if your surname sounded something like the Dutch word for "mill". It was quite common in period for a man's arms to pun on his name this way. For example, the surname "at the mill" is recorded in 1456. Anseel vander Muelne might have borne a windmill in his arms. The pun is sometimes less direct; the name "of (the village) Mulem" is recorded 1577, and Anseel van Mulem might also have canted with a windmill, since sounds similar to the word for "mill". A design like "Vert, three windmills argent" would be very elegant and we believe you could register it with the SCA College of Arms. The windmills in heraldry in our sources are drawn with the sails behind the windmill; the front of the mill has a door, windows, and stairs [5]. I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmegen, Zenobia Naphtali, Evan da Collaureo, Rouland Carre, and Margaret Makafee. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 28 Oct 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Tavernier-Vereecken, C., _Gentse Naamkunde van ca. 1000 tot 1253: een bijdrage tot de kennis van het oudste middelnederlands_ (Belgium: 1968), p.316 and elsewhere. [2] Beele, Wilfried, _Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnamen uit de Stads- en Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400_ (Handzame, 1975). [3] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bruges/ [4] Kealey, Edward J., _Harvesting the Air: Windmill Pioneers in Twelfth-Century England_ (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987). [5] Bergmans, Paul, _Armorial de Flandre du XVIme Sie\cle_ (Bruxelles et Paris: Commission des Monuments de la Ville de Gand, Librairie Nationale d'Art et d'Histoire, 1919). [6] Debrabandere, F., _Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief familienamenregister_ (Anthrophonymica XXII, Leuven, 1980). [7] The examples are drawn from two sources, [2] and [6]. The first of these sources only includes names from the period 1250-1400. The second source includes a cumulative index of names contained in several articles by the same author and a few by other authors. It appears that all of these articles deal with names from 13th and 14th century sources, but we don't have all of them and we can't be entirely sure. [8] Bibliothe\que royale Albert Ier, _Gelre_ (Leuven: Jan van Helmont, 1992, ISBN 90-74318-03-7). Examples in folios 74v, 75v, 107v, 108. [9] Pinches, Rosemary and Anthony Wood, _A European Armorial: An Armorial of Knights of the Golden Fleece and 15th Century Europe_ (London: Heraldry Today, 1971)., p.60. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, 26 Oct 2001, Arval: In College of Arms comments dated 20 Aug 01, Walraven reviewed his research on this one. The byname was justified here by an entry in Beele, p.170. Walraven wrote: The entry appears exactly as follows: 2865. vizere, de 2866. vlaanderen, van; flandres, 2867. vladebakere, de/... I had originally interpreted the comma at the end of the second line to mean that was intended by the author, but I am no longer confident that this is the case; the original name could have been or simply . The byname is problematic since is a Dutch preposition while is a French spelling.