ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1339 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1339 ************************************ 12 Nov 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for information about choosing a surname appropriate for a female Dutch weaver of the late 14th or early 15th century, and about designing arms with a black lion on a gold field. Here is what we have found. Naming yourself for the city where you were born is a fine idea; locative bynames, as this sort of name is called, were very common in Dutch in your period. The Bruges name data that you mentioned contains many examples. In fact, it contains examples based on two of the cities you asked about: and [1]. Elsewhere we found and recorded a little before your period [3]. Any one of these names or any other Dutch byname from the Bruges name data would be an excellent choice for your persona. You expressed surprise that you didn't find on these webpages. We wouldn't have expected to find it. First, is the French name of the city. In Dutch it is called , and in another source we found examples of and a little earlier than your period [3, 4]. Second, it is fairly rare for someone's byname to refer to the place where she is currently living. The purpose of a byname was to distinguish you from other people who shared the same first name. If you are living in Brugge, then it doesn't help to call you -- that name would apply equally well to every other Cristina in Brugge. If you moved to another city from Brugge, then would be a natural way for people to identify you. If you were born near Brugge and still lived there, then you might have been known for the nearby village or city district where she was born or for her occupation. If you'd like to pursue one of those options, let us know and we'll be happy to suggest some possibilities. You asked us to suggest designs for your arms, using a black lion on a gold field, but avoiding conflict with the arms of the Counts of Flanders, "Or, a lion rampant sable". It's not hard to find designs that avoid the conflict; however, choosing arms appropriate for your persona can involve some other considerations. We wonder if you want to use this motif in order to say "I am Flemish". In the modern world, displaying the arms of your country or province is a common way to proclaim your loyalty. In period, someone bearing a minor variant of the arms of the Count of Flanders would have been saying "I am a close relative of the Count". We're sure that's not what you have in mind. Lions are very common among the nobility of Flanders -- even beyond the Count's family -- and it's possible that some of them adopted the lion to indicate their allegiance to their ruler. In other words, their lions may have meant "I am an important vassal of the Count of Flanders". Since you want your persona to be a weaver, we think this is probably also not what you want to say. So we recommend against starting with the arms of Flanders and designing a variant that you can register. There are lots of ways you could do that, but we don't think any of them would fit the persona you're trying to construct. Wealthy artisans in late-period Flanders often used arms in which the main charge was some tool or symbol of their trade. For example, we've seen 16th century examples of guild arms containing weaver's shuttles, caps, robes, a tapestry, belts on a rack, and a glove [2]. A design like "Or, three weaver's shuttles sable" would be very appropriate for your persona. On the other hand, we may have it all wrong: You may just like the visual effect of a black lion on a gold field. If that's the case, then there are lots of ways to use that combination without having arms that look anything like the arms of Flanders. Here are a couple possibilities: Argent, on a chief sable a demi-lion issuant Or. Or, a fess embattled and in chief a lion passant sable. If you'd like to get a better idea of the kinds of arms that were used in the Low Countries in your period, there are some sources we can recommend. If you can read blazons, you can find a list of arms from 16th century Flanders on the web: Analysis, Armorial, and Ordinary of Armory Recorded in Paul Bergmans' Armorial De Flandre du XVIme Siecle http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/bergmans.html The book on which this article is based is a particularly good source for you; it contains a section devoted to burgher arms that aren't included in the on-line article. If you can get hold of the book, we think you'll find it useful. 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). The following books contains examples of arms from your period. They also contains arms from other parts of Europe, but it's easy to figure out which ones come from your part of the world. Bibliotheque royale Albert Ier, _Gelre_ (Leuven: Jan van Helmont, 1992, ISBN 90-74318-03-7). Pinches, Rosemary and Anthony Wood, _A European Armorial: An Armorial of Knights of the Golden Fleece and 15th Century Europe_ (London: Heraldry Today, 1971). 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, Ceatta o Gulcleth, Rouland Carre, Walraven van Nijmegen, Blaise de Cormeilles, and Aelfwyn aet Gyrwum. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 12 Nov 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Luana de Grood, "Flemish Given Names from Bruges, 1400-1600", (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1996). In particular, the second page given below contains pointers to four lists of bynames, each of which contains several examples of locative bynames like . http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bruges/ http://www.us.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bruges/byname-list0.html [2] 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). You can find a list of blazons from this roll of arms on the web: Walraven van Nijmegen, "Analysis, Armorial, and Ordinary of Armory Recorded in Paul Bergmans' Armorial De Flandre du XVIme Siecle" (WWW: Brain R. Speer, Privately published, 1997) http://www.geocities.com/Athens/1336/bergmans.html [3] Beele, Wilfried, _Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnamen uit de Stads- en Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400_ (Handzame, 1975). Beele has , p.156, and , p.123. [4] Debrabandere, F., _Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief familienamenregister_, Anthrophonymica XXII (Leuven : Instituut voor Naamkunde : Peeters, 1980).