ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1450 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1450 ************************************ 23 Apr 1999 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel. I apologize for the long time it has taken to get back to you. You asked whether the name existed before 1600, and indicated that you were interested in the name . You also asked about arms blazoned "Gules, on a pile inverted azure, a sword proper charged on the hilt with a decrescent argent" is probably a reasonable name for a late period Frenchman. We're confident that the surname is fine for a late-period French name. We didn't find dated examples in period, but there was a in 16th century France [1]. There are two places called in southern France today [2, 3]. The name is found in French from the 12th century onward [4]. In particular, we found recorded in Paris during the 13th century [5]. We aren't certain that the name remained in use in late-period French, but it is not impossible. The arms you described can be blazoned "Gules, on a pile inverted azure, a sword proper charged on the hilt with a decrescent argent". Unfortunately, this design is not consistent with the heraldic style of your period and cannot be registered with the SCA College of Arms. This design violates the Rule of Tincture (color) used in French heraldry and in heraldry in most countries. In heraldry, there are two main groups of tinctures: dark tinctures, called colors, and light tinctures, called metals. The darks tinctures are azure (blue), gules (red), sable (black), vert (green), and purpure (purple) while the light tinctures are Or (gold or yellow) and argent (silver or white).[6] It is a very general rule of heraldry that dark charges go only on light fields and vice versa. In this case, you've got an azure (dark) charge, the pile inverted, on a gules (dark) field. This combination is very unlikely for period French heraldry, and the SCA College of Arms will not register it. Although piles in various orientations are not uncommon in period English heraldry, we have not found one in period French armory. Therefore, we don't recommend that you use a pile in your arms. We also don't recommend the tiny decrescent on the sword's handle. It is so small that it doesn't qualify under the standards of heraldry as being important enough to mention. Also, the decrescent is an extremely rare charge in period French armory. If you are planning to submit this design to the SCA College of Arms, you would have to drop the decrescent. It adds a fourth layer (field, pile, sword, decrescent); the SCA Rules for Submission only allow three layers. Here are some designs that avoid the problems discussed above, and that incorporate most of the elements of your design. Any should be appropriate for a late period Frenchman, and as far as we can tell, you could register any of these designs with the SCA College of Arms: 1) Per chevron Or and azure, three swords counterchanged. The field is divided by a fairly sharp inverted V, with its tip nearly reaching the top edge of the field and the ends reaching about 2/3 of the way down the sides. The field is gold above, blue below, with three vertical swords, all point-up, arranged with two in the upper field and one in the lower. The swords on the gold field are blue, and vice versa.) 2) Gules, a sword proper, on a chief indented argent three crescents azure. A red background with a sword that has a silver blade and a gold hilt. The top quarter of the field is white/silver and the division between the white and red portions is a deeply zig-zagged line. On the white chief is a row of three blue crescents, points upward. The SCA defines a sword proper as argent hilted Or. 3) Gules, on a pale argent between two swords Or, three crescents gules. A red background with a broad white vertical stripe down the center. The stripe is flanked by two golden swords, and on the stripe are three red crescents, points upwards. We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Arval d'Espas Nord, Blaise de Cormeilles, Pedro de Alcazar, Jehan fitz Gilbert, Elisabeth de Rossignol, Juliana de Luna, Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Aryanwyn Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin, Rouland Ker, and Zenobia Naphtali. In Service, Margaret Makafee ---------------- References and Notes [1] Tallemant des Re\aux, Ge/de/on, Les historiettes de Tallemant des Re/aux: me\moires pour servir a\ l'histoire du XVIIe sie\cle, VII, 125 [2] Getty Information Institute Thesaurus of Geographic Names http://www.ahip.getty.edu [3] Dauzat, Albert and Ch Roistang. Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France. (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1963) [4] Withycombe, E.G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) [5] Dauzat, Albert. Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms et Prenoms de France. (Paris:Libraire Larousse, 1987) [6] There is a third class of tinctures called furs; a fur can be dark, light or neutral. Furs whose background is dark are treated as dark tinctures, while those with light backgrounds are treated as light tinctures. If the fur is equally divided between dark and light tinctures, it is considered neutral for purposes of contrast.