ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1568 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1568 ************************************ From: "Brian M. Scott" 10 Apr 1999 Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You asked for help in documenting and registering as a name for an early 16th century Englishman descended from a cousin of the Counts of Champagne. You said that you also wanted your arms to include a reference to the arms of either France or Champagne; in particular you asked about the coat 'Quarterly paly sable and or, a bend counterchanged, and purpure, three fleurs-de-lis argent', noting that it was your understanding that the SCA College of Arms allows some quarterly field divisions. Before I discuss your proposed name and arms, I should point out that documenting submissions isn't the Academy's focus: our primary goal is to help people choose names and armory that fit the historical cultures that they are re-creating. The evidence that we adduce in support of our advice can often be used to documentation a submission, but that isn't its main function. The name raises two separate issues. First, are the individual elements appropriate to the early 16th century? And secondly, are they put together in an appropriate manner? I'll discuss these questions in order. In one form or another the given name has been used in England since the late 12th century, but its usual English form was . This occurs, sometimes with minor variations (e.g., ) throughout the SCA period. [1, 2, 3] We did not find the specific form at all; the closest we could come is , recorded at Oxford in 1579. (Interestingly, what appears to be the same person's name is recorded in 1590 in the more usual form .) [4] On the basis of this evidence we recommend as being the normal form of the name in your period; is also attested, but it appears to have been a much less common variant. There were two medieval English bynames that referred to the French province of Champagne. One used the place-name: 1195, 1306, 1345, 1382-3, 1392. [1, 4] The other used the Anglo-French 'of or from Champaigne; man from Champaigne' corresponding to modern French : 1219, 1273, 1273, 1273, 1333, 1379, 1379. [1, 4] By your period both of these bynames had become hereditary surnames and were no longer understood literally. The first type seems to have been much less common than the second, however. For instance, English parish registers from 1601 have , , and but no form of . [5] We also found a coat of arms that is associated with the name in the 15th century and earlier and with the name , , or c.1520; it appears that the adjectival form replaced the earlier place-name form. [6] Nevertheless, we did find a couple of early 16th century examples of the place-name form: c.1500 and c.1520. [1, 6] From all this we conclude that while is certainly possible as an early 16th century English surname, , , (attested from 1520 [1]) or the like is more characteristic of the period. The surname is also of medieval origin. From your general period we found the forms 1517, 1526, and 1601. The spelling , which also appears in 13th and 14th century records, seems to have been one of the more common forms. [1, 4, 5, 7] It would certainly be suitable for a 16th century English name, and the suitability of is a reasonable inference from the available data. This brings us to the question of how a 16th century English name was constructed. The almost universal custom was to have a single given name and a surname. There are very rare examples of men with two given names, but we have not seen an example of a person with two surnames. Thus, even though there are forms of the individual elements that are appropriate to the early 16th century, the overall construction is not. On the other hand, both and are fine early 16th century names. As you can see from the foregoing discussion, each of them could have been spelled in a number of ways. Indeed, there's a good chance that a single individual's name would have been spelled in more than one way on different occasions. seems a bit less characteristic of the period, but it's certainly possible as well. The arms that you proposed - Quarterly paly sable and or, a bend counterchanged, and purpure, three fleurs-de-lis argent - are technically well designed, in the sense that they look like real-world armory. Unfortunately, they are unmistakably quartered, a combination of the independent coats 'Paly sable and or, a bend counterchanged' and 'Purpure, three fleurs-de-lis argent'. In historical terms it is unlikely in the extreme that your coat would have arisen except as a combination of these simpler coats. The SCA Rules for Submissions allow some leeway for quarterly coats that might have arisen independently, but your proposal doesn't qualify for any of the exceptions and would definitely be returned. [8] Since the Academy is concerned primarily with what is historically authentic, not with the detailed rules of the SCA College of Arms, I hasten to add that your proposed coat would not be out of place in your period. It would, however, imply that you were a heraldic heir to both of the simpler coats. If you want a coat that doesn't presuppose that you are a heraldic heir, or if you want to register your arms with the SCA College of Arms, it will be necessary to make some fairly substantial modifications. We've come up with a few suggestions to get you started. If the quarterly field is particularly important to you, you might consider one of the following coats: Quarterly argent and purpure, four fleurs-de-lis counterchanged; Quarterly purpure and argent, four fleurs-de-lis counterchanged; Quarterly argent and purpure, a bend compony or and sable between two fleurs-de-lis argent; [9] Quarterly purpure and argent, a bend compony or and sable between two fleurs-de-lis purpure. There are also designs that incorporate several of the motifs from your proposed coat without quartering the field, e.g., Purpure, a bend compony or and sable between three fleurs-de-lis argent, [10] Purpure, three fleurs-de-lis argent and on a chief or two palets sable, and Purpure, three fleurs-de-lis argent and a chief paly or and sable. All of these appear to be registerable with the SCA College of Arms. Arval Benicoeur, Walraven van Nijmegen, Zenobia Naphtali, and Blaise de Cormeilles also contributed to this letter. We hope that it answers your questions; if anything is unclear, or if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to write us again. For the Academy, Talan Gwynek 4 April 1999 ===== References and Notes: [1] Reaney, P.H., & R.M. Wilson. A Dictionary of English Surnames (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995); s.nn. Tristram, Champain, Champness, Montacute. [2] Withycombe, E.G. The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names. 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988); s.n. Tristram. [3] Talan Gwynek, "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/eng16/ [4] Bardsley, Charles W. A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1980); s.nn. Blaby, Tristram, Champain, Champney, Champneys, Montagu. [5] Hitching, F.K. & S. Hitching. References to English Surnames in 1601 (Walton-on-Thames: Chas. A. Bernau, 1910); p. xxviii. [6] Chesshyre, Hubert & Thomas Woodcock. Dictionary of British Arms: Medieval Ordinary. Vol. I (London: The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1992); pp. 64, 25, 94. [7] Julian Goodwyn. 'English Names from pre-1600 Brass Inscriptions' (WWW: SCA, 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/brasses/ [8] You can find the SCA Rules for Submissions on the Web at http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/regs.html The rule dealing with quartering is Rule XI.3 (Marshalling). Your letter suggests that you already have enough general heraldic knowledge to sort out most of the technicalities, but if you run into trouble, a competent SCA herald should be able to help interpret. That would also be a good place to start if you're interested in pursuing the subject further, especially within the SCA but also as an independent hobby. [9] The expression 'compony or and sable' means that the bend consists of a single row of rectangles that are alternately gold and black. [10] This blazon ('a bend ... between three fleurs-de-lis') implies that two of the fleurs-de-lis are in chief and one in base. The three fleurs-de-lis should be placed so as to fill up the space around the bend as evenly as possible. (The design may look a little unbalanced to the modern eye, but it was not uncommon in the SCA period.)