ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1595 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1595 ************************************ 9 Jun 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You were interested in the appropriate form of the name in Spanish and in French for sometime before 1600. You wanted the surname to mean "of the Garden" or "the Gardener." You had in mind a woman from Lourdes, and wondered if you could mix the two languages if she had a French father and a Spanish mother. You also wanted to pass arms which you described as a blue field with a gold five-pointed star in the center surrounded by a wreath of ivy. Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names and arms that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that is not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name or arms, then we may not be able to help you. People of the Middle Ages did not usually mix names of various languages. Instead, a person would be called by the form of the name familiar to the speaker. People from Navarra would refer to you one way, people from Tolouse another way, using the Navarese or Provencal form of your name--both first and last. In the medieval period, the language in Lourdes, on the French side of the modern Franco-Spanish border, was Provencal. On the other side of the border, in modern Spain, the language was Navarese. The official language of modern Spain is the direct descendant of medieval Castilian, while modern French derves from the language of medieval northern France. All are Romance languages and have some similarities; the same names or words in each may be identical or have significant differences. We were not able to find example all the elements of your name in both Provencal and Navarese, but we believe we know how the names were used in those languages. Castilian and Navarese were only two of the language of medieval Spain. One of the others was Catalan, the language of Catalonia, at the Mediterranean end of the Franco-Spanish border. Catalan is more closely related to Navarese than Castilian, and Catalan names were generally very similar to Navarese names. In Catalan, we found , the masculine form, in the late 14th century. [1] is found in Castilian documents of the 16th century. [2, 3] Since the same form exists in both of these languages, both closely related to Navarese, we believe it is probable that the same name could have been used in Navarra. We did not find an example of ('of the Garden') in Navarese before 1600. (The "/" indicates an accent over the preceding vowel.) However, there are other Navarese surnames which follow that pattern [4]: de la Puent (from the bridge) del Rencon (from the corner) del Vado (from the ford) de la Calva (from the clearing) We also found in late 15th century Castilian. It means 'of the garden', but in the sense of a productive piece of land rather than a decorative garden. [5] We recommend or as a late-period Navarese form of your name. On the French side of the border, we were found the name ; we found no examples of . appears in Toulouse, another Provencal-speaking area, in 1528. [6] The final "e" in is pronounced, making it sound very similar to . We did not find the Provencal word for 'garden', but the French word is , very similar to the Spanish word; so we believe the same word was probably also used in Provencal. [7] We found used as a last name in French in 1306 and 1315. [8] In southern France, is often used more often than for the connector "of the." Therefore, we recommend as a reasonable late period Provencal name. A woman who lived near the Navarese border might have been known as at home, but as if she dealt with Navarese natives. Your design for arms is very close to being a typical medieval design. Wreaths were used much less frequently in medieval arms than in the SCA; we did not find an example of a wreath of leaves in late French or Iberian arms. However, we found Portuguese arms from the first half of the 16th century with an orle of heart-shaped leaves that looked rather like ivy. [9] When we say "an orle of leaves", we mean that individual leaves are arranged around the edge of the shield but with an empty margin at the shield's edge; the leaves are arranged in a kind of outline of the shield. So, instead of a wreath of ivy, we suggest on orle. You didn't specify what color you wanted the ivy wreath. The wreath needs to be silver or gold in order to have good contrast with the blue background. Making it Or (gold) to match the star would be very authentic style. Therefore, "Azure, a mullet [star] within an orle of ivy leaves Or" is a good re-creation of period Iberian armory that retains the basic characteristics of your original design. Unfortunately, while this is an excellent design for your period, it is too similar to arms that have already been registered in the SCA. [10] If you want to register your arms, you'll need to modify your design to avoid that problem. This may require a fairly significant change in your design, since many people in the Society also like the basic motif of a star or sun in the middle of their arms. If the star isn't especially important to you, you might consider eliminating it and making the ivy leaves the central element of your design. "Azure, six ivy leaves Or", for example, would be a lovely design. When we checked, it appeared to be registerable. If you wish to retain the star, you would have to change the background color to green (vert) in order to register it; all the other field colors you could use (red/gules, black/sable, and purple/purpure) have armory with designs similar enough to preclude registration. However, this is a less typical design; green was rarely used in medieval heraldry. You might also consider varying the number of stars. If you want a design that has distinctively Iberian features, you may want to use a group of five or six mullets (heraldese for "stars"). Five charges are usually arranged 2, 1, and 2, as in the lefthand drawing below. Sets of six charges in Iberian heraldry are usually arranged 2, 2, and 2, as in the righthand drawing. _____________ _____________ | | | | | @ @ | | @ @ | | | | | | @ | | @ @ | | | | | \ @ @ / \ @ @ / \ / \ / \_______/ \_______/ The most common sorts of mullets in Renaissance Iberian heraldry have six or eight points. It seems to be an idiosyncrasy of heraldic art of this culture that mullets of eight points are drawn with a point up, while mullets of six points have the space between two points facing up. "Azure, five mullets two, one, and two Or" is a distinctly Iberian design, and appears to be registerable. We hope this letter has been helpful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. Talan Gwynek, Maridonna Benvenuti, Zenobia Naphtali, Walraven van Nijmege, Juliana de Luna, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Rouland Carre, and Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja. contributed comments and/or research for this letter. For the Academy, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum and Arval d'Espas Nord 9 June 1999 __________________ References: [1] Marsa/, Francisco, et al. _Onoma/stica Barcelonesa del Siglo XIV_ (Barcelona: University of Barcelona, 1977). [2] Elsbeth Anne Roth, _16th-century Spanish Women's Names_ (WWW: Self-published, 1998): http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~kvs/fnames.html [3] Martz, Linda, Julio Porres, and Martin Cleto, _Toledo y los Toledanos en 1561_, Publicaciones del Instituto Provincial de Investigaciones y Estudios Toledanos, Monografias, Vol 5 (Toledo: Patronato "Jose Maria Cuadrado" del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, 1974). [4] Carrasco Pe/rez, Juan _La Poblacio'n de Navarra en el Siglo XIV_ (Pamplona, Spain: Ediciones Universidad de Navarra, S.A, 1973). [5] De La Torre, Antonio and E. A. de la Torre, eds., _Cuentas de Gonzalo de Baeza Tesorero de Isabel la Cato/lica_ (Madrid: Biblioteca "Reyes Cato/licos", 1956). [6] Talan Gwynek, "Late Period Feminine Names from the South of France" (WWW: Josh Mittleman, 1998): http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/latefrenchfem/ [7] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963). [8] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967). [9] Godinho, Anto/nio, 1517-1541, _Livro da Nobreza e Perfeicam das Armas_, Introduction, Notes, Artistic and Graphic Guidance by Martim de Albuquerque and Joa~o Paulo de Abreu e Lima (Lisbon: Academia Portuguesa da Histo'ria, 1987). [10] Paul of Sunriver, August of 1982 (via the West): Azure, a compass star Or.