ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1662
http://www.s-gabriel.org/1662
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From: "S Friedemann" 
4 Jun 1999

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You wanted to know if <Sandor Dosa, the Jesting> would have been used by a
Hungarian Crusader living between 1300 and 1550.  You also asked about the
arms "Per cross, sable and argent, four unicorns, on a cross five mullets of
eight, all counterchanged," and said you were thinking of making the
unicorns rampant reguardant, passant reguardant, couchant, or erect.  Here
is the information we have found.

We find examples of <Sandor> in Hungary as early as 1394.  <Sandor>, a
Hungarian form of <Alexander>, is a fine choice for your given name. [1]

<Dosa> is a pet form of <David> in Hungarian; it is recorded in 1446 and
later [1].  As a surname, it would probably be a patronymic byname, i.e., a
byname identifying who your father was.  For a mid-15th century Hungarian
man, <Sandor Dosa> is an excellent name, and would have been understood to
mean "Sandor, son of Dosa."

Your second byname, <the Jesting>, is problematic.  We have found no
examples of period Hungarian names with two bynames.  It would be perfectly
appropriate for you to have two bynames, but you should use only one at a
time.  Unfortunately, we have found no period Hungarian byname that means
"the Jesting" or anything similar, so we cannot recommend it as good
re-creation.

There is a brief article on Hungarian armory that might interest you,
available on the web at:

     http://www.heraldica.org/topics/national/hungary.htm

Unfortunately, your arms bear little resemblence to period Hungarian arms.
While there are some examples of eight pointed mullets and unicorns in
Polish heraldry (which is sometimes similar in style to Hungarian), we found
only three instances of the cross throughout, or cross used as an ordinary,
in Eastern European heraldry.  In each of these coats, the design was very
simple.  Two had the cross accompanied only by a single charge in sinister
base; the third had the cross charged with four fleurs-de-lys. [2]

The only examples we found of quartered fields in Polish, Hungarian, or
Lithuanian armory were marshalled arms, i.e. ones in which two or more
independent coats were combined to illustrate lineage.  For example, the
arms of Poland and Lithuania were quartered on a single shield during the
period when they were united [4].  By Society custom, marshalled arms are
not an appropriate model for Society re-creation.

We also found no evidence of counterchanging in any of these cultures.  We
recommend that you do not use these elements if you wish to have an
authentic Hungarian style coat of arms.

Here are a few typical Eastern European heraldic designs that might interest
you:

 Sable, a unicorn passant argent.
 Sable, a unicorn rampant between in fess two mullets of
   six points argent argent.
 Sable, a mullet of eight points between in pall three crosses
   formy-fitchy argent.  [3]
 Sable, in fess two mullets of eight points and in chief a cross
   formy-fitchy argent.

A cross formy-fitchy is a cross whose top three arms are triangles with
their points to the center, and whose bottom arms is a long spike.  As far
as we can tell, you could register any of these designs.

You also mentioned that you are a Crusader; we thought you might like to
know that while the crusades ended in the 13th century, heraldry did not
come into use in Hungary until the mid to late 14th century.  Since your
persona is earlier than that, you obviously would not have used armory. That
doesn't mean you shouldn't use arms in the Society: Many Societyfolk use
arms even though their personas would not have done so. Whether you use arms
or not depends on how you think about authenticity and your persona. You can
find a few thoughts on this issue in an article we've posted on the web:

  What Do I Use for Arms if my Persona Wouldn't Have Used Arms?
     http://www.s-gabriel.org/faq/nonheraldic.html

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 Walraven
van Nijmegen, Blaise de Cormeilles, Teceangl Bach, Zenobia Naphtali, Arval
Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, and Rouland Carre.

For the Academy,
--Aryanhwy merch Catmael Caermyrdin
     June 4, 1999

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References & Notes:

[1] Ka/zme/r Miklo/s, "Re/gi Magyar Csala/dnevek Szo/ta/ra: XIV-XVII
Sza/zad" (Budapest, 1993). s.n.Sa/ndor, Do/zsa

[2] Szyman/ski, Jo/zef, _Herbarz: S/redniowiecznego Rycerstwa Polskiego_
(Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1993).

[3]  The crosses are arranged so that the long points face into the center
of the shield.

[4] Louda, J., & M. Maclagan.  Heraldry of the Royal Families of Europe (New
York: Clarkson N. Potter, Inc., 1981).