ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1756 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1756 ************************************ From: Cardinal Ximenez 6 Jul 1999 Greetings, You asked for information about a name and arms for a male warrior from Augsburg between 1000 and 1300. We have included a short list of German first names from your period, and provided links to longer lists. We were able to find bynames that mean "from Augsburg" and others that describe warriors. We were also able to suggest coats of arms that use an eagle in a red, gold, and black color scheme. Unfortunately your criteria are too broad for us to be able to make specific suggestions. However, we can point you to a list of names from your period, on the Web at http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/talan/germ13/ The most popular names in that list are Heinrich Hermann Cunrad Wilhelm Werner Hartmann Wicher Diderich Wigand Ditmar, Dimar Hartmud The names on the list are actually recorded in Latin; the list above gives common German equivalents of the Latin forms. There are a number of other possible spellings. We also have a list of names from Silesia between 1300-1500. Silesians spoke a different dialect of German than people from Augsburg, and the names are from a later period, but the list does contain names in German forms. It is on the Web at http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/bahlow_v.htm We found two early examples of , meaning "from Augsburg," dated to 1291 and 1350. [1] There are several patterns for German descriptive names in your period; you could use , , "the Augsburger," or , "person called 'the Augsburger.'" (The name of the city of is spelled with a 'u', not an 'e.) These names are really only appropriate if you live outside of Augsburg. Descriptive names were given to distinguish one person from another. Since most of the people in Augsburg are from Augsburg, the name wouldn't be a useful descriptive term inside the city itself. We understand that you might be interested in a byname that describes you as a warrior, and we found some names that fit: [2] Howenschilt 1350 "break-shield" Swertslach 1216 "sword-blow" Schildcneht 1295 "shield-bearer" Heraldic arms were invented in northern France in the early 1100s. They spread to other parts of western Europe pretty quickly, reaching Germany by 1200. While the double-headed eagle was a rare charge usually associated with the Holy Roman Emperor, the single-headed eagle is one of the most common charges in medieval heraldry. We suggest these two designs, both of which are appropriate for German heraldry in the 1200s: * Sable, three eagles Or. (Black background, three gold eagles) * Barry Or and gules, three eagles sable. (Gold and red horizontal stripes, three black eagles). As far as we can tell, neither of these designs conflict with any heraldry protected by the SCA. Walraven van Nijmegen, Arval Benicoeur, and Talan Gwynek contributed to this letter. We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Your servant, Alan Fairfax Academy of S. Gabriel July 6, 1999 [1] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960). s.n. Augsburger [2] ibid., s.nn. Schwertschlag, Hau(en)schild, Schildknecht.