ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1768 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1768 ************************************ 21 Jul 1999 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! Here's the information we found on your name and your design for your arms. Your name is a perfect 12th-century Scottish Gaelic name. Unfortunately, your arms are not at all consistent with medieval heraldic style, and we recommend that you develop a new idea. and the genitive form appear in a 12th century Scottish Gaelic manuscript. Overall, is typical of men's names as they appear in that source [1]. Heraldic arms were invented in northwestern France in the mid-12th century. Gaelic-speaking Scots didn't use heraldry for several centuries after that. 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 Your design for your arms can be blazoned "Dimidiated per bend: Azure, a sun Or; and Sable, a plate within an orle of mullets argent." Although this is a lovely design, very evocative to the modern eye, it is not at all consistent with medieval heraldic styles. The juxtaposition of two contrasting motifs appeals us, but apparently did not appeal to the medieval designer. Medieval heraldic design tended to be highly symmetric, with identical sets of charges balanced across one of the main lines of the shield. It also tended to be unified, with a single design covering the entire shield, not two distinct ones joined together [2]. The sun, moon, and stars motif that you've used is very common in modern art, and so common in Society heraldry that it's a cliche. It was rare in medieval heraldry. We recommend avoiding it for both reasons: It isn't good re-creation and it isn't a very effective identifying symbol in the Society because it's so overused. A sun or a moon or stars would be a fine basis for your arms -- all of them were used in period armory -- but using all three together is difficult to fit within period heraldic style. You can get an idea of the kinds of designs used in medieval heraldry by looking at examples. A great book for this purpose is Joseph Foster's _The Dictionary of Heraldry_ (New York: Arch Cape Press, 1989), which contains thousands of color drawings of period English arms. You can also find a collection of on-line medieval heraldry at [http://www.wctc.net/~randomsf/rollofarms.htm]. You might also want to look at another article we've posted that discusses common mistakes in Society heraldry. This list of heraldry cliches is available at [http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/clichelist.html]. We hope this letter has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. We were assisted in preparing this letter by Talan Gwynek, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Juliana de Luna, Rouland Carre, and Barak Raz. For the Academy, Alan Fairfax & Arval Benicoeur 21 Jul 1999 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Krossa, Sharon L. (Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte), "A Simple Guide to Constructing 12th Century Scottish Gaelic Names", (WWW: Privately published, 18 June 1997). http://www.stanford.edu/~skrossa/medievalscotland/scotnames/simplescotgaelicnames12.html [2] Many arms that we see today contain two or more designs joined together; but this is a special case, where two existing designs are combined to indicate, for example, that two familes have been joined by marriage. Each original design is simpler and presents a single, unified image.