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Greetings,
Here's the information we found on the name "Gilbert' d'Dijon" and
associated armoury as would have been used in 14th C France.
"Gilbert", in various forms, is a common name in both France and England
during the Middle Ages. We've been able to date the following forms:
GILLEBERT : Gillebert de Berneville, a 13th C French poet, 13th
cent, and Histoire de la Gilde des Archers de Saint Sebastien de la
Ville de Bruges_ (Henri Godar, Bruges, 1947), which lists one person
named "Gillebert" in 1564.
GILEBERT : Albert Dauzat."Dictionnaire {E'}tymologique des Noms de
Famille et Prenoms de France" notes "Gilebert" as a form of Gilbert
in use in 1292. His source in this case is a work called "Taille de
Paris."
GISLEBERTUS,-Gislebertus, a 12th century French sculptor.
GILBERTUS: Gilbertus Anglicus, a 13th C English medical writer.
Though none of the citations is 14th C, "Gillebert" or "Gilebert" seem
the most likely candidates, as both were in use in the 13th C, and the
former was also in use in the 16th. Given that Gilbertus is a Latin
translation of Gilbert, "Gilbert" is also a possibility.
We noted that you have written your name as Gilbert', with an apostrophe
following the name. We're not sure why you added the apostrophe; we
don't know any reason why it would be used. If you intend it to be an
accent mark on the final letter, then it is not correct: In French,
accents appear only over vowels. If you intend it to be an apostrophe
at the end of the word, that is also incorrect: In French, apostrophes
are used only to indicate the two words have been contracted; e.g.
"d'Alsace". A given name would never be contracted with any following
word.
Dijon is, as you noted, a region of France, as well as a city, which
makes "Dijon" a reasonable locative byname. "The correct form for the
byname is "de Dijon." In French, the "e" in the preposition "de" is
dropped only when the letter following it is a vowel, as in "d'Anjou."
It's also worth noting that a resident of Dijon probably would not have
been known by the byname "de Dijon," since it wouldn't have
distinguished him from any other resident of the region. Of course,
when your persona is outside Dijon this would be a very likely name for
him.
Before designing arms, you may want to look at examples of medieval heraldry.
One excellent source is "A Dictionary of Heraldry" by Joseph Foster (also
called "Some Feudal Coats of Arms," which contains hundreds of examples of
medieval heraldry. You could also look at the Web page
http://people.delphi.com/ivanor/
which has a smaller collection of medieval arms.
While the arms you suggest, "Azure, a bend sinister sable between a
fleur-de-lys Or and a mustard flower proper," are a reasonable starting
place, they bear only a passing resemblence to the styles used in
medieval armoury:
* First, a black charge on a blue field gets muddled.
Correct practice in both medieval and modern heraldry
is to provide good contrast between the field and the
objects on it. When the tincture field or object is a
heraldic "color" - azure (blue), gules (red), sable (black),
vert (green), or purpure (purple)-- the tincture of objects
placed on it should be a heraldic "metal" - Or (gold/yellow)
or argent (silver/white). In this case, you should use Or
and/or argent for all the charges. With a few notable
exceptions, where a specific color-on-color design motif can
be shown to be typical of a particular regional style of armory,
or in general use in Europe, the SCA College of Arms will not
register a device that uses color-on-color. For more on this,
see the suggestions below.
* Second, the bend sinister is extremely rare in period armory.
While it was occasionally used in England in the late 16th C to
show illegitimacy, it was not used this way in 14th century France.
It was simply an unusual charge with no inherent or symbolic meaning.
Furthermore, it is also extremely rare to find an ordinary, such
as a bend or a bend sinister, between two different types of
objects.
* Only a limited number to flower types were used in medieval heraldry.
Roses are the most common. When an unusual flower is used, it is usually
for canting purposes--the name of the flower matched the name of the
bearer. While the mustard flower is acceptable in SCA heraldry, its use is
not good practice for 14th C France, nor is it a reasonable cant for
"dijon."
Before making a decision on what to do with your arms, I recommend that
you check out the Bigot Roll of Arms, a list of French arms from 1254,
found at
http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/bigot.html
This will provide a good starting place for getting the feel for early
French armory practices.
You may also want to consider some of the following arms:
"Azure, a bend (Or or argent) between two fleurs-de-lys (Or or
argent) Or"
"Azure, a bend (Or) between six fleurs-de-lys (Or or argent)"
Note: The College of Arms will not register arms containing several gold
fleurs-de-lys on a blue background. The royal arms of France used that
motif, and many related French families adopted it to show their
connection to the royal house. In fact, the motif is also used by
families with no connection to French royalty, but the College's policy
is to forbid this combination altogether.
Arval d'Espas Nord, Alan Fairfax, Rouland Carre, Zenobia Naphtali,
and Elsbeth Anne Roth contributed to this letter.
We hope this has been helpful. Please contact us again if you have
further questions.
In Service,
Margaret mcphe