ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 1914 http://www.s-gabriel.org/1914 ************************************ From: "Braddon Giles" 17 Jan 2000 Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! You asked for our assistance in researching a name for a German male, living somewhere within the Hanseatic League between 1450 and 1600. Your suggestion was . Also, you asked for our help in designing arms appropriate for a soldier of that time and place. is a form of , which was one of the most common German masculine names at the end of the Middle Ages. [1] Although the Latin spelling is very common in documents, the name is found in an enormous variety of spellings and pet forms. While we have no accurate statistics, inspection of available Eastphalian data suggests that in this region, which includes Magdeburg, the most common form of the name in your period was . [2] The full name also appears fairly frequently, both as and as (e.g. 1585, 1481, 1488, 1455, 1519, 1490, and 1522). [3] Note that while and were interchangeable, the evidence suggests that by your period and were not. The place-name already appears in that form by 1313, when it appears in the name . [4] By your period this was the usual form of the surname meaning 'of Magdeburg'; use of the preposition 'of, from' had greatly declined. [5] There are nevertheless late examples of names with the preposition, both in the Low German form and in the High German form , e.g., 1534 and 1519, the latter also in record as 1540. [6] In general the Low German is more characteristic of the northern areas most strongly associated with the Hansa. Therefore we especially recommend the form ; is also consistent with the evidence, but much less common for your period. The Hanseatic League was a loose affiliation, based mostly on business and trade. A soldier would most likely have been in the employ of a specific Hansa town, rather than the League, and might allude to that in his arms. We find no specifically Hansa features in arms of this time. Our suggestion is to base your arms on German arms of the period. Obviously there are many different designs that would be possible, and we would be very happy to assist if you are able to narrow your choice of charges and colors. There are sites that might give you some inspiration: For a look at German style armoury of the period only a century before yours, we suggest you view "The Zurich Roll of Arms", at: http://people.delphi.com/ivanor/zroaen0.htm The arms of Magdeburg and many other German municipalities may be found in "International Civic Arms": http://www.bng.nl/ngw/indexgb.htm We hope this letter has been useful. Please write to us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Juliana de Luna, Maridonna Benvenuti, Hartmann Rogge, Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Talan Gwynek. For the Academy, Giles Leabrook. 17/ Jan /2000 _____________________________________ Bibliography. [1] Bahlow, Hans, _Deutsches Namenlexikon : Familien- und Vornamen nach Ursprung und Sinn erklaert_ (Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985, 1990); s.n. Johannes. [2] Zoder, R., _Familiennamen in Ostfalen_. 2 vols. (Hildesheim: 1968); pp. 25-143, e.g. 68. [3] Ibid., pp. 38, 41, 61, 63, 67, 85, 115. [4] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960); s.n. Magdeburg(er) [5] Schwarz, Ernst. _Deutsche Namenforschung I: Ruf- und Familiennamen_ (Goettingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1949); pp. 101-2. [6] Zoder, op. cit., pp. 103, 113.