ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2198 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2198 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 8 Jan 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us to evaluate the names you've chosen for yourself and your parents, in the context of Wales around 1300 and specifically the area near Brecon, Bronllys, or Hay castle. You are considering the name for your mother, for your father, and either or for yourself. You also asked our opinion of your design for your arms, "Per chevron sable and argent, two wolves and a dragon counterchanged." We discussed both your name and arms in a previous report [1]. We discussed in that letter and concluded that it is not the best choice for re-creating your period. , on the other hand, was one of the more common Welsh names in your period. We have found numerous examples in a variety of spellings: angarat 1256, 1292, 1300 [2, 4, 5, 6] Angaraht 1292 [7] Angharat 1292, 1325 [3, 8] Angaret 1294 [9] Angharet 1294 [9] Anharet 1294 [9] The spellings , , and come from documents written in Abergavenny and Monmouth, fairly close to the area you want to re-create. The English name was used in combination with Welsh elements in your period. We found the example recorded in Abergavenny in 1292 [3], which has the same pattern you want for your name. We also found the partially Latinized name 1315 [10]; this man was an Englishman, but the example shows that the spelling is plausible for your period, though of course not as good as the documented spellings. In your period, the Welsh word for "daughter" most often appears in names in the spellings [6], [9], or abbreviated [3]. We can therefore say that the name would be an excellent choice for your time and region. It is as good a re-creation as we could recommend! It would have been pronounced \ahng-HAHR-ahd vairkh RAIN-@lf\. The \kh\ in the pronunciation of represents the raspy sound in the Scottish word or the German . The syllable \RAIN\ is pronounced just like the word , and \@\ represents the sound of the 'a' in . You wrote that you want your wolves to be rampant and your dragon to be displayed, like the dragons in your brother's arms, "Per chevron sable and argent, three dragons displayed counterchanged." We would therefore blazon your arms "Per chevron sable and argent, two wolves rampant and a dragon displayed counterchanged." Since your goal is to have arms that reflect your relation to your brother, this design is an excellent choice: Changing some of the charges is one of the ways that 13th and 14th century English and Welsh families differenced their arms to show their relationships [11]. We should note that four-legged dragons were not used in the heraldry of that period; a two-legged dragon or "wyvern" would be a more appropriate choice [12]. I was assisted in preparing this report by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Talan Gywnek. If any part of it is unclear or if you have further questions, please write us again. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 8 Jan 2001 ---------------------- References [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 2117. This report cited examples of from your period. http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?2117 [2] Roderick, A.J., & William Rees. 1950. "Ministers' Accounts for the Lordships of Abergavenny, Grosmont, Skenfrith and White Castle: PRO, Ministers' Accounts Bundle 1094, No. 11; Part I -- The Lordship of Abergavenny." In South Wales and Monmouth Record Society Publications: No. 2. [3] Jones, Francis. 1950. The Subsidy of 1292. Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies vol. 13:210-230. (Covers Abergavenny and Cilgerran) [4] Williams-Jones, Keith. The Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1976. [includes Lleyn] [5] Pierce, T. Jones "Lay Subsidy Account 242/50 [A.D. 1293]" in BBCS vol.5 part 2 (May 1930) p.142-8. (manor of Nevyn) [6] Sanders, I.J. "The Boroughs of Aberystwyth and Cardigan in the Early Fourteenth Century" in BBCS Vol.15 Part 4 (May 1954) pp.282 292. Williams-Jones, Keith. "A Mawddwy Court Roll, 1415-16" in Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies vol. 23 (1970). [7] Hopkins, Anthony. 1996. "The Lay Subsidy of 1292: Monmouth and the Three Castles" in Studia Celtica 30:189-196. [8] Lewis, E.A. "The Proceedings of the Small Hundred Corut of the Commote of Ardudwy in the County of Merioneth from 8 October, 1325 to 18 September 1326" in BBCS Vol.4 Part 2 (May 1928) p.153-166. [9] Roberts, Richard Arthur ed. The Court Rolls of the Lordship of Ruthin or Dyffryn-Clwydd of the Reign of King Edward the First. Cymmroddorion Record Series, No. 2. London, 1893. [10] Ellis, T.P. 1924. The First Extent of Bromfield and Yale, A.D. 1315. Cymmrodorion Record Series No. 11. London. [11] For example, Nicolas Heath, bishop of Rochester 1540, bore "Per chevron sable and argent, two mullets and a cock counterchanged." An earlier Heath bore "Sable, three heathcocks argent". Papworth, John W., _Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials_, reprint (Five Barrows Ltd., 1977), pp.329, 992. [12] The "wyvern", a two-legged winged dragon, first appears in English rolls of arms in an unattributed coat in Sir William le Neve's Roll temp. Edward I (1272-1307) [13]. However, this coat appears in the middle of a section of arms of foreign kings, so it was probably intended as an exotic, foreign design. The first certain native usage is in the Parliamentary Roll c.1312. The four-legged winged dragon does not appear until quite late in period [14]. [13] Brault, Gerald J., _The Rolls of Arms of Edward I_, Aspilogia III, 2 vols. (London: Boydell Press, 1997). [14] Dennys, Rodney, _The Heraldic Imagination_ (New York: Clarkson and Potter Inc., 1975), p.191. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 22 Mar 2002: The page number in note [14] was wrong and has been corrected.