ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2200 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2200 ************************************ 18 Jan 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether the arms "Gules, a tressure Or, a lion couchant Or" are appropriate to late 16th century Venice. Here is what we have found. Your design would most often be blazoned "Gules, a lion couchant within an orle Or." A single tressure is heraldically identical to an orle. We believe this design is not likely to have been used in Renaissance Italy, though a couple close variants are plausible. You may want to consider these variants, because your design is not registerable with the SCA College of Arms [1]. Beasts couchant were rare in all period heraldry, but we have found a couple examples in late-period Italian heraldry. We found a lion couchant in a display of the arms of a northern Italian family from 1602 [2], and a bull couchant in the arms of a 16th century cardinal from Cortona [3]. This is slim support, but it does show that a lion couchant is plausible for 16th century Italy. However, we have found no example of an orle in period Italian heraldry. It was never a common charge anywhere in Europe, but it was most used in England and France. In Italy, we found two similar motifs that might appeal to you. The first is a tressure deeply indented along its inner edge so that it consists of a set of connected triangles; one of our members has seen an example of this charge in period arms at the Bargello Museum in Florence. The same charge is sometimes drawn as a thin, deeply indented bordure, essentially forming a border of small triangles pointing inward all the way round the edge of the arms [4, 5]. The second alternative is an orle of charges, i.e. roughly 8 small charges spaced along the path of a tressure, around the edge of the shield. You can see an example of "an orle of martlets" in the arms of the Earl of Pembroke, on the web: http://www04.u-page.so-net.ne.jp/ta2/saitou/ie401/Jpglosso.htm#Orle Here are some alternate designs using these ideas. We've chosen combinations that we believe you could register with the SCA College of Arms [6]: Gules, a lion couchant within an orle indented on the inner edge Or. Gules, a lion couchant Or within an orle of lozenges argent. Azure, a lion couchant within an orle of lozenges Or. We hope this letter has been useful. Please write 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 Modar Neznanich, Julie Stampnitzky, Adelaide de Beaumont, Margaret Makafee, Talan Gwynek, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Blaise de Cormeilles, Rouland Carre, Zenobia Naphtali, and Elsbeth Anne Roth. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 18 Jan 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Your design is too similar to the registered arms of Pagan Lyon McPhee "Gules, a lion sejant erect affronty Or maintaining in its dexter paw a mace and in its sinister paw a sword argent, all within an orle Or." The SCA CoA would count one difference for the posture of the lion, but nothing for the objects held by Pagan's lion. An orle and a single tressure are considered to be the same charge. [2] Narkiss, Bezalel. The Golden Haggadah. London: The British Library, 1997. p. 14. These are the impaled arms of Rava and Gallico, which appear on a Haggadah title page commissioned on the occasion of the marriage of Rosa Gallico and Eliah Rava in 1602. The lion is in the arms of the Rava family, who lived in Modena. An image is available on the web: http://www.yucs.org/~jules/images/rava.jpg [3] Ricci, Isabella Massabo\, Marco Carssi, and Luisa Clotilde Gentile, _Blu Rosso et Oro_ (Milano: Electa, 1998, ISBN 88-04-42906-2), fig 131, the arms of Cardinale Legato Silbvio Passerini di Cortona. [4] Caratti di Valfrei, Lorenzo, _Dizionario di Araldica_ (Milano: Mondadori, 1997). [5] Wills, Howel, _Florentine heraldry. A supplement to the guide-books_ (London: Dean & Son, Ltd., 1901), p.30. [6] In our examples with an orle of charges, we've changed a tincture to avoid conflict with Fahrquar Finley Fahrquarson: Gules, a lion dormant within an orle of hearts Or.