Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 225

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 225

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/225

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on the name "Justus Fils de Ternon," and your arms, which you described as "a St. Andrews cross, giles with argent borders, upon a sable field." We blazoned it "Sable, a saltire gules fimbriated argent."

Justus was a common Latin name--there are two people named Justus mentioned in the New Testament. (Acts 18:7, Colossians 4:11) There are several examples of people named "Justus" in early period (we found examples from 821 to 993), and the name became the French "Juste."

"fils de Ternon" does mean "son of Ternon." However, it's an Old French form. By your period, "fils de" had generally been contracted either to "fils" or "de" alone--so that "fils Ternon" or "de Ternon" would be appropriate usages. The Normans used "fitz," a variant of "fils."

We didn't find any examples of the name "Ternon." Where did you originally encounter this name? If you've found a medieval example of it, we'd very much like to see it-- we're always interested in new documentation. Otherwise, we can suggest some alternatives which we know were used.

Your arms, "Sable, a saltire gules fimbriated argent," would be reasonable, but unusual, for the simple style of armory used in your period. Fimbriation (the heraldic term for outlining) is unusual: we found only one example in a list of several hundred coats of arms from your period. (1) Further, a saltire (St. Andrew's cross) is one of the less common geometric charges. However, we are fairly sure that a saltire fimbriated could have been found in armory from your period.

Unfortunately, if you wish to register these arms, you will have to deal with a conflict with the Society arms of David Morgan of Clai Morgan, which are "Sable, a saltire gules fimbriated and within a bordure Or." The only differences between these arms and yours are the change in the color of the outlining from argent to Or (which is considered to be insignificant for purposes of conflict) and the addition of the bordure. It's possible that you could get permission to conflict from David--he's the current seneschal of Caid and can easily be contacted. If you don't want to go through the trouble of contacting him, you could use a black saltire on a red background-- these arms would be blazoned "Gules, a saltire sable fimbriated argent."

Arval D'Espas Nord, Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Rouland Carre all contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can be of further assistance to you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel