ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2266
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2266
************************************

13 Mar 2001
From:  (Josh Mittleman)


Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked us to evaluate two designs for arms for a 12th or 13th century
Anglo-Norman, and particular about the use of a field divided per pale of
two colors.  Here is a brief report of what we found.

We discussed your earlier ideas for your arms in a previous report [1].
One of the designs we suggested was "Sable, a wolf passant and in chief
three crescents argent".  You asked about two variations on that design:
"Per pale vert and gules, a wolf passant and in chief three crescents
argent" and "Per pale vert and azure, a wolf passant and in chief three
crescents argent".

In early English and French heraldry, divided fields were a bit more likely
to combine a color (black, red, blue, green) and a metal (silver/white,
gold/yellow) than two colors; but two-color fields were not uncommon.  Here
are a few examples recorded before 1400:

  Per pale gules and sable, a lion argent. [2]
   (James Bellers, from Willement's Roll, c. 1395)

  Quarterly gules and azure, a lion argent. [2]
   (Scs. Reginaldus, from Calveley's Book, c. 1350)

  Per pale gules and vert, a lion argent. [2]
   (Thomas Bengham, from the Boroughbridge Roll, 1322)

  Per pale azure and gules, a double-headed eagle argent collared Or. [3]
   (John Joce, from the Galloway Roll, 1300)

  Per pale azure and gules, three lions rampant Or. [3]
   (Matthew FitzJohn, from Segar's Roll c. 1285)

  Per fess gules and azure, a lion rampant argent. [4]
   (Hastang, 1285)

  Per pale gules and sable, a lion rampant argent. [4]
   (Beller, 1295)

Notice that in each case, one of the two colors is gules (red).  This is a
general pattern: Low-contrast combinations tended to include red, perhaps
because it has stronger contrast against the other colors.  The first of
your two designs, "Per pale vert and gules, a wolf passant and in chief
three crescents argent", is definitely the better re-creation of early
Anglo-Norman heraldry.  As far as we can tell, you could register it with
the SCA College of Arms.


We hope this brief 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 Zenobia Naphtali, Talan Gwynek,
Rouland Carre, and Adelaide de Beaumont.

For the Academy,


  Arval Benicoeur
  13 Mar 2001


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

References

[1] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2220
http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?2220

[2] Chesshyre, Hubert & Woodcock, Thomas, _Dictionary of British Arms:
Medieval Ordinary_, vol. I (London: The Society of Antiquaries of London,
1992), pp. 143, 145.

[3] Brault, Gerald J., _The Rolls of Arms of Edward I_, Aspilogia III, 2
vols. (London: Boydell Press, 1997), v.2, p.541.

[4] Humphrey-Smith, Cecil R., _Anglo-Norman Armory Two_ (Canterbury:
Institute for Heraldic and Geneaological Studies, 1984), under the heading
"1 lion".