ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2300
http://www.s-gabriel.org/2300
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From: Lisa and Ken Theriot 
22 Jun 2001

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked us for our opinion of your proposed arms, which you described as 
"Sable, a rose argent", and whether the design was appropriate for a French 
or Italian man living in the 15th or 16th century.  You also asked about 
the possibility of using a rapier or crescents in your arms.  Here is the 
information we have found.

Your design is lovely, and appropriate for either culture you mentioned; 
unfortunately, as we discussed in previous correspondence, you couldn't 
register it with the SCA College of Arms because it is too similar to the 
badge of the House of York, "A rose argent". The SCA College would consider 
one white rose on any plain (uncharged) field to be too similar for 
registration.

We have not found a rapier used in period armory, perhaps because it is a 
very skinny charge and would not be easily identifiable.  Swords are common 
in both French and Italian armory; you could certainly use a sword in your 
arms.

Crescents are fine medieval charges; they appear in armory in both France 
and Italy for your period.

There are several options open to you in designing sufficiently distinctive 
arms.  Since there are features unique to both French and Italian armory 
for the 15th or 16th century, we will suggest options for both.

You might introduce another charge:  "Sable, a rose and a chief argent" 
would be a fine design for either France or Italy.  If you'd like to use a 
sword, "Sable, a sword between four roses two and two argent" would be a 
fine design for Italy, but less likely for France [1, 2].

If you'd prefer to use a crescent, "Sable, a crescent and in chief a rose 
argent" would be a fine design for France, though less likely in Italy. 
 Both "Sable, a crescent and in chief three roses argent" and "Sable, a 
rose and in chief three crescents argent" would be fine designs for either 
culture [3].

You might use a semy, or small charges arranged to fill the entire field, 
less visually prominent than the principal charge.  "Sable crusilly (semy 
of crosses), a rose argent" or "Sable crescenty (semy of crescents), a rose 
argent" would be a fine design for France.  In Italy, we have better 
evidence for the design "Sable crescenty, two roses in fess argent" [4].

Other designs which incorporate your elements are:

     Argent, on a bend between two crescents sable a rose argent.
     Per chevron sable and argent, three roses counterchanged.
     Per chevron sable and argent, two roses and a crescent counterchanged.

Any of these designs would be plausible for France or Italy [5].

We believe that you may register any of these suggested designs with the 
SCA College of Arms.

You might be interested in looking at some heraldry from your chosen 
cultures.  You can find the following armorial on the web:

  Armorial de Guillaume Revel (France, circa 1450)
  http://www.multimania.com/heratlas/Rodumna/revel/revel02.htm

Unfortunately, we don't have a good online source for Italian heraldry of 
your period; if you can find a copy of the book given as reference [1], it 
is a good source for your purposes.


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 Arval Benicoeur, Blaise de 
Cormeilles, Juliana de Luna, Margaret Makafee, Rouland Carre, Talan Gwynek 
and Zenobia Naphtali.

For the Academy,

  Adelaide de Beaumont
  22 June 2001

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References:

[1] Borgia, L., et. al., eds., _Le Biccherne : tavole dipinte delle 
magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma : Ministero per i beni 
culturali e ambientali, 1984). The arms in this work are from Siena, dating 
from the 13th century onward; the proposed design is consistent with the 
featured armorial style.  Specifically, the arms of Nuccini (1487) are 
given as "Azure, a sword inverted between in fess two mullets of six points 
Or".  Other armory includes "a ladder between six mullets two, two and 
two".

[2] We are more familiar with French heraldry in general than Italian; 
our commentary throughout regarding French designs comes from many sources 
as well as accumulated knowledge.  If you settle on a specific design and 
would like more specific references for similar French armory, please write 
again.

[3] In your correspondence, you suggested "a double rose with 3 
crescents" or "a silver crescent and 3 silver roses".  Your graphics files 
did not come through; if what you describe is (for example), a prominent 
rose and three slightly smaller crescents in chief, it is a fine design. 
If you intended the three crescents to be around the rose in the "corners" 
of the shield, it is much less typical for either France or Italy.  A 
"double rose" of a single tincture is not considered different from a 
standard heraldic rose, though you can certainly include it in the blazon 
as an artistic detail.

[4] Borgia gives the arms of Bennasai (1542) as "Azure crusily formy 
fitchy, in fess an increscent and a decrescent Or".  The emblazon is drawn 
with three crosses in a rough row above the crescents and another row 
below, making the crosses larger and more visually prominent than we 
normally find in French emblazons.

[5] Borgia includes the arms of Della Pietra (1484) Azure, on a bend 
gules between two lion's heads erased close a mullet of six points Or; and 
Girolamo Primaticci (1553) Per chevron Or and sable, two roses and an 
escallop counterchanged.