ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2320 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2320 ************************************ 11 Jun 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate given name for a woman in Derbyshire in 1190, and you asked us to suggest a byname that means "from the greenwood". You also asked us to evaluate your heraldic design. Here is what we have found. The name was imported to England from France, and appears in English records as early as 1199 in a variety of spellings. We don't find spellings with <-ian-> rather than <-ien-> until the late 13th century, and these appear to be most typical of the 14th and 15th centuries [1, 2]. The most likely Anglo-Norman spelling for your period is ; the final <-a> in the 1199 example is almost certainly a Latinization. The name was pronounced \AHL-y@-nohr\. The symbol \@\ represents the sound of the in or , and \oh\ stands for the sound of the in . The Academy has previously researched early Middle English bynames that included the element . We found ample evidence of a wide variety of names in which the first element, typically spelled , was compounded with words meaning "land", "field", "grassy spot", "hill", "valley", etc., including c.1150 and 1200 [3]. The particular combination you want doesn't appear in our sources until 1275 in the name , but examples of the general pattern occur before your period, e.g. 1188, 1066 [4]. We are quite confident that forms of were available in the late 12th century. We would expect them to have been written or . Both forms meant "from/at the green wood"; the first is Anglo-Norman, the second Middle English. In speech, we would expect it to be \AH-t@ GRAY-n@-WOO-d@\. Your heraldic design can be blazoned "Quarterly 1: Argent, a cross gules; 2 & 3: Azure plain; 4: Argent, a lion rampant gules charged on the breast with a cinquefoil argent." Unfortunately, this design is not suitable for the period you want to re-create and it could not be registered with the SCA College of Arms, for reasons we'll explain below. Your design is an example of what is called "quartered arms" by heralds. Quartering is a way for a person who has inherited more than one coat of arms to combine them on one shield. In your case, your arms appear to contain three separate coats: "Argent, a cross gules", "Azure plain", and "Argent, a lion rampant gules charged on the breast with a cinquefoil argent." Quartered arms were not uncommon in later-medieval England, but they were rare in the 12th century. Even for a later-period persona, quartered arms are considered inappropriate for Society use because they imply that you have inherited coats of arms from your parents, and this is interpreted as a claim to noble rank [5]. Since all rank in the Society is supposed to be earned in the Society, custom disapproves of the use of quartered arms except in certain special circumstances [6]. We can suggest a couple different ways to combine the elements of your design in ways that avoid this problem and that are more appropriate for your period. You could place the cross in its normal central location, extending across the length and height of the field and move the lion or the cinquefoil to the upper left corner. For example: Or, a cross and in canton a cinquefoil gules. Or, a cross and in canton a lion rampant gules. Alternatively, you could eliminate the cross and keep the quartered field, moving the other charges to the upper left corner: Quarterly argent and azure, in dexter chief a lion rampant gules charged with a cinquefoil argent. As far as we can tell, you could register any of these alternatives with the SCA College of Arms [7]. 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 Juliana de Luna, Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Talan Gwynek, Julie Stampnitzky, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Adelaide de Beaumont, Margaret Makafee, Alan Fairfax, Zenobia Naphtali, and Rouland Carre. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 11 Jun 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Eleanor. [2] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/ [3] Academy of S. Gabriel Report 2211 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2211 [4] Reaney, P. H., & R. M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford University Press, 1995), s.nn. Greenwood, Green, Greenhough. [5] SCA College of Arms, Rules for Heraldic Submissions, rule XI.3. [6] Two Society armigers may formally designate a heraldic heir who can inherit their arms and display them quartered; and quartering may be used to display an augmentation of arms granted by the Crown. [7] The last design, "Quarterly argent and azure, in dexter chief a lion rampant gules charged with a cinquefoil argent", is evocative of the arms of the Spanish kingdom of Leon "Argent, a lion rampant gules". However, the change to the field plus the addition of the cinquefoil provides sufficient difference by SCA standards.