ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2350 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2350 ************************************ 20 Aug 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us to suggest designs for your arms that are well-suited to late 15th century northern Italy, preferably incorporating the colors white, black and purple; a unicorn; and a bordure charged with white roundels. Here is what we have found. In our previous report [1], we discussed your original design, "Gyronny argent and purpure, a unicorn rampant within a bordure sable charged with three plates." We told you that we'd found no period example of gyronny in Italian arms, that purple was a vanishingly rare color in all of period heraldry, and that we'd found some examples of unicorns in Italian heraldry. You suggested replacing the gyronny with a field divided "per pale argent and purpure" and changing from three white roundels (plates) to eight. We have reviewed our sources on period and modern Italian heraldry. They aren't anywhere near exhaustive, and Italy was a very diverse place in our period; so it's possible that our evidence doesn't tell the entire story. However, we can only give advice based on what we know. We again found no example of gyronny in period Italian arms [2], so your choice to eliminate that element is a good one. Fields divided "per pale", unfortunately, are not much more common in our sources: We found very few sets of arms using this division [16] and only one with charges overlying the line of division [5]. We can't recommend that alternative, but we can recommend a field "per fess" (divided horizontally into two even parts): It is generally more common in the sample of Italian heraldry we studied, and we found several examples of a charge lying across a "per fess" division, including one with a beast rampant. For example [6]: Per fess argent and gules, overall a branch palewise with three leaves sable. Per fess azure and vert, a levrier (hound) rampant argent. However, we have still found no example of purple in period Italian heraldry. Consequently, we recommend strongly that you avoid it. The most common tincture in Italian heraldry was red (gules), and when a design combined two colors, one of them was usually red [7]; so we suggest you consider using red instead. Our previous letter noted examples of unicorns in period Italian heraldry in [8]. Roundels in various tinctures were also reasonably common [9], but bordures were rare. We have found a couple examples of uncharged bordures in period Italian arms, but none charged [10]. We therefore recommend strongly that you avoid a charged bordure. Based on the examples we've already noted and some others that we found [13], here are some designs based on your ideas that fit your culture well. Per fess gules and sable, a unicorn rampant within a bordure engrailed argent. Sable, a unicorn rampant argent within a bordure indented point in point gules and Or. [10] Per fess gules and sable, a unicorn rampant argent and in chief three plates. Sable, a unicorn rampant argent and overall on a fess gules three plates. [14] Argent, a unicorn rampant gules and overall on a bend sable three plates. Per fess argent and sable, a demi-unicorn issuant from the line of division gules. Per fess argent and sable, a demi-unicorn issuant from the line of division gules and in base three plates two and one. As far as we can tell, you could register any of these designs with the SCA College of Arms. Many permutations of the tinctures are probably registerable as well, though we noted a couple exceptions [15]. 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Blaise de Cormeilles, Zenobia Naphtali, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Juliana de Luna, Julie Stampnitzky, and Da'ud ibn Auda. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 20 Aug 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2338 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2338 [2] We found two examples of Italian arms with fields gyronny, but neither is dated and the sources in which they appear are modern and contain mostly modern arms. They are in Woodward, p.86 [3] and Von Volborth, fig. 745 [4]. [3] Woodward, John and George Burnett, _A Treatise on Heraldry British and Foreign_ (Rutland, VT: Charles E. Tuttle, 1969). [4] Von Volborth, Carl-Alexander, _Heraldry: Customs, Rules, and Styles_ (Poole, Dorset, UK: Blandford Press, 1983). [5] Borgia, L., et. al., eds., _Le Biccherne : tavole dipinte delle magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma : Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1984), plate 70 (1479). Per pale gules and azure, two warhammers in saltire or and on a chief gules, three fleurs-de-lys or. [6] Borgia, plates 5 (1267) and 97 (1534). [7] Pastoureau, Michel, _Traite/ d'He/raldique_, 2nd ed. (Paris: grands manuels Picard, 1993). The tincture gules is used in 62% of the Italian arms Pastoureau studied. The next most common tincture was azure at 28%, followed by sable at 23%. [8] Fumi Cambi Gado, Francesca, _Stemmi nel museo nazionale del Bargello_ (Firenze: Associazione Amici del Bargello, 1993). Examples with unicorns include: #20: Jacopo di Paolodei conti Boscoli da Foligno, 1392. "Or, a unicorn rampant overall a bend sable charged with three roses gules". #121: Francesco di Geronimo Fillippi da Montefalco, 1485. "Or, a unicorn's head and neck couped proper drinking from a cup azure". #141 Bartolomeo Pilingotto da Cagli, 1508. His crest was a demi-unicorn rampant. [9] Roundels appear as primary, secondary, and tertiary charges in many arms in Borgia; see plates 21 (1324), 67 (1471), 68 (1473), and especially "Gules, on a fess azure, a crescent (tincture unknown) between two roundels or." [10] A mid-14th century painting of a tournament shows a knight bearing the (possibly fictional) arms "Azure, a bordure engrailed Or" [11]. A mid-15th century portrait of Francesco d'Este shows his arms (which were also used by his father, Lionello d'Este, marquis of Ferrara), which include a quarter "Sable, three fleurs-de-lys Or within a bordure indented point in point gules and Or" [12]. (The bordure is divided along its length by an indented line, dividing it into two parts; the inner part is gold and the outer part red.) An example of an Italian charged bordure appear in Vol Volboth, fig.931 [4]; but as above, this source is not reliable as evidence of pre-1600 usage. [11] Barber, Richard and Juliet Barker, _Tournaments: jousts, chivalry and pageants in the Middle Ages_ (New York: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1989), p.80. [12] Bulletin of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Spring 1986. [13] From Borgia: Argent, a horse rampant sable and overall a fess azure (plate 61, 1457) Gules, a lion rampant argent and overall a bend sable charged with three Shields of David Or (pl.98, 1539). A shield of David is the so-called Jewish star, i.e. a triangle voided interlaced with a triangle inverted voided. Gules, a fess Or between in chief a demi-levreier issuant argent and in base three leaves two and one Or (pl.99, 1542) [14] By the rules of the SCA College of Arms, the red fess on the black field is color-on-color. However, it is precisely analogous to the example from plate 98 we mentioned in note [13]. If you choose this design, we may be able to provide a few more similar examples. [15] Beware of these potential conflicts, all registered in the SCA: Janusch der Wasserman: Azure maily Or, a unicorn salient argent. Rhianwen ni Dhiarmada: Or, a demi-unicorn rampant to sinister sable crined argent. Kendrick de Fraser: Per fess engrailed argent and purpure, a demi-unicorn sable issuant from the line of division. [16] We did find a number of coats in which a "per pale" division was used to combine two independent sets of arms to indicate a marriage, but almost none in which the "per pale" division was a part of a single design.