ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2375 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2375 ************************************ 4 Nov 2001 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a woman living near Lyons in France around 1395. You also asked us to evaluate your heraldic design. Here is what we have found. You've chosen a fine name. The name , in various spellings, was common throughout France in the Middle Ages. Among the spellings we found are , , , 13th century; , 14th c; a diminutive form 15th c; 16th c [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. The surname and related names ending <-nois> and <-noy> all derive from Old French forms of the phrase "from the alder grove". It was sometimes a literally descriptive name for someone who lived near such a grove, but was often based on a hamlet named for its alder grove [7, 8]. One such place is recorded as in the 11th century, another as in 1196, and others as 1231, 1179, 1196 and 1248 [9]. is a fine choice for the late 14th century. In your period, the name would have been pronounced roughly \ee-z@-bel d@ low-nay\, where \@\ represents the sound of the in or , the syllable \low\ rhymes with , and there is a slight stress on \bel\ and \nay\. Your heraldic design could be blazoned "Purpure, a borage flower argent charged with a spur rowel inverted purpure." A spur rowel is a mullet pierced. Unfortunately, this design is unlikely to have been used in your period, for a couple reasons. We have found no example of a borage flower in period heraldry [10]. Although naturalistic flowers appear in a few late-period arms, they were quite rare and we cannot recommend using any particular flower without evidence that it was actually used in period heraldry. Purpure was extremely rare in medieval heraldry; we do not recommend it as good re-creation. You are correct that the medieval purpure was not our modern purple: Until the 15th century, it referred to a greyish brown. So a modern purple would be especially inappropriate for your period [11]. Your design could also not be registered with the SCA College of Arms, as it is too similar to an existing set of arms [12]. As an alternative, you might consider using "a cinquefoil" rather than a borage flower; in our experience cinquefoils were usually drawn pierced in medieval Anglo-French heraldry, although that detail was generally not blazoned [13]. Here are some designs typical of late medieval French heraldry which might appeal to you. As far as we can tell, you could register any of them with the SCA College of Arms [14]. Azure mullety, a cinquefoil pierced argent "Mullety" means that the cinquefoil is surrounded by a pattern of small stars arranged to fill the field. Azure billety, a cinquefoil pierced argent "Billety" is the same sort of arrangement as "mullety", but with small vertical rectangles instead of stars. Azure, a fess and in chief three cinquefoils pierced argent. Azure, a fess Or and in canton a cinqefoil pierced argent. Argent, on a fess azure three cinquefoils pierced argent and in chief three mullets azure. Azure, on a fess argent three mullets gules and in chief three cinquefoils argent. Barry azure and argent semy of cinquefoils azure. The field is divided into approx. 8 stripes alternating blue and white, with a regular pattern of small blue cinquefoils on the white stripes. 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 Maridonna Benvenuti, Ursula Georges, Talan Gwynek, Modar Neznanich, Adelaide de Beaumont, Will Dekne, Rouland Carre, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Juliana Navarra, and Elsbeth Anne Roth. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 5 Nov 2001 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Etude d'anthroponymie picarde, les noms de personne en Haute Picardie aux XIIIe, XIVe, XVe siecles_ (Amiens, Musee de Picardie, 1967). [2] Jacobsson, Harry, _E/tudes d'Anthroponymie Lorraine les Bans de Tre/fonds de Metz (1267-1298)_ (Go:teborg: Gumperts Fo:rlag, 1955). [3] Bougard, Pierre, and Maurits Gysseling, _L'Impot Royal en Artois (1295-1302): Ro^les du 100e et du 50e pre/sente/s et publie/s avec une table anthroponymique, Me/moires de la Commission Royale de Toponymie et de Dialectologie #13 (Louvain: Imprimerie Orientaliste, B.P. 41, 1970). [4] Gysseling, Maurits, and Pierre Bougard, _L'Onomastique Calaisienne a la Fin du 13e Siecle_, Onomastica Neerlandica (Leuven: Institut voor Naamkunde, 1963). [5] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris", Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama; WWW: SCA, Inc., 1997). http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/paris.html [6] Talan Gwynek, "Late Period Feminine Names from the South of France" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/latefrenchfem/ [7] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. Launay. [8] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997), s.n. Launay. [9] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963), s.n. Annay 2. [10] A borage flower has been accepted as a charge by the SCA College of Arms 8 times, so it is probably registerable. [11] Until the beginning of the 15th century the tincture called in Old French and in Latin seems to have been an indistinct color somewhere between grey and brown. It was only in the 15th century that it began to be painted as what we would call purple, and it remained rare in heraldry right through the 16th century. Pastoureau, Michel. Traite/ d'He/raldique, 2nd ed. (Paris: grands manuels Picard, 1993); pp. 101-2. [12] Your design conflicts with the arms of Titus of Wormwood: Purpure, a cinquefoil slipped and singly leaved argent. [13] Parker, James, _A Glossary of Terms used in Heraldry_ (Charles E. Tuttle, 1982). He says that cinquefoils are usually pierced, but it isn't clear that he's referring to medieval usage. [14] The designs are based on examples found in the mid-13th century Bigot Roll (Pereyra, Kristina, ed., "Bigot Roll of Arms, 1254" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel); http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/bigot.html). That source doesn't have cinquefoils, but it does have roses, which are very similar. We chose these designs to avoid conflict with Titus of Wormwood (see note [12]) and with Lord Saltoun Fraser "Azure, three fraises (cinquefoils) argent".