Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 239

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 239

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/239

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Here's the information we found on the name "Balian the Inscrutable."

"Balian" is apparently a French given name. Although we didn't find a direct reference for it, we have encountered it repeatedly in French contexts. The family of Balian I of Ramla included sons Baldwin, Balian, and Hugh and grandchildren Margaret, Mary, and Helvis--all names which suggest French origin. (1) A document from 1197 records that the same man, called "Balian of Ibelin," was a leader for the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin in 1187. (2)

We didn't find any evidence for the name "Balian" in the Hungarian name sources we have. However, our sources are somewhat limited and it's possible that the name was used there. If you can tell us where you found it, we might be able to discover more about it. We have just added a number of sources to our Hungarian name bibliography, and you may find that useful--the URL is

http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/docs/easteurop.html

As a side note, "the Inscrutable" is not a possible byname for a Hungarian, and is astronomically unlikely for someone from any medieval culture. The Oxford English Dictionary says that the word "inscrutable" was first used in 1450 to refer to God's judgement. It was used to describe "the heart of man" in 1524. Even in the unlikely event that a person would have been called "inscrutable" in period, by the 15th century almost all English people had inherited surnames. Thus, even if someone had been called "inscrutable," they would still have had an inherited surname as their "real" name. We do not think that it's at all possible for someone to have been named "the Inscrutable."

If you let us know what culture you're interested in working with, we can send you information on the surnames of that culture.

Arval D'Espas Nord, Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn, and Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte assisted with this name.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to work with you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel

(1) http://www.dcs.hull.ac.uk/public/genealogy/royal

(2) http://falcon.arts.cornell.edu/~prh3/259/texts/ernoul.html