ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2446 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2446 ************************************ 8 Feb 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked our help choosing a name appropriate for a member of one of the noble families of Outremer, using as your given name. You also asked us to evaluate your ideas for your arms: "Per pale gules and or, a lion rampant counterchanged" and a charge similar to the spade on a deck of cards that you found in a heraldry book. Here is what we have found. Since you are interested in the Latin kingdoms of Outremer, we focused on the 11th to 13th centuries. We'll discuss Anglo-Norman, French, and Occitan names of that period. Occitan was the language of the southern third of modern France in our period. It was a Romance language, distinct from French and more closely related to Catalan. The name appears in 13th century French records and also in 12th century English records [1, 2], so it is an excellent choice. It was also the name of two men mentioned in 13th century chronicles of the Fourth Crusade; these were written in French by men from Champagne [3, 4]. In French and English, the name was pronounced \DZHEE-l@s\ in the 12th century, shifting to \ZHEE-l@s\ over the course of the 13th century. \@\ represents the sound of the in . \DZH\ stands for the sound at the beginning and end of , while \ZH\ stands for the sound of the in . The name appears in 13th century Occitan records as or [5]. We haven't found it in earlier Occitan sources, so it may not have been in use earlier. The 13th century form was probably pronounced \DZHEE-lee\. We haven't found a list of noble families of Outremer. If you want to research that possibility further, you might try Steven Runciman's three-volume History of the Crusades. We don't know whether it has this information, but it's a good starting point. We do have a list of surnames of French men involved in the 13th century Fourth Crusade. If you decide you prefer an English or Occitan name, we can help you; but since we have this French source easily available, it seems a good place to start. You can find it on the web: French Names from Two Thirteenth Century Chronicles http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/crusades/ The names are given in this article in modern spellings; but we have the original Old French spellings. If you pick one or two names, we can look up the original forms. Almost all of the noblemen mentioned in these chronicles were identified by the places where they lived or held lands. Your first design, "Per pale gules and or, a lion rampant counterchanged", isn't a good choice for your period. Lions were quite common, of course; but we haven't found an example of a lion divided per pale until the 15th and 16th centuries [7]. If you'd like a design more typical of the heraldry of your period, you might consider a plain lion on a divided field, like the arms of William Marshal "Per pale Or and vert, a lion rampant gules" [9]. If you want a lion in two tinctures, it was more typical to divide it per fess, like the late 13th century arms of the Englishman John de Lovetot, recorded both as "Argent, a lion rampant per fess gules and sable" and "Per fess sable and argent, a lion rampant counterchanged" [6]. We also found a couple examples of lions counterchanged over a field divided "per bend sinister" [7]. As far as we can tell, the SCA College of Arms would register your original design, as well as the two alternatives "Per fess gules and or, a lion rampant counterchanged" and "Per bend gules and or, a lion rampant counterchanged". The charge you found [8] is called a "seeblatt", a stylized leaf found in German heraldry. It is heart-shaped, drawn point-down with an oval or trefoil-shaped hole cut out at the stem end. We've never seen it in English or French heraldry, so we can't recommend it as a good choice for your persona. We did find one example of a similar-shaped leaf in French heraldry, called a "feuille de trumel" or lime-blossom leaf; it is a roughly heart-shaped natural leaf with slightly ragged edges and a stem, and it would normally be drawn point up. Three leaves on a per pale field would be a fine choice for your period, e.g., "Per pale gules and Or, three lime-blossom leaves counterchanged". We believe you could register this design, too. 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 Zenobia Naphtali, Pedro de Alcazar, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Will Dekne, Julie Stampnitzky, Falk vom Weserbogen, Juliana la Caminante de Navarra, Ursula Georges, and Aryanhwy merch Catmael. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 8 Feb 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] 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 [2] Nicolaa de Bracton, "A Statistical Survey of Given Names in Essex Co., England, 1182-1272", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings 1995 (SCA Inc.; WWW: privately published, 1997). http://members.tripod.com/nicolaa5/articles/names.html [3] Villehardouin, Geoffroy, _La Conque^te de Constantinople_, ed. & trans. Edmond Faral (Paris: Socie/te/ d'E/dition Les Belles Lettres, 1961), ch. 54. [4] De Joinville, Jean, _Histoire de Saint Louis_, M. Natalis de Wailly, ed. (Paris, 1874), pp.569. [5] Compan, Andre/, _E/tude d'Anthroponymie Provenc,ale: Les Noms de Personne dans le Comte/ de Nice aux XIIe, XIVe, et XVe Sie\cles_, thesis at the Universite/ de Paris IV, Dec. 1975 (Paris: Librarie Honore Champion, 1976), p.125. [6] Brault, Gerald J., _The Rolls of Arms of Edward I_, Aspilogia III, 2 vols. (London: Boydell Press, 1997). [7] Chesshyre, Hubert & Woodcock, Thomas, _Dictionary of British Arms: Medieval Ordinary_, vol. I (London: The Society of Antiquaries of London, 1992), pp.158-60, 181. They list several examples of lions counterchanged on per pale fields, but all from 15th and 16th century sources. [8] Neubecker, Ottfried, _Heraldry: Source, Symbols, and Meanings_ (Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Co., 1976), p.72. [9] Wagner, Anthony Richard, ed. Aspilogia II: Rolls of Arms: Henry III (London: The Society of Antiquaries, 1967), p.8.