ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2449 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2449 ************************************ ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* 11 Feb 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether is an appropriate name for a 13th or early 14th century Bavarian man, and whether he might have born the arms "Per pale embattled vert and sable, two stags combattant argent". Here is what we have found. The name is a fine choice for your period. We have found examples in Germany in the late 13th century and throughout the 14th [1, 2]. It was pronounced \OHT-toh\, where \OH\ stands for the vowel in . We have found no evidence for bynames like in your period. When a man was identified by the region he came from, it was more common to use an adjective form of the region name. For example, we find [3, 4]: Albertus Begero (Latin for "Albrecht [the] Bavarian") 1236 Heinricus Baw{ae}rus (Latin) 1245 Sigelinus Bauwarius (Latin) 1251 Mangold dictus Pawarus (Latin, Mangold called Bavarian) 1259 Ru*deger der Peier (Rudeger the Bavarian) 1284 Irmina dicta Peierin (Partly Latin "Irmina called [the] Bavarian[woman]) 1293 Johans Peier (Johans [the] Bavarian) 1297 her Burchart der wisse Beger (Herr Burchart the White Bavarian, i.e. man from the region of the White Main river [11]) 1299 her Abreht der Be^ger von Strasburg 1300 Leinhart Peyger 14th c. The byname also often appeared as or [4]. The symbol represents an 'e' with some kind of diacritical mark over it. represents a 'u' with a small circle over it. {ae} stands for an a-e ligature, i.e. the two letters squashed together. or is a more typical name for your period. These bynames were pronounced \PAY-yehr\ or \PAY-gehr\, \BAY-yehr\ or \BAY-gehr\. We believe both pronunciations were used in your period, but the \y\ pronunciations eventually won out. As it happens, if you want to register your name with the SCA College of Arms, then you'll need to modify it anyway: There were several Dukes of Bavaria named , and the College of Arms would consider to conflict with any one of them. Choosing one of the adjectival forms for your byname would avoid this problem. (It's also worth noting that the modern name didn't exist in that form in your period.) In most cases, a man was identified by a region only if he had moved away from his homeland. In Bavaria, the byname "the Bavarian" wasn't useful as a way to identify people, so it was rarely used. One example above, , shows the more common use: for a Bavarian living elsewhere, in this case in Strasburg. A Bavarian living in Bavaria would more likely have been identified by the village where he lived or more simply as his father's son. If you're interested in one of those options, write us again and we'll be happy to help. The stags in your arms are a fine choice: Stags were reasonably common in German heraldry. You can see a lovely example on the web: http://ladyivanor.knownworldweb.com/zroadt3.htm In the third image (front page 3), the second shield in the second row is "Or, a stag gules climbing a mountain in sinister based azure". This roll of arms is from Zurich in your period; it is an excellent guide to the artistic style used in medieval German heraldry. We have seen no example of a field divided "per pale embattled" in period German heraldry. If you remove the embattlement, the design is reasonably consistent with German heraldic style: At least in late-period German heraldry, we seen several examples with fields "per pale" and a pair of charges, some of them counterchanged [8, 9]. However, if you want to register your arms with the SCA College of Arms, then you'll have to modify your design: It is too similar to the registered arms of Magnus Tindal "Vert, two stags combattant argent" [10]. Counterchanging your stags across a divided field would provide the necessary difference, e.g. "Per pale sable and argent, two stags combattant counterchanged". You could also consider changing the tincture of the stags, e.g. "Per pale vert and sable, two stags combattant Or." 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, Modar Neznanich, Adelaide de Beaumont, Talan Gwynek, Rouland Carre, Will Dekne, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Dietmar von Straubing, Maridonna Benvenuti, and Falk vom Wesserbogen. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 11 Feb 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Talan Gwynek, "Medieval German Given Names from Silesia", revised edition (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/bahlow/ [2] Talan Gwynek, "German Given Names 1200-1250" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/germ13/ [3] Socin, Adolf, _Mittelhochdeutsches Namenbuch. Nach oberrheinischen Quellen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts_ (Basel: Helbing & Lichtenhahn, 1903; Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1966), p.553. [4] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Woerterbuch der deutschen Familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960), s.n. Bayer. [8] A Collection of Period German Heraldry (1400-1600) for SCA Heralds (WWW: Academy of S. Gabriel). The introductory comments on this page are inaccurate, but arms listed are good examples of 15th and 16th century German heraldry. The list includes "Per pale or and azure, two fish erect counterchanged" (1529) and "Per pale argent and gules, two lions rampant counterchanged" (1485). http://www.s-gabriel.org/docs/sturm.html [9] Siebmacher, Johann, _Johann Siebmachers Wappenbuch von 1605_, 2 vols., ed. Horst Appuhn (Dortmund: Harenberg, 1988, 1989), passim. [10] It is also possible that the CoA would judge the field "Per pale embattled vert and sable" itself to be unacceptable because it combined two low-contrast tinctures across a complex line of division. [11] Brechenmacher s.n. explains 'white Bavarian' as someone from the 'White Main (river)' in the Fichtelgebirge. The website http://www.ranking-check.de/QUELLE/1257_.html explains that the White Main and Red Main are respectively the northern and southern sources of the Main. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, Mar 2005: Talan corrected the gloss of . We added note [11].