ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2511 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2511 ************************************ 20 May 2002 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us to provide an argument supporting as a plausible 16th century Scottish Lowland surname, and you asked for further help designing arms for the same culture. Here is what we have found. As we explained in our previous letter [1], some Lowland Scots surnames that begin derive from Gaelic place names that contain the word "church". The name , for example, derives from Gaelic "Church of [Saint] Patrick" [2]. The slash in these names represents an acute accent mark on the preceding letter. When English and Anglo-Norman speakers settled in Scotland, they retained some of the existing Gaelic place names, adapting them to fit their own languages. For example, the Gaelic place "Church of [Saint] Connor" was used as a surname by English settlers and their descendents, two of whom we find recorded as 1270 and 1380. This surname survived to become the modern [2]. We still haven't found an actual place in Scotland called [3], so we had to justify constructing it according to this pattern. In other words, we needed to find a Gaelic given name that could have been used in a similar Gaelic place name and then adapted into the Anglo-Norman and Scots languages as or something very similar. We found two useful starting points, both Irish surnames. The first is , recorded in English-language records in Ireland c.1600 as , , and [4]. The same name appears in anglicized records in Scotland, apparently in references to the descendents of Irish immigrants to Scotland, as 1562-1607, 1611, 1623, 1643, 1684, and 1805 [2]. The second name is , recorded c.1600, again in Anglo-Irish records, as [4]. Both surnames derive from the early given name . We don't know of a Saint Cana/n, but if there were one, the Gaelic name of a church dedicated to him would have been or perhaps [5]. If such a place name had existed in Scotland, then it is plausible that it could have been anglicized as or . Note that all our examples in Scotland have <-an> or <-ane> until well after our period; so while we cannot rule out the spelling , it definitely is not the best re-creation. It is worth noting that is a real, modern surname. We do not believe that the derivation we've given above is the actual origin of that name. The sources we've checked don't know the origin of the modern name and include no example of it earlier than c.1830 in Ireland [7, 8]. It appears that it is in fact a modern name and that it is Irish rather than Scottish. Therefore, if your goal is to use an authentic 16th century Lowland name, we recommend you choose a different surname. , for example, is an excellent choice. You asked our opinion of the heraldic design "Per pale vert and sable, two wings in vol argent". Unfortunately, this isn't a likely design for your period: We haven't found examples of wings in your culture's heraldry. Divided fields were quite rare and we have found no Scottish examples of fields divided of two relatively low-contrast colors, like green and black. As we noted in our last report, the color green was extremely uncommon in Scottish heraldry [9, 10]. We have included as an appendix a short list of some late-period Lowland Scottish arms. This isn't an exhaustive list, but it does illustrate some of the charges and designs used in heraldry in your culture [11]. The first few arms are probably from the Border [12]. Other sources you could consult for information about Scots heraldry and examples of late-period arms are: Stodart, R. R., _Scottish Arms_, 1370-1678, 2 vols (Edinburgh: William Paterson, 1881). Leslie A. Schweitzer and David Hunter of Montlaw, "Late Medieval Scottish Heraldic Design", pps. 93-116 of L'Identita\ Genealogica e Araldica (Atti del XXIII Congresso internazionale di scienze genealogica e araldica 1998), Ministero Per i Beni e le Attitvita\ Culturali, Ufficio Centrale per i beni Archivistici 2000, volume 1, ISBN 88-7125-187-3. Neither is particularly easy to obtain, but they are excellent sources if you can find them. Some features typical of period Scots heraldry include: * simple, balanced designs * single charges or sets of three charges * a group of identical charges around a fess, a bend, or a chevron * strongly contrasting foreground and background colors; specifically, combinations of blue, red, or black with white/silver and yellow/gold * canting, i.e. using a main charge whose name sounds similar to your surname. Some features not used (or very rarely used) in Scots heraldry include: * divided fields, especially of two colors or two metals * man-made objects (except for canting) * the colors green and purple If you do use the surname , you might consider using cannons as the main charge in your arms. This is an example of canting -- sounds like -- so although we don't know of examples of cannons in Scottish heraldry, we think they are still plausible in combination with your surname. For example, you might consider "Argent, three cannons in pale sable", i.e. the barrels of three black cannons, each horizontal, arranged one above the other, on a white background. As far as we can tell, you could register this design with the SCA College of Arms in any combination of a metal and color. 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 Effrick neyn Kenneoch, Talan Gwynek, Adelaide de Beaumont, Mari neyn Brian, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Ursula Georges, and Zenobia Naphtali. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 20 May 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2410 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2410 [2] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_, (New York: The New York Public Library, 1986), s.nn. Kilconquhar, Kilpatrick, Cannan. [3] There is a real place called , but it's in Oxford, in southern England, nowhere near the Scottish border. See "Christ Church, Oxford" (WWW: University of Oxford, accessed 6 May 2002) http://www.chch.ox.ac.uk; and "Kilcannon" in ArtServe (WWW: Australian National University, accessed 6 May 2002) http://rubens.anu.edu.au/raid1cdroms/england/oxford/colleges/chch/christ_church.tosort/kilcannon/ [4] Woulfe, Patrick, _Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish Names and Surnames_ (Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation), s.nn. O/ Cana/in, Mac Canann. [5] The extra 'h' in the first spelling indicates lenition, a softening of a consonant required in some grammatical circumstances in Gaelic. Normally we would expect a 'C' to lenite after , but we have found examples where it did not, e.g. [6]. We've also found evidence that the lenition was not always indicated in anglicized spellings, whether or not it occurred in the Gaelic original, e.g. a.1225, 1270, 1380 [2]. [6] Beatrix Fa"rber, Peter Flynn, ed., "Annals of the Four Masters, Volume 6" (WWW: CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts: a project of University College, Cork, Ireland, 2000), entries M1598.20, M1600.13. The first four digits are the date of the entry.i http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/G100005F/. [7] "The Kilcannon Genealogy Center" (WWW: AccessGenealogy.com, 1996-2002, accessed 6 May 2002). http://www.surnameweb.org/registry/k/i/l/kilcannon.shtml [8] born ca. 1830 in Ireland. "John Kilcannon" (WWW: S. Kaufman, Apr 2002). http://members.aol.com/chiefstorm/gen/k625-8--.htm [9] Leslie A. Schweitzer and David Hunter of Montlaw, "Late Medieval Scottish Heraldic Design", pps. 93-116 of L'Identita\ Genealogica e Araldica (Atti del XXIII Congresso internazionale di scienze genealogica e araldica 1998), Ministero Per i Beni e le Attitvita\ Culturali, Ufficio Centrale per i beni Archivistici 2000, volume 1, ISBN 88-7125-187-3. [10] Schweitzer, Leslie A., and David Hunter of Montlaw, "Charge Use in Late Medieval Scots Heraldry" in "The Double Tressure" #24, pp. 11-32 (Heraldry Society of Scotland, 2001). [11] Pinches, Rosemary and Anthony Wood, _A European Armorial: An Armorial of Knights of the Golden Fleece and 15th Century Europe_ (London: Heraldry Today, 1971), pp.164-169. This book presents a 15th century roll of arms, which is organized by kingdom. The arms we've listed are included in the section for Scotland. [12] We listed some Border surnames in Academy of Saint Gabriel report 2421, http://www.s-gabriel.org/2421. We've assumed that arms associated with one of those surnames is likely to be the arms of a Borderman. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Some 15th century Lowland arms. The editors of our source [11] identified the Scottish nobleman or family whose arms are depicted in this French roll of arms. In some cases, they could not identify the armiger and gave only the French inscription. Some of the arms are not identified in the source. We blazoned the arms from the tricked pictures in our source, adopting some corrections suggested by the editors. A "royal tressure" is "a double tressure flory and counter-flory". It was a charge in the Scottish royal arms and was granted to other families as a special mark of royal favor. The arms here in which it appears were originally designed without the tressure. Some of the arms are quartered; keep in mind that each quarter was originally designed as a separate set of arms. For simplicity, we have identified some quarterings simply by the original bearer of those arms, e.g. "Scotland" means "Or, a lion rampant within a royal tressure gules" and "Douglas" means "Argent, a heart gules and on a chief azure three mullets argent". In all cases, mullets are drawn with six points. Probable Border arms [12]: Or, on a chief sable three escallops or. (Graham) Gules, on a chevron argent a rose between two lions passant respectant gules. (Hepburn of Hales) Gules, three cranes statant argent and at honor point a crescent or for difference. (Sir William Cranstoun; note the canting) Some other Scottish arms: Azure, a lymphad argent. (not identified; perhaps the Lord of the Isles) Azure, on a fess between three mascles argent, three crosses croslet fitchy gules. (Archbishop of St. Andrews) Argent, a pale sable. (Erskin) Argent, a saltire sable. (William Maxwell) Azure crusily crosslet fitchy, three mullets argent. (Somerville) Argent, a gryphon rampant sable beaked gules. (Lauder) Gules, on a bend azure three mullets argent. Gules, a bend and in sinister chief a mullet argent. Azure, a lion rampant argent. Or, a cross engrailed vert between four eagles displayed sable. Argent, two chevrons engrailed gules. Argent, an eagle displayed sable (Ramsay of Dalhousie) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Argent a heart gules and on a chief azure three mullets argent all surmounted by a bendlet sinister sable; 2nd and 3rd Paly argent and gules. (the Bastard of Douglas; the second quarter may be for Ruthven) Azure, a lion rampant argent (Sieur de Nedasvale) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Gules, on a bend argent a lion passant between two roses gules; and 2nd and 34d Ermine, on a chief gules two mullets argent. (Herring or Herren) Argent, three hunting horns sable. (Forrester of Corstophine; possibly canting) Argent, a chevron between three hunting horns sable. (John Forrester, Forster, or Foster) Argent, on a bend sable three round buckles or. (Stirling) Argent, on a chief gules two mullets argent (Sieur de Dalket; note the relationship to Herring, above) Or, on a bend azure three mascles Or. (Halyburton) Or, a lion rampant within a royal tressure vert. (Patry de Donbar) Gules, a royal tressure and overall a chevron argent. (Fleming of Cumberraulde) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Scotland; 2nd and 3rd Azure, three boar's heads or (Gordon) Argent, three escutcheon's gules. (Hay, Earl of Erroll, Constable of Scotland) Azure, a chief paly or and gules. (Keith, Earl Marischal of Scotland) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Argent, a lion passant guardant gules; 2nd and 3rd Argent, an eagle displayed sable. (Viscount of Angus) Or, a lion rampant azure (Macduff, Earl of Fife) Argent, a heart gules and on a chief azure three mullets argent (Earl of Douglas) Azure, a lymphad Or with a sail ermine charged with a rose gules (Earl of Caithness) Or, a fess checky azure and argent and in chief a label gules. (Stewart, Earl of Menteith) Gules, three lions rampant Or (Earl of Ross) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Gules, a fess checky argent and azure; 2nd and 3rd Or, a lion rampant gules and overall a bendlet sable (Lindsay, Earl of Crawford) Or, two chevrons gules. (Early of Strathern) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Azure, a bed between six crosses croslet fitchy Or; 2nd and 3rd Or, a fess checky argent and argent between three crowns gules (Alexander Stewart, Early of Mar and Garioch) Per pale sable and argent, on an annulet four sexafoils pierced all counterchanged. (Alexander Nairn) Argent, three hedgehogs sable. (John Harris; canting using the French "hedgehog") Or, three unicorn's heads sable arms and garnished or. (Preston) Sable billety, a bend or. (Calendar) Or, three crescents gules (Edmonston) Or, three crescents within a royal tressure gules. (Seton; note the relation to the preceding) Argent, a lion rampant azure crowned or. (Crichton) Gyronny or and sable. (Colin Campbell, Earl of Argyll) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Vert, a lymphad within a royal tressure Or; 2nd and 3rd Argent, a cross engrailed sable. (Sinclair, Earl of Orkney) Argent, three cushions (or lozenges) within a royal tressure gules. (Randolph, Earl of Moray) Argent, a saltire between four cinquefoils gules. (Early of Lennox) Paly or and gules. (Thomas Stewart, Earl of Garioch) Or, a fess checky argent and azure. (Stewart) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Scotland; 2nd and 3rd Azure, three garbs of wheat or. (Stewart, Earl of Buchan) Argent, a chevron gules. (Earl of Carrick) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Ermine, a heart gules and on a chief azure three mullets argent; 2nd and 3rd Azure, three mullets argent. (Douglas, Earl of Avondale) Gules, a lion rampant and on a bordure argent eight cinquefoils gules. (Earl of March) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Gules, a lion rampant argent; 2nd and 3rd Argent, a heart gules and on a chief indented azure three mullets argent. (Douglas, Earl of Angus) Quarterly: 1st and 4th Or, a lion rampant gules; 2nd and 3rd Or, a fess checky argent and azure and in chief a label gules. (Stewart, Duke of Albany) Quarterly: 1st France Ancient; 2nd Douglas; 3rd Azure, a lion rampant argent crowned Or; 4th Or a saltire and a chief gules. (Earl of Douglas, Duke of Touraine)