Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 254

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 254

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/254

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

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on the possible badges you suggested.

Badges were used in a limited time and space--primarily in England and France from the 13th to the late 15th centuries. They were used mainly as personal insignia by higher nobility (as opposed to arms, which were passed on from generation to generation), or as insignia by an organization. Badges tend to be simple, especially in armory from your period (we're assuming that you're interested in a design that would be appropriate for the 14th century since you're designing a cotehardie). Thus, a badge that incorporates both foxes and roses would be more complex than the badges that were found in the 14th century.

All period badges were fieldless. The SCA use of a "fielded badge" is based on a misinterpretation of some heraldic drawings. In period, a badge could be displayed in many formats--one good way to design a badge is to develop a design that could be used as a brooch.

The badges "A rose argent" and "A rose gules" were used by the Houses of York and Lancaster during the Wars of the Roses, and are protected by the SCA. "A rose sable" conflicts with the arms of Aonghus Lochlainn of Loch Fyne, "Pily bendy sinister argent and vert, a rose sable barbed and seeded Or." (The only difference is that the arms have a background). We didn't find any armory which would conflict with "A rose vert."

Arval D'Espas Nord, Pedro de Alcazar, Rouland Carre, Zenobia Naphtali, and Elsbeth Anne Roth contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel