ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2580 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2580 ************************************ 11 Dec 2002 From: Marianne Perdomo Machin Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked about an authentic name and arms for a Spanish man living around 1550-1600. You were interested in the name and arms using a blue field with a lion rampant between three gold crosses. The name is a good choice for the 16th c [1, 2]. We have also found an instance of the use of as a surname [3] in the late 15th c. The surname literally means "from/at the sea" and might originally have been used for a man who lived near the sea, or in a place called . By the 16th century, it was an inherited family name. The name you've chosen fits your culture perfectly. Your armory is lovely and is a fine re-creation of French or English heraldry. Unfortunately, we can't recommend it as a good re-creation of Iberian heraldry, for a couple reasons. The basic motif of a central charge between three smaller charges is quite common in many parts of Europe, but we haven't found an example in our Iberian sources. In the Iberian arms we've examined, crosses are often used as the single central charge or in a group as the main set of charges; but we've found no example of crosses used in Iberian heraldry as the secondary charge group [4]. Iberian heraldry normally used a more rectangular shield than French and English heraldry, and charges were typically arranged to fit this space. A single central cross was quite often surrounded by a set of four identical charges, one in between each of the cross' adjacent pairs of limbs. Plain crosses were the most common variety in the data we examined, and were occasionally themselves charged with a set of identical charges. Beyond plain crosses, we found significant numbers of crosses bottony or crosslet [5] and crosses flory [6] in Iberian arms [7, 8]. Switching the role of the two types of charge in your design will produce arms that fit your culture much better: Azure, a cross botony Or between four lions rampant. We believe you could register this design with the SCA's College of Arms. The same design with a plain cross or a cross flory could not be registered [9]. If you want to try other designs, here are some other characteristically Iberian heraldic motifs: - 6 charges arranged two, two, & two - A cross with two horizontal arms, dividing the field into six compartments, two, two, and two. - Charged bordures. - The bend engouly, a bend with two creatures' heads swallowing the bend at each end. Most of the Spanish ones are engouly of dragon's heads. - The lunelle; that is crescent, crescent pendant, increscent, and decrescent conjoined at the tips. In short, we can not recommend "Azure, a lion rampant between three crosses Or" as a good recreation of Spanish arms, though as far as we can tell, there are no reasons or conflicts that would prevent you registering these arms with the College of Heralds. We suggest that you look at alternative designs. 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 Pedro de Alcazar, Juliana de Luna, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Arval Benicoeur, Julie Stampnitzky, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Galiana de Baiona and Barak Raz. For the Academy, Leonor Martin 4 Dec 2002 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References: [1] occurs in 7 instances in a sample of 800 names. Elsbeth Anne Roth, _16th-century Spanish Men's Names_ (WWW: SCA, Inc., 1998) http://www.sca.org/heraldry/laurel/names/spanish-m.html. [2] A late 15th century sample shows the spellings and as equally common. Juliana de Luna, "Spanish Names from the Late 15th Century" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1999-2000) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/juliana/isabella/. [3] Juliana de Luna, op. cit. [4] A primary charge is the largest charge in the design, dominating it visually. It is usually placed in a central position. A primary charge group can take the place of a primary charge. A secondary charge group is that placed around the primary charge or primary charge group. [5] A cross bottony is one in which each limb ends with three lobes. A cross crosslet is one in which each limb ends in a little cross. [6] A cross flory is one in which each limb ends in a fleur-de-lis. [7] _Libro de Armeria del Reino de Navarra_, ed. Faustino Menendez Pidal de Navascues (Bilbao: Editorial La Gran Enciclopedia Vasca, 1974, ISBN 84-248-0119-9). [8] We found examples of one large cross with 4 charges around it (in the 'quarters' left around the cross). These charges include cauldrons and wolves. We also found examples of the use of multiple lions, one with two lions and another with five. Riquer, Marti/n de, _Hera/ldica castellana en tiempos de los reyes cato/licos_ (Barcelona: Ediciones dels Quederns Crema, 1986). [9] This plain cross design is too similar to Sweden's flag "Azure, a cross Or" to be registered with the SCA College of Arms. The version using a cross flory would likewise be too similar to the arms of Edward the Confessor: "Azure, a cross flory between five doves Or".