ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2744 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2744 ************************************ From: "Gerita" 31 Aug 2003 Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! We apologise for the lateness of this report. You wanted to know if or would be an appropriate name for a Florentine woman living between 1400 and 1450, and whether cherries would be acceptable in armory of that time and place. Here is what we have found. We find recorded in Florence in 1427; it is a fine choice for your name [1]. appears in the same Florentine census of 1427, so it is also a fine choice [1]. Compound given names (double given names, middle names) were common in some parts of Italy in your period and later [2, 3]. The most common pattern was for one of the names to be a saint's name, usually the second [3, 4]. Saint Lucia, originally said to be Sicilian, was an extremely popular saint throughout Italy, so the compound name is an excellent recreation [5]. As you noted, the Italian name for Florence is . A woman from Florence might have been identified as "of Florence" or, more often, "the Florentine [woman]" [6, 7]. In the earlier part of your period when surnames were used literally, we would expect to find this byname outside Florence, not in the city itself: Bynames were used to distinguish people, and calling a person "the Florentine" in Florence isn't a useful distinguishing characteristic. However, a Florentine who moved to the suburbs or to another city would very likely have been identified that way. By the end of your period, most people used inherited family names, much like modern surnames. A woman could certainly have been identified on some occasions as or , but we would normally expect to see her recorded with a family name. An originally-literal byname like might have become fixed as an inherited family name, often in the simpler, gender-neutral, form [7]. would be a fine name for your period. You could also select a family name and use it in addition to the identifier , so a name like, for example is also a fine choice, though the identifier would be considered additional information rather than a strict part of the name, as in "Stefana Lucia Ceri who is from Firenze" [8]. A list of family names is available on the web from the Florentine census of 1427; it can be found at footnote [8] if you would like to consider other possibilities for a family name. We have found no examples of cherries in Italian armory, although there are examples of other plants, body parts (arms, legs, etc), and insects (bees, grasshoppers, butterflies, crickets) [10]. We have found examples of cherries in armory in your period in England [9]. We don't advise the use of cherries in your armory because we have no examples in your period and locale. We hope this information is useful to you. Please contact us if you have more questions. The following individuals assisted with the research and writing of this letter: Maridonna Benvenuti, Adelaide de Beaumont, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Teceangl Bach, Ursula Georges, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Blaise de Cormeilles, Mari neyn Brian. for the Academy, Gerita del Mare 29 August 2003 ____________________________________________________________________ References: [1] Arval Benicoeur, "Feminine Given Names from the Online Catasto of Florence of 1427" (WWW: Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1998). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catasto/ [2] Klapisch-Zuber, Christiane, _Women, Family and Ritual in Renaissance Italy_, translated by Lydia G. Cochrane (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1985), pp. 255-258. The author notes, "Approximately 60% of the nine hundred children of Florentine bourgeois families studied by means of familial documentation bear a second given name in theperiod 1360-1530." [3] Lyneya Fairbowe, unpublished research based on a baptismal register from Palermo 1561-3 that is available from the research library of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. Her data shows many examples of double and triple given names. [4] James S. Grubb, _Provincial Families of the Renaissance: Private and Public Life in the Veneto_ (Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), pp.42-7. [5] Farmer, David Hugh, _The Oxford Dictionary of Saints_, 2nd ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.v. Lucy. The author notes, "Her cult was both early and widespread...Churches were dedicated to her in Rome, Naples, and eventually Venice." [6] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei cognomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1978). s.n. Firenze. [7] Herlihy, David, R. Burr Litchfield, and Anthony Molho, "Florentine Renaissance Resources: Online Tratte of Office Holders 1282-1532" (WWW: Brown University, Providence, RI, 2000). http://www.stg.brown.edu/projects/tratte/ [8] Ferrante laVolpe, _Men's names from Florence, 1427_ (WWW: Self-published, 1996; Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1999). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto/ [9] Parker, James, _A Glossary of Terms used in Heraldry_ (Charles E. Tuttle, 1982), s.v. cherry. [10] Borgia, L., et. al., eds., _Le Biccherne : tavole dipinte delle magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma : Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1984).