ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2853 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2853 ************************************ 2 Aug 2004 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us to research medieval French titles and occupational terms for heralds, seneschals, and scribes; how to identify deputies to these officers, and whether <monsieur> and <mademoiselle> were used. Before we start, we'd like to apologize for the time it has taken to complete this report. Starting with the easy part of your question: The word <monsieur> and its plural <messieurs> were in use by 1314 as forms of address for the nobility, exactly equivalent to the English <My lord> and <My lords> [1]. The analogous feminine <madame> "my lady" was in use by the 12th century [2]. It may interest you that the root <dame> and its masculine form <dam> or <dan> were used as titles of nobility (ranking between a baron and a count) by the 11th century. This root word produced the diminutive forms <damel> 1285, <damelot> 13th C "young man, dashing young man"; <dameisel> 12th century "young nobleman, not yet knighted"; <domnizelle>, 10th century, <damoiselle> 12th-13th century "title given to noble girls and to the wives of minor nobility". By 1300, the last word had also come to mean "servant" [3, 3a]. The compound <mademoiselle> is a later development, appearing only in the 16th century as an independent word [4]. The phrase <ma damoiselle> may have been used earlier, but we can't say how early. Your question about official titles is harder to answer. The official structure of many medieval re-creation groups doesn't really reflect the organization of a medieval household, town, or guild; so there isn't always a good correspondence between the officers in our club and the members of a medieval entourage. More fundamentally, in modern society we expect each officer to have a distinct title and for his assistants to have their own specific titles (and badges, insignia, uniforms, etc.). That basically isn't true of medieval society, where titles were mostly used for personal rank: <Sir Henry> was addressed the same way whether he was serving in the king's army, commanding a ship, or sitting in judgement in his own court of law. The upshot is that there really isn't a title, as such, for a medieval herald, seneschal, or scribe. On the other hand, there were occupational terms to describe the job and the person performing it. The distinction here is between a personal title -- <Sir Henry>, <Baroness Elisabeth>, <Bishop Aylric> - - -- and an occupational byname -- <Jordan Shipman>, <Emma the Tailor>, <Roger Taverner>. And we can certainly tell you the Old French words for the occupations you asked about. The word <seneschal> was used in French from the 11th century [5]. A public scribe was variously termed <escrivain> 12th C, <escrivant> 12th C, <escriseor> 13th C [6]. There are several Old French words for heralds. The earliest example of the word "herald" that we've found is an 1175 instance of <heralt>; but at this early date, it isn't clear exactly what duties this person performed [7]. In other 12th-13th century sources, the word is variously <les hiraus> (plural), <li hera>, <hyraut>. A poem written in Anglo-Norman French in the last decade of the 13th century offers early evidence of heraldic ranks, referring to <le rois hiraut> "the kings of heralds, kings of arms". The title "king" was used with the names of kings-of-arms by the 13th century: <Le Roy Page>, <Le Roy Robert> 1296 [7a], <Robertus Rex Heraldorum> "Robert King of Heralds" 1294, 1320. However, note that the last man was also identified as "king of minstrels", so the use of the title was clearly rather fluid at this point [7b]. Writers of the 14th century used <roi d'armes>; and <he/rault>, <hiraus>, and other spellings of the word [8]. The English term <pursuivant> may not have a medieval French equivalent. It was used in English by the late 14th century [9]. It appears as <poursuyvant> in a document written in French by the English Duke of Clarence [10]; it is unclear whether this reflects native French practice. The Society's use of <cornet> to mean "an apprentice herald" has no medieval basis that we found. The word <cornet> was first used in the more general sense of "a horn player" only in the 19th century. In 1579, it was used to mean "the standard-bearer and fifth-ranking officer in a troop of cavalry" [11]. The generic Old French term for an apprentice was <aprantez> or <apprentez> 1175, <aprantiz> 12th century, <aprentif> 13th century [11a, 11b]. The feminine <aprentisse> appeared by 1268 [12]. The underlying meaning is "one who learns". We found no evidence of more specific terms for apprentices in particular occupations and we cannot suggest a term specifically meaning "apprentice scribe" or such like. 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 Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Talan Gwynek, Juliana de Luna, Mari neyn Brian, Adelaide de Beaumont, and Ursula Georges. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 2 Aug 2004 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Greimas, Algirdas Julien, _Dictionnaire de l'ancien franc,ais_ (Paris: Larousse, 1997), s.v. monsieur. [2] Robert, Paul, _Le Petit Robert 1: Dictionnaire alphabe/tique et analogique de la langue franc,ais_ (Paris: Le Robert, 1985), s.v. madame. [3] Greimas s.vv., dam, dame (I), damoisel. This word derives from Latin <dominus> "lord" and is cognate with the Spanish word <don>. [3a] Dauzat, Albert, Jean Dubois, & Henri Mitterand. Nouveau Dictionnaire E/tymologique et Historique (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1964); s.vv. damoiseau, demoiselle. [4] Robert s.v. mademoiselle. It is also significant that Greimas does not list the word. [5] Greimas s.v. seneschal. [6] Greimas s.v. escrivre. [7] Greimas s.v. heralt. Greimas defines the word as "an officer charged with carrying a message or making an announcement". However, the duties of ambassador and official messenger didn't accrue to the herald until the 14th century, according Wagner [8]: p.33: The next development of the heralds' status and duties belongs, so far as our evidence goes, to the reign of Edward III. So far their activities seem to be confined to the tournament and its accessories. For the usal later view -- that heralds were from the first messangers of war and peace -- we have found no evidence at all. From Edward III's reign on, however, we shall see them entrusted, though sparingly at first, with military and diplomatic duties of steadily growing importance. ... p.33-34: It is clear how what we may call the heralds' primary function [the tournament] led to their employment as messengers. On St. George's Day, 1344, Edward III celebrated his determination to found an order of knighthood by holding a joust at Windsor, 'et pour ce que la feste fuist sceue et conneue par toultes marches li roys engles l'envoya publyer en denunchier par ses hiraux en Franche, en Escoce, en Bourgoingne, en Flandres, en Brabant, en Allemagne et partout jusq'en Lombardie'. [and so that the celebration would be known in all marches, the English king sent his heralds to announce and publish it in France, Scotland, etc. (my translation)] p.34: The first instance that I can cite in which an English herald figures as a messanger of war is ... the opening scene of the Hundred Year's War in Froissart's narrative .. 1338. It seems that Greimas is using a definition of "heralt" appropriate for the 14th century or later. [7a] Southworth, John, _The English Medieval Minstrel_ (Woodbridge, Suffolk & Wolfeboro, NH: Boydell Press, 1989), pp.64-5. [7b] Bullock-Davies, Constance, _A Register of Royal and Baronial Domestic Minstrels, 1272-1327 (Dover, NH: The Boydell Press, 1986), p.139ff s.n. Parvus (Robert). [8] Wagner, Anthony Richard, Heralds and Heraldry, pp.25-37, App. B 1. [9] _The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary_ (New York: Oxford University Press, 1973), s.v. pursuivant. The earliest citation is from Chaucer, c.1383. [10] Wagner, p.42. [11] Oxford English Dictionary s.v. cornet. [11a] Robert s.v. apprenti. [11b] Dauzat s.v. apprendre. [12] Greimas s.v. aprendre.