ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2939 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2939 ************************************ 31 Oct 2004 From: Josh Mittleman Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked whether or is an appropriate name for a 16th century Florentine woman. You also asked about the given name and about appropriate heraldic arms. Here is what we have found. was not a common name in period Italy, but it was occasionally used. There was a Saint Seraphina (usually referred to as Santa Fina) who lived in Italy during the 13th century [1], and there was a 15th century and a 16th century [2]. Note that these are modern spellings. The period spellings were probably closer to those illustrated by the masculine examples and , from Florence in 1427 [3]. Therefore, is at least a plausible name for 16th century Florence. and are excellent choices for your father's name: Both are common in renaissance Florentine records [3, 4]. The pet form was also used as a family name, so using as a patronymic is certainly appropriate [5, 6]. The family name appears several times in 15th century Florentine records [5]. It derives from , a nickname for [7]. The overall form of your name is typical of your period; it would have been understood to mean "Serafina, daughter of Giovanni Carducci". is a New Testament name, appearing in Acts ix as the Aramaic name for a Greek woman known in Greek as [8]. We have found no evidence that it was used in Italy in our period. Most biblical names didn't come into fashion among Western European Christians until after our period, and we suspect this is an example. For your arms, you told us you want to use green and gold, and you sent a list of charges that appeal to you: bend orle arrow falcon close deer passant pomegranate rose sceptre oak owl You also said that you might be interested in using a thistle to cant on your surname, since the Italian word for thistle is ; but you said you'd prefer to combine it with one of the other charges you mentioned, preferably a falcon or pomegranate. Green was quite rare in Italian heraldry and used mostly as a natural coloration for foliage and similar charges. Blue, red, and black were much more common colors [11]. However, we have found a few examples of green as a background color [18]. Of the charges you've chosen, we have period Italian examples of bends, arrows, deer, roses, owls and oak trees [9, 10]. Flora in general were fairly common and lots of specific plants were used, especially for canting, so the pomegranate isn't implausible and the thistle is a fine choice. Some specific types of birds were used for canting, too, so a falcon would not be surprising in the arms of a family with a name like ; but we don't have evidence of the falcon as a charge in general use [11]. It wouldn't be at all surprising to find it in Italian arms, but since we haven't, we can't recommend it. In earlier correspondance, you asked about the design "Vert, a saltire raguly or". Although raguly is rare in period heraldry, we have found an example in 16th century Siena [12]. Examples of saltires appear in the same source [13]. Based on this information, we can recommend the following designs as good re-creations of 16th century Tuscan heraldry: Or, a bend raguly azure between two thistles vert. [12] Vert, a saltire and in chief a pomegranate or seeded gules. [13] Azure, an owl close or perched upon a triple mount issuant from base vert. [14, 15] Or, an oak tree proper planted in a mount vert and a deer passant before the trunk sable. [16] Bendy or and vert, on a chief vert two roses or. [17] We believe you could register any of these with the SCA College of Arms. 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 Talan Gwynek, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Kolozsvari Arpadne Julia, Maridonna Benvenuti, Juliana de Luna, and Mor inghean Chathaill. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 31 Oct 2004 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Butler's Lives of the Saints, Herbert J. Thurston and Donald Attwater eds. (New York: P.J.. Kenedy & Sons, 1958). [2] Catholic Encyclopedia. (WWW: New Advent, Inc., 1997). http://www.knight.org/advent/cathen/ [3] Ferrante laVolpe, _Men's names from Florence, 1427_ (WWW: Self-published, 1996). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto [4] 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/ [5] Herlihy, David and Christiane Klapisch-Zuber, "Census and Property Survey of Florentine Domains in the Province of Tuscany, 1427-1480", Machine readable data file. Online Catasto of 1427 Version 1.1. Online Florentine Renaissance Resources: Brown University, Providence, R.I., 1996, http://swansong.stg.brown.edu/projects/catasto/overview.html Their list of family names is reproduced at http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/ferrante/catasto/family_names.html [6] Other examples of pet forms used in patronymics include these, from 15th and 16th century Siena: (1489) Plate 77 (1498) Plate 79 (1498) Plate 80 (1558) Plate 106 Borgia, L., et. al., eds., _Le Biccherne : tavole dipinte delle magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma : Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1984). [7] De Felice, Emidio, _Dizionario dei cognomi italiani_ (Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1978), s.n. Riccardi. [8] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Tabitha. [9] Index of blazons to Le Biccherne (Borgia, L., et. al.) prepared by Maridonna Benvenuti. [10] Mendoza, Louis, Distinguishing Characteristics of Medieval Italian Heraldry (1997; WWW: Regalis, accessed Oct 2004). [11] Zenobia Naphtali, "Regional Style" in Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium, 1996, Montgomery, Alabama (SCA, Inc., 1996). [12] Based on three arms in Le Biccherne. Plate 110 (1561-2), arms of Mariano di Mariano Saragio "Azure, a fess raguly between three mullets of eight points or". Plate 95 (1527), arms of Giunti "Azure, a bend between two roses or"; and arms of Umidi "Or, on a bend argent three leaves vert". [13] Le Biccherene, plate 110 (1561-2), arms of Girolamo Bindi "Argent, a saltire azure between four roses gules seeded or". Note that with four pomegranates, this design would be too similar to the registered arms of Kenric Bjarnarson "Vert, a saltire between four escutcheons Or". [14] Based on the arms of Dini in Le Biccherne, plate 60 (1456), "Or, an owl close perched upon a mount of six peaks issuant from base azure." Three period Italian examples of green mounts on blue fields are cited in Edward Wenzer, "In Support of the Case for Trimounts", Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1993, I-95. [15] This design is similar to the SCA arms of Piers Howells de Cambria (reg. 09/1973), "Azure, an owl Or perched on a rock argent". The change in type and tincture of the charge in base should suffice to avoid conflict. [16] Based on the arms of Berti in Le Biccherne, plate 95 (1527), "Or, a pine tree proper planted in a mount vert with a sheep per pale argent and sable passant before the trunk." [17] Based on the arms of Mariano Benuci, plate 95 (1527) "Bendy or and azure, on a chief azure two crescents or". [18] Examples of green as a field tincture from Le Biccherne. Ciaia (plate 97, 1533) "Per fess azure and vert, a greyhound rampant argent". Pecci (plate 64, 1460) "Vert, a bend gules fimbriated or". Santi (plate 121, 1588) "Checky vert and or impaled with Gules, a triple mount argent; and a chief of the Empire".