ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3065 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3065 ************************************ 11 Apr 2006 From: Femke de Roas Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! You asked us if <Alain de Saint-Eloi> would be an appropriate name for an early 15th century Frenchman. You indicated that your preference was for a locale from Limoges to Burgundy and points to the southeast. You also asked us to suggest some appropriate arms involving the heraldic tinctures sable, argent, and vert, as well the charges of a millrind or fasces. In addition, you had expressed interest in simple designs or field only armory. Here is what we found. France today is a unified country with a common language. That was not true in this time period: It was a collection of dialects, some quite similar, some quite different. The most significant division was between the langue d'oil, or French, spoken in the north, and the langue d'oc, also called Occitan or Provenc,al, spoken in the south. These were different languages, not just dialects of the same language, and names in them were quite different. We suggest viewing a map of French dialects: http://lrrc3.sas.upenn.edu/popcult/MAPS/france/dialecte.gif The green and yellow area is langue d'oil, and the red and pink are langue d'oc. Gascon is also langue d'oc, but it's sufficiently divergent from the other oc dialects that many consider it a distinct language, on a par with Catalan. The bluish-purplish triangle over in the east is Franco-Provenc,al; these dialects show a mixture of oc and oil traits. With the exception of Corsican (Corse) and Catalan, the violet bits around the edges are non-Romance -- Germanic, except for Breton -- as is the grey Basque. Most of the areas you are interested in are either Occitan or Franco-Provenc,al. We found the given name <Alain> in a number of places in your period or a bit later, including Choisy (1475x1478), Paris (1421x1438), Provins (1587), and Bordeaux (1470x1520) [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The name had its greatest popularity in Brittany and seems to have been rather rare outside the north and west [6]. An Occitan name might be more appropriate for your geographic area of interest. The byname <de St Eloi> is a locative, meaning 'from St. Eloi.' We have numerous examples of this placename from various regions of France. We have numerous sources useing the Latin form <St. Eligius>. They range from the thirteenth century through the fifteenth century [7]. This same place is also referred to as <Monasterium-Eligii-Fontis> 1306, <Saint-Eloy-Fontaine> 1378, <Saint-Eloy-Fontaine-lez-Chaulny> 1410, and <Sainct-Eloy-Fontaines> [8]. In addition, we have <sainct Eloy> 1362 and 1516 [9, 10]. We refer you again to the dialect map mentioned above. Of our examples, four are in the Limousin and Auvergnat dialect areas, while two others are in the Berrichon-Bourguignon-Bourbonnais triangle. The likelihood of encountering this surname decreases as one moves further from these areas to the south and east. Though an Occitan given name might be a better choice, <Alain de Sainct Eloy> or <Alain de Saint Eloy> are not out of the question. While we do note that vert is not particularly common in French heraldry, we suggest that the following designs would be otherwise reasonable recreations of period style and should be registerable with the Society for the Creative Anachronism: Argent, a gonfanon counter-ermine. Ermine, an orle of martlets vert. Counter-ermine, a fess wavy argent. Counter-ermine, a fess wavy ermine. Ermine, a fess of five fusils vert. We hope that this brief letter has been useful to you and that you won't hesitate to write us again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter was provided by Ines, Juetta Copin, Gunnvor Silfraharr, Sabine Berard, Blaise de Cormeilles, Margaret Makafee, Aryanhwy merch Catmael, Arval Benicoeur, Ursula Georges, Adelaide de Beaumont and Talan Gwynek. April 11, 2006 For the Academy, Femke de Roas ______________________________________________________________________ REFERENCES [1] Uckelman. Sara L., (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael). "Names from Choisy, France, 1475-1478" (WWW: Privately published, 2005). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/french/choisy.html [2] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn (Heather Rose Jones), "Given Names from Brittany, 1384-1600" (WWW: privately published, 2001). http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/latebreton/ [3] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "French Names from Paris, 1423 & 1438" (WWW: privately published, 2002). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/paris1423.htm [4] Friedemann, Sara L. (aka Aryanhwy merch Catmael), "Names from a 1587 Tax Roll from Provins" (WWW: privately published, 2002). http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/provins1587.htm [5] Aryanhwy merch Catmael (Sara L. Friedemann) and Talan Gwynek (Brian M. Scott), "Names Found in Commercial Documents from Bordeaux, 1470-1520" (WWW: privately published, 2000). [6] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Allan. [7] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963), s.n. <St.-E/loi>. [8] Leducq, Victor. 'Commenchon (Canton de Chauny, Aisne)' (Chauny, France: Imprimerie Richez, 1931; WWW: Alain Labruyere, 2004). http://perso.wanadoo.fr/memoires-du-chaunois/commenchon/commenchon.htm [9] Barthe/lemy, E/douard de. Acte 105 (Bail d'une vou^te vis-a\-vis le Cha^telet), Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye royale de Montmartre (Paris: 1883); in Cartulaires nume/rise/s de l'Ile de France (WWW: Ecole national des chartes). http://elec.enc.sorbonne.fr/cartulaires/mtmartre/acte105/ [10] Barthe/lemy, E/douard de. Acte 136 (Bail d'une arche pre\s du Cha^telet), Recueil des chartes de l'abbaye royale de Montmartre (Paris: 1883); in Cartulaires nume/rise/s de l'Ile de France (WWW: Ecole national des chartes). http://elec.enc.sorbonne.fr/cartulaires/mtmartre/acte136/