ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3287
http://www.s-gabriel.org/3287
************************************

12 Apr 2007
From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael 

Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!

You asked if we could recommend armory using straight lines and either
black and gold, black and ermine, or black and white which are
authentic for 16th century England.  You also wanted to confirm that
the given name <Constance> was in use then as well.  Here is what we
have found.

<Constance> was not a common given name in 16th century England, but
we did find two examples during 1581-1595, so it's certainly a fine
choice. [1]

There are a number of heraldic motifs that use just straight lines:

  fess (horizontal stripe)
  pale (vertical stripe)
  chevron (inverted v-shaped stripe)
  bend (diagonal stripe)
  saltire (x-shaped stripe)
  cross

Additionally, you can divide the field into multiple stripes of any of
the first four, e.g.:

  barry (horizontal stripes)
  paly (vertical stripes)
  chevronelly (inverted v-shaped stripes)
  bendy (diagonal stripes)

Another motif which is fairly common in earlier English heraldry which
is significantly underused in the SCA is having a fess between two
chevrons. [2]  Very roughly:

    ------------
    |    /\    |
    |   /  \   |
    |----------|
    |----------|
    \    /\    /
     \  /  \  /
      \      /
       \----/

In English armory from the 13th to 15th centuries, designs whose
principle tinctures were black and gold comprised 6%, as opposed to
11% for European armory as a whole. [3]  The combination remained
correspondingly less common in the 16th century, but it's still
reasonable.

Based on all of these, here are a number of suggestions that you can
consider: [4]

  Paly counter-ermine and argent.
  Barry ermine (or erminois) and counter-ermine (or pean)
  Bendy argent (or ermine) and sable.
  Chevronelly sable and Or.
  Sable, a fess Or (or argent or ermine) between two chevrons Or (or 
    argent or ermine).
  Or (or argent or ermine), a fess between two chevrons sable.

We hope that this 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 Sabine Berard, Talan Gwynek, and Adelaide de Beaumont.

For the Academy,
-Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 12 April 2007

--
References:

[1] Talan Gwynek, "Late Sixteenth Century English Given Names" (WWW:
Academy of Saint Gabriel, 1997). 
http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/eng16/

[2] Foster, Joseph, _The Dictionary of Heraldry_ (New York: Arch Cape
Press, 1989).

[3] Pastoureau, Michel, _Traite/ d'He/raldique_, 2nd ed. (Paris:
grands manuels Picard, 1993), table IV, pp. 118-9.

[4] So far as we can tell, all of these are registerable with the SCA
College of Arms.