ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3335 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3335 ************************************ 3 Aug 2007 From: Aryanhwy merch Catmael Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel! You wanted to know if the heraldic design "Per pale sable and gules, a griffin segreant contourny and in base a tower Or" would be authentic arms for an Italian man living between 1200 and 1400. Here is what we have found. We should start by saying that unfortunately we do not have many good sources on Italian armory from the period that you're interested in. Most of our good resources come from the 15th and 16th centuries. In many cases, we cannot tell whether lack of examples of certain motifs in your period is a result of the paucity of our resources or of the fact that they were not used in your period. We've found one example of a griffin in Italian armory in your period: GRIFFOLI, 1374 D'azzurro, al grifo alato rampante di rosso "Azure, a griffin rampant gules" Other examples that we found come after the 14th century: [1] ANASTASI, 1440 D'azzurro, al grifo d'oro, riguardante una stella (8) dello stesso, posta nel cantone destro del capo "Azure, a griffin and in canton a mullet of eight points Or" BELTRAMINI, 1570-71 D'argento, al grifo di rosso, coronato d'oro "Argent, a griffin gules crowned Or" MAESTRELLI, 1485 Di rosso, al grifo d'oro, armato di nero "Gules, a griffin Or armed sable" GRILLO, 1528 (attributed) Spaccato d'oro e d'azzurro, al grifo dall'uno all'altro e dell'uno nell'altro "Per fess Or and azure, a griffin counterchanged" Based on this, a single griffin on a plain field is not unreasonable for the second half of the 15th century. We found two examples of fields divided per pale between two low-contrast tinctures which use a primary charge: [2] PASQUALI, 1523 "Per pale azure and gules, a lion rampant queue-forchy proper" SERGARDI, 1479 "Per pale gules and azure, in saltire two hammers Or and on a chief gules three fleurs-de-lys Or" Because both of these are after your period, we do not know whether a field "per pale sable and gules" is reasonable for the 13th or 14th centuries. We found no examples of designs which have a primary charge + a secondary charge in base where the primary charge was not an ordinary. We therefore cannot recommend that part of your design for any period in Italy. 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, Maridonna Benvenuti, Talan Gwynek, Aine Steele, Eleyne de Comnocke, Brygyt Strangewayes, and Brian Dorcha ua Connail. For the Academy, -Aryanhwy merch Catmael, 03 August 2007 -- References: [1] Borgia, L., et al., eds., _Le Biccherne: tavole dipinte delle magistrature senesi (secoli XIII-XVIII)_ (Roma: Ministero per i beni culturali e ambientali, 1984), plates 52, 74, 113. [2] ibid., plates 70, 92. [3] di Crollalanza, G.B. _Dizionario Storico -- Blasonico delle Famiglie Nobili e Notabili Italiane Estinte e Fiorenti_ (Arnaldo Forni Editore, 1886).