ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3387 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3387 ************************************ 08 Dec 2008 From: Julia Smith Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked about names for a young noblewoman living in the area around Tortosa in the period 1000-1200. You also ask about appropriate forms of address for nobility and what sorts of arms might be appropriate for this period. This is what we have found. First, a quick note about languages. During the time you're aiming for, Catalan was just beginning to be written down. Around 1000, all documents were written in Latin, though the spoken language had already changed greatly from the Vulgar Latin spoken in the late Roman period. By around 1200, documents in Catalan were beginning to appear. Sources are relatively scarce for the first part of your period. Feminine names from the Catalan speaking area from the latter part of the period you're interested in can be found at two articles: Juliana de Luna, "Catalan Names in Latin Contexts: the late 12th c." http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/catalan12.htm Arval Benicoeur, "Catalan Names from 12th and 13th Century Charters." http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/arval/catalan At this time, bynames tended to be locative, derived from a location with which the family is associated, or patronymic, derived from the father's name. [1] You can find examples of bynames at the two articles mentioned above. If you're interested in using the place Tortosa, it appears in documents of that time as (at among other dates, 1186). [2] Some people had literal bynames, while others, especially of the class you're interested in, had what seem to be inherited family names. A name like would be a lovely name for a young woman in twelfth century; it seems relatively likely for the eleventh century as well. In the Catalan speaking region, the Latin terms of address and change into masculine and feminine rather than Spanish and . These are the equivalent of English "lord" or "lady," though they are also used to refer to individuals who are both higher and lower ranking than that term implies. In the _Libre dels feyts del Rey En Jaume_, the term is used for the king (even in the title) as well as for simple knights. [3] We do not know when this terminology came into use, as the copies we have of this book in Catalan date to the 14th century. However, scholars think this was in use no later than around 1200 and perhaps earlier; it was certainly in use in Occitan, a closely related language by that time. [4] This is relatively early for coats of arms. The first arms recorded for Catalunya are the arms of the counts of Barcelona, which are recorded around 1150. There is limited data for other arms before 1200; at any rate, only the great nobles seem to have arms in places like Catalunya before 1200. The knightly class will assume arms at a slightly later date. [5], [6] We hope this letter has been useful to you. If you have any questions or would like further information, please don't hesitate to write to us again. Ursula Whitcher, Lisa Theriot, and Brian Scott assisted me in researching and writing this report. For the Academy, Julia Smith 8 December 2008 [1] Juliana de Luna, "Catalan Names in Latin Contexts: the late 12th c." 1999, http://heraldry.sca.org/laurel/names/catalan12.htm [2] Bisson, Thomas, _Fiscal Accounts of Catalonia Under the Early Count-Kings (1151-1213)_. 1984, Berkeley: University of California Press, v. 2, p. 135. [3] extracted in Rodney Sampson, _Early Romance Texts: An Anthology_. 1980, New York: Cambridge University Press. [4] Both and are found before 1200 in documents described in Ganiere, Catherine, Women Troubadours in Southern France: Personal Character, Unhappiness, and Revolting Against Conventions. Unpublished MA Thesis, Brigham Young University, 2007. [5] Riquer, Marti/n de, _Heraldica Catalana des de l'any 1150 al 1550_, 1983, Barcelona: Ediciones dels Quederns Crema. [6] Pastoureau, Michel, _Traite/ d'He/raldique_, 2nd ed., 1993, Paris: Grands manuels Picard.