ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 412
http://www.s-gabriel.org/412
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* NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports     *
*       contain errors that we haven't yet      *
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2 Jul 1997
From: Gretchen M Beck 

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

Here is the information we have about simplifying your original arms
design, "Gules, on a bend sinister argent trefly vert between an
increscent Or and a rose slipped and leaved bendwise sinister argent, a
wolf's head erased sable."  You wrote that dropping the trefoils and the
wolf's head, and changing the color of the crescent to argent would be
acceptable to you.

There are several Anglo-Norman style designs that meet these
specifications. We are reasonable sure that these designs do not
conflict with any registered arms.

All the designs below use a bend instead of a bend sinister.  While a
bend sinister could be used, a bend is preferable.  The bend sinister
was very rare in period arms, and in some times & places may not have
been distinguished from the bend at all.  It is therefore better
re-creation to use the bend rather than the bend sinister.  If you chose
the bend sinister to indicate illegitimate birth, then you should be
aware that it did not mean that in period arms.  The association of the
bend sinister with illegitimacy is modern.  The bend sinister had no
particular meaning in period arms.

In the following designs, the crescent would be interpreted as a cadency
mark, showing that you were the second son of the owner of the arms, or
a descendent of that son:

    Gules, on a bend between six roses, in dexter chief a crescent gules

    Gules, on a bend between two roses slipped and 
    leaved argent in dexter chief a crescent gules

    Gules, on a bend between three roses slipped and 
    leaved argent in dexter chief a crescent gules

In these designs, the crescent shape is not used as a cadency mark. They
are less typical of Anglo-Norman style than the examples above, because
Anglo-Norman arms tended to have charges on an ordinary (an ordinary is
a simple non-animate charge such as a bend), or charges surrounding an
ordinary, but not both:

    Gules, on a bend between six increscents argent,
    three roses gules.  (Two or three increscents would also work)

    Gules, on a bend between six roses argent, three increscents gules
    (as with the design above, two or three roses would also work)

And, finally, here are a couple of designs where the crescent is eliminated:

    Gules, a bend between two roses argent

    Gules, a bend between three roses argent

The two designs above also work if crescents are substituted for the roses.

Alan Fairfax, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Talan Gwynek, Zenobia Naphtali,
Christian de Holacombe, Walraven van Nijmegen, and Arval d'Espas Nord
contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful.  Please let us know if we can answer any
further questions.

In service,
Margaret Makafee
2 Jul 1997