Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 414

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 414

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/414

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings,

Here's the information we found on "Phiscardo Drogoson."

As you found out, "Phiscardo" is a place-name and not a person's name. Given that, we decided to focus on "William Drogoson de Phiscardo" for our research.

"William" has been a common name in England since the Norman Conquest. The SCA will not let someone register their entire mundane name, but it's allowed to use elements of your mundane name in your SCA name. Thus, there's no problem using "William" in an SCA name. However, you may prefer to spell it "Willelm", which was the most common spelling of the name in your period.

"Drogo" is a common Norman name which changed to "Drew" around 1300. For the period between 1100 and 1300 when "Drogo" was popular, the most common ways to say "William, the son of Drogo" would be

"fiz," meaning "son," is a Norman word pronounced "fitz." Wherever we suggest "Willelm Drogo," you could use "Willelm le fiz Drogo" instead.

We've never heard of "Phiscardo," but the documentation you have sounds reasonable. Assuming that it's reliable, you would be able to use "Phiscardo" as a placename.

So, the name "William Drogo de Phiscardo" would be a good name for a Norman who lived between 1100 and 1300. However, we're going to suggest a change to it which will make the name and the arms more historically accurate.

If your father registered arms in the SCA, it would be particularly appropriate for you to use them. Historically arms were passed from father to son, and since you want to make your connection with your father clear, it would be best to use those arms. It's possible to switch the registration of the arms from your father to you.

Assuming that your father doesn't have registered arms, we can make suggestions about the arms you suggested, which can be blazoned "Per bend azure and sable, a footprint argent," are not quite like medieval armory.

These aren't quite like medieval heraldry. First, a shield divided between black and blue is rare in medieval arms. The contrast between them is low, so it's difficult to distinguish them at a distance in a battle or tournament. Medieval arms serve the same purpose as billboards, and you'll find that few, if any, billboards combine blue and black. Although you mentioned that the color scheme is important, we'd still recommend using a single color in the background.

Also, footprints aren't found in medieval heraldry--the "footprint" image didn't become popular in art until modern times. We would suggest using a foot, which is occassionally found in medieval heraldry.

So, a name like "Willelm Drogo de Phiscardo" and arms like, "Azure, a foot argent," (a white foot on a blue background) would be appropriate for your period.

We would like to suggest a change that would make your name and arms even more historically accurate.

All the examples of feet in medieval heraldry come from families whose name means "foot." So, although you could use a foot in your arms with any name, it would be more accurate if your name also made some kind of reference to feet.

You mentioned that you were called "Bigfoot." Since you're already called "Bigfoot," it would make sense to include that in your name. If you're not widely known as "Phiscardo" already, you could drop "Phiscardo" and add a name for people with large feet, such as the Norman "le Pied" or the English "le Foote." (Both of these mean literally "the foot." Nicknames like these are fairly common in Middle English.)

Thus, you could use the name "William Drogo le Pied," which would include your nickname and connect your name to your arms.

Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Walraven van Nijmege, Zenobia Naphtali, and Tangwystl verch Morgant Glasvryn have contributed to this letter.

We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you.

In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel