Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 498

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 498

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/498

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 have on your Sicilian name "Valentine" and your arms, which are a quartering of Christ, Arthur, Richard the Lion-Hearted, and Charlemagne.

The usual Italian form of Valentine is "Valentino." (1) For a surname, you could pick the name of any Sicilian town (such as Palermo) and use it with "da" (meaning of). A name like "Valentino da Palermo" would be completely appropriate.

There are more problems with your arms. First of all, the arms you've described (except for Richard the Lion-Hearted) are "attributed arms" invented by medieval heralds. They weren't actually used by the people to whom they're attributed. Second, when you use the arms of a person, you're implying that you have some relationship to them. (Richard II of England combined his arms with the attributed arms of Edward the Confessor to highlight his status as a successor to Edward's throne).

So, the coat of arms you've proposed implies that you're are in some way related to Christ, Arthur, Richard, and Charlemagne. Unless your persona can provide some compelling evidence that he rules England, France, the Holy Roman Empire, Camelot, and the Kingdom of Heaven, these arms would be considered inappropriate.

We encourage you to develop a coat of arms for your persona which isn't connected to historical (or pseudo-historical) armory.

Talan Gwynek, Effric neyn Kenyeoch vc Ralte, Arval D'Espas Nord, Pedro de Alcazar, and Zenobia Naphtali 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