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Greetings,
Here is the information we found on the various questions you asked.
We want to start by saying that we have a great time answering your questions; have no worries about overloading our capacity. Some of the comments were "I love this guy!" and "Gorgeous stuff."
> 1. Given name: choice between Mattheus, Karel, Joos, and Raphael, all
> taken from your Brughes guild name list (deciding between these may
> come down to which is likely to be least mispronounced).
"Joos" is a common name in the data from Bruges we have, "Mattheus" and "Karel" are more rare, and "Raphael" is quite rare. However, all of them are found in your period and are all perfectly reasonable names for your persona. We found the variant forms "Mateus," "Mathyas," "Matthias," "Matyes," and "Thijs" dated to 1376. (1) In the Bruges data, "Mathys" is the most common form, followed by "Matheus," "Matthys," and "Mattheus." It appears that forms with one "t" are more common than those with two.
> 2.1 Which capitalization seems more likely to you?
The uncapitalized "van" shows up much more often than the capitalized "Van."
> 2.2 In which of the seventeen provinces was Antwerp?
Antwerp is one of the four major cities of Brabant, but it was largely autonomous during your period. The government of Antwerp has been of interest to modern historians and there is a good deal of information available on the city.
> 2.3 Were Flemish and Dutch distinguished during this period? If so,
> were there other Low Country languages as well?
This question was answered by Walraven van Nijmege:
"In the southern provinces, French was the primary language (eg. Artois and Namur); Saxon has been a significant minority language in the northeast. The northern provinces (eg. Groningen, Drenthe) were Frisian, a language closer to English than to Dutch.
"Flemish has never been considered a separate language, and certainly not in period. The whole idea of a distinct "Flemish" culture and language was promulgated in the 1800s by patriots of the newly formed state of Belgium. In reality, British and American English as spoken today are less alike than Dutch and Flemish were in period, and there was as much regional variation in the north as between the north and south. The biggest difference was the common use in "Flemish" areas of borrowed French words, an uncommon practice further north.
"Properly, the term "Flemish" in period would have referred only to the province of Flanders, and not to Brabant, Limburg, nor any other areas or people to which it is used to refer broadly at present (modern Belgium)."
> 2.4 Is this the correct spelling of Antwerp in period, in the
> language of the province in which Antwerp stood (hereafter
> referred to as Flemish, since I know no better)?
We have a reference to a "van Antwerpen" from between 1250-1400, (1) and the same spelling on some period maps. (2) The language of Antwerp was Dutch.
> 3. Extra Byname (for times when I'm surrounded by other personae from
> Antwerp :-) ): "the skinny", in Flemish.
>
> 3.1 What would "the skinny", or "the thin", or whatever, be in Flemish?
There are several possibilities for words that mean "skinny" or "thin."
One is "Maghere" (3) or "de Magere," (1) which is a relative of the English "meager." It means "thin," but we're fairly sure it has the connotation of "scrawny." Another possibility is "Lankbeen" or "long-leg," which might be appropriate for someone who is skinny and tall. Finally, there is "de Lange" or "Langhe," meaning "the long" (which has the implication "tall"). (1,4,5)
> 5. Arms: Quarterly, Or and Vert (or Vert and Or).
>
> 5.1 Can this possibly not conflict? I couldn't find anything in the
> Ordinary, but I'm probably just doing something wrong.
>
> 5.2 Does it seem appropriate style for my time and place (I was going
> to try for "Per Saltaire", but couldn't find it in the roll of
> Flemish noble arms)?
We didn't find any arms which conflict with yours, and we think they're quite good--"quarterly Or and vert" is such a simple design that it's appropriate for anywhere in Europe. Vert is a rare color in medieval heraldry, but it's more common in the Low Countries than in most other places (one study finds it in 4% of medieval Flemish arms, which is a greater percentage than any country but France). When it is used, it's often found with Or. (6) There are only a few arms with a simple quarterly field, but there are enough that we believe "Quarterly Or and vert" would be great arms for your persona.
> Extra questions, as if the above weren't enough:
>
> 1. Was Latin "Name Translation" still common by this period? If so,
> could you provide me the Latin for the names above? If not, how about
> the Old Norse? :-)
It's not clear how common Latinization was for your period, and we would recommend sticking with the original forms--even if Latinized forms were used in writing, the Dutch forms would have been used in daily use. If you'd like to use a Latin name from time to time, the appropriate translations are
> 2. Does "Gauchy" in the Brughes name list mean "Left Handed"?
Probably not. "Gauchy" is a French surname of locative origin. We also looked up the surnames Gauchey, Gauchez, Gauchier, and Gauche, which all derive from given names. "Gauche" occassionally might mean "left-handed," but it's not common. In period Dutch (and many other languages), "left-handed" is a synonym for "clumsy."
> 3. Do you like the period/namédevice above? Have I avoided clich/e?
We love it, and we wish everyone in the SCA had your interested in medieval heraldry and names. We're delighted to be able to help.
Walraven van Nijmege, Rouland Carre, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, AElfwyn aet Gyrwum, and Margaret MacDuibhsidhe contributed to this letter.
In service,
Alan Fairfax
Academy of S. Gabriel
(1) Beele, W. "Studie van de Ieperse Persoonsnamen uit de Stadsen Baljuwsrekeningen 1250-1400"
(2) Schilder, G. "Monumenta Cartographica Neerlandica"
(3) Debranbandere. "Kortrijkse Naamkunde 1200-1300, met een kumulatief familienamenregister"
(4) van der Velden, G. M. "Het Oudste Cijnregister van de Abdij van Berne uit 1376"
(5) Verdam, J. "Middelnederlandsch Handwoordenboek"
(6) Pastoreau, M. "Traité d'Héraldique."