Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 564

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/564

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel,

Here is the information we found about the names "Philip the Monk" and "Brother Philip" in 13th century England.

We found several forms of Philip used as a given name in the 13th

As you suspected, <Brother Philip>, when used to refer to a monk, is a name and a title, rather than a name and a byname. However, there are several examples of both <Monk> and <Brother> used as occupational bynames in the 13th century [1]:

Joh[annes] le Brothere 1286
Joh[annes] Brother 1275
Will[iam] le Brother 1279

Thom[as] Monek 1255
Joh. Monk 1297
Will. Munc 1222
Joh. le Monek 1285
Matild le Monek[!] 1294
Will. Monke 1229
Petr. Monek 1296
Walt. le Monek 1243
Rob. Monek 1275
Ad. le Munke 1285

Combining any of these forms of Philip with any these forms of Brother or Monk should yield a reasonable 13th century name for a monk.

You had also asked about arms similar to your wife's, which are "Per pale sable and Or ten crosses botonny counterchanged" but with a flute in there somewhere. You suggested "Per pale sable and Or a cross botonny counterchanged on a chief indented vert, a flute fesswise argent."

It is unlikely that a monk, unless he were an abbot, would display arms; if you are trying for a reasonably authentic persona, then you would not display arms either. By the 13th century, a monk would not have been married either, so your persona should not bear arms that suggest that he is married.

Married people did not display the same arms in the Middle Ages. If the wife used arms at all, she would display her own arms which were her father's arms or a slight variation. In fact, if a man and a woman displayed very similar arms, then the implication was that they were brother and sister, not husband and wife. But fortunately, the arms you have chosen are not heraldically very similar to your wife's arms. The primary charges in her arms are the set of crosses, and the primary charge in your arms is the flute. By the standards of medieval heraldry, that is enough to eliminate any suggestion of familial relationship between the bearers of these two designs.

While your proposed design contains some good elements, it is far too complex to be a good recreation of 13th century arms. We suggest reducing the number of tinctures and eliminating the charged chief. There are several reasonable designs that use the remaining elements. Designs with the flute include:

• Sable, 3 flutes palewise 2 and 1 argent (In this case, each flute extends past the middle of the shield)
• Sable, in pale (2 or 3) flutes fesswise argent
• Sable, in fess (2 or 3) flutes palewise argent
• Sable, (2 or 3) flutes in pile argent (2 objects in pile are arranged in a V shape, running from near the top of the shield to near the bottom point. With 3 objects in pile, the third object is palewise in the center.)

Note that we have not found any examples of flutes used in Anglo-Norman heraldry, though we have found examples of other musical instruments. This suggests that eliminating the flute from your arms would result in more historically correct arms for your period. Designs that don't use the flute include:

• "Per pale sable and argent, a cross bottony"
• "Sable, a chief indented argent,"
• "Per pale sable and Or, a chief indented argent."

Talan Gwnyek, Tangwystyl verch Morgraunt Glawvryn, Arval d'Espas Nord, Zenobia Naphtali, and Evan da Collaureo helped write this letter.

We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.

Yours in service,
Margaret Makafee
Academy of Saint Gabriel

[1] Thuresson, Bertil, Middle English Occupational Terms. Lund: Sweden, 1968