Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 746

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/746

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

Greetings,

Here are our ideas for a set of arms for a Swabian from the 13th century.

Your original arms suggestion was a sword and a bishop's crook crossed on a gold background. We tried to come up with designs that kept close to that, and we also thought about your chosen name, "Cu:nradus dictus Howenschilt."

The most obvious variation of your initial design is two black swords crossed on a gold background. (This is blazoned "Or, two swords in saltire sable.") This is an acceptable design but we wouldn't recommend it for several reasons:

Crossed items are very common in the SCA, but fairly unusual in medieval heraldry. Although your design is historically accurate, it's something of an "SCA cliche."
Many SCA fighters put swords on their devices to say, "I'm a warrior," but this wasn't very common in your period (most of the people who used coats of arms in the 13th century fought, at least in tournaments). Thus, swords are found much more in SCA heraldry than in medieval heraldry.
Finally, this design is similar to the badge of the SCA marshallate, which is two gold swords crossed on black. Although the two designs don't conflict, there could be some confusion.

None of these things are prohibitive--two black swords crossed on a gold field is a historical design, and as far as we can tell it is different enough from the armory protected by the SCA that you could register it. However, because your name "Howenschilt" means "hew the shield" and your persona is an axe-man, we thought that axes might be more appropriate. Thus, we suggest that you use three upright black axes on a gold field. This would be blazoned "Or, three axes sable." You could also use three upright black swords on a gold field, which would be "Or, three swords sable." We couldn't find any other armory which would keep you from registering either of these designs.

Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, Zenobia Naphtali, Aryanhwy Prytydes merch Catmael Caermyrdin, Naitan de Yerdeburc, Margaret MacDuibhsidhe, and Elsbeth Anne Roth 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