Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 836

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 836

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/836

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

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You asked us about <Edrick Fletcher> as a possible name for a person in Wales between 1000 and 1550. You also asked about ideas for a coat of arms.

To begin answering your questions in reverse order, we would suggest a coat of arms that "cants" on the name <Fletcher>; canting is the practice of creating a visual play on the name of the person who bore the arms. In this case, we would recommend a device incorporating arrows, arrowheads, or sheaves (bundles) of arrows. Arrows and arrowheads would typically be drawn with point downwards, rather than upwards.

Beyond this, it would be difficult for us to make specific suggestions without more information, but here are some designs that would be good heraldic style, and appear free of conflicts within the SCA:

Gules, three sheaves of arrows Or.
(red background with three yellow bundles of three arrows each) Argent, a sheaf of arrows sable.
(white background with one black bundle of arrows) Argent, three pheons azure.
(white background with three blue arrowheads) Ermine, three pheons azure.
(same as above, but with black ermine spots all over the background)

As for the name <Edrick Fletcher>, the short answer is that the name is reasonable for an Englishman living in Wales during that time, but probably not for a native Welshman. However, the proper spelling of the name needs a bit more explanation.

<Eadric> is an Old English name recorded in several spellings before 1300; it appears that the name was not used after this date [1,2,3]. The most likely non-Latinized form of the name in the 12th and 13th c. is simply <Edric>:

<{AE}dricus> 1112, 1186
<Adricus> 1121-48
<Edricus> 1170, 1185, 1186-88, 1228; <Edrichus> 1214
<Edric> 1219
<Eddricus> 1275
<Eadric> 1221
<Edrich> 1275
<Edericke> 1275

<Fletcher> is an occupational byname, indicating that the person makes arrows. We found several forms contemporary to the name <Edric> [2]:

<Robert le Flecher> 1203
<William Flecher> 1203
<Peter le flechier> 1227

In general, it seems as though the 't' was not present in the word <Fletcher> before 1300, when the name <Edric> was still in use. We would therefore recommend <Edric le Flecher> or <Edric Flecher> as the most appropriate spelling for your name.

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

Zenobia Couronne Rouge, Talan Gwynek, Arval Benicoeur, and Daniel of Tweed contributed to this letter.

In service,
--Walraven van Nijmegen
Academy of S. Gabriel

[1] Bo Selten, _The Anglo-Saxon Heritage in Middle English Personal

Names_, Vols.1&2 (Lund, Sweden: Royal Society of Letters at Lund, 1979).

[2] P.H.Reaney & R.M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_

(London: Routledge, 1991; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995).

[3] The {AE} represents the "ash", a letter which looks like an 'A' and

'E' combined together.