ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 904 http://www.s-gabriel.org/904 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 14 Apr 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for further information about your 13th century Scottish Gaelic woman's name and about the arms you want to use. There's not a lot we can add to our previous letter [1], but here are a few more thoughts. Before I start, I'd like to clarify the service that the Academy offers. We try to help Societyfolk in choosing and using names that fit the historical cultures they are trying to re-create. Our research can sometimes be used to support submissions to the College of Arms, but that is not our goal and our results are often incompatible with the College's needs. If your main goal is to register a particular name, then we probably cannot help you. If your goal is to choose a name that is historically appropriate to 13th century Gaelic Scotland, then I'm afraid we can't add much to the advice we gave before. If you'd like to explore Gaelic names in more depth, you can read the articles at the web page: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/celtic.html starting with "Scottish Names 101" and "Quick and Easy Gaelic Bynames." The bibliographies to these and the other articles available there will point you to other sources that you can consult. If you have specific questions, please write us again. Thanks for the more detailed description of your design for your arms. It matches one of our interpretations: "Argent, a cauldron sable issuing three flames purpure, all within a stag's massacre sable." As we wrote before, this design is probably acceptable for registration in the SCA, but is not consistent with medieval heraldic style. Framing the cauldron within the stag's antlers is simply not something that was done in period arms. Having three separate flames issuing from the cauldron is also not a motif likely to have been used in period arms; it probably would have been interpretted as a single flame. If you want to emphasize that there are exactly three flames, we recommend that you separate them, perhaps as a row of three gouts of flames side-by-side across the top of the field. For example, you might consider a design like "Argent, a cauldron sable and in chief three gouts of flames gules". This simpler design would be much closer to medieval heraldic style. I'm sorry we could not be more helpful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Zenobia Naphtali, Effric nin Kennyeoch, Teceangl Bach, Antonio Miguel Santos de Borja, and Walraven van Nijmegen. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Academy of Saint Gabriel Report http://www.panix.com/~gabriel/public-bin/showfinal.cgi?787 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -