ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 923 http://www.s-gabriel.org/923 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Later research turned up additional * * information relevant to this report. * * See the end of the letter for details. * * * ************************************************* From: 22 May 1998 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked us about a Polish name contemporary with the Battle of Grunwald (circa 1410). Specifically, you asked us about the given name or ; the bynames and ; and the use of a second byname meaning "the Bold". You also asked us about your proposed arms: "Gules, a chevron argent, overall a mastiff's head affronty sable", and about some uniquely Polish charges and styles. We'll cover these questions in this order. You are correct that is the standard Polish form of the name, but note the '/' in the last syllable. This represents a slash through the preceding 'L' in the name, and is characteristic of Polish. This letter is pronounced something like a 'W'. The name appears to be documentable for any time from the 12th to 15th centuries [1]. We found the following period forms of [2]: 1438 1486, 1498 Either of these spellings should be fine. We also found dated to 1357 [1], and the name effectively means "son of the smith" [3]. We have no specific information on multiple bynames in Polish. We cannot say they didn't exist, however we have not seen any examples in Polish or in most neighboring regions for your time period. Any of the names , , or would be fine. As for your proposed arms, your heralds were correct that such a design would have problems being registered for having a sable charge on a gules field. You are also correct that this particular color combination was not uncommon in period Polish armory. Should you decide that you simply must have a sable charge on a gules field, it would be possible to make a case that this color combination is an authentic and common pattern for Polish armory, and thereby allow registration. However, you would not only need to create a device that was free of conflict, but also find period examples stylistically close to your proposal. Be warned that this would be a great deal of work, and you might consider other ideas first. We can suggest at least one good book for such documentation: Jo/zef Szyman/ski, _Herbarz: S/redniowiecznego Rycerstwa Polskiego_ (Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, 1993) The book is in Polish (unfortunately), but has an introduction in which the Polish names of charges are clearly given in illustrated tables. The majority of the book is a documentation of the arms of families/groups back to their earliest occurrences with dates, color illustrations, and blazons in both Polish and English. Most of the armory dates to the 15th or 16th century. Based on the contents of this book, neither a chevron nor a dog's head would be ideal charges; each occurs only once in the book (and the dog's head is not affronty). If you can find a copy of this book (most easily through interlibrary loan), we recommend it as a nice picture of period Polish armory. A second, more readily available source of information (in English) is Stefan Laskowski's article in the 1989 KWHS Proceedings, _Ksiazat Polskiego Heraldika (The Chronicle of Polish Heraldry)_. If your local heralds cannot provide a copy to you, one of our members has agreed to do so. Here's a very brief summary of the relevant points: Heraldry in Poland is unlike heraldry anywhere else in Europe, both in appearance and in usage. Arms were not held by individuals, but by a ro/d, or "clan". Hundreds of families could use the same arms; but a ro/d was not familial. They were more like political parties or military alliances. The most authentic way for a Society participant with a Polish persona to use arms would probably be to choose a ro/d to which to belong and to use their arms. The majority of Polish arms are "cypher arms", consisting of a plain field bearing a single charge consisting of lines and arcs. Many of these cyphers are reminescent of runes, cattle brands, or alchemical symbols; but many are much more complex. The skeleton was often a cross (perhaps missing a limb), a circle, two or three parallel lines, or an N-shape. To this basic frame, various ornaments might be added: cruciforms, arrowheads, extra cross-bars, half circles, triangles, and so on. Many cypher arms were re-interpreted in western European heraldic terms (i.e. arcs described as crescent or horseshoes; lines with arrowheads as arrows or spears), and some Polish clans adopted the westernized versions of their arms, perhaps to make it easier to fit into greater European noble culture. Stefan does not indicate when this happened, but the 15th century armorial of the Golden Fleece includes examples of this kind of arms, so it might have begun by your period [4]. Many ro/d used totemic animals as their arms: fox, wolf, wildcat, lynx, boar, brown bear, badger, chamois, European bison, beaver, horse, bull, lion, eagle. Fantastic monsters were virtually unknown. Some families used an object as a charge: a ship, an axe, a house. In almost all cases, these arms consisted of a single charge on a plain field. Only a few tinctures and tincture combinations were used. 65% of Stephan's sample have a red field with a silver charge; 10% have a blue field with a silver or gold charge. Green and black were extremely rare. Metal fields and divided fields were unusual, and were probably arms imported to Poland by marriage or immigration. To summarize: You could design arms of your own, in which case a single argent charge or marking on a gules field would be the most likely form. Alternatively, you could use an historical set of arms as your ro/d arms, in which case you might choose simply to use them, without registering them. The aforementioned book by Szyman/ski identifies the charges you asked about. The first, pictured below at left, does not have an identical counterpart in the book, but a similar charge called a is shown below at right. This originated as a property mark and was later incorporated into Polish heraldry. There are uncrossed forms that look like arrowheads, and forms with one, two, or even one-and-a-half crossbars. Based on the descriptions, the one pictured would be blazoned as a "rogacina crossed". There are no registrations of this charge in the SCA, and should you choose to use one, you must provide ample documentation of its use in period. This can be done using Szman/ski. .-----------------. .-----------------. .-----------------. | | | | | | | . | | | | . | | |\ | | | | /|\ | | | \ | | . . | | / | \ | | | | | \ / | | | | ` --+-- ' ` \ ^ / ' ` --+-- ' ` | ' ` \ / \ / ' ` | ' ` | ' ` V V ' ` | ' \ | / \ / \ | / `. .' `. .' `. .' `-. .-' `-. .-' `-. .-' `v' `v' `v' The central charge pictured above is a , another property mark. As before, the {L/} represents a slashed-L; the {e,} represents an e with a little hook hanging down from it, indicating it is a nasal vowel. This could be considered identical to a letter 'W' for registration purposes. We appreciated your inquiry. You obviously did considerable research yourself and show interest in an area about which our Academy knew little. Your request prompted us to do some searching of our own, and will result in a Polish given names web page for others to use: http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/walraven/polish/ We hope this has been helpful, and that we can continue to assist you. Arval Benicouer, Talan Gwynek, Zenobia Naphtali, Charles O'Connor, Elsbeth Anne Roth, Teceangl Bach, and AElfwyn aet Gyrwum contributed to this letter. In service, --Walraven van Nijmegen Academy of S. Gabriel [1] Kazimierz Rymut, _Nazwiska Polako/w_ (Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy im. Ossolinskich Wydawnictwo, 1991) [2] Witold Taszycki, _Sl/ownik Staropolskich Nazw Osobowych_, 6 vols. (Wroclaw: Zaklad Narodowy Imienia Ossolin'skich Wydawnictwo Polskeij Akademii Nauk, 1965-1982) [3] Patrick Hanks & Flavia Hodges, _A Dictionary of Surnames_ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988) [4] Rosemary Pinches and Anthony Wood, _A European Armorial: An Armorial of Knights of the Golden Fleece and 15th Century Europe_ (London: Heraldry Today, 1971) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Correction, Arval, 26 Feb 2005: Corrected the author's name in note [2].