ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 970 http://www.s-gabriel.org/970 *********************************** ************************************************* * * * NOTE: Some of the Academy's early reports * * contain errors that we haven't yet * * corrected. Please use it with caution. * * * ************************************************* 18 May 1998 From: (Josh Mittleman) Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You asked for our opinion of as a 12th to 14th century English name, and of your design for your arms. Here is what we have found. Your name fits your persona pretty well, though we have not found the family name in use in England. was in use throughout your period [1], but we have only found evidence of in France. was Grand Master of the Knights Templar in France in the late 13th century, and was executed in 1314 after the king of France quashed the order [2]. The name was not unique to him, of course: There are several places in France called , , or , and many people were called [3, 4]. It is possible that a family of this name made its way to England in your period, but we can't find evidence that it happened. Your proposed arms can be blazoned "Per fess gules and sable, a crescent abased Or surmounted by a sword and in chief tree annulets argent." As it stands, this design is not particularly likely to have existed in your period; but with a couple changes, it would be fit your persona reasonably well. Overlapping on charge with another was quite rare in period armory, especially in Britain and France. We therefore suggest that you drop either the sword or the crescent. This change would have the additional benefit of reducing the number of different charges in your design. Most early English armory was quite simple, containing only one or two types of charge. The divided field is also quite unusual in early English armory. When medieval heraldic designers used divided fields, they tended to use high-contrast color combinations (red and gold, black and white) rather than lower-contrast combinations (red and black); and they tended to make the divided field itself the primary visual element of the design rather than adding charges on top of it. If you want the sword and annulets to be the most important visual element in your design, then it would be better to place them on a single-colored field. A design like "Gules, a sword and in chief three annulets argent" would be a fine choice for your period. As you think about designing your arms, you may want to take the opportunity to look at a collection of pictures of English arms from your period. We can recommend an excellent book for that purpose: Joseph Foster, _The Dictionary of Heraldry_ (New York: Arch Cape Press, 1989). It contains several thousand color drawings of period British arms. This book is often available remaindered or used in bookstores and many Society heralds own copies. It's out of print, but you may also be able to get a copy from amazon.com. You might also want to read Compleat Anachronist #22 "Heraldry", which provides an introduction to medieval heraldic design. I hope this letter has been useful. 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 Alan Fairfax, Margaret Makafee, Giulietta da Venezia, Walraven van Nijmegen, Daniel of Tweed, and Zenobia Maphtali. For the Academy, Arval Benicoeur 9 May 1998 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - References [1] Withycombe, E.G., _The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names_, 3rd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), s.n. Edward. [2] "Molay, Jacques de" Britannica Online [Accessed 10 May 1998] http://www.eb.com:180/cgi-bin/g?DocF=micro/399/42.html [3] Morlet, Marie-Therese, _Dictionnaire E/tymologique des Noms de Famille_ (Librairie Acade/mique Perrin, 1997), s.n. Molay. [4] Dauzat, Albert & Ch. Rostaing, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Lieux de la France_ (Paris: Librairie Larousse, 1963), s.n. Moulay. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -