ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 3362 http://www.s-gabriel.org/3362 ************************************ 17 Oct 2008 From: Bronwyn ferch Gwyn ap Rhys Greetings from the Academy of St. Gabriel! You asked for our help designing a name and arms for a character in a children's novel, a nobleman in the court of King Louis VI of France. Your choice for a name is Renaud, Comte Feuille d'Argent. You have specified that you would like this name and title to be historically accurate langue d'oil for that period. You also said that you had given him a coat of arms consisting of a "field of gold (yellow)" and "a tree with silver (white) leaves under which a lion (representing King Louis VI is resting." This coat, you said, was given to him by the king for service rendered; and that by placing white on yellow it would make it a coat d'enque/rir, but you weren't sure whether that was appropriate. Please note that in letter we use "/" to represent an acute accent over the previous letter. We'll discuss the name and title first and, after that, then the armory. THE NAME: France, today, is a unified country with a common language. As you know, this was not true in the time of Louis VI (reigned 1108-1137 [1]): in those days, what is now France was home to at least four languages, each spoken in a range of dialects. The most significant division was between the langue d'oil dialects, spoken roughly in the northern half of what is now France which is also referred to as "Old French", and the langue d'oc dialects, spoken in the south and called usually Old Occitan or Old Provenc,al ( represents the c-cedilla). At http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Langues_d%27o%C3%AFl.PNG you can see a map showing the region in which langue d'oil (or Old French) dialects were spoken. As you have noted in correspondence, the words of the title are modern French; so, however, is the name . Thus, both require adjustment if they are to match the Old French of c. 1100. The name comes ultimately from a name of Germanic origin whose original form was something like . In the Frankish dialects spoken in what is now France this, in due course, evolved into and then eventually into forms Latinized as , , , etc., and, finally into . [2,3] At this time, most documents were written in Latin, and the names appear in Latinized forms. We were, however, fortunate enough to find an Old French poem written just a bit later than your period of interest - around 1174 - in which the name appears numerous times as . [4,5] This is nominative case, i.e., the way it is used as the subject of a sentence and in direct address. Therefore, is the form that we recommend. THE TITLE: The title raises two separate questions. First, how would it have been written in Old French c. 1100? And, second, were titles of this type actually in use at that period? The first question is fairly easily dealt with. The Old French word for "count" is , is found as early as c. 1050. [7] It was also frequently spelled , which is actually the more common spelling in the 12th century poem mentioned above. [8] It is a masculine noun, and therefore requires the Old French masculine definite article,
  • . Therefore, "the count" is
  • or
  • . [9] Modern French "leaf" is from Latin , the plural of , "a leaf; a petal". In the earliest extant examples, from 1160, it already appears in several different forms, including the modern. [10, 11, 12] The noun is feminine with only one form. Since the feminine singular definite article was , "the leaf" is . [13, 14] , "silver", has changed very little in spelling since the earliest Old French; the Old French oblique case is and the nominative . [15, 16] As in modern French, the prepositional phrase , "of silver" was used to describe an object made of silver, so "the silver leaf" is . [17, 18] While the individual words aren't a problem, we have unfortunately found no historical titles that are stylistically comparable to , "Count Silverleaf." Typical constructions are
  • , "the count Reinalz,"
  • , "the count of Flanders",
  • , "the count Phelipes of Flanders", or , "Raimonz the count of Toulouse." [21, 22, 23] The closest we've found are a few literary conceits like
  • "the knight of the cart," which is how Chretien de Troyes refers to Lancelot in the poem that often goes by that name. [24] The forms, (li) cuens Reinalz de la foille d'argent and "Reinalz li cuens de la foille d'argent" are grammatically correct for your period, but so far as we can discover,they are not historically plausible as real-world titles. There is, however, some *literary* precedent for referring to the character both by the historically authentic form <(li) cuens Reinalz> ([the] count Reinalz) and more romantically as
  • (the count of the silver leaf), though probably not for using the two forms simultaneously. THE ARMORY: In strictly historic accuracy, your period is too early for coats of arms. The use of individual coats of arms appears to have been developed gradually between about 1120 and 1160. There is no sign of true armory in the Bayeux tapestry, which was produced in the period 1080-1100. The earliest depiction that can be securely dated is what seems to be a genuine coat of arms (as distinct from a decorated shield) is on a seal for Raoul de Vermandois, the Seneschal of France, which is attached to a charter dated 1146. [25] In fact, it is likely that Louis VII, son and successor of Louis VI, was probably the first king to use a coat of arms: a blue field strewn with gold fleurs-de-lis. [26] A subtler historical inaccuracy is the manner in which Renaud/Reinalz acquires his arms: the first known grant of arms was made in the 1330's. Up to that time, the only ways to acquire a coat of arms were through inheritance or by taking the coat as one's own. If the bestowal of a coat of arms by Louis VI is an essential plot point, the best you can do at this point is design arms that serve the story and at worst a few decades too early for historical accuracy. As we have previously said, the earliest coats mostly use geometric elements, but the lion does appear by the 1160s. [28] To our knowledge, there are no examples of trees before the 13th century, and depictions of leaves are almost as late, but we do have an example of lime-leaves from 1254. [29] A serviceable modern drawing can be seen here: http://perso.numericable.fr/briantimms2/vermandois/images/Vorst.gif Perhaps the best you can do without straying too far from the original conception is to make the lion the central charge on a field strewn with silver leaves. The earliest lions are almost always rampant, as in this enamel effigy from the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, now usually dated to the 1160s: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/12/Geoffrey_of_Anjou_Monument .jpg The few definite exceptions that we've found are literary, rather than historical, so we recommend that you make the lion rampant. In case you want to specify the type of leaves, we recommend lime leaves. It only remains to specify the tinctures of the field, lion, and leaves. You had proposed silver (white) on gold (yellow) so as to make it a "coat d'enque/rir." [The usual terms seem to be "armes a\ enque/rir", "armes a\enquerre", and "armes a\ enque/rir." [30, 31, 32] The classic example of such a coat is the arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem, with gold crosses on a white field, but we have not found any mention of such a coat before the mid-13th century. [33] Indeed, the notion that low-contrast tincture combinations violating the so-called rule of tincture were sometimes deliberately used to draw attention to the arms and provoke questions seems to be a relatively late invention of the heralds, perhaps to explain the existence of the handful of exceptional coats. The overwhelming majority of early armory follows the rule of tincture, and it would be much more authentic to have Renaud/Reinalz's arms do so as well, especially considering their mere existence is problematic. The arms of France have, from their earliest appearance, been blue and gold, and you definitely want the leaves to be silver, so we suggest a gold lion rampant on a blue field strewn with silver leaves. In modern English heraldic terminology, this coat has the blazon (i.e., technical heraldic description): "Azure, semy of lime leaves argent, a lion rampant Or." You may find a drawing of these arms at http://www.s-gabriel.org/3362. I hope that this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it is unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted by Clare Baldock, Misty D. Blagg, Brian M. Scott, Julia Smith, Sara L. Uckelmen, Kathy Van Stone, Ursula Whitcher, Melissa Barton, Rachel Gray, Bernard Anlage IV, and Jennifer Todd. For the Academy, Bronwyn Noble 5 Oct 2008 References [1] 'Louis VI of France' (WWW: Wikipedia, 30 August 2008). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_VI_of_France [2] Morlet, Marie-The/re\se, _Les Noms de Personne sur le Territoire de l'Ancienne Gaule du VIe au XIIe Sie\cle_, three volumes (Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1968, 1972, 1985), I:183b, 184a. [3] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987), s.n. . [4] Walberg, Emmanuel, ed. _'La Vie de Saint Thomas Becket' by Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence_ (Paris: Honore/Champion, 1936); electronic edition digitized by Sia^n Pilborough and Michael Beddow (WWW: The Anglo-Norman On- Line Hub, 2002-3); p. 170. http://www.anglo-norman.net/texts/becket-contents.html [5] 'Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence' (WWW: Wikipedia.org, 1 June 2008) http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guernes_de_Pont-Sainte-Maxence [6] The modern name actually descends from the other grammatical form of the name, the oblique case ,which was used for direct and indirect objects, objects of prepositions, and the like. Eventually, it ousted the nominative , but in the early Old French of your period the distinction was still maintained. Still, using instead of would be taking a relatively small liberty if you decided that readers might find a little too odd for comfort. [7] Petit Robert s.v. . is the nominative case; the modern word is descended from , the oblique case. [8] Walberg, op. cit. A search for 'cuens' returns two matches; for , fifteen. [9] Greimas, Algirdas Julien, _Dictionnaire de l'ancien franc,ais Paris: Larousse, 1997):
  • (II). [10] Robert, Paul, _Le Petit Robert 1: Dictionnaire alphabe/tique et analogique de la langue franc,ais_ (Paris: Le Robert, 1985). . [11] Greimas, op. cit. s.v. . [12] Pope, M.K., _From Latin to Modern French_ (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1966), Section 410. [13] Ibid., Section 801. [14] Greimas, op. cit. s.v. (III). [15] Ibid. s.v. . [16] Pope, op. cit., Section 798. [17] Walberg, op cit. line 5669. [18] The apostrophe in is modern; at the time, it would have been run together as a single word, . An example may be seen in line 566 of 'Erec et Enide', written by Chretien de Troyes around 1165, in the early or mid-13th century copy preserved in the manuscript BnF, fr. 794. [19] Chre/tien de Troyes. 'Erec et Enide', transcribed by Carleton W. Carroll from ms. C (BnF fr. 794) (WWW: Laboratoire de franc,ais ancien, Universite/ d'Ottawa Faculte/ des Arts, 2 May 2008). http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/lfa/activites/textes/Erec/index.htm [20] Uitti, Karl D. 'Background Information on Chre/tien de Troyes's _Le Chevalier de la Charrette_ (WWW: Karl D. Uitti, 22 January 1997). This has information on the date of composition of 'Erec et Enide' and on BnF, fr. 794. http://www.princeton.edu/~lancelot/romance.html [21] Walberg, op. cit., lines 1874 and 6063. [22] Chre/tien de Troyes. 'Le Conte du Graal (Perceval)', transcribed by Pierre Kunstmann from B.N. fr. 794 (ms. A)(WWW: Laboratoire de franc,ais ancien, Universite/ d'Ottawa Faculte/ des Arts, 9 November 1999); line 13. http://www.uottawa.ca/academic/arts/lfa/activites/textes/perceval/cgrpres.htm [23] Guillame de Tyr. _Historia rerum in partibus transmarinis gestarum_ at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook (WWW: Paul Halsall, September 1998); Book 1, Chapter XVII. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/GuillaumeTyr1.html [24] Chre/tien de Troyes. 'Le Chevalier de la Charrette' at The Princeton Charrette Project (WWW: Trustees of Princeton University, 2006); lines 24, 877, 2731, and 2803. http://www.princeton.edu/~lancelot/ss/ Click on 'Figura TG' in the menu under 'INTERACTIVE'; click on 'Episodes' in the menu at the top of the Figura page; and enter the desired line number as 'Start line'. [25] Pastoureau, Michel. _Traite/ d'He/raldique_, 2nd ed. (Paris: grands manuels Picard, 1993); pp. 31, 298-301. [26] Tremlett, Thomas Daniel. 'The Matthew Paris Shields, ca.1244-59', in Aspilogia II, Rolls of Arms, Henry III (London: Society of Antiquaries, 1967); pp. 12, 14. [27] Velde, Franc,ois. 'Right to Bear Arms' (WWW: Franc,ois Velde, 21 May 2004) http://heraldica.org/topics/right.htm [28] Velde, Franc,ois. 'Origins of Armory' (WWW: Franc,ois Velde, 3 September 1999), summarizing in English the discussion in [25]. [29] Brault, Gerard J. _Early Blazon_, 2nd edn. (Woodbridge, Suffolk: The Boydell Press, 1997); svv. , , . [30] Velde, Franc,ois. 'The Rule of Tincture' (WWW: Franc,ois Velde, n.d.). [31] Parker, James. _A Glossary of Terms Used in Heraldry_ (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1970 [1894]); p. 16. [32] Woodward, John, and George Burnett. _Woodward's A Treatise on Heraldry_ (Rutland, Vermont: Charles E. Tuttle Co., Inc., 1969 [1891]); p. 729. [33] Tremlett, op. cit., p. 12.