Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 686

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 686

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/686

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 for our opinion of <Victor> or <Frank> as 14th century Viennese names, for suggestions for your surname, and for suggestions of arms related to the first quarter of the Maryland state flag. Here is what we have found.

We have no sources specifically covering Austrian names, but we have several German name sources, including one by Ernst Schwarz [1] that focusses on the Sudetenland, which can provide you with reasonable guidance. Schwarz does not list <Victor>, though we do have record of that name in 12th century Germany [2]. <Frank> appears not to have been in use in your period [2]. Working from Schwarz's data, we have compiled a short list of some of the more common given names in your period. In the following list, the common modern form of the name is given in parentheses at the end of the list to help identify the name. The other names are spellings appropriate to your period [1].

Nycklaus, Nyclas, Nickel, Nytsche (Nicholas) Hannus, Hensel (Johann, Hans)
Petir, Peter
Chunrat, Kuncz, Kuncze, Chunczlin (Conrad) Jekel, Jeklin (?)
Mathias
Andreas
Arnold
Fridlin, Fridel, Vridil, Ffridl, Friczko (Friderich)

In your period, few people in Central Europe were using inherited surnames. Most people used descriptive bynames of one kind or another. Your byname could be a patronymic, which identifies your father: <Mathias Nyclassohn>. It could be a geographic phrase, describing where you live or where you were born: <Chunrat von Gruenthal> "Chunrat from Green Valley". It could an occupational term, <Petir Schmidt> "Peter Smith", or a simple description, <Fridel Schwarz> "Fridel Black". Since you wish to focus your persona on your profession as a university instructor, you might want to use an occupational term appropriate to that profession. The best choice that we found is <Schuler> variously meaning "teacher", "scholar, one who studies", and "student". Schwarz cites several 14th century examples [1]:

<Ulreich der Schuler> 1340-50
<Heinricus Scolaris> 1343
<Petrus dictus Schuler> 1364
<Hanussius Schular> 1396

These examples also show three different ways that occupational bynames were used in your period. Other possibilities include:

<Schreiber> "writer" 1404 [1]
<Clericus> "cleric, clerk" 1290 [3]

Putting things together, we think that <Victor Schular> is a plausible name for your persona, but that it would be better to use a given name which is documented closer to 14th century Vienna. Any of the names we've listed above would be a good choice, e.g. <Fridel der Schuler> or <Nyclas dictus Clericus>.

The state flag of Maryland composes the arms of two English noble families, Calvert and Crosslands. Each of the two parts on its own is a fine example of medieval-style arms. You said that you are interested in the gold-and-white component, with the colors changed to red and black. There is no gold-and-white quarter in the Maryland flag; one quarter is red-and-white and the other is gold-and-black. Since you said that you aren't interested in the crosses, we assume that you are interested in the gold-and-black quarter, which can be blazoned "Paly sable and Or, a bend counterchanged."

Patterning your own arms after this design is a fine idea, but it can't be done in red-and-black. The tinctures (colorations) used in heraldry are divided into two main classes: colors (red, black, blue, and less commonly green and purple) and metals (gold/yellow and silver/white). Medieval arms generally followed a rule of design called "the rule of tinctures," which says that a color charge will not be placed on a color field, nor a metal charge on a metal field. If we divide the field into red and black stripes and counterchange a bend across it, then we have a color bend on a color field. This combination is not correct.

You might avoid this problem by using red-and-gold instead of red-and-black. "Paly gules and Or, a bend counterchanged" would be a lovely set of arms. Your arms might fit better into 14th century Austrian culture if you simplify it a bit by reducing the multiple striping to a simple vertical division of the field: "Per pale gules and Or, a bend counterchanged." You could also rotate the field division ninety degrees or use black in place of red:

Barry sable and Or, a bend counterchanged. Per fess gules and Or, a bend counterchanged.

All three designs are excellent medieval-style armory, and all appear to be clear of conflict for purposes of registration with the College of Arms.

It would not be appropriate to surmount one of these designs with another charge. The counterchanging and field divisions are already so complex that any additional charges would be inconsistent with medieval heraldic style. You don't need to add anything, though: Purely geometric arms were very common in period German heraldry.

We're not sure if your persona would have used arms. A 14th century university instructor would have been a cleric, and we wonder if such a person would have used arms. We don't know the answer to this question, but we think it is an important issue for your re-creations.

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 Talan Gwynek, Lothar von Katzenellenbogen, and Zenobia Naphtali.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Schwarz, Ernst, _Sudetendeutsche Familiennamen aus vorhussitischer

Zeit_ (Koeln: Blehlau Verlag, 1957).

[2] Bahlow, Hans, Deutsches Namenlexikon : Familien- und Vornamen nach

Ursprung und Sinn erklaert (Frankfurt am Main : Suhrkamp Taschenbuch Verlag, 1985, 1990).

[3] Brechenmacher, Josef Karlmann, _Etymologisches Worterbuch der deutschen

familiennamen_ (Limburg a. d. Lahn, C. A. Starke-Verlag, 1957-1960).