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Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!
You asked for information about the use of the name <Ysabeau> in late-period French, about the surname <Lambert>, and about arms in blue and gold with an angel as the central charge. Here is what we have found.
You asked about <Ysabeau> and the alternate spellings <Ysabiau> and <Isabeau>. According to our sources, the spellings with an initial 'Y' were predominant in the 13th century [1]. <Ysabiau>, in particular, is an Old French spelling, which was probably not used much past the 14th century, and was probably pronounced \EES-a-byow\. By the last centuries of our period, the <-beau> spelling supplanted <-biau> and 'I' replaced 'Y' as the initial letter [2, 3].
The name surname <Lambert> derived from an identical given name, recorded in the 13th century [1]. The name <Ysabiau Lambert> would be a fine 13th or 14th century name; it would probably have implied that your father (or perhaps grandfather) was named <Lambert>. <Isabeau Lambert> or <Ysabeau
Lambert> would be a fine later-period French name; at this time, <Lambert>
could still have named your father, but the later you get, the more likely
that it would have been a true surname.
Angels are not very common charges in period armory, but they were occasionally used. An early 15th century English family named <Brangor> or <Berenger> bore "Gules, an angel standing erect with hands conjoined an elevated on the breast habited in a long robe girt argent wings displayed Or" [4]. Another example from that period is recorded as the arms of the king of <Hyspie>; those arms contain a demi-angel [5]. Saint Michael appears in the arms of the city of Brussels, "Gules, an angel or treading beneath his feet the devil sable" [6].
Quite a few angels have been registered in Society arms, so it should cause no trouble if you want to submit one. In your colors, there is one very simple, elegant possibility: "Or, an angel affronty azure" (a blue angle standing and facing front, on a gold background). The reversed coloring, a gold angel on a blue field, would also be lovely arms, but would be too similar to existing Society arms to be registerable.
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, Alison MacDermot, Lothar von Katzenellenbogen, Elsbeth Anne Roth, and Zenobia Naphtali.
For the Academy,
Arval Benicoeur
References
[1] Colm Dubh, "An Index to the Given Names in the 1292 Census of Paris",
Proceedings of the Known World Heraldic Symposium 1996 (SCA: Montgomery, Alabama).
[2] Dauzat, Albert, _Dictionnaire Etymologique des Noms de Famille et
Prenoms de France_ (Paris: Libraire Larousse, 1987).
[3] Cateline de la Mor, Sixteenth Century Norman Names (SCA: KWHS
Proceedings, 1994; WWW: re-published 1997 by Arval Benicoeur). http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/cateline/norman16.html
[4] Papworth, John W., _Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials_, reprint
(Five Barrows Ltd., 1977).
[5] Richental, Ulrich, Das Konzil zu Konstanze, facsimile edition
(Konstanz: Jan Thorbecke Verlag, 1964), folio 131b.
[6] Neubecker, Ottfried, _Heraldry: Source, Symbols, and Meanings_
(Maidenhead, UK: McGraw-Hill Co., 1976).