Period or Not . . . Holiday Names

In several countries (but particularly in England), it was common practice to name children for holidays.  It is believed that these given names were applied to children born on these particular days, but that’s not certain.  Examples of documentable period given names based on holidays include:

Christmas[i]

Noel[ii], Noelle[iii] or Nowell[iv]

Pentecost[v]

Easter[vi]

Pascall[vii] or Pascual[viii]

The English also had a large number of surnames for people born on or near certain holy days or holidays.  Examples of documentable English surnames based on holidays include:

Christmas[ix], Cristemesse[x] or de Cristemasse[xi]

Noel[xii], Nowel[xiii] or Nowell[xiv]

Yule[xv], Yoel[xvi] or Youle[xvii]

Midwinter[xviii]

Midsumer[xix]

Candelmes[xx] (for someone born on Candlemas)

Paskes[xxi] (for someone born on Easter)

Myglemas[xxii] (for someone born on Michaelmas)

---

[i] Christmas Pell; Female; Christening; 22 Dec 1594; Quadring, Lincoln, England; Batch: C03102-2 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JQR9-K4R)

[ii] Found as a given name in English, Scots, Dutch and French sources, including “French Names from Paris, 1421, 1423, & 1438” by Sara Uckelman (SCA: Aryanhwy merch Catmael) (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/french/paris1423.html)

[iii] “Names from Antwerp, 1443-1561” by Sara L. Uckelman and Kym Banoczi (SCA: Aryanhwy merch Catmael and Kymma Godric) (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/dutch/plaiser.html).

[iv] “Index of Names in the 1582 Subsidy Roll of London” by Sara Uckelman (SCA: Aryanhwy merch Catmael) (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/english/engmasclondon1582.html)

[v] Dated to 1221 and later in C.W.E. Bardsley, Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature, p. 98.

[vi] Dated to 1595 in Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature, p. 96.

[vii] Dated to 1553 and later in Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature, p. 96.

[viii] “16th Century Spanish Names” by Kathy Van Stone (SCA: Elsbeth Ann Roth) (http://heraldry.sca.org/names/spanish/male-given-alpha.html)

[ix] Tannekyn Christmas; Female; Burial; 10 Apr 1561; St. Botolph Aldgate, London, England; Batch: B02101-3 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NRX4-R6L)

[x] Dated to 1185 and 1191 in P.H. Reaney & R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Christmas

[xi] “Middle English Bynames in Early Fourteenth-Century London” by Sara Uckelman (SCA: Aryanhwy merch Catmael) (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/english/bynames1319.pdf), p. 72.

[xii] Dated to 1155 in A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Noel

[xiii] Dated to 1248 in A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Noel

[xiv] Dated to 1587 in C.W.E. Bardsley, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, s.n. Nowell

[xv] George Yule; Male; Marriage; 23 Jun 1589; Polstead, Suffolk, England; Batch: M06302-2 (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NLMR-NYN)

[xvi] Dated to 1297 in A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Youle

[xvii] Dated to 1379 in A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Youle

[xviii] Dated to c. 1248 in A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Midwinter

[xix] Dated to 1224 in A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Midwinter

[xx] Dated to 1379 in A Dictionary of English Surnames, s.n. Christmas

[xxi] “Middle English Bynames in Early Fourteenth-Century London” (http://www.ellipsis.cx/~liana/names/english/bynames1319.pdf), p. 77.

[xxii] Dated to 1547 in A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, s.n. Michaelmas

Another not-award text

The Carolingian Company of Calivers  (yes, Calivers.  Not Calipers.  Or Cavaliers) is a melee unit headed up by +Justin Aucoin.  As with the Commander of the Rapier Army from Pennsic, +Brennan mac Fearghus wanted to acknowledge them without necessarily giving them an SCA award.  So I wrote up this:

Manifesting our royal pleasure for the establishing of companies for the practice of arms in defence of the Realm, and having understood and been credibly informed that the Carolingian Calivers have studied the arts of warfare and practiced those same arts with exceptional and notable diligence during the late Pennsic War; therefore We, Brennan, King of the East, do now, as a mark of our singular favor, give, grant and accord to the company aforenamed license as the King’s Own Company of Calivers, with the right and privilege to bear arms and weapons in the Royal Presence, and freedom from all rents, taxes and monetary duties otherwise appertaining, the said rights, licenses, privileges and freedoms to be observed for the duration of our reign.  Done at [place] upon [date].


This was given out yesterday to the now King's Own Company of Calivers.

License to raise, equip and train troops.

Last Friday, the night before his Coronation (or possibly the very early morning of his Coronation, I'm a little hazy on the precise time), +Brennan mac Fearghus sat down with me and said, "I want to give Malocchio a thing, but not a Thing, you know what I mean?"   Translated out of NJ-speak, Brennan wanted to reward Don Lottieri Malocchio ( +Graham Sternberg ) for his work as commander of the Eastern Rapier Army at this past Pennsic, but did not feel right giving Malocchio an Order of Valor because Brennan was not King at Pennsic.   So he wanted me to come up with something else, preferably period, that he could do to recognize Malocchio.

What we ended up agreeing on was a License for Malocchio to raise, equip and train troops in the Crown's name.  From a couple of sources, I managed to cobble together appropriate language, and then I did a truly horrifying thing:  I calligraphed the License myself using my best attempt at 16th cen. Italian book hand.

For just getting back into calligraphy after 30 years (and that was pre-SCA for me), it only looks slightly like a monkey with a crayon.

Here's what it says:

Brennan the King.   Caoilfhionn the Queen.  Whereas all the subjects of the East are ordained to be sufficiently armed and in readiness for opposing foreign invasion and for preserving the peace; and whereas Lottieri Malocchio did make himself of great use and service as commander of the rapier army, the which service did much appall our foes; Therefore We do hereby endow him with the following rights, privileges and licenses:

Item.  The said Malocchio shall have License to raise troops in the name of the Crown and to bind such troops by contract or indenture;

Item. Each company raised by the said Malocchio shall be provided with colours and drums, and sufficient arms and provisions from the Crowns privy purse; 

Item. the said Malocchio shall have the sole right and use of Royal Lands for the practice and drill of troops hereunder raised.

The said rights, licenses and privielges to endure the length of our reign.

So declared, ordered and ordained by the imprint of our signs manual upon 10 October A.S. 50.

The notion of having drums was met with much enthusiasm on the part of the rapier contingent of the Great Northern Army.   :-)

Irish Boasts for the ascension of Brennan II and Caoilfhionn II

As part of their efforts to do a early Irish Coronation ceremony, +Brennan mac Fearghus and +Meredith Bailin Hull  wanted their herald to lead them in with boasts about each of them and their deeds.  +Murray Blehart was having a little trouble coming up with something with the right "feel" and I offered to do some research into the Irish Annals (books written recording the history of Ireland, interspersed with snippets of poetry honoring people in the news -- sort of an Irish version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle or USA Today).

For Brennan, I extracted and adapted the English translation of a poem about a dead Irish king, found in Annals of the Four Masters entry M914.10. (English version) (Gaelic version)   About 90% of the poem could be lifted directly, so with minimal editorial alterations, it became this:

Brennan, Fergus's  son, better than all children, Prince of the East, fierce his valor
It was he that ruled our people in days of good fortune and glad victory.
Flowing flood of great wealth, gift-giver, war-band leader,
Hero who subdued the Dragon, leader of the Tyger's men of august mien,
Pillar of dignity over every head, fair chief of valor, caster of the spears
Sun-flash, noble, pleasant, head of the men of hospitality is Brennan.

And that's what Malcolm proclaimed as they processed into Court to accept their Crowns from Mistress Mercedes, acting as Regent of the Kingdom.

Finding something for a female monarch was harder, but I pieced together bits and pieces from various 10th cen. Irish sources and proposed this for Caoilfhionn.

Hail, the illustrious black-haired lady of the charming face, Caoilfhionn, Faelan’s daughter,
By the hosts of people assembled is she loved, a gem of the full precious stone, 
Fair and lovely, noble in her strength; great is her renown in every good thing.
Wise woman who enforces the law upon all, glorious lady who dispenses peace all round.
Queen of the Easterners, brilliance of the sun, the sun upon her cheek.


The phrases and descriptives are all lifted from various 10th cen. sections of the Annals, but they were not combined to describe one person this way.  (Yes, "black-haired lady of the charming face" is precisely how one Annalist described a woman he was praising).  I think with another day to fiddle, I could have half-assed this one less than I did.

However, as it turned out, my proposal wasn't to Caoilfhionn's taste and it wasn't used, so the only evidence of my half-assed effort will be found here.

1460 Fealty Oath

Alexandre, Prince of Insulae Draconis ( +Jeff Berry ) put me in touch with one of his subjects (Robert de Canterbury, Visct. O.P. & Etc) who also likes playing with words and period legal documents and I've been having a fun time looking over his blog, which can be found at http://forsooth.pbworks.com/w/page/13933257/FrontPage

Among the fun things I found there was a 1460 fealty oath given by the Duke of York and the Earl of Rutland:

 Item, the said Richard duke of York, shall promise and bind him by his solemn oath, in manner and form as followeth:

In the name of God, Amen. I Richard duke of York, promise and swear by the faith and truth that I owe to almighty God, that I shall never do, consent, procure or stir, directly or indirectly, privily or openly, nor as much as in me is and shall be, suffer to be done, consented, procured or stirred, anything that may be or tend to the abridgement of the natural life of king Henry the Sixth, or to the hurt or diminishing of his reign or royal dignity, by violence or any other wise, against his freedom and liberty; but that if any person or persons, would do or presume anything to the contrary, I shall with all my power and might withstand it, and make it to be withstood as far as my power will stretch thereunto; so help me God, and these holy evangelists.

Item, Edward earl of March, and Edmund earl of Rutland, the sons of the said Richard duke of York, shall make like oath.


I am completely stealing this for Saturday  :-)  +Brennan mac Fearghus   +Meredith Bailin Hull , you've been warned.   :-)

More evidence of jointly-issued charters

SCA award texts tend to be issued jointly by the King and Queen, unless the award is specific to one Royal or another (like the East's Queen's Order of Courtesy).   As I expand my sources for period legal texts, I'm finding more and more evidence that this practice follows period examples.  Many of the examples of jointly-issued texts I'm finding right now are from the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (aka Outremer aka the Crusader Kingdoms of the Middle East), because I'm working on a large article on medieval naming practices in that region.

Here are some more specific examples, for other people interested in this field:


Ego Raimundus, Dei gratia Tripolitanus comes, et Hodierna coniunx mea, eadem gratia Tripolis comitissa, regis Iherusalem filia

I Raymond, count of Tripoli (Tripolitan count) by the grace of God, and my spouse/wife Hodierna, by that same grace countess of Tripoli, daughter of the king of Jerusalem

From a charter issued 1140 (http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/25262.html)


Notum sit omnibus presentibus et futuris, quod ego Henricus Trecensis comes palatinus assensu et voluntate domine Ysabellis, quondam regis Amalrici filie

Let it be known to all present and future that I, Henry count palatine of Troy, with the consent and will of lady Isabella, daughter of former king Amalric

From a charter issued 1193 (http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/25248.html)


Notum sit omnibus presentibus et futuris, quod ego Aymericus dei gracia rex Ierusalem nonus et rex Cipri voluntate et assensu domine Ysabellis, uxoris mee, illustris regine et illustris quondam regis Amalrici filie

Let it be known to all present and future that I, Aimeric, by the grace of God ninth king of Jerusalem and king of Cyprus, with the will and consent of lady Isabel, my wife, illustrious queen and daughter of former illustrious king Amalric

From a charter issued 1198 (http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/25256.html)


Ego Gwido de Lysanan rex nobilis Ierosolimis et Sibilla nobilis regina, uxor mea legittima

 I, Guy of Lusignan, noble king of Jerusalem, and Sibylla noble queen, my legitimate wife

From a charter issued 1186 (http://epistolae.ccnmtl.columbia.edu/letter/25234.html)

Collin Monro's Pelican Scroll

Yet another 16th cen. Scots text, this time for +Collin Monro  And, for the record, this is 156 words.

Darius, Kyng of the Eest & Etheldreda the Quene, to all and syndrie our liegeis and subditis quhom it effeiris, to quhais knawlege thir oure lettres sall cum, greting.  For the gudis, trew and thankfull service done by oure lovittis Collin Monro of Tadcaster, We do heirby, with the advys & matture deliberatioun of oure grete council, amplyfie, indow and indote the beforesaid Collin as a Maister of the Pellicane, commaunding the said indewment and dotatione in all tymecomeing to have the full force and strenth of perfyte securitie; and We do furthir assigne and gif by letteris patentes unto the seyd Collin sich armes in mettaill and culloure as maist deulie suld appertene to him, as heirunder is depaintit: Argent, a pithon erect and on a cheyff sabill thre Maltese crosses argent.  The quhilk armes he and his posteritie may lefullie beir without reproche.  Done at Pennsic Warre in the feftieth yeyr of the Societie.