Professional Documents
Culture Documents
A Comparative Examination
of Naming Patterns
Iris Shagrir, The Open University of Israel (irissh@openu.ac.il)
N 15 JULY 1099, the armies of the First Crusade captured Jerusalem
and established the Frankish kingdom of Jerusalem. The crusaders
responded to Pope Urban IIs call at Clermont to come to the aid of the
eastern Christians and liberate the holy places of Christendom. The crusaders who eventually became settlers and those who followed them to the
East were Latins from Western Europe who became known as Franks.
Earlier in the eleventh century, perhaps as early as the 1010s, groups
of Normans from the Duchy of Normandy in northern France began to
infiltrate southern Italy and seek their fortunes there. Initially they acted
as mercenaries in the service of local princes. They gradually emancipated
themselves and settled in strongholds along the western coastal region; in
later decades, they expanded by conquest into Apulia, Calabria, and Sicily.
60IRIS SHAGRIR
Studies of mass Latin western settlement in new areas in the eleventh and twelfth centuries have been engaged in a continuous discussion
on the extent of assimilation of the immigrating groups and the modes
of their adaptation to the new surroundings. Scholars have explored the
similarities and the differences among those which were based on ethnic or
religious conquest.1
With the creation of the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem in the wake
of the First Crusade began a continued encounter of nearly two-hundred
years between the western settlers, known as Franks, and the indigenous
population, namely Eastern Christians and Muslims, who remained the
demographic majority in the Latin kingdom until 1291. The intercultural encounter between the Latins and the indigenous communities in
Palestine and Syria included most spheres of social, institutional, and
religious life. The relationship between these groups has been the subject of an ongoing study. Recently, David Jacoby, in the conclusion of a
survey of the diverse manifestations of intercultural encounters between
the Franks and the native population of the Holy Land, stated that the
individual and collective encounter between Franks and Oriental populations in the kingdom of Jerusalem was a multi-layered and complex
phenomenon but on the whole, everyday encounters restricted only
marginally the permanent sense of alterity between the settler and
native populations.2 Recent attempts to problematize the modes of intercultural transfer have noted the considerable divergence of opinion on
the question of cultural borrowing in the Levant, and tried to develop a
1
Graham A. Loud, How Norman Was the Norman Conquest of Southern Italy?,
Nottingham Medieval Studies 25 (1981): 1334; Patrick Geary, Ethnic Identity as a Situational Construct in the Early Middle Ages, Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft
in Wien 113 (1983): 1526; Robert Bartlett, Colonial Aristocracies of the High Middle
Ages, in Medieval Frontier Societies, ed. R. Bartlett and A. Mackay (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1989), pp. 2347; Robert Bartlett, The Making of Europe: Conquest, Colonization and Cultural Change 9501350 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993), esp. pp.
197220, 22142; Hybride Kulturen im mittelalterlichen Europa: Vortrge und Workshops
einer internationalen Frhlingsschule, ed. Michael Borgolte and Bernd Schneidmller (Berlin: Akademie Verlag 2010).
2
David Jacoby, Intercultural Encounters in a Conquered Land: The Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries, in Europa im Geflecht der
Welt: Mittelalterliche Migrationen in globalen Bezgen, ed. Michael Borgolte et al. (Berlin:
Oldenbourg Akademieverlag, 2012),pp. 13354, at pp. 15354.
David Jacoby, Intercultural Encounters, pp. 13354; Benjamin Z. Kedar and Cyril
Aslanov, Problems in the Study of Trans-Cultural Borrowing in the Frankish Levant, in
Hybride Kulturen im mittelalterlichen Europa: Vortrge und Workshops einer internationalen
Frhlingsschule, ed. Michael Borgolte and Bernd Schneidmller (Berlin: Akademie Verlag,
2010), pp. 27785.
4
Graham A. Loud, Norman Traditions in Southern Italy, in Norman Tradition and
Transcultural Heritage: Exchange of Cultures in the Norman Peripheries of Medieval Europe,
ed. S. Burkhardt and T. Foerster (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2013), pp. 3556, at p. 43.
5
Joanna H. Drell, Cultural Syncretism and Ethnic Identity: The Norman Conquest
of Southern Italy and Sicily, Journal of Medieval History 25 (1999): 187202.
6
For a useful discussion of scholarly attitudes and the historiography of the question,
see Ronnie Ellenblum, Crusader Castles and Modern Histories (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 4955.
7
Bartlett, Colonial Aristocracies, p. 24.
3
62IRIS SHAGRIR
13
2008).
14
Iris Shagrir, Bynames in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, in Anthroponymie
et dplacements dans la Chrtient mdivale, Collection de la Casa de Velzquez, 115, ed.
Monique Bourin and Pascual Martnez Sopena (Madrid: Casa de Velzquez, 2010), pp.
22945.
15
Iris Shagrir, Naming Patterns in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (Oxford: The Unit
for Prosopographical Research, 2003), esp. pp. 1519.
16
Additional sources surveyed are Reinhold Rhricht, Syria Sacra, Zeitschrift des
Deutschen Palstina-Vereins 10 (1887): 149; Valeria Polonio, Notai Genovesi in Oltremare:
Atti rogati a Cipro da Lamberto di Sambuceto (1300-1301) (Genoa: Universita di Genova,
1982); Michel Balard, Notai Genovesi in Oltremare: Atti rogati a Cipro da Lamberto di Sambuceto (12961299) (Genoa: Universita di Genova, 1983); Michel Balard, Notai Genovesi
in Oltremare: Atti rogati a Cipro da Lamberto di Sambuceto (13041305, 1307) (Genoa:
Universita di Genova, 1984); Rudolf Hiestand, Papsturkunden fr Templer und Johanniter (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1972); Rudolf Hiestand, Papsturkunden fr
Kirchen im Heiligen Lande (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1985); Laura Balletto,
Fonti notarili genovesi del secondo Duccento per la storia del Regno Latino di Gerusalemme, in I Comuni Italiani nel regno crociato di Gerusalemme, ed. Gabriella Airaldi and
B.Z. Kedar (Genoa: UniversitdiGenova, 1986); Laura Balletto, Notai Genovesi in Oltremare: Atti rogati a Laiazzo (Genoa: Universita di Genova, 1989), pp. 175279.
17
This is the most common periodization in anthroponymic studies.
64IRIS SHAGRIR
The results of the statistical tests performed on the database of the
Latin kingdom were comprehensively compared with findings from Western Europe, with the double aim of determining the characteristics of Latin
society in the Holy Land, and the extent of its conformity or divergence,
compared to the settlers areas of origin in Western Europe.
The names constituting the Norman database were drawn from
the inventory compiled by Leon-Robert Mnager in 1975, and from the
additional list he compiled in 1981.18 Mnagers prosopographic inventory
was compiled for the purpose of identifying the Norman immigrants to
southern Italy according to their social and geographical area of origin, to
discover the reasons for their migration from northwestern Europe, and to
learn about the structures of their settlement. This aimed to provide a basis
for understanding the Italo-Norman phenomenon itself, and for placing it
within the context of conquest and mass migrations of Western Europeans
in the Mediterranean of the eleventh and twelfth centuries.19 The inventory uses rigorous criteria to identify all the Normans mentioned in eleventh- and twelfth-century documents, and contains about 450 personal
names.20 For convenience of comparison, this data file was also divided
into six roughly generational periods of about thirty years each: 101039,
104069, 107099, 110029, 113059, and 116099.
18
Leon R. Mnager, Inventaire des familles normandes et franques migres en Italie
mridionale et en Sicile (XIXII sicles), in Roberto il Guiscardo e il suo tempo: Relazioni e
comunicazioni nelle Prime Giornate normannosveve (Bari, Maggio, 1973) (Roma: Centro
di Ricerca Editore, 1975), pp. 260389; The additional list was compiled for the Variorum
edition of the article Additions linventaire des familles normandes et franques migres
en Italie mridionale et en Sicile, in Hommes et institutions de lItalie normande, ed. Lon R.
Mnager (London: Variorum Reprints, 1981), no. 4, pp. 260390; The additional list was
drawn from Leon R. Mnager, Recueil des actes des ducs normands dItalie, 10461127, vol.
1: Les premiers ducs (104687) (Bari: Bigiemme, 1980). These are earlier acts of the Norman
dukes of Italy, from the time of Drogo of Hauteville, count of Apulia (104651) to the time
of William, duke of Apulia and Calabria (111127). According to Mnager, no acts survived
from the time of William Bras de Fer (104246), the first Norman Count of Apulia.
19
Hommes et institutions de lItalie normande, p. ii. Mnager uses five criteria for establishing the Norman origin of an individual: a) a first name of Scandinavian origin; b) a
by-name of Norman toponymic origin; c) a Norman family name or patronymic; d) use
of the by-name Normannus; e) declaration of Norman origin. The issues of identifying
immigrants and discerning ethnic origin are discussed by Mnager in his article Pesanteur
et tiologie de la colonisation normande dItalie, in Hommes et institutions de lItalie normande, pp. 189214.
20
Donald Matthew commented on this in his book: That such low numbers grossly
misrepresent the extent of Norman, and indeed French, immigration is hardly disputable,
The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992), p. 140.
In both databases most of the individuals recorded are male adults;
as in most medieval documents of the type used in this study, womens
names are scarce. In both cases the repertoire of personal names is biased
to a significant degree towards the aristocracy, the social group that is generally the best reflected in written charters of the medieval diasporas. Each
individual was entered into the database once with the earliest date on
record (i.e., each person is attached to the period of first mention), in order
to minimize the time elapsed since birth, thus reflecting more accurately
the prevalent preferences at the time of name-giving.
Having previously identified the major trends among the Latin settlers in the Holy Land and the extent to which they are in line with Western Europe,21 I will attempt to determine whether the Norman settlers
in southern Italy and Sicily display particular characteristics, and which
of these they share with Western Europe on one hand and with the Holy
Land on the other.
66IRIS SHAGRIR
11001129
11301159
Kingdom of Jerusalem
11601190
Norman Italy
11001129
Jerusalem
11301159
11601190
Italy
68IRIS SHAGRIR
11001129
11301159
Kingdom of Jerusalem
11601190
Norman Italy
These two evolutions above are in accord with the Western European trend.
The list of dominant names (Table 1) shows that in most of the
period under study, all the dominant names are Germanic, most
being of a distinctly Norman/Scandinavian origin.24 The only
non-Germanic name is John, which leaps to the top of the list
in the last third of the twelfth century. It should be remembered
that in central and southern Italy before the Normans, Latin
names were very common and this makes the division between
local and settler groups even sharper.25
24
The very popular William, Robert, and Richard are typical Norman/Northern French
names. Godfrey: Ralph (Norman, Scandinavian); Roger: Hugh, Walterall fairly common
in northern France, and often with an aristocratic flavor. The other popular names are
again all of Norman/Scandinavian origin: Osmond (Asmundr); Anschetillus/Anschetinus
(Ansketill); Nigel (Iro-Norwegian); Osborn (Asbiorn); Trostainus (Thorgisl); Turgisius.
25
See Pierre Toubert, Les noms de personnes dans le Latium (10e12e sicles), in
Les structures du Latium mdival, ed. Pierre Toubert (Rome: cole franaise de Rome,
1973), pp. 69399.
70IRIS SHAGRIR
Comparative Findings
In the kingdom of Jerusalem, as in Norman Italy, there is a resemblance to Western Europe in terms of the general evolution of an
increase in Latin and saints names and a decrease in Germanic
names (Figures 1, 2).
However, while the pace of these evolutions in the twelfth century seems to be similar, the rates in the kingdom of Jerusalem
are noticeably higher.
The same phenomenon occurs in the rise of saints names in the
twelfth century (Figure 3): in both groups, saints names are on
the rise; but in the kingdom of Jerusalem the rates are noticeably
higher.
When comparing the most popular names in the two settlements
in the twelfth century, the difference is clear (Table 1). While
in the kingdom of Jerusalem we see a more heterogeneous pattern of Germanic names from northern and southern France, as
For popular names in southern Italy and Sicily between the tenth and the twelfth
centuries, see Jean-Marie Martin, LItalie Mridionale, in Lanthroponymie, document de
lhistoire sociale des mondes mditerranens mdivaux: Actes du colloque international organis par lEcole Franaise de Rome, ed. Monique Bourin, Jean-Marie Martin, and Franois
Menant (Rome: Ecole Franaise de Rome, 1996), pp. 2939.
27
This, however, does not exclude the possibility of an influence in the opposite directionof Norman names on the local population. Vera von Falkenhausen has noted that a
few years after the Norman conquest many Lombards and Greeks in southern Italy adopted
names from stock of the conquerors, especially those of the Hauteville family. See Vera von
Falkenhausen, The South Italian Sources, Proceedings of the British Academy 132 (2007):
95121, at p. 101. The tendency of the conquered indigenous group to adopt names from
the naming pool of the politically dominant group has been documented elsewhere; see
Thomas, The English and the Normans, pp. 97100.
26
Conclusion
The study of personal names in the Latin kingdom of Jerusalem revealed,
indirectly, that in certain respects the settlers were influenced by local
naming practices, and that their habits may be considered as reflecting a
heightened religious awareness. Studied as a whole, the naming patterns
reflect the Latins self-consciousness as a new community with a distinct
sense of identity, as reflected in the words of William of Tyre, the kingdoms most celebrated historian: populum vero Orientalis.28 Without
venturing into the large and complex issue of Norman identity, which
has been debated for many years, 29 it seems that the comparison conducted here may add a perspective to the question. Based on Mnagers
seminal prosopographical study, it has been accepted that at least in the
early years, the proportion of settlers from Normandy and neighboring
regions would naturally engender a prevailing sense of Normannitas. G.
Loud argues that due to the Normans small numbers, and intermarriage,
28
p. 970.
William of Tyre, Chronicon, 21:7, ed. R. B.C. Huygens (Turnhout: Brepols, 1986),
In the words of Nick Webber: The identity of those Normans who established
themselves in Southern Italy and Sicily during the eleventh and twelfth centuries is the
most complicated of Norman identity constructs: Nick Webber, Evolution of Norman
Identity: 9111154 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2005), p. 60.
29
72IRIS SHAGRIR
30
The Society of Norman Italy, ed. Graham Loud and Alex Metcalf (Leiden: Brill,
2002), Introduction, pp. 116, at p. 7; Loud, Norman Traditions in Southern Italy, pp.
4344.
31
Loud, Norman Traditions in Southern Italy, p. 39.
32
Leon R. Mnager, Pesanteur et tiologie, p. 194, concluded, on the basis of
anthroponymic examination that one in four invaders was not a Norman. However, in
a smaller, well-identified group of people, the evidence of toponymic by-names adjusts
this ratio higher, 1 in 3. See also G. Loud, How Norman Was the Norman Conquest of
Southern Italy?, Nottingham Medieval Studies 25 (1981): 2123.
33
Mnager, Pesanteur et tiologie, p. 214; or mercenaries and raiders as their
Viking ancestors had been before them, see Webber, Evolution of Norman Identity, p. 60.
See also Loud, How Norman Was the Norman Conquest of Southern Italy?, pp. 1920,
and John France, The Normans and Crusading, p. 93.