The use of surnames became widespread in France between AD 1000 – 1400. New book presents the material and analyses the development of the new fashion

Noms, prénoms, surnoms au Moyen Âge.
By Monique Bourin and Pascale Chareille
Series: Les Médiévistes français, 12.)
288 pages with some figures
Picard, Paris 2014
ISBN13 : 9782708409828

In Western Europe, the practice of appointing any person by a name and a “surname” became widespread between AD 1000 – 1400. It was at this birth, its rhythms and its regional nuances that appealed to the authors.

This book shows these developments. The authors also review the concepts, methods and statistical tools that have been developed in order to discern the differences and which have been applied to the new corpus of names presented in the study.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Monique Bourin is retired professor from L’université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Pascale Chareille is maitre des conférences at Le Centre d’Études Supérieures de la Renaissance

FEATURED PHOTO:

The document from 05.11.1391 is witness to the murder of an Anne Hérard, who was servant at a farm in l’Argillière, à Leuglay. The name is very common in France, even today. It stems from German: Harihard, composed of hari= army and hard = hard; probably originally signifying a soldier. Archives départementales de la Côte-d’Or, B 10538