U.S. Heraldic Registry
Registration of contemporary and historical American heraldry
Stewart Addington Saint-David
Registration number 20070623B
This certifies that the heraldic arms of Stewart Addington Saint-David are registered as an original design and are described by the blazon below
Biographical note
The armiger is a descendant of Olivier Daigre, who emigrated to the North American colony of Nouvelle France in 1663, and is recognised as the original progenitor of a widespread family group. This branch of the family later settled in the region known as Madawaska, in what is now northern Maine, and founded the towns of Daigle and Saint-David, from which latter place the armiger's patronym is derived.
Formerly a professional keyboardist, vocalist and composer, the armiger is now a freelance writer, as well as a teacher of both English and French. He has played and taught extensively throughout the world, the latter most recently in France, Italy and the People's Republic of China, and is the author of one work of fiction, a darkly comic novel set in a not-too-distant American future.
He is also the composer/arranger/performer of two CDs of solo piano pieces, In The Palace of Dreams and The Ghosts of Saint-Denis, as well as one album of original French songs, Tu me vas si bien.
In recognition of the armiger's efforts to collect, preserve, and donate documents related to the history of French orders of chivalry, he was appointed a Chevalier de l'Ordre National du Mérite (Knight of the National Order of Merit) on December 31, 2003, by a special decree of President Jacques Chirac of France. A depiction of the insignia of a chevalier of this order is thus pendant below his shield, and a knight's helm (affronty, with visor open) rests upon the same.
Registration
2001 Conseil Français d'Héraldique # 530/2001
2006 The International Register of Arms # 0023.
Design rationale
The arms represent various aspects of the armiger's family heritage, which is primarily French, Irish, and Scots, and consequently incorporate a diverse number of elements derived from traditional Western European heraldic symbolism.
The shield is composed of two main elements: the saltire azure on a field or, which represents the armiger's descent from the Silver family of Scotland, and (charged in escutcheon) the eagle sable on a field or, which is the historic heraldic emblem of the Daigle/Daigre family, originally from the city of Aigre, in the Charente region of France.
During the second half of the 17th century, Olivier Daigre and a number of his male descendants farmed some 2,000 acres in the Acadian region known as the Grand Pré, near the French colonial city formerly known as Port-Royal (now Annapolis Royal, Nova Scotia). Thus, the arms granted to Nova Scotia by King Charles I have also served as a model for the armiger's bearings, which echo in several ways the composition of those devised for the colony in 1625.
The armiger's crest is composed of a stag's head affronty (which represents the Scots origins of the Silver family), bearing between its antlers an annulet Or, meant to symbolize the gold annulus worn by members of the Roman equestrian (knightly) class, ancient Latin prototype of the modern orders of knighthood and merit.
The motto, ATTENDRE ET ESPERER ("To Wait and To Hope") was adopted by the armiger in honour of the great French writer Alexandre Dumas, pere, author of Le Comte de Monte Cristo, from the closing lines of which work it was drawn.
Registered by
Armiger
Categories
Roll of Arms
Policies
