Online Encyclopedia

primitive peoples, must be regarded as another of the fore-runners of true heraldry, the totem of a tribe supplying a badge which was sometimes displayed on the See also:

BODY

body of the tribesman in paint, scars or See also:

TATTOOING (Tahitian, tatu, from ta, mark)

tattooing . Totemism so far touches our heraldry that some would trace to its symbols the See also:

white See also:

HORSE (a word common to Teutonic languages in such forms as hors, hros, ros; cf. the Ger. ross)

horse of See also:

Westphalia, . the See also:

bull's See also:

head of the Mecklenburgers and many other ancient armories . When true heraldry begins in Western See also:

EUROPE

Europe nothing is more remarkable than the suddenness of its development, once the See also:

IDEA (Gr. Ibia, connected with i&eiv, to see; cf. Lat. species from specere, to look at)

idea of hereditary armorial symbols was taken by the nobles and 1 These heralds are regarded by some as a See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch of the Eumolpidae, by others as of Athenian origin . They enjoyed See also:

GREAT

great See also:

PRESTIGE

prestige and formed a See also:

HIERATIC

hieratic See also:

CASTE (through the Fr. from Span. and Port. casta, lineage, Lat. cast us, pure)

caste like the Eumolpidae, with whom they shared the most important liturgical functions .

From them were selected the 60oGxos or See also:

TORCH (O. Fr. torche, from Med. Lat. tortia, derived from tortus, twisted, torquere, to twist)

torch-See also:

BEARER

bearer, the ispcKilpvE, whose See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief See also:

DUTY (from " due," that which is owing, O. Fr. deu, dil, past participle of devoir; Lat. debere, debitum; cf. " debt ")

duty was to proclaim silence, and o it-1 pwµil, an See also:

OFFICIAL (Late Lat. QJicialis, for class. Lat. apparitor, from officium, office, duty)

official connected with the service at the See also:

ALTAR (Lat. altare, from alias, high; some ancient etymological guesses are recorded by St Isidore of Seville in Etymologiae xv. 4)

altar (see L . R . Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iii . 161; J . See also:

TOPFFER, RODOLPHE (1799-1846)

Topffer, Altische Genealogie (1889); . Dittenberger in See also:

Hermes, xx.; P . Foucart, " See also:

Les Grands Mystcres d'See also:

ELEUSIS

Eleusis " in Mem. de l'Instilut See also:

NATIONAL

National de See also:

France, See also:

XXXVII

xxxvii . (1904) . knights . Its earliest examples are probably still to be discovered by See also:

RESEARCH (O. Fr. recerche, from recercher, re- and cercer, mod. chercher, to search; Late Lat. circare, to go round in a circle, to explore)

research, but certain notes may be made which narrow the See also:

DATES

dates between which we must seek its origin . The older writers on heraldry, lacking exact See also:

ARCHAEOLOGY (from Gr. &pxa1a, ancient things, and Xoyos, theory or science)

archaeology, were wont to carry back the beginnings to the dark ages, even if they lacked the assurance of those who distributed blazons among the angelic See also:

HOST

host before the Creation . Even in our own times old misconceptions give ground slowly .

Georg Ruexner's Thurnier See also:

Buck of 1522 is still cited for its See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence of the See also:

TOURNAMENT, or TOURNEY (Fr. tournement, tournoi, Med. Lat. torneamentum, from tourner, to turn)

tournament See also:

LAWS

laws of See also:

Henry the See also:

Fowler, by which those who would contend in tournaments were forced to show four generations of arms-bearing ancestors . Yet See also:

MODERN

modern See also:

criticism has shattered the elaborated fiction of Ruexner . In See also:

England many legends survive of arms borne by the Conqueror and his companions . But nothing is more certain than that neither armorial banners nor shields of arms were borne on either See also:

side at See also:

Hastings . The famous See also:

RECORD (Lat. recordari, to recall to mind, from cor, heart or mind)

record of the See also:

BAYEUX

Bayeux See also:

TAPESTRY

tapestry shows shields which in some cases suggest rudely devised armorial bearings, but in no See also:

case can a See also:

shield be identified as one which is recognized in the generations after the See also:

CONQUEST

Conquest . So far is the idea of See also:

PERSONAL

personal arms from the artist, that the same See also:

WARRIOR

warrior, seen in different parts of the tapestry's history, has his shield with differing devices . A See also:

GENERATION (from Lat. generare, to beget, procreate; genus, stock, race)

generation later, See also:

Anna Comnena, the daughter of the See also:

BYZANTINE

Byzantine emperor, describing the shields of the See also:

French knights who came to See also:

Constantinople, tells us that their polished faces were See also:

PLAIN (O. Fr. plain, from Lat. plenum)

plain . Of all men, See also:

KINGS, FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF

kings and princes might be the first to be found bearing arms . Yet the first See also:

ENGLISH

English See also:

SOVEREIGN

sovereign who appears on his great See also:

seal with arms on his shield is See also:

Richard I . His seal of 1189 shows his shield charged with a lion ramping towards the sinister side . Since one See also:

HALF

half only is seen of the rounded See also:

FACE (from Lat. fades, derived either from facere, to make, or from a root fa-, meaning " appear "; cf. Gr. cbatvstv)

face of the shield, English antiquaries have perhaps too hastily suggested that the whole bearing was two lions face to face . But the mounted figure of See also:

Philip of See also:

ALSACE (Ger. Elsass)

Alsace, See also:

COUNT (Lat. comes, gen. comitis, Fr. comte, Ital. conte, Span. conde)

count of See also:

FLANDERS (Flem. Vlaanderen)

Flanders, on his seal of 1164 bears a like shield charged with a like lion, and in this case another shield on the counterseal makes it clear that this is the single lion of Flanders .

Therefore we may take it that, in 1189, See also:

King Richard bore arms of a lion rampant, while, nine years later, another seal shows him with a shield of the familiar bearings which have been borne as the arms of England by each one of his successors . That seal of Philip of Alsace is the earliest known example of the arms of the great See also:

COUNTS

counts of Flanders . The ancient arms of the kings of France, the See also:

BLUE (common in different forms to most European languages)

blue shield powdered with See also:

GOLDEN

golden fleurs-de-lys, appear even later . See also:

Louis le See also:

JENNE

Jenne, on the crowning of his son Philip See also:

AUGUSTUS (a name 1 derived from Lat. augeo, increase, i.e. venerable, majestic, Gr. Ee0avr6s)

Augustus, ordered that the See also:

young See also:

prince should be clad in a blue See also:

DALMATIC (Lat. dalmatica, tunica dalmatica)

dalmatic and blue shoes, sewn with golden fleurs-de-lys, a See also:

flower whose name, as " Fleur de Loys," played upon that of his own, and possibly upon his epithet name of See also:

Florus . A seal of the same king has the See also:

DEVICE

device of a single See also:

LILY

lily . But the first French royal seal with the shield of the lilies is that of Louis VIII . (1223-1226) . The eagle of the emperors may well be as ancient a bearing as any in Europe, seeing that See also:

Charlemagne is said, as the successor of the Caesars, to have used the eagle as his badge . The emperor Henry III . (1039–1056) has the See also:

SCEPTRE

sceptre on his seal surmounted by an eagle; in the 12th See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century the eagle was embroidered upon the imperial gloves . At Molsen in ro8o the emperor's banner is said by See also:

William of See also:

TYRE (Phoen. and Hebr. =" rock," Assyr. S'urru, Egypt. Dara, Early Lat. Sarra)

Tyre to have borne the eagle, and with the beginning of See also:

REGULAR

regular heraldry this imperial badge would soon be displayed on a shield . The See also:

double-headed eagle is not seen on an imperial seal until after 1414, when the See also:

BIRD

bird with one See also:

NECK (O. Eng. hnecca; the word appears in many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch ride, Ger. Nacken; in O. E. the common word was heals; cf. Ger. Hals)

neck becomes the recognized arms of the king of the See also:

Romans .

There are, however, earlier examples of shields of arms than any of these . A document of the first importance is the description by See also:

John of Marnioustier of the See also:

MARRIAGE

marriage of See also:

Geoffrey of See also:

ANJOU

Anjou with See also:

MAUDE, CYRIL (1862– )

Maude the empress, daughter of Henry I., when the king is said to have hung See also:

ROUND (O. Fr. rond, Lat. rotundus, the Fr. is the source also of Du. rond; Ger., Swed., Dan. and Nor. rond)

round the neck of his son-in-See also:

law a shield with golden " lioncels." Afterwards the See also:

monk speaks of Geoffrey in fight, " pictos leones preferens in clypeo." Two notes may be added to this See also:

account . The first is that the enamelled See also:

PLATE

plate now in the museum at Le Mans, which is said to have been placed over the See also:

TOMB (Gr. Tuµ/3a, Tuµ(3os, probably allied to Lat. tumulus, literally a swelling, tumere, to swell)

tomb of Geoffrey after his See also:

DEATH

death in 1151, shows him bearing along shield of See also:

AZURE (derived, through the Romance languages, from the Arabic al-lazward, for the precious stone lapis lazuli, the initial 1 having dropped)

azure with six golden lioncels, thus confirming the monk's See also:

story . The second is the well-known fact that Geoffrey's See also:

BASTARD (O. Fr. bastard, mod. bdtard = fits de bast, "pack-saddle child," from bast, saddle)

bastard See also:

GRANDSON (Ger. Grandsee)

grandson, William with the Long See also:

SWORD (0. Eng. sweord; ultimately from an Indo-European root meaning to wound)

Sword, undoubtedly bore these same arms of the six lions of See also:

gold in a blue See also:

field, even as they are still to be seen upon his tomb at See also:

Salisbury . Some ten years before Richard I. See also:

SEALS

seals with the three leopards, his See also:

BROTHER

brother John, count of See also:

MORTAIN

Mortain, is found using a seal upon which he bears two leopards, arms which later tradition assigns to the ancient See also:

dukes of See also:

NORMANDY

Normandy and to their descendants the kings of England before Henry II., who is said to have added the third See also:

LEOPARD

leopard in right of his wife, a See also:

LEGEND (through the French from the med. Lat. legenda, things to be read, from legere, to read)

legend of no value . Mr Round has pointed out that See also:

Gilbert of See also:

Clare, See also:

EARL

earl of See also:

Hertford, who died in 1152, bears on his seal to a document sealed after 1138 and not later than 1146, the three cheverons afterwards so well known in England as the bearings of his successors . An old See also:

DRAWING

drawing of the seal of his See also:

UNCLE

uncle Gilbert, earl of See also:

Pembroke (See also:

Lansdowne MS . 203), shows a cheveronny shield used between 1138 and 1148 . At some date between 1144 and 1150, Waleran, count of Meulan, shows on his seal a pennon and See also:

SADDLE (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Sattel, Dut. zadel, also in Russ. siedlo and Lat. sella, for sedla; it is not derived directly from Lat. sedile, which means a chair, but all the words are to be referred to the root sad-, which gives

saddle-See also:

CLOTH

cloth with a checkered See also:

PATTERN

pattern: the See also:

house of See also:

WARENNE, EARLS

Warenne, sprung from his See also:

MOTHER

mother's son, bore shields checky of gold and azure . If we may See also:

TRUST

trust the See also:

INVENTORY (post-class. Lat. inventarium, a list or repertory, from invenire to find)

inventory of See also:

Norman seals made by M . Demay, a careful See also:

ANTIQUARY

antiquary, there is among the archives of the See also:

MANCHE

Manche a See also:

grant by Eudes, seigneur du See also:

PONT (or KYLPONT), ROBERT (1524–1606)

Pont, sealed with a seal and counterseal of arms, to which M . Demay gives a date as See also:

early as 1128 .

The writer has not examined this seal, the earliest armorial evidence of which he has any knowledge, but it may be remarked that the arms are described as varying on the seal and counterseal, a significant See also:

TOUCH (derived through Fr. toucher from a common Teutonic and Indo-Germanic root, cf. " tug," " tuck," O. H. Ger. zucchen, to twitch or draw)

touch of primitive armory . Another type of seal See also:

COMMON

common in this 12th century shows the personal device which had not yet See also:

DEVELOPED

developed into an armorial See also:

charge . A See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good example is that of Enguerrand de Candavene, count of St Poi, where, although the shield of the horseman is uncharged, sheaves of oats, playing on his name, are strewn at the See also:

FOOT

foot of the seal . Five of these sheaves were the arms of Candavene when the house came to display arms . In the same fashion three different members of the See also:

FAMILY

family of Armenteres in England show one, two or three swords upon their seals, but here the writer has no evidence of a coat of arms derived from these devices . From the beginning of the 13th century arms upon shields increase in number . Soon the most of the great houses of the west display them with See also:

PRIDE, THOMAS (d. 1658)

pride . Leaders in the field, whether of a royal See also:

army or of a dozen spears, saw the military See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage of a See also:

CUSTOM (from O. Fr. costume, costume or coustume; Low Lat. costuma, a shortened form of consuetudo)

custom which made shield and banner things that might be recognized in the See also:

PRESS (through Fr. presse from Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)

press . Although it is probable that armorial bearings have their first See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place upon the shield, the charges of the shield are found displayed on the See also:

knight's long surcoat, his " coat of arms," on his banner or pennon, on the trappers of his horse and even upon the peaks of his saddle . An See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt has been made to connect the rise of armory with the See also:

ADOPTION (Lat. adoptio, for adoptalio, from adoptare, to choose for oneself)

adoption of the See also:

BARREL (a word of uncertain origin common to Romance languages; the Celtic forms, as in the Gaelic baraill, are derived from the English)

barrel-shaped See also:

close helm; but even when wearing the earlier Norman See also:

HELMET (from an obsolete diminutive of O. Fr. helme, mod. heaume; the English word is " helm," as in O. Eng., Dutch and Ger.; all are from the Teutonic base hal-, pre-Teut. kal-, to cover; cf. Lat. celare, to hide, Eng. " hell," &c.)

helmet with its long nasal the knight's face was not to be recognized . The Conqueror, as we know, had to See also:

BARE

bare his head before he could persuade his men at Hastings that he still lived . Armory satisfied a need which had long been See also:

FELT (cognate with Ger. Filz, Du. vilt, Swed. and Dan. fill; the root is unknown; the word has given Med. Lat. filtrum, " filter ")

felt .

When fully armed, one galloping knight was like another; but friend and foe soon learned that the gold and blue See also:

CHECKERS

checkers meant that Warenne was in the field and that the gold and red vair was for See also:

Ferrers . Earl See also:

Simon at See also:

EVESHAM

Evesham sent up his See also:

BARBER (from Lat. barba, beard)

barber to a spying place and, as the barber named in turn the banners which had come up against him, he knew that his last fight was at See also:

hand . In spite of these things the growth of 'the custom of sealing deeds and charters had at least as much See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence in the development of armory as any military need . By this way, See also:

WOMEN

women and clerks, citizens and men of See also:

peace, corporations and colleges, came to See also:

SHARE (O. Eng. scearu, chiefly in compounds, e.g. land-scearu, a share of land, from sceran to cut; cf. " shear" )

share with the fighting See also:

man in the use of armorial bearings . Arms in See also:

stone, See also:

wood and See also:

brass decorated the tombs of the dead and the houses of the living; they were broidered in See also:

bed-curtains, coverlets and copes, painted on the sails of See also:

SHIPS

ships and enamelled upon all manner of gold-smiths' and silversmiths' See also:

WORK

work . And, even by warriors, the full splendour of armory was at all times displayed more fully in the fantastic magnificence of the tournament than in the rougher business of See also:

war . There can be little doubt that ancient armorial bearings were chosen at will by the man who bore them, many reasons guiding his choice . Crosses in plenty were taken . Old writers have asserted that these crosses commemorate the badge of the crusaders, yet the fact that the See also:

CROSS

cross was the See also:

SYMBOL (Gr. o-uµ(3oXov, a sign)

symbol of the faith was See also:

REASON (Lat. ratio, through French raison)

reason enough . No symbolism can be found in such charges as bends and fesses; they are on the shield because a broad See also:

BAND

band, aslant or athwart, is a charge easily recognized . See also:

MEDIEVAL

Medieval See also:

WISDOM, BOOK OF, or WISDOM OF SOLOMON (Sept. Io4ia IaXwµwvos; Lat. Vulg. Liber sapientiae)

wisdom gave every noble and magnanimous quality to the lion, and therefore this beast is chosen by hundreds of knights as their bearing . We have already seen how the arms of a Candavene See also:

PLAY

play upon his name .

Such an example was imitated on all sides . Salle of See also:

BEDFORDSHIRE [abbreviated Beds]

Bedfordshire has two salamanders saltirewise; Belet has his namesake the See also:

WEASEL (Putorius nivalis)

weasel . In ancient shields almost all beasts and birds other than the lion and the eagle play upon the bearer's name . No See also:

OBJECT

object is so humble that it is unwelcome to the knight seeking a See also:

pun for his shield . See also:

TRIVET

Trivet has a three-legged trivet; Trumpington two trumps; and Montbocher three pots . The legends which assert that certain arms were " won in the See also:

HOLY

Holy See also:

LAND

Land " or granted by ancient kings for heroic deeds in the field are for the most See also:

PART

part worthless fancies . Tenants or neighbours of the great feudal lords were wont to make their arms by differencing the See also:

lord's shield or by bringing some charge of it into their own bearings . Thus a See also:

GROUP

group of Kentish shields See also:

BORROW, GEORGE HENRY (18o3-1881)

borrow lions from that of Leyborne, which is azure with six lions of See also:

SILVER

silver . Shirland of See also:

Minster bore the same arms differenced with an See also:

ERMINE

ermine See also:

QUARTER (through Fr. from Lat. quartarius, fourth part)

quarter . Detling had the silver lions in a See also:

sable field . Rokesle's lions are azure in a golden field with a fesse of gules between them; while Wateringbury has six sable lions in a field of silver, and Tilmanstone six ermine lions in a field of azure . The Vipont See also:

RING (O.E. hring; a word common to Teutonic languages; and probably cognate with the Lat. circus, Gr. KtpKOS or KpLKOS, Skt'. chakra, wheel, circle, cf. also " harangue "); in art, a band of circular shape of varying sizes, made of any material and used f

ring or annelet is in several shields of See also:

Westmorland knights, and the cheverons of Clare, the cinquefoil badge of See also:

Beaumont and the sheaves of See also:

Chester can be traced in the coats of many of the followers of those houses .

Sometimes the lord himself set forth such arms in a formal grant, as when the See also:

baron of Greystock grants to See also:

Adam of Blencowe a shield in which his own three chaplets are charges . The Whitgreave family of See also:

STAFFORDSHIRE

Staffordshire still show a shield granted to their ancestor in 1442 by the earl of See also:

Stafford, in which the Stafford red cheveron on a golden field is four times repeated . See also:

DIFFERENCES, CALCULUS OF (Theory of Finite Differences)

Differences.—By the custom of the See also:

MIDDLE

middle ages the "whole coat," which is the undifferenced arms, belonged to one man only and was inherited whole only by his heirs . Younger . branches differenced in many ways, following no See also:

RULE

rule . In modern armory the See also:

LABEL (a French word, now represented by lambeau, possibly a variant; it is of obscure origin and may be connected with a Teutonic word appearing in the English " lap," a flap or fold)

label is reckoned a difference proper only to an eldest son . But in older times, although the label was very commonly used by the son and See also:

HEIR (Lat. heres, from a root meaning to grasp, seen in heres or erus, master of a house, Gr. xeip, hand, Sans. hat ana, hand)

heir apparent, he often See also:

CHOSE (Fr. for " thing ")

chose another distinction during his See also:

FATHER

father's lifetime, while the label is sometimes found upon the shields of younger sons . Changing the See also:

COLOURS, MILITARY

colours or varying the number of charges, drawing a See also:

BEND

bend or baston over the shield or adding a border are common differences of See also:

CADET (through the Fr. from the Late Lat. capitettum, a diminutive of caput, head, through the Provencal form capdet)

cadet lines . See also:

Beauchamp, earl of See also:

Warwick, bore " Gules with a fesse and six crosslets gold." His See also:

COUSINS, SAMUEL (18o1-1887)

cousins are seen changing the crosslets for martlets or for billets . Bastards difference their father's arms, as a rule, in no more striking manner than the legitimate cadets . Towards the end of the 14th century we have the beginning of the custom whereby certain bastards of princely houses differenced the paternal arms by charging them upon a bend, a fesse or a chief, a cheveron or a quarter . Before his legitimation the eldest son of John of Gaunt by Katharine Swinford is said to have borne a shield party silver and azure with the arms of See also:

Lancaster on a bend . After his legitimation in 1397 he changed his bearings to the royal arms of France and England within a border gobony of silver and azure .