Lesson 13.

Heraldry

Learning tasks: by completing this unit of study, the student will be able to: ¾ Define Heraldry and identify the main contributions in this domain. ¾ Retain some elementary notions of Heraldry (the shield, the crest; the torse; mantling; the helm, the coronet or the crown; supporters; the motto; orders)

I. Definition; Concerns of Heraldry

Heraldry is the Auxiliary Science of History that deals with the history and description in proper terms of armorial bearings and their accessories. The term heraldry comes from the Anglo‐Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja­waldaz (”army commander”) and encompasses all matters relating to the duties and responsibilities of officers of arms. The origins of heraldry comes from the need to distinguish participants in combat when their faces were hidden by iron and steel helmets. There are and the blazon term. It comes from the Middle English blasoun, itself a derivative of the French blason (meaning ”shield”) which is coming from the German word blasen (to sound from horn , to trumpet). The first concerns of Heraldry at European level were certified in the tenth century at the court of the German kings, then have expanded in France, where they reached the highest level. An important role in the development of knowledge of Heraldry was played by Crusades. In the development of Heraldry there have been three major stages: The first stage, called of the shield (because the coat of arms was represented only by a shield and by the picture on it), lasts between the tenth century and the thirteenth century. In the second phase, bounded by the thirteenth century and the fifteenth century, at shield were added helmet and ornaments. Now Heraldry reached its peak of development. The last stage, after the sixteenth century, is one of decadence of Heraldry; disappears the old rules and the shield is less used. The new sense of heraldry was had established between the twelfth and the fourteenthin centuries, but its foundations were laid in the fifteenth century. The founder of this science is considered to be Clément Prinsault, author of the first treatise of Heraldry entitled Traité du blason (1465). Between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries, other treaties of Heraldry appeared in France, Germany and England. Also mention here papers written by: Jérôme de Bara, Les blasons des armoiries, (Lyon, 1579); Pierre Palliot, Le vraye et parfaicte science des armoiries (Dijon, 1660); Cl. Fr. Menestrier, Le Véritable Art du Blason (Lyon, 1658), Abrégé méthodique des principes héraldiques ou du véritable art du Daniel Flaut, Introduction to the Auxiliary Sciences of History blazon (Paris, 1661) and La Nouvelle méthode raisonné e du blazon (Lyon, 1696); G. Mackenzie, The science of herauldry (Edinburgh, 1680); Diderot–d’Alembert, Enciclopedia (Paris, 1751‐1772), etc. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were compiled collections of blazons and coats of arms. Creations of compilers and amateur collectors these were a valuable documentary material which was the basis of the scientific approaches of the nineteenth century. At the end of the eighteenth century and in the first half of the nineteenth century, Heraldry going through a period of recoil. Its rehabilitation in scientific plan will be made in the late nineteenth century, in France. Heraldry became a discipline at the Ecole des Chartes, in other universities from Europe and at the Ecole pratique des hautes etudes. Between specialized periodicals that facilitated the progress of heraldic studies, we mention: ”Archives héraldiques suisses” (1887‐1953), named since 1954 ”Archivum heraldicum” and ”Revue française d'héraldique et de sigillographie”, which appears in France from 1938. Today, the science of heraldry uses treaties elaborated by: Emmanuel Gevaert, L’Héraldique. Son esprit, son langage et ses applications (Bruxelles‐ Paris, 1923); Donald­Lindsay Galbreath, Manuel du Blason (Lyon, 1942); Rémi Mathieu, Le système héraldique français (Paris, 1946); Fox Davies, A complet guide to Heraldry (London, 1968); R. Viel, Les origines symboliques du blason (Paris, 1972); Michel Pastoureau, Le traité d’heraldique (Paris, 1979), etc. *

II. Elementary notions of Heraldry

The heraldic achievement consist of several representative elements:

A) The shield The shield, as an accessory of a fighter, was in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages a defender of the wearer, regardless of conditions in which he fight. On the surface of the shield were located heraldic distinctive insignia. The shield became a veritable background of blazons. After shape we distinguish the following types of heraldic shields: a) Round. It is the oldest form of shield and was ineffective in battle.

b) The late Roman shield. It was triangle shaped with the tip down and slightly rounded.

c) The English shield. It had a shape like a triangle with equal edges.

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d) The Spanish shield. It appear in the fifteenth century, is rounded in the bottom side and is more long than wide.

e) The German shield. It appeared around the year 1450, having a form that does not exceeded the triangle. On both lateral edges or only one lateral edge it had a hollow in order to support the lance in the attack position.

f) The Polish shield. It derives from the German shield, with the upper edge in accolade and hollow on lateral edges.

g) The Russian shield. It has a similar shape with the Polish shield, but looks like breastplate.

h) The French shield. It had relatively equal lateral edges and the bottom side in accolade.

There were fancy shaped shields which belonged to the gentry and women: oval, rhombus, etc.

B) The exterior ornaments of the shield The heraldic achievement can include not only the coat of arms itself, but also: the crest; the torse; mantling; the helm, the coronet or the crown; supporters; the motto; and, in some cases, the symbol of an order.

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1) The crest. It is a component of an heraldic display, so called because it stands on top of a helmet, as the crest of a jay stands on the bird's head. The medieval crest originated in ancient times when on helmet there was a whisk made of feathers or horse hair, worked either bouquet or fan‐shaped or comb. The armed medieval knight wearing on head decorative elements that were not had only this sense but also to impress and to frighten the enemy, as was the Teutonic Knights. At the beginning of its use in medieval times, the crest was the distinguishing mark identical for all family members, but with time it has become personal one. A preference for the large crest on helmet they had the Germanic nations, specifically the Teutonic Knights. In France the crest was abandoned in the fifteenth century. It was a sign of old nobility, necessarily lineage of seven generations.

2) The torse. In heraldry, it is a twisted roll of fabric laid about the top of the helm and the base of the crest, from which the mantling hangs.

3) The helmet. Throughout the Middle Ages it was used as a weapon of defense. Were used several forms of helmet: a) Norman conical helmet. It was built around a framework of bronze or iron strips, overlaid with sheets of bronze or copper. A nasal guard was riveted onto a reinforcing band around the bottom rim. It was used between the ninth and the eleventh centuries. b) Helmet with cut bottom, used in the twelfth century. c) Cylindrical helmet. It was used in the thirteenth century and has a mobile visor for the face of fighter. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries was still used the cylindrical helmet, with mobile visor, but instead of feint to view it has vertical grids. In heraldic achievements, the helmet is situated above the shield and bears the torse and crest.

4) The coronet (the crown). The crown traditionally represents power, legitimacy, immortality, righteousness, victory, triumph, resurrection, honour and glory of life after death. A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. By a slightly different definition, a crown is worn by a king or queen, a coronet by a nobleman or lady.

5) Mantling (or lambrequin). In Heraldry, it is drapery tied to the helmet above the shield. It forms a backdrop for the shield.

6) Supporters. In Heraldry, they are figures usually placed on either side of the shield and depicted holding it up. Supporters may be real or imaginary animals, human figures and, in rare cases, plants or inanimate objects.

7) Motto. It is a sentence, phrase, or word of appropriate character inscribed on or attached to an object. In Heraldry, it is often depicted on the shield or else above the crest. In the Western world, the most used mottoes were in Latin.

8) Orders. These were rewards of merit knight, who is wearing around his neck like a medallion hanging from chain or on shoulder. In Heraldry, the order is placed under shield, as would be placed at the neck of the knight. A military order is any one of a variety of Christian societies of knights that were founded from the Middle Ages. We remember here: The Poor Fellow­ Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (commonly known as the Knights

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Templar); The Knights Hospitalle (also known as the Hospitallers, Knights of St John, Order of St. John) and The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem (commonly known as the Teutonic Order). Chivalric orders have been created by European monarchs in imitation of the military orders of the Crusades. We remember here: The Insigned Order of the Golden Fleece, founded in Bruges by Philip III, Duke of Burgundy in 1430; The Order of Saint Michael, founded by Louis XI of France in 1469 and The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, the highest order of chivalry existing in England. A A Roman Catholic religious order was Order of Friars Minor, commonly called simply the "Franciscans”, founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. *

Homework Elaborate an essay with the title: English heraldry

References: ¾ Boutell, Charles, English Heraldry, London and New York, 1875. ¾ Boutell, Charles, Fox‐Davies, A. C., The Handbook to English Heraldry (Illustrated 11th. Edition 1914), The Echo Library, Middlesex, 2008. ¾ Davenport, Cyril, English Heraldic Book­Stamps, Figured and Described, General Books, 2010. ¾ Hope, John W. H. St., Wagner Anthony R., A Grammar of English Heraldry, Cambridge Univerity Press, 2011.

Dear students, please send me your essay at e‐mail address: [email protected]

Bibliography

¾ Davies, Fox, A complet guide to Heraldry, London, 1968. ¾ Foster, Joseph, Heraldry, Studio Editions, 1989 ¾ Galbreath, Donald‐Lindsay Manuel du Blason , Lyon, 1942. ¾ Gevaert, Emmanuel L’Héraldique. Son esprit, son langage et ses applications, Bruxelles‐ Paris, 1923. ¾ Mathieu, Rémi, Le système héraldique français , Paris, 1946. ¾ Pastoureau, Michel, Le traité d’heraldique , Paris, 1979. ¾ Viel, R., Les origines symboliques du blason, Paris, 1972. ¾ Wise, Terence, Medieval Heraldry , Osprey Publishing, 2012.

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