sign in sign up
<<
Home , Escutcheon (heraldry), Tabard

Resume Based on the Wappenbuch of Anton Tirol

Herald Anton Tirol wearing a resume tabard his the Wappenbuch (http://codicon.digitale-sammlungen.de/Blatt_bsb00001649,46r.html)

Brian O’hUilliam Basis of the Tabard

This tabard is an adaptation of two found in the Armorial

(Wappenbuch) of Anton Tirol of 1540. The illumination shows the , Tyrol himself, wearing a poncho-like tabard unlike those traditionally seen. Most tabards are square on the bottom, while this one comes to a drastic point, and most tabards have defined sleeves, while this one does not have any discernible sleeves, but continues to drape over the arm.

(Neubecker 18) (Bavarian State Library) Neubecker describes this herald as a “freelance” herald, meaning he is not currently employed by a particular patron (18). As such, the tabard is covered with escutcheons bearing simple designs. These tabards have come to be called, in the

SCA at least, “resume tabards” as the various escutcheons act like a “visual resume.” There is some question as to whether the arms shown on the tabard were of previous masters who employed that herald, thus making it truly a visual resume, if they were just random designs showing the wearer to be a herald available for hire. The example of Anton Tirol used as the basis of this tabard includes actual arms seen in that same armorial (Bavarian State Libarary). It is presumed that the herald had, at some point, heralded for those individuals and included their arms on the tabard to show his experience so another noble would hire him.

The use of escutcheons was very common. A herald, if not wearing a tabard of the patron’s arms, might wear an of the arms of their patron on their to represent their employment (Neubecker 20).

(Neubecker 161)

The image above, from the Wappenbuch of Konrad Grünenberg from around

1480, shows a herald, with baton, at a helmshau (helm show). (Neubecker 161,

Bavarian State Library). Some sources state that this is a freelance herald, noted by the many small escutcheons on his tabard. (Gravett 16-7). The escutcheons may not actually be on the tabard, however. In the bottom right corner, there is a person with a helm over the ledge who is wearing, what seems to be, a neck piece with many small escutcheons attached to it. This does not appear to be attached to the underlying garment. Similarly, it is unclear whether the /mantle of escutcheons on the central herald figure is actually attached to the underlying garment. The green garment does seem to be a tabard rather than an actual top, as seen by the open sides.

The collar of escutcheons does seem to follow that same opening pattern, though. Perhaps the collar of escutcheons could or could not be attached to a tabard.

It may be a separate piece from the tabard, likely to be worn in conjunction with the tabard. This is obviously not necessary, however, as seen by the figure in the bottom right corner with a similar collar of escutcheons. It is also possible that collar alone may have been worn by a lower ranking herald.

The Arms on the Tabard

I created escutcheons of the arms of people and groups for which I have heralded. In doing this, I am creating a visual resume of my experience as a herald. It is, to be sure, a bit of a boast, but having worked for such highly ranked individuals would have been a great sign in period for a freelance herald to get hired. After all, a herald has to eat.

The arms belong to:

The Kingdom of Ansteorra The Barony of Loch Soilleir The Barony Bordermarch Duke Ulsted the Unsteady Duke Aaron MacGregor Countess Sara Penrose Sir Alexis la Bouche Sir Modius von Mergentheim Mistress Rhiannon verch Bryan Master Caelan MacRob

This is a sampling of those for whom I have heralded, including a couple of local groups and the kingdom. There are several more I will include in the future, given adequate resources. Materials and Construction

The tabard itself is made of white linen. I chose linen because it is known to be period, it breathes very well, it is strong, and, most importantly, I had it available.

The escutcheons are made from the same fabric as the tabard with arms of my own former patrons painted on them. I chose to paint the arms instead of embroidering or appliqueing them on because painting fabric is period and I am more skilled with illumination than I am in textile arts. The paint used for the arms is a modern acrylic paint. I chose to use modern, commercial paint because I had it available and have worked with this paint before and knew it would stand up to the wear and tear of being used on a tabard. Painting on fabric was known in period and there are recipes and instructions for painting on fabric, including linen, Cennini describes painting and gilding on fabrics, including the painting of arms, such as linen, silk, and wool for use on banners and on outfits for (103-8). I thought painting in this case would be very appropriate as the tabard is more of a heraldic display item, like a banner, than it is an article of clothing, and it is used at jousts.

The tabard is, more or less, a square cut at 72 inches by 72 inches. Not having measurements from the manuscript, I attempted to make the garment fall on me about where it fell on Anton Tirol, the herald in the illumination. I cut a neck hole and also trimmed a few inches off of the sleeves for function and comfort. Unlike the other tabards I have made, this does not have any seems. Instead of being pieces sewn together, it is one piece. I think I prefer having the pieces to sew together, but I did not see any seams on the tabard in the illumination, no I wanted to keep it as one piece.

I hemmed the entire tabard by rolling the edge, using a machine to sew. The neck was hand sewn, but the same edge rolling technique was used. The escutcheons were also machine sewn onto the tabard using a tight zig-zag stitch to applique them down.

Overall Thoughts and What I Would Do Differently

The first thing that leaps to mind on what I would do differently is that I would have painted the arms on the escutcheons slightly differently. I think I would have had a much easier time painting the escutcheons if I had painted all of them white and then applied the design. The fabric tended to absorb the paint and not apply evenly, so having that “primer” layer would have helped tremendously.

Additionally, when designing the arms, I used pencil because I did not have any colored chalk available and was using white fabric. This was a mistake as some of the paint had a very difficult time covering the pencil on the fabric. I would have either used colored chalk or drew with pencil on the primer layer.

Bibliography:

Cennini, Cennino, The Craftsman’s Handbook, trans. Daniel V. Thompson, Jr., 1933. Gravett, Christopher, at Tournament, Osprey, 1988. Nuebecker, : Sources, Symbols, and Meanings, Tiger, 1989. Bavarian State Library, http://www.bsb-muenchen.de/index.php.

Barber, Richard & Juliet Barker, Tournaments: Jousts, and Pageants in the Middle

Ages, 1989

Wroth, Mark B., What Did Herald’s Wear?, 2003,

http://heraldry.sca.org/Heralds_wear.html.