Heraldry 101 - Part 1

[JamesA]

Hello all!

With some recent posts, I have found that people seem to be interested in heraldry. So I thought that I would try to share some of the things that I have learned over the years on this topic.

This is the first part of (hopefully, if interest is there) several to explore some of the history of heraldry and how it works.

First, lets start with the basics. Heraldry is simply the fancy name for the pictures that were on medieval shields and tabbards. It originally started as simply as Sir Goodguy wore a read surcoat, and Lord Notsogoodguy wore a blue one. In this way, they were identifiable in the heat of close combat. This practice later spread to the supporters.

As more and more people started using heraldry, the patterns and pictures started getting more complicated. And, because humans love bureaucracy, rules and a lnaguage evolved to control the pictures and thier use.

So, lets start with some of the terminology. The heraldic colors are as follows:

gules - red
vert - green
azure - blue
purpure - purple
sable - black
sanguine - maroon
tenne - orange

And the heraldic metals are:

White/Silver - argent
Yellow/Gold - or

The word description for the heraldic picture is called a blazon. A typical blazon would look something like this:

Azure, a saltire argent

This of course describes the Cross of St. Andrew, and the Scottish National Flag.

The first part describes the color of the files. Azure, blue.
The next part describes the charge, or the object on the field. A saltire (big honkin x) argent, or white.

Blazons can get quite complicated depending on what they are describing. But that is a topic for another show.

In the next edition, I will cover animal charges, and field divisions. So stay tune on the same bat channel, at the same bat time.

James

[macwilkin]

James,

You may be already aware of this, but for others' perusal, here are several sites of interest:

http://www.albanach.org/scotheraldry.html (Matt's excellent article on Scottish Heraldry)

http://www.heraldry-scotland.co.uk/ (The Heraldry Society of Scotland)

-- http://www.heraldry-scotland.co.uk/beginners.html (Beginner's heraldry article)

http://www.fraserchief.co.uk/heraldry.html (an excellent article by Lady Saltoun of Clan Fraser)

http://www.heraldry.ca/ (the Royal Heraldy Society of Canada)

Regards,

Todd

[Archangel]

Cool idea, just as long as people stay aware that heraldry is only one aspect of the clan structure. It's not the be all, end all like other European cultures. Celtic culture has different emphases.

I only bring this up since this is more of a Scottish focussed site, and these are more English concepts, and readers may be confused. However, it's not limited to only Scotland.

After that, sharing knowledge is a good thing.

[gilmore]

Cool idea, just as long as people stay aware that heraldry is only one aspect of the clan structure. It's not the be all, end all like other European cultures. Celtic culture has different emphases.

I only bring this up since this is more of a Scottish focussed site, and these are more English concepts, and readers may be confused. ...

English concept? Some one should tell Lord Lyon. I am sure he will be disappointed upon hearing this news.

[Captain]

Cool. Thanks for the info... I'd definitely be interested in learning more.

[ardchoille]

Nice! I'd be interested in learning more as well.

[macwilkin]

Cool idea, just as long as people stay aware that heraldry is only one aspect of the clan structure. It's not the be all, end all like other European cultures. Celtic culture has different emphases.

I only bring this up since this is more of a Scottish focussed site, and these are more English concepts, and readers may be confused. However, it's not limited to only Scotland.

After that, sharing knowledge is a good thing.

But it should be remembered that the "gentle science" of heraldry came to Scotland with feudalism.

Todd

[Archangel]

Ha, coincidentally, I just referred another member to read over the Court of the Lord Lyon. Keep in mind what I am saying here. Yes, there is heraldry in Scotland and it's a colourful thing. And yes, it is part of feudalism.

My point is that most people confuse those images and fail to realize that the Scottish/Celtic structure is different.

Let me try and put it this way: since I can't remember the better phrase I came across, I'll use one from Panache on a different thread. Clan members come in by blood, by marriage or by the back door. Heraldry (and Norman feudalism) only deals with that one aspect of blood. The other two are left out.

For that aspect, go for it. I'd like to learn more about it. I'm just asking that people remember it's only a third of the picture.

[gilmore]

Let me try and put it this way: since I can't remember the better phrase I came across, I'll use one from Panache on a different thread. Clan members come in by blood, by marriage or by the back door. Heraldry (and Norman feudalism) only deals with that one aspect of blood. The other two are left out.

For that aspect, go for it. I'd like to learn more about it. I'm just asking that people remember it's only a third of the picture.

This just isn't correct.

Arms are granted to an individual, not a family, though of course a man's arms can be inherited by primogeniture, they still must be applied for and granted by Lord Lyon. Younger sons and cadet branches may apply for and be granted differenced arms.

It has happened that a man upon marrying, especially marrying an heiress, is granted arms that incorporate those associated with her father. Certainly their son might bear quartered arms that used arms associated with both parents. So, arms have come by marriage.

As to the back door, I am not sure what that means, but it has occurred that some one with the same surname as, yet unproven relationship with, an armigeral family has been granted arms similar to theirs. Also, men from the same area and loosely or distantly or putatively even not at all related often bore similar but distinctly different arms with the same device, such as the galley, often used in the north of Scotland and the Isles.

It's not as if all Scots were in a clan without arms, went to bed one night, and woke up the next day in a Norman feudal system with coats of arms. The transition from clans to feudalism happened over the course of several centuries. In some cases clans were a viable way of life until after feudalism was no more, that is until after Culloden in 1746. Also, the Lowlands, over half of Scotland, were always quite different from the Highlands, since the time of the Anglo-Saxon invasions some 1500 or so years ago. Some say that the so-called clans of the Lowlands were so different than those of the Highlands and Islands that they weren't really clans at all, and didn't "become" clans until the fashion for Scottish things in the Victorian period. They spoke Scots, a/k/a Lallans, not Gaelic, their culture could not easily be characterized as Celtic, etc.

[gilmore]

I came across this from the Lyon Court's website:

"What is a clan?
The clan system is closely bound up with Scottish heraldry. The best definition of a clan provided by a heraldic authority is contained in Nisbet's "System of Heraldry", published in 1722: ‘A social group consisting of an aggregate of distinct erected families actually descended, or accepting themselves as descendants of a common ancestor, and which has been received by the Sovereign through its Supreme Officer of Honour, the Lord Lyon, as an honourable community whereof all of the members on establishing right to, or receiving fresh grants of, personal hereditary nobility will be awarded arms as determinate or indeterminate cadets both as may be of the chief family of the clan.’

A clan is therefore a community which is both distinguished by heraldry and recognised by the Sovereign. At the head of this honourable community is the chief. He is the only person entitled to display the undifferenced shield of Arms, ie without any marks of dependency upon any other noble house.

Chiefship is a title of honour and dignity within the nobility of Scotland. Any claimant to such a title must establish, to the satisfaction of the Lord Lyon representing the Sovereign, that he or she is entitled to the undifferenced arms of the community over which they seek to preside. It is the determining of chiefship which is among the Lyon Court's central work.

Many of the cases which have come before the Lyon Court in the last 50 years have related to the chiefships of clans. There are now about 140 clans that have chiefs recognised by the Lord Lyon.

A clan or family which has a recognised chief or head confers noble status on the clan or family which gives it a legally recognised status and a corporate identity. A family or name group which has no recognised chief has no official position under the law of Scotland."

http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/217.182.html