Recent Acquisitions (part IV)

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Four more today including one I missed out on purchasing from the now defunct Heraldry Today.

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Papežské Znaky by Zdirad J.K. Čech published in 2009. The book is in Czech but is lavishly illustrated throughout and includes all the papal arms from the dawn of heraldry up to Pope Benedict XVI. (pictured above)

Also, Wappen und Flaggen des Deutschen Reichtes und seiner Bundesstaaten (1871-1918) published in 1979.

Wappen: Ein Spiegel von Geschicte und Politik by Harald Huber published in 1990.

Handbüchlein der Heraldik by D.L. Galbreath published in 1930.

My German is very rusty but these were very nice acquisitions for my little personal library.

Recent Acquisitions (part III)

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Some more today: Heraldry For The Designer by William Metzig, published in 1970. (thanks to the recommendation of a fellow heraldist) It’s an interesting book. His style is unique but some of his ideas about heraldry border on the bizarre.

Also Royal Ceremonies of State by J.P. Brooke-Little (quondam Clarenceux King of Arms) published in 1980. As the title states its a book mostly about British royal ceremonies. However, the author being who he is there is a chapter on the Heralds and a good bit of heraldry throughout especially in the chapters on funerals and orders of chivalry. It’s also a book that illustrates well that the function of a herald isn’t limited to genealogy and the devisal of coats of arms. There are an extensive amount of ceremonial duties involved with being a herald.

Confœderatio Helvetica

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I recently came back from a vacation in France during which I also spent a little time in the Confœderatio Helvetica, more commonly known as Switzerland (derived from Schwyz, the leading of the three founding cantons at the time of the confederation in 1291). It is a country that does not have a monarchy and yet where heraldry runs rampant (pardon the pun) thus giving the lie to the notion that heraldry is an antiquated idea associated with outmoded forms of government, like elitist monarchies. Elitism and monarchy do not necessarily go hand in hand. The Swiss have survived for centuries without a monarch and yet have managed, nonetheless, to become quite elitist!

Recent Acquisitions

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Today I got a copy of Heraldic Cadency: The Development of Differencing of Coats of Arms for Kinsmen and Other Purposes by Lt.-Col. Robert Gayre, published in 1956. Also arrived: The Nature of Arms: An Exposition of the Meaning and Significance of Heraldry with Special Reference to its Nobiliary Aspects also by Robert Gayre. Published in 1961. As you can see, Gayre was fond of lengthy subtitles for his works. I suppose that was part of his multi-faceted neuroses. He was bonkers but the books are lovely. Look ’em up. They can be obtained inexpensively from one of the usual suspects.

Prince Harry In The Garden State

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He will tour areas hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy with the Governor, The Hon. Chris Christie, and see the efforts and recovery and rebuilding. I’ve never liked the custom of the British royals of having everyone use the royal arms differenced only by various forms of a label. In addition, the royal arms really should have had an escutcheon in pretense of the Duchy of Saxony added but the heralds decided against that.

An Heraldic “CV”

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Above you see what I like to call my “heraldic curriculum vitae”. (click on the image for a larger view) Essentially, it is a record of the various things I have done in my life illustrated by using heraldry. I commissioned the very talented architect, designer and graphic artist, Matthew Alderman to create this artwork. I conceived of the idea for this a few years ago when I received a friend’s bookplate that had not only his own coat of arms on it but the coats of arms of the various universities he attended and the dioceses in which he had served. A few months back Matt asked me to help him with some heraldic research for another commission on which he was working and when he showed me the sketches for it I knew he was the man to produce this heraldic CV.

My own coat of arms is at the center flanked by the coats of arms of the diocese in which I serve and the diocese in which I was born and grew up. Below that we see two other versions of my arms reflecting other capacities in which I serve with the coat of arms of the Roman Catholic Church between them. The bottom consists of the coats of arms of various schools I’ve attended and the sides are comprised of the coats of arms or other insignia for a variety of organizations to which I belong and/or serve as an officer or chaplain.

The image doesn’t really do it justice. In person it is stunning!

Vexillological FAIL

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I was a little confused and somewhat saddened to see that on the updated flag of the Swiss Guard the arms of Pope Francis were depicted with the mitre/tiara hybrid as opposed to the tiara as has always been done (even with the arms of Benedict XVI). It’s surprising because the notoriously punctilious Swiss aren’t known for accommodating whim or fashion when it comes to “their stuff”. Another thing changed for the worse.

Monseigneur Pascal Roland

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The past few days I have found myself praying for this particular bishop. It’s not that anything unusual has happened to him or that he has been particularly recommended to my prayers. In fact, I’ve never even met him. However, I find myself, lately, in the diocese of Belley-Ars in France where Mons. Roland is the bishop. So, each day at Mass I pray for him after praying for the pope. I can recall his coat of arms being discussed on one of the many heraldic fora online in which I take part. The lamb is a reference to his given name and the border of flames alludes to the new evangelization.

Coat of Arms of the Netherlands Royal House

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From his April 30th investiture onwards, His Majesty King Willem-Alexander will fly the royal standard. His coat of arms will be identical to that used by Queen Beatrix. Contrary to the announcement in the press release of 29 January therefore, there will be no change in the design.

The blazon is: Azure, billity or, a lion rampant of the same, armed and langued gules, crowned with a coronet of two pearls between three leaves, a sword argent with hilt or, thrusted upwards, in its right hand claw seven arrows argent with heads or, tied in a garb with ribbon or, in its left hand claw. The Royal Netherlands crown resting on the ledge of the shield, supported by two lions rampant or, armed and langued gules, placed above a ribbon azure, with the motto JE MAINTIENDRAI in gold lettering. The whole placed above a royal mantling purple trimmed or, lined ermine, tied back at the corners with gold tassled cords and issuing from a domed canopy of the same, surmounted by the Royal Netherlands crown.

The royal coat of arms, which is the same as the coat of arms of the Kingdom, has only been altered once since the foundation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. In 1907, at the instigation of Queen Wilhelmina, the number of crowns was reduced to one, surmounting the shield. At the same time, it became possible to add the royal mantle, also surmounted by a crown. The addition of other decorative elements to the coat of arms is optional.

After her abdication Queen Beatrix will adopt the coat of arms created for her (and for her sisters) in 1938 as Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau and Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld.

Cinematic Heraldry

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With the new Iron Man movie coming out soon hoards of geeks will reignite discussions of the coolest thing about Iron Man/Tony Stark. Well, the first movie already revealed the. coolest. thing. ever. In the scene showing Tony in his private jet we see on the wall behind him that TONY STARK HAS A COAT OF ARMS!!! Woo-hoo!

Rosary As An External Ornament

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The rosary, or chaplet, is used in heraldry as an external ornament for those who are Professed Religious (men or women) and who are not also ordained to the priesthood. It is sometimes used by those who are officials and, therefore, entitled to use some other external ornament like a prior’s staff or even a crozier, in the case of Abbesses. The rosary is usually black and consists of five sets of ten beads, called decades, separated by five larger beads. It completely surrounds the shield and terminates at the bottom with three small beads and a cross.

The Prince and Grand Master of the Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta as well as professed knights of Justice of that order also make use of the rosary since they are actually Professed Religious in the Roman Catholic Church. However, they make use of a silver or white rosary that usually terminates in a Maltese cross.

Below is the coat of arms of the current Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta, His Most Eminent Highness, Frá Matthew Festing when he was Grand Prior of England which illustrates the use of the rosary well.

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Patriarch of Venice

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Since April 25 is the feast of St. Mark who is the patron saint of Venice I thought it would be nice to see the arms of that city’s patriarch, Archbishop Moraglia. Venice is one of the few (arch)dioceses in Italy that uses a kind of diocesan arms. The Patriarch’s arms always have a chief (upper third of the shield) which contains a gold winged lion of St. Mark on a silver (white) background.

Doesn’t that violate the “tincture rule” of no metal on metal? Yes, it does but sometimes you just say, “What the heck?” In the case of many ancient coats of arms the tincture “rule” which is merely a custom, doesn’t apply.

The winged lion is the symbol for the Apostle and Evangelist, St. Mark. This comes from the prophecy of Ezekial and is also reflected in the Book of Revelation. The winged lion is one of the four great creatures that pull the throne-chariot of God. These creatures came to be considered representative of the authors of the four gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. In his paws the lion holds an open book with the phrase, “Pax tibi Marce Evangelista meus” (Peace be to you, Mark, my Evangelist).

In addition to these arms of the See the Patriarch of Venice (an honorary title obtained during the days of the great Venetian Republic to add prestige to the city) uses the green galero with green cords and thirty green tassels (fifteen on either side of the shield). If the individual incumbent is created a cardinal he uses the regular scarlet galero of a cardinal. Some maintain that the galero of a Patriarch should have a skein of gold thread interwoven in the cords but this is not true. There were three popes in the 20th C. who had been Patriarch of Venice at the time of their election and all of them continues to use this chief of St. mark in their coat of arms as pope. They were: St. Pius X, Bl. John XXIII and Pope John Paul I.