Heraldry

HERALDRY. - An auxiliary science of history. It derives from the word "herald," because it was the heralds' task precisely to recognize the coats of arms of knights in tournaments, to establish their authenticity and to cry them out on the field. Historically, it derives coats of arms from banners. Like banners, in fact, coats of arms were originally colored signs of distinction for leaders and troops. Their origin can be traced back to the 12th century, when from ensigns and standards those signs appeared on persons, constituting their "devices," and on various pieces of armor, whence the name more properly heraldic of "arms," instead of coat of arms. From a personal mark on the shield or on the seal, the "arms" then became a mark of family and of territory. Precisely for this reason the presence of a coat of arms in archaeological remains and on buildings can indicate - like a name or a plaque - an era, an event, an enterprise, a dominion. But heraldry is also the science of the composition, interpretation and reading of coats of arms, and for this reason it is more properly called "blazon," according to some from the German blasen: the sound of the horn for the summoning of knights; according to others from the old French word blason: to praise, to describe virtues.

Heraldry, therefore, understood as blazon, is the science of a true and proper figurative language: with, so to speak, its own grammar and syntax regarding the use of colors and figures, comparable to words, and for their overall expression on the shield, comparable to a proposition or a period.

This language is summed up in the arms. Arms can be personal, of a person or family, and social, of bodies, provinces, cities, institutions and associations. In arms one distinguishes: the shield and the ornaments.

1. THE SHIELD

It had various forms; today the Samnite one is commonly used, that is, a vertical rectangle with the lower side described in the manner of a horizontal bracket. Its field, that is, its entire space, contains the heraldic expression of the arms. And therefore the shield can be simple, if it expresses a single heraldic enterprise, or composite if made up of several coats of arms united in a single shield, through dominion, marriage, grant, etc. It can be plain if it bears no figures and is expressed, that is, with a single tincture; figured, if it bears figures.

The tinctures are distinguished into metals, gold and silver (yellow and white; figs. 18, 20); colors, red, blue, black, green, purple (figs. 21, 25); and furs, ermine, counter-ermine, vair, counter-vair (figs. 26, 29). Metals and colors are also transcribed in hatching, which chiefly concerns the reproduction of coats of arms on seals. Thus gold is rendered dotted (fig. 18), silver without any hatching (fig. 20), red with dense perpendicular lines (fig. 22), blue with horizontal ones (fig. 23), green with diagonals from right to left (fig. 25), black with crossed horizontal and vertical lines (fig. 21), purple with diagonals from left to right (fig. 24). Ermine is silver with black spots (figs. 6, 26), counter-ermine black with silver spots (figs. 8, 27); vair is blue with adjacent inverted bell-shapes of silver (figs. 14, 28), counter-vair is metal against metal and color against color (figs. 16, 29).

The shield is called figured if its field is charged with the various figures of blazon. These are distinguished into heraldic, that is, determinate geometric figures, natural, if taken from nature, artificial, like castles, bridges, instruments, etc., and chimerical, like dragons, sirens, etc. All of these too have in blazon a particular stylization, in the sense that the reproduction of any figure on the shield does not follow the details and developments proper to any painting, but occurs by means of a design as schematic as possible, most often already classified in heraldry. So that there are, for example: the heraldic lion, eagle, castle, bridge, star, sun, and the attitudes of certain animals and the manner of reproducing other natural figures are regulated by specific norms. With respect to their arrangement on the shield, figures can be of the field and on the field. The figures of the field are those heraldic ones that divide it and are drawn in the most varied ways, giving respective names to the shield: that is, the partitions that divide it by means of one or two lines, whence the shield is called "party" (fig. 1), "per fess," "per bend," "per bend sinister," if divided into two equal parts according to the direction of the single dividing line, or "tierced" (fig. 2) and "quarterly" (fig. 3) if divided into three or four parts with relative specifications for the different directions of the lines; the sub-partitions that subdivide the partitions by means of a third line; the conventional partitions that subdivide the partitions by means of several lines, whence the shield "bendy," "barry," "bendy sinister," "paly"

(fig. 4), "checky" (fig. 5), "lozengy," etc. The figures on the field, heraldic in their turn, or generic, are those that charge it, whether it be plain or already charged with these figures of its own. The heraldic figures on the field are the honorable and lesser ordinaries. The former occupy a third of the field, like the "chief" (fig. 6), the "pale" (fig. 7), the "fess" (fig. 8), the "bend" (fig. 9), the "bend sinister" (fig. 10), the "cross" (fig. 11), the "saltire" (fig. 12), the "chevron" (fig. 13), the "pile" (fig. 14), the "pall" (fig. 15), the "bordure" (along the edge of the shield: fig. 15). If reduced to less than a third, they have other names, like "pallet" instead of "pale," "bar" instead of "fess," etc. The lesser ordinaries are the "roundels," the "circles," the "torteaux," the "lozenges," the "plinthes," etc. Both the heraldic figures and the generic ones are arranged with determinate rules that assign their "position," whereby the field is ideally divided into "modules," seven in height and nine in width, so as to specify whether a figure is placed in "chief," in "base," with the respective "angles" and "cantons" sinister and dexter, in "heart" or "center," in "flank" dexter and sinister. Special norms also regulate the writing, that is, the composition of the shield, regarding the use of the tinctures and colors of the figures with respect to those of the field or of those figures, especially of the honorable ordinaries, which can in their turn be charged with other heraldic or generic figures. Thus for reading it is determined from where one begins, how it unfolds and is completed, with characteristic words and terms, particularly simplifying descriptions otherwise complicated if expressed in common words. For example: "Per fess: in the first, azure, a greyhound issuant reversed argent, collared gules; in the second, argent" (fig. 17, Castracani). "Per bend sinister: azure and or, three stars counterchanged, and a chief or charged with an eagle displayed sable" (fig. 19, Dandini).

The enamels and figures of every kind have their own meaning, which they came to assume gradually as heraldry passed from being a means of recognizing, as has been said, the devices of troops and leaders in combat, to becoming, in order to make itself exclusive, a mark in chivalry of heroic deeds accomplished or of purposes and aspirations, often completed by "mottoes" or "imprese," inserted among the ornaments of the shield. This probably began in the era of the "dolce stil nuovo" and its poetic hermeticism, and in that of its fantastic growth, also here according to the spirit of the age, between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, with a veritable vocabulary of its own. This is why the oldest arms are the simplest, and why generic figures come after the heraldic ones more suited to indicating a pure mark of distinction than a symbol, although later their own meanings were attributed to them as well. The so-called "canting arms," that is, those that allude to the surname, are the most recent, unless it is a case of a surname derived from the arms themselves, indicating in that case ancient nobility, so that the family took its name from the impresa. And here it must be observed how the abuse of canting arms is noticeable in ecclesiastical heraldry, where, moreover, one also notes the widespread application of the figure to the meaning one wishes to give it, apart from heraldic meanings and symbols, whereas it is through these that any motto or impresa is preferably expressed. Above all it must be noted that in the sacred symbols, of which there is an abundance in those of the catacombs and of the liturgy, it is always possible to draw what can make inspirations and aspirations nobly comprehensible to the people, especially those of the pastoral mission, without for this reason making of the coat of arms, as often happens, an arbitrary composition, frequently anything but clear, always anti-heraldic; that is, in full contradiction with the very fact of fixing it upon a shield.

2. THE ORNAMENTS OF THE SHIELD

They indicate in the arms the degree of nobility, the dignity, the office of the one who is invested with them. And they are, accordingly, hereditary and personal.

Hereditary are the helmet, with the crest, the mantling or lambrequins and the torse; the crown, the mantle, the pavilion.

The helmet. — It is the exclusive ornament of masculine coats of arms: although it does not currently constitute a precise index of noble rank like the crown, nor historically has it always given exactly such a definition, nevertheless from the heralds of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries onward, it figured on shields for this purpose as well. Thus the royal helmet is of gold, arabesqued, placed frontally with visor raised (fig. 1); that of the prince (fig. 2) and of the duke (fig. 3) of the same metal, in the same position with visor half raised, with gorget and gold medallion; that of the marquis (fig. 4) of silver, arabesqued and bordered with gold, with gorget and medallion of the same, visor closed and grated with 11 bars; the count's helmet (fig. 5) identical, grated with 17 bars, but in profile by one third; by two thirds that of the viscount (fig. 6) grated with 13, like that of the baron (fig. 7), which is smooth and bordered with gold; the nobleman's helmet (fig. 8) of plain silver in full profile, grated with 9; the same is that of the hereditary knight (fig. 9), but grated with 3 bars; the patrician's helmet of silver arabesqued with gold with visor half raised (fig. 10). The crest adorns the top of the helmet with plastic figures that usually reproduce the principal ones of the shield or others different, with the same origin and the same purpose of device and distinction. The torse is a ring of cloth in the colors of the shield, used to cushion blows and to cover the joining of the crest to the helmet; upon it rests the crown when it is borne on the helmet itself. The mantling was originally a covering of joined cloth descending from the torse to protect from the sun's heat, then jagged until it took on the form of foliage and feathers, likewise in the colors of the shield.

The crown. — Royal crowns vary according to the tradition of each dynasty and kingdom. Commonly formed of the gold circle set with gems with several points surmounted by the cross and within which is a tuft of crimson velvet (fig. 1). In Italian heraldry the crown of a prince (fig. 2) is a gold circle set with gems surmounted by eight fleurons, on as many gold points — five visible — alternating with eight pearls (four visible); the crown of a duke (fig. 3) is the same without the pearls. These two also use the tuft of red velvet within the circle, if they belong to formerly sovereign families or to families of the Holy Roman Empire. The crown of a marquis (fig. 4) is surmounted by four fleurons (three visible) on the circle, alternating with four pyramidal groups of pearls — two visible — arranged in threes; that of a count (fig. 5) is surmounted by sixteen pearls — nine visible —; that of a viscount (fig. 6) by four large pearls — three visible — supported by as many points alternating with four small pearls — two visible —; that of a baron (fig. 7) has the circle encircled by a row of pearls of six turns or bears ten large pearls — five visible — on the circle; that of a nobleman (fig. 8) is surmounted by eight pearls — five visible —; that of a hereditary knight by four — three visible —; that of a patrician has only the gold circle set with gems, with the exception of the Venetian patriciate, which surmounts it with eight fleurons of lily — five visible — set with pearls, and eight points supporting as many pearls, while the dogal families thus surround the dogal horn. Titled nobles and patricians place the crown above the helmet; women exclusively on the shield, flanked — as the only ornament — by two cords or, as in Italy, by two palm fronds decussated and crossed beneath its point.

The mantle (fig. 2), proper to sovereign, princely, ducal families or to others that have the privilege of it, descends from the crown behind the arms and is of crimson velvet lined with ermine, bordered with gold, raised with cords and tassels of the same. The pavilion (fig. 1) is the mantle that gathers into a silver summit surmounted by the crown, exclusive to sovereignty.

Personal ornaments are distinguished into ecclesiastical, civil, military and equestrian. The ecclesiastical ones into ornaments of jurisdiction or office, and of dignity.

Of jurisdiction and office are the tiara, the keys, the cross, the mitre, the crozier, the pallium, the staff.

The tiara and the keys, one of gold and the other of silver, crossed in the form of St. Andrew's cross, bound with a cord and red tassels descending at the sides of the shield, surmount the coat of arms of the Supreme Pontiff (fig. 11). The tiara is also used by tradition, not by right, by the Patriarch of Lisbon. The trefoiled cross placed behind the shield in pale, that is vertically, in the center, behind the coat of arms of the cardinal legate and of bishops and ordinaries (fig. 12), has two arms for the patriarch and the archbishop (figs. 13, 14). The mitre is jewelled for those who hold the episcopal order, placed frontally and surmounts the shield to the right of the cross (figs. 14, 15); it is white and placed in profile for abbots having jurisdiction (fig. 16), inclined to the left for the others; it is gold for protonotaries; white for the others who have the privilege and placed at the center in the place of the cross. The pastoral staff is gold for the episcopal order (figs. 14, 15), to the left of the cross and turned outward, silver in the same position for abbots general and abbots nullius dioecesis; turned inward for abbots having jurisdiction in their own monastery (fig. 16); inclined to the left for the others. The pallium, heraldically rendered in silver charged with black crosses, descends at the sides of the cross from the upper edge of the shield of patriarchs, of archbishops, as an ensign of metropolitan jurisdiction, and of others who have the privilege (fig. 13). The staff (fig. 19), in the fashion of the pilgrim's bourdon, is placed behind the shield in pale in the coats of arms of superiors general, whose dignity is distinguished from the "chief of religion" on the personal impresa; of priors of the mendicant Orders and of religious congregations; regent, for religious women, holding a rosary of paternosters, called "paternostro."

Ornaments of dignity are: the hat and the tassels. The hat surmounts the shield, replacing the helmet of noble coats of arms; it stands above the ornaments of jurisdiction and office. The tassels descend at the sides of the shield arranged in a cone. For the cardinal the hat — surmounted by the "basilica" for the cardinal camerlengo — and the tassels are red and these in number of thirty, arranged fifteen per side, in five rows of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 (fig. 12). For patriarchs the hat is green adorned with a ribbon of the same color and gold threads, and the tassels in number of thirty with the same arrangement as for the cardinal (fig. 13); for archbishops and bishops immediately subject it is green with cord and green tassels in number of twenty, ten per side in four rows (fig. 14); likewise for the bishop, who has twelve, six per side in three rows (fig. 15); for protonotaries participanti and ad instar it is purple with crimson cords and tassels in number of twelve, six per side, in three rows; while it is black with black tassels for honorary protonotaries. For prelates of the fiocchetto — majordomo, vice-camerlengo, auditor general and treasurer general of the rev. Apostolic Camera — the hat is purple with twenty crimson tassels, ten per side, in four rows (fig. 17); it is purple for domestic prelates with twelve tassels of the same color, six per side in three rows; and green for the regent of the chancery. The hat is black for the chamberlains and secret chaplains with purple tassels in number of twelve, six per side in three rows; black, of equal number and arrangement, for abbots, vicars general, archpriests, vicars forane (fig. 16); in number of six in two rows for beneficed clergy — with gold threads for military and Court chaplains — and for priors, guardians, rectors (fig. 19). The ecclesiastical arms are surmounted by the noble crown when the title is inherent to a church or granted by the Supreme Pontiff, the crown of the family title being tolerated. The crown surrounds the cross, while for princely titles alone the helmet is placed between the pastoral staff and the cross itself, the whole surmounted by the hat (fig. 14), above which was only the mantle, if the prelate is of royal family, and in this case the crown supports the mantle. This exception also holds for cardinals, for whom otherwise the cross alone is proper, under the hat, without any other ornament of jurisdiction, office and dignity, the cardinalitial office and dignity being held superior to every other.

The personal civil ornaments are the insignia of rank in the high magistracies of the State, especially those that elevated to the noble Order, such as the toque and the maces for supreme judges, and chivalric insignia that hang at the point of the shield, sometimes surrounding its sides with the ribbon. The military ornaments are also those proper to the supreme commands in the armed forces. The marshal places the batons in saltire of St. Andrew, the admiral the anchors, the Grand Master of the Artillery the cannons.

The personal equestrian ornaments are those of the members of the noble equestrian Orders who place the relevant cross behind the shield.

To all the ornaments are added the mottoes, derived from the ancient war cries. Written in black or red on a ribbon of silver or gold, they are placed above the coat of arms; for ecclesiastics they are knotted to the pale issuing from the cross, where it exists.

3. SOCIAL ARMS

States, municipalities, cities, provinces, dioceses, religious congregations and Orders, public bodies, associations have or may have, duly approved, their own coats of arms which follow the same heraldic rules as personal ones and are equally composed of shield and ornaments. The Church also bears the basilica with the Keys placed in saltire of St. Andrew. Such is also the coat of arms of the Holy See during a vacant see, being otherwise proper to the reigning Pontiff. The coats of arms of municipalities, cities, and provinces are prescribed by heraldic regulations. In Italy, municipalities and cities bear a mural crown surmounted by nine merlons for the former, by five towers for the latter; the provinces an eye of gold jewelled with a double border with two branches of oak and berried laurel, placed in saltire of St. Andrew within the crown. - See color Plates.

Giuseppe Dalla Torre