 HERALDIC - system of identification marks;
subsequently, the science of compiling and describing coats of arms.
Coats of arms and special signs on the shield and helmet, designed to help identify a knight during a battle or a tournament, have traditionally been almost the most obvious feature that distinguished a knight from other members of medieval society. It is believed that the custom of using coats of arms originated in the 12th century, when a helmet with a visor appeared, completely hiding the face, and a uniform standard armor turned the knightly army into a single steel mass. All this contributed to the development of "identification marks" - heraldry. An even more urgent need for a developed coat of arms arose among the participants of the crusades, in which knights could take part. different countries... It became necessary to find some kind of system of signs and symbols that would allow - placed, for example, on a shield - to recognize the knights.
The coat of arms was (and is called in theoretical heraldry today) special figures or symbolic images created on the basis of well-known, well-defined rules and serving as permanent distinctive signs of an individual, clan, community or organization, as well as a city, region or an entire state.
There are known cases of the use of individual symbols and iconic images by famous warriors of antiquity and the Dark Ages. These marks remained the exclusive property of a certain person, while the medieval coat of arms stepped beyond the mere identification mark, since it became hereditary and acquired legal significance (when using the coat of arms in seals). End of the XII century. and the entire XIV century, the heyday of the knightly romance, was at the same time the heraldry of knightly heraldry. Literacy in those days remained the lot of only a very narrow circle, therefore, the generally accepted language of coats of arms, emblems and symbols was of particular importance. Heraldry of the XIII - XIV centuries actually took the place of the figurative language of this era, which almost everyone knew how to speak. Therefore, it is not surprising that heraldry left its mark on almost all aspects of the life of the Middle Ages.
Coats of arms adorned banners, standards and city buildings, adorned the saddlebags of horses. The knights who returned from the Crusades brought with them the custom of imitating the oriental luxury of clothing, and the so-called surcot, or cotte-hardie, worn over a long tunic with narrow sleeves, came into fashion. Noble persons wore clothes of colors corresponding to their coat of arms; ordinary nobles received such heraldic clothes from the king or from their lords, and they also wore their coat of arms. Under Charles V (1330 - 1380, reign from 1364), suits of two coat of arms came into fashion in France: the right half of the suit corresponded to one coat of arms, and the left half of the suit corresponded to the other. This is how two-tone dresses and quilts arose, which almost every humorist and satirist made fun of, starting Mark Twain, but which did not at all seem clownish to those who wore them in the 14th century.
Heraldry, or blazon (as it was called at the time of the writing of knightly novels), appeared in the form of special knowledge precisely in the era of the Crusades. The custom of tournaments, which became widespread at about the same time, and the ceremonies associated with it also contributed to the development of the terminology of heraldry and even the so-called heraldic language. At first, very few owned the rules of this language, moreover, with the increase in the number of personal coats of arms, these rules became very confusing. Heraldry, with its peculiar signs, figures, their endless combinations, various divisions of the coat of arms, etc., has become a very complex science. Heraldry was so firmly entrenched as part of the knightly culture that neither the authors themselves nor their audience could imagine knights. Round Table without correctly composed heraldic emblems.
The "historical" Arthur, whose official biography is quoted in his chronicle by Galfried of Monmouth, lived in the Dark Ages, when no heraldry existed yet. Its illustrious dragon banner is definitely borrowed from the battle standard of the mercenary cavalry of the late Roman Empire. The emblem on Arthur's shield may have been at first the cross and / or the image of the Virgin Mary - this is also mentioned in the Welsh Annals of Cumbria and the chronicles of Nennius. Although Nennius says that he "carried this sign on his shoulder," we can talk here about the confusion that arose when the two graphically similar Welsh words "shoulder" and "shield" were translated into Latin.
Since the end of the XII century. the cross and the icon of the Virgin in Arthur's coat of arms are replaced by three crowns, which should, obviously, indicate his superiority over other kings. In the XV century. With the spread of the belief that the three crowns meant the three kingdoms (North Wales, South Wales and Logria), the number of crowns in the coat of arms increased to 13 in order to represent all kingdoms that had taken a vassal oath to King Arthur. The field of Arthur's coat of arms is usually red in English sources and blue in French texts (in accordance with the blue field of the French royal coat of arms).
As for the Knights of the Round Table, it can be seen from the texts of the knightly novels and from the illustrated manuscripts that various authors disagree about the emblems of their heroes as much as they disagree about what the Grail is. Nevertheless, no matter what coats of arms they endowed their heroes, these coats of arms were built in strict accordance with the rules of heraldry.
Before turning to the most famous coats of arms of the Knights of the Round Table, it is necessary to clarify a few heraldic terms.
Since from the very first steps in the development of coats of arms, distinctive signs were placed primarily on shields, the coat of arms itself soon acquired the outline of a shield. The surface of the coat of arms (like the surface of a shield) is called the field of the coat of arms. Ancient heraldry distinguished four colors and two metals. Shields were often decorated with gold and silver, and these metals were transferred to the coat of arms, where they began to denote the corresponding colors. In the names below, the first is the French term, since English heraldry was based on French, as happened several centuries later with Russian heraldry.
Or - "gold" (later the same term began to denote yellow).
Argent - "silver" (later the same term began to denote white).
The colors accepted in heraldry are called tincture (this word takes into account the shade of the color). When describing the coat of arms, we are talking about "enamels", since initially the paint on the coat of arms was applied precisely by means of enamel. Ancient heraldry recognized the following enamels:
Gules (geules) - red, or worm.
Azur - blue, or azure.
Vert (sinople) - greenery.
Sable - mobile.
In the XV century. to these basic colors were added several more compound ones, the most common of which are purple (pourpur), ash (in German coats of arms) and orange (tenne) (in English coats of arms). Very rarely, but so-called natural colors were also used. This was done in the case when, according to special instructions, in the coat of arms it was necessary to depict an animal (deer, fox, bull), a known plant or part of the human body - with the color that is characteristic of them in reality: brown, red, gray, pink or bodily and others. In the Middle Ages, heralds in such cases, instead of natural ones, resorted to the colors of the heraldic tincture that were closest to them in character. This is how gray or red deer, dogs and bulls appeared in the coats of arms; lions were depicted in gold or red, parts of the human body in red or silver.
Around the middle of the 15th century. a list of coats of arms was compiled "Names, coats of arms and blazons of the Knights of the Round Table" ("Les Noms, Arms et Blasons des Chevalliers et Compaignes de la Table Ronde"), which contains drawings and descriptions of 175 coats of arms of the Knights of the Round Table. The list existed as an appendix to the famous Tournament Book of King Rene of Anjou (circa 1455), which contained detailed instructions for organizing tournaments "according to the rules established during the time of King Uther Pendragon and King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table."
Some of the coats of arms given in this list are directly related to the plots of knightly novels. For example, the coat of arms of Ivain, the "Knight with the Lion" - a golden lion in an azure field, or the coat of arms of Lancelot: three scarlet sling on the left in a silver field. The latter is a reference to the mention that Lancelot possessed the strength of three warriors. The coats of arms of Lancelot and Ivain given here belong to the so-called vowel coats of arms. Initially, only those coats of arms were considered vowels, the emblem of which directly indicated the name of the owner; when the vowel of the emblem was named, the name of the owner of the coat of arms was simultaneously called. Subsequently, coats of arms-rebuses similar to those mentioned above began to be called vowels. Vowels include, for example, the coat of arms of Tristan, which contains a pun based on the name of the hero: greenery, golden lion.
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Coat of arms of Mordred: early
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Coat of arms of Tristan
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Coat of arms of Mordred: late
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Sometimes, as a result of a scribal error, the emblems could change. So, for example, the coat of arms of Kay has changed, which was originally blazoned as the Silver Chapter in the rabble - the head here denoted Kay's position at the court of King Arthur (seneschal). As a result of the mistake, the word "chief" (the head is a heraldic figure, which is a wide strip at the top of the shield) turned into "clefs" (keys), and on the coat of arms of Kay - Seneschal, instead of the Silver Chapter, two silver keys appeared. In some cases, as a result of an error when reading the coat of arms, a completely new character appeared. Such a "double" of Sagramur Zhelanniy was generated by a misreading of his coat of arms in the "Second sequel" of "Perseval" by Chrétien de Troyes.
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Kai's coat of arms: early
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Kai's coat of arms: late
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Since several different traditions are intertwined in the Arthurian epic, its main characters, in various novels, have two or even three completely different coats of arms. Something similar happened, for example, with Gawain. In French tradition, Gawain's shield is the right front corner of a worm in a silver field. According to Galfrid of Monmouth, Gawain was knighted by Pope Sulpicius, who also granted him a coat of arms. In the novel "Perlesvo" this coat of arms is called the shield of Judas Maccabee - a golden eagle in a scarlet field. In the appendix to the Tournament Book, this coat of arms is again slightly modified: a two-headed golden eagle in a scarlet field. Another Gawaine coat of arms (perhaps the most famous of all) is found in Sir Gawaine and the Green Knight: a golden pentagram in a scarlet field. In the Middle Ages, such a symbol was called the Seal of Solomon, or "the endless knot." The same novel says that this coat of arms is exclusively personal, received for special merits and cannot be inherited. In the XIV century. in connection with the development of tournaments, tournament weapons began to differ significantly from combat weapons, and among chivalry it became customary to have a set of two shields: "shields of war" of a traditional triangular shape with a family coat of arms placed on it, and a "peace shield", a square tarch with a slot into which the spear was inserted. A personal coat of arms was placed on this shield - for tournaments and peaceful adventures. Consequently, when going in search of the Green Chapel, Gawain takes with him a shield with his personal coat of arms, the "shield of the world."
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Coat of arms of Gareth: early
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Coat of arms of Gareth: late
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It is worth mentioning another sign that is often found in knightly novels - the white shield. With a white shield, that is, a shield with an empty field without any coats of arms and emblems or any other images, the knight entered the tournament if for some reason he wished to remain unrecognized. In general, descriptions of tournaments in knightly novels are full of references to how one or the other hero, in order to remain unrecognized, "changes colors", that is, appears with a shield of other heraldic colors. Such a "masquerade" or unwillingness to travel with their well-known shield, however, often turned into a tragedy. For example, they fought without recognizing each other, Perceval and Bors, who went in search of the Holy Grail, placing migratory swallows on their shields. Only the miracle of the Grail saved them both from death. In the dark, Gawain killed his named brother Ivain the Desperate, who was traveling with a white (empty) shield, in a duel.
Although the coats of arms of the Arthurian list were recognized as authentic and were cited in all textbooks on heraldry up to the end of the 19th century, only one of them got on the pages of "The Death of Arthur" by Mallory - the coat of arms of Galahad.
Anna Komarinets. Encyclopedia of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
(A. Komarinets - M.: OOO "Ast Publishing House", 2001, pp. 115-118)
This material was kindly provided by Narwen
(administrator of the site "GRAIL: Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table"
Illustrations the coats of arms of the knights (except for the coat of arms of Gawaine with the pentagram) were developed by Paul (according to the aforementioned encyclopedia),
edited Narwen (using graphics WHP - Heraldry Gallery)
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If you take a quick look at the coats of arms of the Scandinavian states, one cannot fail to note a detail common to almost everyone: almost everywhere there is an image of lions and leopards, equally exotic for the northern countries. Why are they present in the coats of arms of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland?
A banner that fell from the sky
The leopard on the coat of arms of Denmark appeared around 1190 under Knud VI Valdemarsson, almost simultaneously with the leopards of Richard the Lionheart. Therefore, we have before us one of the oldest state symbols. The leopards of the Danish king were azure in a field of gold adorned with scarlet hearts. This image was preserved in the coat of arms of Denmark under all rulers. It has survived to this day, and in the modern state emblem of the Kingdom of Denmark occupies the first field.
The division of the shield on the Danish coat of arms is special. It was not made with lines, but with a cross. This is no coincidence. After all, the cross - it is called Danenbrog - is considered one of the national emblems of the Danes. Sometimes images of the cross were minted on coins by Danish kings, for example Regnald Gotfredsson in the tenth or Waldemar the Great in the twelfth century.
However, the legend connects the appearance of Danenbrog (as they call not only the cross, but also the banner with the cross) with another ruler - King Waldemar II the Winner. According to legend, a red banner with a white cross fell from the sky to his troops at a critical moment in the battle with the Estonians in 1219 and helped to win. This is even said in the “History of the Russian State” by N.M. Karamzin.
Since the 15th century, the coat of arms of Danish kings has been a combination of the coats of arms of the allied kings of Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Vandalia. In the center was a shield with their dynastic coats of arms. Later, Danish leopards, dynastic Oldenburg and Delmengorst signs appeared in turn in the middle shield, and depending on this, the entire heraldic shield was rebuilt.
In the 18th century, the Danish coat of arms took on a form close to the modern one: a shield with the dynastic coat of arms was superimposed on a large shield with the coats of arms of the kingdoms belonging to the Danish crown. The heraldic shield is supported by bearded savages with clubs, whose images appeared in the Danish coat of arms in 1449. In truth, no one gives an explanation for this: it is believed that the savages were "brought" into the Danish coat of arms by the Oldenburg dynasty, thus declaring their ancient origin. The shield was crowned with a crown and surrounded by chains of the highest state orders - the Elephant and Danenbrog.
In 1960, the Great and Small state emblems of the Danish kingdom were determined. The small coat of arms was actually the coat of arms of Denmark, in which the leopards were finally replaced by "leopard lions". The large coat of arms of Denmark had a complex structure and lush decorations. It was used by the royal family, court and guard.
Queen Margaret II, who ascended the throne in 1972, renounced all titles not supported by real power, except for the Danish royal. The emblems of the German possessions - the coats of arms of the Goth and Wend kingdoms - disappeared from the coat of arms. Schleswig's leopard lions have survived since part of Schleswig returned to Denmark in 1920.
The Danes explain the second field with three crowns as the emblem of the Kalmar Union, which united the Scandinavian kingdoms from 1397 to 1523. Under Margaret II of a complex shape, the "order" cross of Danenbrog was replaced by a straight "znamenny" cross.
Volcanic fire and geyser water
In 1918, Iceland was declared an independent kingdom in union with Denmark. In 1944, the island state withdrew from the union and declared itself a sovereign republic. Then the Icelandic coat of arms was created. The heraldic shield carries the design of the national flag and is supported by four supporters at once. They are the guardian spirits of Iceland. According to the ancient sagas, they are supposed to protect the island from the Danish kings. The symbols of the colors of the Icelandic flag are the scarlet fire of volcanoes, the silver water of geysers, the azure of the sea and sky.
Three crowns
In Sweden, lions are preserved only in the large royal coat of arms. And this tradition has been going on since time immemorial. Lions-supporters have been entrenched in the coat of arms since the end of the 16th century and are depicted with forked tails. Let's pay attention to two other lions, placed in the second and third fields of the shield, separated by a large cross. These are the so-called Gothic lions. They are depicted on top of silver streams in an azure field.
The history of their appearance is as follows. First, in the coat of arms of King Eric III, around 1224, three leopards appeared at once, one below the other, as in Danish. This coat of arms was adopted by Valdemar's nephew who succeeded Eric III, who belonged to another family - the Folkungs. Valdemar's father, Jarl Birger, had another family coat of arms - a lion over three left straps. As you can see, it is very reminiscent of the images in the second and third fields of the shield on the modern royal coat of arms of Sweden. The fact is that King Valdemar was overthrown from the throne by his brother Magnus, who received the nickname Protector of the Peasants, who, unlike his predecessor, remained faithful to the family coat of arms of the Folkungs, but the lion has since become crowned.
The oldest known seal of Magnus the Protector of the Peasants has three crowns at the top and sides of the royal shield. In the 14th century, under King Albert of Mecklenburg, the three crowns became the main symbol of Sweden.
There are several interpretations of this heraldic emblem. Some associate the appearance of the three crowns with the cult of the Three Kings widespread in Europe - the Magi, who brought gifts to the baby Jesus Christ. This cult revived after the transfer of their relics from Milan to Cologne by Frederick Barbarossa in 1164. Others see the Swedish crowns as a symbol of the Holy Trinity. But there are also purely heraldic interpretations. Some connoisseurs of heraldry see in this emblem either a crown from the Mecklenburg family coat of arms, reinforced with the sacred number three, or the legendary coat of arms of King Arthur, embodying the moral ideals of chivalry, or some "fabulous coat of arms" of one of the ancient Irish kings.
The three crowns suddenly acquired a new meaning when the Scandinavian kingdoms united into one state - the Kalmar Union. The Swedish crowns then occupied the second quarter of the common coat of arms of the allied kings, and this symbol began to express the unity of Denmark, Sweden and Norway.
The Swedish coat of arms itself was formed during the years of the Kalmar Union. Under Karl Knutsson, who proclaimed himself king of Sweden in 1448 and ruled intermittently until 1470, the heraldic shield was divided into parts with a golden cross. According to legend, this emblem appeared in the XII century. If you believe the legend, the Swedish king Eric IX, before the campaign against the pagan Finns, saw a cruciform golden glow in the sky. However, the origins of the symbol are much older. In the description of the life of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, it is said that before the battle with his rival commander Maxentius, he saw a sign in the sky - a shining cross made of stars. Constantine ordered to depict this sign on the weapons and banners of his troops, which supposedly helped to win the decisive battle at the Milvian bridge. Karl Knutsson introduced into the Swedish coat of arms and a middle shield with the image of his own family coat of arms - a golden rook in a black field.
In 1523, the Kalmar Union collapsed. In Sweden, Gustav Vasa became king, and a new dynastic coat of arms, a sheaf, was placed in the middle shield instead of a boat. In Swedish, the generic nickname "Vase" is consonant with the word for a sheaf, a bundle of twigs, a bunch of plants, and the like.
Gustav Vasa adopted the triple title “King of the Swedes, Goths and Wends”, possibly in imitation of the extremely opulent titles of Danish kings. In accordance with this, the meaning of the three crowns of the House of Folkung was once again rethought. And this is how they began to explain the origin of the three crowns on the coat of arms of Sweden.
Under Gustav Vasa or under his son Eric XIV, the original colors of the coat of arms also changed. Instead of a black beam in a gold field, a golden sheaf appeared in an azure-silver-scarlet field, twice beveled on the right. The shape of the sheaf gradually changed, which eventually began to resemble a vase with handles.
Later on the Swedish throne, the royal dynasties did not stay long. The large coat of arms remained unchanged all the time, only the dynastic emblems in the shield changed: the palatines of the Rhine, the landgraves of Hesse-Kassel and, finally, the dukes of Holstein-Gottorp ...
In 1810, the last of the Swedish Gottorp dynasty adopted Napoleonic Marshal Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, Prince de Pontecorvo. Eight years later, the marshal took the Swedish throne, taking the name of Charles XIV John. As a sign of continuity, and not as a sign of kinship, which did not exist, the coat of arms of the Vaza dynasty appeared in the middle shield of the royal coat of arms, and next to the princes of Pontecorvo - in azure over a silver stream (wavy tip), a silver bridge with three arches and two towers, and over the bridge there is a Napoleonic eagle with two peruns.
After some time, the Napoleonic eagle on the Swedish coat of arms turned into a crow. It is difficult to say whether this confusion arose by accident or deliberately. The word “corvo” in Italian means “raven”, and “rotte corvo” is translated as “humpbacked bridge”.
The law of May 15, 1908 established the official image of the large and small coats of arms of Sweden. The place of the raven in the coat of arms of Pontecorvo was again taken by the Napoleonic eagle ...
Lion of St. Olaf
Around 1200, the ruler of Norway had its own coat of arms: a golden crowned lion of St. Olaf in a scarlet field with a battle ax in its front paws. This image is almost exactly reproduced on the modern coat of arms of Norway. On a pointed "Varangian" shield of red color under a royal crown without precious stones, a lion walks with a poleaxe on its paws.
The Norwegian royal coat of arms, like the Danish one, is decorated with dynastic symbols. Here we see the same shield, but a crown over it with precious stones. A mantle with an ermine lining is released from under it: The shield is surrounded by a chain with the sign of the Order of St. Olaf, founded by King Oscar I in 1847.
Sweeping sword and trampling saber
The first dukes of Finland were Swedish princes from the Volkung family. A lion was present in their family coat of arms. The first coat of arms of Finland was granted in 1557 by the Swedish king Gustav Vasa to his son John along with the title of Duke of Finland. This coat of arms was composed of the coats of arms of the two most important provinces of the duchy: Northern Finland (Satakunta) and Southern Finland, or Finland proper. On the coat of arms of the latter, among other things, a black bear was depicted holding a sword. Later, a single coat of arms appeared, denoting all the Swedish eastern possessions, including Finland and Karelia. This coat of arms is used to decorate the tomb of Gustav Vasa in the city of Uppsala. It is a crowned shield with a golden crowned lion in a scarlet field. The lion's right forepaw is chained in armor and brings a sword, with its hind legs the lion tramples on a thrown crooked saber. The scarlet field is strewn with silver roses - there are nine of them on the tomb of Gustav. Presumably, the lee was taken from the Swedish royal coat of arms, and his gesture was borrowed from the coat of arms of Northern Finland or the Karelian principality, which depicted a right hand with a sword drawn.
When John Vaza ascended the Swedish throne, he combined his previous title with the title “King of the Swedes, Goths and Wends and others”. Grand Duke Finland and Karelia ”(in Latin Finland was called the Grand Duchy, and in Swedish - the Grand Duchy). For reasons of prestige, John III included a closed crown in the royal coat of arms.
In this form, the coat of arms of Finland remained until the end of the century, and at the beginning of the 17th century the lion's gesture changed somewhat: he began to trample the blade of the saber with his right hind paw, and with his left front he clawed the hilt of the sword. Disappeared from the head of the lion and the crown. Soon the armor disappeared somewhere, and the lion's tail was bifurcated. But ten silver roses have survived.
Similarly, the coat of arms of Finland looked like when the Russian Romanovs took the grand princely throne. True, under Alexander II, a special Finnish grand-ducal crown was introduced into the coat of arms. She looked somewhat ridiculous: with a two-headed eagle on the front tooth, with high "auxiliary" teeth, but without the lateral ones. The subjects themselves stubbornly refused to recognize this crown, under any pretext replacing it with the Grand Ducal. Regardless of the officially approved coat of arms of "Russian Finland", the Finns adhered to their traditions and everywhere used the coat of arms with an image repeating the shield from the tomb of Gustav Vasa, but with a closed crown.
Finland's Declaration of Independence, proclaimed in December 1917, and the constitution approved in July 1919, consolidated this option. But in 1920, the crown ceased to be crowned with the shield, and the coat of arms in a curious way lost the symbol of sovereignty just when Finland really became sovereign.
Georgy Vilinbakhov, Mikhail Medvedev
The French are one of the most proud and in love with their culture and history of nations. The state symbols they use have a deep meaning. How did one of the most important, the country's coat of arms, appear, and how did its image change?
The attitude of the French to heraldry
Surprisingly, modern France does not have a traditional national emblem. Shields with his image do not adorn the walls of embassies, as is customary in all other countries. And if you ask a French passerby about the main national symbol, he will most likely tell you about Marianne, a woman who has represented France since the time of the French Revolution. Her image sometimes serves on official documents. But the coat of arms of Marianne, of course, cannot be called. This situation arose because the French abandoned the heraldic insignia after each destruction of the monarchical rule. Citizens who honor republican freedoms to this day do not want to use the state emblem that belonged to the kings. The republican symbolism is a peculiar combination of signs of all French territories and provinces. This image is called the Great Coat of Arms of France.
First French coats of arms
Despite the lack of interest in heraldry among modern citizens, in ancient times on the territory of the state there were a variety of symbols of monarchs, so that the history of the coat of arms of France goes back centuries. The first images were significantly influenced by the Christian religion, which had already begun to dominate the country. So, the founder of the state, Clovis, changed the white banner with three toads to a blue one, which is considered a symbol of the patron saint of France, Martin. This happened when the monarch adopted Christianity in 496. Why exactly blue? This question can be answered by a legend, which says that Martin, a bishop from Tours, once met a beggar on the road and gave him half of his cloak, which was blue. A banner of this shade, attached to the cross with a red cord, became the symbol of the Franks.
Medieval coat of arms of France
The Frankish Empire was proclaimed by Charlemagne in 800. Its banner was a red three-tailed cloth, which depicts six blue-red-yellow roses. The state collapsed already in 843, and the kingdom returned to the former blue symbolism. By the first quarter of the 12th century, during the reign of King Louis the Sixth Tolstoy, golden heraldic lilies appear on the coat of arms. The image officially begins to be called the "flag of France", and a shield with flowers and an azure field becomes the first French coat of arms. is called a stylized drawing of a yellow iris, which symbolizes the Blessed Virgin. The history of the coat of arms of France notes that such flowers were the emblem of the Capetian dynasty already in the 10th century. By the end of the XIV Art. only three lilies remain on the blue background. Most likely, this is due to the threefold essence of the Christian deity. During the time, a significant part of the French territory was captured by the British. A movement of patriots arose, led by Jeanne d'Arc, whose banner was a white cloth, on one side of which was depicted the French coat of arms, and on the other - angels and God.
White has acquired the meaning of a symbol of the independence of the state. The description of the coat of arms of France in the post-war period resembles the original image - the French kings again returned to blue and three golden lilies.
Rule of the Bourbons
The royal Bourbon dynasty came to the throne in 1589. The national coat of arms of France, whose description formerly included a blue shield and lilies, has now been replenished with a red Navarre shield with a chain. Two shields were placed on one mantle, crowned with a crown, and the coats of arms of the largest provinces were placed along the edges: Brittany, Burgundy, Guienne, Dauphiné, Ile-de-France, Languedoc, Lyonne, Normandy, Orleans, Picardy, Provence, Champagne. Over time, Navarre also became a province, and in the center there was only a shield with lilies, surrounded by chains of the orders of St. Michael and the Holy Spirit. Two angels supported him on either side. The history of the coat of arms of France in this version was interrupted in 1789, when the Great French Revolution took place, and the monarchist symbolism was abolished. The tricolor, which later became traditional, was used on the banners of the revolutionaries, and sailing ships and an ax with a bundle of rods were located at the corners of the panels. The last image is called "Lictor bundle" and
is the first emblem of the French Republic.
Heraldry in the 19th century
The history of the coat of arms of France in its monarchical manifestation resumed in 1804, when Napoleon was proclaimed emperor. The symbol was a beam of lightning, depicted on a blue background. Around was the chain of the Legion of Honor, and in the background were bees and crossed scepters, a mantle and a crown. In 1814, the power of the Bourbons was restored, and with it the former coat of arms, from which the angels disappeared. In 1830, there was a revolution again, and then the Orleans dynasty came to power. State symbol became their family coat of arms. In 1832, a wave of uprisings began, which led to the revolution of 1848, the symbol of which was the popular image of the Gallic rooster. After some time, power returned to Napoleon, and in 1871 the Paris Commune was declared. The coat of arms of France of that period is the following image: gold letters of the name of the state on a blue oval surrounded by national flags, Order of the Legion of Honor, Lictor's bunch, and
also oak and olive branches. The emblem survived until the thirties of the next century.
State symbols in the XX century
During World War II, France was occupied by the Nazis. In the southern part of the state, the reign of Petain arose with the capital in Vichy. The emblem was an ax with two blades and a handle in the form of a marshal's baton. The symbol of the patriots was a shield in the colors of the French flag, in the middle of which there is a red Lorraine cross. After the liberation of the country, the image used before the war was officially approved, and some changes were made to it. So, the inscription “Freedom. Brotherhood. Equality ”, and around Marianne’s profile was placed the text“ French Republic. 1870 ". This date is associated with the fall of the monarchy and the final transition to republican rule.
The invention and use of all kinds of signs and symbols is human. The custom of choosing for oneself or for a kind and tribe a special distinctive sign has very deep roots and is spread throughout the world. It comes from the tribal system and a special outlook, characteristic of all peoples in the primitive period of their history.
Generic signs and symbols are called totems; they are the closest relatives of the coats of arms. The term "totem" comes from North America, and in the language of the Ojibwe Indians, the word "ototem" means "his kind". The custom of totemism consists in the selection by a clan or tribe of any animal or plant as the progenitor and patron from which all members of the tribe trace their origin. This custom existed among the ancient peoples, however, it is accepted today among the tribes leading a primitive lifestyle. The ancient Slavs also had totems - sacred animals, trees, plants - from the names of which, it is assumed, some modern Russian surnames originate. Among the Asian peoples of Turkic and Mongolian origin, there is a similar custom "tamga". Tamga is a sign of a tribal affiliation, an image of an animal, bird or weapon, adopted by each tribe as a symbol that is depicted on banners, emblems, burned on the skin of animals, and even applied to the body. The Kirghiz have a legend that tamgas were assigned to separate clans by Genghis Khan himself, along with "uranians" - battle cries (which were also used by European knights, which is why they later got on the emblems in the form of mottos).
The prototypes of coats of arms - various symbolic images placed on military armor, banners, rings and personal belongings - have been used since antiquity. In the works of Homer, Virgil, Pliny and other ancient authors, there is evidence of the use of such signs. Both legendary heroes and real historical figures, for example, kings and military leaders, often had personal emblems. So, the helmet of Alexander the Great was decorated with a sea horse (hippocampus), the helmet of Achilles - an eagle, the helmet of the king of Numibia Masinissa - a dog, the helmet of the Roman emperor Caracalla - an eagle. The shields were also decorated with various emblems, for example, the image of the severed head of Medusa the Gorgon. But these signs were used as decoration, arbitrarily changed owners, were not inherited and did not obey any rules. Only a few emblems of the islands and cities of the ancient world were used constantly - on coins, medals and seals. The emblem of Athens was an owl, Corinth - Pegasus, Samos - a peacock, Rhodes - a rose. In this one can already see the beginnings of state heraldry. Most of the ancient civilizations had in their culture some elements of heraldry, for example, a system of seals or stamps, which in the future will be inextricably linked with heraldry. In Assyria, the Babylonian Empire and in ancient egypt stamps were used in the same way as in medieval Europe- to certify documents. These signs were extruded in clay, carved in stone and imprinted on papyrus. Already in the third millennium BC there was a "coat of arms" of the Sumerian states - an eagle with a lion's head. The emblem of Egypt was a snake, Armenia - a crowned lion, Persia - an eagle. Subsequently, the eagle will become the coat of arms of Rome. The "coat of arms" of Byzantium was actually a two-headed eagle, borrowed later by some European states, including Russia.
The ancient Germans painted their shields in different colors. Roman legionnaires had emblems on their shields, by which it was possible to determine their belonging to a particular cohort. Roman banners - vexilla (hence the name of the science of flags - vexillology) were adorned with special images. To distinguish legions and cohorts in the troops, badges - signa - were also used - in the form of various animals - an eagle, a boar, a lion, a minotaur, a horse, a she-wolf and others, which were worn in front of the troops on long shafts. For these figures, often related to the history of the city of Rome, military units were sometimes named.
So, various systems of insignia and emblems existed always and everywhere, but heraldry itself as a special form of symbolism arose in the process of the development of the feudal system in Western Europe.
The bright and colorful art of heraldry developed in the dark times of the decline of culture and economy that occurred in Europe with the death of the Roman Empire and the establishment of the Christian religion, when feudalism arose and a system of hereditary aristocracy took shape. Several factors contributed to the appearance of the coats of arms. First of all - feudalism and crusades, but they gave rise to the destructive and life-giving fire of war. It is believed that the coats of arms appeared in the 10th century, but it is difficult to find out the exact date. The first coats of arms depicted on seals attached to documents date back to the 11th century. The oldest official seals are placed on the marriage contract of 1000, concluded by Sancho, Infante of Castile, with Wilhelmina, daughter of Gaston II, Viscount of Béarne. It should be borne in mind that in the era of universal illiteracy, the use of the coat of arms for signatures and for designating property was for many the only way to certify a document with their name. Such an identification mark was understandable even to an illiterate person (it is quite possible that the coats of arms appeared first on seals, and only then on weapons and clothing).
Undoubted evidence of the existence of heraldry appears only after the Crusades. The earliest such evidence is a French enamel drawing from the grave of Geoffroy Plantagenet (died 1151), Count of Anjou and Maine, depicting Geoffroy himself with a coat of arms, where there are supposedly four rearing golden lions on an azure field (the exact number of lions is difficult to determine due to the position , in which the shield is drawn). The count was the son-in-law of Henry I, King of England, who ruled in 1100-1135, who, according to the chronicle, granted him this coat of arms.
The first English king to have a personal coat of arms was Richard I the Lionheart (1157-1199). His three golden leopards have been used since then by all the royal dynasties of England.
"WHO IS MORNING AND POOR HERE WILL BE RICH THERE!"
The crusades, which lasted from 1096 to 1291, made up an entire era in European history... The outbreak of this two-hundred-year war was provoked by the fanatical Muslim Turks who established themselves in Palestine, who, armed with their irreconcilable religion, began to desecrate the holy sites of Christianity and obstruct Christians who wanted to make a pilgrimage to Palestine and Jerusalem. But the true reasons lay deeper and lay in the centuries-old confrontation between Europe and Asia, which continues to this day. The Asian tribes, united under the banner of Islam, began a grandiose expansion, as a result of which they conquered Syria, Palestine, Egypt, North Africa, Spain, threatened Constantinople and were already getting close to the very heart of Europe. In 711, an Arab army of 7000 men led by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed the Strait of Gibraltar to the European continent. This is how the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula began (the rock on the Spanish coast has since been called Mount Tariq, or in Arabic - Jabal-Tariq, which in the Spanish pronunciation became Gibraltar). By 715, almost the entire Iberian Peninsula was in Muslim hands. In 721, the troops of the Umayyads, who ruled a huge caliphate in 661-750, crossed the Pyrenees, captured Spain and began the conquest of southern France. They captured the cities of Narbonne and Carcassonne. Thus, new strongholds arose for attacks on Aquitaine and Burgundy. The ruler of the Franks Karl of the Carolingian family (689-741) defeated the Arabs when they reached the Loire. This happened in 732 at the Battle of Poitiers. The victory earned him the nickname Martell - "the hammer", because he stopped the advance of Muslims in Western Europe. But the Arabs held power in Provence for several decades. The military expansion of the Muslim conquerors contributed to the penetration of Arab art and philosophy into Europe in a short period of their heyday. Arab culture gave impetus to the development of medicine and natural sciences in Western Europe. In Byzantium, Muslims were smashed by Emperor Leo III the Isaurian. The further spread of Islam was stopped by the beginning of the political decay of the Muslim world, until then strong and terrible in its unity. The Caliphate was split into parts that were at enmity with each other. But in the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks launched a new offensive to the West, stopping just outside the walls of Constantinople.
By that time, the lands of Western Europe were divided between secular and church feudal lords. The feudal system was strengthened, replacing the communal with its military democracy. The oppression and impoverishment of the people intensified - there were practically no free farmers, the peasants were enslaved and imposed with tribute. Feudal lords came up with more and more taxes, competing in extortions with the church - the largest feudal owner, whose greed knew no bounds. Life became unbearable, which is why the population of Europe, impatiently awaiting the end of their torment in connection with the end of the world promised by the church and the coming of paradise on Earth, was in a state of religious exaltation, expressed in the desire for all kinds of spiritual exploits and in readiness for Christian self-sacrifice. The flow of pilgrims increased. If the Arabs in former times treated them tolerantly, now the Turks began to attack pilgrims and destroy Christian churches. The Roman Catholic Church, which was hatching plans for world domination, decided to take advantage of this, for which, first of all, it was necessary to subjugate the breakaway eastern - Byzantine - church and increase its income by acquiring new feudal possessions - dioceses. In the latter, the interests of the church and the feudal lords completely coincided, since there were no more free lands and peasants who were sitting on them, and according to the rule of "primacy", the land was inherited from the father only to the eldest son. So the call of Pope Urban II to protect the Holy Sepulcher fell on fertile soil: the dire socio-economic conditions in Europe led to the emergence of many desperate people who had nothing to lose, and who were ready to go on a risky journey to the ends of the world in search of adventure, wealth and the glory of "the soldiers of Christ." In addition to the large feudal lords, driven by the predatory motives, the idea of a campaign to the East was adopted by numerous small feudal knights (younger members of feudal families who could not expect to receive an inheritance), as well as merchants of many trading cities hoping to destroy their main competitor in trade with the rich East - Byzantium ... But the greatest enthusiasm was, of course, the common people, driven to despair by poverty and deprivation. Huge masses of people were inspired by the speech of Pope Urban in Clermont on November 24, 1095 and vowed to go to war against the infidels for the liberation of the Holy Sepulcher and the Holy Land. They sewed on clothes crosses cut from fabric (often taken from the clothes of the priests themselves, who called the masses to exploit), which is why they got the name "crusaders". Under the cries of "This is what God wants!" many set off straight from the Plains of Clermont, following the pope's propaganda call: "The land you inhabit has become cramped when you are large. Hence comes the fact that you bite each other and fight each other ... Now your hatred, enmity will cease and civil strife will slumber. Take the path to the holy grave, pluck that land from the wicked people and subjugate it. ... Whoever is woeful and poor here will become rich there! "
The first crusade took place in 1096, but the coats of arms may well have appeared a little earlier. The problem is that the first documentary evidence of coats of arms appeared at least two hundred years after their appearance. Perhaps the close connection of the Crusades with the birth of heraldry is due to the fact that it was during this period that the use of coats of arms became widespread. This required the creation of an ordered system of symbolic images as a means of communication, for the coat of arms served as an identification mark, carrying some information about the owner and clearly distinguishable from a distance.
Since the XII century, the armor has become more and more complex, the helmet covers the entire face of the knight, he himself wears the whole armor, from head to toe. In addition, with some differences, all the armor was of the same type, so it became impossible to identify the knight not only from afar, but also close. This situation gave impetus to the massive use of the coat of arms as an identification mark. In addition to the coat of arms depicted on the shield, additional coat of arms gradually appeared, which were designed to help the knights recognize each other at a distance and in the heat of battle: the pommel (kleinod) - an ornament of animal horns and bird feathers attached to the top of the helmet (this element received development during knightly tournaments), as well as heraldic pennants and standards. The combination of two types of generic signs - a shield and a pommel - later formed the material basis of the coat of arms.
But back to the crusades. Much in heraldry indicates that it developed during the conquest of the East by the crusaders. These are the signs. The term enamel, which denotes heraldic colors, has oriental origin... The word comes from the Persian "mina" meaning the blue color of the sky (the first enamels were of blue color). The unique technique of enamel painting came to Europe from Persia, Arabia and Byzantium. It was in this way - by the imposition of enamel - that the steel armor, shields and special heraldic boards were painted, which heralds exhibited at tournaments. The blue color or azure - "azur" - was brought to Europe from the East - its very modern name ultramarine (overseas blue) reminds of this. The heraldic name "azur" comes from the Persian "azurk" - blue. This is the origin of the name lapis lazuli (lapis lazuli), a stone found mainly in Afghanistan, from which this paint is obtained. The name of the red color - "gueulez" - comes from the furs dyed with purple paint, with which the crusaders sewed their marching clothes around the neck and sleeves (in the section "Rules of Heraldry" it will be said that heraldic figures were often made from pieces of fur stuffed on the shield). The name comes from the word "gul" - red, meaning the color of a rose in Persian. The origin of the green color - "vert", also called "sinople", probably comes from dyes produced in the East. The orange color, more commonly found in English heraldry, is called "tenne" - from the Arabic "henne". This was the name of the vegetable yellow-red dye, known to us as henna. Asian and Arab leaders have an ancient custom of painting the mane, tail and belly of their war horses, and the right hand gripping the weapon with henna. In general, the inhabitants of the East dye their hair and nails with henna. Eastern origin has the name of a shield with a special semicircular cut at one or both edges, where the spear is inserted. This shield is called "tarch" - just like its Arab prototype.
Two important details of the heraldic design owe their origin to the Crusades - the basting and the burlet. In the first crusade, dozens of knights died daily from the heat, as their steel armor was heated in the sun. The Crusaders had to borrow from the Arabs the method used by the inhabitants of the desert to this day: in order to escape the hot sun and prevent the helmet from heating up, the Arab and Persian warriors used a piece of cloth thrown over the head and shoulders and fastened on the head with a hoop made of woven camel hair intertwined with silk threads. The so-called kufya is an integral part of the Arab costume today. From it comes the basting or lambrequin ("lambrequin", from the Latin "lambellum" - a piece or piece of cloth), as well as burlet (from the French "burrelet" - a wreath). The outline is an obligatory part of the coat of arms, and is depicted as a cape with fluttering ends, attached to the helmet with a burlet or crown. The basting can be either whole, with an ornamental cut edge (especially in early coats of arms) or excised, with long, whimsically intertwined rags (probably, the basting cut with saber strikes indicated the courage of the owner of the coat of arms - a participant in the hottest battles).
During the crusades, the European feudal lords, who were well known to everyone in their homeland, joined a huge international army and, against the general background, lost their usually pronounced external individuality, which is why they had the need to somehow distinguish themselves from the mass of the same knights , demonstrate their nationality, tribal and military affiliation. The conquests of the crusaders were always accompanied by terrible robbery and plunder, therefore a rule was established according to which the knight, who was the first to break into any house of the captured city, was declared the owner of everything that was in it. The knights had to somehow celebrate the loot in order to protect it from the encroachments of fellow soldiers. With the advent of coats of arms, this problem was solved by nailing a shield with the coat of arms of its new owner to the door of the house. Not only individual crusaders, but also large military leaders had such a need: the inhabitants of the houses and quarters taken by their detachments hung out the banners of these troops so that they would not be plundered by other feudal lords. It should be noted here that conflicts over the division of booty, skirmishes and disputes over the honor of taking a particular city arose constantly among the crusaders. It can also be added that all the crusades were very poorly organized. In preparation for military operations, complete confusion reigned, and during the battles there was a general dump. All their strife, greed, deceit and cruelty, from which Europe groaned, secular and church feudal lords brought with them to the East. Later, this (as well as the traditionally treacherous policy of Byzantium) would lead to the collapse of the crusading movement and the expulsion of the Europeans from the occupied territories, but for now there is a need to somehow streamline the situation. An example was before my eyes: Arab warriors used shield emblems, usually consisting of inscriptions or drawings of flowers and fruits. This custom, like many others, was borrowed by the crusaders and became one of the stones in the foundation of the nascent heraldry.
The consequence of the crusades was the extinction of many noble families Europe, all male representatives of which were killed during the campaigns. Noble families, whose roots went back to the era of the conquest of Rome by barbarian tribes, simply disappeared. As a result, European monarchs for the first time were forced to grant the nobility, creating a new aristocracy. Coats of arms played an important role in this, since often the only basis for claiming nobility and documentary evidence of noble origin was the coat of arms brought from the Holy Land.
So, the accumulation in one place of many feudal lords from different countries (an unusual situation for Europe), the international character of the crusader army, the need to identify each other and (in conditions of illiteracy and language barriers) to assert their own name, as well as the peculiarities of weapons, the method of warfare, and borrowing many inventions of Eastern civilization - all this became the reason for the emergence and design of heraldry.
The coat of arms is due to knightly tournaments no less than to the crusades. Tournaments appeared before the Crusades. In any case, there is a mention of the military games that took place in 842 in Strasbourg during the negotiations between Charles the Lysy and Louis the German. Probably, tournaments took shape in France in the middle of the 12th century and then spread to England and Germany. In some chronicles, the French Baron G. de Prelli is called the inventor of tournaments, but most likely he just developed the first rules for tournaments.
Tournaments have become an integral part of Western European life for a long time. Only knights with an impeccable reputation were allowed to participate in them. Violation of the knightly code threatened a terrible disgrace. Around 1292, new, more secure rules for tournaments, the "Statutum Armorum", were introduced. Only blunt weapons could be used. Each knight was only allowed three squires. In duels, special spears were now used, which easily break on impact. It was forbidden to fight out of turn, to injure the opponent's horse, to strike blows other than in the face or chest, to continue the fight after the enemy raised his visor, to act in a group against one. Violators were deprived of weapons, horses and imprisoned for up to three years... Special tournament armor appeared so massive that the knight and his horse could hardly bear their weight. The horses themselves were also dressed in armor from the 13th century. Just like the shields of the knights, the horse blankets were heraldic in color. There are two more important details to be said. The knight had to be clearly visible from above, from the stands, especially during the general battle. That is why the aforementioned pommels appeared (or at least became widespread) - figures fixed on the top of the helmet, made of light wood, leather, and even papier-mâché (later from more expensive materials). The famous German wandering knight of the 14th century Ulrich von Lichtenstein, who took part in several tournaments dressed as the legendary King Arthur, introduced the fashion for complex tops: he wore a helmet decorated with the figure of Venus, holding a torch in one hand and an arrow in the other. The tents or tents in which the knights prepared for the competition, kept their weapons and rested in between battles (the same tents were used in the campaigns by the crusaders), in the future will also be reflected in the art of heraldry - they will turn into a heraldic mantle and a tent "canopy".
From a wild bloody battle, tournaments evolved into colorful theatrical performances, where formalities became more and more important, and the fight itself became less important and more conditional. For example, the "Tournament of Peace" held at Windsor Park in England in 1278 used swords made of parchment-covered whalebone and silver-plated, boiled leather helmets and shields of light wood. For certain achievements in the competition, the knight received points (for example, bonus points were awarded for the knocked down pommel). The winner was determined by the crowned persons, the oldest knights or specially appointed judges (often heralds), sometimes the question of the winner was decided by the ladies, in whose honor the knights fought. Tournaments were traditionally imbued with an underlined reverent attitude towards women, which was almost the basis of the knightly code. The award to the winner in the tournament was taken from the hands of the lady. The knights performed adorned with some kind of badge received from their ladies. Sometimes the ladies brought their knights tied with a chain - the chain was considered a symbol of special honor and was given only to a select few. In each competition, the last blow was struck in honor of the lady, and here the knights especially tried to distinguish themselves. After the tournament, the ladies took the winner to the palace, where he was disarmed and a feast was held in his honor, at which the hero took the most honorable place. The names of the winners were entered into special lists, their exploits were passed on to descendants in the songs of the minstrels. Victory in the tournament also brought material benefits: sometimes the triumphant took away the horse and weapon from the enemy, took him prisoner and demanded ransom. For many of the poor knights, this was the only way to earn their livelihood.
From Friday to Sunday, when tournaments were allowed by the church, there were duels every day, and in the evenings there were dances and festivities. There were several types of competitions: horse rides, when the knight had to knock the enemy out of the saddle with a blow of a spear; battle with swords; throwing spears and arrows; siege of wooden castles built specifically for tournaments. Another way to show courage besides the tournament was to "guard the aisles." A group of knights announced that in honor of their ladies they would defend a place from everyone. So, in 1434 at Orbigo, in Spain, ten knights for a month defended the bridge from sixty-eight rivals, having spent more than seven hundred fights. In the 16th century, foot duels with short spears, maces and axes became popular. In Europe, only persons of noble birth were allowed to participate in tournaments. In Germany, the requirements were more liberal: sometimes, in order to obtain permission, it was enough to refer to an ancestor who took part in a knightly tournament. We can say that the main pass to the tournament was the coat of arms, proving the high origin of the owner and his position in the clan hierarchy. For connoisseurs, what were the heralds, the presented coat of arms contained all the necessary information. That is why the most important part of tournament etiquette was the coat of arms, of which there were so many that it was time to put things in order in this area.
The heralds systematized knowledge about coats of arms, developed general principles and rules for their compilation and recognition, and ultimately created the science of “heraldry” or “heraldry”
There are two variants of the origin of the terms "heraldry" and "herald": from the late Latin heraldica (from heraldus - herald), or from the German Herald - the spoiled Heeralt - a veteran, as people in Germany in the Middle Ages were called who had a reputation of valiant and brave warriors who were invited as guests of honor and judges at various celebrations, and, in particular, at tournaments. These veterans had to preserve the customs of chivalry, develop tournament rules, and also enforce them.
The predecessors of the heralds were representatives of several related professions, whose duties were combined and clarified, which led to the appearance of heralds in the classical sense of the word - heralds, courtiers and itinerant minstrels, as well as the veterans mentioned above.
Heralds or parliamentarians were used even in ancient armies, as they are used today - for negotiations with the enemy, for the announcement of decrees and all kinds of announcements.
Minstrels (French menestrel, from the medieval Latin ministerialis) are medieval singers and poets. In any case, this term acquired this meaning in France and England at the end of the Middle Ages. Initially, in all feudal states, ministers were called persons who were in the service of the lord and performed any special duty under him (ministerium). Among them were poets-singers, in contrast to their wandering brothers in the craft, who were constantly at the court or a high-ranking person. In France in the 12th century, minstrels were sometimes called the servants of the king in general, and sometimes his court poets and singers. The function of the court minstrels was to sing and glorify the feats of their feudal lords. And from here it is not far from the function of stewards of court ceremonies and, in particular, knightly tournaments. It is likely that the wandering minstrels, whose art was in demand at the courts of European feudal lords, gained experience in recognizing the coats of arms that constantly surrounded them. The oldest known heraldic poet was Konrad of Würzburg, who lived in the 13th century. It has already been said about the functions of veterans, who, by the nature of their activities, were directly related to the emblems.
It is possible that representatives of all three professions were called at a certain historical moment by one general term - heralds. One way or another, but the spread of knightly tournaments contributed to the emergence of special officials who were supposed to announce the opening of the tournament, develop and observe the ceremony of its holding, as well as announce all the fights and the names of their participants. This required special knowledge - the herald had to know well the genealogy of noble families, whose representatives took part in the battles, and be able to recognize the coats of arms of the knights who had gathered for the tournament. So gradually the profession of heralds acquires a purely heraldic character, and heraldry itself is born at tournaments.
The French name for heraldry - "blason" - comes from the German "blasen" - "to blow the horn" and is explained by the fact that when the knight approached the barrier that fenced the venue of the tournament, he blew his horn to announce his arrival. Then the herald came out and, at the request of the tournament judges, described aloud the knight's coat of arms as proof of his right to take part in the tournament. From the word "blasen" comes the French "blasonner", the German "blasoniren", the English "blazon", the Spanish "blasonar" and the Russian word "blazonirovat" - that is, to describe the coat of arms. The heralds created a special jargon to describe the coats of arms (and today used by specialists in heraldry), based on Old French and medieval Latin, since chivalry itself, as well as much associated with it - the knightly code, weapons development, tournaments and, finally, heraldry - originates from France, or rather from the empire of Charlemagne (747-814), inhabited by Franco-Germanic tribes. Most of heraldic terminology is indicated by quasi-French, obsolete words. During the Middle Ages, French was used by the ruling classes in most of Western Europe, so the rules of heraldry had to be drawn up in that language. However, some heraldic terms are so flamboyant that they seem to be deliberately designed in order to puzzle the uninitiated. The special terms developed by the heralds will be discussed below.
It is assumed that the Russian word "coat of arms" is borrowed from the Polish "herb" and is found in many Slavic and Germanic dialects (herb, erb, irb) in the meaning of heir or inheritance. The Slavic name of this identification mark directly indicates its hereditary nature. The English term "coat of arms", meaning coat of arms, comes from the name of a special piece of clothing "surcoat" - a linen or silk cape that protects a knight's armor from the sun and rain (the word "knight" comes from the German "ritter" - horseman).
So, coats of arms are gaining more and more importance in the countries of Western Europe. In England, since the 12th century, heralds have been honored at the court of kings. Edward III (1312-1377) established the heraldic college, which functions to this day (this institution - "The College of Arms" - located in London on Queen Victoria Street). In France, Louis VII (1120-1180) established the duties of heralds and ordered that all royal regalia be decorated with heraldic lilies. Under the French king Philip II Augustus (1165-1223), heralds begin to be dressed in knightly dress with the owner's coat of arms, and they are given some responsibilities in tournaments. The duties of the heralds were precisely formulated by the middle of the 14th century. The title of herald becomes honorary, it is elevated to it only after any battle, tournament or ceremony. To do this, the sovereign poured a cup of wine (sometimes water) on the head of the initiate and gave him the name of the city or fortress associated with the initiation ceremony, which the herald kept until he received the next highest degree - the title of the armory king (fr. "Roi d" armes ", German. The duties of the herald were divided into three main groups: 1) they were responsible for declaring war, concluding peace, offering to surrender the fortress, etc., as well as counting the killed and wounded during a battle or tournament and assessing the valor of knights; 2) they were obliged to be present at all solemn ceremonies - at the coronation or burial of the sovereign, at the elevation to knighthood, solemn receptions, etc.; 3) they were entrusted with purely heraldic duties - drawing up coats of arms and genealogies.
The work of the heralds was paid very well, there was a tradition not to let the herald sent without a gift, so as not to show disrespect to the emperor who sent him.
Each state was divided into several heraldic marks, which were under the supervision of one "king of arms" and several heralds. For example, France in 1396 was divided into eighteen such marks. In Germany in the XIV century, individual provinces also had their own heralds.
True, since the 18th century, heralds have lost their medieval significance, but they do not disappear without a trace, and are still used at solemn ceremonies - coronations, weddings, etc.
Centuries after the appearance of the coats of arms, the first scientific work on heraldry and the heraldry itself, the earliest of which, apparently, is the "Zuricher Wappenrolle", compiled in Zurich in 1320.
In France, Jacob Breteks at the end of the 13th century describes tournaments and the emblems of their participants. But the earliest work outlining the rules of heraldry is considered a monograph by the Italian lawyer Bartolo, whose "Tractatus de insigniis et armis" was published in 1356.
Berry, the main herald of France at the court of Charles VII (1403-1461), on the instructions of the king traveled all over the country, visiting castles, abbeys and cemeteries, studying the images of coats of arms and compiling the genealogies of ancient noble families. On the basis of his research, he compiled the work "Le registre de noblesse". After him, the French heralds began to keep regular genealogical records. A similar task was received from the kings from Henry VIII (1491-1547) to James II (1566-1625), the English heralds who carried out the so-called "heraldic visits" - inspection trips around the country in order to enumerate noble families, register coats of arms and verify their eligibility ... It turned out that most of the old coats of arms that appeared before 1500 were appropriated by the owners arbitrarily, and not granted by the king. It was not difficult to invent a simple coat of arms. The situation in which three noblemen who had no family ties among themselves had the same coats of arms was not uncommon, but only proved that these coats of arms were adopted by them arbitrarily. When a dispute arose on this basis between the owners of the same coat of arms, each appealed to the king as the last resort. It is noteworthy that when the dispute was resolved, the nobleman, who was forced as a result to abandon his coat of arms, consoled himself with the fact that he independently invented a new one for himself.
The materials collected during the "heraldic visits" formed the basis of English genealogy and heraldry.
CITY COATS OF ARMS
The city and state emblems are based on the seals of the feudal lords, certifying the authenticity of documents sent by them from their possessions. The family coat of arms of the feudal lord, thus, passed first to the seal of the castle, and then to the seal of the lands belonging to him. With the emergence of new cities and the formation of new states, the requirements of the time and legal norms led to the creation of coats of arms, either completely new, not borrowed from the generic noble coats of arms, but bearing symbolic images indicating local attractions, historical events, the economic profile of the city, or mixed. An example is the coat of arms of Paris, in which a ship and an azure field with golden lilies are adjacent. The ship symbolizes, on the one hand, the island de la Cité on the Seine River, lying in the very center of the city, in the shape of a ship, and on the other, trade and trading companies, the main component of the urban economy. The azure field with golden lilies is the old emblem of the Capetian dynasty, under whose patronage Paris was.
From the end of the XIII and during the XIV centuries, heraldry penetrates into all areas of public life, and heraldic terminology becomes common in the cultural strata of society. Heraldry is becoming fashionable in literature, art, and everyday life. Coats of arms appear everywhere, from knightly armor to the collars of your favorite dogs. The knights who returned from the Crusades began, imitating the luxurious clothes of the eastern rulers, to wear special coat of arms, matching their coat of arms in color and decorated with embroidered coat of arms and mottos. Servants and squires receive clothes with the coat of arms of their masters, ordinary nobles put on a dress with the coats of arms of their lords, noble ladies begin to wear dresses with images of two coats of arms: on the right - the coat of arms of the husband, on the left - their own. Under the French king Charles V the Wise (1338-1380), clothes painted half in one, half in another color came into fashion. From the nobles and their squires, this fashion passed to the representatives of the urban estates. Thus, heraldry becomes an important component of the culture of Western Europe.
Along with individual heraldry, in the Middle Ages, other areas of it developed - urban and corporate, including church. Urban artisans and merchants created guilds, registered as "legal entities" and appropriately provided with coats of arms. It was accepted that the members of the guild wore clothing in the heraldic colors of their association - special liveries. For example, members of the London Butcher Company wore blue and white liveries, bakers in olive green and chestnut colors, and wax candle traders wore blue and white liveries. The London furrier company was allowed to use ermine in its coat of arms, although according to medieval norms this heraldic color could only be used by royal and noble families as a sign of their exclusivity and superiority. Mainly tools were placed on corporate emblems.
Similar coats of arms, called vowels - "armes parlantes", in which the name of the craft was conveyed by heraldic symbols, are received by many guilds and workshops. Here, for example, what the coats of arms of the workshops of Ghent, one of the largest craft centers of the Middle Ages, looked like: coopers depicted a working tool and a tub on the shield of their coat of arms, butchers - a bull, fruit merchants - a fruit tree, barbers - a razor and scissors, shoemakers - boots, fishmongers - fish, shipbuilders - a ship under construction. The workshop of goldsmiths of Paris received from King Philip VI (1293-1350) a coat of arms depicting royal golden lilies, combined with a golden cross and emblems of their craft - golden sacred vessels and crowns, with the motto "In sacra inque coronas". Pharmacists depict scales and a lancet on coats of arms, nails - a hammer and nails, wheelers - wheels, manufacturers of playing cards - symbols of card suits. In addition, the corporate coats of arms contained images of the patron saints of the corresponding crafts. King Louis XIII of France, wishing to raise the importance of the merchant class, granted coats of arms to six merchant guilds in Paris, in which the ship from the Paris city coat of arms was adjacent to the symbols of the relevant crafts and mottos.
Rich townspeople wishing to imitate the aristocracy used family names like coats of arms, although they were not official. But the French government, in need of money, decided to turn the widespread fashion to its advantage and allowed everyone to acquire emblems, but for a fee. Moreover, greedy officials even obliged the townspeople to acquire coats of arms. As a result of the introduction in 1696 of the tax on the right to have a personal coat of arms, the treasury began to receive significant income, since a huge number of coats of arms were registered. But as a result of this, the value of coats of arms in France has fallen dramatically - the incredibly proliferated coats of arms have depreciated.
Educational institutions have also used coats of arms for centuries. Universities often received the coats of arms of their founders, such as the College of Christ, Cambridge, founded by Lady Margaret Beaufort. Eton College received its coat of arms in 1449 from its founder, King Henry VI (1421-1471), a devout hermit whose inability to rule was one of the causes of the War of the Scarlet and White Rose. The three white lilies on this coat of arms symbolize the Virgin Mary, in whose honor the college was founded. Many private and commercial firms are still striving to obtain a coat of arms, since the presence of such a coat of arms gives the company solidity and reliability. For example, relatively recently the famous English trading company Herrods received the coat of arms.
From the first days of its existence, the church claimed the highest and absolute power in this world, therefore it appropriated to itself all the attributes of secular power, including the coats of arms. The emblem of the papacy in the XIV century was the crossed gold and silver keys of the Apostle Peter - "permitting" and "knitting", tied with a golden cord, on a scarlet shield under papal tiara... These symbols have received various interpretations, which we will not dwell on here. Let's just say that the coat of arms indicates that Peter received the right to "decide" and "knit" all the affairs of the church and that these rights were inherited from him by his successors - the popes. This coat of arms is today the official coat of arms of the Vatican, but each pope receives his own coat of arms, in which the keys and tiara frame the shield. For example, the current Pope John Paul II has a coat of arms that he received when he was Archbishop of Krakow from the hands of the heraldry specialist Archbishop Bruno Heim. The cross and the letter "M" on the coat of arms symbolize Christ and the Virgin Mary. It should be said that the placement of any inscriptions in the coat of arms, except for mottos, is considered bad form, but the author of the coat of arms justifies himself by referring to the traditions of Polish heraldry (which will be discussed later), where runic letters were originally used. Indeed, the letter "M" resembles a rune of a similar design.
The Vatican flag depicts the small coat of arms of the city-state, which lacks the scarlet shield, but this color has been transferred to the cord that binds the keys. Obviously, the colors of the keys are chosen for the flag - gold and silver.
The church, which was the largest feudal lord of the Middle Ages, early began to use coats of arms for practical purposes - to identify and demonstrate the territorial affiliation of church organizations. Coats of arms have been found on the seals of abbeys and bishops since the 12th century. The most common symbols of church heraldry are the keys of St. Peter, the eagle of St. John and other signs symbolizing various saints, details of church use, and a wide variety of crosses. In the UK there are specific rules for the coat of arms of church leaders, showing their status in the church hierarchy. For example, the coats of arms of archbishops and bishops are decorated with mitres (the coat of arms of the Pope is crowned with a tiara), and on the coats of arms of priests of a lower rank are placed, in accordance with their status, special hats of different colors, equipped with multi-colored cords and tassels. The dean, for example, may have a black hat with two purple single cords with three red tassels on each. The priests of the Roman Catholic Church are not under the jurisdiction of the official heraldic bodies, but the coats of arms they use have been regulated by a special decree since 1967. For example, the coat of arms of a Catholic archbishop might contain a green hat with two green single cords, each with ten green tassels.
All state emblems of European countries were based on the family emblems of the ruling dynasties. Many modern European state emblems in one form or another have lions and eagles - traditional symbols of power and statehood.
On the coat of arms of Denmark there are three azure leopards on a gold field decorated with scarlet hearts - this is how the coat of arms of King Knud VI Valdemarsson looked around 1190. Along with English, this coat of arms can be considered the oldest European state emblem... On the large royal coat of arms of Sweden, lions support the shield and are also present in the second and third quarters of the shield. Around 1200, the ruler of Norway had his own coat of arms, which depicts a golden crowned lion of St. Olaf holding a battle ax in his forepaws. The lion of the Finnish coat of arms was gradually formed by the 16th century. On the coats of arms of Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, a lion also settled - the old emblem of the Dukes of Burgundy. On the coat of arms of the Netherlands there is a golden lion with a silver sword and a bundle of arrows in its paws. It is the union emblem of the Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, which gained independence in 1609. The republican coat of arms was generally preserved after the creation of the kingdom in 1815. The coat of arms took its modern look in 1917, when, at the initiative of the Prince Consort Heinrich of Mecklenburg (1876-1934), the royal crown on the lion's head was replaced with a usual one, a mantle with a canopy and lions-supporters appeared. By decision Congress of Vienna, establishing a new European order after the collapse of the Napoleonic empire, the Netherlands gained independence. The king of the Netherlands under the name of William I became the son of the last stadtholder of the Dutch republic, William VI of Orange. But the southern provinces of the Netherlands decided to defend their own independence. In 1830, an uprising took place in Brabant, and since then the Brabant golden lion in a black field began to be perceived as a symbol of the independence of the union of the southern provinces. In 1831, the Kingdom of Belgium was proclaimed, the coat of arms of which was the coat of arms of Brabant. The coat of arms of Luxembourg was approved by King William I of the Netherlands in 1815, since he was also the Grand Duke of Luxembourg. The lion can also be seen on other state emblems. In international state heraldry, the lion is adjacent to another symbol of the highest power - the eagle. It can be seen on the coats of arms of Austria, Albania, Bolivia, Germany, Indonesia, Iraq, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Poland, Syria, USA, Chile and many other countries. Unfortunately, the length of this article does not allow us to pay attention to each of them, so here we will consider only a few examples.
The Austrian three-lane (red-white-red) shield was the coat of arms of the Dukes of Babenberg, who ruled this country until 1246. His image appeared on the seals of the dukes in the 20-30s of the XIII century. Earlier, in the second half of the 12th century, the image of a black eagle, a very common heraldic emblem, first appeared on the seal of the first Austrian Duke Henry II of Babenberg. The Austrian knights, led by Duke Leopold V, set out on the third crusade under the flag with the black eagle. Soon, in 1282, Austria came under the rule of the new Habsburg dynasty, whose family coat of arms was a red lion in a gold field. From 1438 to 1806, the Habsburgs almost continuously occupied the throne of the Holy Roman Empire, whose emblem was traditionally a two-headed eagle. It became the coat of arms of Austria, and later the Austrian Empire (1804) and the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1868). The same eagle can be seen on the shield of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
Plants can be seen at the base of the UK coat of arms. These are the unspoken (mute) mottos or symbols of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In different versions of the coat of arms, they can be depicted both individually and collected in one fantastic plant, a kind of hybrid consisting of the Tudor rose, the Caledonian thistle of Scotland, the Irish clover shamrock and the Welsh onion.
The Tudor rose was formed from the scarlet rose of the Lancaster and the white rose of the Yorkies, who fought among themselves for the English throne. After the "War of the Scarlet and White Rose", which lasted from 1455 to 1485, the founder of the new dynasty, Henry VII (1457-1509), united the emblems of the warring houses into one. Shamrock joined the rose / thistle hybrid in 1801 to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Rose, thistle, shamrock and bow illustrate another area of heraldry. Various badges attached to clothes, which could symbolize a specific person, country or some concept, appeared even before the coats of arms, in antiquity, and gained great popularity in the Middle Ages. With the development of heraldry, these icons began to acquire a heraldic character. The badge usually represented one main emblem of the family coat of arms, many of which were very complex and consisted of many details. These badges were intended to show the belonging of their owners to the environment of a person or to a whole family. During the War of the Scarlet and White Rose, many soldiers, especially foreign mercenaries, dressed in their master's heraldic colors. For example, at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485, the soldiers of the Earl of Richmond's army wore white and green jackets, the soldiers of Sir William Stanley's army wore red, and so on. In addition, they wore the personal badges of their commanders. This was the prototype of the military uniform. In all modern armies, along with elements of heraldry, there are special badges. The owner of the coat of arms could have several badges, as well as arbitrarily change them at will.
In addition to Western Europe, only Japan to XII century developed a similar heraldic system called "mon". In some European languages this is mistakenly translated as "coat of arms", although it is not a coat of arms in the European sense of the word. As an example, we can consider the emblem of the imperial family - a 16-petal chrysanthemum. Similar signs were also placed on helmets, shields and breastplates of armor, but unlike coats of arms, they were never depicted so large that they could be recognized from a distance. If such identification was required, "mon" was displayed on flags. Just like the European coat of arms, "mon" is used in art - to decorate clothes, furniture, and interiors. Just like in European royal families, the younger members of the Japanese imperial family had a chrysanthemum image modified according to certain rules. Just like in Europe, in Japan it was required to legalize "mon". Both heraldic heraldic systems arose independently of each other, but their similarity is not surprising, since feudal societies developed according to the same scheme. Like European heraldry, Japanese heraldry survived the era of chivalry and is widely used in our time.
SOME CONSIDERATIONS
In Europe, as well as in the United States and other former colonies, heraldry continues to live, despite the fact that feudalism is a thing of the past, and the coats of arms themselves play a purely decorative role. But in these countries, heraldry, which has a long history, has become a good tradition and has largely been democratized. Many people who have long had nothing to do with the nobility, having found the owner of the coat of arms among their ancestors, rush to decorate their home with a coat of arms with a certificate in a beautiful frame. As a result, new coats of arms are constantly appearing. In many countries there are official heraldic societies engaged in the development and approval of coats of arms, genealogical research. The large number and solid status of these organizations testifies to the real need of society for heraldry, which today is not a mossy fragment of history, but a part of modern culture. Obviously, as long as there are people who are interested in the past of their kind, interest in coats of arms - witnesses of cruel wars, heroic crusades and luxurious knightly tournaments international heraldic organizations, which you can not even read, but just glance through).
Unfortunately, the present and future of heraldry is not so optimistic in Russia, where the very ground for its existence is practically absent. In addition, the old Russian heraldry is not very rich in material: it includes several thousand noblemen and several hundred provincial and city coats of arms, most of which appeared at about the same time and in one place - in the corresponding administrative institution, that is, in the Senate department of the heraldry. "The general coat of arms of the noble families of the All-Russian Empire", which by 1917 amounted to 20 volumes, contained only about 6 thousand coats of arms, with the total number of noble families about 50 thousand. Of course, this is a drop in the ocean compared to the resources of European heraldry. Although various kinds of emblems were used by the Slavs in antiquity, real coats of arms appeared in Russia five hundred years later than in Europe, and not out of practical necessity, but as a beautiful toy from the West. Therefore, not having time to take root, Russian heraldry was carried away by the whirlwinds of history.
In the process of creating site materials, sometimes the question arose - how detailed should they be? What to talk about in general terms, and what to consider in detail? The degree of detail was determined by common sense, for the purpose of the site is to give the reader only general idea about heraldry, which is to some extent reflected in its name. "An excursion into heraldry", of course, cannot pretend to be a complete coverage of this vast area, since it sets out only the basic principles illustrated by some examples. Nevertheless, the authors believe that these materials may be of interest to those who have just started to be interested in heraldry and feel the need for basic information on this topic.
Efforts of modern heraldry as an auxiliary scientific discipline are aimed at studying the coats of arms, namely, identifying their owners, finding out the history of their origin and establishing the time of their creation. For serious historical research, of course, more detailed information and more solid sources will be required than "An Excursion into Heraldry". But in order to understand what a coat of arms is, what it consists of, what its main elements mean and how they are called, and, finally, to try to create a coat of arms on your own, guided by the principles set out and focusing on the examples given, you can successfully use our review. In any case, the authors hope that they have mentioned here all the main points necessary for the first steps to the practical study of heraldry.
List of some foreign heraldic organizations:
- AUSTRALIA: The Heraldry Council of Australia; The Heraldry Society (Australian ranch); The Heraldry Society of Australia Heraldry Australia Inc.
- AUSTRIA: Heraldisch-Genealogische Gesellschaft.
- ENGLAND and WELLES: The College of Arms; The Heraldry Society; Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies.
- BELGIUM: Heraldique et Genealogique de Belgique; Musees Royaux d "Art et d" Histoire; L "Office Genealogique et Heraldique de Belgigue.
- HUNGARY: Magyar Heraldikai es Geneologiai Tarsasag.
- GERMANY: Der Herold; Genealogisch-Heraldische Gesellschaft; Wappen Herold; Deutsche Heraldische Gesellschaft.
- DENMARK: Heraldisk Selskab, Koebenhavn; Dansk Genealogisk Institut; Nordisk Flaggskrift.
- IRELAND: The Chief Herald of Ireland's Office; The Heraldry Scoiety of Ireland.
- ITALY: Aradico Collegio; Istituto Italiano di Genealogia ed Araldica.
- CANADA: Canadian Heraldic Authority; Heraldry Society of Canada.
- LUXEMBOURG: Conseil Heraldique de Luxembourg.
- NETHERLANDS: Koninklijk Nederlands Genootschap voor Geslact en Wapenkunde; Central Bureau voor Genealogie.
- NORWAY: Heraldisk Forening Norsk; Norsk Vapenring; Norsk Slekthistorik Forening; Kunstindustrimuseet i Oslo; Middelalderforum; Universitetet i Oslo, Historisk Institutt; Universitetet i Oslo Ethnografisk Museum.
- NEW ZEALAND: The Heraldry Society of New Zealand; The Heraldry Society (New Zealand Branch).
- POLAND: Heraldic Records Archive.
- PORTUGAL: Institutio Portuges de Heraldica.
- SCANDINAVIAN SOCIETY: Societas Heraldica Scandanavica.
- USA: New England Historic Genealogical Society; North American Institute of Heraldic and Flag Studies; American College of Heraldry; The Augustan Society Inc; Genealogical and Heraldic Institute of America; National Genealogical Society.
- FINLAND: Heraldica Scandanavia; Suomen Heraldinen Seura; Finlands National kommitte for Genealogi och Heraldik; Genealogiska Samfundet i Finland; Heraliske Sallskapet i Finland.
- FRANCE: Federation des Societes de Genealogie, d "Heraldique et de Sigillographie; La Societe Franeaise D" Heraldique et de Sigillographie; La Societe du Grand Armorial de France.
- SCOTLAND: Lord Lyon King of Arms, and the Court of Lord Lyon; The Heraldry Society of Scotland; The Scottish Genealogical Society.
- SWITZERLAND: Heraldische Schweizersche Gesellschaft.
- SWEDEN: Swedish state herald: Clara Neveous, Riksarkivet - Heraldiska sektionen; Svenska Heraldiska Foreningen (Heraldry Society of Sweden); Heraldiska Samfundet; Skandinavisk Vapenrulla (SVR); Svenska Nationalkommitten for Genealogi och Heraldik; Voestra Sveriges Heraldiska Saellskap; Riddarhuset; Genealogiska Foereningen Genealogical Society).
- South Africa: The State Herald; Bureau of Heraldry; The Heraldry Society of Southern Africa.
- JAPAN: The Heraldry Society of Japan.
- INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS: Academie Internationale d "Heraldique; Confederation Internationale de Genealogie et d" Heraldique; International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Studies; International Fellowship of Armorists (Heraldry International); International Genealogical Institute; Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints.
Anariel Rowan
Coats of arms of Tolkien's work
(Introduction to Tolkien Heraldry)
The main sources of our knowledge about the coats of arms of Tolkien's world are, firstly, the Professor's texts, and secondly, his drawings published in "Drawings by J.R.R. Tolkien" and in the book by K. Skull and W. Hammond "by J.R. .R. Tolkien: artist and illustrator ". Almost all further information was taken either directly from Tolkien, or from the comments of K. Skull and W. Hammond to his works, however, we will mainly talk about those coats of arms that the Professor did not just describe, but personally drew. Apparently, the first in Arda invented and began to use the coats of arms of the Eldar Aman, as it is said in The Silmarillion: "And the Noldor adorned shields with signs of houses and families." The exiled Noldor brought this art to Balariand, teaching it to the Sindar and the humans. The rules for drawing up elven coats of arms known to us are as follows: a personal female coat of arms was in the shape of a circle, a personal male coat of arms was a rhombus, a family or family coat of arms was a square. The inner part, the sign itself, had a shape similar to the shape of either a flower or a star, with the tips of the petals-rays touching the outer edge. The number of "touches" depended on the rank of the person: four touches for the prince, six or eight for the king. Family coats of arms are often similar in color or design (the coats of arms of Finwe, Feanor, Fingolfin and Finarfin). But sometimes the coat of arms is created in memory of an important event in the life of a person: for example, see the coat of arms of Finrod with a harp and a torch, created to commemorate his meeting with people. As a rule, the coats of arms of elves do not depict objects and phenomena of the visible world, they are abstract geometric forms. These coats of arms are symmetrical on all axes: this creates a sense of non-stop spinning, which perhaps implies the immortality of the elves in the circles of the world. The emblem of King Finwe is called the "Winged Sun", and therefore it is believed that this coat of arms was created already in Balariand, after the rising of the Sun. But, perhaps, the coat of arms appeared in Aman, and Balarianda, it was simply rethought and received a new name. This coat of arms has sixteen "touches" to indicate that the descendants of Finwe were the High Kings of the Noldor Valinor and Balariand. It is also interesting that, unlike other coats of arms (see below), Tolkien depicted this coat of arms in the form of a square, not a rhombus (unfortunately, in the book "Drawings by J.R.R. Tolkien" it was reproduced in the form of a rhombus , which is not true). Faeanor's coat of arms is eight tongues of flame emanating from a circle that encloses an octagon-eight-pointed star, symbolizing the Silmaril. 
The reproduction quality is very poor even in print, so I advise you to take a look at this coat of arms in the drawing of Avahandel (here: http://numen.tirion.su/gallery/emblem_westland.htm). There is also a separate coat of arms for the Silmarils themselves: "an ancient emblem representing the origin of the Silmarils from the Light of the Trees on Ezellohar." 
Most likely, the eight-pointed star was also a sign of the descendants of Feanor, since we also see it on the Gate of Moria, in the creation of which Calabrimbor, the grandson of Feanor, participated. 
As we see and know from the VK text, the Gate of Moria bears several different emblems: "Above - where Gandalf could still reach - the intertwining elven letters curved into an arch. Below, although the lines of the drawing disappeared or blurred in places, the outlines of an anvil and a hammer, crowned a crown with seven stars. Below them were two trees with crescent fruits. More clearly than anything else, a single star with many rays shone in the middle of the door. “These are the emblems of Durin!” exclaimed Gimli. “And the Tree of the High Elves!” Lagolas said. "And the Star of the House of Feanor," said Gandalf. " In drafts, the Gate of Moria and the emblems depicted on it looked like this:
Fingolfin's coat of arms is similar in flowers to his father's coat of arms, but eight flames are similar to the image on the coat of arms of Feanor. Five-pointed silver stars on a blue background recall the blue and silver banners of Fingolfin's army that came to Balariand, as well as Fingolfin's shield - blue and decorated with crystals. 
"The coat of arms of Finarfin and his House, especially Finrod": not two circles, like the older brothers of Finarfin, but one, and the rays-petals are straight, not curved. Perhaps this is a stylized version of the emblem on the Ring of Barahir: two serpents vying for a crown of golden flowers. 
The coat of arms of Eraynion Gil-galad, High King of the Noldor of Middle-earth during the Second Age. King Eraynion was given the name Gil-galad, "Shining Star," because his helmet, mail and shield, silvered and decorated with white stars, shone from afar like a star in the light of the Sun and Moon, and, standing on the dais, the sharp-sighted elves saw him from afar. His colors were blue and silver, like his grandfather, Fingolfin. The Professor drew this coat of arms twice, however, these options are very similar to each other. 
The coat of arms of Finwe is similar (and is drawn on the same sheet of paper) the coat of arms of King Elu Thingol, King of Doriath - the Winged Moon on a black field surrounded by four five-pointed stars. 
The coat of arms of Maya Malian, Queen of Doriath, is very complex: superimposed concave and convex squares and circles, stars-flowers. Perhaps the coat of arms is intended to reflect the very nature of Maya Melian, who, being a spirit, took on the flesh and appearance of the Children of the One. The colors of the coat of arms - blue and gray-silver - are reminiscent of the fact that Melian was a spirit of twilight that emerged from the gardens of Vala Lórien.
Lúthien has two coats of arms, possibly a sign of the blood of Maiar and Eldar flowing in her veins. Both coats of arms depict nifradili snowdrops that blossomed in the forests of Doriath at the hour of her birth. The first of the coats of arms with a blue field and complexity - either a flower with twelve petals, or four snowdrops - resembles the coat of arms of Melian, mother of Luthien. 
In the center of the second coat of arms is Elanor, and with a black background and four five-pointed stars, this coat of arms resembles the coat of arms of Elu Thingol, father of Luthien. 
The heraldry of Gondolin is described in the texts - the early "Fall of Gondolin" and the later "On Tuor and his arrival in Gondolin". According to the second, Turgon used the coat of arms of Fingolfin. According to both texts, the coat of arms of Tuor was the swan wing, in the "Coming" the Swan is the coat of arms of Annael and the people who raised Tuor, the swan wing on azure is the coat of arms on the shield left for Tuor in Vinyamar. The coat of arms of Idril, the consort of Tuor and daughter of Turgon, is similar to the usual elven coats of arms. It is called Menelluin Irildeo Ondolindello (Cornflower Idril of Gondolin). This coat of arms has twelve touches, as befits the coat of arms of a royal daughter, and is rather complicated: it depicts either twelve cornflowers on a black field, or on a blue background, small cornflowers are depicted in twelve black "petals". 
Drafts for this coat of arms: 
The image of this coat of arms has survived on a decorative dish that survived both the fall of Gondolin and Akallabeth, eventually ending up in the treasury of the Gondorian Kings. It can be assumed that "Idril cornflower" became the prototype of many Numanor circular ornaments, for example, such a "Numanor carpet": 
There are two known coats of arms of Eärendil, or, more precisely, two versions of his coat of arms: each depicts a six-pointed star, which encloses a hexagon that marks the Silmaril. On one coat of arms, the star is enclosed in two circles, which symbolize the heavenly spheres in which Earendil wanders. This coat of arms resembles the coat of arms of Idril - six rays are turned inward, six rays are turned outward. And on a black background in the corners, the phases of the moon are depicted. 
In the second, the star is enclosed in a blue circle, the image of the sky, and on a black background in the corners there are four four-pointed stars. 
This is practically all that can be said about the elven crests painted by the Professor. Among many other arts, the people who came to Balariand adopted the art of heraldry from the Eldar. Judging by the harp and torch, this coat of arms was created in honor of the meeting of Finrod with the first people who came to Balariand. Most likely, this coat of arms was created by the people themselves, when they just got acquainted with the art of heraldry, since the coat of arms depicts specific objects and does not look like abstract geometric coats of arms invented by the elves themselves. 
In contrast to the elven coats of arms of people, they are either symmetrical along the vertical axis, or have a clearly defined horizontal axis. The movement is not circular, it seems to emanate from the center, trying to break through the boundaries. The coat of arms of Hador resembles the coats of arms of the Eldar in abstraction, while in colors - red and blue - it is similar to the Winged Sun and to the coat of arms of Fingolfin, whose House the House of Hador served. 
Coat of arms of Beor. 
Coat of arms of Hallet. 
Baren's coat of arms depicts the peaks of Thangorodrim, the Silmaril, and a severed hand. 
The coats of arms of Numanor or the personal coats of arms of the Kings of Numanor are unknown. The only thing that can be added here is that the colors of the sails of the Armada are black, gold and red, but what their symbolic or heraldic meaning is is unknown. Black were the sails of the ships of the Exiles, black were their flags, seven of which were decorated with stars, according to the number of palantiri. These seven stars migrated to the coat of arms of Gondor, which is described in VK as follows: "... a huge banner unfurled .... The White Tree bloomed on it - the sign of Gondor; but the Seven Stars were above it, and the high crown were the signs of Elendil, which one sovereign has not manifested countless years. " "A tree with flowers like snow under a silver crown and stars with many rays was embroidered on the black nalatniki. It was the garment of the heirs of Elendil, and no one wore it now in all of Gondor, except for the Guard of the Citadel in front of the Fountain Court, where the White Tree once grew." ... "... but the royal banner was black, and a white tree in bloom under seven stars was depicted on a black field" Elements of the Gondorian coat of arms The Professor depicted on his version of the paper dust jacket for The Return of the King: 
A few words about the crown of Gondor. This is how it is described in VK: "It was shaped like the helmets of the Citadel Guards, but it was taller and all white, and the wings on either side were made of pearls and silver and resembled the wings of a sea bird, for it was the emblem of the kings that appeared from beyond the Sea; and seven adamant gems were on her hoop, and a single gem shone above, and its light was like a flame. " In the Appendices there is such an explanation: "The shape of the crown of Gondor resembles a Numanor military helmet. At first it was indeed an ordinary helmet; it is said that it was the helmet of Isildur, in which he fought during the Battle of Dagorlad .... But in the days of Athanatar Alkarin it was replaced by a helmet decorated with gems, which was used at the coronation of Aragorn. " In the Letters, the Professor adds the following: "I think that the crown of Gondor (the Kingdom of the South) was very high, like the crown of Egypt, only with the wings that were bent back" and draws this:
Just in case, the crowns of Egypt:
"From left to right: the white crown of Upper Egypt, the red crown of Lower Egypt," Pshent "- the United crown of the Two Lands, the Nemes headscarf and the blue crown" Hepresh "" (from here.
