The coat of arms of Aberdeen consists of three towers within a border decorated with fleurs-de-lis. This design is known to have been used on city seals from the 15th century onwards, if not earlier. [1]
The coat of arms of Aberdeen consists of three towers within a border decorated with fleurs-de-lis. This design is known to have been used on city seals from the 15th century onwards, if not earlier. [1]
The three towers represent the three buildings that stood on the three hills of mediaeval Aberdeen: Aberdeen Castle on Castle Hill, the city gate on Port Hill, and a chapel on St Catherine's Hill. The latter two are no longer in existence, and St Catherine's Hill has in fact been levelled. [2]
Conversely the image of a single tower, rather than the triple, is often used in the city. Notably they can be seen in the arms of Aberdeen Grammar School, Robert Gordons College, Robert Gordon University and the University of Aberdeen.
The border of fleurs-de-lis, or royal tressure as it is described in heraldry, derives from the royal arms of Scotland, and was traditionally said to have been granted to the city by Robert the Bruce as a mark of royal favour, but may only date from the reign of James I.
In 1672, the Parliament of Scotland passed an act requiring all persons or bodies using arms to record them in a register maintained by Lord Lyon King of Arms. Accordingly, the arms of the "Royall Burgh of Aberdein" were recorded in the Lyon Register on February 25, 1674. [3] [4] The blazon was given as: gules, three towers triple-towered within a double-tressure counterflowered argent. Supported by two leopards proper; and in an escrol above "Bon Accord"
A second shield was also recorded, based on the city's counterseal. This consisted of a temple, with St Nicholas standing in the doorway praying over a cauldron of boiling children. This was blazoned: azure, a temple argent, St Nicholas standing in the porch, mitred and vested proper, with his dexter hand lifted up to heaven praying over three children in a boiling cauldron of the first, and holding in the sinister a crosier or.
These arms originated from an old legend surrounding St Nicholas, who is the city's patron saint due to his association with mariners. According to the legend, Nicholas had been travelling through his diocese, when he lodged for the night in a house on the wayside. Unbeknownst to Nicholas, his host was a cannibal, and had secretly been kidnapping local children for meat. When Nicholas's plate was placed before him, he immediately recognised the meat for what it was. Going over to the cauldron, he made the sign of the Cross, and the children were then restored to life. [1]
Due to local government reorganisation, the arms have been regranted twice: in 1976 to the City of Aberdeen District Council, and in 1996 to Aberdeen City Council. [5] [6] As such, the arms are today the corporate property of the City Council.
No crest has ever accompanied the arms, but they may be displayed with a mural coronet, in right of Aberdeen's city status. Prior to the formation of the current council in 1996, a district council's coronet was used, representing Aberdeen's status as a district. This was made of gold, and was decorated with spikes and sheaves of wheat.
The supporters are two leopards, though in early depictions they are sometimes shown as lions. According to legend, the beasts were granted by James I as a gesture of thanks to the burgh for underwriting his expenses while he was held captive in England. [4] The city's local magazine is called the "Leopard" and when Union Bridge was constructed in the 19th century small statues of leopards in a sitting position were cast and placed along its railing tops.
There has been some controversy over whether the leopards ought to be represented in profile or with their faces towards the viewer. The former is nowadays more common, in accordance with the 1674 blazon.
The motto of the city is Bon Accord, French for "Good Agreement". Legend tells that its use dates from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the 14th century, when Robert the Bruce and his men laid siege to Aberdeen Castle, before destroying it in 1308 and massacring the English Garrison, retaking Aberdeen for the townspeople. Bon Accord was the secret password used during the campaign. [7]
The city's official toast is "Happy to meet, sorry to part, happy to meet again - Bon Accord!", which is based on an extract from the Masonic poem "The Final Toast" by David Lester Richardson.
The town of Bon Accord in the Canadian province of Alberta takes its name from the motto.
The lines in heraldry used to divide and vary fields and charges are by default straight, but may have many different shapes. Care must be taken to distinguish these types of lines from the use of lines as charges, and to distinguish these shapes from actual charges, such as "a mount [or triple mount] in base," or, particularly in German heraldry, different kinds of embattled from castle walls.
In heraldry, variations of the field are any of a number of ways that a field may be covered with a pattern, rather than a flat tincture or a simple division of the field.
Ordinaries in heraldry are sometimes embellished with stripes of colour alongside them, have lumps added to them, shown with their edges arciform instead of straight, have their peaks and tops chopped off, pushed up and down out of the usual positions, or even broken apart.
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In British heraldry, a coronet is any crown whose bearer is less than sovereign or royal in rank, irrespective of the crown's appearance. In other languages, this distinction is not made, and usually the same word for crown is used irrespective of rank In this use, the English coronet is a purely technical term for all heraldic images of crowns not used by a sovereign, and implies nothing about the actual shape of the crown depicted. A Coronet is another type of crown, but is reserved for the lower ranks of nobility like Marquesses and Marchionesses, Earls and Countesses, Barons and Baronesses, and some Lords and Ladies. The specific design and attributes of the crown or coronet signifies the hierarchy and ranking of its owner.
In heraldry, an ordinary is one of the two main types of charges, beside the mobile charges. An ordinary is a simple geometrical figure, bounded by straight lines and running from side to side or top to bottom of the shield. There are also some geometric charges known as subordinaries, which have been given lesser status by some heraldic writers, though most have been in use as long as the traditional ordinaries. Diminutives of ordinaries and some subordinaries are charges of the same shape, though thinner. Most of the ordinaries are theoretically said to occupy one-third of the shield; but this is rarely observed in practice, except when the ordinary is the only charge.
In heraldry, a charge is any emblem or device occupying the field of an escutcheon (shield). That may be a geometric design or a symbolic representation of a person, animal, plant, object, building, or other device. In French blazon, the ordinaries are called pièces, and other charges are called meubles.
The coat of arms of Scotland, colloquially called the Lion Rampant, is the coat of arms historically used as arms of dominion by the monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland, and later by monarchs of Great Britain and the United Kingdom. The coat of arms, or elements from it, are also used in heraldry to symbolise Scotland in general. The arms consist of a red lion surrounded by a red double border decorated with fleurs-de-lis, all on a gold background. The blazon, or heraldic description, is: Or a lion rampant Gules armed and langued Azure within a double tressure flory-counter-flory of the second.
Carrick Pursuivant of Arms is a Scottish pursuivant of arms of the Court of the Lord Lyon.
The American College of Heraldry and Arms, Inc. was an American organization established in 1966 to promote heraldry in the United States. The corporate address of the college was Harbormaster's Building, Herald's Mews on Longneck, Pier 4 Pratt Street, Baltimore, Maryland.
The Coat of arms of Huddersfield was the official symbol of the local government of Huddersfield. The borough was abolished in 1974, 106 years after its incorporation in 1868, under the provisions of the Local Government Act 1972 whereby control was ceded to Kirklees Metropolitan Council and West Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council.
In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct the appropriate image. The verb to blazon means to create such a description. The visual depiction of a coat of arms or flag has traditionally had considerable latitude in design, but a verbal blazon specifies the essentially distinctive elements. A coat of arms or flag is therefore primarily defined not by a picture but rather by the wording of its blazon. Blazon is also the specialized language in which a blazon is written, and, as a verb, the act of writing such a description. Blazonry is the art, craft or practice of creating a blazon. The language employed in blazonry has its own vocabulary, grammar and syntax, which becomes essential for comprehension when blazoning a complex coat of arms.
In heraldry, a pile is a charge usually counted as one of the ordinaries. It consists of a wedge emerging from the upper edge of the shield and converging to a point near the base. If it touches the base, it is blazoned throughout.
French heraldry is the use of heraldic symbols in France. Although it had a considerable history, existing from the 12th century, such formality has largely died out in France, as far as regulated personal heraldry is concerned. Civic heraldry on the other hand remains a visible part of daily life.
In heraldry, an orle is a subordinary consisting of a narrow band occupying the inward half of where a bordure would be, following the exact outline of the shield but within it, showing the field between the outer edge of the orle and the edge of the shield.
Jessant-de-lys is a heraldic term denoting a fleur-de-lys issuing out of any object. It is most frequently seen in conjunction with a leopard's face, meaning in heraldic language the face of a lion.
Coats of arms and seals of the County and Duchy of Cornwall, the Diocese of Truro, and of Cornish boroughs and towns.
The heads of humans and other animals are frequently occurring charges in heraldry. The blazon, or heraldic description, usually states whether an animal's head is couped, erased, or cabossed. Human heads are often described in much greater detail, though some of these are identified by name with little or no further description.
Carruthers, a Scottish Lowland clan and family from Annandale in Dumfriesshire.
