Depiction of a late medieval knightly tournament from King René's Tournament Book (1460s). The two teams stand ready, each side has 24 knights, all with heraldic surcoats and caparisons, and each accompanied by a banner-bearer with a heraldic flag. There is a central spectators' box for the four judges, where the heraldic shields of the competitors are displayed, the two teams being led by the dukes of Brittany and Bourbon, respectively, and one spectator box on each side for the ladies; inscribed over the boxes is plus est en vous, the heraldic motto of the Gruuthuse family of Bruges, attributed to tournament between Jean III de Gruuthuse and Jean de Ghistelles held in 1393. The two dukes can be seen facing each other in the center of the front lines, each with a personal heraldic flag as well with a larger flag of the same design representing their team. The chief herald is also on horseback, between the two teams, wearing his own heraldic colours.
Heraldry is the system of visual identification of rank and pedigree which developed in the European High Middle Ages,[2] closely associated with the courtly culture of chivalry, Latin Christianity, the Crusades, feudalaristocracy, and monarchy of the time. Heraldic tradition fully developed in the 13th century, and it flourished and developed further during the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period. Originally limited to nobility, heraldry is adopted by wealthy commoners in the Late Middle Ages (Burgher arms). Specific traditions of Ecclesiastical heraldry also develop in the late medieval period. Coats of arms of noble families, often after their extinction, becomes attached to the territories they used to own, giving rise to municipal coats of arms by the 16th century.
Western heraldry spread beyond its core territory of Latin Christendom in the 17th century, Western heraldic traditions being adopted in the Russian Empire. With colonialism, the use of heraldry has spread to other continents, e.g. Africa and the Americas.
While some concepts associated with heraldry, such as nobility and monarchy, have declined in favour of Republicanism in the 19th to 20th centuries, heraldry as a whole continues to flourish, with the art form today enjoying greater prevalence than ever in countries with strong heraldic traditions.[3] Even elsewhere, elements inherited from heraldic tradition are frequently used in national flags and emblems around the world.
Depiction of Carolingian-era round shields (Stuttgart Psalter, 9th century). The spiral patterns represent iron bracing reinforcing the shield.Proto-heraldic shield decorations shown in the Bayeux Tapestry (c. 1077).
Traditions of field signs, personal emblems or seals go back to at least the Bronze Age. The ekphrastic description of shield designs in particular is found as a topos in classical literature.[4] Units of the Roman army were sometimes identified by distinctive markings on their shields.[5]
Heraldry developed in the high medieval period, based on earlier, "pre-heraldic" or "ante-heraldic", traditions of visual identification by means of seals, field signs, emblems used on coins, etc. Notably, lions that would subsequently appear in 12th-century coats of arms of European nobility have pre-figurations in the animal style of ancient art (specifically the style of Scythian art as it developed from c. the 7th century BC).[6]
Western heraldry is an innovation of the 12th century. Certain members of the high nobility began to display animals, especially lions, on their shields beginning in c. the 1140s. Prior to this, western military shields of the 11th to early 12th century did sometimes show simple decorations, but not apparently tied to the personal identification of the bearer.
The Bayeux Tapestry, illustrating the Norman invasion of England in 1066, and probably commissioned about 1077, when the cathedral of Bayeux was rebuilt, depicts a number of shields of various shapes and designs, many of which are plain, while others are decorated with dragons, crosses, or other typically heraldic figures. Yet no individual is depicted twice bearing the same arms, nor are any of the descendants of the various persons depicted known to have borne devices resembling those in the tapestry.[7][8] Frankish or German round shields of the 11th century (Ottonian, Salian) are sometimes depicted with simple geometric ornamentation, but not with figurative emblems.[9]
Similarly, an account of the French knights at the court of the Byzantine emperor Alexius I at the beginning of the twelfth century describes their shields of polished metal, utterly devoid of heraldic design. A Spanish manuscript from 1109 describes both plain and decorated shields, none of which appears to have been heraldic.[10] The Abbey of St. Denis contained a window commemorating the knights who embarked on the Second Crusade in 1147, and was probably made soon after the event; but Montfaucon's illustration of the window before it was destroyed shows no heraldic design on any of the shields.[8][11]
The 12th-century tradition is mostly preserved in the form of the equestrian seals popular at the time which show the nobleman as a fully armed warrior on horseback. Early equestrian seals show plain shields. From the mid 12th century, proto-heraldic designs are sometimes shown, but the shield is shown naturally, as part of the knight's armament, and is often seen in profile or partially obscured. The equestrian seal of Enguerrand (Ingelram), count of Saint-Pol (1130s or 1140s) still shows a plain shield, but what would later become heraldic charges (in this case, sheaves of corn) are shown arranged around the horse.[12] Seals displaying actual heraldic shields appear by the very end of the 12th century or the early years of the 13th century.
Seals with elements of a distinctly heraldic character begin to appear in the second third of the 12th century. A number of seals dating from between 1135 and 1155 appear to show the adoption of heraldic devices in England, France, Germany, Spain, and Italy.[13] A notable example of an early armorial seal is attached to a charter granted by Philip I, Count of Flanders, in 1164. Seals from the latter part of the eleventh and early twelfth centuries show no evidence of heraldic symbolism, but by the end of the twelfth century, seals are uniformly heraldic in nature.[10][14]
Among the oldest equestrian seals with armorials are those of Henry the Lion of the House of Welf, duke of Saxony (1142–1180) and Bavaria (1156–1180). A total of seven seals of Henry's are known. Of these, only the second shows a recognizable lion displayed on his shield. This seal is attached to two documents dated to 1146. It is possible that the lion was also on the first seal (c. 1142), but it is no longer recognizable.[15] An equestrian seal of similar antiquity is that of Ottokar III of Styria, dated 1160, with an early form of the Styrianpanther on his shield.
Enamel from the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, showing his shield in profile, with four out of what were presumably six lions visible (six lions are on the shield of the effigy of his grandson William Longespée, d. 1226).
The oldest extant depiction of a coloured armoury can be seen on the tomb of Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou, who died in 1151.[16] An enamel, probably commissioned by Geoffrey's widow between 1155 and 1160, depicts him carrying a blue shield decorated with six golden lions rampant. He wears a blue helmet adorned with another lion, and his cloak is lined in vair. A medieval chronicle states that Geoffrey was given a shield of this description when he was knighted by his father-in-law, Henry I, in 1128; but this account probably dates to about 1175.[17][18] The earliest evidence of the association of lions with the English crown is a seal bearing two lions passant, used by the future King John during the lifetime of his father, Henry II, who died in 1189.[19][20] Since Henry was the son of Geoffrey Plantagenet, it seems reasonable to suppose that the adoption of lions as an heraldic emblem by Henry or his sons might have been inspired by Geoffrey's shield. John's elder brother, Richard the Lionheart, who succeeded his father on the throne, is believed to have been the first to have borne the arms of three lions passant-guardant, still the arms of England, having earlier used two lions rampant combatant, which arms may also have belonged to his father.[21] Richard is also credited with having originated the English crest of a lion statant (now statant-guardant).[20][22]
Early mention of heraldic shields in Middle High German literature also dates to the 12th century. Shield designs are described in the Kaiserchronik (c. 1150–1170), such as the boar carried by the Romans, as well as, in isolated cases, in the Rolandslied (c. 1115), König Rother (c. 1150), Veldecke's Eneas (c. 1170), and Hartmann's Erec (c. 1185). These appear in the larger context of describing an armed protagonist, and are not yet tied to the bearer's pedigree.[23]
Depiction of emperor Frederick Barbarossa as a Crusader (c. 1188). The cross symbol worn on the shield and surcoat at this time is not a heraldic charge identifying the bearer but a field sign worn by all participants in the Crusade.
At least two distinctive features of heraldry are generally accepted as products of the Crusades: the surcoat, an outer garment worn over the armor to protect the wearer from the heat of the sun, was often decorated with the same devices that appeared on a knight's shield. It is from this garment that the phrase "coat of arms" is derived.[dubious–discuss][24] Also the lambrequin, or mantling, that depends from the helmet and frames the shield in modern heraldry, began as a practical covering for the helmet and the back of the neck during the Crusades,[citation needed] serving much the same function as the surcoat. Its slashed or scalloped edge, today rendered as billowing flourishes, is thought to have originated from hard wearing in the field, or as a means of deadening a sword blow and perhaps entangling the attacker's weapon.[25]
Dering Roll, c. 1270, Dover, one of the oldest extant rolls of arms, showing the coats of arms as yet without helmets or any other achievements.Part of the Zürich armorial (c. 1340), an early example of the tradition of representing coats of arms with a representation of helmet and crest.
The origin of the term heraldry itself (Middle Englishheraldy, Old Frenchhiraudie), can be placed in the context of the early forms of the knightly tournaments in the 12th century. Combatants wore full armour, and identified themselves by wearing their emblems on their shields. A herald (Old French heraut, from a Frankish*hariwald "commander of an army") was an officer who would announce the competitors.
Originally a type of messenger employed by noblemen, heralds assumed the responsibility of learning and knowing the rank, pedigree, and heraldic devices of various knights and lords, as well as the rules and protocols governing the design and description, or blazoning of arms, and the precedence of their bearers.[26] As early as the late thirteenth century, certain heralds in the employ of monarchs were given the title "King of Heralds", which eventually became "King of Arms."[26]
The term coat of arms in origin refers to the surcoat with heraldic designs worn by combatants, especially in the knightly tournament, in Old French cote a armer. The sense is transferred to the heraldic design itself in Middle English, in the mid-14th century.[27]
By about the 1230s, the shields used by cavalry were almost triangular in shape, referred to as heater shields. Such a shield is preserved, the shield of Konrad von Thüringen, dated c. 1230, showing the lion barry of the Ludovingians. This heater-shaped form was used in warfare during the apogee of the Age of Chivalry, and it becomes the classic heraldic shield, or escutcheon, at about the time of the Battle of Crecy (1346) and the founding of the Order of the Garter (1348), when heraldry had become a fully developed system. All medieval rolls of arms, from the late 13th and throughout the 14th to 15th century, almost exclusively use this shield shape.
Counterseal of Alfonso II of Aragon, dated 1187: one of the earliest depiction of a "heraldic shield" (depiction of the shield design in isolation of the full depiction of the armed bearer), in this case showing an early form of the Pales of Aragon. The shield at this time still has the "kite" shape.
Shield of Seedorf (late 12th century), the oldest extant medieval shield, showing a lion rampant. Preserved in Seedorf monastery, Uri, Switzerland. In origin still of the kite shield type, the top of the shield has been cut off at a later date to approximate the 13th-century "heater" shape.
Heraldic seal of Bouchard of Marly, dated 1225. A fully developed heraldic shield is shown on the obverse side of the seal, replacing the depiction of the fully armed knight as it were pars pro toto.
Matthew Paris in Historia Anglorum and Chronica Majora (c. 1250) uses miniatures of heraldic shields to represent the accession and deaths of kings, shown here are the three lions passants guardants or attributed to William I and his successors Henry I, Stephen, Henry II, John and Henry III, later (14th century) used as the Royal Arms of England.
Miniature depicting the First Crusade from a manuscripts of Histoire d'Outremer (dated 1287). The image shows Godfrey of Bouillon and Adhemar of Le Puy. Godfrey is displaying the arms of Lorraine, a bend gules with three alerions argent. Adhemar is wearing a bishop's mitre and displaying a crescent on his shield.
Coats of arms of the 13th century in some cases already include marks of cadency to distinguish descendants, but they mostly still do without division of the field to indicate descent from more than one lineage. An exception is the coat of arms of Castile and León, showing the arms of Castile (the yellow castle) quartered with the arms of León (the purple lion) in the late 13th century Camden Roll and Segar's Roll. This practice becomes much more common in the late medieval period. For example, the arms of Eric of Pomerania as king of the Kalmar Union (r. 1396–1439) combine five coats of arms, for Denmark, Sweden, the House of Bjälbo, Pomerania and Norway, quartered by a cross gules and with a central inescutcheon. In the later 15th century, holders of ecclesiastical office would quarter their family arms with those of the order or diocese they represented. Thus Pierre d'Aubusson as grand master of the Knights of Malta quartered his family arms with the Maltese cross; bishop Hugo von Hohenlandenberg quartered his family arms with those of the prince-bishopric of Constance.
By the middle of the fourteenth century, the principle that only a single individual was entitled to bear a particular coat of arms was generally accepted, and disputes over the ownership of arms seems to have led to gradual establishment of heraldic authorities to regulate their use. The earliest known work of heraldic jurisprudence, De Insigniis et Armis, was written about 1350 by Bartolus de Saxoferrato, a professor of law at the University of Padua.[28][29] The most celebrated armorial dispute in English heraldry is that of Scrope v Grosvenor (1390), in which two different men claimed the right to bear azure, a bend or.[30] The continued proliferation of arms, and the number of disputes arising from different men assuming the same arms, led Henry V to issue a proclamation in 1419, forbidding all those who had not borne arms at the Battle of Agincourt from assuming arms, except by inheritance or a grant from the crown.[30][31]
In 1484, during the reign of Richard III, the various heralds employed by the crown were incorporated into the College of Arms, through which all new grants of arms would eventually be issued.[32][33] The college currently consists of three Kings of Arms, assisted by six Heralds, and four Pursuivants, or junior officers of arms, all under the authority of the Earl Marshal; but all of the arms granted by the college are granted by the authority of the crown.[34] Similar bodies regulate the granting of arms in other monarchies and several members of the Commonwealth of Nations, but in most other countries there is no heraldic authority, and no law preventing anyone from assuming whatever arms they please, provided that they do not infringe upon the arms of another.[33]
Beginning in the reign of Henry VIII, the Kings of Arms were commanded to make visitations, in which they traveled about the country, recording arms borne under proper authority, and requiring those who bore arms without authority either to obtain authority for them, or cease their use. Arms borne improperly were to be taken down and defaced. The first such visitation began in 1530, and the last was carried out in 1700, although no new commissions to carry out visitations were made after the accession of William III in 1689.[30][35]
Prominent burghers and corporations, including many cities and towns, assumed or obtained grants of arms, with only nominal military associations.[36] Heraldic devices were depicted in various contexts, such as religious and funerary art, and in using a wide variety of media, including stonework, carved wood, enamel, stained glass, and embroidery.[37]
With the abandonment of the joust as courtly practice at the beginning of the 17th century, heraldic achievements, especially the heraldry, ceased to be tied to the technological development or fashion of jousting armour and shapes of helmets became purely conventional, and in the various regional systems, separate types of helmets came to be tied to separate ranks of nobility.
Baroque heraldic designs became increasingly elaborate, both in terms of the increasingly complex division of the field and in terms of the surrounding achievements, culminating in the development of "landscape heraldry", incorporating realistic depictions of landscapes, during the latter part of the eighteenth and early part of the nineteenth century.
In the mid-19th century, there was a renewed interest in the history of armory, but now mostly from an antiquarian's or genealogist's perspective. This led to a re-evaluation of older designs over Baroque and Roccoco styles, a new appreciation for the medieval origins of the art.[38][39] Since the late nineteenth century, heraldry has focused on the use of varied lines of partition and little-used ordinaries to produce new and unique designs.[40]
19th-century German heraldry has examples of shields with numerous crests, as this arms of Saxe-Altenburg featuring a total of seven crests. Some thaler coins display as many as fifteen.
Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings, as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known branch of heraldry, concerns the design and transmission of the heraldic achievement. The achievement, or armorial bearings usually includes a coat of arms on a shield, helmet and crest, together with any accompanying devices, such as supporters, badges, heraldic banners and mottoes.
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon, surcoat, or tabard. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its whole consists of a shield, supporters, a crest, and a motto. A coat of arms is traditionally unique to the armiger. The term "coat of arms" itself, describing in modern times just the heraldic design, originates from the description of the entire medieval chainmail "surcoat" garment used in combat or preparation for the latter.
The coat of arms of England is the coat of arms historically used as arms of dominion by the monarchs of the Kingdom of England, and now used to symbolise England generally. The arms were adopted c.1200 by the Plantagenet kings and continued to be used by successive English and British monarchs; they are currently quartered with the arms of Scotland and Ireland in the coat of arms of the United Kingdom. Historically they were also quartered with the arms of France, representing the English claim to the French throne, and Hanover.
The eagle is used in heraldry as a charge, as a supporter, and as a crest. Heraldic eagles can be found throughout world history like in the Achaemenid Empire or in the present Republic of Indonesia. The European post-classical symbolism of the heraldic eagle is connected with the Roman Empire on one hand, and with Saint John the Evangelist on the other.
The rule of tincture is a design philosophy found in some heraldic traditions that states "metal should not be put on metal, nor colour on colour". Heraldic furs such as ermine and vair, and charges described as "proper", are generally exempt from the rule of tincture.
In British heraldry, vert is the tincture equivalent to green. It is one of the five dark tinctures called colours.
Heraldry in Scotland, while broadly similar to that practised in England and elsewhere in western Europe, has its own distinctive features. Its heraldic executive is separate from that of the rest of the United Kingdom.
The lion is a common charge in heraldry. It traditionally symbolises courage, nobility, royalty, strength, stateliness and valour, because historically the lion has been regarded as the "king of beasts". The lion also carries Judeo-Christian symbolism. The Lion of Judah stands in the coat of arms of Jerusalem. Similar-looking lions can be found elsewhere, such as in the coat of arms of the Swedish royal House of Bjälbo, from there in turn derived into the coat of arms of Finland, formerly belonging to Sweden.
The leopard in heraldry is traditionally depicted the same as a lion, but in a walking position with its head turned to full face, thus it is also known as a lion passant guardant in some texts, though leopards more naturally depicted make some appearances in modern heraldry. The Oxford Guide to Heraldry makes little mention of leopards but glosses leopard as a "term used in medieval heraldry for lion passant guardant. Now used for the natural beast." Another name for this beast is the ounce.
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.
Danish heraldry has its roots in medieval times when coats of arms first appeared in Europe. Danish heraldry is a branch of the German-Nordic heraldic tradition.
Attributed arms are Western European coats of arms given retrospectively to persons real or fictitious who died before the start of the age of heraldry in the latter half of the 12th century. Once coats of arms were the established fashion of the ruling class, society expected a king to be armigerous. Arms were assigned to the knights of the Round Table, and then to biblical figures, to Roman and Greek heroes, and to kings and popes who had not historically borne arms. Individual authors often attributed different arms for the same person, although the arms for major figures eventually became fixed.
The royal standards of England were narrow, tapering swallow-tailed heraldic flags, of considerable length, used mainly for mustering troops in battle, in pageants and at funerals, by the monarchs of England. In high favour during the Tudor period, the Royal English Standard was a flag that was of a separate design and purpose to the Royal Banner. It featured St George's Cross at its head, followed by a number of heraldic devices, a supporter, badges or crests, with a motto—but it did not bear a coat of arms. The Royal Standard changed its composition frequently from reign to reign, but retained the motto Dieu et mon droit, meaning God and my right; which was divided into two bands: Dieu et mon and Droyt.
English heraldry is the form of coats of arms and other heraldic bearings and insignia used in England. It lies within the so-called Gallo-British tradition. Coats of arms in England are regulated and granted to individuals by the English kings of arms of the College of Arms. An individual's arms may also be borne 'by courtesy' by members of the holder's nuclear family, subject to a system of cadency marks, to differentiate those displays from the arms of the original holder. The English heraldic style is exemplified in the arms of British royalty, and is reflected in the civic arms of cities and towns, as well as the noble arms of individuals in England. Royal orders in England, such as the Order of the Garter, also maintain notable heraldic bearings.
In heraldic achievements, the helmet or helm is situated above the shield and bears the torse and crest. The style of helmet displayed varies according to rank and social status, and these styles developed over time, in step with the development of actual military helmets. In some traditions, especially German and Nordic heraldry, two or three helmets may be used in a single achievement of arms, each representing a fief to which the bearer has a right. For this reason, the helmets and crests in German and Nordic arms are considered essential to the coat of arms and are never separated from it.
German heraldry is the tradition and style of heraldic achievements in Germany and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions. German heraldic style is one of the four major broad traditions within European heraldry and stands in contrast to Gallo-British, Latin and Eastern heraldry, and strongly influenced the styles and customs of heraldry in the Nordic countries, which developed comparatively late. Together, German and Nordic heraldry are often referred to as German-Nordic heraldry.
Icelandic heraldry is the study of coats of arms and other insignia used in Iceland. It belongs to the German-Nordic heraldic tradition, as the heraldry of Iceland has been primarily influenced by the heraldic traditions of Norway, Denmark and other Nordic countries. Iceland does not have a strong sense of heraldic tradition, however, because the country lacks a governing body to oversee this. As a result, coats of arms registered as such are virtually nonexistent in modern Iceland. While many municipalities use more or less heraldic logos, there are no heraldic standards to which these must adhere, and they are registered as graphic designs rather than as coats of arms.
The coat of arms of the City of London Corporation is the official coat of arms granted to the City of London Corporation. The Corporation governs the City of London, one of the 33 administrative areas within Greater London, England.
The first instance of a figure of the lion as symbol of the Kingdom of León is found in minted coins of Alfonso VII, called the Emperor (1126–1157). Until then, the cross had a preponderant position on documents and coins of Leonese monarchs since that reign the cross was gradually displaced by the lion. The Spanish historian and heraldist Martín de Riquer explained that the lion was already used as heraldic emblem in 1148. At the end of the reign of Alfonso VII, the figure of this animal began to appear on royal documents as personal device of the monarch and became pervasive during reigns of Ferdinand II (1157-1188) and Alfonso IX (1188-1230).
References
↑ Octave Delepierre, Précis des annales de Bruges (1835) 38f. René of Anjou's contemporary Louis de Gruuthuse himself was a famous competitor in tournaments during the 1440s.
↑ Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 1–18.
↑ Klackenberg, Henrik (2002), Heraldiken i folkhemmet (in Swedish), p.6
↑ Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 6–10.
↑ "le blason fait son apparition dans les dernières années du XIIe siècle, brusquement, sans transition. Mais il est d’autres types plus anciens où les pièces des armoiries existent, s’annonçant pour ainsi dire avant de passer dans l’écu. Le sceau d’Enguerran, comte de Saint-Pol, antérieur à l’année 1150, est de ce nombre. Il offre déjà plusieurs gerbes dispersées dans le champ." G. Demay, Le Blason d’après les sceaux du Moyen-Âge (1877), p. 6.
↑ Xenja von Ertzdorff, Rudolf Schulz, Winfried Baumann, Die Romane von dem Ritter mit dem Löwen (1994), p. 175, citing Schmidt-Phiseldeck, Die Siegel des herzoglichen Hauses Braunschweig und Lüneburg, nr. 1–4.
↑ Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, p. 62.
↑ C. A. Stothard, Monumental Effigies of Great Britain (1817) pl. 2, illus. in Anthony Wagner, Richmond Herald, Heraldry in England, Penguin (1946), pl. I.
↑ "With the exception of several heraldic shields that appear in the Kaiserchronik, such as the boar carried by the Romans—the oldest heraldic insignia in medieval German epic literature, according to Zips [Wappenwesen, 1966]—most of the precourtly and even courtly epics up to 1200 contain very few decorated shields at all. Several isolated coats of arms are mentioned in the German Rolandslied, König Rother, Veldecke's Eneas, and Hartmann's Erec—mostly related to the protagonists." Wandhoff (2016), (p. 57).
↑ Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 17–18.
↑ Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 17–18, 383.
1 2 Fox-Davies, A Complete Guide to Heraldry, pp. 27–29.
Wandhoff, "The Shield as a Poetic Screen: Early Blazon and the Visualization of Medieval German Literature" in: K. Starkey (ed.), Visual Culture and the German Middle Ages (2016), 53–72.
Gerard J. Brault. Early Blazon. Heraldic terminology in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, with special reference to Arthurian literature. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1972.
John A Goodall, "Heraldry in Italy during the Middle Ages and Renaissance", Coat of Arms 37 (January 1959).
Burke's General Armory: "The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales; Comprising a Registry of Armorial Bearings from the Earliest to the Present Time," by Sir Bernard Burke, Ulster King of Arms was published in London in 1884. This roll comprises a listing of all known armory ever used in the British Isles.
J. Siebmacher's großes Wappenbuch (continuation of the early modern Siebmachers Wappenbuch), edd. Otto Titan v. Hefner, Heyer v. Rosenfeld, A. M. Hildebrandt, G. A. Seyler, M. Gritzner et al., 7 volumes (1854–1967); vol. 1: National coats of arms and national flags, episcopal arms, occupational coats of arms, university arms; vols. 2–3: nobility of Germany and Prussia; vol. 4: nobility of Austria-Hungary; vol. 5: bourgeois familial coats of arms (Germany and Switzerland); vol. 6: extinct nobility of the Holy Roman Empire; vol. 7: supplemental volume.
Armorial Général by Jean-Baptiste Rietstap, two volumes (1884, 1887), more than 100,000 coats of arms with pan-European scope.
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