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Maltese heraldry is the design, display, and study of armorial bearings as used in the traditions of Malta.
| This article's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia.(December 2023) |
Maltese heraldry is the design, display, and study of armorial bearings as used in the traditions of Malta.
Heraldry originated in the form known today in the second quarter of the 12th century as a means of identification on the battlefield [ citation needed ].
This concept was first used in Malta with the granting of the title of 'Baron of Fiddien' to the Santa Sofia family in 1287, marking the ascendancy of the first noble families in the country, which characterised the 13th century [ citation needed ].
Most of these early titles and their corresponding coat of arms were feudal titles granted for military service to the crown, with some others being purchased. [1]
All except two of these Maltese ancient feudal titles are now extinct, with the earliest surviving one dating back to the Kingdom of Sicily in 1350. [2]
With decline in the use of armour, the original purpose of heraldry grew fainter as the centuries passed by. However its presence had become deeply rooted in society, hence its persistence to this day.
Arms started to be granted not only to aristocrats but also to people of stature as means of identification in times of high illiteracy. [3]
The majority of the titles still used in Malta today were created during the period of the Knights of St. John. These titles were mostly nominally feudal; a few were actually tied to estates already held by the grantee, e.g., Tabria, Gomerino, delle Mori (Catena), and other foreign titles were simply recognized by the Grandmasters. Most of these titles were purchases. [4]
Under Napoleon's revolutionary government between 1798 and 1800, heraldry was abolished and most existing patents were burned. With the subsequent arrival of the British however, Malta's indigenous nobility resurfaced. The controversial Royal Commission Report of 1878 created The Maltese Nobility. [5]
Some later titles were created by reigning Pontiffs. Subsequently, 'bona fide' foreign titles have also been created by other sources who held the Fons Honorum. [6]
Maltese titles can be inherited in different ways, as there is no general Salic law in Malta. Some can even be inherited by nomination. [7]
In 1975, the Ġieħ ir-Repubblika Act removed official state recognition of all nobility titles, but their use is not banned by law, and they are freely used in Malta. [8] The abundance of heraldic material on several Maltese buildings, churches, monuments, and documents attests to the sustained importance of this institution throughout our history and thus the need for its study and protection as a means of analysing Maltese society.
In March 2019, the Office of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta was established by Heritage Malta upon the Prime Minister's recommendation and the Cabinet Secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister.[ citation needed ]
On 25 June 2019, with notice number 729 in the Malta Government Gazette, the Government of Malta announced the appointment of a Chief Herald to the Office of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta, based at the historic Fort St. Elmo in Valletta.[ citation needed ]
On 21 January 2022, the 2021 Heraldry and Genealogy regulations were published by the Government of Malta by virtue of a legal notice issued after an amendment to the Cultural Heritage Act unanimously approved by parliament and which received Presidential Assent on 20 July 2021.[ citation needed ]
The position of Chief Herald of Arms of Malta is presently held by Dr. Charles A. Gauci. He was originally appointed in 2019 and was confirmed in this appointment on 31 January 2022, by the then Minister of Culture, Dr. José Herrera. He is helped locally by a number of officers of Arms. Abroad, the interests of the Office of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta are represented by Special Officers of Arms Extraordinary. Professor the Chevalier Horatio Caesar Roger Vella, advises Dr. Gauci on matters relating to Latin and Paleography.[ citation needed ].
In July 2021, the Ombudsman of Malta, Anthony C. Mifsud, made the following conclusion in the Report on Case No U 0059: "[...] it appears that the establishment of the Office of the Chief Herald may have been somewhat defective. The provisions found in the Cultural Heritage Act, do not appear to have been correctly followed. Moreover, the powers granted to the said office especially as far as granting of new arms is concerned, go beyond what is permitted by the said Act in its current guise." [9] The situation was rectified by an amendment to the Act in 2021. [10] Regulations placing the office on a firm statutory basis were gazetted in December 2021, [11] and came into effect on 21 January 2022.
Heraldry has its own language, known as 'blazon,' originating in medieval France. In Malta, old blazons are usually in Italian.
The arms used by the Office of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta were approved by the Malta Cabinet Office on 3 June 2019 (featured image). [12]
The blazon describing the Arms of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta consists of:
(i) The motto, 'Virtute et Constantia', alluding to a phrase that reverberates throughout Malta's history after it was used by Jean de Vallette in a dispatch to King Philip II of Spain when describing the victory of the Great Siege of Malta in 1565. It is incorporated in the Arms of the Office of the Chief Herald in deference to Malta's most senior Order, the National Order of Merit.
(ii) The blue disc (in heraldry called a hurt) represents the Mediterranean Sea surrounding the Maltese Islands. The golden edge of the hurt represents Malta's 'imperial and royal history' as part of the Kingdom of Aragon and subsequently of Spain, the Principality of Malta at the time of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the British Empire and lastly the time when Malta was an independent monarchy from 1964 until 1974.
Malta derives its heraldic heritage from the three main royal authorities which once ruled the Maltese islands and the finials on the Maces represent two of those sources;
(iii) The finial of one mace (the dexter or left, as you look at the Arms) represents Aragon. It bears the undifferentiated Arms of that kingdom. The Cross of Aragon surmounts the shield of Aragon.
(iv) The finial of the other mace (the sinister or right as you look at the Arms) represents the Principality and Fortress of Malta, the seat of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, which defended Malta. The mural crown represents Fortress Malta.
The Arms bear a Crest Coronet. This is a "simple" crest and not a Coronet of rank. The crest coronet of the Chief Herald of Arms of Malta is composed simply of 14 oak leaves, devoid of any royal trappings.
Naturally, the eight-pointed cross – often commonly called the Maltese Cross, is closely associated with Malta's history. It also appears on the insignia of the Maltese National Order of Merit and is used in these Arms for its historical legacy and because the Order of Merit is Malta's highest institution of honour. [13]
The coat of arms of Malta was created in the 20th century but has an older history [ citation needed ].
Every city in Malta has its own coat of arms. Each has a mural crown with three or four turrets. The capital Valletta, and the former capital cities of Mdina and Birgu have four turrets, while the rest have three.
The villages also have similar coats of arms, but without the mural crown.
A saltire, also called Saint Andrew's Cross or the crux decussata, is a heraldic symbol in the form of a diagonal cross. The word comes from the Middle French sautoir, Medieval Latin saltatoria ("stirrup").
In heraldry, the field (background) of a shield can be divided into more than one area, or subdivision, of different tinctures, usually following the lines of one of the ordinaries and carrying its name. Shields may be divided this way for differencing or for purposes of marshalling, or simply for style. The lines that divide a shield may not always be straight, and there is a system of terminology for describing patterned lines, which is also shared with the heraldic ordinaries.
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.
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.
The coat of arms of Sunderland is the official heraldic arms of the City of Sunderland in England.
António Manoel de Vilhena was a Portuguese nobleman who was the 66th Prince and Grand Master of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem from 19 June 1722 to his death in 1736. Unlike a number of the other Grand Masters, he was benevolent and popular with the Maltese people. Vilhena is mostly remembered for the founding of Floriana, the construction of Fort Manoel and the Manoel Theatre, and the renovation of the city of Mdina.
Papal coats of arms are the personal coat of arms of popes of the Catholic Church. These have been a tradition since the Late Middle Ages, and has displayed his own, initially that of his family, and thus not unique to himself alone, but in some cases composed by him with symbols referring to his past or his aspirations. This personal coat of arms coexists with that of the Holy See.
The lozenge in heraldry is a diamond-shaped rhombus charge, usually somewhat narrower than it is tall. It is to be distinguished in modern heraldry from the fusil, which is like the lozenge but narrower, though the distinction has not always been as fine and is not always observed even today. A mascle is a voided lozenge—that is, a lozenge with a lozenge-shaped hole in the middle—and the rarer rustre is a lozenge containing a circular hole in the centre. A lozenge throughout has "four corners touching the border of the escutcheon". A field covered in a pattern of lozenges is described as lozengy; similar fields of mascles are masculy, and fusils, fusily. In civic heraldry, a lozenge sable is often used in coal-mining communities to represent a lump of coal.
Swedish heraldry encompasses heraldic achievements in modern and historic Sweden. Swedish heraldic style is consistent with the German-Nordic heraldic tradition, noted for its multiple helmets and crests which are treated as inseparable from the shield, its repetition of colours and charges between the shield and the crest, and its scant use of heraldic furs. Because the medieval history of the Nordic countries was so closely related, their heraldic individuality developed rather late. Swedish and Finnish heraldry have a shared history prior to the Diet of Porvoo in 1809; these, together with Danish heraldry, were heavily influenced by German heraldry. Unlike the highly stylized and macaronic language of English blazon, Swedish heraldry is described in plain language, using only Swedish terminology.
Portuguese heraldry encompasses the modern and historic traditions of heraldry in Portugal and the Portuguese Empire. Portuguese heraldry is part of the larger Iberian tradition of heraldry, one of the major schools of heraldic tradition, and grants coats of arms to individuals, cities, Portuguese colonies, and other institutions. Heraldry has been practiced in Portugal at least since the 12th century, however it only became standardized and popularized in the 16th century, during the reign of King Manuel I of Portugal, who created the first heraldic ordinances in the country. Like in other Iberian heraldic traditions, the use of quartering and augmentations of honor is highly representative of Portuguese heraldry, but unlike in any other Iberian traditions, the use of heraldic crests is highly popular.
The coat of arms of Namibia is the official heraldic symbol of Namibia. Introduced at the time of independence in 1990, it superseded the earlier coat of arms used by the South African administration of the territory.
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.
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.
The coat of arms of Kropyvnytskyi is one of the city's symbols reflecting its past and the controversies of its history.
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor was the heir of several of Europe's leading royal houses. In 1506, he inherited the Burgundian Netherlands, which came from his paternal grandmother, Mary of Burgundy. In 1516, Charles became the king of Spain, inheriting the kingdoms first united by his maternal grandparents, Isabella I of Castile and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Finally, on the death of his paternal grandfather in 1519, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, he inherited the Habsburg lands in central Europe and was elected Holy Roman Emperor.
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.
A number of cross symbols were developed for the purpose of the emerging system of heraldry, which appeared in Western Europe in about 1200. This tradition is partly in the use of the Christian cross an emblem from the 11th century, and increasingly during the age of the Crusades. Many cross variants were developed in the classical tradition of heraldry during the late medieval and early modern periods. Heraldic crosses are inherited in modern iconographic traditions and are used in numerous national flags.
Coats of arms and seals of the County and Duchy of Cornwall, the Diocese of Truro, and of Cornish boroughs and towns.
The Macedonian Heraldic Society (MHS) is the only professional body in the field of heraldry, vexillology, phaleristics, chivalristics and nobiliar issues in North Macedonia. The society was founded on 2 July 2003 in Skopje under the name Macedonian Heraldry Society, and changed to its current name in 2018.
The coat of arms of Barcelona is the official emblem of the City Council of Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, has its origin in the Middle Ages, these arms were first documented in 1329. The Government of Catalonia conferred the coat of arms and the flag as official symbols of the municipality in 2004. It has an escutcheon in lozenge which is commonly used in municipal coats of arms of cities in Catalonia. Currently the City Council of Barcelona also uses an isotype based on the heraldry of the city.
