Arms, Meghan Markle's Coat of

Royal weddings are not on my A-list of topics to follow, though Prince Harry's recent marriage to an American made it even harder to avoid the massive information on the internet, here in the USA.
One article, appearing some time after the wedding did interest me though.

Royal Wedding 2018: Meghan Markle coat of arms revealed

A coat of arms created for the Duchess of Sussex that reflects her Californian background has been unveiled.

It includes a shield containing the colour blue, representing the Pacific Ocean, and rays, symbolising sunshine.

The duchess worked closely with the College of Arms in London to create the design, Kensington Palace said.

The lion supporting the shield relates to her husband, the Duke of Sussex, and dates back to the House of Stuart's ascent to the throne in 1603.

The songbird supporting the shield on the right relates to the Duchess of Sussex.

Traditionally wives of members of the Royal Family have two - one of their husband's supporters on the shield and one relating to themselves.

Beneath the shield is California's state flower - the golden poppy - and Wintersweet, a flower that grows at Kensington Palace and was also depicted on the duchess' wedding veil.

As I wrote in a post in 2009, headed "Astrology & Heraldry", "I've had a passing interest in heraldry since my very early working life, as an archivist's assistant back in England. My boss had studied the subject in depth as part of his training, and would often pass on tid-bits of information to his interested young helper. Heraldry is a more complex and strictly disciplined subject than it might at first appear. It hadn't struck me until the other day that astrology could have had a part to play in the way heraldry developed, back in the Middle Ages, 12th century onwards." Much more at the link.

To clarify how the word 'heraldry' connects to coats of arms, and College of Arms:

Heraldry is the system by which coats of arms and other armorial bearings are devised, described, and regulated.
A herald, in this context is an official employed to oversee state ceremonial, precedence, and the use of armorial bearings, and (historically) to make proclamations, carry official messages, and oversee tournaments.

In connection with Prince Harry's side of this coat of arms, the Lion of England, my 2016 post on The Queen's Beasts has more information on this.

The Queen's Beasts (not especially arty farty this Friday!)

Today's topic might be of no great general interest, but is about something I've investigated and want to record, for future reference.

Around a year ago, husband and I were trawling through a couple of antique stores in a town just to the west of Oklahoma City; on our way out of town we spotted a newly opened small store, popped in to take a look around. It was a bit on the junky side. Just one item grabbed my attention: a big, shallow, display box framed and glassed in, containing 10 decorated glass dishes (each around 4.5 inches square), set in two rows on a background of red velvet. The frame had seen better days, scratched and needing repair to one corner. The little dishes had survived in good condition. They made up a full set, depicting what are known as The Queen's Beasts.
The Queen's Beasts portray the genealogy of Queen Elizabeth II in heraldic form.

I found this photograph of a similar set on an old auction website online

How this item had arrived in Oklahoma is anyone's guess! Having always had an interest in heraldry, I was keen to know its price. The store owner stalled when we enquired, saying that, as he didn't know the significance of the item he had asked a friend to investigate, and was not in a position to quote a price. I suspected he already had a buyer in mind, perhaps another, posher, antique store.

Back home I Googled - like ya do - discovered that the glass dish set, produced by a London company called Georama, probably during the 1970s, was very possibly issued ahead of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee in 1977.

Intrigued, I found that it'd be possible to find at least some of the individual glass trays for sale in either the UK or USA on E-bay or Etsy, not a full set though. Individual prices varied from just a few pounds sterling in the UK to around $20 in the US. Mailing costs for such delicate items, either nationally or internationally makes the deals quite uneconomical. I shall content myself, instead, with this blog post. Maybe one day I'll invest in a single little dish and have it framed. The one shown, left, was for sale at Etsy recently.

So... illustrations of the 10 Queen's Beasts.


For these pics and brief descriptions I owe a hat-tip to this heraldic forum.

The Lion of England

“The crowned golden lion of England has been one of the supporters of the Royal Arms since the accession of James I in 1603. The shield shows the Royal Arms as they have been borne since Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. In the first and last quarters are the lions of England; the lion and tressure (a double frame) of Scotland appear in the second and the harp of Ireland in the third. Richard Lion-heart, son of Henry II, probably first chose 3 golden lions set one above each on a red field as the Royal Arms of England. Since then, these lions have appeared on the coat of arms of every sovereign of this country.”

The Unicorn of Scotland

“From the end of the 16th century, two unicorns were adopted as the supporters of the Scottish Royal Arms. In 1603, the crown of England passed to James VI of Scotland, who then became James I of England. He took as supporters of his Royal Arms a crowned lion of England and one of his Scottish unicorns. The unicorn holds a shield showing a lion ramping in a royal tressure (a double frame), adorned with fleur-de-lis.”

The Red Dragon of Wales

“The red dragon was used as his badge by Owen Tudor. His grandson, Henry VII, took it as a token of his supposed descent from Cadwalader, the last of the line of Maelgwn, King of Wales. The beast holds a shield bearing a leopard in each quarter; this was the coat of arms of Llewelyn ap Griffith, the last native Prince of Wales.”

The White Lion of Mortimer

“The White Lion of Mortimer descends to the Queen through Edward IV. The shield shows a white rose encircled by a golden sun, known heraldically as a ‘white rose en soleil’ which is really a combination of two distinct badges. Both of these appear on the Great Seals of Edward IV and Richard III, and were used by George VI when Duke of York. Unlike the Lion of England, this beast is uncrowned.”

The White Greyhound of Richmond

“This beast was a badge of John of Gaunt, Earl of Richmond, son of Edward III, but was also used by Henry IV and especially by Henry VII. The Tudor double rose can be seen on the shield, one rose within another, surmounted by a crown, symbolising the union of the Houses of York and Lancaster.”

The White Horse of Hanover

“The White Horse of Hanover” was introduced into the Royal Arms in 1714 when the crown of Great Britain passed to the Elector George of Hanover. This grandson of Elizabeth, sister of Charles I, became George I, King of Britain, France and Ireland. The shield shows the leopards of England and the lion of Scotland in the first quarter, the fleur-de-lis of France in the second and the Irish harp in the third quarter; the fourth quarter shows the arms of Hanover.”

The Black Bull of Clarence

“This beast descended to the Queen through Edward IV. The shield shows the Royal Arms as they were borne not only by Edward IV and his brother Richard III, but by all the Sovereigns of the Houses of Lancaster and Tudor.”

The Yale of Beaufort

“The Yale was a mythical beast, said to be white in colour and covered with gold spots. Its peculiar characteristic was that it could swivel each of its horns independently. It descends to the Queen through Henry VII, who inherited it from his mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort. The shield shows a portcullis surmounted by the arched royal crown. The portcullis (uncrowned) was a Beaufort badge, but was used both crowned and uncrowned by Henry VII.”

The Griffin of Edward III

“The griffin is an ancient mythical beast. It was considered a beneficent creature, signifying courage and strength, combined with guardianship, vigilance, swiftness and keen vision. It was closely associated with Edward III who engraved it on his private seal. The shield shows the Round Tower of Windsor Castle with the Royal Standard flying from the turret (the badge of the present House of Windsor), enclosed by two branches of oak surmounted by the royal crown.”

The Falcon of the Plantagenets

“The falcon was first used by Edward III as his badge. It descended to Edward IV, who took it as his personal badge, the falcon being seated within an open fetterlock or padlock. The slightly open fetterlock (which can be seen on the shield) is supposed to refer to the struggle Edward IV had to ascend the throne - he forced the lock and won the throne.”

Blazer - arguing with the dictionary

I hesitate to argue with the good old Oxford Dictionary, or with any other online dictionary, but I'm going to argue - just this once.

The article/review setting me off on this tack is titled Pattern Recognition....The swoosh, the golden arches, the chevron, and a million other logos your hindbrain can recognize before you do.....by Seth Stevenson, published at Slate this weekend. Mr Stevenson refers to a book: In Marks of Excellence: The History and Taxonomy of Trademarks by Per Mollerup who surmises that the first trademarks “probably marked ownership - a simple sign to show that a weapon belonged to a particular man.”

Per Mollerup, in his book further says :

Today’s logos find their forebears in coats of arms and royal monograms. Marks of Excellence wonderfully contextualizes these building blocks of graphic identity. You’ll learn the rules of heraldry, and will soon be sorting invected lines of partition from embattled or dovetailed ones. You’ll spot the difference between chevrons, gyrons, inescutcheons, and double quatrefoils.

It's an interesting study: logos, trademarks, their derivation, history and use. From that article I re-visited an old post of my own from 2009:
Astrology and Heraldry

I casually searched the word heraldry and the term blazon. Also here.

Getting there......

No huge leap from blazon to blazer is there?

What is a blazer? It's a jacket which, in its original form, carried some kind of badge denoting membership of a club, group, military regiment, school etc. Sometimes - often - the badge was in heraldic form, sometimes shield-like in shape it carried more of a logo. Our school badge was an example, and was carried in miniature on all pieces of our dark green uniform, but in larger format on our green/white/black striped blazers (see right).

Over the decades the term blazer has been hijacked by the fashion industry and has come to describe a particular type of formal jacket, for males or females, nowadays no badge is needed for a jacket to be described as a blazer.

I propose that the term blazer was a derivation of the term "blazon".

However, dictionaries tell us:

Origin of blazer:

Late 19th century: from blaze + -er. The original general sense was 'a thing that blazes or shines' (mid 17th century), giving rise to the term for a brightly coloured sporting jacket.
Oxford Dictionaries.com

or

Blazer (n.) "bright-colored jacket," 1880, British university slang, from blaze (n.), in reference to the red flannel jackets worn by the Lady Margaret, St. John College, Cambridge, boating club. Earlier it had been used in American English in the sense "something which attracts attention" (1845).
Etymonline.com

I beg, humbly (or not) to differ.

Astrology & Heraldry

I've had a passing interest in heraldry since my very early working life, as an archivist's assistant back in England. My boss had studied the subject in depth as part of his training, and would often pass on tid-bits of information to his interested young helper. Heraldry is a more complex and strictly disciplined subject than it might at first appear. It hadn't struck me until the other day that astrology had a part to play in the way heraldry developed, back in the Middle Ages, 12th century onwards.

From an article : HERMETIC HERALDRY by Rafal T. Prinke, originally published in The Hermetic Journal, 1989, I discovered that the strictly limited colours traditionally used in heraldry have some connection to astrology.
Here's the relevant extract:

European heraldry, as we know it, is the creation of the chivalric society of the early 12th century and therefore it is obvious that if any hermetic symbolism can be discerned in it, it must have preceded heraldry itself and not the other way round. thus:

Traditional symbolism, mentioned above, is meant to include ancient and Arab sources which are of greatest interest here. First of all the colours and their correspondences must be mentioned, as crucial to heraldry and also very important in hermetic theory and art. The basic arrangement of planetary colours is most probably of Babilonian origin and was developed as a part of the system of astrological correspondences. It was later adapted by the Hellenistic astrologers of Ptolemaic Egypt and inherited by the Islamic scholars of the 8th-10th centuries. There cannot be any doubt that the latter knew it, as the whole scheme is clearly set out in the treatise on The Perfect Man (Insan-ul-Kamil) by the Sufi mystic Jili. In theoretical texts on European heraldry, the earliest of which are quite late, this system also appears, most notably in Le blason des armoiries by Hyerome de Bara (Lyon, 1581).



It is very meaningful, in this context, that the beginnings of heraldry coincided in time with very close contacts of European knights and scholars with the world of Islam through the crusades and Arab occupation of Spain. The passing of the "lamp" of esoteric learning from the Arabian astrologers, alchemists and mystics to their European successors is well documented and cannot be questioned. It was the main source of occult ideas before the Renaissance translations of Corpus Hermeticum and other hellenistic gnostic texts. And for alchemy, which developed along somewhat different lines than the occult tradition connected with magic and the Kabbalah, the Renaissance intellectual revolution had little importance.

The same influence may be seen in the system of geometrical divisions of the heraldic shield called ordinaries. Mathematics and geometry of the Arabs at the time of crusades was highly developed and, as some authors say, "degenerated" into esoteric interpretations of the Neopythagorean school. The mystical significance of geometrical divisions and similar simple forms was studied both by architects and by Sufi masters. This is, however, a slippery ground for speculations as geometry also played significant role in Celtic and early Romanesque art symbolism.

Wikipedia states, however, that though.... English heraldry recognises seven principal tinctures, consisting of two "metals", or light tinctures (gold and silver), and five "colours", or dark tinctures (blue, red, purple, black, and green),

A peculiar fad of the Renaissance sought to couple each tincture with an associated planet, gemstone, flower, astrological sign, etc., but this practice was soon abandoned and is now regarded as wildly divergent from the science of heraldry.

"Wildly divergent from the science of....." Now where have I heard that before?
(Interesting article about Coats of Arms also at Family Chronicle here. )