Coat of Arms: French Arms

Another coat-of-arms article. I make this article after a suggestion from Melissa, since the arms appears in both Dumas' Three Musketeers and Hugo's Les Miserables in subtle ways.

Ancient Arms of France

The fleur-de-lys has been a common charge in heraldry. But perhaps the most known use of it is in the French arms. The ancient French use the arms of azure, semy de lys or, while the modern (since 1376) only has three fleurs on it. It has been used in the Kingdom of France since the 12^th century, and therefore the arms, or the term “golden fleurs-de-lys” sometimes represents the whole French monarchy, or French in general.

When someone renders a great service to the state, his arms may bear an allusion to the arms of France. For example, after defending the Royal Banner faithfully in battle, and soaked it red in his blood, Chateaubriant was given the arms Gules a semy of fleurs-de-lys or (red shield with golden fleurs-de-lys upon it). Thus we can imagine the honour bestowed upon the Inseparables in Dumas' Three Musketeers when Richelieu had three golden fleurs-de-lys embroidered on their napkin after their breakfast in Bastion Saint-Gervais.

Modern Arms of France

Another additional information. King Edward III of England quartered the Arms of England with Arms of France following his claim to the French throne. The fleurs-de-lys remained in British Monarch's arms until King George III dropped it and put the Arms of Scotland there.

During the French revolution, the royalist bore a white flag with three golden fleurs-de-lys on it, thus displaying their support for monarchy. The inseparablility between French monarchy and its arms in history is evident in Hugo's sentences in his novel Les Miserables, one of them being, “It is as august in rags as in fleurs de lys.” The term “rags” refers to the lowly people and the fleurs-de-lys, obviously, the monarchy.

For more information on heraldry, please visit Heraldica.org. Critics, additional information and questions are welcome.

Coat of Arms: The Black Knight

The second coat-of-arms post in my blog. This time I'd like to draw Richard's coat-of-arms as the Black Knight mentioned in Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe. The blazon is as following:

“Something resembling a bar of iron, and a padlock painted blue on the black shield.”

To be honest, I don't really understand how the shield looks like. The problem is that the author fails to mention the complete blazon of it. Ivanhoe later just describes it as “fetterlock and shacklebolt azure,” which is not a very clear description at all.

The problem is, the glossary in Heraldica.org explains fetterlock and shacklebolt as the same thing, and as there is no indication as to the location of fetterlock and shacklebolt, I thus assume that it's only one thing: a fetterlock. Another reason for doing so is that Rebecca describes the thing as 'a bar of iron' and 'a padlock', both are elements of a fetterlock.

One more thing: the author admits in his note that the coat-of-arms violates the rule of tincture, which states that no metal should be placed upon metal, and no colour should be placed upon colour. So placing blue upon black (colour upon colour) is actually not allowed. Yet the author argues that at the time of King Richard such rule didn't apply.

Thus the arms of the Black Knight can be re-blazoned as:

“Sable, a fetterlock azure.”

That's the coat-of-arms of the Black Knight. I'd be happy to share other coat-of-arms from other books later on. And the good news is, you can request any coat-of-arms to be blazoned or drawn by me. (As I said, I'm not an expert, but I will do my best).

Coat-of-arms: Monte Cristo

For the first article, I'd like to start with Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo, and this time, the main character's coat-of-arms. Why? First because I remembered I studied the heraldic terms while reading Monte Cristo for the first time. Second, I've just realised that he had a coat! I mean, I read the story tens of times and I didn't pay so much attention to the detail until last week.

So, here is the description of his arms in French:

“aux armes de Monte-Cristo, armes représentant une montagne d'or, posant sur une mer d'azur, avec une croix de gueules au chef”

And the description in English:

“Monte Cristo arms, which were a mountain, or, on a sea azure, with a cross gules on the shield.”

Monte Cristo arms

I try to make a picture of it based on the blazon, but the description does not really state the background colour of the shield. So I leave the background in sable, or black, because I think it suits the Count more than argent. You can see it here.

Now I'd like to explain the meaning of the blazon above.

Or, gules, and azure means gold, red, and blue (but you know that already). The term “posant” literally means sit. It is usually used with animals, but in this case, it just means the mount is put on the sea. The term “chief” means the upper one third part of the shield. So the red cross is to be placed up there.

So in plain terms, the blazon of the arms of Monte Cristo literally means,

“a golden mount on blue sea with a red cross on the upper part of the shield”

That's all for now. Any question, critics, or advice is readily welcome. For more information please visit Heraldica.org.

Coat of Arms in Classic Literature

It has always been my intention to write on this subject. For readers who live in Europe and are well-acquaintanced with coat-of-arms, perhaps this sopic is not really interesting. But for readers who, like me, live far away from that part of the globe, the idea of coat-of-arms is something quite novel, and sometimes confusing.

Unfortunately (or rather, fortunately), many classic writers love to insert them in their writings, providing the reader with a character or a family's coat-of-arms, blazoned as it should be in description. It leaves its own trouble for the reader, of course, who are not accustomed to that idea, to decipher the meanings of the blazon.

Faced by such trouble, I spent my holiday few years ago studying the coat-of-arms. The purpose: to understand it whenever I encounter it in a book. Its complicated, of course, but the main idea is not really difficult, and with the help of Heraldica.org, a website that provides us with glossary, that task become more simple than expected.

I will not say that I'm an expert, because I'm not. I still have a lot to learn and coat-of-arms is a lot of things, not among those easy. But I will try to do my best.

What is coat-of-arms?

Coat-of-arms

Coat-of-arms is a symbol representing family, country, or organization. It gives information about the identity of the bearer. It's common in Europe, and the nobles in England, French, and Italy usually have one. Coat-of-arms appear in symbol of shields, decorated with pictures and colours, plus other things around, such as crest, motto, supporters, and so on. (I will add more details in futura articles if necessary.) The way it is described formally is called blazon.

I will make series of articles, containing one coat-of-arms from classic literature. I will try to blazon it, and provide readers with a picture that I think will resemble it. I will also explain the meaning of each term in the arms, and thus help readers to know more about it. Please wait for the articles. I will provide them shortly.

For more information regarding the coat-of-arms and its blazon, please visit heraldica.org.