Heraldry 101 – A Presentation Given to Comet Bay College
By Nobilis Gumuuinus de Eggafridacapella
The principles of heraldry are prevalent even in modern day applications. Elements are seen in road signs, advertising, sporting club colours and our flags.
The first instance of recording a roll of arms is found in the Notitia Dignitatum (Latin for ‘List of Offices’), which is generally considered accurate for the Western Roman Empire of ADs 420 and Eastern/Byzantine Empire in AD 390s. This gives us the first instance of a College of Heralds who is maintaining these heraldic records.
The following sample from Notitia Dignitatum shows the beginnings of the principles of heraldry. We also see a representation of the ying-yang (although with different coloured spots), which dates roughly 700 years before Taoism begins to describe the symbol.
When designing heraldry we keep in mind three main elements.
- The tincture (colours)
- Ordinaries, or how those colours are divided up on the field
- Charges (the images we may place on the field)
Tinctures are described with specific wording which is a combination of Latin and French. We have our five colours, two metals and a variety of furs that produce neutral fields. Having a metal on a colour or vice versa gives high contrast and identifiability to the elements on the device.
Ordinaries are how the field colours are divided, and I like to think of this as ‘how do you want your toast sliced’ as per Khevron’s Heraldic Toast lesson in field divisions.
Finally the charges can be a mixture of animate or inanimate objects, including mystical beasts, and even parts of animals.
When perusing historical Rolls of Arms for inspiration, we may come across ‘marks of cadency’. These denote the order of birth of the children, who would inherit their arms from their fathers and place their mark of cadency upon it.
With these basic elements, the Society for Creative Anachronism has devised many devices and badges for its populace, which are checked against the Roll of Arms maintained by SCA’s own College of Heralds. These devices are unique to each person across the Known World (unless a conflict has been granted) and registered for their lifetime and beyond.
With these devices, we then add to our ceremonies and pageantry, creating standards, banners, tabards and even wax seals to show endorsement of documents. Devine Winter’s standard is shown below (with her blessings) to show her fealty to the Crown demonstrated by use of the populace badge, and the standard then showing recurring elements of her device, with her motto ‘virtue alone is noble.’
We enjoy adding to the atmosphere of our events, accentuated with the display of banners to show our fealty, heritage and pride.
Baronial and Kingdom banners create a sense of belonging and community, while adding to the pageantry, enhancing the immersive feel of the event.
And the award for the silliest medieval coat of arms goes to the pair of underpants, belonging to Lord Jan van Abbenbroeck in the Beyeren Armorial in 1405.
