Märckelbach: Ch. 22

Our story

This chapter

From Merkelbeek to Märckelbach:
A Social History with Deep Roots

being cobbled together by Henry K van Eyken
for Elisabeth H., Marc, Elisabeth G., Eric, Adriana, & whomever may come ...
in memory of Adriaan Märckelbach (1896-1965)

heraldry, n, Science of a herald; armorial bearings; heraldic pomp

Last revision: April 9, 2008
Chapter 22. Our heraldry 2

Bearing personal armorial insignia on shields and banners became widespread in feudal times and was a wise thing to do. A knight on the battlefield, with face covered by iron, somehow had to be recognized quickly. During the Crusades, it became custom to wear these markings on the surcoat that covered a knight's mail; hence the term "coat of arms." 3

Insignia were not hereditary at first and knights were free to choose their own symbols, as were wealthy individuals, families, towns, lordships, abbeys and other groups who had gained the favor of the reigning monarch. However, with duplication and growing confusion, a simple form of identification became rather a mess on the ladders reaching up to enhanced social status. 4

A coat of arms is not defined by a picture, but by a description, called a blazon. Here are the rules for creating a blazon:
* A blazon begins by describing the field (background), e.g. argent.
* Next come the principal charges which are named with their tincture(s); e.g. croix du gu.
* The description of a principal charge is followed by descriptions of any charges placed around or on it.
A composite shield is blazoned one panel at a time, proceeding by rows from chief (top) to base, and within each row from dexter (the right side of the bearer standing behind the shield) to sinister, i.e. from the viewer's left to the right. A tincture is sometimes replaced by "of the first", "of the second" etc. to avoid repetition of tincture names; they refer to the order in which the tinctures were first mentioned. A given coat-of-arms may be drawn in many different ways, all considered equivalent, just as the letter "A" may be printed in many different fonts while still being the same letter. For example, the shape of the shield is almost always immaterial. French is very much the language of the blazon; old French, that is, hence red is not rouge, but gueules or gu; blue is not bleu, but azure; black not noir, but sable; purple is purpure; and green vert. These are the so-called dark tinctures. The light, or metallic, tinctures are: or (gold) and argent (silver). For the purpose of quick identification, heraldry uses only these seven basic colors. 5

A blazon for the Huyns von Amstenrade that goes back to 1370-1395 reads: "d'argent à la croix ancrée et gringolée du gu" with "une tête de dragon du gu. tortil d'argent et gu." (Source: "L'armorial universel du héraut Gelre" by Claes Heinen, roi des armes des Ruyers (J.B. Wolters, Groningen, 1890). 7

Heraldic structure became standardized in the middle of the 12th century. By this time, coats of arms were inherited by the offspring of armigers (persons entitled to use a coat of arms) across Europe. In the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance, heraldry became a highly developed discipline, regulated by professional officers of arms. As its use in jousting became obsolete, coats of arms remained popular for visually identifying a person in other ways--impressed in sealing wax on documents, carved on family tombs, and flown as a banner on country homes. The first work of heraldic jurisprudence, De Insigniis et Armiis, was written in the 1350s by Bartolus de Saxoferrato, a professor of law at the University of Padua.* 8

Shown here is a croix ancrée. Change the ancors to doublets of snake heads and we have a croix ancrée et gringolée * ("Schlangenkreuz" in German). 9

Coats of arms may or may not be embellished with a crest. Such a crest would reflect a crest made of wood or boiled leather worn on top of a knight's helmet. Typically, the crest corresponds to the charge on the shield. In the example given, the crest is a dragon head and corresponds to the winged snakes on the shield. Below the crest we see a wreath and mantling. The mantling reflects the mantle often worn by a knight in shining armor to shield him from the burning sun. 10

The portrait of Johann George Merckelbach (1609-1680) we saw in Chapter 2 shows two coats-of-arms. The one at the bottom his; the one above of his employer, the Marquis of Baden and Hochbergen, etc., with numerous charges attesting to his exalted position. Complexity of a single charge begins with the expansion of family. Upon his father's death, an eldest son inherits his father's coat-of-arms, but the others have it differentiated by labels (which are small, added designs) or changes in colors. A married daughter acquires a coat-of-arms that is split with her husband's to one side and her father's to the other, a process called impaling. A few generations of impaling and a coat-of-arms becomes complex indeed. 11