Arms and the man
Anthony Powell
THE OXFORD GUIDE TO HERALDRY by Thomas Woodcock, Somerset Herald and John Martin Robinson, Maltravers Herald Extraordinary OUP, f9.95, pp. 246 When Rabelais's Panurge was con- templating marriage, naturally carnal con- siderations, in every sense, bulked large, but Panurge also expressed a desire to pass on his armorial bearings to his descend- ants. The authors of this admirable study (published 1988, now in paperback) cast doubt on the old idea that a coat of arms was primarily for identification in battle pointing out with good reason that the similarity of some arms would have been most confusing, not to mention a shield not being held steady, so that its charges might be carefully examined — arms , in fact, being probably regarded much as they are today as a family emblem.
Rabelais does not describe Panurge's coat — if recently granted by Pantagruel, a Turk's Head would have been a suitable charge, or even as crest, celebrating his escape from the Turks. One cannot help feeling that, as a physician himself, Rabe- lais would have felt sympathetically to- wards a crest quoted here as granted to another doctor of medicine in 1492 (Louis Caerlion, presumably a Welshman or perhaps Breton), A Urinal in a Basket proper.
The crest was in theory worn on the helmet, for which this last device would have been more individual than elegant at tournaments. People sometimes wrongly speak of a crest, when they mean the arms, also sometimes saying their family have a crest but no arms. It is possible to have arms but no crest (always a coat of some antiquity) but not a crest without arms. That simply means they have pinched someone else's crest.
The Anglican clergy are not supposed to use crests, but, if below the rank of bishop, the practice is winked at. The Roman Church put its heraldry in order as recently as 1969, Pope Paul VI abolishing mitres and croziers in episcopal arms, substituting a graded system of ecclesiastical headgear, ranging from red hats with 15 tassels on either side for cardinals to a black hat with a couple of tassels for a mere priest. The present Pope's personal arms rightly owe something to the somewhat exotic Polish heraldic traditions.
There is absorbing information here about Continental heraldic methods. An absence of crests is a French heraldic whim, so perhaps one is incorrect to suppose Panurge used one, though uncer- tain at that period. The helmet too has largely disappeared in France, the coronet of rank sitting on top of the arms. The Germans, on the other hand, like using several crests in certain circumstances, a practice on the whole frowned upon in England, though some double-barrelled families stick to it notwithstanding.
Hungary, owing to Turkish wars, was the great place for incorporating decapi- tated Turkish heads (15 per cent of Hunga- rian coats) into the country's heraldry. A democratic view was also taken, in the sense that sometimes a whole garrison of soldiers would be granted the same coat of arms. In fact, 9,254 mercenaries enjoyed this privilege in 1605.
Russian heraldry, like most other things in Russia, got off to a slowish start. In the 19th century the Muscovite pointed helmet was substituted for the European mediaev- 'My God, Ralph, how long have you been dressing up in women's clothes?' al one. The authors derive the Tsarist Double Eagle from Byzantium. It might perhaps be worth mentioning that its earli- est appearance is in the newly excavated 3000 BC cities of the Indus Valley. One is surprised to learn that Stalin thought of reviving Russian heraldry (abolished in 1917) in 1930, and as lately as 1974 a book appeared in the Soviet Union about Rus- sian civic heraldry.
Turning to our own country, anyone remotely interested in the subject has heard of the famous case of Scrope v. Grosvenor (1385-90), argument as to which family should bear Azure a Bend Or. I knew that a Cornish squire named Carminowe (as usual here forgotten) has also participated, being allowed to retain Azure a Bend Or because Cornwall had formerly been a kingdom and his family had borne that coat 'since the time of King Arthur'. It was news to me that Michel- angelo Buonarotti (who was a gent) bore Azure two Bends Or.
Grants made during the Commonwealth were disallowed at the Restoration, and had to be reapplied for. The last Heraldic Visitations, official regulation of arms, took place at this period, making, from the 15th century onwards, an extraordinary record of social change. The authors note that, so far from anti-meritocratic conclu- sions now fashionable, the grants support the traditional theory that the upper levels of English society were always easily ac- cessible to self-made men. Grants of arms are, indeed, an unexplored channel in illustrating this. They present a remarkable social mobility.
North American heraldry began in 1586 in Virginia, where it is interesting to note that Sir Walter Raleigh's Gules five Fusils in bend Argent gave birth to various American grants including Fusils; just as the coat of (or rather coats connected with) the Washington family were to give the Stars and Stripes. One cannot help regret- ting that the title of Landgrave and Cassi- que , actually granted by patent in Caroli- na, were not created in sufficient number to survive into post-Revolution times. There is little doubt we should hear about prominent families of the United States today who held them whether or not those titles had been abolished at the Declara- tion of Independence.
The historian Edward Gibbon wrote of his kinsman (Bluemantle at the College), who spent some time in Virginia: 'In this remote province his taste, or rather pas- sion, for heraldry found a singular grati- fication at a war-dance of the native Indians.' The latter early on appear as heraldic Supporters of American grants. There is lots more in this fascinating book, including the 14th-century cup with the Royal Arms of England inscribed on it found in the palace of King Prempeh of the Ashanti (Ghana), with the inscription: He that wyl not spare when he may He shal not spend when he would.
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