HERALDRY AS ART
HERALDRY
AS ART
AN ACCOVNT OF ITS
DEVELOPMENT AND PRACTICE
CHIEFLY IN ENGLAND
BY
G. W. EVE
[Illustration]
B. T. BATSFORD, 94 HIGH HOLBORN
LONDON 1907
BUTLER & TANNER,
THE SELWOOD PRINTING WORKS,
FROME, AND LONDON.
Preface
The intention of this book is to assist the workers in the many arts
that are concerned with heraldry, in varying degrees, by putting before
them as simply as possible the essential principles of heraldic art.
In this way it is hoped to contribute to the improvement in the
treatment of heraldry that is already evident, as a result of the
renewed recognition of its ornamental and historic importance, but
which still leaves so much to be desired.
It is hoped that not only artists but also those who are, or may
become, interested in this attractive subject in other ways, will find
herein some helpful information and direction. So that the work of the
artist and the judgment and appreciation of the public may alike be
furthered by a knowledge of the factors that go to make up heraldic
design and of the technique of various methods of carrying it into
execution.
To this end the illustrations have been selected from a wide range of
subjects and concise descriptions of the various processes have been
included. And although the scope of the book cannot include all the
methods of applying heraldry, in Bookbinding, Pottery and Tiles for
example, the principles that are set forth will serve all designers
who properly consider the capabilities and limitations of their
materials.
For many facilities in the preparation of the work I here beg to tender
my very sincere thanks. To the Countess of Derby for the gracious
loan of her bookplate; to the Earl of Mar and Kellie for permission
to reproduce the shields at Alloa House; to Mr. W. H. Weldon, Norroy
King of Arms, for the enamel plaque of his crest; to Mr. W. Brindley
for a cast of the Warren shield; to Mr. N. H. J. Westlake for the Arms
of Queen Jane Seymour, from his _History of Stained Glass_; to Messrs.
Hardman of Birmingham for the loan of the Pugin drawings; to Messrs. E.
C. and T. C. Jack for a reproduction of an embroidered shield.
My best thanks are also due to Monsieur Emil Levy for leave to use
illustrations from the Catalogue of the Spitzer Collection; to the
Society of Antiquaries for the Black Prince’s shield; to the Society
of Arts for the loan of sundry blocks; and to the officials of the
Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Art Library for their usual
and invariable helpfulness. Finally I am especially indebted to my
publishers, Messrs. Batsford, who have spared neither time nor trouble
on my behalf.
G. W. E.
23, SHEEN GATE MANSIONS,
EAST SHEEN, S.W.
_October, 1907._
Contents
PAGE
CHAPTER I. =INTRODUCTORY= 1
The Origin of Heraldry--Its Uses--Symbolism--Artistic Development--The
Character of Mediaeval Treatment--The Personal Quality--Fourteenth
century Examples--The Influence of the Tournaments--Renaissance
Heraldry--Decadence--Gothic Revival--The Use of Examples--The Aims of
Heraldic Design.
CHAPTER II. =THE EVOLUTION OF SHIELD FORMS= 16
The Achievement--Its Composition and Proportions--Modifications
of Proportion--The Design of the Heraldic Group--Essential
Qualities--Variability of Grouping--The Shield--Its Structure
and Shape as a Fighting Defence--The Norman Shield and its
Successors--Shields “for Peace”--Pageant Shields--How they were
Made--The Tournament Shield--Evolution of Decorative Forms--Foliated
Shields--Fifteenth and Sixteenth Century Examples--Freedom in Shield
Design--Heraldic Accuracy--What is Essential.
CHAPTER III. =HERALDIC RULES= 39
A Simple Manual of Heraldic Facts--The Shield Surface--The
Tinctures--Divisions of the Field--Ordinaries--Sketches “in
Trick”--Charges and their Arrangement.
CHAPTER IV. =ANIMALS AND MONSTERS= 66
The Heraldic Lion as a Type--Examples of Various Periods--Heraldic
Character--Obligatory Poses and Decorative Distribution--Methods of
Spacing--Characterization--Imaginary Creatures--Unicorns, Dragons and
Griffins.
CHAPTER V. =HERALDIC BIRDS AND OTHER FIGURES,
ANIMATE AND INANIMATE= 89
Eagles--Early Types--Plan of Distribution--Other Birds--Bird
Monsters--Human Figures--Inanimate Charges--Crosses of many
Forms--Fleurs-de-lis--Examples of Various Periods--The Rose--The Irish
Harp--Surface Treatment--Diaper, its use in Sculpture, Painting and
Engraving--Diapers of Badges.
CHAPTER VI. =HELM, CREST AND MANTLING= 117
The Helm--Its Structure--Ceremonial Use--Development as
Armour--Helmets and their Mechanism--Tourney Helms--The Crest--How
Made and Fixed--Examples of Actual Crests--Influence of Practical
Conditions on their Pose--Difficulties in Design and How to Deal
with Them--The Pose of Helmets--The Torse--Mantling--Its Evolution
from Simple Drapery--Its Treatment in Relation to Shield and Crested
Helm--Colour--Certain Restrictions.
CHAPTER VII. =ARMORIAL ACCESSORIES= 139
Supporters--Derivation from Badges--Special Conditions of their
Pose--Non-Heraldic Supporters--Amorini--Angels--Symbolic Figures--The
Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire--And of Prussia--The Imperial
Crown--Authorized Type for Present Use--The Coronet of the Prince
of Wales--Coronets of Peers--The Question of the Cap--Baronets’
Badges--Insignia of Knighthood--The Garter--The Collar and
George--Other Orders--Relation of Orders to the Shield--Their
Importance as Indications of Relative Rank--Typical Examples.
CHAPTER VIII. =METHODS AND MATERIALS= 164
Illumination--Practical Directions--Methods of the Early
Illuminators--Colour Treatment--Heraldry in Enamel--Champlevé Enamel,
Personal and Monumental--The Cloak Clasp of Queen Eleanor--The
Shield of William de Valence--Stall-plates of the Garter--“Limoges”
Enamel--Heraldic Enamel by Nardon Penicaud--Bassetaille--Plique-a-jour
--Heraldry in Metal--Application of Old Examples to Present
Use--Bronze--Monumental Brasses--Cast Iron Firebacks--Pierced and
Chiselled Iron Lock-plates--Keys--Repoussé--Engraved Metal--Ceremonial
Weapons and Implements--Lead-work--Deposited Metal.
CHAPTER IX. =ARCHITECTURAL DECORATION= 204
Badges at Blois--And at Hampton Court--Sculpture--Sgraffito--Gesso as
a Material for Heraldic Relief--Methods of Preparation--A Series of
Shields in Painted Gesso--Poker Work--Schemes of Decoration--Stained
Glass--Technical Conditions--Colour Scheme--Working Drawings--Pugin’s
Designs for the Houses of Parliament--Powell’s Drawings--Armorial
Windows at Ockwells Manor--Painted Windows in Florence--The Swiss
Painted Glass--Holbein.
CHAPTER X. =EMBROIDERED HERALDRY= 246
Surcoats--Bardings--Embroidered Linen--Banners--Appliqué
Work--Embroidered Badges--The Toison d’or of Charles the
Bold--Standards--The Proportions of Banners from Early Times--The
Direction of their Charges and the Reasons therefor--The Composition
of the Union Jack--Practical Explanation of its Construction--Painted
Banners--How Prepared--Trumpet Banners--Heraldic Lace.
CHAPTER XI. =SOME MISCELLANEOUS CHARGES= 267
Heraldic Crowns--Chaplets--Roundels--Knots.
CHAPTER XII. =MARKS OF CADENCY= 286
The Origin of the Label--Its Shape and Varieties--Ordinary Marks
of Cadency--Their Significance--How Displayed--Royal Cadency--The
Distinguishing Marks of Cadency of Present Personages of the Blood
Royal.
INDEX 293
ANALYTICAL INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS 303
HERALDRY AS ART
CHAPTER I
Introductory
In dealing with heraldry from the artist’s point of view, as a
decorative subject which offers interesting scope for technical effort,
it will not be necessary to go overmuch into the question of its
origin, nor to elaborate its history beyond what is needed to give such
knowledge of its methods as may help the doing of present work or the
intelligent appreciation of the old. Nevertheless, the archaeological
aspect of the subject, the conditions and rules of its existence,
must also be carefully studied in order to ensure the correctness of
the statement that heraldry makes and of which heraldic art is the
expression.
As for its origin, we may safely say that heraldry, in its essence,
began when man first used natural forms to symbolize, and ascribe to
himself, those qualities--strength, courage, cunning--which he had full
cause to recognize in the beasts with whom he struggled for existence;
when he reproduced, as well as he could, their ferocious aspect, to
strike terror into his human enemies while satisfying his own warlike
vanity, and so adopted them as badges or even as totems.
In Europe heraldry began to be systematized (as we know it) somewhere
about the eleventh century, and it flourished exceedingly until about
the middle of the sixteenth century, the period thus indicated being
that of its greatest strength and beauty.
The development of defensive armour dictated the placing on it of
the badges that had for long been used in other ways, so that, being
depicted on the shield, they became the arms, and became the crest when
displayed on the head-piece. The device worked on the garment which
covered the body armour made it a veritable _coat of arms_, and this
term, as well as that of coat armour, came in time to be also applied
to the similar armorials of the shield.
The Crusades, in their aggregation of troops of various nationalities,
helped to extend, in showing the necessity for, a regular system of
heraldry as a means of distinguishing one party from another, and the
feudal system itself with its numerous groups, each under its knightly
or noble head in ever-extending subordination, conduced to the same end.
The Tournaments which played so brilliant a part in the splendours of
the Middle Ages also afforded fresh and greatest scope for heraldic
magnificence. Being restricted for the most part to competitors of
noble birth, many of whom were attracted from distant places, they
afforded opportunity for observation and comparison of the various
bearings. They naturally suggested the inclusion of foreign as well
as native armorials in the heraldic MS. of the times, as we find
them depicted in the Rolls of Arms. The necessity for well-ordered
arrangement soon made itself felt, and thence was evolved systematic
heraldry as it now exists. The rules thus originated, being based on
the ever-present difficulties which arose in the actual use of coat
armour, were admirable for their purpose, for they were devised with
a common-sense regard for the conditions under which they were to be
applied, were at first simple and therefore easily understood.
The manner in which the arms were displayed was the most conspicuous
that was possible, every suitable space that offered itself being
employed to bear them in one form or another. Thus in time they
appeared on the shield, helmet and surcoat, and also on the ailettes,
those flat pieces of steel which were used to still further deflect a
blow which had slid from the helmet and might otherwise have injured
the shoulder.
The use of heraldry in battle or tournament by no means exhausted its
possibilities, however, for even in the warlike Middle Ages armorials
were used by priests and women, and by statesmen whose services were
those of the council chamber rather than of the field. In every case
their strong personal and allusive quality was felt to the full,
and intensified the human interest in ordinary things. So that the
enamelled brooch of Queen Eleanor, with its arms of her warrior
husband Edward I linked with her own, becomes something more than a
mere fastening; and the armorial robes of the noble wife who wears her
husband’s armorials on her mantle, covering and protecting her own arms
embroidered on her gown, are made beautiful expressions of a chivalrous
idea.
Heraldry was made especially interesting by the symbolic meanings which
it embodied, thus expressing in its own way a very universal desire for
significance in decorative forms. In the Middle Ages, especially full
as they were of militant fervour and chivalric mysticism, symbolism
entered into everything. Not the heraldry alone but every part of a
knight’s armour had a mystic meaning, the knowledge of which was an
important part of a knightly education. Many of these meanings are
quaintly set forth in one of the books that Caxton printed, _The Order
of Chivalry_. Therein the shield is considered as the especial emblem
of its bearer and of his knightly duty, for “like as the stroke falleth
down upon the shield and saveth the knight right so the knight ought
to apparel him and present his body tofore his lord when he is in
peril hurt or taken.” Even the manner of doing things was underlaid by
beautiful ideas. So he who bore the sword of Justice in a ceremony was
enjoined to bear it truly upright, for Justice should lean neither to
one side nor the other, but be impartial between the two.
Besides the creatures (lions and so forth) which were taken to signify
strength, courage, fidelity and other virtues, there were also those
which symbolized the great mystery of the perpetuation of life, which
has appealed to the imagination of man throughout historic times. The
Peacock, in the periodical renewing of his splendour of plumage; the
Swan, emerging in spotless beauty from the dusky obscurity of its
cygnet state, both expressed this universal idea. To Christian chivalry
the Peacock typified the Resurrection and therefore Immortality,
and the Swan became the emblem of that cult of womanhood which was
so beautiful and characteristic of knightly regard. The symbolism of
the Cross and the emblems of saints and martyrs form a large part of
heraldry, as is natural. Plants and flowers were naturally taken to
express beautiful qualities--constancy, purity, love--as with similar
intention they may still be acceptably employed in the wreaths and
garlands which are, on occasion, associated with armorials.
Symbolism of this kind has been lost to heraldry, not, however, leaving
it without significance; for arms have also allusive meanings that are
no less interesting as records of incidents that are thought worthy of
remembrance.
Many mediaeval bearings originated in this way, the belt and buckles
of Pelham, which commemorate the capture of the French king at
Poitiers, for instance. The more modern kind of heraldic symbolism
occurs in the arms of the great Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovel, who
commemorated his victory over the fleets of Turkey and France at the
end of the seventeenth century by adding two crescents in chief, and a
fleur-de-lis in base to his existing coat, gules a chevron ermine. In
our own time successful generals embody in their armorials the badges
of regiments with which they have been connected, or bear allusions to
places where their successes have been won. In a more peaceful field
the skill and assiduity of a distinguished physician may be rewarded by
the addition to his arms of some part of the Royal insignia, to mark
for all time the services he has rendered to the State. Such arms are
conferred by special grant, and are called Arms of Augmentation or
Augmentations of Honour. In this way the inherent qualities of heraldry
are seen to be very stable and to remain constant through the ages in
spite of changes of manners and of general environment.
Our heraldry, which quickly reached a high degree of decorative
excellence, developed as a system, in a natural way, on the line of its
own necessities; as did its artistic expression in a great measure,
though the latter owed much to transmitted designs and (mainly through
the influence of the textiles and other importations) helped to
perpetuate in Western art the beasts and birds and strange composite
conceptions of the East. These ancient prototypes of familiar heraldic
forms are singularly interesting, as sometimes possessing in a very
marked degree qualities, such as vigorous expression and characteristic
generalization of form, which teach valuable lessons in their
application to modern use.
Although at first the mediaeval draughtsman followed the drawing of
his imported or traditional motives very closely (as in the lions of
some of the thirteenth century MSS. and seals), he soon began to treat
them in his own way, the way that came to be considered peculiarly
heraldic. In thus handling his motives he was entirely himself, and the
outcome was the natural result of the splendid sense of design which
characterized him. The style is rightly considered purely heraldic
because it arose from its own heraldic conditions, and was the result
of the very sane intention that the thing done should be suited to
the use to which it was to be put, viz. to serve as a distinctive
badge which could be seen, and easily read at a distance or when
in motion. Such conditions dictated simple directness of treatment
and resulted in that bold clear definition which combined with good
distribution and the fine balance of colour that results from it, to
produce a very decorative whole. Thus, as so frequently happens in
other ways, the treatment at first suggested by reasons of practical
convenience resulted in an effect of great decorative value. The
method of depicting the pattern-like figures varied, as was natural,
with the materials employed and with other varying circumstances, and,
where opportunity served, a high degree of elaboration was reached;
but whether the treatment was simple or elaborate, breadth of effect
and decorative quality are nearly always conspicuous. The various
methods of working, each satisfactory in its own way, are extremely
interesting, as giving historic sanction to the choice of treatment in
heraldic expression, and in opposition to the narrow view that as a
certain kind of work admirably suits its purpose in its own place that
same treatment should be obligatory in all other cases. The old work
confirms the broader view, so that when a flat treatment, for example,
in harmony or in contrast with surrounding decoration, seems desirable,
the armorials may be done flatly; and when, on the other hand, a more
elaborate treatment seems fit, modelling in relief or any other means
of decorative expression may be properly employed. Nevertheless, the
broad-minded advice to “do as you like” has been sometimes taken too
literally. Order as well as freedom is necessary to the doing of good
work, and that can only be secured by study of the subject from the
systematic or archaeological, as well as from the artistic side.
Heraldic art reached its greatest strength in the fourteenth century,
as appears in what was perhaps the most beautiful example of the work
of the period, the shield of arms in Canterbury Cathedral, said to be
that of Edward the Black Prince (Fig. 1). It is probably one of the
shields that were used for his funeral. Here the lions of the English
coat are admirably distributed and are full of power and spirit. The
fleurs-de-lis of France are beautifully free and graceful, and are
equally well-designed to occupy their spaces and as well proportioned
to them. The whole work, which is so valuable a lesson in the best
qualities of heraldic design, has suffered from the wear of the
centuries; but sufficient remains to show that when uninjured it must
have been superb.
Heraldic art continued finely decorative and expressive for a very
considerable time until the forms which had shown so much spontaneity
became more pattern-like, reverting in a measure to the character
of such of the earlier figures as more nearly reproduced those of
the textiles; for the fourteenth century examples, such as that to
which we have just referred, show a conscious effort to express the
attributes of strength and vitality which were associated with and were
symbolized by the animals that were depicted. In the late mediaeval
work this vivifying force became weakened under the numbing influence
that is inseparable from the reiterated use of forms that have become
stereotyped. In respect to the appeal which visible expression makes
to the ordinary mind as opposed to mere diagrammatic indication, the
best work of the fourteenth century in its effort to depict recognized
attributes links itself in intention with the work of the Renaissance,
although the methods that were employed differed so greatly.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Shield of the Black Prince in Canterbury
Cathedral. Fourteenth Century.]
At the end of the fifteenth century the personal bearing of heraldry
in war had almost ceased, but it remained an important feature of the
tournaments during the whole period of their existence.
Besides satisfying the martial sense which ever delights in brilliance
and colour, it also gratified the desire for the expression of meaning
in decoration, a mental attitude which heraldry exactly fitted. And
heraldry thenceforward became mainly decorative, while retaining the
allusive and symbolic qualities that are hardly separable from it.
In Tudor times the number of armorials increased in a very marked
degree, no doubt sharing in the impetus given to the arts in England
by the much-needed peace which followed the dynastic wars of York and
Lancaster. As though to link it with that welcome event, beautiful and
simple flowers added their charm to heraldry in notable quantity, and
gillyflowers, columbine, marygold, and many more, appear on shields of
arms and in crests, as well as in the garlands which were so admirably
used as decorative accessories to the armorials.
The Gothic heraldry, in common with the other decorative arts, having
become formalized into a style from which the human interest had to a
great extent gone, a change took place in harmony with the new feeling;
but in the revolt from the formalism of late Gothic art heraldry
frequently went to the opposite extreme, and employed naturalistic
forms in an unsuitable way.
Much of the Renaissance work, however, retained some of the best
qualities of the Gothic, in the pose of the figures and in the
general composition, while in addition it attempted a more detailed
characterization than before.
In many respects it was very admirable and seems, in its suggestion
of individual thought working on the traditions of an older style, to
suggest the lines on which modern heraldic design might develop. German
heraldry has followed these lines to a large extent, and though it has
perhaps become over-florid, is still full of proofs of the advantage
which results from continued touch with the Gothic.
In this country there had been a constant succession of foreign
masons and sculptors, from the time when, in the twelfth century, the
Frenchman William of Sens came to restore Canterbury Cathedral, and
the Renaissance style probably received its most effective impetus in
England from Torregiano and his fellow Florentine artists when they
superseded the native workers in the designing and carrying out of
the tombs of Henry VII and others in the beginning of the sixteenth
century. The king’s tomb was begun in 1503, and is a useful landmark in
the history of the evolution of heraldic style. From this and similar
works the English sculptors and designers learnt the methods of that
revival of art on classic lines which had become developed in Italy for
nearly a century before it made so definite an impression here.
The work that was produced under these influences was marked by great
vitality, variety and grace, until it, in its turn, became weak and
uninteresting, so that by the seventeenth century it had degenerated
into sheer stiff ugliness that it is almost impossible to connect with
the graceful strength of its prototypes.
Holbein, who worked here (except for a short interval) from 1526
until his death, executed, besides his paintings, many designs
for goldsmith’s work and so forth, and has left some few heraldic
drawings, probably designs for the decoration of books, such as
dedicatory plates, or for stained glass; but the Italian influence
was overpowering, and he left little permanent impression on heraldic
style. An example of his heraldry may be referred to in Fig. 221, p.
243.
As time went on, and the practical use of heraldry in the field became
more remote, the sense of proportion became weakened, the decorative
distribution of the early work was no longer sought after, and the
general loss of grip is everywhere perceptible in the design; while in
the execution, especially in later times, minute finish of detail took
the place of the earlier breadth of treatment. The marked inferiority
of the heraldry to the other decorative work of its time (a fault
that is frequently visible in the work of the present day) points to
a general loss of interest in the expression of heraldry, although
its use was tenaciously adhered to, and it is abundantly evident
that in the period which extended from the early seventeenth century
until recent times regard for heraldry (when such regard existed at
all except as a mere desire of display) was mainly directed to its
systematic side and to the ever-increasing detail of its rules and
precedents.
However, the Gothic revival in the early part of last century again
directed attention to heraldry, and the work of Williment, Pugin,
Powell, Burges and others, showed once more how decoratively and
expressively it could be handled when it was seriously studied and
applied.
With reference to the old examples, a study of which is absolutely
necessary in order to understand the principles which underlie all
heraldic design, it will be well to sound a note of warning against
making a fetish of the work of any period, however good; against
mere copying of old examples however excellent, except, of course,
for purposes of study. To merely copy and piece together bits of
precedent is not the way to make an artistic thing at all. A copy can
have no vitality of its own, and cannot even reproduce that of its
original. Even Pugin and Powell cannot be said, in spite of all their
sympathy and power of draughtsmanship, to have altogether succeeded
in suggesting the intense vigour which characterized the work of the
originals that were followed. A broad view must be taken if new work is
to harmonize with new conditions or be anything more than a mere shadow
of a preceding style.
Heraldry in order to be expressive and interesting ought to be
original, or perhaps one should rather say individual, in treatment; an
effort to express itself by means of the artistic qualities that the
old work possesses and teaches us to admire, rather than a copy of its
forms. By original is meant something that the artist thinks out for
himself, his individual expression of what he wishes to convey, with
all the help that he can obtain from his knowledge of previous work,
but without feeling himself bound to imitate it. Points of resemblance
are inevitable. It is hardly possible to avoid showing the influence
of the examples from which the artist has learnt his craft, nor does
it matter; but when the copy is intentional and the intention stops
at that, the work ceases to interest as individual design. All styles
should be studied for the sake of the lessons they may teach in the
application of the ordinary principles of design to correct heraldic
motives, for, after all, that and fitness are what constitute good
heraldry. Composition, the balance of mass and arrangement of line,
with all their various possibilities, may be learned from all forms
and styles of art, pictorial as well as ornamental, that is itself
based on sound principles. The appreciation of such points and their
satisfactory application constitute what we know as the sense and
power of design, and they must be understood before one can pretend to
practise or discuss it.
Heraldry in its setting forth may be regarded in two ways. As the
depicting of an actual shield, crest, helm and so forth, as they
would be shown in a picture of a tournament, for instance; or, as a
presentation of the heraldic facts in the way that is thought most
expressive without having too much regard to preceding renderings. The
former way seems more suitable to the execution of ancient and historic
arms or of such as are to accompany Gothic surroundings, and the latter
to be more likely to harmonize with modern decorative conditions, as
well as to possess more vitality and variety in itself. This harmony
with surrounding decoration, whether on a wall or in a book or in
any other way, is one of the essentials of good design and must be
continually kept in mind. Another, equally important, is that work
should be designed with direct regard to the materials and methods by
which it is to be done. These very obvious points cannot be too often
insisted upon, however wearisome the reiteration, for neglect of them
is at the bottom of most bad work.
Careless treatment of the heraldry, with which it is, nevertheless,
obliged to deal more or less, sooner or later, seems to pervade applied
art and to spoil what is otherwise meritorious work. Doubtless much of
the mischief arises from fear lest improving the drawing or composition
may violate heraldic rules; and this brings us to the necessity of
acquiring so much knowledge of the systematic side of heraldry as will
suffice to show what points are really essential (and therefore to be
carefully preserved and if need be accented), and what, on the other
hand, may be modified or ignored. This may best be done by study of
the system of heraldic description known as blazon, which is described
further on. But before proceeding to do so it will be necessary to deal
first with an heraldic composition as a whole.