HERALDRY ON GLASS AND METAL.
In describing various objects in brass, bronze, and glass, especially
the glass mosque-lamps, several coats of arms have been noticed. The
subject deserves a section to itself, partly on account of its
unexpectedness, and partly because it has a bearing upon the origin of
our own heraldry. It is probable that the Crusaders brought back to
Europe, together with lessons in chivalry and civilization, the germ of
our system of heraldic bearings which has since been so carefully
developed. The circumstance that coats of arms do not seem to have been
borne in Europe before the end of the eleventh century, and were then
very rudimentary, favours the conclusion that they had their source in
the devices carried by the Saracen adversaries of the Crusaders. It is
true, we are not able to point to any decided use of armorial badges in
the East before the year 1190,[81] when the coins of ‘Imād-ed-dīn Zenky,
Prince of Singār, present the two-headed eagle which soon afterwards
becomes common on the coinage of the Urtuky rulers of Āmīd, and is found
sculptured on the walls of that city. This is early enough as regards
the emblem in question, for the Imperial Eagle was not adopted in Europe
before 1345, but it cannot be regarded as satisfactory for all coats of
arms. If other armorial bearings were known in Europe in the eleventh
century, it is possible that they were carried to the East by the
Crusaders, instead of being brought thence to the West. Several
considerations, however, militate against this view. One is the Eastern
origin of many of our heraldic terms: thus _gules_ is the Persian _gul_,
a rose; _azure_ is also Persian _lazurd_, blue; _ermine_ is the fur of
an Armenian beast; the pelican, ibis, griffin, and other charges of our
coats of arms are clearly of Oriental derivation. Moreover, we know,
from the researches of H. Brugsch Pasha, that the ancient Egyptian nomes
had each their sign or badge, and that the temples were distinguished by
separate devices on their banners. Various animals and birds were used
for these purposes, and we even find the Star and Crescent, which, with
the Lion and Sun, forms the sole remnant of heraldry among the modern
Muslims. There is thus reason to believe that the heraldic bearings,
which, as we shall see, were of common application during the 13th,
14th, and 15th centuries, were of Oriental descent, and though probably
their frequency was a part of the general revival of the arts which
accompanied the irruption of Turkish tribes into Syria and Egypt in the
12th and 13th centuries, they doubtless represent a custom that may have
fallen into desuetude, but was never entirely forgotten, in the East.
The cause of the sudden abundance of these armorial shields, especially
in the 14th century, was the military constitution of the Mamlūk empire.
The various corps of the Mamlūk army were distinguished each by its
separate banner, with its individual device. The Arabic and Persian word
for a heraldic badge, or arms, _renk_, meant originally “colour,” and
then came to mean, like our own expression, the “colours” of a regiment,
and hence any distinguishing “badge” or “bearing,” “coat of arms.” In
the history of the Mamlūks we constantly meet with references to the
_renks_ of various Amīrs and Sultans, and of such _renks_ being assigned
by the Sultan to a given Amīr. When Es-Sālih Ayyūb made Aybek his Taster
(Jāshenkīr), he gave him for his armorial badge a small table, in
allusion to his office, which consisted in tasting all the food destined
for the Sultan’s table. This was the usual origin of these badges; they
were not hereditary, and it is only by accident that the same _renk_ is
found to have been borne by two persons. Among the historical references
to specific arms, we may mention the description of the _lion passant_,
which was the crest or bearing first of Ibn-Tūlūn in the ninth century,
and afterwards of the Sultan Beybars I., A.D. 1260-77, and which gave
its name to the “Bridge of Lions,” and also the “Garden of the Lion and
Hyaena,” which were ornamented by two lions carved in stone on the
gateway. Abu-l-Mahāsin mentions another coat of arms, argent, on a fess
vert, a scimitar gules, and adds that this elegant coat was much beloved
by the ladies of Cairo, who used to tattoo their fingers with it. The
same historian says that the arms of the Amīr Salār were black and
white.
Saladin’s crest was probably an _eagle_; Barkūk bore a white _Sunkur_,
or falcon, which is the king of birds among the Arabs; and Kalaūn bore a
“canting” coat, the representation of his own name, a _duck_.
Two finely sculptured single-headed eagles in the Arab Museum at Cairo,
with well-chiselled wing and breast feathers, and spreading tails, set
in pear-shaped shields, with a cup in the base, may have been
Tukuzdemir’s arms (see above, p. 259).
A great many coats of arms have come down to us, some in metal, when the
colours are of course uncertain, others in glass, when the enamel
preserves the original tinctures. Some few devices are also preserved in
mosaic, wood, and ivory, or inscribed on the walls of buildings. The
circular medallions sculptured on the edifices of Kāït Bey and other
Sultans may almost be regarded as blazons, and so may the similar
medallions on glass lamps. The late E. T. Rogers Bey, whose long
residence in the East and intimate acquaintance with Arabic literature
rendered him a high authority on all branches of Saracenic art, devoted
considerable research to this subject, and collected a large number of
Mamlūk coats of arms in a valuable memoir published in the _Bulletin de
l’Institut Egyptien_, 1880. The following _résumé_ of his discoveries,
together with a few additions from my own observation, will be useful to
those who do not possess the original monograph.
The general character of Saracenic armorial bearings is monotonous. The
shield is almost always a circle, divided by a broad fess; though a
glass lamp at the British Museum has the true shield form, and no fess.
The usual charges are a cup (most frequent of all, and indicating that
the bearer held the office of cup-bearer to the Sultan), a lozenge, a
sword, a pair of cornucopias, a pair of polo sticks (indicating the
office of Jōkendār, or polo-master), keys (the badge of a chamberlain or
governor), an eagle, and a target. These are often combined in various
modes, of which the commonest consists in placing a cup on the fess, a
second cup in the base, and a lozenge in the chief. The cornucopias are
generally arranged on either side of one or other of the preceding
charges. A very frequent bearing, which suggests curious speculations,
is the hieroglyphic formula already referred to, p. 233. It is found as
a sole charge, or in chief with other emblems, or inscribed upon the
body of a cup, and its meaning is “Lord of the Upper and Lower country.”
Rogers Bey was of opinion that the Mamlūks who employed this coat must
have been aware of its meaning, and that perhaps the interpretation of
hieroglyphics had not become extinct in the fourteenth century. It is
possible that, while the general hieroglyphic inscriptions were no
longer understood, the particular title, which is of frequent occurrence
on the temple walls, may have been preserved by the Copts; or the
Mamlūks, without knowing the meaning, may have inferred from its
frequency that it was a title of honour. In any case, its common
appearance upon Saracenic objects is sufficiently surprising.
The following are some of the principal coats of arms belonging to
historical Amīrs and Sultans, in addition to the badges (lions, eagles,
&c.) already mentioned:—
Sheykhū † A.H. 758 (1357). Per fess, gules and sable, on a fess or, a
cup gules. (British Museum, and Linant Pasha’s Collection.)
Bahādur, † 739 (1339). Two horizontal bars.
El-Māridāny, † 744 (1343). Gules, on a fess argent, a lozenge of the
first.
Kahlīs, an Amīr of En-Nāsir (14th century). Gules, on a fess argent, a
scimitar sable, mounted of the second. (S. K. M.)
Tukuzdemir, † 746 (1345). Gules, in chief an eagle displayed or, in base
a cup of the last. (British Museum.)
Almās, † 734 (1334). Argent, a target or, with a bull’s eye gules.
(Linant Pasha’s Collection.)
Arkatāy, † 750 (1349) (Governor of Safad). Two keys.
Ezbek, A.H. 905 (1499). On a fess, a cup supported by daggers (?);
chief, a lozenge between cornucopias; base a cup between lozenges.
Beshtāk, A.H. 736 (1335). On a fess, a cup inscribed with the usual
hieroglyphics, in chief diamond, in base a cup. This occurs on a bronze
plate, and is consequently without tinctures; it is also seen on the
ruin known as the “Bath of Beshtāk,” near the mosque of Sultan Hasan.
Sultan Kāït Bey, † 901 (1495). On a fess, a cup between cornucopias;
above a lozenge; beneath a second cup. The same coat was borne by the
Amīr Janbalāt, one of Kāït Bey’s officers, and afterwards Sultan.
Many other combinations of cups and lozenges and the like might be
enumerated, but these have not been identified with historical
personages, and the student may refer for them to Rogers Bey’s memoir.
Among the more remarkable combinations, however, may be noted a flag
upon the body of a cup, which probably refers to some military or court
office; and in colours, a rare arrangement is seen of Bektuman En-
Nāsiry, azure on a fess argent, a cup gules. A common badge is the
fleur-de-lis, generally very distinctly represented. It was borne, among
others, by El-Ashraf Sha‘bān, El-Mansūr ‘Aly, and Es-Sālih Hājjy,
Sultans who all reigned in the second half of the fourteenth century,
and it also occurs on the Māristān of Kalāūn at the beginning of the
same century.
Two coats of arms preserved in the South Kensington Museum are different
in details from any of those collected by Rogers Bey. The first occurs
on a brass stand (see p. 233) which bears the title of a chief secretary
of the fourteenth century; the second is from a scale-pan (no. 929,
1884), with no name, but is probably of the fifteenth century; the arms
show the usual hieroglyphics on a fess, with a lozenge between trefoils
in the chief, and a cup between trefoils in the base.