Good heraldic practice
-
- FMS Staff
- Posts: 21547
- Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 7:37 pm
- Location: Cherry Trees, Craitland
- Contact:
Good heraldic practice
Heraldry is a form of art that is bound by strict rules that has their origins in the medieval use of arms as a quick way to recognize armoured knights in the battlefield.
Tinctures
The haraldic tinctures are divided in metals and colours. The metals are:
Argent - White/silver
Or - Yellow/gold
The colours are:
Gules - Red
Azure - Blue
Sable - Black
Vert - Green
Purpure - Purple
The term "proper" means that the object should be drawn in it's natural colour. This means that e.g. a barrel or a tree trunk could be brown in colour, but besides from the "proper" term, colours other than the ones mentioned above should not be used.
The terms gules, azure etc. does not give any information of the shade of the tincture. Thus you cannot have dark blue field with a light blue chevron. Only the colour blue (or azure) exists.
Since arms has to be recognisable from a long distance it is important to have contrast between the elements of the arms. Thus we have the rule of tincture: metal must never be placed upon metal, and colour must never be placed upon colour.
There are exceptions to the rule of tincture as in the arms of Albania (gules a double-headed eagle sable) and the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem (argent a Jerusalem cross or) but these are exceptions and applicants for coats of arms who wish to have arms that violates the rule of tincture will be required to explain why.
Anacronisms
Heraldry is a medieval form of art. Thus it is bad practice to use non-medieval charges in a coat of arms. Locomotives, airplanes or AK-47's do not belong in a coat of arms.
This is not a rule as strict as the rule of tincture. Good heraldry has been made with cogwheels and grenades and cannons are common charges in Russian heraldry. But great care should be taken whith using anacronistic charges. They are generally considered as bad taste.
Simplicity
A coat of arms should be visible from a distance. Thus a coat of arms should be as simple as possible. Marshalling (dividing the field into four or more quarters) should only be used when combining already existing coats of arms and even here it can easily be exaggerated like in the coat of arms of Prussia, that is so ridiculously marshalled that it has become completely useless as a way to identify the bearer of the arms.
New coats of arms should never consist of mere than one field.
Furthermore, for the sake of simplicity the number of tinctures should be no more than three.
Because of the need for simplicity heraldry is a highly stylised form of art. Therefore the heraldic devises should not be three-dimensional or "realistic".
Coronets
When composing arms for nobles, a coronet can be placed on the arms or the helmet to denote the rank of the noble. I personally use these coronets that mostly come from the German-Scandinavian tradition:
The coronets can be different in other heraldic traditions (like the French or the British) but the german-scandinavian system was the most widespread system in medieval times and I feel that the use of open, uncapped coronets for most ranks give more possibilities for designing the crest than the capped crowns of the British system. Furthermore, the german-scandinavian system has a suiting coronet for a wide array of ranks.
There is a seperate system of denoting rank in the ecclestical system. In the catolic and a number of other traditions the rank of a clerical armiger is denoted by a galero, a hat with a varying number of tassels - the more tassels the more important the guy. Should anyone request a coat of arms for a cleric I will use these galeros:
Sometimes, especially in the French and the German tradition, a mitre is used together with the galero.
Supporters
Supporters can be animals (like lions, wolves, dragons and owls) or human figures (angels, knights etc.). Inanimate objects like wreaths, batons, swords and processional crosses can be supporters as well. These inanimate objects usually denotes that the armiger holds a certain office (if there is batons for supporters the armiger is likely to be a marshall).
The use of supporters are restricted to higher nobility in the British tradition. In other traditions, like the German-Scandinavic, the use of supporters is not regulated, but the use is more widespread among the higher nobility. It is the responsibility of the applicant that requested supporters does not violate the heraldic rules of his country.
Style
One of the great advantages of heraldry is that the same coat of arms can be drawn in many different styles and thus suit the taste of almost every style and time period. For instance compare these two representations of the coat of arms of Liechtenstein:
The two representations are very different in style but the coat of arms is the same.
Text and mottos
The use of text in the arms is dicouraged. A single or a few letters can be okay as in the arms of Rome, but mottos and long strings of text do not belong in the arms. Mottos should be placed outside of the arms for instance on a scroll or as an inscription on the compartment.
Mottos are usually written in Latin or the vernacular of the armiger but there are exceptions, like the motto of the prince of Wales (Ich dien) that is in German.
Non-heraldic devices
These rules and recommendations does not apply to non-heraldic devices like logos, seals and "socialist heraldry". It is perfectly okay to make a device in the same style as the one of the Soviet Union and use an AK-47 as the main component.
The rule of tincture will still be relevant to some degree. Placing a dark blue figure on a black field is not only bad heraldry - it is also bad design. Butit is perfectly okay to place a light blue figure on a dark background in a non-heraldic device.
The rules of heraldry does not apply to flags, unless they are armorial banners.
Tinctures
The haraldic tinctures are divided in metals and colours. The metals are:
Argent - White/silver
Or - Yellow/gold
The colours are:
Gules - Red
Azure - Blue
Sable - Black
Vert - Green
Purpure - Purple
The term "proper" means that the object should be drawn in it's natural colour. This means that e.g. a barrel or a tree trunk could be brown in colour, but besides from the "proper" term, colours other than the ones mentioned above should not be used.
The terms gules, azure etc. does not give any information of the shade of the tincture. Thus you cannot have dark blue field with a light blue chevron. Only the colour blue (or azure) exists.
Since arms has to be recognisable from a long distance it is important to have contrast between the elements of the arms. Thus we have the rule of tincture: metal must never be placed upon metal, and colour must never be placed upon colour.
There are exceptions to the rule of tincture as in the arms of Albania (gules a double-headed eagle sable) and the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem (argent a Jerusalem cross or) but these are exceptions and applicants for coats of arms who wish to have arms that violates the rule of tincture will be required to explain why.
Anacronisms
Heraldry is a medieval form of art. Thus it is bad practice to use non-medieval charges in a coat of arms. Locomotives, airplanes or AK-47's do not belong in a coat of arms.
This is not a rule as strict as the rule of tincture. Good heraldry has been made with cogwheels and grenades and cannons are common charges in Russian heraldry. But great care should be taken whith using anacronistic charges. They are generally considered as bad taste.
Simplicity
A coat of arms should be visible from a distance. Thus a coat of arms should be as simple as possible. Marshalling (dividing the field into four or more quarters) should only be used when combining already existing coats of arms and even here it can easily be exaggerated like in the coat of arms of Prussia, that is so ridiculously marshalled that it has become completely useless as a way to identify the bearer of the arms.
New coats of arms should never consist of mere than one field.
Furthermore, for the sake of simplicity the number of tinctures should be no more than three.
Because of the need for simplicity heraldry is a highly stylised form of art. Therefore the heraldic devises should not be three-dimensional or "realistic".
Coronets
When composing arms for nobles, a coronet can be placed on the arms or the helmet to denote the rank of the noble. I personally use these coronets that mostly come from the German-Scandinavian tradition:
The coronets can be different in other heraldic traditions (like the French or the British) but the german-scandinavian system was the most widespread system in medieval times and I feel that the use of open, uncapped coronets for most ranks give more possibilities for designing the crest than the capped crowns of the British system. Furthermore, the german-scandinavian system has a suiting coronet for a wide array of ranks.
There is a seperate system of denoting rank in the ecclestical system. In the catolic and a number of other traditions the rank of a clerical armiger is denoted by a galero, a hat with a varying number of tassels - the more tassels the more important the guy. Should anyone request a coat of arms for a cleric I will use these galeros:
Sometimes, especially in the French and the German tradition, a mitre is used together with the galero.
Supporters
Supporters can be animals (like lions, wolves, dragons and owls) or human figures (angels, knights etc.). Inanimate objects like wreaths, batons, swords and processional crosses can be supporters as well. These inanimate objects usually denotes that the armiger holds a certain office (if there is batons for supporters the armiger is likely to be a marshall).
The use of supporters are restricted to higher nobility in the British tradition. In other traditions, like the German-Scandinavic, the use of supporters is not regulated, but the use is more widespread among the higher nobility. It is the responsibility of the applicant that requested supporters does not violate the heraldic rules of his country.
Style
One of the great advantages of heraldry is that the same coat of arms can be drawn in many different styles and thus suit the taste of almost every style and time period. For instance compare these two representations of the coat of arms of Liechtenstein:
The two representations are very different in style but the coat of arms is the same.
Text and mottos
The use of text in the arms is dicouraged. A single or a few letters can be okay as in the arms of Rome, but mottos and long strings of text do not belong in the arms. Mottos should be placed outside of the arms for instance on a scroll or as an inscription on the compartment.
Mottos are usually written in Latin or the vernacular of the armiger but there are exceptions, like the motto of the prince of Wales (Ich dien) that is in German.
Non-heraldic devices
These rules and recommendations does not apply to non-heraldic devices like logos, seals and "socialist heraldry". It is perfectly okay to make a device in the same style as the one of the Soviet Union and use an AK-47 as the main component.
The rule of tincture will still be relevant to some degree. Placing a dark blue figure on a black field is not only bad heraldry - it is also bad design. Butit is perfectly okay to place a light blue figure on a dark background in a non-heraldic device.
The rules of heraldry does not apply to flags, unless they are armorial banners.