Difference between revisions of "Heraldry"

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|.The arms of Ser [[Loras Tyrell]] has three gold roses on a green field instead of one for the image of the house Tyrell because he was the third son of Lord [[Mace Tyrell]] {{ref|acok|22}}. Similarly, his older brother, ser [[Garlan Tyrell]], two features golden roses on her own personal coat of arms as the second son of the family.{{ref|asos|6}}  
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|.The arms of Ser [[Loras Tyrell]] has three gold roses on a green field instead of one for the image of the house Tyrell because he was the third son of Lord [[Mace Tyrell]] {{ref|acok|22}}. Similarly, his older brother, Ser [[Garlan Tyrell]], features two golden roses on his own personal coat of arms as the second son of the family.{{ref|asos|6}}  
 
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Revision as of 12:45, 6 April 2013

Heraldry sketch by tribemun.jpg

Heraldry is the art and science of blazoning Coats of Arms. It is an important part of the Seven Kingdoms feudal structure. Heraldry are used by the Royalty and nobility as sign of status, most of the noble houses have their own designs, and variants of these designs are adopted only by members of the house. Coats of arms are commonly used by Knights in Tourneys and on the battlefields as a way to identify allied from enemy soldiers in the heat of battle.

Heraldry in Westeros and in the real world

Overall, the heraldry of the Seven kingdoms seems to be quite similar to that of medieval Europe, at least in purpose. Most of the Seven Kingdoms use escutcheon shaped Coats of Arms; Dorne however seems to favor circular Coats of Arms that aren't widely seen anywhere else. There is little or no mention of the heraldic vocabulary of Westeros, either; in the real world those terms are subject to strong variation according to language, but Westeros seems to have a far more restricted set of languages and might well have a unified heraldic vocabulary.

The arms of a house belong to that family as in Germany, and Italy and may be used only by trueborn descendants of that house.[1][2] Anyone entitled to bear a coat of arms may assume one for oneself and one's branch of a house as is common in continental European Heraldry

Tinctures

Also, it is worth noting that real world heraldic rules and terminology seem to have little formal use in Westeros and may in fact be non-existent[3], including the well-known Rule of tincture that dictates that metals (argent and or, usually meaning white, grey or silver and yellow or gold) shouldn't be used over metals, nor should "colors" (the most traditional being vert (green), gules (red), azure (blue), sable (black) and purpure (purple)) (less frequently (such as bleu-celeste (sky blue), sanguine (blood-red), tenné (an orange-tawny color) and murrey (mulberry-coloured)) be placed over other colors either. See examples:

It is possible and perhaps likely that GRRM wanted to depict an earlier medieval society, before the rules of heraldry were well-developed and well-accepted. In the real world this rule is sometimes not followed as in the arms of the Kingdom of Jerusalem (metal on metal) and Eastern European heraldry (color on color).

The tincture known as "furs" however are used in Westeros heraldry; for example:

In traditional heraldry no distinction is made among white, silver and light grey, which are all named "argent". Likewise, both golden and yellow are considered "Or". That is not so in Westeros: white, (light) grey and silver are treated as distinct tinctures and can be used together on a coat of arms. Examples are:

Many of the available blazons of Westerian Coats-of-Arms are notable in their lack of detail; for instance the blazon for the coat of arms of House Blanetree ("maple leaves, green and brown, strewn on a field of yellow") fails to tell us how many maple leafs the shield should have, and gives only the vaguest indication of how they should be placed and in some cases the blazons manifest in quite poor designs rendering them of little use for recognition on the battlefield, for example: House Hayford and House Lynderly.

For practical reasons, traditional heraldry uses a very limited set of tinctures; it wasn't always practical or possible to reproduce subtler color variations in the numbers and time constraints found. Besides, coats of arms are meant to be recognizable from far away and are often employed in shields and other pieces of equipment that are subject to abuse, neglect and disrepair. Even today, many pigments show some degree of color degradation, often severe, when consistently exposed to sun rays, rain and other influences.

This limited palette is not the case in The Seven Kingdoms, where heraldic descriptions include ambiguous colours such as:

The use of physical material descriptions like 'oak', 'masonry' or 'sand' in Martin's heraldic descriptions also complicates matters because it is uncertain whether these refer to a shade of colour or an attempt to actually represent these materials pictorially, such as painting the grain of the oak or the bricks of the masonry. Such detail would seem difficult to render on fabric surfaces such as flags, surcoats or the livery of men-at-arms or servants. This however reflect the real world use of the tincture "proper".

Devices and Charges

Charges are objects or figures placed on a shield. Many of the devices and charges used in the heraldry of Westeros derive directly from traditional sources and include creatures such as lions, stags and birds, and symbols such as stars, weapons and ships. There are some notable differences in Martin's designs though:

The use of seven-pointed stars to represent the Faith of the Seven. Seven-pointed stars are rare in traditional heraldry and vexillology, with a notable exception being the flag of Australia. Examples include:

Sunglass.png House Sunglass
House Templeton.png. House Templeton

The use of very detailed pictures, particularly humanoid figures, such as:

Bolton.png The flayed man of House Bolton
House Sunderly.png The drowned man of House Sunderly
House Piper.png The silk-swirled dancing maiden of House Piper

In reality, these figures would be difficult to render on shields and flags with any accuracy or consistency.

The use of detailed creatures and figures on the shield that would normally only appear as supporters in traditional coats of arms, such as:

House Manderly.PNG The merman of House Manderly
Umber.png The giant in chains of House Umber.

The use of Westeros-specific fauna and flora, such as:

House Reed.PNG The lizard-lion of House Reed
House Blackwood.png The weirwood tree of House Blackwood.

Variations of the field

Divisions of the field.
Ordinaries.

The field of a shield, is sometimes made up of a pattern of colors, or variation. A pattern of horizontal (barwise) stripes, for example, is called barry, while a pattern of vertical (palewise) stripes is called paly. A pattern of diagonal stripes may be called bendy or bendy sinister, depending on the direction of the stripes. Other variations include chevrony, gyronny and chequy. For further variations, these are sometimes combined to produce patterns of barry-bendy, paly-bendy, lozengy and fusilly. Semés, or patterns of repeated charges, are also considered variations of the field.[4] [5]

 a pine tree covered with snow in a pale green pile, on white The arms of the House Mollen has a "pile" :"A snow covered pine tree on a pile light green on a white"
 inverted pall between three lion's heads, yellow on black Some pieces like the pall or chevron may be oriented in different ways, thus, the image of the House Jast has a pall inverted " inverted pall between three lion's heads, yellow on black "
 A blue wavy bend on gold All the ordinals can also undergo various changes in size or edge, for example the bend that loads the image of the House Goodbrook is called "wavy" A blue wavy bend on gold '
 vairy orange and blue; upon a black canton, a golden stag beneath an orange bend sinister Finally, a ordinal can load another ordinal, so the image of the House Bolling has a canton charged with a bend: " vairy orange and blue; upon a black canton, a golden stag beneath an orange bend sinister '

Divisions of the field

The field of a shield in heraldry can be divided into more than one tincture, as can the various heraldic charges. Many coats of arms consist simply of a division of the field into two contrasting tinctures. These are considered divisions of a shield, so the rule of tincture can be ignored. For example, a shield divided azure and gules would be perfectly acceptable. A line of partition may be straight or it may be varied. The variations of partition lines can be wavy, indented, embattled, engrailed, nebuly, or made into myriad other forms.[6][7]

A direwolf gray on pristine white snowfield Thus, the image of the House Stark is a shield plain, a term that generally can not be transcribed: " A direwolf gray on pristine white snowfield "
Quarterly, first and fourth in a field of yellow sun rose in the second and third a crescent white on a blue field The crest of the House Tarth he is a shield "party per cross"; Quarterly, first and fourth a yellow sun on a rose field in the second and third a white crescent on a blue field
Two swans fighters, black and white from one to the other, beaked and hung with gold and white field advantage black The crest of the House Swann is "party per pale" Two swans fighters, black and white from one to the other, beaked and hung with gold and white field advantage black

Marshalling

To marshal two or more coats of arms is to combine them in one shield, to express inheritance, claims to property, or the occupation of an office. This can be done in a number of ways, of which the simplest is impalement: dividing the field per pale and putting one whole coat in each half. Impalement replaced the earlier dimidiation – combining the dexter half of one coat with the sinister half of another – because dimidiation can create ambiguity between, for example, a bend and chevron. "Dexter" (from Latin dextra, right) means to the right from the viewpoint of the bearer of the arms and "sinister" (from Latin sinistra, left) means to the left. The dexter side is considered the side of greatest honour.

house Baratheon House Lannister personnel de Joffrey Baratheon The arms of Joffrey Baratheon consists Per pale the Arms of his paternal and maternal families[2].

A more versatile method is quartering, division of the field by both vertical and horizontal lines. This practice originated in Spain after the 13th century.[8] As the name implies, the usual number of divisions is four, but the principle has been extended to very large numbers of "quarters".

Quarters are numbered from the dexter chief (the corner nearest to the right shoulder of a man standing behind the shield), proceeding across the top row, and then across the next row and so on. When three coats are quartered, the first is repeated as the fourth; when only two coats are quartered, the second is also repeated as the third. The quarters of a personal coat of arms correspond to the ancestors from whom the bearer has inherited arms, normally in the same sequence as if the pedigree were laid out with the father's father's ... father (to as many generations as necessary) on the extreme left and the mother's mother's ... mother on the extreme right. A few lineages have accumulated hundreds of quarters, though such a number is usually displayed only in documentary contexts.[9]

Maison Frey House Lannister personnel Arms of Ser Cleos Frey The arms of service Cleos Frey quartered arms of Frey with arms of Lannister.
personnel of Big Walder Frey The personal coat of arms of Big Walder Frey is made with the arms of House Paege (by his mother) and House Blackwood (by his grandmother). This helps distinguish it from many other Walder Frey[10]



The third common mode of marshalling is with an inescutcheon, a small shield placed in front of the main shield. In Britain this is most often an "escutcheon of pretence" indicating, in the arms of a married couple, that the wife is an heraldic heiress (that is, she inherits a coat of arms because she has no brothers). In continental Europe an inescutcheon (sometimes called a "heart shield") usually carries the ancestral arms of a monarch or noble whose domains are represented by the quarters of the main shield.[11]

arms of House Blackwood arms of House Blackwood : A flock of ravens on scarlet surrouning a dead weirwood upon a black escutcheon.

Inheritance and Younger sons

In Westeros arms belong to a family, any trueborn child may use the family arms. This is similar to the practice win German Heraldry. Traditionally, the heir uses the image of his family as is, or bordered by a specific color to differentiate himself from his father. The younger son regularly use personal arms as a version of family coat of arms where the charge is repeated several times, according to their order in the family.

 personnel arms of Valarr Targaryen The coat of arms of Prince Valarr Targaryen consists of coat of arms House Targaryen with a red border[12].


 personnelarms of Maekar Targaryen The coat of arms of Prince Maekar has four three-headed dragons on a black field instead of one for the image of the House Targaryen because it is the fourth son of king Daeron II[13].
 personnel arms of Ser Loras Tyrell .The arms of Ser Loras Tyrell has three gold roses on a green field instead of one for the image of the house Tyrell because he was the third son of Lord Mace Tyrell [14]. Similarly, his older brother, Ser Garlan Tyrell, features two golden roses on his own personal coat of arms as the second son of the family.[15]

The bastards

The bastards do not have the right to use the arms of their families. The custom is thus a bastard using arms (when knighted for example) adds a distinction, called "breaking". This can be in the form of a color inversion on their own coats of arms, with the addition of a possible red bar sinsister.

House Targaryen House Blackfyre Arms of House Blackfyre, founded by a bastard of the House Targaryen, has the colors reversed[16].
House Frey  personnel arms of Walder Rivers The coat of arms of Walder Rivers, bastard son of Lord Walder Frey, has the colors reversed and a red bar sinister[17]

Canting

Martin makes use of canting arms to represent some of the houses in his books. Canting arms are a type of heraldic pun, whereby the blazon of the shield makes a direct reference to the name of the family. Examples include:

Waxley large.png The candles of House Waxley
Haigh.png The pitchfork of House Haigh (hay)
Belmore.PNG The bells of House Belmore
House Blackbar.PNG The black bar of House Blackbar.

In other houses the canting refers not to their name of the family, but to their ancestral seat. Examples include:

House Martell.PNG The sun and spear of House Martell for their home Sunspear
House Connington.png The griffins of House Connington of Griffin's Roost
House Frey.png The two towers of House Frey of The Twins

House Words

In real world heraldry there are family mottos that are often shown on a scroll under the shield in a coat of arms. In Westeros these are called house words.

Heraldic homage

Some of the Houses and their blazons are tributes to other authors. For example:

  • House Rogers.png
    House Rogers can be seen as a tribute to Roger Zelazny, and the unicorn and maze device on that house's arms to be representative of two of Zelazny's works: "Unicorn Variations" and the "Chronicles of Amber" series. This latter features "The Pattern", a labyrinth-like inscription that orders the multiverse.
  • Jack Vance is acknowledged in two houses, House Vance from Wayfarer's Rest and House Vance from Atranta. The use of dragons in both Vance houses' shields could refer to another award-winning work, "The Dragon Masters".
    • In the Artranta branch, the use of the tower could refer to Vance's Nebula Award-winning 1966 work "The Last Castle". House Vance of Artranta.PNG
    • In the Wayfarer's Rest branch, the circle enclosing the pair of eyes could symbolize the title of "The Eyes of the Overworld", from The Dying Earth series.House Vance of Wayfarer's rest.PNG
  • Another House that can be seen as a tribute is House Peake - to Mervyn Peake, the author of "Gormenghast" trilogy. The Lord of the House is called Titus (just as a main protagonist of the trilogy) Peake. The history and coat-of-arms also feature three castles that the family owned before it was left with only one, and the name of the one remaining castle is Starpike, which is similar to Steerpike, the name of the main antagonist of the trilogy. House Peake.PNG

Martin also homaged one of his own characters, the Great and Powerful Turtle from Wild Cards, in House Tudbury. House Tudbury.png

See also

Software

References

  1. The Hedge Knight
  2. 2.0 2.1 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 7, Arya I.
  3. http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/Heraldry_in_Westeros/
  4. Arthur Charles Fox-Davies. A Complete Guide to Heraldry isbn 1417906308 (Kessinger Publishing,year 2004) page 101
  5. Heraldry Variations of the field
  6. Stephen Friar and John Ferguson. Basic Heraldry. (W.W. Norton & Company, New York: 1993), 148.
  7. Heraldry Divisions of the field
  8. Thomas Woodcock & John Martin Robinson. The Oxford Guide to Heraldry. (Oxford University Press, New York: 1988), 14.
  9. Edmundas Rimša. Heraldry Past to Present. (Versus Aureus, Vilnius: 2005), 38.
  10. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 17, Tyrion IV.
  11. Heradlry Marshalling
  12. The Hedge Knight.
  13. The Hedge Knight.
  14. A Clash of Kings, Chapter 22, Catelyn II.
  15. A Storm of Swords, Chapter 6, Sansa I.
  16. The Sworn Sword.
  17. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 39, Cersei IX.