Difference between revisions of "Heraldry"

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==Heraldry in Westeros and in the real world==
 
==Heraldry in Westeros and in the real world==
Overall, the heraldry of the Seven kingdoms seems to be quite similar to that of [[w:Middle Ages|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 an unified heraldic vocabulary.
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Overall, the heraldry of the Seven kingdoms seems to be quite similar to that of [[w:Middle Ages|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.
  
 
===Tinctures===
 
===Tinctures===
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In some cases this manifests in quite poor designs rendering them of little use for recognition on the battlefield:
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In some cases the blazons manifest in quite poor designs rendering them of little use for recognition on the battlefield:
  
 
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Revision as of 23:45, 9 November 2011

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, Coat of arms are commonly used by Knights in Tourneys and on the battlefields as a way to identify allied from enemy soldiers.

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.

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[1], 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)) be placed over other colors either. See examples:

House Waynwood.PNG House Waynwood black on green.
Kettleblack.png House Kettleblack black on red
House Chyttering.PNG House Chyttering gold on white

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

House Rosby.PNG "ermine" of House Rosby
House Harte.PNG "vair" of House Harte.

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:

House Stark.PNG A direwolf grey on white House Stark
House Slate.PNG House Slate Pale grey, a double tressure white
House Pyle.PNG A grey iron greathelm on white House Pyle
Footly.png A field of silver caltrops House Footly

Many of the available blazons of Westerian Coats-of-Arms are notable in their lack of detail; for instance:

House Blanetree.png 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.

In some cases the blazons manifest in quite poor designs rendering them of little use for recognition on the battlefield:

Hayford.PNG where fields 'bleed' into each other (eg. House Hayford
Lynderly.png or are complex and low-contrast (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:

Dunk.png 'sunset' (eg. Dunk)
House Sparr.PNG 'oak' (House Sparr),
House Volmark.png very variable tones such as 'grey' (House Volmark)
House Reed.PNG 'grey-green' (House Reed).

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.

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.

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 ther 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

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 latter, 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

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