Notes on Military Heraldry

Let's begin with a brief overview by an S.C.A. member Stephen Gold

About SCA Heraldry

Names and Armory

To enhance the medieval ambiance of SCA events, participants typically adopt pseudonyms and heraldic insignia with a medieval flavor, which they use on a long-term basis. Thus a person whose legal name is "John Doe" might choose to be known as "Hrolf Einarsson" to his SCA friends. And at SCA tournaments and wars he might bear a device on his sheild consisting of six black lions on a gold background.

An SCA device is a heraldic insignia which used to indicate that the owner of the device is present. The SCA uses the word armory to refer to heraldic insignia in general.

Participants generally select their own SCA name. It is considered bad form to assume a name too reminiscent of another participant or any famous person, be they modern, historical, or fictitious. Also, intrusively modern names should be avoided. Armory, too, must be chosen with care to avoid modern-style designs and designs that make inappropriate claims.

Every chapter of the SCA has an officer, called a herald or pursuivant to assist participants in choosing appropriate names and armory.

Registration

To reduce the chances of confusion or offense caused by inappropriate names and armory, the SCA has organized a registration service, to which participants may submit their proposed names and armory for approval. In addition, the SCA registers names and armory for SCA chapters (or branches), their officers and titled nobility, and the honors they may bestow on participants.

The registration process is administered by the SCA's own "College of Arms".

The SCA Armorial

An armorial is a reference book containing coats of arms, arranged alphabetically by their bearer's names. The SCA Armorial is an armorial of insignia registered with the College of Arms. It also lists registered names for individuals and groups that have no registered insignia. It is available as a 500-page loose-leaf document or as a 5 MB text-file. Search forms for the SCA Armorial enable access via the World Wide Web.

The SCA Ordinary

An ordinary is a reference book containing coats of arms, arranged in descriptive categories. The SCA Ordinary is an ordinary of insignia registered with the College of Arms. It is available as a 1000-page loose-leaf document and as a World Wide Web document.

Court and Voice Heraldry

SCA events may feature courts, tournaments, and other activities. A court is a general audience granted by a high-ranking SCA noble for the purpose of doing official business. The organization of courts is the resposibility of court heralds.

SCA heralds also assist the running of events by making public announcements, especially at tournaments. For instance, a herald is typically employed to announce the combattants before each bout of a tournament.

Since amplification is not used at SCA events, vocal training is very helpful for court and tournament work, which is called voice heraldry.

The Zurich Roll of Arms

Die Wappenrolle von Zürich

Hier klicken für deutsch.

The Zurich Roll of Arms is - as far as we know - the oldest surviving original of a roll of arms. Its name
derives from the place where it is kept: the Burgerbibliothek (= citizens library) Zurich. Who made it and
why is unknown. First references to the roll are a copy of 16th century and the naming of the donor, the
Amtmann of Schaffhausen Johannes Schleuchzer, M. D., who presented the roll to the Burgerbibliothek
in 1750.

Regarding style of the paintings and as we know when some of the coats of arms depicted came into / out
of use respectivly the roll can be dated to ca. 1340; as very many of the coats of arms are from the area
around Lake Constance it can be concluded that the roll was made there.

There is, as said above, a copy from 16th century, kept in the Gräflich Königsegg'schen
Domanial-Kanzlei in Aulendorf - thus called "Aulendorf copy" -, painted in 16th century style, and a copy
from 18th century, made by the artist Hans Conrad Bernhauser (1698-1761) in 14th century style, kept in
the Zentralbibliothek (= central library) Zurich, called "Bernhauser copy".

Heraldry in Gilling Castle

Compiled by Gill Smith with help from Richard

Most of the heraldic shields are found in the stained glass windows of the Great Hall or Chamber which is
now used as the school’s dining hall; it is open to the public at certain times. There are three windows: the
main, bay window contains mainly Fairfax family connections, culminating in the arms of Sir William
Fairfax himself; the South window contains the arms of the Stapletons and their connections (Sir
William’s second wife was Jane Stapleton); the East window contains shields relating to the Constable
family (Sir William’s son Thomas married Catharine Constable of Burton Constable) — this window is a
little later than the other two. The Fairfax and Stapleton windows are by Bernard Dininckhoff; a small
panel records his signature and the date 1585.

Some of the glass has been moved, and some is damaged or patched, but in general the shields of the
successive generations are remarkably complete. There are informative panels in the glass which give
details such as “Jaine Stapletone doughter & heire of Brian Stapletone esquire, who maried S Willm
Fairfax Knight, biwhome he had issue Thomas Fairfax esquire”.

There are also shields over the main fireplace in the Hall, showing the Royal Arms of Elizabeth I; Fairfax
quartered with Malbis, Etton, Carthorpe, Ergham and Folyfayt; and four small shields impaling Fairfax
with respectively Bellasys, Curwen, Vavasour and Roos. It should be noted that at some time the
Carthorpe and Bellasys arms have been re-painted in the wrong colours. This is very understandable as
the smoke from the fire has darkened everything almost to black!

The frieze round the Great Chamber contains the famous “Wapentake Panels”. As Bilson says “The arms
in the frieze as now painted are even less authentic than Elizabethan heraldry generally is, from the fact
that errors and alterations have been made in repainting.” Partly because of this, partly because there is an
enormous number of shields, and partly because the arms represented are not closely connected with the
Fairfaxes and Gilling Castle, I have not included them here, though I may do so in future. Details can be
found in Bilson’s article, and also in an excellent booklet by Hugh Murray on the Great Chamber,
available from the Ampleforth Abbey/College bookshop.

In the outer hallway there is also a complex shield over the fireplace, I suspect of considerably later date.
It shows Fairfax quartered with Malbis, Etton, Carthorpe, Ergham and Folyfayt as above and also
Stapleton, Bellew(?) and Goddard(?). Note that if this really is Goddard it has been painted red instead of
black (cf above).