It's Not a Coat of Arms, It's a "Shield"

I ran across a television ad (no, let’s be real; it was a whole lot of ads) for Trinity Valley School in Fort Worth, Texas. TVS is a private Kindergarten through twelfth grade coeducational college preparatory school, which is not affiliated with any specific religious denomination, unlike many of the private K-12 schools in the area, though they do affirm a belief in God.

What struck me immediately in their advertisements was the prominent use of the “TVS Shield” (they do not call it a coat of arms or even a crest, but do treat it like a logo). A quick search on their website at http://www.trinityvalleyschool.org/ gave the following meanings for the various parts of the shield:

The arch represents the protective umbrella of the school.

The student in the Trojan helmet represents a classical education.

The figures represent the four educational objectives of the Trinity Valley School philosophy.*

The waves represent the sea, the endless quest for knowledge and the meaning of life while fulfilling the motto.**

* “Fine scholarship with its fulfillment at college; the development of wide constructive interests; intelligent citizenship; and spiritual and moral development which promotes lasting values.”

** Per aspera ad astra, “to the stars through difficulties”.

Heraldry in the News!

A February 5, 2010 article in the Perthshire Advertiser notes the return of "a long-lost heraldic shield", the arms of Lord Glenlyon (later the sixth Duke of Atholl) who had participated in the tournament organized by the Earl of Eglinton.  I've posted before (last September at http://blog.appletonstudios.com/2009/09/heraldry-for-sale.html and http://blog.appletonstudios.com/2009/09/heraldry-for-sale.html) about the rediscovery and sale of eight of the Eglinton shields.  Now, it seems that one of them (see image, below) is making its way home, to Blair Castle, seat of the Atholl dukes.

The full article can be found on-line here:  http://www.perthshireadvertiser.co.uk/perthshire-news/local-news-perthshire/perthshire/2010/02/05/heraldic-shield-returns-to-blair-castle-73103-25764163/

Herald in the News!

There's an article in the on-line version of The Whitstable Times of Whitstable, Kent, England today (February 4, 2010) about one of my favorite academic heralds, entitled Whitstable Pearl: Cecil Humphery-Smith.  The article can be found at: http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/whitstable/Whitstable-Pearl-Cecil-Humphery-Smith/article-1806096-detail/article.html  It gives just a little bit of background of the man, and then goes into a brief interview of him at his home in Seasalter.

For those of you who don't know Mr. Humphrey-Smith other than as an author of several useful books on heraldry (Anglo-Norman Armory, Anglo-Norman Armory II, Armigerous Ancestors, among others), he is a remarkably knowledgeable man who has, hidden deep within himself, a wicked sense of humor.

In addition to owning several of his books (including all of those listed above), I have had the opportunity of meeting him at several of the International Congresses of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences, most memorably at the ones in Turin, Italy; in Besançon, France; in Bruges, Belgium; and at St. Andrews, Scotland.

If I may tell a little story, at the Congress in Bruges in 2004 the lectures were on the second floor of the building and the between lectures refreshments were on the first (ground) floor.  There was an elevator, but it was both slow and overcrowded between lectures.  He was, at that time, getting around with the aid of a cane (as you can see in the photograph above that was taken the last day of the Congress in Bruges), but didn't want to wait for the elevator.  As several of us were walking with him towards the stairs, he asked if he might take my arm to steady himself as we went down the stairs, to which I readily assented.  As we arrived at the first floor, he thanked me, and I asked him if this made me "an heraldic supporter."  He chuckled, and headed off to the coffee table.  (But he didn't say, "No"!)

Anyway, check out the article.  It's a pleasant insight into one of the modern titans of heraldry.

Heraldry for Sale

The Bank of England Accounts Department Building, built in the 1950s and demolished in 2007 to make way for a new glass fronted building, had a lot of decorative sculpture on it, much of which was heraldic. It is now possible to buy (if you have sufficient money; alas, I do not) many of these remarkable sculptures. Pictures and additional information (including the names of the sculptors and the specific dates of the sculptures) can be found on the website of Westland London at http://www.westlandlondon.com/stock/decorativeitems/sculpturecarving/

All of these works are very nice, and some have an extra heraldic “cool” factor: the dragons (sejant erect) holding a shield with the sword from the arms of London on them; the unicorn (again, sejant erect) holding a shield with the crest from the English Royal arms; a keystone with the crest of the Scottish Royal arms, just to mention a few.

The site is well worth visiting just to admire the artwork, which is first rate. And if you should happen to have the desire, and the money, you might be able to purchase a really great piece of history and heraldic artwork.

A Roll of Early American Arms

In the American Heraldry Society Forum, Arian Collins announced recently that he (with help from other AHS members Eric Hall, Robert Tucker and Joseph McMillan) has completed the pre-1825 blazons for the AHS's Roll of Early American Arms.  I mention this here not only because my book on The Gore Roll (available at www.appletonstudios.com/BooksandGames.htm) was used as a source (along with such standbys of early American armory as Crozier's General Armory and Virginia Heraldica, Bolton's American Armoury, and Matthew's Complete American Armory & Blue Book), but because it's such a great resource for finding coats of arms as they were used in early America.  The AHS has made this resource available to everyone on their website, at http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=Main.Roll  I have also added this link to the "Some Good On-Line Armorials and Ordinaries" section in the left-hand column of this blog.

They do note that: "Arms are included in this roll based on actual use as reported in the sources given. We have not attempted to validate the user's right to the arms beyond what is reported in the sources. Names given in italics are those of an immigrant to America whose descendants bore the arms shown. The immigrant himself may not have made use of the arms."

This is a wonderful heraldic resource, and the gentlemen mentioned above deserve to be applauded for the tremendous amount of work that they put into making such a resource available to the rest of the world.

Another New Heraldry Book

Well, no, not exactly.  It's a book, not about heraldry, but about heralds.  Specifically, The Herald in Late Medieval Europe.

With articles written by an international collection of authors, this volume "cover[s] a range of European regions and discuss[es] the diverse roles and experiences of heralds in the late Middle Ages."  And, in fact, a book like this is probably overdue.  I mean, there are lots of books about heraldry, but I can, I believe, count on the fingers of one had those which are about the heralds themselves, with a finger or two left over.  Well, one less finger left over now.

This book is available from Boydell & Brewer, and costs US$95.00 or £50.00. More information about the book, its authors, and links to order it, can be found at http://www.boydell.co.uk/43834820.HTM

There's No Such Thing As Bad Publicity

But good publicity is even better!

I was reading through the most recent Coat of Arms, the twice yearly journal of the Heraldry Society of England, entitled "Internet Heraldry" by Jack Carlson. In one section the author was noting some of the blogs about heraldry that can be found on the net, and said:

Other one-man heraldry blogs include David Appleton's Heraldry, [and three others]. The first of these is a valuable resource: Mr. Appleton dredges a range of mainstream news sources and posts all stories relevant to heraldry on his blog. Like [Martin Goldstraw's Cheshire Heraldry Web Journal], this one also includes many posts which have no rhyme or reason to when they are posted beyond what the blogger is reading or researching at the time; these posts (and blogs) are nevertheless valuable and are part of the territory.

Guilty as charged, Your Honor.  This blog does "include many posts which have no rhyme or reason to when they are posted beyond what [I am] reading or researching at the time."  Or stuff I happen to see, or run across, that I think might be of interest to you, my readers.  And I have been able to post at least twice a week, so there's regularly something new up here.

What tickles me the most, though, I think is that the author of the article finds this blog to be "a valuable resource."  That this blog would be able to serve as a resource for heralds and heraldists around the globe was one of my primary goals when I started posting.  And here, just over a year since beginning this blog, someone (besides me) thinks that this goal has been achieved.  Thank you.  Thank you very much.