More Heraldry in the Old Castle, Stuttgart

Many of you may already know of one of the books I have written, Camels In Heraldry. (If you don’t, and/or are interested in seeing more about this book, there is information about it at www.appletondstudios.com/BooksandGames.htm). Of course, I did not believe even at the time that I finished it that the book was a complete listing of every coat of arms (or crest, or supporters) that contained a camel. And, naturally, I’ve found a few more coats with camels since then. (Indeed, I am slowly working on what will either be an update or a supplement to the original volume.)

And, in fact, wandering among the display cases of glass, both armorial and not, I ran across yet another coat of arms (and crest) with a camel!

The arms are given on the glass as those of Barbara Zeilnerin (the arms on the other side of the glass are those of her husband, Lorenzo Biller, and do not contain a camel), made in Hall, Tyrol 1560-1580.  The arms may be blazoned as Gules a camel statant argent crowned or, and the crest might be blazoned as Issuant from between a pair of buffalo horns gules, a legless demi-camel (or a camel's head, neck and back) argent crowned or.

I find the coat of arms particularly interesting because the arms to not seem to be canting; that is, they are not a pun on the surname. The majority of arms with camels that I have found are cants, where the surname is Camel, Cammell, Kamel (in German), Chameau (in French), and so on. But I cannot find such a pun on the name Zeilnerin. I may have to do some research to see if I can find out anything more about the coat of arms and why it contains a camel.