In
a news article from July 8, 2014, in the New York Post comes the news that Bernardo
de Gálvez y Madrid, the Viscount of Gálvez, 1746-1786, has been granted
citizenship by the Congress of the United States of America.
Well,
honorary citizenship, anyway.
The
Viscount “played an integral role in the Revolutionary War and helped secure
the independence of the United States,” says the resolution granting him
citizenship. His troops helped pin down
British forces and block supply efforts, which earned him recognition from Gen.
George Washington and the Continental Congress.
And
now, the current Congress of the United States has recognized him, too.
“Honorary”
citizenship has only been given to seven people, including Winston Churchill
and more prominent Revolutionary heroes like the Marquis de Lafayette and Count
Casimir Pulaski. Gálvez, for whom
Galveston, Texas is named, is the first Spanish speaker to receive this honor.
And
what does this have to do with heraldry, you ask? As a Viscount, Gálvez was, of course,
armigerous. (Just as the other honorary
Americans named above were.)
There
does seem to be a little confusion about his coat of arms. While the images above come from a postage
stamp issued by Spain and honoring him, showing a coat of arms, an armorial
portrait of him …
…
show a much more complex coat of arms.
Why
the difference in these two depictions?
I suspect it’s just that the folks who issued the stamp were trying to
keep it comparatively simple; they did only have so much space available, after all. The portrait, on the other hand, is far more
likely to show his complete coat of arms, including some quarterings with family connections on
the shield.
But
now we can add another individual to the ranks of armigerous Americans - Bernardo
de Gálvez y Madrid.
If
you’d like to know more about Gálvez and his new honorary citizenship, the
article on the site of the Post can be found at http://nypost.com/2014/07/08/soldier-dead-200-years-gets-american-citizenship/
His coat of arms, with blazon, can be found here: http://www.americanheraldry.org/pages/index.php?n=Roll.G It seems that these "lesser arms" were augmentation of honor.
ReplyDeleteLeonardo: Interesting! So arms on the stamp are basically what is given in his 1783 patent of nobility as an augmentation (Argent a man standing on the deckhouse of the brigantine Galveztown under sail flagged Azure with a streamer in chief charged with the words "Yo Solo" proper), with the "on a point in point Azure a fleur-de-lis Or" turned into a chief.
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