Arms of Dominion on the Alter Hof in Munich, Germany

This might also be subtitled, "It's good to be a Wittelsbach."

Our next armorial photograph is of the tower of the Alter Hof in Munich, the imperial residence of Ludwig the Bavarian. Ludwig IV (1282-1347), called the Bavarian, was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328 until his death in 1347. His second wife, whom he married in 1324, was Margaret II of Hainaut, who brought the county of Holland to the Wittelsbachs, along with Zeeland, Hainaut and Friesland.

So much for the basic history. Now let's get into the heraldry!

But before that, notice the bendwise lozengy pattern that covers the front of the Alter Hof (Old Court). Though the lozenges are rows of alternating blue and gold on white, the pattern is more than reminiscent of the arms of Bavaria, Lozengy bendwise argent and azure. My impression is that the gold lozenges here are probably for his wife, Margaret of Hainault, and the County of Holland that she brought to the Wittelsbachs.

Anyway, moving along:

The shield on the left is Ludwig IV's arms as Holy Roman Emperor: the arms of the HRE (Or an eagle displayed sable armed and legged gules) charged on its chest an inescutcheon of Bavaria (Paly bendy argent and azure).

As always, click on the image above to go to the full-sized photograph where you can zoom in to see all this in more detail.

The three shields on the right are:

Top center: Holland (Or a lion rampant gules). Ludwig the Bavarian’s wife, Margaret II, Countess of Hainaut and Holland, inherited Holland, Zeeland, Hainaut and Friesland, and the Wittelsbachs held these lands in the 14th century.

Bottom left: This is the Palatinate (Sable a lion rampant or) (Rhenish Palatinate, Pfalz, a coat of arms we have see before), the Wittelsbach line’s other main territory.

Bottom right: This is Bohemia (Gules a lion rampant queue-forchy argent).

These coats of arms are all territories tied to the Wittelsbach dynasty, and Ludwig IV specifically.

As I said above, "It's good to be a Wittelsbach."

Fine. I Admit Defeat.

Or at least, I admit defeat temporarily.

I still have four more photographs of armorial memorials on the exterior of the Frauenkirche in Munich,, Germany, that I have been trying -- unsuccessfully, I might add -- to identify and write about for you.

I did a whole lot of checking on-line to see if there were clearer photographs of these memorials, or any websites that would give me more information about the individuals memorialized, all to no avail. A couple of sites had additional photographs, but they were no clearer than the ones I already had, and none of them identified any of these armorials by surname or anything else.

So that was more than a bit frustrating.

Then I tried getting ChatGPT to read and translate the texts on these memorials for me. It seemed to be doing an okay job of that, but then I caught it making some stuff up, and skipping an entire line on one memorial.

Fine, I thought, let's try Claude. Claude did better -- in that it didn't lie to me as much as ChatGPT did -- but these memorials have been sitting outside in the elements for a long time and parts of the text are pretty worn and/or cracked, and Claude let me know when I it couldn't read a word or when it was trying to extrapolate from what letters of a word it could make out.

But "better" isn't "good", and was still insufficient for my purposes.

Further, ignoring the texts and researching for the coats of arms was also getting me nowhere. Admittedly, such research generally does go faster when I have surnames that I am confident in to use, and that was not always the case here. But still, even having some of the surnames, and guessing at some of the others, kept getting me nowhere (with one potential, but only potential, exception).

So I pretty much gave up on properly identifying any of these memorials and was about to move on, when I ran across a book title that gave me some hope: Die Epitaphien an der Frauenkirche zu München.

Published in 1986, a description of the book (which is, obviously from the title, in German) told me that it "contains comprehensive historical documentation for roughly 120 funeral monuments and epitaphs embedded into the exterior brick walls of the cathedral" and that it "provides extensive cultural and genealogical context for each monument. It traces the histories of the prominent Munich patrician families (such as the Ligsalz family), clergy members, court officials, and military figures memorialized on the building's facade."

Well, glory hallelujah! So I did another internet dive and found a copy for sale by a seller on Amazon. So I have right now, as I type this, that copy on order, and it is scheduled to arrive at my door sometime between October 29 and November 19.

Now, is this the final solution to my identification problems? No, it is not.

For one thing, mein Deutsch ist nicht gut. I know only a smattering of words, mostly from my studies of World War II, and thus many of which will not be useful in understanding this book. For example, I don't expect that my knowledge of, say, the words schwalbe, wasserfall, panzerfaust, or even sturzkampflugzeug to appear in the descriptions of these memorials.

For another, given what appears to be the main thrust of the book (based on its title) is on the epitaphs, I don't know how much it's going to say about the coats of arms which are my main interest.

Still, between my poor German, my ability to get translations of words, sentences, and even paragraphs that I am interested in, which can be taken directly from the "the text and inscriptions carved into the stones" (as the book's description states), I expect to be able to come much, much closer making the identification of these people and their coats of arms that I have been able to up until now.

So, I am admitting defeat, but only temporarily. I will move on to other items of heraldic interest and photographs of other coats of arms in the meantime, and will come back to these as yet unidentified arms after my copy of Die Epitaphien an der Frauenkirche zu München arrives in a few weeks.

But I am using this post to remind you, and myself, that, as Shakespeare said of true love in A Midsummer Night's Dream, "The course of heraldic identification never did run smooth."

Well, That Didn't Go As Expected!

Many of you will know, as regular readers of this blog, that I watch an HGTV show called "House Hunters International". I watch this show for several reasons: (1) It's interesting, and I can learn a lot about different places in the world; (2) sometimes I will see someplace that I have visited, and it brings back all kinds of good memories; and (3) occasionally I will see a coat of arms.

In a very recent episode, the show was in Bram, France.

As you can see from the inset map above, Bram is in Occitania, a place where I think I came closest to was when I attended a conference in Besançon, about 700 kilometers away, so not that close! But Bram is a very old town with an unusual city plan.

As you can see from the image above, the oldest part of the town is built in a set of expanding circles, the buildings facing circular streets, all centered on the church in the middle. And frankly, I don't think I've ever seen a city laid out in quite this fashion. (I have seen cities laid out within the loop of a river, like Besançon, France, but that's not quite the same as Bram here.)

Anyway, at one point during the show they showed the cover of a book entitled Decouvrir Bram: La ville circulaire, or in English, "Discover Bram: The circular city".

And the book cover had a coat of arms on it complete with supporters and surmounted by a civic or municipal coronet:

 So I thought, well, that should be easy enough to track down and get the colors and do a quick blog post.

Wrong!

I don't know whose coat of arms that is on the cover (and you can click on the image above to go to the full-size photo to see for yourself), but it is certainly not that of the ville de Bram, whose coat of arms is this one:

Nor is it the arms of the département to which Bram belongs, Aude, which is this:

And finally, it is not the (probably unofficial) arms of the region of Occitania, here:

So I don't know. Is it the arms of Bram (Or a cross gules) with possibly local buildings added to the first and fourth quarters and roundels? some kind of fruit? arranged three two and one in the second and third quarters?

Certainly the shield is topped with a turreted mural coronet, and it has two supporters of lions rampant reguardant.

So it's a bit of a conundrum. And what I thought would surely be a quick and easy identification has become something of a mystery.

Still, it's clearly a coat of arms, and one which I, once again, ran across sitting on my very own couch in my very own living room. And that is one of the main reasons I keep watching new episodes of this show!

An Armorial Memorial to a Young Man

Continuing our look at some of the armorial memorials set into the outside walls of the Frauenkirche, the Cathedral of Our Dear Lady, in Munich, Germany, we come to this lovely example.

This is the memorial of Eustace Ligsalz, a member of the prominent Ligsalz patrician family of Munich, who died at the young age of 22. The main feature of the memorial is his full-length portrait carved in bas relief, with his family's coat of arms and crest at his feet.

The Ligsalz (also spelled Liegsalz) family was one of the wealthiest and most influential patrician dynasties guiding Munich's medieval and early modern city council. The Ligsalz dynasty served continuously on the Munich inner city council and as mayors, remaining a cornerstone of the city's aristocracy from the medieval period until the family line ended in the 18th century.

Additional information about the family can be found on the German Wikipedia website at https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ligsalz_(Patrizierfamilie)

Transcription of the Latin Inscription on the memorial:

EUSTACHIO LIGSALZ IN FARCHEN NOBILI PATRICIO MONACENSI VICTIO SUPERSTITE FILIO QUEM NON SINE MAGNO DOLORE SUO QUEM PRECLARA SPEM NOMINIS EXCITAVERAT A SALUTIS M D LXXVI SUAE AETATIS XXII DECIMA SEXTA KAL DECEMBER MORS MATURA AD COELITES SUSTULIT PARENTES MOESTI HOC MONUMENTUM POSUERE

And here is the English translation:

To Eustace Ligsalz von Farchen, a noble patrician of Munich, the surviving son of Victius. Whom—not without great sorrow to themselves, as he had raised brilliant hopes for his name—ripe death snatched away to the heavens in the year of Salvation 1576, in the 22nd year of his age, on the 16th day before the Kalends of December (November 16). His sorrowful parents erected this monument.

Rietstap's Armorial Général gives us the blazon for these arms: Ligsalz de Farchach. Écartelé: aux 1 et 4, de gueules, à la bande d'argent, ch. d'une flèche de sable, posée dans le sens de la bande; aux 2 et 3, d'argent, à un garçon issant, habillé de gueules, mouv. d'une couronne d'or. 

The English blazon is: Quarterly: 1st and 4th, Gules on a bend argent an arrow point to chief sable [Ligsalz]; 2nd and 3rd, Argent a boy issuant proper habited gules rising from a crown or [Farchach/Farchen?].

The crest combines the crests of each of the component quarters of the arms: A boy issuant proper habited gules rising from a crown or [Farchach/Farchen?], wearing a hat gules turned up argent, the argent portion charged with an arrow sable, at the peak of the cap issuant from a crown or four ostrich plumes sable [Ligsalz].

It's a touching memorial to a young son by his grieving parents, as well as a lovely display of heraldry.

A Plaque With Five Coats of Arms

This plaque is found on the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) in Munich, and the translated text reads:

This town hall was built and furnished in the years 1867 to 1880 by the architect Georg Hauberrisser, born in Graz. In honor of his achievement, this plaque was erected by the City of Munich, in the year of Our Lord 1881.

“Rathhaus” is the older spelling of Rathaus (“town hall”).

The plaque says 1867–1880, referring to the initial construction phase. The New Rathaus was subsequently expanded in later phases and ultimately dates to 1909.

The first construction phase, from 1867 to 1874, was conceived and executed by Georg Hauberrisser. From 1898 to 1892, work continued on the section at the corner of Dienerstraße and Landschaftsstraße. Georg Hauberrisser finally completed the third construction phase in 1905 with the completion of the town hall tower.

In 1901, Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria awarded Georg Hauberrisser the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Bavarian Crown. This raised him into the noble class as Ritter von Hauberrisser.

There is a small shield embedded in the text of the plaque on the fourth line, in the form of a hausmark. Since it immediately follows the German word baumeister (builder) and immediately precedes his name, I suspect that this shield is the runic-style burgher arms of Georg Hauberrisser.

The four coats of arms at the base of the plaque are (from left to right):

Hauberrisser? Argent a lion rampant gules crowned or, according to AI, but that doesn't explain the semy of billets bendwise sinister, and I have found AI not all that helpful in identifying coats of arms. It will sometimes just make stuff up. So is this Georg von Hauberrisser's noble coat of arms, or is it the arms of another city associated with him? I don't know; 

the city of Munich (small arms), which we have seen earlier recently; 

the Kingdom of Bavaria (small arms), which we have also seen recently; and 

the city of Graz (Vert a panther rampant argent breathing flames and crowned proper) (https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/Graz).

And Sometimes, This Job Is Easy

In my last post, I talked about the frustrations of having a photograph of a married couple's coats of arms, knowing their names, when they died, and even a little bit about what the husband did for a living, and being unable to find out anything more about them, or their heraldry, anywhere.

And then there are (some of) the other times, when I can look up a coat of arms and find the person to whom it belongs, and what they did, and even entire Wikipedia articles about them.

Today is one of those better times.

Here in the interior of the Cathedral of Our Lady in Munich, Germany, we find the arms of Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of München-Freising, 2008-present. And he has his own Wikipedia article at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhard_Marx.

The arms on the shield are those of the Diocese quartering Marx.

Riestap's Armorial Général cites the arms of Marx as Gules a lion of St. Mark or. The arms of the Diocese of München-Freising are: Or a Moor’s head proper crowned and wearing a shirt collar gules. https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/Archdiocese_of_M%C3%BCnchen-Freising.

Isn't that nicer? I didn't have to do a whole lot of frustrating research, looking in one armorial after another, and then spend a lot of time writing about all of the information I couldn't find. I didn't even have to spend a lot of time writing about either the Archbishop or the arms of the Archdiocese. I can just include the links for you to click on and read as much or as little about each as you would like.

If only all of my heraldic research could go this well!

Sometimes This Job Is Frustrating

Well, and by "job", I mean my self-imposed work of identifying coats of arms that I, or one or another friend of mine, has photographed.

Sometimes, even many times, I would say that it works out well.

And then there's today's picture.

This is the armorial memorial to Sebastian Reitter von Hallenburg and his wife Maria née Kainen, affixed to the exterior of the cathedral in Munich, Germany.

We know that it is memorializing this couple because we can read the inscription on its face:

A.D.ij den XIIII Maii Anno MDCXX starb der ernueste und wolfürnem Herr Sebastian Reitter von Hallenburg, der loblichen Landschafft in Bairn Zeugwart gewesen. Den IIII. Oct. Anno MDC [Z4] starb die erndreich Frau Maria, ain geborne Kainen, sein eheliche Hausfrau. Deren Sellen Gott genedig und barmherzig sein welle A

In English, it reads:

On the 14th of May in the year 1620, the honorable and highly distinguished Sebastian Reitter von Hallenburg—who had served as Master of Ordnance for the noble Estates of Bavaria—passed away. On the 4th of October in the year 1600, the virtuous Lady Maria née Kainen, his lawful wife—passed away. May God be gracious and merciful to their souls.

So far, so good.

But, for the life of me, I cannot find any additional biographical information anywhere about Herr Reitter or his wife, Maria.

And what's worse (in my not so humble opinion), I cannot find any information about their coats of arms, either! Not in Rietstap's Armorial Général, not in any of the Siebmacher volumes I have access to, not in the other German armorials that I have. Not even in the Neues Allgemeines Deutsches Adels-Lexicon (in 9 volumes), much of which I cannot read, knowing but a little German, but whose blazons generally I can parse. Nothing. Nada. Or, more appropriately for the location of this memorial, nichts.

Leaving me sitting here in a funk, looking at two lovely coats of arms, and not having a clue as to what they are supposed to look like in color.

And not really knowing much of anything at all about the people who bore them.

Which is sad, because I know that they have to have a story behind them, but which story may, at this point, be lost in the mists of time. Or a least the mists of a time some 400 plus years ago.

The Heraldry of a Husband and Wife

Andreas Anton, Graf [Count] von Capris (1716-1776) was a Bavarian major general of French-Italian origin. He has his own Wikipedia entry: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_Anton_von_Capris 

His wife was Maria Theresia Countess von Spreti (1746–1818), the daughter of Lieutenant Field Marshal Hieronymus von Spreti and his wife Maria Caroline Charlotte, née von Ingenheim.

There are two coats of arms on the memorial: Capris (left) and Spreti (right).

Both arms are found (and blazoned in French) in Rietstap's Armorial Général:

Capris de Ciglié: D'or, à une tête et col de bouquetin de sable, accornée d'argent. (Or, a goat's head and neck sable armed argent.)

Spreti: D'argent, à un mont de trois coupeaux surmonté d'une fougère de cinq feuilles au naturel. (Argent, on a mount of three hillocks, a fern with five fronds proper.)

Memorial Heraldry in the Heart of Munich, Germany

The Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady) in the historic center of Munich serves as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and seat of its Archbishop.

The cathedral can hold approximately 20,000 people; this is surprising when one considers that at end of the 15th Century, when the cathedral was built, the city only had about 13,000 inhabitants

Around the exterior of the cathedral are many memorial stones. They came from the cemetery which surrounded the church. For reasons of hygiene the cemetery was to have been moved, but several times, citizens successfully resist against that. In 1800 the cemetery was paved over. On the exterior wall of the cathedral the preserved stone epitaphs of the wealthier citizens are attached. Some of them are decorated with figures, and some with coats of arms. Some texts are almost no longer legible due to weathering over the centuries.

Today we begin looking at some of those memorials with heraldry on them, or at least the ones about whom I can find information.

The first is the memorial of Wolfgang Christoph Edler [noble] von Spitzel auf Unterspan, who (as the memorial tells us) died 12 February 1786, aged 81. The family had arms since 1707, and were named knights of the Holy Roman Empire 1 September 1756.

The arms are found in Rietstap's Armorial Général, where they are blazoned: Écartelé: au 1, d'or, à une couleuvre ondoyante en pal et contournée d'azur, derrière une grille d'argent, posée sur un tertre de sinople; aux 2 et 3, coupé de sable sur argent, le sable chargé d'une paire de tenailles d'argent, posée en fasce; au 4, d'azur, à un griffon d'or, tenant de ses pattes une masse à picotons d'argent.

An English blazon would be: Quarterly: 1, Or, a serpent undy palewise and contourny Azure, behind a grille Argent, set upon a mound Vert; 2 and 3, per fess Sable and Argent, the Sable charged with a pair of pincers fesswise Argent; 4, Azure, a griffin Or, holding in its paws a spiked mace Argent.

A fairly complex coat of arms, and unusual in having the second and third quarters being the same while the first and fourth quarters are different.

Nonetheless, an interesting coat of arms on a memorial to a member of this old Bavarian noble and civil servant family.

Fun With Heraldry in Munich, Germany

Our heraldic item today isn't a true coat of arms; it's a non-heraldry amalgam of two different coats of arms.

The item seen here is a quasi-heraldic decoration of a ceiling boss, an ornamental, projecting keystone or knob located where the ribs of a vaulted ceiling or roof beams intersect.

And what they have done to decorate this ceiling boss is to take elements from the coat of arms of Bavaria and from the coat of arms of the city of Munich, and combine them!

Because it is quasi-heraldic, using real heraldic items, I'm even willing to attempt a blazon: Per chevron throughout ployé paly bendy argent and azure (for Bavaria), and gules a monk's head and shoulders facing dexter proper hooded sable (for Munich).

The ployé in the blazon denotes that the line of division (in this case, per chevron) is "bent", or curved.

Anyway, I thought it was an interest combination of two different coats of arms to (1) decorate a ceiling (2) located in Munich, Germany, which is in the state of Bavaria.

The Lesser Arms of Munich, Germany

Having seen the Greater Arms of the city of Munich, Germany, last time, which incorporate "the monk from the lesser coat of arms", today we're going to see what that "lesser coat of arms" looks like.

And in the process, we're going to see some international heraldry!

This plaque, found in the New Town Hall (Neues Rathaus) in Munich, shows the lesser arms of Munich surrounded by her sister cities around the world.

The “small arms” of Munich, seen in the center panel here, are blazoned: In Silber ein stehender Mönch mit golden bordierter schwarzer Kutte und Kapuze und roten Schuhen, der ein rotes Buch in der Linken hält; die Rechte segnend erhoben. (Argent a monk statant habited Sable trimmed Or with shoes Gules [arms outstretched] the right hand in benediction the left holding a book Gules.) This is the monk who appears within the gateway of the town gate of the greater arms.

Of Munich and her sister cities from around the world, we have the arms (or logo or seal, when no coat of arms exists for that city. I'm looking at you, Cincinnati!) of: from left to right, and top to bottom: 

Kyiv, Ukraine; Harare, Zimibabwe; Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.; 

Sapporo, Japan; Munich, Germany; Bordeaux, France; 

Edinburgh, Scotland, U.K.; Be’er Sheva, Israel; and Verona, Italy.

Not flashy, not all that showy, but what a great display of international heraldry!

The Greater Arms of Munich, Germany

Continuing our virtual tagging along on my friend Katie's river cruise to Europe, and all of the pictures of heraldry she took for me while she was there, we come to Munich, Germany.

Where we find two examples of the "greater arms" of the city over different doorways. (As always, you should click on the image(s) below to see the full-size photograph(s), where you can zoom in and see these arms in greater detail.

The German blazon for this coat of arms is: In Silber ein offenes rotes Stadttor zwischen zwei roten Zinnentürmen mit von Schwarz und Gold mehrfach zickzackartig gebänderten Dächern; oben ein wachsender, golden gekrönter und bewehrter goldener Löwe; im Tor der Mönch des kleinen Wappens. 

In English blazon, we have: Argent, an open red town gate between two red crenellated towers with roofs banded horizontally in a zigzag pattern of sable and or; above, a lion issuant crowned and armed or; within the gateway, the monk from the lesser coat of arms.

The monk (mönch) in both the greater and the lesser arms is, of course, a cant (an heraldic term for a pictorial pun)* on the German name of the city: München. 

The use of the greater arms of Munich was abolished by law from December 17, 1957 and only the small arms have been used since. Though, obviously, you can still see the greater arms depicted here and there about the city.

Next time, we will see the Lesser Coat of Arms of Munich, along with some international heraldry!

* This definition leads to yet another pun, in English, anyway: "Heralds don't pun; they cant".

The heraldic term "cant" being a homophone of "can't", a shortened form of "cannot".

An Heraldic Interior Decorating Tip

For our final stop in Salzburg, Austria, we have tips on how to decorate a room with heraldry, courtesy of the Golden Hall (Goldener Saal) in the Hohensalzburg Fortress (Festung Hohensalzburg).

The Fortress was erected at the behest of the prince-archbishops of Salzburg, and the Golden Hall was begun in 1498, when Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach (whose arms we have seen in our post of August 24, 2026) had these magnificent state apartments installed on the third floor. The state apartments were primarily used for representative purposes and for festivities.

And here are two examples the von Keutschach arms (on the right) painted over a doorway in the Golden Hall:

But it is the 17-meter-long (55-3/4 foot) beam, supporting the ceiling, is particularly worth mentioning. The coat of arms of Archbishop of Salzburg Leonhard von Keutschach (near the center of the first photograph, next to the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg), together with those of the Holy Roman Empire, the most powerful German towns, and the bishoprics that were connected to Salzburg, in the other pictures, are painted on it.

As always, please click on any of the images here to go to the full-size photograph so you can really see the details of these coats of arms.  

And then, as you may havae noticed from two of the photos above, a side wall has three more coats of arms painted on it:

So there you have it! Some home re-decorating ideas for the next time you want to heraldically spruce up your own castle/mansion/humble abode. All courtesy of Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach and the Golden Hall of the Hohensalzburg Fortress in Salzburg, Austria.

A Final Coat of Arms of an Archbishop

This will be the final coat of arms of an Archbishop of Salzburg, but it is, I think, pretty special. (Or at least, unusual.)

No, not the inscribed plaque on this tower; the painted coats of arms at the top of the photograph. (You will probably want to click on the image above to see the full-size photograph where you can zoom in to see these arms more clearly.)

As in some other instances of combining the arms of the Archdiocese with the personal arms of the Archbishop, the shield on the left (heraldic dexter) is the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg: Per pale: dexter, Or a lion rampant sable; sinister, Gules a fess argent (Austria).

The shield on the right (heraldic sinister) is the family arms of Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg 1469-1540 (Archbishop of Salzburg 1519-1540) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matth%C3%A4us_Lang_von_Wellenburg). These arms are blazoned: Argent a quatrefoil gules dimidiating Gules a fleur-de-lis argent.

The family arms are somewhat unusual, and yet they fully serve one of the most basic needs of heraldry; they are clear and easy to identify! Even using the "postage stamp" test I first heard from former State Herald of South Africa Frederick Brownell (shrink a coat of arms to the size of a postage stamp and see if it is still clear and identifiable), this coat of arms passes. (I am tempted to say "passes with flying colors", but I will refrain. Espcially given that there are only two colors on the shield!)

In any event, as a "last stop" for displays of the arms of Archbishops of Salzburg, Austria, I think it makes a nice example.

(New) Herald in the News!

It has been noted that:

"The Kings of Arms tend to be rather like oil tankers sailing in a determined and serene manner through the ocean of life, and as a result they take a long time to change course." (Conrad Swan, A King from Canada, p. 237) Sir Conrad John Marshall Fisher Swan was Garter King of Arms 1992-1995.

But they do eventually change course, as a recent (very recent: today, August 24, 2026) announcement from the College of Arms tells us:

"By Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the Realm dated 24 August 2026, His Majesty The King [Charles III] has been pleased to appoint Caroline Mariah McWilliams to the office of Portcullis Pursuivant of Arms, vacant by the promotion of Dominic Charles Davenport Ingram, now Chester Herald of Arms."

More information about Ms. McWilliams' background in addition to the announcement quoted above of her groundbreaking appointment as a pursuivant at the College of Arms can be found on-line at: https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/news-grants/news/item/257-portcullis-pursuivant

We congratulate Ms. McWilliams on her appointment as Portcullis Pursuivant, and her entry into the company of other 20th and 21st Century female heralds, of whom Claire Boudreau (former Chief Herald of Canada), Elizabeth Roads (former Snawdoun Herald, Scotland), and Susan Flintoff (current Kintyre Pursuivant Extraordinary, Scotland) are examples.

One of My Favorite Coats of Arms in Salzburg, Austria

I know, I know. We shouldn't have personal favorites. All coats of arms are worthy. Nonetheless ... sometimes a particular coat of arms hits you just right, and you develop an emotional attachment to it that you don't feel for most of the others.

That is the case here with me and the arms of Leonhard von Keutschach 1442-1519 (Archbishop of Salzburg 1495-1519). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_von_Keutschach).

His remarkably uncomplicated arms are blazoned: Sable a turnip proper leaved vert. What's not to like?

Anyway, here are a number of memorial plaques containing his arms, coupled with (to the left, heraldic dexter) the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

So what do you think? Aren't these arms both simple (that is, meaning not complex) and outstanding in their simplicity and identifiability?

Two More Examples of the Arms of Archbishop Paris von Lodron, Displayed With Others

Last time we looked at several displays of the arms of Paris von Lodron, 1586-1653 (Archbishop of Salzburg 1619-1653). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Lodron) His arms are blazoned: Gules a lion rampant guardant tail nowed argent.

Today, we find to more examples of his arms, displayed along with the arms of one or more other.

In the images above, inside the Salzburg Cathedral, on the left we have the arms of Archbishop Paris von Lodron. And as we have seen before, the chief on the shield is the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

The coat of arms on the right (heraldic sinister) are those of Andreas Rohracher, 1892-1976 (Archbishop of Salzburg 1943-1969). They are blazoned Per fess argent and vert, three cattails in fess proper their stems surmounted in base by a barrulet wavy argent. Here, too, the chief is the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

And then we have this display of heraldry:

I have not yet been able to identify the arms in the small shield on the left. They presumably belong to another Archbishop of Salzburg, given that they, along with the others over this doorway, all have a chief of the Archdiocese. 

In the small shield on the right, we have once again the arms of Archbhishop Paris von Lodron

And then, in pride of place, the center, we have the arms of Franz Anton von Harrach zu Rorau, 1665-1727 (Archbishop of Salzburg 1709-1727) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Anton_von_Harrach). His arms are blazoned: Gules three ostrich feathers in pall quills to center argent surmounted in the center by a roundel argent.

Once again, quite the displays of heraldry!

Several Displays of the Arms of an Archbishop in Salzburg, Austria

Having seen the several ways in which the arms of an archbishop may be displayed with the arms of the archdiocese, today (and next time, for that matter, but in different settings) we're going to see several depictions of the arms of an archbishop combined with the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, though in each of these cases, the personal arms are surmounted by a chief of the archdiocese.

Each of these is the arms of Paris von Lodron, 1586-1653 (Archbishop of Salzburg 1619-1653). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Lodron)

The arms are blazoned: Gules a lion rampant guardant tail nowed argent. The chief, the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg, are: Per pale: dexter, Or a lion rampant sable; sinister, Gules a fess argent (Austria).

Next time, we'll see more examples of Archbishop von Lodron's arms, but displayed in conjunction with other Archbishops of Salzburg.

Yet Another Way to Combine Arms of Office With Personal Arms

Having seen in our last post two different ways of displaying the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg with the personal arms of the Archbishop, today we're going to see (1) more examples of the use of the arms of the archbishop with a chief of the archdiocese; and (2) three examples of the two coats of arms on separate shields.

All of these examples are from the Archbishop Guidobald von Thun and/or Archbishop Johann Ernst Graf von Thun und Hohenstein. (I did not find dates for any of these armorial displays, and so they could be for one or for the other, or a combination of each.)

Guidobald of Thun, 1616–1668, was Archbishop of Salzburg 1654-1668. He was also Bishop of Regensburg, and a Cardinal. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guidobald_of_Thun) 

Johann Ernst Graf von Thun und Hohenstein (1643–1709) was Bishop of Seckau from 1679 to 1687 and Prince-archbishop of Salzburg from 1687 until 1709. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Ernst_von_Thun_und_Hohenstein)

Here are the examples of the von Thun arms with a chief of the Archdiocese;

As always, please feel free to click on any of the images here to see the full-size photograph, where you can zoom in to see the arms in greater detail.

The von Thum arms are blazoned: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Azure a bend or; 2 and 3, Per pale: dexter, Argent an eagle displayed gules issuant from the line of division; sinister, Sable a fess argent; overall, an inescutcheon, Gules a fess argent (Austria). The chief is the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg: Per pale: dexter, Or a lion rampant sable; sinister, Gules a fess argent (Austria).

In the first image, the galero over the shield, with its twelve tassels (six on each side) marks his rank as Bishop, either of Regensburg (Guidobald), or Seckau (Johann).

And in these next three pictures, we see the von Thun arms displayed to the sinister (to the viewer's right) with the arms of the Archdiocese to dexter (to the viewer's left):

All in all, between this post and the last one, it's been a fascinating look at some of the different ways in which the arms of an office can be displayed with the personal arms of an office-holder. I hope that you have found it as interesting as I have!

Two Different Ways of Combining Arms of Office with Personal Arms Seen in Salzburg, Austria

Over the years we have seen again and again how a person may combine the arms of an office they hold with their personal arms on a shield. This is usually done by impaling the arms of the office on the dexter side of the shield with the personal arms on the sinister side of the shield.

In Salzburg, however, we see two other methods of combining arms of office with personal arms.

The first (and we will see more examples of this in upcoming posts from Salzburg) is to add to the shield of the personal arms a chief of the arms of the office. In these instances, the chief is the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg (which are identical to the older arms of the municipality of Salzburg and also the arms of the District of Salzburg: Per pale: dexter, Or a lion rampant sable; sinister, Gules a fess argent (Austria).

These are the arms of Markus Sittikus von Hohenems, 1574-1619 (Archbishop of Salzburg 1612-1619) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markus_Sittich_von_Hohenems): Azure a ram rampant or, with the chief of the Archdiocese.

The entire shield is surmounted with an archbishop’s galero, a wide-brimmed, flat, tasseled ecclesiastical hat. For archbishops, the galero is always green and features 20 tassels (10 on each side), visually distinguishing them from standard bishops (who have 12 tassels, six on each side).

Next, we have the personal arms of the von Kuenburg family, three of whose members were Archbishops of Salzburg: Michael von Kuenburg (Archbishop of Salzburg 1554–1560); Georg von Kuenburg (Archbishop of Salzburg 1580-1586); and Maximilian Gandolf von Kuenburg (Archbishop of Salzburg 1668-1687).

Please click on the image above to go to the full-sized photograph where you can zoom in to see the details of this shield.

The von Kuenburg arms are blazoned: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Per pale gules and argent a roundel counterchanged; 2 and 3, Per fess sable and argent a flat hinge counterchanged. The shield is surmounted by a noble’s coronet.

I would have thought the item in the second and third quarters was a millrind, a fairly common heraldic charge, but for the pretty clear knuckle, the raised, cylindrical portion in the center through which the pin passes to hold the two leaves together.

These arms could memorialize any of the three von Kuenburg archbishops, or to be honest, nearly any other member of this family.

However, this next memorial is definitely that of Michael von Kuenburg, mentioned by name and “von Gotes Genaden” (by the grace of God) Archbishop of Salzburg, dated 1559).

Here, the quarters of the arms of the von Kuenburgs are further quartered with the arms of the Archbishopric, instead of the more common usage of a chief of the Archbishopric. Quarterly: 1 and 4, the Archbishopric of Salzburg; 2, Per pale gules and argent a roundel counterchanged; and 3, Per fess sable and argent a flat hinge counterchanged.

I note that while the script gives his title as Archbishop, the galero surmounting the shield has only the twelve (six on each side) tassels of a Bishop.

I found it interesting to see these somewhat rarer forms of marshalling the arms of office with personal arms. But, as J.P. Brooke-Little put it so well in the introduction to his book An Heraldic Alphabet: "You can study heraldry until you are azure ... in the face but inevitably discover, from time to time, that you really are quite vert.... I have found this over and over again but, never forget, herein lies the fun and if heraldry ever ceases to be fun - chuck it."

Salzburg, Austria

The next stop on my friend Katie's river cruise through Europe was in Salzburg, Austria.

Where she photographed the city's coat of arms. Well, the "new" one (shall we call it "Salzburg modern"?) that's been used since somewhere around 1600, though it was only officially granted on November 14, 1931.

An English blazon of this coat of arms would be: Gules a city wall with three church towers argent roofed or.

But she also photographed this coat of arms in the city:

Here, the identification of the arms becomes somewhat more of a trick.

They could be the earlier arms of the municipality of Salzburg ("Salzburg ancient" if you will), used through the late 16th century.

Or, they could be the arms of Salzburg District;

Or, they could be the arms of the Archbishopric of Salzburg.

Because all three of those entities use or used this coat of arms, which I would blazon as: Per pale: dexter, Or a lion rampant sable; sinister, Gules a fess argent (Austria).

All in all, given the lion supporter, I tend to favor the idea that the depiction here is the arms of Salzburg District, but I could be entirely off-base here.

It does get a bit confusing, though, when you have three different entities using the same coat of arms!

Be that as it may, we are going to see this heraldry again, though in situations that make it clear that it is the arms of the Archdiocese of Salzburg which are being depicted.