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.

Our Final Heraldic Stop in Mondsee, Austria

Our final coat of arms from Mondsee, Austria is this carved achievement of arms is located above the entrance of Schloss Mondsee (the former Mondsee Abbey).

This stone carving is the historic coat of arms belonging to the Princes of Wrede, a German princely family originating in Bavaria.

The blazon is: Or a chaplet of roses proper on a canton azure a sword erect proper. The motto on the belt encircling the shield reads: Virtuti pro patria (Power for the country).

As always, you can click on the image above to see the full-size photograph and its greater detail of this princely achievement of arms.

An Armorial Memorial to an Abbott

Our next bit of heraldry from Katie's trip to Europe is a Late Baroque epitaph and memorial plaque dedicated to Abbot Maurus Schinnagl (Latinized as Mauritius), who served as the abbot of Mondsee Abbey from 1764 until his death in 1773.

The center of the monument features a relief of an open book and a chalice, symbolizing his theological scholarship and priestly duties. Below that, the Latin inscription begins with a standard funerary invocation, “VIATOR Circumspice” (Passenger/wayfarer, Look about you), followed by his religious name, Mauritius. At the very top sits a carved head wearing a mitre (the ceremonial headdress of an abbot), signifying his high ecclesiastical office, atop two coats of arms.

The arms on the left are, once again, those of Mondsee, Austria, which we have seen in the last two posts preceding this one.

The arms on the right are those of Abbot Schinnagl. These arms consist of a human figure in chief, and three difficult-to-make-out charges in base, although the dexter-most one is very reminiscent of a lion's face. I have, alas, been unable to find any record of this coat of arms which would allow us to determine more specifically the colors and charges on the shield.

The base features a stark memento mori element—a sculpted human skull serving as a traditional reminder of mortality and the fleeting nature of earthly life.

Abbot Maurus was a significant intellectual figure for the monastery during the 18th century, actively managing its extensive library and historical archives right up until the final decades before the abbey was permanently dissolved.

Two Coats of Arms: City and Abbey

Here, on the exterior of Mondsee Abbey, we find two coats of arms side by side, the pair surmounted by a mitre:

On the left, we see the arms of Mondsee, Austria: Per fess: Azure a moon in her decriment or; and Argent three boats or each charged with three bendlets sable and rowed by a standing boatman proper habited gules hatted sable.

And on the right, the arms of the Benedictine Abbey of Mondsee: Per fess: in chief, Per pale or and sable, a two-headed eagle displayed sable issuant from the palar line, and a camel passant or; in base, Argent a circular lake surrounded by a ring of trees all proper. (A color depiction of these arms can be found on the website of Heraldry of the World, https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/Mondsee)

Mondsee Abbey (German: Kloster Mondsee) was a Benedictine monastery in Mondsee in Upper Austria. The region of the Mondseeland, in which Mondsee is located, was formerly part of Bavaria. Mondsee Abbey was founded in 748 by Odilo, Duke of Bavaria, on the ruins of a Roman settlement.

Do I know why the arms of Mondsee Abbey have a camel on them? No, I do not. It seems a most unusual charge for an establishment in Bavaria, later Austria. But then, I have found camels in the heraldry of a number of places where one would not expect them: for example, Ville de la Couronne, France; Le Poil, France; Plzn, Czech Republic; Timelkam, Austria; Tinajo, Spain; Tuineje, Spain; and the Zunft zum Kämbel ("Kämbel guild") of Zürich, Switzerland. This last is pretty clearly canting arms, but not the others.

I feel certain that there is a story in there somewhere about this coat of arms, but I have no idea what it might be.

The Unusual Arms of Mondsee, Austria

For our next stop as we follow my friend Katie on her river cruise in Europe, we come to the city of Mondsee, Austria, and it's somewhat unusual coat of arms.

Heraldry of the World, https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/wiki/Mondsee, gives us the blazon of these arms in German: Geteilt; oben in Blau ein goldener, sicheljOrmig gesichteter Vollmond; unten in Silber drei goldene, zwei zu eins gestellte Zillen mit schwarzen, schrägrechten Brandstreifen, linkshin gerodert von je einem rot gekleideten, stehenden Schiffmann mit schwarzem Filzhut.

A literal English translation of that blazon would be: Per fess: Azure a moon in her decriment* or; and Argent three golden boats, two to one, black diagonal fire stripes, each flanked to the left by a red-clad, standing boatman with a black felt hat.

A perhaps more accurate English blazon: Per fess: Azure a moon in her decriment or; and Argent three boats or each charged with three bendlets sable and rowed by a standing boatman proper habited gules hatted sable.

These arms are, in fact, canting; that is, they are a pun on the name. Mondsee = Moon sea.

* “A face in profile [on the moon] may be depicted exterior to the concave edge. With the horns facing dexter she is (or should be) blazoned ‘[a moon] in her increment’, and with the horns to the sinister ‘[a moon] in decrement’; it must, however, be pointed out that on the numerous occasions of her being er[roneously] blazoned ‘[moon] increscent’ and ‘[moon] decrescent’ (and when ‘decriment’ is printed in place of ‘detriment’), no harm is done because the intention is quite clear.” (Franklyn and Tanner, An Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Heraldry, cf. “Moon”.

I will note for my own part that not every heraldic author agrees with Franklyn and Tanner on the definitions of these terms.

Heraldry in the News!

So there I was, minding my own business, looking at some of the recent stories on-line, when I was caught by a headline:

"The Logo for Donald Trump International Airport Appears to Be AI Slop"

It turns out that recently, the Palm Beach International Airport in South Florida was renamed the President Donald J. Trump International Airport. And along with the new name, it's been given a new logo.

The story about this new name and logo was written by Frank Landymore, and posted on Fri, July 10, 2026 at 9:13 AM CDT. It can be found at hcttps://currently.att.yahoo.com/tech/ai/articles/logo-donald-trump-international-airport-141311663.html

Here's a close-up, pointing out the issues the Mr. Landymore discusses below:

"You'll notice some things that're a little off in the finer details. The talons are horribly deformed and shaped differently from each other. The entire legs are uneven, too, and the base of them are represented as a strange conglomeration of blobs, which are also inconsistent. In fact, the whole thing is slightly asymmetrical. The wings have an uneven number of feathers. The two olive branches — another error in itself, because the eagle is supposed to be clutching a bundle of arrows in its right-side talon — have differing numbers of leaves. And the shield only has eleven stripes, as opposed to the thirteen that the actual Great Seal is supposed to feature."

To all of which I would add another: there are no stars on the chief! The arms of the United States of America, the shield on the breast of the eagle, is blazoned Paly of thirteen argent and gules a chief azure. No stars anywhere.

Landymore goes on to ask if this is AI slop? "Eagle-eyed and outraged netizens didn't hesitate to make this diagnosis, with one Reddit thread calling out the Trump logo's incongruities going viral."

"'All the resources in the world and the logo for Trump Airport is AI generated,' the title lamented."

He goes on to say that, "maybe his new airport logo is kind of a perfect use case for AI. The displaying of the US Great Seal is highly restricted, so it's unlikely that an airport in Florida would be authorized to flaunt it as a logo, even if Trump himself wanted it to. But with AI, you can quickly spit out a cheap bastardization, uncanny in its likeness, but also not quite right."

Included below for comparison with the above is the Seal of the President of the United States, on a baseball-style cap that I purchased a the gift shop at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport when I was there a few years ago. It is pretty easy to spot the differences between a good embroidered reproduction of the seal and the "AI slop" on the signs for the new President Donald J. Trump International Airport.

As an aside, I have to admit I think my favorite part of this cap is the embroidered/embossed black-on-black eagle and shield on the brim.

Anyway, here's a full-color drawing of the full achievement of arms of the U.S. with even more detail that you can use to compare:

As someone said just a very few years ago, "I don't want artificial intelligence to write books and make art; I want artificial intelligence to do the dishes and and the laundry so I can write books and make art."

And the art on that airport sign is only one reason for wishing that.