The Arms of a Bishop and Coadjutor Bishop

For our next, and final, stop in Passau, Germany, we find this armorial display of four shields dated 1525. (As always, you can click on the image below to see the full-size photograph in greater detail.)

At the top we have what I bellieve to be the crest of Wiguleus Fröschl von Marzoll, Bishop of Passau 1500-1517, placed on a shield. Issuant from a coronet, a dexter cubit arm gules the hand closed around stone proper. However, other depictions of the crest I have seen do not have the coronet, so my identification here could be incorrect.

The shield on the left in the center is badly worn on the outside, but it looks like the arms of Ernst von Bayern, Coadjutor Bishop* of Passau, 1517, Administrator of Passau, 1517-1540, Administrator of Salzburg, 1540-1554. His arms are: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Argent a lion rampant gules; 2, Sable a lion rampant or crowned gules; and 4, Lozengy bendwise azure and argent. (At least one old armorial substitutes wolf from the arms of the City of Passau for the lions in the first and fouth quarters.)

The shield on the right in the center is very badly worn, to the point of unidentifiability, but might be the arms of the City of Passau, Argent a wolf rampant gules.

And finally, the shield at the bottom is the arms of Wiguleus Fröschl von Marzoll, Bishop of Passau. One old armorial colors these arms as: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Gules a lion with the face of a tusked man rampant argent (Pachhamer); 2 and 3, Or a frog tergiant vert (Fröschl von Marzoll).

The colors of the second and third quarters from that old armorial are incorrect. Rietstap's Armorial Général blazons the Fröschl von Marzoll arms (translated into English) as Sable a frog tergiant or.

The arms are canting. The family name is derived from "fröschl," which means "little frog" in Bavarian dialect.

Albeit somewhat worn, and even a little confusing in places, it is still an interesting display of heraldry!



* A coadjutor is a person appointed to assist another in their duties. The term is most commonly used in religious and historical contexts to refer to a bishop or archbishop appointed to assist a diocesan bishop with the right to automatically succeed them upon their retirement or death.

The Complex Armorial Displays of a Prince-Bishop

At our next stop in Passau, Germany, we find two displays of a very complex armory: the arms of Johann Philipp von Lamberg (1651-1712), Prince-Bishop of Passau. (Wikipedia entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Philipp_von_Lamberg). He was also a cardinal of the church, but the red galero of a cardinal does not appear in either of these displays.

First, we have this stone-carved rendition of his arms on a railing (as always, you should click on the image to go to the full-size photograph to see these arms in greater detail):

These arms appear in Rietstap's Armorial Général, blazoned:

Rietstap: Lamberg d’Amerang – Aut. (Comtes, 1636; princes, 1707). Ec: aux 1 et 4 parti: a. fascé d’ar. et d’azur de quatre pièces; b. de gu. plein (Lamberg); aux 2 et 3 d’or à un chien braque ramp. de sa., langue de gu., coll. et bouclé d’or (Pottwein ou Podwein). Sur le tout de gu. à deux lévriers affr. d’arg., coll. d’or, ramp. contre une echelle de quatre échelons d’or (de la Scala ou Scaliger).

They appear in Rolland and Rolland's Illustrations to the Armorial Général:

Here is my English translation of Rietstap of these arms, including the addition of another inescutcheon with the arms of the City of Passau: Lamberg of Amerang – Austria (Counts, 1636; princes, 1707) Quarterly: 1 and 4; Per pale, a, Barry of four pieces argent and azure; b, Gules plain (Lamberg); 2 and 3, Or a pointer dog rampant sable langued gules collared and buckled or (Pottwein or Podwein); overall two inescutcheons, (dexter) Argent a wolf rampant gules (the city of Passau); (sinister) Gules a ladder of four rungs or supported by two greyhounds rampant respectant argent collared or (de la Scala or Scaliger), the two inescutcheons surmounted by a bishop’s mitre proper.

These arms also appear in color over an altar:

You can decide for yourself how accurate my blazon is by comparing it with the detail of the arms over the altar immediately below:

In both displays, behind the shield is a bishop's crozier and the sword of a prince flanking a processional cross, surmounted by the crown of a prince.

All in all, I find these to be fascinating displays of what is really some very complex heraldry, identifying both the man and his offices.

It is, as Mel Brooks said in A History of the World, Part I, "good to be the king," but clearly, as demonstrated here, it is also good to be the Prince-Bishop!

The Arms of a Kingdom

Following along on Katie's trip up the Danube, we come to the city of Passau, Germany, where she found the arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria.

The arms of the Kingdom of Bavaria are: Quarterly Pfalz (Sable a lion rampant crowned gules), Franken (Per fess indented gules and argent), Margraviate of Burgau (for Schwaben, the area of the Staufen family) (Bendy sinister argent and gules a pale or), and Veldenz (Argent a lion rampant [here, queue forchy] azure crowned or), an inescutcheon of the arms of Wittelsbach (the longtime ruling family in Bavaria) (Paly bendy [or Lozengy bendwise] argent and azure).

These were the Bavarian Kingdom coat of arms from 1835 until the end of the monarchy on November 12, 1918.

We have seen these arms before, on a sign in London, England, no less!

The sign is for "King Ludwig Wheat Beer. Beer of Royal Highness".

It was King Ludwig I (reigned 1825-1848) who adopted these arms in 1835. King Ludwig I is not nearly so well known as his grandson, King Ludwig II, "the Mad", also called "the Fairy Tale King", best known for building Neuschwanstein Castle.