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".