Better Than the Average Self-Assumed Arms

I recently ran across a self-assumed coat of arms for a Scottish society (one of probably hundreds which exist in the United States; sometimes it feels like you can't swing a dead bagpipe without running into one or another society celebrating some folks' Scottish heritage.  Not that I have any cause to say anything; one family line goes back to Aberdeenshire in the early 1600s in the person of one Daniel Forbes).  The Tennessee Valley Scottish Society is based in Huntsville, Alabama, and I thought that their self-assumed arms did a nice job of combining symbols of both Scotland and Alabama:

The shield, of course, is divided per fess wavy (which I presume symbolizes the Atlantic Ocean and the voyage across it which their - and my - ancestors took to get to these shores), with the flag of the "Scottish saltire" (a white cross of St. Andrew on a blue field) with the flag of the State of Alabama (a red cross of St. Andrew on a white field).

The design also includes other symbols of the respective nation and state (the thistle and the three mullets), with the lion from the crest from the Scottish Royal Arms (only in gold instead of red, and issuing from a bunch of cotton plants and bolls) and holding the two flags.

All in all, I rather like the design.  It's clear just from looking at it what it represents, and isn't that one of the primary functions of heraldry?  So, kudos to the Tennessee Valley Scottish Society of Huntsville, Alabama, for their heraldry!

What Not To Do

Or this post could be subtitled: "The Kitchen Sink School of Heraldry."  (Because it seems like the designers have tried to include everything, including the kitchen sink.)

Over the years I have acquired a lot of images of heraldry as used here in the United States and elsewhere.  Some of it is very good; a lot of it is fair; and some of it is, well, really bad.

One example that appears as an example of this last is the "arms" of the State of Alabama.  (Whose state motto is sometimes, jokingly, said to be, "At least we're not Mississippi.")

As you can see, it's a bit of a mash-up, consisting as it does of the arms or flags of the several nations which have claimed its territory over the past few centuries: France, Spain, Great Britain, the Confederate States of America, and the United States of America.  It could be blazoned "briefly," I suppose, as Quarterly, 1, France modern [Azure three fleurs-de-lys Or]; 2, Spain [Quarterly, 1 and 4, Gules a tower or castle Or (Castile), 2 and 3, Argent a lion rampant Gules (Leon)]; 3, the Union flag (1801 to present, for Great Britain); and 4, the battle flag of the Confederate States of America (Gules on a saltire Azure fimbriated 13 mullets Argent); overall, an inescutcheon Paly of thirteen Gules and Argent a chief Azure (which last is almost but not quite the arms of the United States, reversing as it does the red and white stripes).  Additionally, the use of the arms of the U.S. on an inescutcheon would seem to state that Alabama's progeny will inherit the United States, at least heraldically.

Another example of the same kitchen-sink school of heraldic design can be found in the arms of the City of Winchester, Virginia.

Here, too, we have flags and arms in a quarterly shield, this time the earlier version of the Union flag (1606-1801), the central image of an Amazon having slain Tyranny from the seal of the State of Virginia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_of_virginia), the Confederate battle flag (without the fimbriation of the saltire), and yet another, different allusion to the arms of the United States, Gules two pallets Argent on a chief Azure three mullets Argent.  As noted above, the arms of the U.S. are Paly of thirteen Argent and Gules, a chief Azure (thirteen stripes, not five; white on the outer sides, not red; and no stars on the chief).

You Just Never Know ...

... where you're going to run across a discussion about, or pictures of (good or bad) heraldry.  In this case, I ran across a recent string of posts in a guitar and musician forum, My Les Paul, at http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/backstage/85456-coat-arms.html

Johan Åberg posted there about a coat of arms he has designed for himself and his family.  He goes on to discuss the symbolism of the various elements.  It's a decent design, all in all, and is, I think, pretty impressive, all things considered.

Then, of course, someone else had to get into the conversation with "Here's mine".

Alas, of course, it's really just the not-terribly-well-designed coat of arms of the State of Alabama, with a rock guitarist substituted for France Modern in the first quarter.  (More information about the Alabama coat of arms can be found on-line at: http://www.archives.state.al.us/emblems/st_coa.html, where it is noted that "The original design of the Alabama coat of arms was made in 1923 by B. J. Tieman, New York, an authority on heraldry."  Frankly, I have to question how much of an "authority" he really was, but maybe that's just me.)

Heraldry in the News!

The town of Thorsby, Alabama, had the opportunity yesterday (Saturday) to participate in an international heraldic endeavor -- to vote on a design for a coat of arms for the city.  Several designs were submitted by the Swedish Heraldry Association, which had held a contest to design arms for Thorsby after seeing an image from the mayor's business card in a Swedish newspaper.

The full story - with images of four of the submitted designs - can be found in the on-line pages of the Clanton Advertiser, a local newspaper, at: http://www.clantonadvertiser.com/news/2009/oct/16/vote-decide-coat-arms/