Some Military and Civic Heraldry

There is a section of York Minster that displays some English military and foreign civic heraldry in a combined display and memorial.

The military heraldry is that of The 14th West Yorkshire Regiment, The Prince of Wales’s Own:

And this part of the Minster memorializes the Regiment's service during World War I in France and Flanders:

The other shields, each within a wreath and supported by two angels, are the civic heraldry in the title of this post, the coats of arms of the cities where they were stationed at various times during the Great War.

In this overview shot, we see the arms, from left to right, of Ypres, Belgium, and of Cambrai and Fère-En-Tardenois (between Paris and Reims), France. We'll look more closely at each of these further below:

The arms of Armentieres (the city of the oft-sung Mademoiselle), France:

The arms of Neuve Chapelle (WSW of Lille), France.

And close-ups of the first three: Ypres, Belgium;

Cambrai, France;

and, again, Fère-En-Tardenois:

You will probably have noticed that most of these places have the date(s) when the Regiment was stationed there.

So there you have it: the Who (the 14th West Yorkshire Regiment, The Prince of Wales’s Own); the Where (various cities in France and Belgium); the When (the dates they were posted to most of these places); and should already pretty much be aware of the Why (World War I).

What an impressive memorial!

Some Armorial Plaques with WWII Connections

Continuing our look at some of the armorial plaques of members of the Order of the Elephant in the upper level of the chapel at Frederiksborg Castle, we come now to a few members who played large roles in the World War II.

Because these people are so very well-known, I am going to assume here that I don't really have to tell you who they are, beyond noting their names.

Even though the pictures here are of individual plaques, please feel free to click on an image to see a larger, more detailed photograph.

First, and likely the most well-known, we have the arms of Winston S. Churchill, Prime Minister of England during the war. He became a member of the Order of the Elephant in 1950.

Next, we have another Briton, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. His title as Viscount comes from his victory in the battle in North Africa, the second battle of El Alamein, Egypt, where Montgomery and the British 8th Army pushed back German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel and the Afrika Korps, eventually leading to the defeat and surrender of Axis forced in North Africa in May 1943. Montgomery was made a member of the Order in 1945.

And finally, we have the plaque of General Charles de Gaulle, one of the leaders of the Free French forces in WWII, and President of the French Republic (1959-1960). He was created a member of the Order in 1965.

The arms are not personal arms, but consist of the French tricolor (blue, white and red) on a shield, charged in the center with the cross of Lorraine, a widely-used symbol of French resistance to the Nazi occupation during the war.

Yes, I know that I've left out one other famous WWII general who was created a member of the Order of the Elephant from the august company here. I didn't forget him; we'll take a more detailed look at his plaque, and some of the background  to it, in our next post. See you then!

Some Members of the Danish Royal Household and Their Spouses

Now we come to the armorial plaques of some members of the royal family of Denmark, and their spouses.

The arms on the plaque above are, obviously, the arms of the King (or Queen) of Denmark, though with no date on the plaque, I can't tell you just offhand which one. Note, however, that the shield is surrounded with the sashes and collars of both Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog.

(Maybe Mel Brooks, in his History of the World, Part 1, was right: "It's good to be the king!")

Here we find the armorial plaque of His Royal Highness Prince Henrik of Denmark (born Henri Marie Jean André de Laborde de Monpezat) (1934-2018). He was the husband of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. He served as her royal consort from her accession on January 14, 1972 until his death in 2018. He was created a member of the Order in 1967, the year he married heir presumptive Princess Margrethe.

Here, on his own plaque, we have the arms of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat.

And here, displayed with the arms of his wife, we find the arms of Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, and Mary, Crown Princess of Denmark, Countess of Monpezat, R.E. She was born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson. Because Frederik is the heir apparent to the throne of Denmark, when he succeeds she will automatically become Queen Consort of Denmark.

The gold field with the eagle gules and ship (specifically, a lymphad) sable (though it appears they gave the eagle a second head) both symbolize her Scottish ancestry from the clan MacDonald is set on a field of gold. The chief of the shield is azure and shows two gold Commonwealth (seven pointed) stars from the coat of arms of Australia, and a golden rose in between.

The MacDonald arms (without the charged chief) can be seen on the tabard of the Finlaggan Pursuivant (in the center of the picture below, taken when Adam Bruce was Finlaggan).

The office of Finlaggan Pursuivant is currently held by Thomas Miers, who was appointed at a ceremony in Edinburgh in July 2009. Miers succeeded the Hon. Adam Robert Bruce following his appointment as Unicorn Pursuivant at the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms of Scotland. Bruce was appointed by Godfrey James Macdonald, 8th Baron Macdonald of Slate, Chief of the Name and Arms of Macdonald and High Chief of Clan Donald. This post was revived in 2005, after 510 years, in a ceremony attended by Ross Herald of Arms in Ordinary from the Court of the Lord Lyon and the four MacDonald chiefs.

Next, we come to the arms of Prince Joachim of Denmark, Count of Monpezat. Joachim is the younger brother of Crown Prince Frederik. (The title Count of Monpezat descends to all male descendants of their father, H.R.H. Prince Henrik (above).)

And here are the arms of Prince Joachim of Denmark, Count of Monpezat, and Princess Marie. Her arms were granted in 2010. A horseman, representing her maiden name Cavallier (meaning knight or horseman) is depicted in blue on a silver shield. The secondary charges are a combination of the Danish and French national symbols; a heart and a fleur de lys. Three red hearts (symbolizing Denmark) are cut with the fleur-de-lis (symbolizing France).

And finally, we have their two plaques, side-by-side.

Foreign Arms and Flags in Copenhagen

Of course, Copenhagen being the the capitol of Denmark, we should not be surprised to find the flags and/or arms of other nations appearing there, as capitol cities will generally host the embassies and consulates of foreign countries there.

So, during our walkabouts in Copenhagen, we found the following (in alphabetical order), without really trying to look very hard:

The flag of Finland:

The flag and arms of the French Republic:

The flag of Georgia (the country, not the U.S. State of Georgia!): Argent a cross between four crosses patty gules.

The flag and arms of the Italian Republic:

On a ship in the harbor, the ensign of the Republic of Poland. This ensign is based on the naval ensign, but instead of the fly being swallowtailed, this is a standard flag shape. Per fess argent and gules in chief the arms of Poland in chief (Gules an eagle displayed argent beaked and crowned or). (The national flag of Poland is simply Per fess argent and gules.)

The flag of the Republic of Slovenia:

And, finally, the arms of Sweden

Quite the international tour, for simply walking about the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark!

A Foreign Coat of Arms in Ghent

Continuing the theme of some of our recent posts, here's another food-themed bit of heraldry that also happens to be a coat of arms which is foreign to Belgium.

These are, of course the well-known arms of Brittany (Bretagne) (from northwestern France), which have the extremely simple, one-word blazon Ermine.

What does Brittany have to do with food in Belgium, you ask?

Well, it's painted on the front of this fun little establishment in Ghent:

This is the Bretoens Gwenola panne[n]koekenhuis, or Breton Gwenola Pancake House. Though they serve a few other things, too, they seem to be best known for their sweet and salty Breton pancakes and galettes (savory pancakes made from potatoes or buckwheat).

And that, my friends, is how you manage to find yourself facing the coat of arms of Brittany in the old city of Ghent, Belgium!

Geelhand and Ullens: Two Families Together, The Final Part

This will be our final stops for the arms of the Geelhand and Ullens families, I promise!

For our first stop, we have yet another window donated to the Cathedral of Our Lady, in Antwerp, Belgium, by the same donors as the last two windows we have looked at: Jacob Ullens and his wife Clementia Geelhand.

That photo is not the best one, but the angle was a little weird, and was the best I could do to get as much of the window as possible.

This shot is a better view of the three central figures, St. Eligius (Eloi), St. Dympha, and St. Amand, between two rows of coats of arms that relate to them.

In the upper portion of the window, we have the arms of the two donors, Jacob Ullens and Clementia Geelhand, placed side-by-side, surmounted with a helm from which the crest of the Ullens, A garb or banded vert issues from the coronet of a marquis.

Of the coats of arms above the the three saints, we have, from left to right, the arms of:

Tornacum (Diocese of Tournai, Belgium, where St. Eligius (Eloi) was bishop, 641-660);

Ireland (where St. Dymphna was born in the 7th Century); and

Maastricht, The Netherlands (St. Amand was bishop of Maastricht, 647-650). 

Below the three saints, we have three more coats of arms relating this time to their deaths. From left to right we find the arms of:

Noviodunum (Noviodunum is a name of Celtic origin, meaning "new fort"), now Noyon, France (where St. Eligius died, December 1, 660);

Gheel, or Geel, Belgium (where St. Dymphna was martyred to protect her chastity in the 7th century); and

Tornacum, now Tournai, Belgium (St. Amand died in 679 in Saint-Amand-les-Eaux, near Tournai).

And now we go to our final photograph with the arms of Ullens and Geelhand:

This is, alas, another painted wooden panel underneath that row of windows with the sun shining in, and giving my digital camera a little sun flare that washes out the image a bit on the right.

Nonetheless, and as always, you can click on the image above to see a larger, more detailed one, in this row of four coats of arms, the first two on the left are essentially merchants marks, followed by Ullens (surmounted by a helm and the Ullens crest of A garb or banded vert, and Ullens impaling Geelhand. This last, being on a lozenge, is presumably for the wife of the Ullens in the third panel here.

Anyway, it's been fun, compiling - and sharing with you - all of the depictions of the coats of arms of these two significant Antwerp families. I can only hope that you have found it at least a little bit educational as well as entertaining.

Next time, somebody else!

An Amusing Bit of Heraldry

I found this coat of arms on Peter's Street in Canterbury, near where it becomes High Street.

It caught my attention because it really does do all of the things that a coat of arms should do: it's simple, easily identifiable, and it tells you a lot about the bearer.

In this case, you can tell right off the bat without knowing anything else that the shop there is French and presumable sells baked goods in addition to its role as a place to eat.

And really, what else do you need to know?

I'd blazon those arms as: Tierced per pale azure, argent, and gules two baguettes in saltire proper.

Have Some Heraldry With Your Lunch, Part 2

In addition to the flags of Flanders and Picardy, discussed in my last post, there was some more heraldry hanging on the wall of the restaurant.

I tend to have mixed emotions about images, even heraldic ones, that I think were taken out of a book and the matted and framed. I mean, I like seeing heraldry displayed, but the purist in me hates the thought of a book being cut up into parts.

Still, it was clearly far, far too late for me to tell them not to cut a book up, so I'll have to settle for trying to enjoy the heraldry that was once printed in it.

First, there was this page, the arms of the region of Artois, which we have seen several times before during this trip, both alone and on the inescutcheon of the arms of Arras. Here, though the color of the label looks like or;* it should be: a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers in pale or.

* It appears that there has been some color shifting on each of these pages; in several of the arms what should be gules (or red) looks like or (gold).

The other page was that of the arms of cities in the area.

Here, the arms of the City of Arras is almost exactly that of the arms of Artois, above, except that the gold label has one or two hard to identify charges on each of the tags. If it were Artois, one would expect three towers in pale on each of the tags, but I cannot make them out here even when I enlarge the image significantly.

The other cities whose arms are given here (though often the colors are incorrect; I give the correct blazon with each city) are: St. Omer (Gules a cross of Lorraine argent), Bethune (Argent a fess gules), Aíre (Aire-sur-la-Lys, Gules an eagle displayed argent beaked and membered or), Lens (Azure a castle between in fess two fleurs-de-lys or), Bappaume (Azure a pair of hands and a sinister hand couped appaumy two and one argent), Hesdín (Per pale argent and gules in chief two mullets counterchanged), St. Paul (Gules three pallets vair on a chief or a label of three tags azure), Lílers (Lillers, Gules three (here, four) chevronels or), and Perne (Pernes-en-Artois, Argent a lion rampant gules crowned or).

Once again, it was very nice to have a little heraldry with our lunch!

Have Some Heraldry With Your Lunch, Part 1

Following the several days of the Congress in Arras, France, we signed up for an all-day excursion to some of the World War I battlefields and sites in the area.

Included in the excursion was lunch at a little restaurant next to one of the larger wartime cemeteries. And there waiting for us, along with our meal, was some heraldry! (Because, as I have often said, "You can find heraldry everywhere!")

In this specific instance, at one end of the smaller room that we were in were some heraldic flags.

The central flag is, of course, the national flag of France.

The flag to the right (I got someone to take pictures while I held out the flags to see them better) contains the arms of Picardie (or Picardy, as we spell it in English), an historical territory and former administrative region of France. (It is now a part of a new region of Hauts-de-France.) Quarterly: 1 and 4, Azure three fleurs-de-lis or; 2 and 3, Argent three lions rampant gules.

The other flag is that of the Department Nord, created from the western halves of the historic counties of Flandre (Flanders) and Hainaut, and which uses the arms of Flandre, Or a lion rampant sable armed and langued gules.

What a nice display of armory to go with a very pleasant lunch!

Arms on the Exterior of the Hotel de Ville, Arras, Part 2

Continuing from my last post our clockwise circumambulation (now that's not a word I get to use in everyday conversation!) around the Hotel de Ville in Arras, France, and photographing the coats of arms supported by lions around the edge of the roof, here are the remaining shields, beginning in the rear of the building and ending at about the 7 o'clock position of the front of the edifice in the Place des Héros. As before, you can click on an image to see a bigger picture.

Azure two (boards? rows of dominos?) in saltire between in pale two (caps/hats?) and in fess two (bowls? buckets?)

Azure a woman? statant affronty and a tower masoned in fess.

Arras ancient. (Azure on a fess argent between in chief a bishop’s mitre and in base two croziers in saltire or three rats passant sable.)

Artois (Azure semy-de-lys or a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers or.)

Gules a griffin segreant. (The shield with the griffin does not fill the shield on which it is placed.)

Artois (Azure semy-de-lys or a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers or.)

? on a fess gules a duck?

? two rows of billets palewise in fess azure gules vert sable? and ?

Azure a bishop statant affronty holding in his dexter hand a hammer and in his sinister a crozier.

Arras ancient. (Azure on a fess argent between in chief a bishop’s mitre and in base two croziers in saltire or three rats passant sable.)

Artois (Azure semy-de-lys or a label of three tags gules each tag charged with three towers or.)

And thus ends the carved lions and heraldry on the Hotel de Ville.

And as before, if you can identify one or another of the shields here, please let us know in the comments.