Reel Heraldry

The American Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) here in the United States has begun running a mini-series that is supposed to be a continuation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, picking up from shortly before the end of that play and giving the viewer an idea of "what happened next" between the Montagues and the Capulets. So, yeah, it's basically a major TV broadcast network giving us some summertime filler in the form of what I call "Shakespearean fan fiction." I am speaking, of course, about Still Star-Crossed.

Why am I writing about this here, on a heraldry blog? Well, because they put some heraldry into it, and I thought I'd do a little research into the arms being shown on screen and share the results of that research with you.

First off, we are shown what I have to assume is the arms of Verona, in the person of the Prince, which have been embroidered onto a large wall hanging behind his throne, and which I would blazon as Gules a cross or.

Unfortunately, these were also the easiest arms to check, as the arms of Verona can be found in any quick internet search and in a number of armorials, including this depiction from an armorial dated to 1550:

So, blue field, not red. But at least they got the cross correct, so that's something, I guess.

Next, we have the coat of arms of the Capulet family, which are shown in Still Star-Crossed like this (please forgive the poor quality of the picture, taken from the screen with an iPhone):

I would blazon these arms as Or a tierce azure ermined or overall a griffin segreant contourny or.

But this shield is nothing like any of the several variants of the arms of the Capelli and Capello families of Verona and elsewhere. (The name went through a couple of variants on its way to Shakespeare; Dante, in his Divine Comedy, gave the name as Cappelletti, a diminutive of Capelli/Capello, and Shakespeare anglicized it to Capulet. Amusingly enough, some websites, like that of House of Names, tries to convince us that Capulet is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a derivative of Caplewood/Capelwood/Capilwode/Capulwode. On another page they say that the name is of French origin, while a third page there gives us some possible Italian origins. Always remember, people: Just because you see it on the internet doesn't mean it is true.) Most of the Capelli/Capello arms are canting, and contain a hat, or in some cases, three hats, on the shield.

Nary a griffin to be found. Nor a tierce. And especially not a tierce in an ermine-type fur that is not found in heraldry of the period. Just sayin'.

Finally, we have the arms of the Montagues in Still Star-Crossed:

I would blazon these as Or on a chevron between two towers and a bear rampant gules three lozenges or, with a crest A tower sable. (I am assuming that the black edge around the shield is simply delineation, and not an extremely anemic bordure.)

I was unable to find any real coats of arms for the family Montecchi (the name as given in Dante's Divine Comedy) or Montague (Shakespeare's anglicization of the Italian name). Nor have I run across any arms answering to this blazon.

So there we have it, folks! Three coats of arms, for the three major players in this mini-series, two (the Capulet and Montague arms) made up out of whole cloth, and third, for Verona, with a red field instead of the correct blue one.

Once again, we have it demonstrated unmistakably to us the difference between real heraldry and "reel" heraldry.

It's a shame, really, because it's so easy to do it right.

New Information About Shakespeare's Arms

I ran across a recent (June 29, 2016) article with a little new information on the arms of William Shakespeare ("ye Player" according to Ralph Brooke, York Herald in the College of Arms at the time) entitled "Shakespeare: Actor. Playwright. Social Climber."

Here in the lower right are the arms of Shakespeare found in the Promptuarium Armorum, now in the possession of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The Promptuarium Armorum was created between 1602 and 1616 by William Smith, Rouge Dragon Pursuivant, and was brought to America by one of Smith's successors as Rouge Dragon, William Crowne, in 1657.

The article, by Jennifer Schluessler, introduces us to some recently-discovered documents which shed some light on a side of Shakespeare which is not always covered very well: Shakespeare the social climber. The documents, discovered by Heather Wolfe, curator of manuscripts at The Folger Shakespeare Library, relate to the grant of arms to John Shakespeare in 1596.

It's an interesting article for both Shakespeare enthusiasts and heraldry enthusiasts (and doubly so to those of us who are both), and well worth the read. You can find this article on the website of The New York Times at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/30/theater/shakespeare-coat-of-arms.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

Additional articles, mostly based on the New York Times one above, can be found at http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/found-evidence-of-shakespeares-bold-social-climbing, http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/shakespeare-coat-of-arms-discovered_77656.html, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/ist/?next=/smart-news/researcher-unearths-trove-new-shakespeare-documents-180959673/, and http://www.newhistorian.com/new-records-show-shakespeare-established-brand/6765/

In Celebration of an Anniversary

Saturday, April 23, 2016, marked the 400th anniversary of the death of this armigerous fellow:

William Shakespeare's application for, and grant of, arms (nominally on behalf of his father, John, but of course he would naturally inherit them upon his father's death) caused a bit of controversy among some of the heralds in the College of Arms. Ralph Brooke, York Herald, thought Shakespeare unworthy of being granted arms, calling him "Shakespear ye Player" in his opposition to the grant by Garter King of Arms.

But really, the heraldry isn't the main thing about today's post. What today's post is about is to point you to a great six-and-a-half minute video of a series of actors (and one other individual) during a performance of Shakespeare Live! at the Royal Shakespeare Company discussing (well, okay, declaiming) how to properly deliver the first line of Hamlet's famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be, that is the question." The entire skit is entitled "A Line of Hamlets."

I'm not about to give the ending away, but you should certainly go out and see this one for yourself.

The link is: http://tennantnews.blogspot.com/2016/04/video-theres-no-skull-in-this-bit-david.html

I Expect Better

No, really, I do!  When I see the production of a play put on by the Royal Shakespeare Company, I expect them to get the heraldry right.  All of the heraldry.

In watching the DVD of the 2013 RSC production of Richard II starring David Tennant, some of the heraldry just looked a bit "off" to me. Surprisingly, when I hit the heraldry books and did some research, some of it was correct, and I was the one who was wrong.

For example, the coat of arms worn by Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, in the play were not the Mowbray arms of Gules a lion rampant argent.  Which are the arms Mowbray bore as Earl Marshall (quartered by England with a label).  But as Duke of Norfolk, he bore Per pale, the arms of St. Edward the Confessor and England with a label argent.

So Round One to the RSC.  However, ...

The arms shown for Richard II were simply Quarterly France ancient and England.  Which at the time of the play, late in Richard's reign, were not the arms he was using.  Those were the arms of his grandfather, Edward III.

The arms that Richard was using at this point in his reign were these; the arms of St. Edward the Confessor marshaled with the then Royal Arms of England.

You can easily see the difference.

And the arms worn by Henry Bolingbroke, Duke of Hereford and Derby, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, were shown in the play as Quarterly France modern [with only three fleurs-de-lys] and England; in other words, the arms he adopted as King Henry IV.  But not the arms he used at the time:

Or the ones he bore later, after his father died, and he became Duke of Hereford and Lancaster:

It's great when a production gets the heraldry right, as this one did in several instances.  I especially liked the projection of the White Hart badge of Richard II on the backdrop of the stage for one scene.

But really, if they can get some of it right, can't they also get the rest of it correct, too?

Heralds and Heraldry on the Internet

There is an overview of the new on-line exhibition at the Folger Shakespeare Library entitled Symbols of Honor: Heraldry and Family History, uploaded to the Library’s website in conjunction with the Symbols of Honor: Heraldry and Family History in Shakespeare's England, being held at the Library through October 26 of this year.  The links on that page go to separate sections, the whole forming the on-line exhibition.

The individual sections of this on-line exhibit include:

     The Medieval Heritage

     The Order of the Garter and The Garter King of Arms

     French Influences

     Tournaments and Armor

     Visitations

     Grants of Arms

     Shakespeare's Grant of Arms

     H.E.R.A.L.D.

     The Business of Heraldry 

     Badges, Mottoes, and Imprese

     Disputes within the College of Arms

     Heraldry for the Elite

     Heraldry for All

     Women's Heraldry

     The First Amateur Genealogists

You can find the Overview of this on-line exhibition on the Folger Shakespeare Library’s website at http://www.folger.edu/Content/Whats-On/Folger-Exhibitions/Symbols-of-Honor-Heraldry-and-Family-History-/Online-Exhibition/ and you can learn more about the Heraldry and Family History in Shakespeare's England exhibit there at http://www.folger.edu/Content/Whats-On/Folger-Exhibitions/Symbols-of-Honor-Heraldry-and-Family-History-/

There’s a bunch of other stuff of interest to heraldry enthusiasts on the site as well, and I think you’ll find it is well worth the time to click through and take a look.

Heads Up! Exhibition Coming.

For those of you with an interest in heraldry, heralds, and Shakespeare, and especially if you live on (or can get to) the eastern coast of the United States, The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC is going to be having an exhibition this coming summer and fall entitled "Symbols of Honor: Heraldry and Family History in Shakespeare's England."

The exhibit will run from July 1 through October 26, 2014, and looks to be something of interest of heraldry enthusiasts.  The overview of this exhibit on the Folger's website describes it as follows:

Discover the colorful world of heralds and their rivals, all competing to profit from the craze for coats of arms that seized England during the reign of Elizabeth I. An ambitious world was full of newly wealthy and successful families, eager to display their success and status. Genealogy in its modern form also took off: ancestral research was vital to a rich heraldic display, and new ways were established for setting out family trees graphically.
In this show-the largest and most comprehensive of its kind ever mounted-you will see pedigrees and family trees, books explaining heraldry's complex rules, manuscripts illustrating actual coats of arms, and documents written by professional heralds seeking to regulate heraldic practise in a fast-changing society. Exceptional treasures include the original drafts of William Shakespeare's own coat of arms.

Then it (successfully) tries to pique our interest further by telling us to "Discover the colorful world of heralds and their rivals during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I."

The illustration above from the promotional materials for the exhibit is from one of those "manuscripts illustrating actual coats of arms," the "Alphabet or blazon of arms."

Unfortunately, as much as I'd like to see this exhibit, I'm not certain that I'll be able to make it there; I may be flying over the east coast later this summer, but flying over isn't the same as visiting, and while I am scheduled to give a presentation nearby, that's not until December, well after the exhibit has closed.  If you can make it, by all means do!  I may have to settle for buying a copy of the catalog when it becomes available.  (I'll start checking the Folger Library's website for it beginning in July.)

More information about this upcoming exhibit can be found on-line on the website of the Folger Shakespeare Library at http://www.folger.edu/wosummary.cfm?woid=878, or you can always contact them at Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol Street, SE, Washington, DC 20003.

Shakespeare’s Heraldry

There’s a post (dated November 4, 2011) over on The Shakespeare blog: In Shakespeare’s footsteps by Sylvia Morris entitled “The mysteries of emblems, mottoes, and Shakespeare’s own chair”. In it, she discusses Shakespeare’s coat of arms, and how it appears on a chair traditionally known as “Shakespeare’s courting chair,” which appears to have been made in the early 1600's and thus possibly contemporaneous with the Bard of Avon.

Whatever the case of the authenticity of the chair, she’s got an interesting and informative post, and even gives a little of the controversy in the College of Arms about the grant of arms to Shakespeare as well as some other aspects of how Shakespeare “ye player” may have used or been involved with heraldry. You can find it on-line at: http://theshakespeareblog.com/2011/11/the-mysteries-of-emblems-mottoes-and-shakespeares-own-chair/

She has an earlier post (November 2), “The facts about Shakespeare’s coat of arms,” that gives more of the history of the grant from the College of Arms that you might also find of interest. There’s a link to that post at the top of the page linked to above.

Heraldry in the Blogosphere

There's a nice post today over at Savage Reflections by Berowne about the granting of a coat of arms to William Shakespeare, "ye Player", back in the day.  It's a well-informed post, covering even disagreement between Garter King of Arms Dethick and York Herald Ralph Brooke about the grant, and is certainly worth reading.  You can find it on the web at: http://savagereflections.blogspot.com/2010/03/laid-back-shakespeare-6.html