A Good Response

A recent (April 15, 2016) Letter to the Editor of the The Herald in Scotland responds to an editorial attacking the role of the Court of the Lord Lyon King of Arms in protecting and regulating coats of arms in that kingdom. The editorial seems to have said that the Court is outdated.

The author (rightly, in my opinion, but then again, I may be a little biased!) notes that intellectual property (trademarks, copyright, and brands names, for example) are protected by law, and that heraldry is the "oldest form of intellectual property" and thus equally worthy of protection.

Not everyone agrees; there are two comments as of this writing, one of which objects to the much higher cost of a grant from Lord Lyon versus registering a trademark, and the other which accepts that argument and suggests that arms be registered as trademarks and the Court of the Lord Lyon be abolished. (The latter clearly does not understand the differences between heraldry - which can take on a variety of forms depending upon the artist - and trademarks - which protect a specific image, among other things.)

It's a well-reasoned and stated letter.  You can find it in its entirety on the website of The Herald (does anyone else find this name ironic given the subject matter of the editorial? I certainly do!) at http://www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/14429028.The_protection_of_coats_of_arms_by_law_is_no_more_irrational_than_legally_protecting_brand_names_or_trademarks/

I Had No Idea ...

... that this would go on for so long, or take on a life of its own (as it seems to have done).

What is "it," you ask?

Well, a number of years ago when I was far more active in the Society for Creative Anachronism* than I am now, our local group was having a heraldic consultation day, to help members in the area design coats of arms for themselves to use at events within the Society. Unfortunately, at this consultation day, there were more heralds than consultees, and the six of us (yes, I was one of the "Six Bored Heralds") gave ourselves a challenge: to design a coat of arms consisting of a field and a single charge which would be too complex to register under the rules of heraldry for the SCA. What we came up with was this:

The blazon for this monstrosity is: Gyronny, lozengy or and gules, and vair, a mascle throughout counterchanged. As I noted, a field and a single charge.

It was a fun thing to do at the time, it broke up the boredom a bit, and we all had a good laugh. And thought that would pretty much be the end of it.

I had no idea at the time, and I suspect that none of us did, that it would take on a life of its own, get its own name, or get onto the internet with the story of its creation (and even the arrangement of the lozengy and vair gyrons) slightly skewed. But there it was, big as life (or perhaps even bigger than life) out there for all the world to see. Someone even wrote a song about it.

You can see that song, and a bit more, on-line at http://flurf.net/batpage/SixBoredHeralds

I'd say I'm sorry, but again, it was a fun thing to do at the time. And it does demonstrate some of the awfulness that can be designed if you don't keep your heralds sufficiently busy, and they start giving themselves a challenge.


* People often ask what "Society for Creative Anachronism" means. I always tell them that it means that you should never, ever, let a young and budding science fiction author name your group.

Well, It's Better Heraldry, But ....

In a recent (April 7, 2016) article on the Independent website, there's a bit of a reaction to the change to their arms-like badge by Aston Villa Football Club. I have to say, I think the change makes for better heraldry, but did they really have to pay £80,000 for it? (Heck, I would have done it for half that, and even at that rate I think they would have been getting ripped off. But what do I know?)

As you can see in these "before" (left) and "after" (right) images, they removed the word "Prepared" from the base of the shield (leading to much commentary about them no longer being "prepared"), allowing more room to make the lion larger (and a bit fiercer; he's now got his teeth and claws out, much more like a typical heraldic lion, and his mane and furry bits are a bit spikier, as well).

This is not to say that I think it's the best heraldic design - maroon on blue isn't an ideal combination of colors - but it's certainly an improvement. I just don't think it was worth the price they paid for it.

The full story (and comments) can be found on-line at the Independent at http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/aston-villa-badge-club-spend-80000-to-remove-the-word-prepared-from-crest-a6972696.html

Don't Forget!

A recent correspondent had requested I send him a list of good heraldry reference books as well as a list of rare but especially nice to have heraldry books. In my reply, I noted that I wasn't including a number of volumes which I thought were very good but which had been digitized and were available for free on the internet. My rationale was that, while some of these were very nice, could they really be considered as "rare," since they were freely available to anyone who looked for them.

In any case, he asked me to send him a list of some of these, and I realized that I actually had the ones I was thinking of listed here on the blog, under the sections "Some Good On-Line Armorials and Ordinaries" and "Some Good On-Line Heraldry Books."

So today's post is just a short reminder: be sure to check out the links down the left-hand side of this blog. There are some real jewels of heraldry and heraldic art linked there, and you might find it of interest to check at least some of them out.

As I was creating my list to send to my correspondent, I did find one link that no longer worked. I have updated that link (to John Guillim's A Display of Heraldrie) so that it takes you to the book, where it can be read on-line or downloaded for looking at later.  I will continue to update links which no longer work as I find them.

Thanks for dropping by, and don't forget to check out the links here!

Employment Opportunity

Having just retired (a little earlier than I had intended, but still ...) myself, I'm not especially interested in moving to another country to begin another job, yet this recent (April 4, 2016) posting has certainly piqued my interest.

It seems that the College of Arms in London (that's a photo of me visiting the College back in 1996) has an opening for a research assistant which has the potential to lead to a position as an officer of arms (presumably in ordinary, rather than extraordinary) there.  The announcement for this posting starts:

The College of Arms is seeking to recruit a research assistant for a period of six to twelve months. The successful candidate will learn how to deal with heraldic and genealogical enquiries arising from members of the public and various organisations, how to process applications for new grants of arms and about other work undertaken by the College. Upon completion of this period, the candidate will be assessed with a view to appointment as an officer of arms.

Requirements

The role would suit a candidate with strong research and communication skills and with an interest in heraldic and genealogical matters.

Essential

Excellent academic credentials;
Excellent analytical and drafting skills;
First-rate communication skills (oral and written) and approachability;
Enthusiastic, adaptable and able to learn quickly;
Reliable and flexible nature;
Professionalism and ability to work independently with minimal supervision;
Ability to deal directly with members of the public;
Ability to establish a wide network of contacts.

Desirable

Some professional experience in any area;
Knowledge and experience of heraldry and genealogy;
Other skills, such as knowledge of British and Commonwealth history, languages and legal matters.

Other

The College is open to flexible working arrangements and the successful candidate may work on a full-time or part-time basis (minimum of two days per week). The role will be based at the College of Arms. The work will be remunerated at a rate of £15 per hour (minimum £10,000 p.a.).

Applicants should send a covering letter and CV to recruitment2016@college-of-arms.gov.uk. The application period is from 4 April until 22 April 2016.

If you are interested, additional information can be found on the website of the College at http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/news-grants/news/item/125-research-assistant-post-at-the-college-of-arms

Good luck!

Heraldry Is Where You Find It

And you can, apparently, find it anywhere!

We had been in Las Vegas, Nevada, doing a bunch of stuff for my elderly mother. One of the things in that "stuff" was cleaning and organizing her house. During that effort, I ran across this little heraldic item:

It's a bronze medallion from the February 10, 1986 dedication of a new wing to the Southern Nevada Vocational Technical Center (usually called Vo-Tech then and when my mother taught there, but now it is renamed the Southeast Career Technical Academy, SECTA or Tech).

The heraldry on the medallion is pretty typical of what I've come to expect for the arms-like logos of educational institutions in the United States; that is to say, not great.

I am assuming that the very narrow cross and bordure in the design are designed to be detailing, and not actual charges on the field. The quarterly field has: 1, an open book surmounted by a feather (presumably supposed to be a quill pen) bendwise; 2, a roadrunner (the real thing, not the one from the cartoons which Wile E. Coyote is always trying to kill with all those wonderful contraptions he buys from the Acme Corporation); 3, a sun charged with a "V" (if you were to try to guess the weather in Las Vegas without first looking it up, if you were to say "sunny," you would be correct more than 95% of the time), the "V" presumably standing for "Vocational." the other mark within the V may be meant to be a "T" for Technical, but it is not clearly that either on the medallion or in the scan; and 4, a standing balance (more usually associated with the law and lawyers; I don't know if the school had a pre-law program, so I'm not sure if that's why it appears on this shield). The crest is, naturally enough, a lamp of knowledge.

All this to demonstrate once again that you truly can find heraldry everywhere!

Some School Heraldry in Las Vegas

While we were in Las Vegas, taking care of some business for my mother, we found the following bit of heraldry at an intersection.

Challenger School (well, there's three of them in the Vegas area (and 22 others through five western states), so maybe it would be more accurate to say Challenger Schools) caters to pre-school, kindergarten, elementary and middle school (what we used to call "junior high" back in the olden days when I was growing up) students.

They're really proud of their curriculum, as you can tell from their logo: a coat of arms-like device with an painter's palette and treble clef in the first quarter; an open book and pair of compasses in the second; a globe of the earth in the third; and a microscope and a laboratory beaker in the fourth.  The motto scroll says "Scientia * Opus * Virtus"

Once again, this is the sort of thing that you get when you let a committee (one with little or no experience with heraldry) design your logo; what I have come to call the "kitchen sink" school of heraldry, one where they try to throw in everything about themselves, including the kitchen sink.

So, yeah, it's a little bit like heraldry, but totally misses some of the basics of real heraldry: simplicity, good contrast, quick and easy identifiability. (I like the rule of thumb suggested by former State Herald of South Africa Frederick Brownell. He said to take a design and shrink it to the size of a postage stamp. If it's still identifiable, it stands a good chance of being decent heraldry. If it's not particularly identifiable when shrunk to that size, well, it needs some simplification.)

Once again, here we have a case of, well, yeah, it's nice that they're trying to use something like heraldry for their logo, but the result is a bit less than satisfying.

Highway Heraldry

We took a trip from Texas to Las Vegas recently. (No, no, not the "fun" Vegas. The dusty desert town where some of my family stills lives Vegas. That's an entirely different town from the one you see in all of the advertisements.)

Anyway, on the way we passed a large truck with some heraldry on its side. So of course we had to have some pictures (below, one from the door of the cab, one from the side of the body of the truck).

So, naturally, when I got the time I did a little research. It turns out that shield is the emblem of the 75th Infantry Regiment, the Rangers.

It turns out that the 75th Regiment Trucking, Inc. is a privately-held trucking company based in Fresno, California. I can only assume that one or more of the owners has been a member of the Rangers and decided that they should memorialize that relationship by taking the shield of the Regiment and using it as their business logo. (Apparently they never heard of the idea that you shouldn't adopt someone else's heraldry as your own. Oh, dear.)

Still, it was fun to see a coat of arms, even is not the greatest design, while driving down the highway.

English Place Names, and a Bit of Heraldry

From Little Snoring (leading one to believe that there is, somewhere nearby, Great Snoring, or at the very least Snoring), to Bishop's Itchingon, to Shitterton, and a whole lot more, a reader recently pointed me to a March 9, 2016 article by BBC Culture entitled "Why does Britain have such bizarre place names?" It's a wonderfully informative and somewhat amusing piece on the origins of many of Britain's somewhat odd place names.

The relationship of this article to heraldry is that it was pointed out that even such little towns as Pity Me (see sign below) have better-than-average heraldry.

Ah, if only that were the case for most towns here in the U.S. (Pity us! [Please pardon the pun; it's still pretty early as I write this.])

Anyway, if you'd like to read the article, it can be found on-line at http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160309-why-does-britain-have-such-bizarre-place-names

"Trump trumped by Lord Lyon in arms race"

At least, that's what one commenter said the headline should have read.

"The headline to what?" you ask. Why, an article a short while ago (March 4, 2016) by Susan Morrison on the website of the Edinburgh Evening News, of course. She had entitled it: "All fur coat (of arms) and nae knickers, Don"  The article is a little bit about heraldry, a little smaller bit about potholes, and a fair bit about one of the U.S.'s candidates for President, Donald Trump.

My favorite two paragraphs in the article are:

The Lord Lyon can sort out any problems you may have with your heraldry. I know. Hardly a day goes past when I think, jings, look at the state of my coat of arms. My supporters are dodgy and my Latin motto’s gone mouldy. Must take myself along to a Pursuivant for a quick once over on the old quartering of the shield.

Of course, I don’t. Peasants like thee and me have no right to the fancy bling of a silken banner above our heads on the field of battle, which basically is what a coat of arms was, or as I like to look at it, brand recognition for aristocratic homicidal maniacs in the Middle Ages.

And she goes from that to some of the troubles that The Donald had up in Aberdeenshire with his use of a coat of arms which had not been properly granted and entered in the Register of the Court of the Lord Lyon.

And I really got the feeling that she does not care for Mr. Trump in her final paragraph:

I hold no brief nor regard for the fanciful fol-de-rols of the nobility, but every time the snarling tangerine appears, and he’s doing it with distressing regularity, it’s good to remember that rainy morning in Aberdeen when the ghosts of Robert the Bruce’s heralds stood behind their lawyer as he slam-dunked possibly the most repellent man who has ever run for President, and I’m including Nixon. Go Herald Pursuivant.

All in all, it's a pretty funny article, and what she says about heraldry is for the most part true (more than the average article about heraldry, certainly). If these excerpts have given you the desire to read the whole thing, Ms. Morrison's article can be found on-line at http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/opinion/susan-morrison-all-fur-coat-of-arms-and-nae-knickers-don-1-4043547