Heraldry as Culture
Dr. Colin Baxter
Modern Heraldic Research
Table of Contents
Modern heraldic research is predicated on viewing the subject as a social phenomenon, constructed within its intrinsic cultural space. 1
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Research
Currently, I am interested in exploring the significance in heraldry of the cultural themes of authority, social status and literary narrative. For example:
- Beginning shortly after the end of the Second World War, heraldry played a major role in the British government's programme of industrial nationalisation. This is a modern example of the use of heraldry by the State or Church as an instrument of authority.
- Some Early Modern European paintings, particularly of the Dutch schools, appear to have been executed for sale to newly prosperous merchants. These paintings frequency featured heraldic devices that were included, it would seem, to suggest to a perspective buyer an attractive means of advertising a particular attainment in social status.
- Heraldry has been attributed to many characters of mediaeval Arthurian literature and introduced as part of the literary narrative. This prompts the intriguing question as to whether separate heraldic traditions existed that associated a unique symbol or coat-of-arms with a particular Arthurian character. For further reading, see for example this reference 2.
Articles
The Sempill Arms: Heraldic Puzzles
Colin Baxter, Maria A. Dering
College of Arms Foundation, Issue No. 5 – Winter 2020
The Collegiate Church of Castle Semple lies close to Lochwinnoch in southwest Scotland. The building is now a shell open to the sky but it houses two interesting and puzzling examples of monumental heraldry which seem to have gone largely unnoticed. These examples and the questions they raise will be discussed individually later in this article.
The Virgin Mary as the Arms of King Arthur
Colin Baxter
Many writers on Arthurian heraldry and literature mention that King Arthur used a depiction of the Virgin Mary as his coat-of-arms. The ultimate authority of this claim is the Historia Brittonum, which is usually said to have been written or compiled by Nennius, a supposed Welsh monk who lived in the Ninth Century. The Historia Brittonum, however, is not a definitive document: it exists in several different non-contemporary manuscripts and there are at least ten known recensions and translations.
Footnotes
For example, see the Heraldic Studies Series, Torsten Hiltmann and Laurent Hablot (eds), 3 volumes, Thorbecke, Hergestellt. Volume 1: Torsten Hiltmann and Laurent Hablot, Heraldic Artists and Painters in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Times, 2018. Volume 2: Steven Thiry, Matter(s) of State: Heraldic Display and Discourse in the Early Modern Monarchy (c. 1480–1650), 2018. Volume 3: Torsten Hiltmann and Miguel Metelo de Seixas, Heraldry in Medieval and Early Modern State Rooms, 2020.
Gerard J. Brault, Early Blazon, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1972.