So, the first question is, of course, "What the Hell is an 'escutcheon', JNCL?" Well, it's just another word--in this case, the Latin word--for "shield," and is often used to refer to our topic for today, coats of arms. "Okay. Clear as mud. What's a coat of arms?" Maybe this crudely drawn visual aid I created will help.
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| Illustration 1 Coat of Arms |
Ring any bells now? You may know this device as a "crest," but as you can see from Illustration 1, the crest is actually a piece of the whole coat of arms, not its proper title. (By-the-way, just for the information, "supporters" are not normally big, gray ovals; they're normally some kind of animal literally holding up the shield in their paws, but my artistic skills weren't up to that, so you'll just have to use your imaginations.) As a subject of study, coats of arms and everything relating to them are referred to as "heraldry," and those in countries around the world whose job it is to create and register coats of arms are called "heralds". In medieval Europe, heralds also had the job of ensuring that no one was cribbing someone else's arms, and announcing the identity of their master in a tournament. ("Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!" Haven't you always wondered what that meant? Well, now you know.)
As an American whose ancestry is mostly Celtic and Anglo-Saxon--not to mention a completely obsessive Anglophile--I tend to prefer my heraldry constructed according to the rules established in the UK. I can recognize the styles of numerous other countries on sight, as many of them are quite distinctive, but when I design a coat of arms myself--yes, I dabble with it on occasion as gifts for friends and such--I tend to follow the British guidelines pretty closely. With one HUGE, glaring exception. In the United Kingdom, women don't have their own coats of arms. Ever. Except on the rare occasion when every male heir in a family has died, leaving only her. Or on the even rarer occasions when a woman becomes the sovereign. Elizabeth II has arms that are hers, and will be inherited by her son when he becomes king. Most British women don't get that privilege.
No, women get to use their father's coat of arms "by courtesy," and they don't get to use a shield, or the helmet, because such military symbols are supposedly inappropriate for ladies. Nor does she get the motto, which was originally just a sort of battle cry. Obviously, these rules have been around a LOOOOOONG-ass time.
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| Illustration 2 Arms of an Unmarried Woman |
An unmarried woman bears her father's arms on a diamond-shaped, um, something, called a lozenge. (Since we're not allowed to call it a shield, "something" sounded better than "blob.") To show that she's single, or "eligible" for us Jane Austen fans, she has a "true lover's knot" on top of the lozenge, which goes away when she gets married.
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| Illustration 3 Arms of Fictitious Husband |
And that's not the only change; her husband's arms get added to her father's, so now her identity is a mix of two men, instead of just one. How flattering for her. On the upside, though, she finally gets a shield, once again "by courtesy," because she gets to borrow her husband's. There are a few other ways to arrange the two arms, but this one is pretty standard.
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| Illustration 4 Arms of Married Woman |
However, when he dies, she'll have to give it back--to their son, her husband's heir.
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| Illustration 5 Arms of Widow |
So, there she is, back to a lozenge-thingamy, with two halves of two coats of arms smushed together, usually with visually unimpressive results, and occasionally, an outcome that is just flat ugly. My personal favorites are the ones where a bird's wing or something is sticking at random out of the other half of these hybrid arms. "Always good [entertainment] value," as Ron Weasley would say.
And if you're wondering if anyone on Earth gives a flying fart in space about this anymore, I refer you to the arms of THE FATHER OF Catherine Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, granted on 19 April 2011, drawn in Illustration 6 as they were borne by Princess Catherine before she married Prince William.
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| Illustration 6 Arms of Miss Catherine Middleton Artist: Sodacan |
Of course, her lozenge-blob has to be special, because she was the prince's fiancee. When she finally became a princess by marriage, her arms "by courtesy" became this.
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| Illustration 7 Arms of HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Artist: Sodacan |
Unlike all other women in the United Kingdom--except those rare, chosen few who actually own their own arms because they ran out of male relatives--those closely related to the sovereign by birth or marriage get "courtesy" supporters. Such "courteous" people, aren't we?
Now, the final question is this: now that they made women fully equal heirs to the throne of the UK and the Commonwealth Realms, will they FINALLY be able to receive arms in their own right? And to all you lucky women out there who are Canadian citizens, you are ALREADY entitled to be granted arms, so if you have the money and the inclination, apply for some! The more armigerous (meaning "owning a coat of arms") women the better!
I may be geeky in saying this, but I loved reading through your post. So the next question is, do you have your own escutcheon? (Had to use that word!)
ReplyDeleteWell, I do and I don't. I mean, I designed one for myself when I was in high school--I really should overhaul it now that I'm an adult. Some of my interests and priorities have changed, and my knowledge of heraldry has continued to grow a bit. However, I do not have a coat of arms that is registered with any heraldic authority--partly because the US has no such body!
ReplyDeleteWell, heraldry for daughters is more or less the same as that for sons: both inherit their father's arms. She (as well as her brother) could inherit their mother's arms if she was a heiress and her arms were in danger of disappearing. The fact that a lady has the arms on a lozenge is not less 'honourable' than wearing them on a shield. And you wouldn't want to wear a heavy helmet, would you? BTW you show the combined arms of the married man and women as dimidiated (the dexter half of the male arms combined with the sinister half of the woman's); that's not usual anymore. It's more like Kate and Wills' arms: the complete arms on both sides of the devide.
ReplyDeleteDaughters may bear a father's arms by courtesy during their lifetimes, but cannot pass them to their own sons unless they are the only heirs left to inherit them. The point is that women are a "last resort" where arms are concerned--as you say, the arms must be in danger of dying out all together, and a woman the only possible remaining heir, before she can be armigerous in her own right. As I said in the post, though, it will be interesting to see if all this changes, now that British succession law has been changed. As to the dimidiation of the arms, you're absolutely right--I thought about that only after I had published this post.
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