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The Art of Heraldry
38 Plays3 days ago
In episode ten of the new season of Pieces of History, we turn our attention to the ancient and intricate world of heraldry. This episode features an in-depth conversation with Dr. Paul Fox, whose fascinating journey from a career in medicine to heraldic and genealogical scholarship sheds light on the enduring power of symbols, identity, and tradition.
Together, we explore the rich history of heraldry - from its medieval origins on the battlefield to its ceremonial and genealogical significance today. Dr. Fox unpacks the core elements of heraldic design, including the shield, crest, banner, badge, and supporters, explaining how each has evolved over centuries and what they represent.
We also reflect on how public interest in heraldry is shifting in the modern age and discuss how new audiences are engaging with these historic emblems. For listeners curious to learn more, Dr. Fox offers thoughtful guidance on where to begin their own exploration of heraldry.
What do these ancient symbols reveal about the people and societies that created them? And why do they still matter today? Join us as we uncover The Art of Heraldry.
Email: piecesofhistorypod@outlook.com
Facebook: Pieces of History podcast
Instagram: @pieceofhistorypod
Dr. Paul Fox:
https://www.drpaulfoxfsa.com/
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Transcript
Introduction & Exploration of Historical Events
00:00:13
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Pieces of History. I'm Colin McGrath and in each episode I explore both the renowned and the lesser known events that have shaped our world.
Symbolism and Relevance of Heraldry
00:00:22
Speaker
Today we're delving into the captivating world of heraldry.
00:00:26
Speaker
It's a rich field in symbolism, steeped in history and still surprisingly relevant today.
Dr. Paul Fox's Journey to Heraldry
00:00:31
Speaker
I'm joined by Dr. Paul Fox, a scholar whose remarkable journey from a career in medicine to his study of heraldry has given him a unique perspective on how symbols, lineage and tradition continue to influence our sense of identity.
00:00:43
Speaker
In this episode, we'll explore the historical roots of heraldry, its cultural significance and how these ancient emblems continue to speak to power, family and nationhood. It's a story of continuity and change, of how the past lives on in the symbols we inherit and the ones we create.
Inspiration and Early Research
00:00:58
Speaker
I hope you enjoy. it So Paul, just before we get into the nuts and bolts of ah of our story, um can you share your journey from your career in medicine to becoming a leading figure in heraldry and genealogical studies? so Well, as as with many people, it all really started when I was ah a schoolboy.
00:01:16
Speaker
i was very much into history, and but also biology. So I decided at a horrifyingly young age that I wanted to be a doctor. But that kind of meant, in a way, giving up history. But that became my main recreation when I wasn't um ah working on a hospital ward or something.
00:01:38
Speaker
And then when I was about 16, I read a book by Don Steele called Discovering Your Family History, which I thought was absolutely and sensational.
Medieval Heraldry and Cathedral Visits
00:01:49
Speaker
And I guess that book really changed the course of my life. And then a couple of years later, when I was at university, um I visited Canterbury Cathedral and i was shown around all the wonderful medieval heraldry in the cloister ah by a chap called ah Cecil Humphrey Smith, um who was ah running something called the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, which had been born out of um lectures
00:02:23
Speaker
in those topics which he was giving at the University of London in the 1950s. um And that really sowed a seed, if you like, for later on.
00:02:35
Speaker
I had a question about just one of the shields in the cloister. And just trying to research that, I discovered that um really nobody actually understood very clearly when the shields had been put up there.
00:02:51
Speaker
And so that began a sort of 15-year research project during which I had to learn all about medieval heraldry. So that's in in a nut well that's part of it, um's obviously rather more um to that.
00:03:07
Speaker
So I basically had this yearning to get back into history with a particular focus on heraldry.
Heraldry Society's History and Revival
00:03:17
Speaker
And so as soon ah as I was able to, I took early retirement and and started doing it full time.
00:03:24
Speaker
So that's where I am now, basically. And Paul, you're currently the editor of the Heraldry Society. Can you give us more detail about what that is? It is a journal. It's the Journal of the Heraldry Society. It's been going for 75 years now.
00:03:41
Speaker
and We're celebrating our anniversary this year. And the journal was founded by a very junior herald who was then about 20 years old, someone called um John Brooke Little.
00:03:57
Speaker
And a few years before that, he'd set up a society effectively for school kids, um sort of advertising in the boys' own magazine. And in fact, Cecil Humphrey Smith had responded to that advert when he was a schoolboy. So there was something strange going on just after the Second World War.
00:04:18
Speaker
And I think it was the the film Henry V which had come out during the war. I think all the children saw that and they just thought, this is amazing.
00:04:28
Speaker
And that instilled in them a fascination for the subject. And so it just the opposite of what you'd expect when the Herald Society was set up. It was just full of young people.
00:04:41
Speaker
And of course, it's we are getting young people coming in
Origins and Significance of Heraldry
00:04:45
Speaker
now. There seems to be a slight revival at the moment in in interest. for younger from younger people, which is wonderful, actually.
00:04:54
Speaker
if we can start from the start of heraldry itself. So for some of those listeners here are unfamiliar with it, um what it exactly is it then and when when did it emerge? Was it roughly around the 12th century or so? I think the best way of understanding it is to go back to to ground zero.
00:05:14
Speaker
You know, what really sparked off interest in this curious form of art because people had been having designs on shields you know for thousands of years and some people would call that heraldry but it isn't because heraldry is something very specific ah to begin with it's but it's crucially connected with being on a shield
00:05:44
Speaker
So if it's if it's not on a shield, um then it's not heraldry. um So it all began in the year 1128, when Falk of Anjou, the Plantagenet, um presented his teenage son with a shield of arms on his at his knighting ceremony, and it had lions on it.
00:06:13
Speaker
You might think, well, you know, there's nothing particularly special about that. But it they were rampant lions. We know precisely what the coat of arms was.
00:06:24
Speaker
And the rampant lion ah that point makes its first appearance in sort of the art of Western Europe. There plenty of lions in ancient art and medieval art, but not the rampant lion. And my belief is that the rampant lion is to do with fighting lions in the Holy Land. We know that the Knights of the Crusades, to show how incredibly brave and macho they were, actually had fights with lions.
00:06:58
Speaker
And um so in the minds of Western Europeans, this was connected them with the Holy Land. And this particularly significant because jeffrey's father falk had just come back from the holy land and he went back and was he became king of jerusalem and so this gave this shield which jeffrey presented and and used at tournaments and so on all over northwest europe great gravitas if you like and something very interesting happened which was
00:07:35
Speaker
that in a way not a lot happened, but over the next 30 or 40 years, um all over Western Europe, leading families um adopted coats of arms, mostly lions.
00:07:51
Speaker
But the interesting thing is that all of these families were crusading families, and no family that wasn't a crusading family, and there were a great many of them, adopted coats.
00:08:02
Speaker
these coats of arms. So it was a kind of badge really to show that you were you were a member of the Crusaders Club. So it was it was high status, it was it was passed from father to son.
00:08:17
Speaker
So it it's my belief that it was this one event in 1128 that
Expansion and Conflicts in Heraldry
00:08:24
Speaker
that that was the cause of it all. ah Not everyone shares that view, um but um I'm completely convinced of it. There always has to be a reason for something to begin.
00:08:38
Speaker
and it it does seem it's strange for that not to have been the point of origin. but but Was its original functions with like military, social or symbolic? And how did reflect the structure of medieval society? So but we did start off the 12th century. did it progress into the 13th, 14th, 15th then?
00:09:01
Speaker
Well, it it it so became a a top-down phenomenon. So it was very much kings, princes, higher nobility, that had arms to begin with.
00:09:13
Speaker
And then there there was a sort of trickle-down effect as sort of mere knights, you know, were were began to have coats of arms. um That was towards the end of the 12th century into the 13th.
00:09:31
Speaker
And then by the end of the 13th century, people were starting complain that every every Tom, Dick and Harry was adopting a coat of arms, even sort of non-military types were starting to use them. And it was it was hugely...
00:09:45
Speaker
um popular it was undoubtedly taught anyone who had any sort of education heraldry would have been part of that and everyone of a certain status was expected to know that such and such a coat of arms belonged to this individual of course as as the number of Probably part of the reason people were moaning was that as the number of arms proliferated, it began to be really quite difficult to know every everyone's coat of arms.
00:10:17
Speaker
who In those days, you adopted your own coat of arms with the advice of your prince or king or duke or whoever it was, the person who knighted you. So in in the early days,
00:10:30
Speaker
That was the only check and balance. And there's a consequence of this in early heraldry. A lot of people accidentally adopted the same arms. So if they were from different parts of England.
00:10:43
Speaker
And during the 14th century, ah when during the Hundred Years' War, when knights came together from all over England, um there there were there were a lot of fisticuffs because, you hang on, those are my arms. No, they're not. They're my arms. And they might have been using them for several generations, but no one had been aware of it.
00:11:03
Speaker
And that's really when the science of of armoury began. It wasn't heraldry. The term heraldry wasn't really coined until... the 16th century because heralds had had really nothing to do with with coats of arms very much in the early stages, but that all changed and evolved with time.
00:11:22
Speaker
ah Great, Paul, if we can kind of drill down a bit more then.
Components and Symbols in Heraldry
00:11:25
Speaker
We've got certain terms as the shield, crest, motto, supporters and the badge. Could you explain each part represents? So it all began, as I said, um with the shield.
00:11:37
Speaker
And um quite early on, people wanted to be able to actually write down in words what what was on a shield. and And so they took on various terms. They were they were mainly sort of Norman French.
00:11:53
Speaker
And that was called blasphemy because blasphemy means a shield in in French. So that's that's where that comes from. Now then ah around 1300, crests came along, those are the sort of fancy um monsters and other such things on on the top of helmets, but those were only worn at tournaments, they were never used on the battlefield, so there were they were kind of a bit of silliness really, because of course the tournament was for for entertainment, so
00:12:28
Speaker
The crest was really quite funny and and entertaining. And but you you you then started to get the the sort of the nobility, then started using badges. Well, badges are something that had actually been around before heraldry. If you like, it's a personal emblem, and it's not usually on on a shield.
00:12:52
Speaker
It could be, but it would it's not usually so placed. And your retainers wore it on their on their arm or perhaps as ah as a a pendant or or a metal badge um or they they had horse harness things jangling just as a sign that that you you belong to this particular lord. So that's where, the of course, badge sometimes the horse Harnessed furniture was often actually the the shield itself, but you might actually also have the badge.
00:13:26
Speaker
So that's where the badge came in. And then supporters, they again, they gradually came in during the 14th century, some sort of animal. It might be a fabulous beast, ah very often a lion, but um holding the shield ah in order to display it.
00:13:45
Speaker
So that those are the different elements. The motto is a battle cry. So that that's that's ah kind of another add-on thing. Then you've got the shield and banner um in the early days were very much the same thing.
Practical Uses of Heraldry
00:13:59
Speaker
So the the the shield on on ah a square flag, basically, so that people could really see where you were standing in a battle arrangement.
00:14:11
Speaker
That was quite handy. I needed to do some investigation work for you because I have been doing my research into my own family, Chris. I would like you to see if you could work out This is the McGrath crest.
00:14:23
Speaker
Now, Paul, I believe this is a very stylized version, so I'm not exactly sure if this is correct. Could you break this down for me, if you possibly can?
Analysis of McGrath's Family Crest
00:14:34
Speaker
Yes, so it's a coat of arms with um four quarters, and in um as we're looking at the shield, the top left quarter, that's the first quarter, that's the that's the Those are the principal arms usually um in a quartered shield. Those are the the ones that have passed down in the male line um because that's the position of honour. The sort of top right hand as you're holding the shield is the most honourable position.
00:15:10
Speaker
and You can also... Apart from quartering, you get impaled arms on shields. That's when you get um one coat of arms on one side of the shield and another on the other. And that sort of began as a sort of husband-wife thing. And the man's arms are always on the left-hand side as you're looking at, but that's called the dexter part of the shield because you you relate it to the person that's actually holding the shield slightly confusingly. So just coming back,
00:15:42
Speaker
um to your arm. So in the second quarter, um we've got cross being held in a hand. I'm not going to use ah too many complicated heraldic terms because that would possibly confound some of your listeners.
00:16:02
Speaker
but Then in the third quarter, um another hand emerging from the sinister side of the shield holding a hammer. And then finally we have um a stag or a heart um on ah on a silver background.
00:16:20
Speaker
So that's your, um those are your arms. These are This kind of arrangement um makes me think possibly of a, it's sometimes granted by in by the Lord Lyon in Scotland. that That wouldn't be, or possibly um they were granted in, quite possibly quite likely they were granted in Ireland. So rather, it doesn't strike me.
Symbolism and Evolution of Heraldry
00:16:46
Speaker
as as an English grant. it It may have been granted with those quarterings as they are now, um or it may have been adopted depending on on how far back it goes.
00:16:59
Speaker
I'm just curious about the colouring as well. We've we've got but the top right hand corner as we're looking at the yellow and then the bottom left has the red. What what do the yellow and the red colourings mean? What do they symbolise?
00:17:11
Speaker
Oh gosh, well, some people are very interested in the symbolism of colour per se, and there's a whole science of it, but I'm inclined to think that that here it's just been considered that that would be... i mean, it could be that these are actually arms that come from another family, and so you didn't actually have a choice of what colour you had, or it could be that somebody decided that this these contrasting colours looked good.
00:17:43
Speaker
So it could be as simple as that, really. that There may not be any great secret there. It's just fashion, Paul. It's just fashion. Yeah. Fantastic.
00:17:55
Speaker
Well, I'm just curious as well, if we move move um through the centuries again, i'm always wondering, how did it continue then into the the Reformation and then into the industrial era as well? but Yes, I mean, that's kind of a difficult question to answer. And of course, we're also talking about different countries. So because we've got to think about of Scotland and Wales and Ireland, where different things were happening and with other parts of Europe.
00:18:26
Speaker
um I think that heraldry has always clung in there and has been ah a kind of a status symbol really because you ultimately there's always had to be money involved in order to register arms to get them approved whatever that was so even on that level um they are ah kind of status symbol so I think it's fair to say that a lot of people would like to have them depending on if you have certain
00:18:59
Speaker
political leanings, you might might feel it's very much something you don't want to have, ah but but your your children or grandchildren may disagree, and if you if you had some hereditary device, they may be slightly more interested um in it.
00:19:17
Speaker
So interest does sort of wax and wane over the generations. But of course, they do connect us very much with the past and they do um on the whole travel with the surname. I'm coming into the into the very current moments, there's a certain amount of debate. Some people feel very strongly that you ought to be able to inherit coats of arms from your mother. and And the reason why that hasn't sort of, it does happen in Canada, but the reason why it doesn't happen is that it then becomes detached from the surname. So that causes a problem.
00:19:55
Speaker
So in order to be politically correct, we're potentially causing a problem for future generations. So yeah it's it's it's um it's a very moot point at the moment, really, which which is sex some people feel very strongly about.
00:20:11
Speaker
I suppose this is going back to the the very start of the conversation. The coat of arms, how widespread did it get? did Like you said, did it start off in the UK, France, Europe? did Did it spread further east or did it did it have a stopping point, so to speak?
00:20:26
Speaker
I think it's fair to say that heraldry is actually now a truly global um phenomenon. If you look at the and that the emblems, the state emblems of every country in the world, they're pretty much all based on heraldic principles or there they take the form of badge. So somewhere along the line, you know, there's ah there's a heraldic influence there, which is really fascinating how that's evolved And of course, that's partly happened because of the involvement of European countries where how we where Herald has been very important in in different parts of the world.
00:21:08
Speaker
But even in a ah sort of a post-colonial world, um it's still popular, but not everyone who's designing things in the world heraldic scar style really understands all that the rules because one thing about heraldry is that over the centuries um a whole set of rules evolved about what you can and and can't do. So for instance one of the early ones is that you shouldn't place metal on metal or in other words sort of gold on silver, silver on gold but in fact
00:21:48
Speaker
there were plenty of examples where that happened it's just that people would avoid doing that today if you've got a grant today that would tend not to happen but the very famous early example was actually the arms of the kingdom of jerusalem which actually has has um gold on silver and so it's just that if yeah I think the reason for it was that on on on a metal shield, if it was sort of glinting in the sun, it might actually make it quite difficult to make out the device. I suspect that it was purely for practical reasons that that rule evolved.
00:22:28
Speaker
if So if someone listening to this podcast was interested in this area they maybe didn't have a research background, what advice would you give someone who's curious about studying this area or chasing their own family at arms?
Studying and Registering Heraldry
00:22:42
Speaker
Well, there are um many societies around the world um which um have been set up really to provide information about heraldry.
00:22:55
Speaker
such as the two that I work for. So the Heraldry Society, its remit is to spread the knowledge and awareness of heraldry. So it's ah an educational charity.
00:23:08
Speaker
And the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies and provides courses in in heraldry, which can lead to a diploma. for people who who are needing of that and and also does will also provide research as well ah for anyone who's got whos particularly puzzled um about their own or possible um ancestral arms. A lot of people have been handed down devices and they're not exactly clear where they came from and how
00:23:47
Speaker
and and and who adopted it and when and and and how formally it was adopted and so on. Of course, most countries in the world now, because there is we're we're very you're very lucky in in Northern Ireland, because um potentially you might go to to three different um heraldic authorities, which is quite exceptional. So,
00:24:10
Speaker
So in England, Scotland or Ireland, depending on on which direction you're looking in. So there that would be a cause of great jealousy for many Europeans who have no...
00:24:25
Speaker
um heraldic authority now although some are being increasingly are being set up in different corners of Europe so you you basically if you live in many European countries and you're really interested in heraldry you actually have you can all you can do is adopt your own arms and get them registered somewhere um so there's quite a lot of interest in that um but it's really nice to actually have them registered with um an official body such as the College of Arms in London, the Lord Lyon Court in Scotland, the the yeah Chief Herald of Ireland, one of those. There's a lot of interest, and they they do get people coming from different parts of the world. People who've come from those countries will register grants with those those authorities. Mm-hmm.
00:25:23
Speaker
but My last question then is how do you see the field going in the next, say five
Future of Heraldry
00:25:28
Speaker
or 10 years? Because over the over the last number of years as well, in regards to TV, film, books, there's been a ah real kind of drive and interest in medieval studies. and Oh, well, um indeed. um and And medieval heraldry in particular.
00:25:45
Speaker
is is quite complex and difficult, and it took me a long time to really, I had to understand it in order to write my book on ah Canterbury Cloister and um it took me a long time to um to really get my head around um the the complexity of it and all the the rules that happened then which were before um sort of heralds really got very strongly involved in it. um
00:26:18
Speaker
So you've it's a different sort of mindset. So What you might read about in a book of how heraldry is today doesn't necessarily ah apply to how things were done um in the Middle Ages. So, yes, there's there's huge scope um for research looking at roles of arms and just thinking.
00:26:40
Speaker
coats of arms on on church monuments and and pieces of furniture and on buildings. So anyone um can have a role to play in just having an open mind. You look at this and think, what on earth does that mean? And that's how the interest um really begins and that's how it evolves.
00:27:02
Speaker
And everyone can contribute, basically.
Heraldry's Impact on Identity
00:27:07
Speaker
That was Dr. Paul Fox, sharing his deep knowledge of heraldry and the powerful ways symbols and traditions shape our understanding of history and ourselves.
00:27:15
Speaker
If you'd like to learn more about Paul's work in heraldic and genealogical research, be sure to follow his academic publications and future projects.
Conclusion & Contact Information
00:27:23
Speaker
Thanks again for joining me on Pieces of History. Make sure to subscribe and rate the podcast on iTunes and Spotify.
00:27:29
Speaker
You can reach out to me at piecesofhistorypod.outlook.com or find me on Instagram and Facebook at Pieces of History. Thanks for listening.