A Tale of Two Archbishops

Well, not a "tale", exactly, but certainly the arms of two archbishops.

On the raised pulpit in the nave in York Minster we find the personal arms of two different Archbishops of York, each impaled as is the custom with the arms of the See of York.

Immediately above is a closer view of the pair of shields.

In each instance, the arms of the See of York are as we have seen before: Gules two keys in saltire wards to chief argent in chief a crown or.

The arms should have a Royal crown in chief, but as A Guide to the Heraldry in York Minster notes on page 13, "Nineteenth cenntur antiquarian studies, which confused See of York Modern with the earlier attrigbuted arms of St. Peter ..., led to the appearance of a curious pointed cap instead of the crown. This can be seen on some modern furnishings, e.g. nave pulpit."

On the left, and immediately above, we have the arms of the See of York impaling those of Cosmo Gordon Lang, 1st Baron Lang of Lambeth (1864-1945), Archbishop of York 1909-1928, and Archbishop of Canterbury 1928-1942. If you would like to know more about him, he has a large entry in Wikipedia at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmo_Gordon_Lang

His personal arms as painted here would be blazoned: Quarterly per fess indented argent and sable, in dexter chief an open book argent edged or and inscribed sable, in sinister base two leaves in fess vert, overall a crescent gules.

However, the blazon of these arms given in the Lambeth Palace Library Research Guide differs in significant ways from what is emblazoned here in the Minster. The blazon from the Research Guide is: Quarterly per fess indented argent and sable, in the first quarter an open book proper leaved gules in the last quarter two dock leaves vert. That blazon drops the crescent entirely, fixes the "no metal upon metal" tincture violation, and specifies the type of leaves.

And on the right, and immediately above, we have the arms of the See of York impaling the personal arms of  William Temple (1881-1944), Archbishop of York 1929-1942, whose entry in Wikipedia can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Temple_(bishop)

Archbishop Temple's arms, which as painted here match the blazon found elsewhere, are blazoned: Quarterly: 1 and 4, Or, an eagle displayed sable; 2 and 3, Argent, two bars sable each charged with three martlets or.

Can You Figure Out the (Singular) Blazon from These (Multiple) Emblazons?

Today's conundrum: How are the attributed arms of St. Wilfrid blazoned? And can you get to that blazon from five (well, really four, because two of them are the same) emblazons of those arms?

Because, frankly, those varying emblazons are all (except for the two matching ones) significantly different.

First, the three found wandering the streets of York, England; the one, and then the two matching ones:

Then, this one, found on the exterior of York Minster:

And this one (on the right) from the interior the Minster:

So, knowing that these different depictions are all supposedly those of the attributed arms of St. Wilfrid, how would you blazon his arms?

Take and minute and think about it.

Feel free to click on any of the images above to go to a larger photo to look at them more closely.

How are these arms blazoned?

Just from looking at them, I would blazon the first one as: Azure three mullets of six points argent.

The next two (the matching ones), and assuming the same tinctures, I would blazon as: Azure three mullets of eight points argent.

The third, from the exterior of York Minster, and the fourth, from the interior, are blazoned by Hugh Murray in Heraldry and the Buildings of York, and by Y.E. Weir in A Guide to the Heraldry of York Minster, as Azure three estoiles or.

The difficulties, in my own mind, are:

1. Mullets (of however many points) are not the same heraldically as mullets;

2. Estoiles are generally of six rays, while those here pretty clearly have seven; and

3. Estoiles do not have, as they seem to in the last image, circular centers.

Going out onto the internet and looking up other images of the attributed arms of St. Wilfrid, the majority tend to follow the pattern of Azure three estoiles of seven rays or.

But I have to wonder, should they really be suns? (Yes, I am well aware that suns are generally depicted with alternating straight and wavy rays. Still, that seems a little more likely than seven-rayed estoiles. But what do I know?)

Anyway, it's a bit of a puzzle, one that leaves us all a little something to think about.

Enjoy!

The Arms on the Pulpit in Grantchester Church

I hadn't noticed this feature in the scenes of the TV series Grantchester which were shot inside the Church of St. Andrew and St. Mary in Grantchester, but while in the church I saw that the pulpit had a coat of arms carved onto its face.

I am unable to give you a reason why I hadn't noticed this coat of arms before, because it is certainly something that would have caught my attention. My best guess is that the show seldom, if ever, shows the front of the pulpit; usually, the actor portraying the vicar there is seen standing beside the pulpit, and not speaking from it.

But that, in several senses, is neither here nor there. The fact is, I hadn't noticed it before, and having found it, thought I would attempt to identify the arms carved on it.

Alas, there are no colors to help guide the search, and no crest, either; only a helmet with a crestless torse and mantling.

Still, I thought to myself, how many coats of arms consisting of two chevrons and a canton could there be?

The answer? More than I had suspected.

Here is a list from Papworth's Ordinary of British Armorials listing, by surname, all of the two chevrons and a canton arms to be found there.

Dexter. Argent two chevrons azure a canton gules.

D’Ori. Crioll, Feton/Fitton, Fyton, Gawseworth, Hable/Habley, Keryell, Kiriel, Kyrell, Orby, Orreby, Titton, Waspale/Waspoole. Argent two chevrons and a canton gules.

Dalby. Argent two chevrons and a canton sable.

Rees. Azure two chevrons and a canton or.

Gegon/Gigon/Jegon, Pope. Or two chevrons gules a canton azure.

Bevell, Criell, Cryoill, Kenell, Kirriell, Kyrell, Kyriall. Or two chevrons and a canton gules.

M’Leish. Or two chevrons gules a canton sable. (This last comes from Scotland, so probably not related to the church here in Grantchester.)

A quick on-line search for some of the most likely names (e.g., Feton/Fitton/Fyton, Keryell/Kiriel/Kirriell/Kyrell/Kyriall/Criell/Cryoill, Waspale/Waspoole, Gegon/Gigon/Jegon) unearthed no connections to the parish church in Grantchester.

So, with no crest to help guide the search, with no hatching (ditto), and with no clear connections to Grantchester, I am sorry to say that I cannot identify this coat of arms, seen by me for the first time upon visiting the church, for you.

Nonetheless, it's a beautiful example of heraldic carving, and in my not so humble opinion is well worth the sharing.

Enjoy!

Some "Heraldry-Adjacent" Symbols in Grantchester Church

Continuing in the Church of St. Andrew and St. Mary in Grantchester, England, we come to this stained glass window (which appears fairly frequently in the television series Grantchester):

In the upper half of the window we see these:

At the very peak we see one of the namesakes of the church, St. Andrew bearing his saltire cross in front of him.

In a row across the window a little way below St. Andrew we find the symbols of the Four Evangelists.

The authors of the four Gospels -- Matthew, Mark, Luke and John -- are known as the Evangelists. They are often represented (as they are here; please click on the image above to see a larger version of this photograph to see the details) with their attributes: the Angel or "divine man" for Saint Matthew, the Lion for Saint Mark, the Ox for Saint Luke (we have seen his symbol before in Antwerp, Belgium in a display of the arms of the Guild of St. Luke), and the Eagle for Saint John.

So, not heraldry, exactly, but certainly "heraldry-adjacent" (and here on shield shapes, no less!) as the symbols are standing in for the authors themselves, just as a coat of arms might.

Welcome to David Appleton's "Art Deco Fun With Heraldry"!

And Art Deco fun with heraldry-like objects.

As I threatened promised you, today we' re going back a few years, to a trip we took to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a long, long time ago (2008).

And I'm going to continue, at least a little bit, on the theme of my last two posts: the fact that heraldry is not a logo or trademark, and so can be depicted in more than one way.

Anyway, in our travels about the city of Boston, we ran across some heraldry (and some heraldry-like objects) depicted in an Art Deco style, that for some reason I find especially attractive. (I've never considered myself to be much of an Art Deco kind of guy; I tend to prefer the curves and swirls of Art Nouveau. But what can I tell you? I really like heraldry done in an Art Deco style.)

These are the arms of Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli), who was Pope from 1929 to 1958. His arms are blazoned: Azure a dove close reguardant argent holding in its beak an olive branch proper, atop a trimount argent issuant from a terrace vert, a base barry engrailed argent and azure.

Here the arms are surmounted by the crossed keys and triple tiara of the Papacy, with four tassels filling the role normally taken by cloth mantling.

There were some other decorative plaques on the building as well:

A cross paty issuant from a chalice, presumably representative of the Eucharist, framed by laurel branches.

A double (six-petalled) rose.

A lymphad (ship) sailing on waves of the sea, it's pennon and mainsail charged with a cross, and atop the stern, a dove rising wings displayed.

And finally, and slightly more heraldic than the others, an eagle displayed issuant from a ducal, or crest, coronet.

All of these done in a classically Art Deco style.

Are you as attracted to these depictions as I am?

"Hark! the Heraldry"

A nice review of a recent heraldry book appeared recently on the Catholic News Service under the headline: "Hark, the heraldry: cracking the coat of arms code."  I think that the headline may be a little bit over the top; the "code" of heraldry really isn't really all that hard to "crack," or else we would all have taken up other, easier hobbies.

Still, it's a nice review of the Manuale di araldica ecclesiastica by  Cardinal Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo and Antonio Pompli, noting that the book (written in Italian) "gives an in-depth look at the history and 'grammar' of a properly designed coat of arms."  The review also includes a number of pictures from the book, including the arms which the Cardinal devised for, and his proposed revised coat of arms for the retired, Pope Benedict XVI.

The full article can be found at the website of the Catholic News Service at http://cnsblog.wordpress.com/2014/02/05/hark-the-heraldry-cracking-the-coat-of-arms-code/ and is worth reading.

In a bit of fun, the article ends with an heraldic hunt: "see if you can catch a very small, yet 'inexplicable' detail in Francis' papal coat of arms" just above.*

The book is available here in the U.S. in paperback on Amazon.com's website from an Italian seller for US$36.15 (plus $3.99 shipping).  You can see more details regarding this at http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/8820992396/ref=dp_olp_new_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=new

All in all, it looks like an interesting and )fortunately for those of us who don't normally read a lot of Italian, although my Spanish will carry me through a lot it) well-illustrated volume on ecclesiastical heraldry in the Catholic Church.  It won't topple Archbishop Bruno Heim's Heraldry in the Catholic Church from its premier position in this subject, but certainly looks like it would make a good companion to it.


*  The motto ribbon beneath the shield should remain white on top and end up red when it curls at the end.