German heraldry is the tradition and style of heraldic achievements in Germany, Austria, and the Holy Roman Empire, including national and civic arms, noble and burgher arms, ecclesiastical heraldry, heraldic displays and heraldic descriptions. German heraldic style is one of the four major broad traditions within European heraldry and stands in contrast to Gallo-British, Latin and Eastern heraldry, and strongly influenced the styles and customs of heraldry in the Nordic countries, which developed comparatively late. Together, German and Nordic heraldry are often referred to as German-Nordic heraldry.p.129.
The German heraldic tradition is noted for its scant use of heraldic furs, multiple crests, inseparability of the crest, and repetition of charges in the shield and the crest. Mullets have six points (rather than five as in Gallo-British heraldry), and beasts may be colored with patterns, (barry, bendy, paly, chequy, etc.).
As in other European heraldic traditions, the most prominent among the birds and beasts are the eagle and lion.p.90. These two charges in particular had a special significance in Germany, where the eagle became symbolic of the Holy Roman Empire, and the lion came to represent certain feudal lords.Neubecker (1979), pp.90–91. As the political divide between these groups grew in the late Middle Ages, the heraldic eagle and lion came to represent two of the foremost political powers in Germany, the house of Hohenstaufen and the house of Welf, respectively.
Terminology The heraldic tinctures are the same in Imperial heraldry as in other European countries. Black charges occur on red fields and vice versa more often than in other countries, as in the arms of Stadler, Roder and Homberg.Plates 32, 145 and 167 respectively of Johann Siebmacher's Wappenbuch von 1605, Orbis Edition (1999), Munich, or see Neuenberg and Roth on plate 144. Tinctures are described using the German words for each (i.e. schwarz for sable, rot for gules, gold for Or, etc.), and argent is usually called silber (silver) though weiß (white) also occurs.
The furs are referred to as follows: Ermine is Hermelin, Ermines (or counter-ermine) is Gegenhermelin, Erminois is Goldhermelin, Pean is Gegengoldhermelin, Vair is Feh or Grauwerk, Countervair is Gegenfeh, and Vairy of (tincture) and (tincture) is Buntfeh ob (tinktur) und (tinktur).Ströhl, H.G. (1898). Heraldischer Atlas. Stuttgart. In addition to these, and Krückenfeh (potent), German heraldry includes Kürsch (natural fur, which is unknown in English heraldry). Kürsch is typically shown as dags of fur overlapping like roof tiles, and even ermine and vair are sometimes shown in this fashion, called Schuppenfeh. While each of these variations and some others exist in German heraldry, it is worth noting that even ermine is uncommon, vair is seldom found, and the others are rarer still.
Tinctures Colours / Farben Escutcheons English Azure Gules Vert Purpure Sable Deutsch Blau Rot Grün Purpur Schwarz Metals / Metalle Furs / Pelzwerk Escutcheons English Or Argent Ermine Vair Vairy (Or and gules) Fur (natural) Deutsch Gold/Gelb Silber/Weiß Hermelin Grauwerk/Feh Buntfeh (gold und rot) Kürsch
As in English heraldry, the names for the lines of division and variation are closely related with those of the corresponding ordinaries. The apparent exceptions to this rule, however, are that a shield divided per fess is simply termed geteilt (divided) and a shield divided per pale is termed gespalten (split). German heraldry (and with it, Nordic heraldry) does take a distinct approach to divisions of the field, however, in dividing by the scheme of "im (Gemeine Figur)-schnitt (X:Y) (Richtung des Schnitts)," or, "by (common charge)-section (X:Y) (direction of the cut)," where X signifies the number of charges issuant above the cut, and Y signifies the number issuant below. Thus, Im Lindenblattschnitt (1:1) schrägrechtsgeteilt, or, "by linden leaf section (1:1) party per bend," yields a line that starts at the dexter chief corner, slanting down per bend, then makes the form of two conjoined linden leaves (the first inverted) in pale, and then continues to the sinister base. This also works with many other charges, and may divide the shield per pale, per fess, or other ways.
DivisionsEnglishParty per fessParty per paleParty per bend sinisterQuarterlyQuarterly with an inescutcheonDeutschgeteiltgespaltenschräglinks geteiltgeviertgeviert mit Herzschild
Ordinaries / HeroldsbilderEnglishChiefPaleFessBendBend sinisterChevronDeutschSchildhauptPfahlBalkenSchrägbalkenSchräglinksbalkenSparrenOrdinaries / HeroldsbilderEnglishCrossSaltirePallPall reversedPileBordureDeutschKreuzAndreaskreuzDeichselGöpelKeilBord
VariationsEnglishBarry (of eight)Paly (of eight)Bendy (of eight)ChevronnyChequyLozengyGyronnyDeutsch(siebenmal) geteilt(siebenmal) gespalten(siebenmal) schräggeteiltgesparrtgeschachtgerautetgeständert
History
Although the eagle had already served as a symbol of imperial power in antiquity and was associated with the emperor Charlemagne after his coronation in the year 800, this cannot yet be considered heraldry in the proper sense, which only emerged in the 12th century. It was under the Hohenstaufen emporer Heinrich VI (1165-1197) that the eagle first appeared as an imperial coat of arms, from which it developed into the enduring symbol of the empire in the centuries that followed. The seal (German: Siegel) was used extensively in the late Middle Ages, and was instrumental in spreading heraldry to the various institutions.Volborth (1981), p.96. According to Volborth, "the custom of the warrior-caste of using their [heraldic] arms on seals made this kind of pictorial identification fashionable and led to the adoption of arms by anybody using a seal." Noble women began using armorial seals in the 12th century. Heraldry spread to the burgher class in the 13th century, and even some peasants used arms in the 14th century. German burgher arms may have played a key role in the development of Swedish heraldry, especially in Stockholm, which had a large German population in the late Middle Ages.
Heraldic elements Charges In heraldry, a charge is any object or figure placed on the shield, whether placed on the field, on an ordinary, or even on another charge. In German heraldry, as in other European heraldic traditions, the most commonly used charges include the cross, the eagle, and the lion. Unlike other traditions, however, German heraldry features charges, especially lions, colored with patterns such as barry, paly, chequy, etc. For instance, the coats of arms of Hesse and Thuringia each depict a lion barry argent and gules. The Manesse Codex (10r) displays Wenceslaus II of Bohemia's eagle chequy sable and gules,Manesse Codex 10r and (262v) shows a backgammon player bearing a lion chequy argent and sable.Manesse Codex 262v Lions and other charges colored with furs, such as ermine, and semés, but not barry or chequy, are found in French heraldry.
Due to the early practice of marshalling by dividing the marshalled arms through the middle of the charge (called "dimidiation"), some charges took on the appearance of being themselves divided, such as the arms of Hochtaunuskreis. Even as marshalling per pale (charges remain intact and are shifted to accommodate the division of the shield) supplanted dimidiation, some marshalled arms retained some aspects of dimidiation, yielding a half eagle on one side and a whole lion on the other in some cases, such as the arms of Goslar. Similarly, when the crosier was incorporated into the arms of Biberach, the result was the dexter half of an imperial eagle and, in the sinister half of the shield, a (whole) crosier.
Eagles and lions
The two most commonly occurring animals in heraldry, the lion and the eagle, bore special political significance in medieval Germany and the Holy Roman Empire. Neubecker asserts that this "heraldic antagonism... makes the eagle the symbol of imperial power and the lion the symbol of royal sovereignty."Neubecker (1979), p.90. According to Neubecker: In the heroic poem by Heinrich von Veldeke based on the story of Aeneas, the bearer of the arms of a lion is set against the bearer of the arms of an eagle. If one takes the latter to be the historical and geographical forerunner of the Holy Roman emperor, then the bearer of the lion represents the unruly feudal lords, to whom the emperor had to make more and more concessions, particularly to the powerful Duke of Bavaria and Saxony, Henry the Lion (1129–1195) of the house of Guelph. Duke Henry did not bear arms in the technical sense, but he used a naturalistic picture of a lion as a seal and erected a monumental and lifelike bronze lion outside his castle of Dankwarderode in Brunswick. It was left to his descendants to adopt a formal coat of arms, with two lions passant, which was derived from the arms of England, which had three such lions. Henry referred to himself in Latin as Henricus Leo... in German, Heinrich der Löwe and Heinrich Welf (Guelph).
According to Neubecker, the German imperial eagle goes back to the ancient Romans, and the newly crowned emperor Charlemagne erected an imperial eagle – a symbol that would carry over all the way to modern Germany – at his palace at Aachen. From the 13th century, Neubecker continues, the view was generally held that the eagle of the emperor should have two heads, while that of the future emperor should have one, a policy that was codified by the emperor Sigismund in 1401.Neubecker (1979), p.110. The imperial double eagle was again resurrected by the emperor Francis II and became the symbol of the Austrian Empire.Neubecker (1979), p.111.
In medieval Germany, the eagle also represented the house of Hohenzollern.Neubecker (1979), p.114. Even while the double eagle became the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire and the emperor, the single-headed eagle became the symbol of the German king.Volborth (1981), p.71. The emperor even granted certain princes and free cities in the empire the right to use the imperial eagle as supporter. Notably, the minnesinger Reinmar von Zweter formed the Klee-Stengeln ("Clover-Stems", the heraldic Eagle's stylized wing-bones) of his heraldic eagle into a second and third head.
Helmets, crests and mantling German coats of arms are frequently depicted in period sources with a helmet and crest over the shield, often surrounded by mantling. Helmets, which were almost always included in period rolls of arms, were indicative of the bearer's social status. Open helmets, for example, were reserved for the nobility, while burgher arms were allowed a closed helmet. The Prince-Bishops used a mitre in place of a helmet, and other princes of the empire used a coronet. Typical of the German/Nordic style, the primary charge and the colors/patterns of the shield are usually repeated in the crest. Plate 6. Two or more helmets and crests are sometimes found in period armorial rolls of noble arms.Woodcock, 1988. p. 15. Examples of multiple helmets and crests can be found online here , here , and here . Mantling is issuant from a torse (wreath) on the helmet, and is almost always colored with the primary metal and lined with the primary paint of the head shield.
In German heraldry, where multiple crests appear frequently after the 16th century, each crest is always treated as inseparable from its own helmet and turned in agreement with the helmet. pp. 322–323. Multiple helmets were usually turned inward, with the center helm (if an odd number) turned affrontê, while in Scandinavian heraldry the helmets were usually turned outward.Fox-Davies, 1909. p. 323. The arms of the last margraves of Brandenburg-Ansbach consist of a shield with twenty-one quarterings topped with a record thirteen helmets and crests.Neubecker, 1979. p. 165.
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