Heraldry in the Codex

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

One thing to note: I am limited by what is available in my program. This is the only form of the demi-lion that I have. Admittedly, I could look at other sites for downloadable files as well.

You make note of the SCA rather than only heraldic colleges in a couple of comments. Are you an SCA herald?

[DoctorM]

As I look at this coat of arms, I think it possible that the upper third of the shield (the chief) probably represents the arms of the old principality of Kheldour, while the lower part of the shield might be the addition made when the earldom was created by Uthyr Haldane in 966.

Good grief. Now I'm even making up history for these CoAs!

But I suspect I'm in very sympathetic company here.

Since the hero of my fanfic has been made Prince of Kheldour by his wife, Queen Charissa, I have to say that I do like this crest... I thought I might have him use his own family arms for his new princedom, but  I rather like this!

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

Thanks, DoctorM! Glad to be of some help.

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

New and newly-revised coats of arms: Bremagne, Fallon, and Fianna.

Bremagne
Given the cultural character of Bremagne, both at home and abroad as presented in the Codex, despite the orthographical suggestion of Bretagne (Brittany) and despite the Breton names of some of its kings, I've decided that Bremagne has more a French than a Breton feel, hence the fleur-de-lis. And we have to have some origin point for them in other heraldry.

Fallon
Having gained their independence from Bremagne, the Fallonese continue to employ the fleur-de-lis (Or on Azure), replacing one of the three in Bremagne's CoA with a royal crown to indicate sovereignty as a kingdom. The female head is added because of the reference in the Codex to the fineness of the wines and cheeses of Fallon, as well to the "comeliness of their women." Perhaps the figure in the CoA is the particularly heroic queen of one of their early kings. (Anyone care to write a story?)

Fianna
Similarly independent of Bremagne, the Fiannese gave up the fleur-de-lis for grape clusters, reflecting the wide fame of their sweet wines.

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

Alver and Autun:

Alver
An odd little duchy, whose armorial is generally described in Codex as featuring a green frog rampant.

Autun
A mountainous principality once bishopric secularized in the early ninth century (not unlike Montenegro in the RW, in the early nineteenth century). The CoA reflects the situation of the Autun in the Autuni Mountains as well as the highly-prized hair of the Autuni trihorned goats (only a two-horned goat was available to me!). The other charges are episcopal croziers (Argent), reflecting the duchy's origins as an ecclesiastical principality.     
         

[tmcd]

I have been an SCA herald, though probably I'm done.

I like mistholme.com as a source about armorial charges. The guy was an SCA herald and he documented when charges or variants were from medieval Europe. He also has good depictions. And, simply, it's online, unlike most old books.

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

Thanks for the link. I look forward to poking around in the information that's there.

I admit that I'm less interested in being "historically accurate" than in simply exercising some creativity and being a bit fanciful—not unlike the character of the Codex in places.

For the purposes of some of the Castle's fanfiction writers (like Evie), more complicated armorial creations could be "accurate," given a setting for one story on which she's working in the 15th century. For the time of Camber, less so.

[Evie]

Ah yes, the Codex, home of trihorned goats and those herds of antelope and cute little chipmunks gambolling through Llandreth Meadows in the springtime.... 

[tmcd]

Well, as for "historical accuracy" ... [gestures broadly at a map of the Eleven Kingdoms] [points at magic] [picks up an early 12th century spyglass] ...

Nevertheless, Gwynedd was based on European models [waves hands at all the things]. Also, early medieval armory actually tends to have decent graphic-design principles. You could posit Japanese kamon for the area, or hell, variants on the Coca-Cola logo, but I think European medieval armory fits better. And if the canon has some description of a design, well, it seems plausible to me to start with it.

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

I don't think your suggestion (that we begin with a canon as constructed) is at all unreasonable, given that one must suspend considerable disbelief that a culture could develop that looks like late medieval Europe (western and eastern) without the particular historical exigencies that resulted in late medieval Europe. Sort of an "in for a penny, in for a pound" approach. However implausible that may be, it works—and clearly and wildly successfully so, given the long and profitable history of fantasy with a medieval European setting that goes back to the medieval period itself.

That I understand that there is actually little that is truly historical or accurate about historical accuracy in fantasy I had hoped to convey that by putting the term "historical accuracy" in quotation marks.

In any event, I was simply explaining my modus operandi. I offer the things I created only in the spirit of sharing something that brought me enjoyment. I expect no one to embrace them as being in any way "canonical." My apologies if I have misconstrued the nature of these fora.

And I do appreciate the healthy criticism from someone with far greater expertise than my own in the field of heraldry—which is to say that I possess none at all. My expertise (outside the practice of medicine) lies in the intellectual, political, and religious history of northwestern and central Europe in the late medieval and early modern periods, not so much in the material history and appended studies of those times.

And, honestly, I also have my own objections to certain "historically inaccurate" things in the Codex, like the etymologies of some of the names. Gwynedd stands out as one that I particularly don't like, as it makes far less sense than the derivation of the real-world toponym Gwynedd; or the derivation of "Horthy" and "Hort" from Horatio rather than the more probable Hortensius—though I like others, like Kheldour (and the demonym Deryni) from Kheldourynoi.

[Nezz]

Smiles, nods, pretends she understands more than one word in three

Smart people are cool.

[DoctorM]

As someone who did his doctorate on the later Habsburg Monarchy, anytime I see "Horthy" as a name I instantly think of the Admiral Without a Fleet. So it makes me grin to think of the Hortic lands as having a seacoast.

[DoctorM]

Central Louisiana, eh? A place I'm familiar with!

I do hope I can ask for your help with some things heraldic. I know how I see my hero's family banner in my mind's eye, but I'm hopelessly unlearned at heraldry. House Falkenberg's colours are black and gold, which is a nod to my old academic interests. I imagine the banner as black with the silhouette of a falcon in gold. The falcon is dangling a shattered chain from one talon. People call it the Falcon Unfettered. I've never had an eye for drawing (I started university in architecture but moved to History when it became painfully clear that my brain wasn't wired for sketching), and the only way I can imagine the falcon silhouette is the Atlanta Falcons logo...which is *not* something I want people thinking about.

Just as a nod, in my AU Eleven Kingdoms, the Shadow Queen has replaced the lions of ducal Tolan and the kingdom of Gwynedd with three Leopards-- part of creating a new kingdom. 

Thanks, DoctorM! Glad to be of some help.

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

 

Thanks, Nezz.

[Frère de Saint-Gabriel]

DoctorM, a Horthy reigning over a realm known for its coast—it really is ironic. The admiral is a fascinating character, though perhaps his office is perhaps even more fascinating. A regent in a kingless kingdom (for over twenty years!) is about the closest thing to the Stewards of Gondor that the real world has to offer.

What a splendid subject to have done a dissertation on! After reading a brief biography of the Emperor Karl, admittedly by someone who nearly lionized him, my wife commented that we lived through the dystopian alternative history that resulted when the Allies ended the Austro-Hungarian polity. (One of the reasons that I heartily dislike Woodrow Wilson!) There were certainly problems, but what a difference might a United States of Austria (admittedly, his assassinated uncle's idea, but...) under a Habsburg monarchy have made to the history of the twentieth century. Be that as it may, I think that the Habsburgs go to their burials in the most fitting way possible in that exchange that occurs at the shut doors of the Capuchin church in Vienna: "N., ein sterblicher, sündiger Mensch!"

Curious to learn how you know Central Louisiana. I was born and raised there, but moved away when I went to medical school (in St. Louis). My wife and I (she is also from Central Louisiana) moved to North Carolina after I graduated medical school, some 35 years ago.

I think that you'd get far more knowledgeable assistance from tmcd, but I'll be glad to help in whatever way that I can.

Nice use of heraldry as a political device (too often heraldry and vexillology are overlooked in fiction as means of propaganda) in your AU Eleven Kingdoms.